Leadership in Israel: Priests and Prophets: After the two sections on “secular” leadership (the judge and the king 16:18–17:20), we now have two sections on the “spiritual” leadership provided by the priest and the prophet.

Priests and Levites

The responsibilities of the tribe of Levi were broadly twofold: the service of the sanctuary, especially the role of the priests at the altar; and the preservation and teaching of the law (cf. Lev. 10:11; Deut. 10:8; 33:10; 2 Chron. 15:3; 17:8f.; 35:3; Neh. 8:7–9). They also had judicial (17:9; 21:5) and military (20:2–4) duties. This law, however, is concerned with their rights in relation to the rest of the nation.

18:1–2  These verses restate the basic fact about the tribe of Levi as a whole, namely, that they did not have a territorial inheritance l…