Posted on by Abe Austin

Scriptural Analysis- Exodus 6:21-25

21 And the sons of Izhar; Korah, and Nepheg, and Zichri.

22 And the sons of Uzziel; Mishael, and Elzaphan, and Zithri.

23 And Aaron took him Elisheba, daughter of Amminadab, sister of Naashon, to wife; and she bare him Nadab, and Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar.

24 And the sons of Korah; Assir, and Elkanah, and Abiasaph: these are the families of the Korhites.

25 And Eleazar Aaron’s son took him one of the daughters of Putiel to wife; and she bare him Phinehas: these are the heads of the fathers of the Levites according to their families.

In these verses we hear the children of Izhar and Uzziel, who were Moses and Aaron’s uncles, and the sons of Korah, who was Moses and Aaron’s cousin. More importantly, we also hear the names of Aaron’s sons and his grandson, all of whom would be integral to the law that God would lay forth. Through Moses, God would establish the priestly office and detail its responsibilities. This office would first fall to Aaron and his sons, and then to their descendants, ultimately turning the entire Levitical tribe into a priest class in Israel.

The tribe of the Levites would serve exclusively in this function, being the only ones authorized to perform the priestly duties until the advent of Jesus Christ, who was of the tribe of Judah. Christ would extend the priestly responsibility to any worthy man who was called to it, regardless of his heritage. For now, though, it would be approximately 1,600 years that the Levites would carry this duty alone.

Posted on by Abe Austin

Scriptural Analysis- Exodus 6:16-20

16 And these are the names of the sons of Levi according to their generations; Gershon, and Kohath, and Merari: and the years of the life of Levi were an hundred thirty and seven years.

17 The sons of Gershon; Libni, and Shimi, according to their families.

18 And the sons of Kohath; Amram, and Izhar, and Hebron, and Uzziel: and the years of the life of Kohath were an hundred thirty and three years.

19 And the sons of Merari; Mahali and Mushi: these are the families of Levi according to their generations.

20 And Amram took him Jochebed his father’s sister to wife; and she bare him Aaron and Moses: and the years of the life of Amram were an hundred and thirty and seven years.

Yesterday we read a brief account of the descendants of Reuben and Simeon, but those were simply to establish the context for today’s verses, which dive more deeply into the descendants of the third son Levi. And the reason why we are going into greater detail with the descendants of Levi is because this leads us to the birth of Aaron and Moses.

So, to summarize the connection, Levi had three sons. The middle son, Kohath, had four sons. The eldest of those, Amram, was the father of Aaron and Moses. So Moses and Aaron were the great-grandchildren of Levi. This information is helpful in getting a sense of just how long the Israelites had been in bondage. Presumably they were not enslaved during the first generation of the Israelite tribes (that of Levi), but it may have occurred in the time of Kohath or Amram. Of course, if Kohath, Amram, and Aaron and Moses were all born late in the lives of their fathers, this could still represent a gap of more than a hundred years between Israel’s entry to Egypt and its exit. The fact that the Israelites had grown to such a size that the Egyptians would fear them suggests that there was some significant passage of time before they were enslaved.

In short, it seems the Israelites were not under captivity for many centuries. There are many estimates that put it around 80 years, and that makes sense with the information given in these verses. Of course, 80 years is still long enough that the vast majority of the Israelites alive at this point would have spent their entire lives in slavery. When all one has known is a singular, deprived sort of life, it really doesn’t matter whether that situation originated just before birth, or thousands of years earlier. Either way, bondage is the entirety of that person’s existence.