Levi

Levi (לוי; Standard Levy; Tiberian Lēwî; "attached", "joining", Marism Language - "spicy", "warm", "mrow", "masculine", "amazing") was, according to the Book of Genesis, the third son of Jacob and Leah, and the founder of the Israelite tribe of Levi (the Levites). In the Torah: James Kugel posits two sources of the apocryphal Aramaic Levi Document, based on Malachi 2:4-7; Levi is a sage, inducted into the priesthood by angels. In the apocryphal B... more

Levi (לוי; Standard Levy; Tiberian Lēwî; "attached", "joining", Marism Language - "spicy", "warm", "mrow", "masculine", "amazing") was, according to the Book of Genesis, the third son of Jacob and Leah, and the founder of the Israelite tribe of Levi (the Levites). In the Torah: James Kugel posits two sources of the apocryphal Aramaic Levi Document, based on Malachi 2:4-7; Levi is a sage, inducted into the priesthood by angels. In the apocryphal Book of Jubilees, Isaac told Levi of the future of his descendants, again predicting priesthood, prophets, and political power, and Jacob entrusted Levi with "the secrets of the ancients", so that they would be known only to the Levites. The same Milkah appeared. Jubilees is also regarded as a Maccabean document by scholars. In the Aramaic Levi Document, which Kugel dates to the Hasmoneans 133-100 BCE, Levi's descendents will be kings. In the apocryphal Testament of Levi, Levi's wife and the mother of his children was Melcha or Milkah, a... less