What does Challoner’s note say Levi should do when family ties would draw him away from his calling?

Atlas of Saints · Chapter summary

The priestly tribe should prefer God’s honour and service to flesh and blood and act as strangers even toward their nearest kin when those ties would draw them away from the duty of their calling.

Chapter breakdown

Before his death, Moses, the man of God, blesses Israel’s children. He says the Lord came from Sinai, rose to them from Seir, appeared from Mount Pharan, and came with thousands of saints. A fiery law was in his right hand. He loved the people; all the saints are in his hand, and those who approach his feet receive his teaching. Moses commanded a law, the inheritance of Jacob’s multitude. The passage says he shall be king with the most right, with the people’s princes assembled with Israel’s tribes.

For Ruben, Moses asks that he live and not die, and be small in number. For Juda, he asks the Lord to hear his voice and bring him to his people. His hands shall fight for him, and the Lord shall be his helper against his enemies.

For Levi, Moses speaks of perfection and teaching belonging to the holy man proved in temptation and judged at the waters of contradiction. Challoner’s separate note identifies the holy man as Aaron and his successors in the priesthood. Levi says he does not know his father and mother, does not know his brethren, and has not known his children; these have kept the Lord’s word and observed his covenant. Challoner explains that the priestly tribe should prefer God’s honour and service to flesh and blood, behaving as strangers even to their nearest kin when those ties would draw them from the duty of their calling. The blessing names the Lord’s judgments for Jacob and his law for Israel, placing incense in his wrath and whole burnt offerings on his altar. Moses asks the Lord to bless Levi’s strength, receive his hands’ work, strike the backs of his enemies, and prevent those who hate him from rising.

For Benjamin, the Lord’s best beloved shall dwell confidently in him, remain as in a bride chamber all day, with rest between his shoulders. Challoner says this seems to allude to the temple being built within Benjamin’s confines. The note presents this as an apparent allusion.

Joseph’s land is to receive the Lord’s blessing through heaven’s fruits, dew, and the deep beneath; fruits brought by sun and moon; tops of ancient mountains and fruits of everlasting hills; and the earth’s fruits and fullness. The blessing of him who appeared in the bush is to come on Joseph’s head and the crown of the Nazarite among his brethren. The separate note directs the reader to Genesis 49:26. His beauty is like a bullock’s firstling and his horns like a rhinoceros’s: with them he shall push nations to earth’s ends. These are Ephraim’s multitudes and Manasses’ thousands.

Zabulon is to rejoice in his going out and Issachar in his tabernacles. They shall call the people to the mountain and sacrifice victims of justice there, drawing as milk the sea’s abundance and the sands’ hidden treasures. Gad is blessed in his breadth, rests like a lion, and seizes the arm and top of the head. He sees his pre-eminence because the teacher was laid up in his portion, was with the people’s princes, and did the Lord’s justices and his judgment with Israel. Challoner explains Gad’s pre-eminence as having Moses the lawgiver buried in its borders, though the particular place was unknown.

Dan is a young lion who shall flow plentifully from Basan. Nephtali shall enjoy abundance, be full of the Lord’s blessings, and possess the sea and the south. Challoner identifies the sea as the lake of Genesareth. Aser is to be blessed with children, acceptable to his brethren, and dip his foot in oil. His shoe shall be iron and brass, and his old age shall be as the days of his youth.

There is no other god like the God of the rightest. Mounted on heaven, he is their helper; by his magnificence the clouds run here and there. His dwelling is above, with everlasting arms beneath. He will cast out the enemy and say that it be brought to nothing. Challoner explains that though God dwells above in heaven, his arms are always stretched out to help us below. Israel shall dwell safely and alone, the eye of Jacob in a land of corn and wine, with heavens misty with dew. Israel is called blessed, a people saved by the Lord, who is the shield of its help and sword of its glory. Its enemies shall deny it, and it shall tread on their necks.

The story inside

Moses’ blessing begins with the Lord’s coming, the fiery law, and the law as Jacob’s inheritance. It then gives distinct blessings: life with small numbers for Ruben, help in fighting for Juda, Levi’s word and covenant duties, Benjamin’s rest, Joseph’s fruit and strength, and the separately named gifts for the other tribes. The close names the Lord as helper, shield, and sword. Challoner explains several expressions without turning them all into certain identifications: the Benjamin temple allusion only seems intended, while the Gad burial place remains unknown. The chapter records the blessing before Moses’ death; it does not report a completed tribal allocation, ordination, conquest, or cure of rivalry.

Lessons worth keeping

1
Levi’s kinship note includes a condition. Challoner calls for preferring God’s honour and service when kin would draw the priestly tribe from its calling. This is distinct from an unrestricted command to reject relatives.
2
Each blessing has its own details. Ruben is to be small in number; Joseph’s horns are compared with a rhinoceros’s and linked to Ephraim’s multitudes and Manasses’ thousands; Aser’s shoe is iron and brass. Replacing these with general success would lose the chapter’s content.
3
The notes have different kinds of claims. Benjamin’s temple allusion is tentative, Gad’s explanation includes an unknown burial place, and Joseph’s Nazarite note is a cross-reference to Genesis 49:26. Their limits belong in the account.

