(hammered), the name of the second of the sons of Dedan son of Jokshan. (Genesis 25:3)
Leummim
(peoples), the name of the third of the descendants of Dedan son of Jokshan, (Genesis 25:3)
being in the plural form, like his brethren, Asshurim and Letushim.
Levi
(joined).
•The name of the third son of Jacob by his wife Leah. (B.C. about 1753.) The name, derived from
lavah, “to adhere,” gave utterance to the hope of the mother that the affections of her husband,
which had hitherto rested on the favored Rachel, would at last be drawn to her: “This time will
my husband be joined unto me, because I have borne him three sons.” (Genesis 29:34) Levi, with
his brother Simeon, avenged with a cruel slaughter the outrage of their sister Dinah. [Dinah] Levi,
with his three sons, Gershon, Kohath and Merari, went down to Egypt with his father Jacob.
(Genesis 47:11) When Jacob’s death draws near, and the sons are gathered round him, Levi and
Simeon hear the old crime brought up again to receive its sentence. They no less than Reuben, the
incestuous firstborn, had forfeited the privileges of their birthright. (Genesis 49:5-7) [Levites]
•Two of the ancestors of Jesus. (Luke 3:24,29)
•Son of Alphaeus or Matthew; one of the apostles. (Mark 2:14; Luke 5:27,29) [See Matthew]
Leviathan
(jointed monster) occurs five times in the text of the Authorized Version, and once in the margin
of (Job 3:8) where the text has “mourning.” In the Hebrew Bible the word livyathan, which is, with
the foregoing exception, always left untranslated in the Authorized Version, is found only in the
following passages: (Job 3:8; 41:1; Psalms 74:14; 104:26; Isaiah 27:1) In the margin of (Job 3:8)
and text of (Job 41:1) the crocodile is most clearly the animal denoted by the Hebrew word. (Psalms
74:14) also clearly points to this same saurian. The context of (Psalms 104:26) seems to show that
in this passage the name represents some animal of the whale tribe, which is common in the
Mediterranean; but it is somewhat uncertain what animal is denoted in (Isaiah 27:1) As the term
leviathan is evidently used in no limited sense, it is not improbable that the “leviathan the piercing
serpent,” or “leviathan the crooked serpent,” may denote some species of the great rock-snakes
which are common in south and west Africa.
Levites
(descendants of Levi). Sometimes the name extends to the whole tribe, the priests included,
(Exodus 6:25; Leviticus 25:32; Numbers 35:2; Joshua 21:3,41) etc; sometimes only to those members
of the tribe who were not priests, and as distinguished from them. Sometimes again it is added as
an epithet of the smaller portion of the tribe, and we read of “the priests the Levites.” (Joshua 3:3;
Ezekiel 44:15) The history of the tribe and of the functions attached to its several orders is essential
to any right apprehension of the history of Israel as a people. It will fall naturally into four great
periods:— I. The time of the exodus .—There is no trace of the consecrated character of the Levites
till the institution of a hereditary priesthood in the family of Aaron, during the first withdrawal of
Moses to the solitude of Sinai. (Exodus 24:1) The next extension of the idea of the priesthood grew
out of the terrible crisis of Exod 32. The tribe stood forth separate and apart, recognizing even in
this stern work the spiritual as higher than the natural. From this time they occupied a distinct
position. The tribe of Levi was to take the place of that earlier priesthood of the first-born as
representatives of the holiness of the people. At the time of their first consecration there were 22,000
of them, almost exactly the number of the first-born males in the whole nation. As the tabernacle
frankie
(Frankie)
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