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The Levites killed about 3,000 Israelites who worshipped the Golden Calf (1984 illustration by Jim Padgett). In Legends of the Jews , the Conservative rabbi and scholar Louis Ginzberg wrote that the worship of the golden calf was the disastrous consequence for Israel who took a mixed multitude in their exodus from Egypt.
According to Deuteronomy 10:8, the selection of the Levites occurred in conjunction with the sin of the golden calf. [30] While some commentaries see the command for this selection as having predated the golden calf, [31] many sources see the selection as resulting from the golden calf, as follows.
Moses goes down the mountain bearing the two tablets, and becomes enraged and shatters the tablets. He burns the calf, grinds it to powder, strews it upon the water, and makes the Israelites drink it. All the Levites, at Moses’ instruction, kills 3,000 people. God punishes the remaining sinners by means of a plague.
During the Exodus the Levite tribe were particularly zealous in protecting the Mosaic law in the face of those worshipping the golden calf, which may have been a reason for their priestly status. [3] [4] Although the Levites were not counted in the census among the children of Israel, they were numbered separately as a special army. [5]
[7] [8] The Levites as a tribe were later ordained for the priestly service after answering a call to take the L ORD 's side after the idolatry centered on the golden calf. [9] After the death of Nadab and Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar took their places as priests, because neither Nadab nor Abihu had any sons. [10] [11] [12] [13]
'The sentence as it respects Levi was turned into a blessing. This tribe performed an acceptable service in their zeal against the worshippers of the golden calf (Exodus 32:26). Being set apart to God as priests, they were in that character scattered through the nation of Israel. [10]
Bethel was an important centre for Jeroboam's Golden Calf cult (which used non-Levites as priests), [31] located on Israel's southern border, which had been allocated to the Tribe of Benjamin by Joshua, as was Ephron, which is believed to be the Ophrah that was allocated to the Tribe of Benjamin by Joshua. [32] Jeroboam died soon after Abijam.
When Moses came down, he commanded the Levites to take up the sword against their brothers and companions and neighbors. The Levites obeyed and killed about three thousand men who had sinned in worship of the golden calf. As a result, Moses said that the Levites had received a blessing that day at the cost of son and brother. [24]