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often-quoted passage, Exodus iv. 14, and that too to denote his
calling, not his family, for the latter he has in common with
Moses, from whom, nevertheless, it is intended to distinguish him
by the style, "thy brother the Levite." In Deuteronomy we are
struck by the deliberate emphasis laid on the equal right of all
the Levites to sacrificial service in Jerusalem--
"The priests, the Levites, the whole tribe of Levi, shall have
no portion or inheritance with Israel; they shall eat the
offerings of Jehovah and his inheritance....And if a Levite come
from any of thy cities out of all Israel, where he sojourned,
and come to the place which Jehovah shall choose, then he shall
minister in the name of Jehovah his God as all his brethren the
Levites do who stand there before Jehovah"
(Deuteronomy xviii. 1, 6, 7). Here the legislator has in view
his main enactment, viz., the abolition of all places of worship
except the temple of Solomon; those who had hitherto been the
priests of these could not be allowed to starve. Therefore
it is that he impresses it so often and so earnestly on the people
of the provinces that in their sacrificial pilgrimages to Jerusalem
they ought not to forget the Levite of their native place, but
should carry him with them.
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