House of Levi, The Priestly Line

 Nadene Goldfoot                                             

Levi was the 3rd son of Jacob and Leah. Jacob is most important to  our history as he was the grandson of Abraham.  Leah was his wife by default as Jacob thought he was marrying Rachel, Leah's younger sister.  Leah and Rachel were daughters of Laban, whose sister was Rebekah who married Isaac, the father of Jacob.  Nevertheless, Leah bore Jacob 6 sons;  Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar and Zebulun and a daughter, Dinah.   Descendants of NAHOR II

Terah, father of Abraham, Haran and Nahor II. 1883 BCE-Ur of

Chaldees, Sumeria, Mesopotamia Iraq

1  [1] NAHOR II b: in Ur of Chaldees d: in Haran

.. +Milcah B. b: in Ur of Chaldees d: in Haran

2  Uz

2  Buz

2  Kemuel

... 3  Aram ben Kemuel

2  Chesed

2  Hazo

2  Pildash

2  Jidlaph

2  Bethuel Citizenship: Syrian

... 3  Laban

....... +Adinahand

... 3  Rebekah bat Bethuel b: in Aram

....... +Isaac ben Abraham b: 2048 in Negev

*Friend of [1] NAHOR II:

.. +Reumah the Concubine

2  Tebah ben NAHOR II

2  Gaham ben NAHOR II

2  Tahash ben NAHOR II

2  Maacah ben NAHOR II

 Levi had one daughter, Jochebed (who was born at the entrance to Egypt),  who was the mother of Moses, and 3 sons;  Gershom (Gershon), Kohath (whose son, Amram, was the father of Moses, Aaron and Mirium,  and Merari.  Levi died in Egypt at the age of 137.                                          

Moses made his older brother, Aaron, the high priest for their 601,730 Israelites.  His position had him serving from the Tabernacle and also to instruct the people.  Moses had married Zipporah, daughter of Jethro, the local priest in Midian.  They had 2 sons;  Gershom and Eliezer, but they died when teens so produced no heirs.  

Moses brought a new generation of people who grew up in the Wilderness to Canaan, having traveled for 40 years.  They had to fight the Amorites, Moabites, Midianites; and Bashan, all in Transjordania.  He appointed Joshua to carry on for him when he died at age 120.  The people were prepared for a new and unique religion to be observed in its own land of a complete Monotheism and loyalty to G0d, the Creator and Father of all.  Israel was to be a holy nation, unlike others, but a model to other people.  

In the very beginning, the first-born of each family served as priest, but because of the loyalty of the Levites during the incident of the Golden Calf, they replaced the first-born.  

Each family of Levites was assigned specific duties connected with the transport and assembly of the parts of the Tabernacle in the wilderness.   They were not listed in the two tribal censuses.                              

The family of Aaron was singled out for service within the Tabernacle, but this happened later as Priests.

After the conquest of  Canaan,  the Levites were expected to teach the Torah to the people.  being therefore excluded from any territorial inheritance, but receiving 48 towns and surrounding areas throughout the country, as well as a tithe of the agricultural produce.   Certain towns assigned to the Levites were only captured a long time after the conquest, or not at all.

Some of the Levites served at High Places, especially in the Northern Kingdom after the Civil War between the North and South of Israel.   Jeroboam had instituted independent worship. 

 In his Temple plan, Ezekiel replaced the non-Jewish Nethinim with the Levites, but this scheme was never executed.  According to Chronicles, when the Temple service was organized, traditionally by King David, the Levites were divided into groups, each doing different jobs, such as singers, instrumentalists, gatekeepers, assistants to the priests during the sacrifice, etc.  Like the priests, every group was divided into 24 sections, each serving; for a week at a time.  

In 2nd Temple times, the priests outnumbered the Levites and apparently shared their tithe.  it was in 586 BCE that the Temple was destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar.  By 538 BCE, the Israelites returned from Babylon and rebuilt it, and this was destroyed in 70 CE by the Romans along with Jerusalem.  

In Jewish law (halakhah), the levite is regarded as 2nd to the priest at the Reading of the Law, and has the privilege of having the priest's hands before the priest blesses the people. 

 In the Synagogues, Jews are divided into 3 groups:  Cohens-who read first, Levites-who read 2nd, with this information of who they are handed down orally from father to son, and the rest are the Israelites, who read last for that Shabbat (Saturday morning). The beautiful thing is that our cousin, Herb Hochfeld, knew he was a Cohen, and DNA testing proved he was with the result of being J1 in his Y haplogroup test.  That J1 is considered to be the Cohen gene.  I've also seen men with the surname of Cohen having a different result such as E.  We must remember that Moses lived from 1391-1271 BCE, over 3,000 years ago.   

