Since Levi was a son of the Patriarch Jacob no less than Judas, Dan, Gad, [and] the others — nay rather, prior to these named [ones] by the prerogative of birth, and, among all twelve, begotten in the third place — what cause could there be, why he did not share the same inheritance with [his] brothers? [Was it] that, as God loved Jacob himself [and] the other brothers, he held this one in hatred, as [he did] Esau (Malachi 1, vv. 2 & 3; Rom. 9, v. 13)? Or [was he] disinherited on account of the harm which he committed in the slaughter of the Shechemites (Gen. 34, v. 25)? And the former indeed we nowhere read; but the latter seems able to be confirmed from Gen. 49, v. 7: “Cursed [be] their fury (of Simeon and Levi), because [it was] obstinate; and their indignation, because [it was] hard: I will divide them in Jacob, and disperse them in Israel.” But by that reasoning, he who was partner of the fault, and is punished by this same penalty of dispersion among [his] brothers — Simeon — ought to have been made disinherited, and not to keep a little portion with the rest of [his] brothers.
Abulensis (Num. 18, question 20) brought forward three causes of this Levitical disinheritance. The first is, because [there was] no necessity of any part for it: for from the firstfruits, tithes, sacrifices, and oblations to all the Levites, more than enough of the things necessary for the sustaining of life was at hand. He relates (ch. 37) — R. Eliezer [tells] — how Levi was the tenth of the sons of Israel, beginning from Benjamin; and therefore [was] offered, through St. Michael, to God, that these Levites might serve God on earth as the Angels [do] in heaven; and [that] St. Michael then said [it was] just that a King should feed his own servants; and so gave the oblations and other [things] to the Levites. The second cause: because to that same tribe [there was] no usefulness of a portion of that kind. For since the Levites, occupied and detained by the priestly and other sacred functions, could not have ploughed fields, cultivated vines, and done other work of that kind — what [would come] from an unploughed and uncultivated land, of fruits? The third: because the division would have been grievous and burdensome to the other tribes, if the Levites had obtained one part too. For that part indeed would have made them equal to all the other tribes (as was indicated in the foregoing question); but the other [endowments], so many and so great, given to them by God, would have constituted them far richer and more powerful than the rest. For the twelve tribes gave to them, from the fruits of the land, the flocks, and the beasts, tithes. Those other [tribes], therefore, retained to themselves each nine tithes [nine-tenths]; but this one Levitical [tribe] received the twelve tithes, and so obtained more than a portion. By three tithe-parts, therefore, this [tribe] already surpassed all the other tribes. Let the firstfruits be added, let the dues of the victims and libations be added, let the vows and oblations be added at last. How great [is] this inequality? how enviable, and scarcely to be borne by the other tribes, [is] the opulence of the Levites? And these [dues] either surpassed or equalled a third portion. For if [those] excluded from inheritance still underwent envy (Num. 16), how greatly would sharers [in it] have blazed [with it]? — From these reasons, the second is little firm. First: because, after the temple was fixed and erected, the Levites were freed from a great part of the burdens and businesses — so much [so] that David, King and Prophet, had to impose upon them new occupations, as it were (1 Chron. 23). Next: because, granted the Levites were always most busy, and had thoroughly learned even the sacred and the Lord’s laws by the greatest labor and study, and taught them to others — yet could they not have cultivated their own fields and vines through bondservants and hirelings? Were not the richer, more powerful, [and] more noble [men] in the other tribes doing that?
But two other reasons are very apt, if indeed these two [things] have already been posited and established: I. [that] God willed the revenues of his priesthood and sacred ministry to be so various in kind, [and] so rich; II. [that] God willed likewise to confer this whole [dignity] upon the Levitical tribe — and indeed [upon] it alone — of the office and dignity only. But again it can be asked: why did the Lord will these two [things]? And of the former, the reason seems least obscure and hindered. For God’s honor and majesty stands the greater among men, if to his worship and priesthood so great and so many resources are dedicated and consecrated. But the cause of the latter is in the secrets of the divine wisdom — even as also [is the cause] why [he willed] to prefer this tribe alone to the others; nay, in it too, why — before Moses — he willed Aaron [to be] the ordinary state and Pontiff, [and] before that one’s posterity, the posterity of this one [Aaron] to be Priests. For here nothing else occurs than [that] which we see in fact — that he did it so; and that, as to this sacred function and its dignity and riches, he loved Levi, but the other tribes he held in hatred, that is, put after. The single reason, therefore, of the whole posited question — in which, however, are included also those [reasons] which have already been said — the Lord himself brings forward (Num. 18, v. 20), when he says to Aaron: “In their land (of the children of Israel) you shall possess nothing, nor shall you have a part among them. I [am] your part and inheritance in the midst of the children of Israel” — that is: I, God, am to you Levites in place of a part and inheritance, which — just as your other brothers were able to receive [it] in the midst of the children of Israel, or in the common partition of the land [so am I]. But I will be to you fields, vineyards, oliveyards, crops, grapes, olives — all things, I say, I will be to you [as] the conveniences and fruits which the land could supply. I, without ploughshare and plough, without digging and trenching, without any labor or care of yours, will bring forth and render to you [such things] as the richest glebe, the most fruitful vine, the most productive olive — [things such as] a vast wilderness, and lavished sweat, could bring forth and render. I [am] the field and the fruit, which needs neither the culture and hand of men, nor the timely and late rains of the clouds, nor the breezes and storms of the East or West winds, nor the heat and influx of the Sun or of any of the heavens. To you, always, and certainly, and abundantly, I will procure and bestow all necessary things. Be of good cheer; in me [be] all [your] hope…
