LEVITES AND LEVITICAL PRIESTHOOD.
"And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying: Bring the tribe of Levi near, and present them before Aaron the Priest, that they may minister unto him. And they shall keep his charge, and the charge of the whole congregation, before the tabernacle of the congregation, to do the service of the tabernacle. And they shall keep all the instruments of the tabernacle of the congregation, and the charge of the children of Israel, to do the service of the tabernacle. And thou shalt give the Levites unto Aaron and to his sons, they are wholly given unto them out of the children of Israel. And thou shalt appoint Aaron and his sons, and they shall wait on their Priest's office: and the stranger that cometh nigh shall be put to death."—Num. iii: 5, 10.
Aaron and his sons held the Aaronic Priesthood, and the Levites were given unto them to minister unto them to keep his charge, the charge of the congregation, to do the service of the tabernacle, keep the instruments of the tabernacle, and the charge of the children of Israel.
"And I, behold, I have taken the Levites from among the children of Israel instead of all the firstborn that openeth the matrix among the children of Israel; therefore the Levites shall be mine; because all the firstborn are mine; for on the day that I smote all the firstborn in the land of Egypt I hallowed unto me all the firstborn in Israel, both man and beast: mine they shall be: I am the Lord."—Num. iii, 12, 13.
All the firstborn the Lord claimed as belonging to him, because when he destroyed the firstborn of the Egyptians, he spared the firstborn of the Israelites. But the Levites were appointed to fill the place of the firstborn of all Israel, and they were commanded to be numbered, viz., all the males from a month old and upward, to assist Aaron and his sons in the service of the tabernacle; at that time there were twenty-two thousand of them. (Ibid, ver. 39.)
"And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying: Take the Levites instead of all the first born among the children of Israel, and the cattle of the Levites instead of their cattle; and the Levites shall be mine: I am the Lord." (ver. 44, 45.)
The remainder of the Israelites had to redeem their firstborn, and the money for the redemption was given by Moses to Aaron and his sons according to the word of the Lord. (ver. 50, 51.)
They seemed to have been an appendage to the Aaronic Priesthood to assist in the service of the tabernacle and other duties. Aaron and his male descendants were selected for the Priesthood, and the other Levites as assistants, or an appendage.
The Levites had forty-eight cities and their suburbs provided for them from among the possessions of the other tribes: First came by lot the children of Aaron: "And the children of Aaron the Priest, which were of the Levites, had by lot out of the tribe of Judah, and out of the tribe of Simeon, and out of the tribe of Benjamin, thirteen cities."—Josh, xxi, 4. (See the whole of the chapter for a division of cities to the remainder of the Levites, or the tribe of Levi, who were thus provided for as distinct from the other tribes.) "All the cities of the Levites within the possession of the children of Israel were forty and eight cities with their suburbs."—Josh, xxi, 41.
It may here be observed that both Moses and Aaron belonged to the tribe of Levi, and that the Levites had a tithing given to them. "And the Lord spake unto Aaron, Thou shalt have no inheritance in their land, neither shalt thou have any part among them: I am thy part and thine inheritance among the children of Israel. And, behold, I have given the children of Levi all the tenth in Israel for an inheritance, for their service which they serve, even the service of the tabernacle of the congregation."—Num. xviii, 20, 21. (See also the chapter.)