Tribe of Levi in the context of "Twelve tribes of Israel"

The Twelve Tribes of Israel (Hebrew: שִׁבְטֵי־יִשְׂרָאֵל, romanized: Šīḇṭēy Yīsrāʾēl, lit. 'Staffs of Israel') are described in the Hebrew Bible as being the descendants of Jacob, a Hebrew patriarch who was a son of Isaac and thereby a grandson of Abraham. Jacob, later known as Israel, had a total of twelve sons, from whom each tribe's ancestry and namesake is derived: Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Dan, Naphtali, Gad, Asher, Issachar, Zebulun, Joseph, and Benjamin. Collectively known as the Israelites, they inhabited a part of Canaan—the Land of Israel—during the Iron Age. Their history, society, culture, and politics feature heavily in the Abrahamic religions, especially Judaism.

In the biblical narrative, after Moses oversaw the Israelites' departure from Egypt, he died and was succeeded by Joshua, who led the conquest of Canaan and subsequently allotted territory for all but the Tribe of Levi, which was instead dedicated 48 cities. This development culminated in the establishment of Israel and Judah, purportedly beginning with a Kingdom of Israel and Judah before splitting into the Kingdom of Israel in the north and the Kingdom of Judah in the south.

Jacob, later known as Israel, is a Hebrew patriarch of the Abrahamic religions. He first appears in the Torah, where he is described in the Book of Genesis as a son of Isaac and Rebecca. Accordingly, alongside his older fraternal twin brother Esau, Jacob's paternal grandparents are Abraham and Sarah and his maternal grandfather is Bethuel, whose wife is not mentioned. He is said to have bought Esau's birthright and, with his mother's help, deceived his aging father to bless him instead of Esau. Then, following a severe drought in his homeland Canaan, Jacob and his descendants migrated to neighbouring Egypt through the efforts of his son Joseph, who had become a confidant of the pharaoh. After dying in Egypt at the age of 147, he is supposed to have been buried in the Cave of Machpelah in Hebron.

Per the Hebrew Bible, Jacob's progeny were beget by four women: his wives (and maternal cousins) Leah and Rachel; and his concubines Bilhah and Zilpah. His sons were, in order of their birth: Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Dan, Naphtali, Gad, Asher, Issachar, Zebulun, Joseph, and Benjamin. He also had a daughter named Dinah, born to his first wife Leah. The descendants of Jacob's sons were collectively known as the Israelites, with each son being the forefather of one of the Twelve Tribes of Israel, of whom all but the Tribe of Levi were allotted territory in the Land of Israel. The Genesis narrative also states that Jacob displayed favoritism among his wives and children, preferring Rachel and her sons Joseph and Benjamin to the rest—culminating in Joseph's older brothers selling him into slavery out of resentment.

The Ten Lost Tribes were those from the Twelve Tribes of Israel that were said to have been exiled from the Kingdom of Israel after it was conquered by the Neo-Assyrian Empire around 720 BCE. They were the following: Reuben, Simeon, Dan, Naphtali, Gad, Asher, Issachar, Zebulun, Manasseh, and Ephraim – all but Judah and Benjamin, both of which were based in the neighbouring Kingdom of Judah, and therefore survived until the Babylonian siege of Jerusalem in 587 BCE. Alongside Judah and Benjamin was part of the Tribe of Levi, which was not allowed land tenure, but received dedicated cities. The exile of Israel's population, known as the Assyrian captivity, was an instance of the long-standing resettlement policy of the Neo-Assyrian Empire implemented in many subjugated territories.

The Jewish historian Josephus wrote that "there are but two tribes in Asia and Europe subject to the Romans, while the ten tribes are beyond Euphrates till now, and are an immense multitude, and not to be estimated by numbers." In the 7th and 8th centuries CE, the return of the Ten Lost Tribes was associated with the concept of the coming of the Hebrew Messiah. Claims of descent from the "lost tribes" have been proposed in relation to many groups, and some Abrahamic religions espouse a messianic view that Israel's tribes will return.

Kohen (Hebrew: כֹּהֵן, romanized: kōhēn, pronounced [koˈ(h)en]; pl. כֹּהֲנִים, kōhănīm, [ko(h)aˈnim]) is the Hebrew word for "priest", used in reference to the Aaronic priesthood, also called Aaronites or Aaronides. They are traditionally believed, and halakhically required, to be of direct patrilineal descent from the biblical Aaron (also Aharon), brother of Moses, and thus belong to the Tribe of Levi.

During the existence of the Temple in Jerusalem (and previously the Tabernacle), kohanim performed the Temple sacrificial offerings, which were only permitted to be offered by them. Following its destruction, it seems that most of them joined the Synagogal Jewish movement before adopting gradually Rabbinic Judaism, other types of Judaism, Christianity or Islam. Today, kohanim retain a lesser though distinct status within Rabbinic and Karaite Judaism, including certain honors and restrictions.

Levi (/ˈliːvaɪ/ LEE-vy; Hebrew: לֵוִי, Modern: Levī, Tiberian: Lēwī) 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 Miriam. Certain religious and political functions were reserved for the Levites.

Most scholars view the Torah as projecting the origins of the Levites into the past to explain their role as landless cultic functionaries.

In the Hebrew Bible, the Levitical cities were 48 cities in ancient Israel set aside for the tribe of Levi, who were not allocated their own territorial land when the Israelites entered the Promised Land.

Numbers 35:1-8 relates God's command to Moses to establish 48 cities for the Levites, of which six would also function as Cities of Refuge to which manslayers could flee. Each settlement was to comprise a walled city and the common land around it for pasture, measured radially as one thousand cubits (about 460 m (0.29 mi)) in each direction, or as a square measuring two thousand cubits (about 920 m (0.57 mi)) along each side. The land for the cities was to be "donated" by the host tribe and was allocated to the Levites according to their tribal sub-divisions.

Knowledge of the biblical period is mostly from literary references in the Bible and post-biblical sources. Religion and music historian Herbert Lockyer, Jr. writes that "music, both vocal and instrumental, was well cultivated among the Hebrews, the New Testament Christians, and the Christian church through the centuries." He adds that "a look at the Old Testament reveals how God's ancient people were devoted to the study and practice of music, which holds a unique place in the historical and prophetic books, as well as the Psalter."

The music of religious ritual was first used by King David: according to the Larousse Encyclopedia of Music, he is credited with confirming the men of the Tribe of Levi as the "custodians of the music of the divine service". Historian Irene Hesk notes that of the thirty-nine books of the Old Testament, the 150 Psalms in the Book of Psalms, [many] ascribed to King David, have served as "the bedrock of Judeo-Christian hymnology," concluding that "no other poetry has been set to music more often in Western civilization."