I'm still trying to wrap my head around the primary role which the Levi'im play in the community - which, according to Bemidbar 8:19, is to "perform the service of the Children of Israel in the Tent of Meeting and to provide atonement for the Children of Israel so that there will not be among the Children of Israel a plague with the approach of the Children of Israel to the Sanctuary."
There seems to be some basic logic at play here - that ordinary people cannot perform the service in the Tent, and that if they do, they will be stricken with a plague. And we, therefore, need the Levi'im to serve as a crucial intermediary so that we are not struck with this plague.
All of this is, of course, in some way related to the verses before Bemidbar 8:19 which repeatedly emphasize that the Levi'im were taken in lieu of the firstborn of B'nei Yisrael when H' took Egypt's firstborn in the tenth plague (or "sign," or "wonder.")
There is some sort of critical connection that I need to write out.
1. As a final plague/sign/wonder/miracle, G-d decides to take the firstborn.
2. Firstborn are Israel are actually included in this unless they mark their homes with the blood of the korban pesach. (This may or may not be accurate based on subsequent readings - the firstborn could have always been carved out for future sanctification and service.)
3. Israel's firstborn are not taken on that night - but this doesn't mean they're off the hook. Israel's firstborn belong to G-d, just as Egypt's firstborn do, and must still be taken. And by "taken," I don't necessarily mean killed, but rather, to use the Torah's word, "sanctified" (hakdashti).
4. However, in lieu of taking Israel's firstborn, G-d appoints the Levi'im and sanctifies them.
5. G-d then "gives over" H's Levi'im to Aharon for service in the sanctuary.
Egypt's firstborn were subjects of a plague, but the Levi'im, who are taken in place (or as the equivalent) of those firstborn, prevent the plague.
What am I missing here?
Perhaps there is some sense that Egypt's firstborn were not able to prevent a plague, whereas Israel's were. But that doesn't quite do it.
Perhaps there is an idea that some sanctification can only be achieved through death whereas other sanctification can be achieved through avodah - service/work - here, in the sanctuary. This is an uncomfortable, but perhaps more accurate thought.
There is an overarching feeling that Israel is, in fact, always on the precipice of some sort of plague, and that it takes a literal "holy man" - Aharon going out into the congregation with the incense, the Levi'im serving as a barrier at the sanctuary - to stop it. G-d's Love for the Children of Israel is infinite but it sure does look quite scary at times. (But even "scary" is an illusion.)
To be meditated on an continued...
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