Q1. Who were the Levitical Priests?
A Levite is a member of the Hebrew tribe ‘Levi’ that was named after one of Jacob’s twelve sons. The Levites served religious and political duties for the Israelites. Although all priests were Levites, not all Levites were priest. Remember the golden calf idol event in Exodus? The Israelites had built it when Moses was receiving the 10 Commandments. However, the Levites did not take part in the idol worship and actually killed 3000 of them as ordered by Moses. (Check out Exodus 32:35-29.) After which, Moses said of the Levites, "Today you have ordained yourselves for the service of The Lord, each one at the cost of his son and of his brother, that he may bestow a blessing upon you this day." (Exodus 32:29). The Levites were natural allies of Moses because Moses himself was of the tribe of Levi (Exodus 2:1-2,10).
Levi had 3 sons - Gershon, Kohath, and Merari. From those branches of the family, the Levites were organized into 3 levels of service:
The first level was composed of Aaron and his offspring, who were descended from Levi's son Kohath. They formed the priesthood.
The second level was made up of all of the other descendants of Kohath who were not descendants of Aaron. They were in charge of the most sacred parts of the Tabernacle (Numbers 3:27-32, 4:4-15, 7:9).
The third level consisted of all of the descendants of Gershon and Merari, who were given lesser duties (Numbers 3:21-26,33-37).
The Levites served at the Tabernacle from age 30 to 50 (Numbers 4:3,23,30). They were not counted for military service in the armies of Israel, but were set apart for service to God (Numbers 1:45-50, 2:33, 26:62).
So to put it simply, the Levitical priest were the Levites with the highest rank of duty, ministering in the name of the Lord.
According to Numbers 16:5 the Levitical priests were commissioned by God, separated unto God, and were allowed to approach God. "Then he said to Korah and all his followers: 'In the morning the Lord will show who belongs to him and who is holy, and he will have that person come near him. The man he chooses he will cause to come near him."
Q2. Who compiled the book of Psalms?
King David, the “sweet singer of Israel” compiled the book of Psalms.
Although the bulk of the Psalms was composed by King David himself, he also included therein psalms written by ten elders of preceding generations: Adam, Malki Zedek, Abraham, Moses, Heiman, Jeduthun, Asaph, and the three sons of Korach.
The first King of the Jews was Saul followed by King David and then King Solomon. So yes, one of you were right about David appearing before Solomon did because Solomon is the Son of King David and Bathsheba! Hahas. So how did Solomon become involved with Psalms? I think it could be anybody’s guess. If we look at Psalm 72, some bibles quote it was FOR Solomon while others quote OF Solomon. Probably due to the chain of translations, we don’t have a very good idea if King David actually composed it for or about Solomon. Do not confuse with the Psalms of Solomon though, PoS is collection of 18 religious songs that is not part of any scriptural canon. It is deemed as a falsely attributed work and authorship is unknown. Also, this is not related to Song of Songs.
truckloads of thanks for reading til here! hope this entry provided useful insights.
-vonn.
...making music for GOD!
