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# 12 YEAR Ayelet DAILY-RASHI-YOMI CYCLE #
# June 30th, 2002 #
# Rashis 1493-1493 Of 7800 (19.1%) #
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THE LEVITE FAMILIES |
RASHI: Nu26-13a 4 Levite families died
We continue our alignment of Gn46 and Nu26 exhibiting
differences in the tribes at the times of Jacob/Moses
Levite genealogy is mentioned in 4 places
- Gn46-11 LEVI had GAYRSHON KEHATH & MERARI as children
- Ex06-16:19 brought in the list below--8 families are given
- Nu03-17:33 which repeates the 8 families in Exodus
- Nu26-57:58 brought in the list below
Here is the list of 8 Levite Families. The alignment shows
that 4 families died.
|
| Ex06-16:22 |
Nu26-57:58 |
| Gayrshon-Livni |
|
| Gayrshon-Shimi |
MISSING |
| Kehath-Amram |
MISSING |
| Kehath-Yitzhar |
Korach (Nefeg Zichri missing)*1 |
| Kehath-Chevron |
|
| Kehath-Uziel*1 |
MISSING |
| Merari-Machli |
|
| Merari-Mooshi |
|
|
|
|
|
|
COMMENTS |
*1 Ex06-21:22 states that
Yitzhar had children -- KORACH NEFEG ZICHRI
UZIEL had children ---- MISHAYL ELTZAFAN SITHRI
But UZIEL is totally absent in Nu
By contrast Yitzhar is mentioned in Exodus but only
1 of his children, Korach, is mentioned in Nu.
Hence it is reasonable that that the other 2
subfamilies died out.*10
------------------ LONGER FOOTNOTES ----------
*10 It is instructive to read the Rashi on Nu26-13a
-----------
The Jerusalem Talmud comments on the tribes
that are present in Genesis but absent in Nu
(because they died). The Jerusalem Talmud
explains how they died.
By carefully analyzing the log of journeys
it appears that the Jews went backwards for
a while. This suggests that their was a
strong faction that wanted to return to Egypt.
Apparently a civil war broke out between those
that wanted to return and the Levites who
remained loyal to God. During this civil war
several tribal families died and hence are
not mentioned in Nu.
Similarly 4 Levite families are missing,
apparently because they died in the war.
The 4 levite families that died are
those missing in the above list: Namely
SHIMI UZIEL and part of the YITZHAR family
I however do not know who the 4th is
-----------------------
The above is Rashis citation. I would like to
explain the last sentence.
Upon examining the above list we find the following
4 missing families
- Shimi (mentioned by Rashi)
- Amram (not mentioned by Rashi)
- Yitzhar lost NEFEg & ZICHRI (mentioned by Rashi)
- Uziel (mentioned by Rashi)
The above counting is obvious. I dont know why
Rashi omitted mentioning that AMRAM was the 4th.
As to the conjecture of a civil war, we have explained
that the Rashi student should know that
- Rashi was comparing/aligning chapters on children
- Rashi was explaining MISSING children as having DIED
The above analysis shows
-- beginning Rashi analysis (What TECHNIQUE does Rashi use)
-- middle Rashi analysis (What are REASONABLE INFERENCES)
We however avoid
-- Advanced analysis (What subtleties (like Civil wars!?!)
can be inferred from the text to help our analysis
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