This is a relatively short selection for today. Only one long-ish chapter, on which I make the following observations.
- Levi –> Kohath–>Amram–> Aaron, Moses, Miriam. Over 400 years passes between Levi & Moses.
- Azariah: Priest in the First Temple built by Solomon. Nice.
- Asaph, from yesterday’s Psalms, is mentioned as a temple musician.
- Levites get cities all over
I’m reading various scholarly works preparing for delivering a Sermon on Sunday. Bishop Shelby Spong makes the rather provocative suggestion that the Levites may have come from Egypt bringing some part of the “Old” religion from the “First” Moses–the inclusive monotheist living in Egypt, as distinct from the “Second” Moses–the nationalistic follower of YHWH. I seriously have no strong feelings about the accuracy of such claims other than to recognize Spong promotes the most radical views.
That said, it is interesting reading the different treatment of the tribes by different authors.