Zadokites

Ezekiel portrays the Levites as guilty of leading Israel into idolatry, stripping them of priestly status and reserving the priesthood in the future Temple for the sons of Zadok, בְּנֵי צָדוֹק. In response, Levitical groups preserved alternative traditions, most notably a counter-narrative in the Golden Calf story, where the Levites alone answer Moses’ call to execute the worshippers of the golden calf, and through this act of loyalty to YHWH, receive ordination.

The family of Onias long controlled the high priesthood before the persecution of Antiochus IV and the Hasmoneans’ (“Maccabees’”) rebellion. When the dust settled, the Hasmoneans found themselves in charge of the priesthood and the Oniads had relocated to Egypt. 1 Maccabees, a pro-Hasmonean work, defends the legitimacy of the Hasmonean accession to the high priesthood, and the fact that it went to the family of Judah Maccabee’s brother, Simon.

Israel’s deity becomes a universal God and the political power behind human affairs. This is just one of seven historical shifts in how the Bible conceives of “theocracy,” divine political power.

The Bible knows about many priestly families, including the Levites, the Mushites (descendants of Moses), and the Zadokites. By the time of Ezra and Chronicles, however, only Aaronide priests were legitimate, and other families either merged with them or were demoted.

Korah’s rebellion ultimately results in the placement of the Levites in a permanent subordinate position to the Aaronide priests. Set in the wilderness period, the story appears to be a narrative retelling of a historical process that occurred hundreds of years later, the demotion of the Levites reflected in Ezekiel 44, as demonstrated by a number of literary parallels.