This is the Bible Book Club, the book of First Chronicles.

Welcome to the club.

Last episode in chapters four and five of First Chronicles, we discussed the four minor tribes,

Simeon, and the three Transjordan tribes, Rubin, Gad, and the half-tribe of Manasseh.

Simeon started the race badly, but survived post-exile. This was not the case for the Transjordan tribes.

They were unfaithful and fell prey to the idolatrous worship of foreign gods, which resulted

in captivity for the whole tribe. They preceded all other tribes and were totally absorbed into

Assyria. Okay, this episode is the tribe of Levi, and the author loves this tribe. It's another

reason we suspect that our chronicler is the priest Ezra,

which would make him a member of this tribe because all the priests are from the tribe of Levi.

On top of that, our author loves a redemption story. His sole purpose in writing chronicles

is to encourage the Israelites to redeem themselves in God's eyes by loving

and serving him. The tribe of Levi is a redemption story. As I mentioned in the last episode,

Levi was cursed in Genesis 34 along with Simeon for vengefully killing the men of Shackham.

The curse pronounced on them by Jacob stated that God would divide

and scatter them throughout Israel. The curse became a blessing for the tribe of Levi in Exodus 32.

The Levites redeemed themselves at Mount Sinai when they alone stood with Moses against the idolatry during the golden calf incident.

And this is what Moses said.

Exodus 32, verse 29.

Then Moses said, you have been set apart to the Lord today, for you were against your own sons and brothers.

And he has blessed you to this day.

The Levites were set apart and scattered as the curse had dictated, but to be a blessing to the people.

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