The Kohathites were one of the four main divisions among the

Levites Levites (or Levi) (, he, ''Lǝvīyyīm'') are Jewish males who claim patrilineal descent from the Tribe of Levi. The Tribe of Levi descended from Levi, the third son of Jacob and Leah. The surname ''Halevi'', which consists of the Hebrew de ...

in biblical times, the other three being the

Gershonite The Gershonites were one of the four main divisions among the Levites in Biblical times. The Bible claims that the Gershonites were all descended from the eponymous '' Gershon'' a son of Levi (not to be confused with Moses' son Gershom), although s ...

s, the

Merarites The Merarites were one of the four main divisions among the Levites in Biblical times. The Bible claims that the Merarites were all descended from the eponymous Merari, a son of Levi, although some biblical scholars regard this as a postdictional ...

, and the Aaronites (more commonly known as Kohanim). The Bible claims that the Kohathites were all descended from the

eponym An eponym is a person, a place, or a thing after whom or which someone or something is, or is believed to be, named. The adjectives which are derived from the word eponym include ''eponymous'' and ''eponymic''. Usage of the word The term ''epon ...

ous ''

Kohath According to the Torah, Kehath ( he, קְהָת, ''Qəhāṯ'') or Kohath was one of the sons of Levi and the patriarchal founder of the Kehathites, one of the four main divisions of the Levites in biblical times. In some apocryphal texts, such as ...

'', a son of

Levi Levi (; ) was, according to the Book of Genesis, the third of the six sons of Jacob and Leah (Jacob's third son), and the founder of the Israelite Tribe of Levi (the Levites, including the Kohanim) and the great-grandfather of Aaron, Moses and ...

Overview

The Torah ascribes a specific religious function to the Kohathites, namely care of the vessels and objects within the sanctuary: the Ark of the Covenant, Menorah, Table of Shewbread. According to the Book of Joshua, rather than possessing a

continuous Continuity or continuous may refer to: Mathematics * Continuity (mathematics), the opposing concept to discreteness; common examples include ** Continuous probability distribution or random variable in probability and statistics ** Continuous ...

territory, the Kohathites possessed several cities scattered throughout the geographic region in the Kingdom of Israel south of the

Jezreel Valley The Jezreel Valley (from the he, עמק יזרעאל, translit. ''ʿĒmeq Yīzrəʿēʿl''), or Marj Ibn Amir ( ar, مرج ابن عامر), also known as the Valley of Megiddo, is a large fertile plain and inland valley in the Northern Distr ...

, and in the region north of the Galilee, the latter being an extremely large distance apart from the former: *in the territory of Ephraim:

Shechem Shechem ( ), also spelled Sichem ( ; he, שְׁכֶם, ''Šəḵem''; ; grc, Συχέμ, Sykhém; Samaritan Hebrew: , ), was a Canaanite and Israelite city mentioned in the Amarna Letters, later appearing in the Hebrew Bible as the first c ...

Gezer Gezer, or Tel Gezer ( he, גֶּזֶר), in ar, تل الجزر – Tell Jezar or Tell el-Jezari is an archaeological site in the foothills of the Judaean Mountains at the border of the Shfela region roughly midway between Jerusalem and Tel Av ...

, Kibzaim, and

Beth-horon Bethoron ( he, בֵית־חוֹרֹ֔ן, lit=house of Horon; grc, Ὡρωνείν), also Beth-Horon, was the name of two adjacent ancient towns strategically located on the Gibeon-Aijalon road, guarding the "ascent of Beth-Horon". The towns are ...

*in the western part of the territory of

Manasseh Manasseh () is both a given name and a surname. Its variants include Manasses and Manasse. Notable people with the name include: Surname * Ezekiel Saleh Manasseh (died 1944), Singaporean rice and opium merchant and hotelier * Jacob Manasseh (die ...

