Levi, the third son of Jacob and Leah, as described in the Book of Genesis, was the progenitor of the Tribe of Levi, which includes the Levites and the Kohanim. He was also the great-grandfather of notable biblical figures Aaron, Moses, and Miriam. Levi's descendants were distinguished by their particular religious roles within the Israelite community.
Levi is a name actually belonging to several men in the Bible. For this article’s purposes, we will discuss the most famous Levi, one of the 12 sons of Jacob. While Levi didn’t become as well-known as some of his other brothers, his actions impacted his family and descendants in crucial ways.
Levi is known as one of the twelve sons of Jacob and Leah. He is a founding patriarch of the Tribe of Levi, crucial in religious duties within ancient Israel. Levi's early life is marked by his involvement in the revenge against Shechem for the rape of his sister, Dinah, an act that led Jacob to curse Levi's anger.
Despite this early violence, the descendants of Levi, known as Levites, were appointed to critical religious roles, including serving as priests. The Levites did not receive a territorial inheritance like the other tribes. Still, they were scattered throughout Israel, serving in the Tabernacle and later in the Temple, emphasizing their unique role in Israelite worship and governance.
The name "Levi" in Hebrew translates to "joined" or "attached." This is reflected in Genesis 29:34, where, upon Levi's birth, his mother, Leah, expresses her hope that her husband Jacob will become more attached to her because she has borne him three sons. Levi's role extends beyond his origins; he becomes the forefather of the Levitical priesthood.
The tribe of Levi, his descendants, were designated special religious duties in ancient Israel. They did not inherit land like the other tribes but were given cities to live in and were supported by tithes, as detailed in Numbers 18:20-24 and Joshua 21.
Levi was the fourth son of Jacob and Leah. Jacob was a twin brother to Esau. Jacob’s mother, Rebekah, struggled during her pregnancy and asked God what was happening to her.
“The Lord said to her, “Two nations are in your womb, and two peoples from within you will be separated; one people will be stronger than the other, and the older will serve the younger.” (Genesis 25:23 NIV)
Jacob differed from his brother Esau. Jacob preferred staying home, while Esau enjoyed hunting and being outdoors. Scripture tells that Esau was the favorite of his father, Isaac, and Jacob was the favorite son of his mother.
As Isaac grew older and could no longer see clearly, Rebekah took matters into her own hands. She created a plan to trick Isaac into giving the ancestral blessing (something Isaac inherited from his father Abraham) to Jacob instead of Esau. When Esau learned of the deception, he promised to kill Jacob after their father died and the mourning period ended. As it turned out, he would have to wait a while. A British Bible School article observes that Genesis says Isaac did not die until he was 180 (Genesis 35:28), and Esau swore vengeance sometime after his father was 100 years old. At least 20 years (possibly 40 to 60 years) passed before his father died.
Obviously, no one in Isaac’s family knew when he would die, and Rebekah was concerned when she learned about Esau’s plan. She warned Jacob that Esau wanted to kill him and devised a plan for him to escape. She told Isaac that Jacob needed a wife from his people rather than the Canaanites (Esau had married two Canaanite women). So, Jacob was sent to his uncle Laban in Haran.
Jacob went to Haran and began working as a shepherd for Laban. Jacob suggested that he work for seven years in return for Laban’s daughter, Rachel. Deception followed when Laban substituted his older daughter Leah instead of Rachel during a wedding night of feasting. Jacob awoke to find Leah in bed instead of Rachel. New promises were made. Laban stated he would also give Rachel to Jacob if he worked another seven years for him.
While Jacob was married to Leah and Rachel, he loved Rachel more than Leah. As time passed, Rachel did not conceive a child. Leah became pregnant and gave birth to Reuben and three other sons. Family dynamics strained as Rachel became jealous that Leah could bear children while she was not becoming pregnant. To get the advantage, Rachel gave Jacob her handmaid, Bilhah, to give him children. Leah did the same thing, giving her handmaid Zilpah to Jacob. Rachel eventually had two sons, Joseph and Benjamin. In total, Jacob had 12 sons and at least one daughter, Dinah. One of those sons by Leah was Levi, born after a period when she had stopped having children.
The time came when Jacob took his family and left Haran. God had commanded him to move on and assured him that He would be Jacob wherever he went next (Genesis 31:3). When he left, his family had grown to 12 sons and at least one daughter, Tamar.
Levi was Leah’s third son. Like all of his brothers, he became the forefather of one of the 12 tribes of Israel. While his brothers are most remembered for the fact they sold Joseph into slavery and met him again in Egypt years later, Genesis doesn’t say what part exactly he played in that betrayal.
Genesis does share that Levi and one of his brothers, Simeon, took dramatic actions to defend the honor of their sister, Dinah.
Dinah, daughter of Jacob and Leah, had traveled to the city for a visit. The son of the city ruler, Shechem, saw Dinah and raped her. The way women were treated during that time brought much heartache and fear.
Shechem proclaimed to loved Dinah and told his father Hamor to get her for him. Jacob learned what had happened, but when he received the news, “his sons were in the fields with his livestock; so he did nothing about it until they came home.” (Genesis 34:5 NIV)
A discussion occurred between Shechem’s father, Hamor, and Jacob. As Jacob’s sons returned from working in the fields, they learned what Shechem had done to their sister. Anger filled the brothers.