(col. 1109)
…in me fix your hopes. From me all good things flow. That nothing be lacking to you will be my care — nay, even that [there be] much more than to the three other [rest of the] tribes, among whom the dividing of the land will be made, so that [it] may be over and above and redound [to you]. Now the Lord did this, when he transferred into the Levites’ right all [the things] which were owed to himself — tithes, firstfruits, victims, oblations — and commanded all these to be handed over rightly and faithfully by so many laws and precepts; by so many exhortations and admonitions he stirred up the pious beneficence of the other tribes toward these [Levites]; by so many either rewards or penalties he sanctioned this his will, and rendered [it] most certain to all. From this same [source it is] noted (Num. ch. 18, v. 21) in these words: “But to the sons of Levi I have given all the tithes in possession, for the ministry wherewith they serve me in the tabernacle of the covenant.” And v. 24: “they shall possess nothing else, content with the oblation of the tithes, which I have prepared for their uses and necessaries.” And Deuteronomy (v. 8), ch. 18 v. 2, and this book ch. 13 twice (v. 14 & 33), thus: “To the tribe of Levi Joshua gave no possession; but the sacrifices and victim of the Lord God of Israel — that itself is his inheritance, as he spoke to him.” And ch. 18 v. 7: “There is not among you a part of the Levites, but the Priesthood of the Lord is their inheritance.” See below, ch. 21, q. 3.
But from that disinheritance of Levi, and from its so rich and copious compensation, flows a certain wondrous and delightful consideration of divine providence. For first, Jacob, about to die, imprecated — or threatened — upon Simeon and Levi themselves (both for the slaughter of the Shechemites and for the design of killing Joseph, as indeed the Chaldee Paraphrast [Gen. 49] and the Rabbis think) dispersion among [their] brothers: that those whom fury and crime had joined, habitation might tear apart and pull asunder in the promised land — while they should not have one certain portion of land and fixed seat, but their posterity should be scattered, dispersed in several disjoined places, as is had concerning the tribe of Simeon (1 Chron. 4) and concerning Levi in this book below (chs. 19 & 21). But God did not will to take away or change the just imprecation or threatening of the good old man and Patriarch; but, of his immense benignity, he brought it about that this dispersion should indeed be, yet with no disadvantage — nay rather, as to the Levitical tribe, with no small advantage and honor. Secondly: that the other [tribes] might pursue the Levitical tribe with charity, and it [pursue] the others [with charity], and [that] all together, with joined works, might apply themselves to the worship and honor of God and to the proper salvation of souls, the same Lord brought [it] about that in spiritual and sacred [matters] the others should depend on the Levites; in corporeal [matters], and the subsidies for leading human life, the Levites themselves [should depend] on the others — as though the Lord should say: Do you wish, O other Israelites, to worship me [as] your God as you ought, to sacrifice to me, to have me propitious? To my Levites [give the things] which are required for food and clothing, which are given to you by me, [and] which are owed to me by you: give all, give abundantly. Do you wish, O Levites, to receive your sustenance from the other Israelites — fat victims, plentiful tithes, rich firstfruits, frequent oblations, and very ample and opulent gifts? Labor at my sacred [rites] strenuously; teach my people my laws and precepts diligently; bind those [people] to yourselves by your religion, doctrine, diligence, and example: their libe-
rality and munificence — do not blunt [it] by impiety, inertia, idleness, [and] wantonness. By you they [are bound]; by them you are fitted and knit. Their mind is commended to you by me, your body to them. Thirdly: [that] which withdrew from the Levites in the partition of the land, that accrued to the other tribes — so that these, [made] as it were richer by that benefit, might be more beneficent toward those same [Levites]. Fourthly, finally, a certain form of acting, and of mutually embracing and aiding one another, was described for the Christian people no less than the clergy — which St. Cyril of Alexandria pursues (bk. 13, On adoration in spirit and in truth) and St. Jerome (Epistle to Nepotian, On the life of Clerics); and something can be seen in Bellarmine (bk. 1, On Clerics, chs. 25 & 26). Likewise Paul of Burgos [wrote] concerning himself and his Levite sons, in the Epistle to his son Alphonsus [prefixed] before the additions to Lyranus; [and] St. Ambrose (On flight from the world, ch. 2): “He whose portion is God ought to care for nothing but God, lest he be hindered by the burden of another’s necessity. For [that] which is bestowed on other offices, this is plucked away from the worship of religion, and from this our office.”