Taanach Ti'inik, also transliterated Ti’innik ( ar, تعّنك), or Ta'anakh/Taanach ( he, תַּעְנַךְ), is a Palestinian village, located 13 km northwest of the city of Jenin in the northern West Bank. According to the Palestinian Central Burea ...

, Gat Rimon *in the territory of

Dan Dan or DAN may refer to: People * Dan (name), including a list of people with the name ** Dan (king), several kings of Denmark * Dan people, an ethnic group located in West Africa **Dan language, a Mande language spoken primarily in Côte d'Ivoi ...

Eltekeh Ge'alya, sometimes written Galia ( he, גְּאַלְיָה), is a moshav in central Israel. Located in the coastal plain and covering 2,000 dunams, it falls under the jurisdiction of Gan Raveh Regional Council. In it had a population of . Hist ...

Gibbethon Gibbethon or Gibbeton was a city in the land of Canaan which, according to the record in the Hebrew Bible, was occupied by the Tribe of Dan after the entry of the Israelites into the Promised Land. According to the Book of Joshua, it was given as a ...

Aijalon The Ayalon Valley ( he, or , ''ʾAyyālōn'') is a valley in the lowland of the Shephelah in the States of Palestine and Israel, identified in the 19th century as Yalo at the foot of the Bethoron pass, a Palestinian Arab village located sout ...

, and Gath-rimmon The narrative in Joshua argues that the territory was taken by the Levites right after

Joshua Joshua () or Yehoshua ( ''Yəhōšuaʿ'', Tiberian: ''Yŏhōšuaʿ,'' lit. 'Yahweh is salvation') ''Yēšūaʿ''; syr, ܝܫܘܥ ܒܪ ܢܘܢ ''Yəšūʿ bar Nōn''; el, Ἰησοῦς, ar , يُوشَعُ ٱبْنُ نُونٍ '' Yūšaʿ ...

's conquest of

Canaan Canaan (; Phoenician: 𐤊𐤍𐤏𐤍 – ; he, כְּנַעַן – , in pausa – ; grc-bib, Χανααν – ;The current scholarly edition of the Greek Old Testament spells the word without any accents, cf. Septuaginta : id est Vetus T ...

, but some scholars believe this cannot be correct, as it is contradicted not only by archaeological evidence, but also by narratives in the

Book of Judges The Book of Judges (, ') is the seventh book of the Hebrew Bible and the Christian Old Testament. In the narrative of the Hebrew Bible, it covers the time between the conquest described in the Book of Joshua and the establishment of a kingdom ...

Books of Samuel The Book of Samuel (, ''Sefer Shmuel'') is a book in the Hebrew Bible, found as two books (1–2 Samuel) in the Old Testament. The book is part of the narrative history of Ancient Israel called the Deuteronomistic history, a series of books (Josh ...

, and Books of Kings; Gezer, for example, is portrayed in the narrative of the Book of Kings as only coming into the possession of the Levites during the reign of Solomon, and archaeological excavation of the site has shown that shortly prior to the Babylonian captivity it was still the site of a large temple to the Canaanite deity

Astarte Astarte (; , ) is the Hellenized form of the Ancient Near Eastern goddess Ashtart or Athtart ( Northwest Semitic), a deity closely related to Ishtar ( East Semitic), who was worshipped from the Bronze Age through classical antiquity. The name ...

. However, a close reading of the book of Judges reveals that the Canaanite peoples conquered by the invading Israelite tribes were often not completely subdued. The disputed territory is sometimes assigned to an individual or tribe before any conquest was undertaken (e.g., Caleb's inheritance in Joshua 14). A major theme of the book of Judges is that the disorder portrayed in the book is a direct consequence of Israel lacking the will to finish the job of conquest, allowing their enemies to dwell in their midst. Some scholars have other views.''Peake's Commentary on the bible''

References

* *{{Eastons, wstitle=Kohathites Book of Numbers people Levites

Overview

See also

References