According to the Torah, Merari was one of the sons of Levi[1], and the patriarchal founder of the Merarites, one of the four main divisions among the Levites in Biblical times; the Hebrew word Merari means sad/bitter. The Merarites were charged with the care of the boards of the tabernacle & related items as well as the pillars of the court all around & related components.
Textual scholars attribute the genealogy to the Book of Generations, a document originating from a similar religiopolitical group and date to the priestly source[2]. According to biblical scholars, the Torah's genealogy for Levi's descendants is actually an aetiological myth reflecting the fact that there were four different groups among the levites - the Gershonites, Kohathites, Merarites, and Aaronids[3][4]; 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.[5]
See also
References
- ^ Numbers 3:21
- ^ Richard Elliott Friedman, Who Wrote The Bible?
- ^ Peake's commentary on the Bible
- ^ Jewish Encyclopedia
- ^ This article incorporates text from the 1901–1906 Jewish Encyclopedia, a publication now in the public domain.
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