And of Levi he said,
Your Thummim and your Urim are with your godly one,
Whom you proved at Massah,
With whom you strove at the waters of Meribah;
When he comes to Simeon and Levi (compare Genesis 49:5), what he has to say specifically concerns Levi predominantly and so Simeon's name is quietly, and in view of their error, firmly dropped. This was almost certainly deliberate in order to retain the mention of twelve tribes. When listing the tribes of Israel they were always listed as twelve and one was always dropped (because Joseph had divided into Ephraim and Manasseh), for ‘twelve' was the essential number of the confederacy.
“Your Thummim and your Urim are with your godly one.” Central to the ministry of the Levites to the people of Israel was that their leader, ‘the Priest' (the High Priest), dispensed Yahweh's will through the Urim and Thummim. We could describe these as ‘holy lots' through which the divine will could be discovered (see Exodus 28:30; Leviticus 8:8; Numbers 27:21; 1 Samuel 28:6 and so on). ‘Your godly one' probably refers to Aaron, although it may signify Moses. Both were of the tribe of Levi. Moses may well have been the first to use Urim and Thummim before they were passed over to Aaron on the establishment of the High Priesthood, although his intimacy with Yahweh had become such (Numbers 7:89) that there would for him be little necessity for them, except perhaps in smaller matters of judgment.
“Whom you proved at Massah, with whom you strove at the waters of Meribah.” Outwardly this would make ‘your godly one' Moses for it was with him that they, along with the whole of Israel, strove at Massah and Meribah (Exodus 17:1-7), but Aaron was already identified with Moses in the leadership as against the grumbling people (Exodus 16:2). Thus ‘your godly one' could equally be Aaron. And in the light of the fact that the Urim and Thummim are said to be ‘with him' (that is, with his designated successor) Aaron is probably intended.
The purpose of this description is to bring out why Aaron was separated off as ‘the Priest' along with his sons. He alone (and presumably his family) had not been involved in rebelling against Yahweh.
“Who said of his father, and of his mother,
I have not seen him;
Nor did he acknowledge his brethren,
Nor knew he his own children.”
As Yahweh's holy ‘Priest' Aaron was forbidden to enjoy the usual family relationships. He was in some ways separated off from his family. When any of his family died, whether father, mother, brother, sister, son, or whoever, he was not to touch their dead bodies nor even leave the tabernacle while serving there, in the event that they were to die suddenly (Leviticus 21:11). As God's supreme representative on behalf of Israel he had to be impervious to all family loyalty. This was proof of Aaron's dedication and his especially holy position.
Or the picture may have been of Moses whose position meant that he had to keep separate from family loyalties.
“For they have observed your word,
And keep your covenant.
They shall teach Jacob your ordinances,
And Israel your law:
They shall put incense before you,
And whole burnt-offering on your altar.”
The ministry of all the sons of Levi, the Levites and the priests, is now described. They were to observe His word and guard His covenant, as they had already done when rallying round Moses in the case of the molten calves (Exodus 32:26-29), and as they did now by their tents surrounding the Sanctuary. They were to teach ‘Jacob' God's ordinances, and ‘Israel' His law. They were to offer incense before Yahweh (a right limited of course to the unblemished priests) and whole burnt offerings on His altar. They were to be ‘divided in Jacob and scattered in Israel' in a way that Jacob did not probably expect when he gave his blessing (Genesis 49:7)). The priests and Levites were to be very influential throughout the land in the Judges period, and while some overstepped the mark, in general they held Israel to the faith (Judges 17:11; Judges 19:1).
As far as the sanctuary was concerned the Levites as a whole were in the beginning merely transporters of the holy things, with only the priests being actually able to enter the Holy Place and pack up the holy things. So the Levites who were not of the priestly family were very much ‘carriers'. However, it seems that levitical duties did include the passing on of the law and the ordinances of Israel, and the external guardianship and general maintenance of the Sanctuary.
There is regularly in fact a problem of terminology when speaking of ‘the Levites' as to who exactly are in mind, as the term often referred to ancestry, but also referred to special privilege. Aaron was originally ‘the Levite' (Exodus 4:14) who would be capable of assisting Moses with his oratory. It would seem that possibly even then ‘the Levites' were seen as having a position, even at that time, where they were noted for oratory and possibly for teaching the pre-Sinai laws and statutes of Israel. As Aaron was of the family of Levi there is no justification for seeing this privilege as going outside that family, but it would explain why they were so suitable later to be teachers of the Law. Alternatively ‘the Levite' may in his case simply bring out that he was the tribal head.
Thus we have the possibility that when ‘the Levite' is spoken of later the term is seen as having in mind the priestly family of Aaron the Levite. In Deuteronomy itself distinction is made between ‘the priests, the Levites' and the other Levites in chapter 18, although it mainly deals with the levitical priests. In the light of the previous records he did not see it as necessary to explain the difference, nor limit the term.
“Bless, Yahweh, his substance,
And accept the work of his hands,
Smite through the loins of those who rise up against him,
And of those who hate him,
That they rise not again.”
In the light of this Moses calls for Yahweh's protection on them. He asks Him to bless the substance of the tribe of Levi, their cities, their fields, and all the tithes and their part in the sacrifices, and to accept from their hands the work that they will do. For if Yahweh does not accept their work, of what use will it be? He also asks that all who rise up against them, and also those who hate them, will be smitten where it most hinders them so that they do not rise again. The Levites were to be under His special protection. This was what made sin against them so heinous. The prayer is that any who opposed them be dealt with by Yahweh, because they could not protect themselves..