Eleazar was the son of Aaron, therefore the next high priest.

Phineas was Eleazar's son and high priest. 

Abishua was Phineas's son and high priest.  

At some time, the office was transferred from descendants of Eleazar to those of his brother Itamar. The first known and most notable high priest of Itamar's line was Eli, a contemporary of Samuel.

• Eli, descendant of Ithamar, son of Aaron, was high priest at the shrine of Shiloh and one of the last Judges in the 11th century BCE, a mentor of Samuel.  He succeeded to the high priesthood at the age of 58 and died 40 years later as a result of falling from his chair on hearing of the Philistine capture of the Ark (I Sam 4:13).  His family was subsequently deprived of the high priesthood (I Kings 2:26-7), the Bible ascribing this to the immoral conduct of his sons, Hophni and Phinehas (I Sam.2:11-36; 3:11-14)
• Ahitub, son of Phinehas and grandson of Eli
• Ahijah, son of Ahitub               
  
      Doeg slaying the priests at Nob; oil on canvas painting in Jewish Museum, New York.  Doeg (Hebrew: דּוֹיֵג Dō'ēg) was an Edomite, chief herdsman to Saul, King of Israel. He is mentioned in the Hebrew Bible book of First Samuel, chapters 21 and 22, where he is depicted as an antagonist of David responsible for the deaths of a large number of priests. 
• Ahimelech, son of Ahijah (or brother of Ahijah and son of Ahitub), priest of Nob. Nob was a priestly city, probably near Jerusalem on Mt. Scopus.  After the destruction of the tabernacle at Shiloh, the priests of the sons of Eli built a high-place in Nob where they officiated.  As a punishment for the assistance given to the fugitive David, Saul slew all the priests of the place.   When David fled from Saul, he was welcomed by Ahimelech, who gave him the hallowed bread and the sword of Goliath that were kept in the sanctuary.  Saul took revenge by killing Ahimelech and the other priests of Nob, the sole survivor being Ahimelech's son, Abiathar.  (I Sam 21-22). 
• Abiathar, son of Ahimelech, chief priest at Nob.  He escaped the massacre of his family by King Saul, and took refuge with David who later appointed him high priest.  Abiathar remained loyal to David during Absalom's rebellion.  In the closing days of David's reign, Abiathar supported Adonijah's claims to the succession, as against those of Solomon who banished him from Jerusalem and transferred his priestly rights to Zadok.  

Abiathar was removed from the high priesthood for conspiring against King Solomon, and was replaced by Zadok, son of Ahitub, who oversaw the construction of the First Temple. According to the genealogies given in 1 Chronicles 6:3–15, Zadok was a descendant of Uzzi (through Zerahiah, Meraioth, Amariah and Ahitub) and thus belonged to the line of Eleazar. 

Zadok*

Zadok was High Priest during the construction of the First Temple.  After Saul's death, went to David at Hebron and with Abiathar;  was David's chief priest, and annointed Solomon as king.  Solomon appointed Zadok's son a high priest in the Temple and from that time, the high priesthood remained in the Zadokite family until the period of the Hasmonean rising.

Ahimaaz, high priest during King Rehoboam's days of Judah. (933-917 BCE)

Azariah, son of Zadok,  high priest during King Abijah's {Abijam}(917-915 BCE) days.  

From Solomon's time until the Babylonian captivity (597-586 BCE)  the High Priests officiated at Solomon's Temple in Jerusalem.  Information about who served in that office diverges between the Bible, Josephus and the Seder Olam Zutta. While Josephus and Seder 'Olam Zuta each mention 18 high priests, the genealogy given in 1 Chronicles 6:3–15 gives 12 names, culminating in the last high priest Seriah, father of Jehozadak. However, it is unclear whether all those mentioned in the genealogy between Zadok and Jehozadak were high priests and whether high priests mentioned elsewhere (such as Jehoiada and Jehoiarib) are simply omitted or did not belong to the male line in this genealogy.

Resource:

https://jewishfactsfromportland.blogspot.com/2021/12/the-tribe-of-levi-and-their-levites-of.html

https://jewishbubba.blogspot.com/2022/06/ashkenazi-levites-with-r1a-y-haplogroup.html

Tanakh, The Stone Edition

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_High_Priests_of_Israel

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doeg_the_Edomite#:~:text=Doeg%20(Hebrew%3A%20%D7%93%D6%BC%D7%95%D6%B9%D7%99%D6%B5%D7%92%20D%C5%8D',a%20large%20number%20of%20priests.