Everything about The Merarite totally explained
The
Merarites were one of the four main divisions among the
Levites in
Biblical times. The Bible claims that the Merarites were all descended from the
eponymous
Merari, a son of
Levi, although
biblical scholars regard this as a
postdictional
metaphor providing an
aetiology of the connectedness of the clan to others in the
Israelite confederation; according to biblical scholars,
Levite was originally just a job title, deriving from the
Minaean word
lawi'u meaning
priest, rather than having been the name of a tribe.
The Bible ascribes a specific religious function to the Merarites, namely care of the framework - posts, crossbars, courtyard, tent pegs, etc. - of the sanctuary. This differentiation of religious activity between the Merarites and other Levites, in particular the
Aaronids, is found only in the
Priestly Code, and not in passages that
textual scholars attribute to other authors.
According to the
Book of Joshua, rather than possessing a
continuous territory, the Merarites possessed several cities scattered throughout the geographic region of
Gilead, as well as in the south of the
Galilee, the latter being quite unrealistically distant from the former:
The narrative in Joshua argues that the territory was taken by the Levites right after
Joshua's conquest of
Canaan, but this can't be correct, as it's contradicted not only by
archaeological evidence, but also by narratives in the
Book of Judges,
Books of Samuel, and
Books of Kings. The conclusion of most biblical scholars is thus that the whole system of Levite cities, in the Torah and
deuteronomic history, is an attempt to explain the fact that important early sanctuaries existed at these locations, and thus were places where members of the priesthood naturally came to reside in large numbers; scholars believe that the priesthood was originally open to any tribe, but gradually became seen as a distinct tribe to themselves - the Levites.
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