Levi

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Biblical longevity
Name	Age	LXX
Methuselah	969	969
Jared	962	962
Noah	950	950
Adam	930	930
Seth	912	912
Kenan	910	910
Enos	905	905
Mahalalel	895	895
Lamech	777	753
Shem	600	600
Eber	464	404
Cainan	—	460
Arpachshad	438	465
Salah	433	466
Enoch	365	365
Peleg	239	339
Reu	239	339
Serug	230	330
Job	210?	210?
Terah	205	205
Isaac	180	180
Abraham	175	175
Nahor	148	304
Jacob	147	147
Esau	147?	147?
Ishmael	137	137
Levi	137	137
Amram	137	137
Kohath	133	133
Laban	130+	130+
Deborah	130+	130+
Jehoiada	130	130
Sarah	127	127
Miriam	125+	125+
Aaron	123	123
Rebecca	120+	120+
Moses	120	120
Joseph	110	110
Joshua	110	110

This article discusses the Biblical patriarch. See Levi Strauss for the inventor of jeans, Levites for the Biblical tribe, or Matthew the Evangelist for the disciple sometimes known as "Levi". For other names and surnames, see Levi (disambiguation).

Levi/Levy, Standard Levy Tiberian Lēwî ; "joining") was, according to the Book of Genesis, the third son of Jacob and Leah, and the founder of the Israelite Tribe of Levilevites). The Book of Genesis tells that his mother Leah expected to become the favorite escorting wife of Jacob, after the birth of her third son. This is the origin of the name Levi, as in Hebrew it originates in the word Liva meaning to escort. (the

Levi is known for two major stories in the Bible - the Rape of Dinah (Genesis 34) and the Sale of Joseph (Genesis 37-50). These stories partray a hot temper and brutal character of Levi, being emphasized by his father Jacob's last words (Genesis 49). Levi had three sons Gershon, Kohath and Merari, who all migrated to Egypt. The name Merari is thought by scholars to be an Egyptian name, since it has been found inscripted on several Egyptian tombs.^{[citation needed]} In the Book of Genesis, Levi is described as the great-grandfather of Moses, Aaron and their sister Miriam.

Some Biblical scholars view this as postdiction, an eponymous metaphor providing an aetiology of the connectedness of the tribe to others in the Israelite confederation.^[1]textual scholars, the early sources of the Torah—the Jahwist and Elohist—appear to treat the term Levi as just being a word meaning priest; some scholars suspect that "levi" was originally a general term for a priest, and had no connection to ancestry, and that it was only later, for example in the priestly source and Blessing of Moses, that the existence of a tribe named Levi became assumed, in order to explain the origin of the priestly caste.^[2]^[3] Certain religious and political functions were reserved for the Levites, and, according to

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[edit] The family of Levi

In the Book of Genesis, Levi is described as having fathered three sons—Gershon, Kohath, and Merari.^[4] A similar genealogy is given in the Book of Exodus, where it is added that among Kohath's sons was one—Amram—who married a woman named Jochebed, who was closely related to his father, and between them were the biological parents of Moses, Aaron, and Miriam;^[5] though some Greek and Latin manuscripts of the Torah state that Jochebed was Amram's father's cousin, the masoretic text states that she was his father's sister,^[6] and the Septuagint mentions that she was one of his father's sisters. The masoretic text's version of Levi's genealogy thus implies (but doesn't state) that Levi also had a daughter (Jochebed), and the Septuagint implies further daughters. The names of Levi's sons, and possible daughter, are interpreted in classical rabbinical literature as being reflections on their future destiny.^[7] In some apocryphal texts such as the Testament of Levi, and the Book of Jubilees, Levi's wife, his children's mother, is named as Milkah, a daughter of Aram.^[8]^[9]

Textual scholars attribute the genealogy to the Book of Generations, a document originating from a similar religiopolitical group and date to the priestly source.^[10] According to some Biblical scholars, the Torah's genealogy for Levi's descendants, is actually an aetiological myth reflecting the fact that there were four different groups among the levites - the Gershonites, Kohathites, Merarites, and Aaronids;^[1] Aaron—the eponymous ancestor of the Aaronids—couldn't be portrayed as a brother to Gershon, Kohath, and Merari, as the narrative about the birth of Moses (brother of Aaron), which textual scholars attribute to the earlier Elohist source, mentions only that both his parents were Levites (without identifying their names).^[11] Some Biblical scholars suspect that the Elohist account offers both matrilinial and patrilinial descent from Levites in order to magnify the religious credentials of Moses.^[1]

The masoretic text/Septuagint family tree of Levi's immediate descendants is as follows: