But at that time priestly posts were not numerous, and such
an entrance of the levites _en masse_ into the service of Jehovah
in that early time is in view of the infrequency of the larger
sanctuaries a very difficult assumption. It is perhaps correct
to say that Moses actually was descended from Levi, and that the
later significance of the name Levite is to be explained by
reference to him. In point of fact, the name does appear to
have been given in the first instance only to the descendants of
Moses, and not to have been transferred until a later period
to those priests as a body, who were quite unconnected with him
by blood, but who all desired to stand related to him as their
head. Here it will never be possible to get beyond conjecture.
IV.III.3 While the clerical _tribe of the Levites_ is still
brought forward only modestly in Deuteronomy (x. 8 seq.
xviii. 1; Joshua xiii. 14, 33), it is dealt with in very real
earnest in the Priestly Code. The _tribe of Levi_ (Numbers i. 47,
49, iii. 6, xvii. 3, xviii. 2) is given over by the remaining
tribes to the sanctuary, is catalogued according to the genealogical
system of its families, reckons 22,000 male members, and even
receives a sort of tribal territory, the forty-eight Levitical
cities (Josh.
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