As Shechem bargained to marry Dinah, her brothers suggested a solution that would cause pain to all of Hamor’s men: Dinah could marry into Hamor’s tribe if Shechem and all the other men were circumcised. God had commanded their ancestor Abraham to be circumcized with his son Isaac and the rest of his men, a sign that Abraham’s people were separate from other groups.
Circumcision would show that Hamor’s people were assimilating with Jacob’s tribe, but it was also painful. The two groups agreed, and all males in the city were circumcised. The men of the city felt crippling pain afterward. Three days later, Levi and Simeon attacked the men with their swords.
After they killed Hamor and Shechem, the brothers took Dinah and looted the city. Their vengeful actions left Jacob worried that his other neighbors would come and destroy their family (Genesis 34:30).
Levin and Simeon replied, “Should he have treated our sister like a prostitute?” (Genesis 34:31) The brothers loved their sister and wanted retaliation for what she had endured.
Considering how crimes were handled in biblical times, we may wonder whether Levin and Simeon acted out of justice or vengeance. Furthermore, what about Jacob’s response? Was he more concerned about his daughter’s honor of his daughter or his family’s reputation after everyone learned how Levi and Simeon had taken matters into their own hands?
After Levi and Simeon looted Hamor’s city, Jacob moved his family back to Bethel. God appeared to Jacob and promised that kings and nations would come from his line.
“God said to him, ‘Your name is Jacob, but you will no longer be called Jacob: your name will be Israel.’ So he named him Israel.” (Genesis 35:10 NIV)
Jacob took his family and moved from Bethel to Eder. Rachel died giving birth to their child Benjamin, Jacob’s twelfth son.
Years later, Levi and his brothers would sell Rachel’s oldest son, Jacob, into slavery. Still later, they came to Egypt for food to survive a famine and met Joseph, now second in command of the country. Jacob and his entire family moved to Egypt shortly after that.
Jacob called for his sons to gather around him when he knew he was dying. To each son, he gave specific words. He praised some sons, but for Simeon and Levi, he spoke a warning.
“Simeon and Levi are brothers—their swords are weapons of violence. Let me not enter their council, let me not join their assembly, for they have killed men in their anger and hamstrung oxen as they pleased. Cursed be their anger, so fierce, and their fury, so cruel! I will scatter them in Jacob and disperse them in Israel.” (Genesis 49:5-7 NIV)
By the time Moses led the Israelites out of Egypt, Levi’s descendants had become a full tribe, the Levites. God told Moses that the Levites would serve as priests (Numbers 18). Both Numbers and Deuteronomy mention that the sons of Levi had special privileges as priests but were not allowed to be landowners because God is their inheritance (Deuteronomy 18).
Today, Levites is still the term for Jewish males descended from the tribe of Levi. Scholars report that today, Levites in Orthodox Judaism have more rights and obligations than others in the church, such as helping wash hands before the priestly blessing. The Levite status is passed down from a father to a child born from a Jewish mother. Historians report almost 300,000 Levites in the Ashkenazi Jewish community (there are also many Levites in the Sephardic and Mizrahi Jew communities).
The story of Levi leaves us with some tough questions. Was his decision to avenge Dinah being assaulted a way to regain family honor? Did it achieve justice or just more bloodshed? If it was simply bloodthirsty behavior that made everything worse, how much of Levi’s behavior can be attributed to his family? After all, his family had more than its share of dysfunction.
Some of these questions cannot be fully addressed in a short article like this. However, we can certainly learn the following from his life.
First, family relationships can have an impact on current and future generations. Levi’s family dealt with lies, distrust, rape, revenge, and more. Sometimes, he and other family members followed God’s guidance. Other times, they didn’t. There is an opportunity to turn to God and seek His guidance in each situation.
Second, God brings good out of bad. His father rebuked Levi, but Jacob’s last words about having no inheritance became a blessing. The Levites had no land but were specially chosen to serve God as priests. Even Jacob’s complicated living situation—his multiple wives and the handmaidens he had children with—birthed a blessed nation. In fact, it was Leah, the wife Jacob didn’t want, who gave birth to Judah, whose descendants included King David and Jesus.
Levi can remind us that our actions have consequences and that God can do surprising, redemptive things in the aftermath.
In His Name,
Melissa Henderson
Photo Credit: Caspar Luyken print. Provided by Phillip Medhurst/Wikimedia Commons.
Melissa is the author of Licky the Lizard and Grumpy the Gator. Her passions are helping in the community and church. Melissa is an Elder, Deacon, and Stephen Minister.
Follow Melissa on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and at http://www.melissaghenderson.com
This article is part of our People of Christianity catalog that features the stories, meaning, and significance of well-known people from the Bible and history. Here are some of the most popular articles for knowing important figures in Christianity:
How Did the Apostle Paul Die?
Who are the Nicolaitans in Revelation?
Who Was Deborah in the Bible?
Who Was Moses in the Bible?
King Solomon's Story in the Bible
Who Was Lot's Wife in the Bible?
Who Was Jezebel in the Bible?
Who Was the Prodigal Son?