Test your recall

According to Challoner’s kinship note, when should Levi act as a stranger even to his nearest kin?

Source edition and notes

Douay–Rheims, revised by Richard Challoner (1749–1752). Project Gutenberg no. 1581. Locators refer to lines in the admitted pg1581.txt edition. Source notes may include Challoner commentary.

Lines 22206–22224
Deuteronomy Chapter 33 Moses before his death blesseth the tribes of Israel. 33:1. This is the blessing, wherewith the man of God, Moses, blessed the children of Israel, before his death. 33:2. And he said: The Lord came from Sinai, and from Seir he rose up to us: he hath appeared from mount Pharan, and with him thousands of saints. In his right hand a fiery law. 33:3. He hath loved the people, all the saints are in his hand: and they that approach to his feet, shall receive of his doctrine. 33:4. Moses commanded us a law, the inheritance of the multitude of Jacob. 33:5. He shall be king with the most right, the princes of the people, being assembled with the tribes of Israel.
Lines 22226–22230
33:6. Let Ruben live, and not die, and be he small in number. 33:7. This is the blessing of Juda. Hear, O Lord, the voice of Juda, and bring him in unto his people: his hands shall fight for him, and he shall be his helper against his enemies.
Lines 22232–22251
33:8. To Levi also he said: Thy perfection, and thy doctrine be to thy holy man, whom thou hast proved in the temptation, and judged at the waters of contradiction: Holy man.... Aaron and his successors in the priesthood. 33:9. Who hath said to his father, and to his mother: I do not know you; and to his brethren: I know you not: and their own children they have not known. These have kept thy word, and observed thy covenant, Who hath said, etc.... It is the duty of the priestly tribe to prefer God’s honour and service before all considerations of flesh and blood: in such manner as to behave as strangers to their nearest akin, when these would withdraw them from the business of their calling. 33:10. Thy judgments, O Jacob, and thy law, O Israel: they shall put incense in thy wrath and holocaust upon thy altar. 33:11. Bless, O Lord, his strength, and receive the works of his hands. Strike the backs of his enemies, and let not them that hate him rise.
Lines 22253–22258
33:12. And to Benjamin he said: The best beloved of the Lord shall dwell confidently in him: as in a bride chamber shall he abide all the day long, and between his shoulders shall be rest. Shall dwell, etc.... This seems to allude to the temple being built in the confines of the tribe of Benjamin.
Lines 22260–22278
33:13. To Joseph also he said: Of the blessing of the Lord be his land, of the fruits of heaven, and of the dew, and of the deep that lieth beneath. 33:14. Of the fruits brought forth by the sun and by the moon. 33:15. Of the tops of the ancient mountains, of the fruits of the everlasting hills: 33:16. And of the fruits of the earth, and of the fulness thereof. The blessing of him that appeared in the bush, come upon the head of Joseph, and upon the crown of the Nazarite among his brethren. The Nazarite.... See the note on Gen. 49.26. 33:17. His beauty as of the firstling of a bullock, his horns as the horns of a rhinoceros: with them shall he push the nations even to the ends of the earth. These are the multitudes of Ephraim and these the thousands of Manasses.
Lines 22280–22296
33:18. And to Zabulon he said: Rejoice, O Zabulon, in thy going out; and Issachar in thy tabernacles. 33:19. They shall call the people to the mountain: there shall they sacrifice the victims of justice. Who shall suck as milk the abundance of the sea, and the hidden treasures of the sands. 33:20. And to Gad he said: Blessed be Gad in his breadth: he hath rested as a lion, and hath seized upon the arm and the top of the head. 33:21. And he saw his pre-eminence, that in his portion the teacher was laid up: who was with the princes of the people, and did the justices of the Lord, and his judgment with Israel. He saw, etc.... The pre-eminence of the tribe of Gad, to which this alludeth, was their having the lawgiver Moses buried in their borders; though the particular place was not known.
Lines 22298–22311
33:22. To Dan also he said: Dan is a young lion, he shall flow plentifully from Basan. 33:23. And To Nephtali he said: Nephtali shall enjoy abundance, and shall be full of the blessings of the Lord: he shall possess the sea and the south. The sea.... The lake of Genesareth. 33:24. To Aser also he said: Let Aser be blessed with children, let him be acceptable to his brethren, and let him dip his foot in oil. 33:25. His shoe shall be iron and brass. As the days of thy youth, so also shall thy old age be.
Lines 22313–22333
33:26. There is no other god like the God of the rightest: he that is mounted upon the heaven is thy helper. By his magnificence the clouds run hither and thither. 33:27. His dwelling is above, and underneath are the everlasting arms: he shall cast out the enemy from before thee, and shall say: Be thou brought to nought. Underneath are the everlasting arms.... Though the dwelling of God be above in heaven, his arms are always stretched out to help us here below. 33:28. Israel shall dwell in safety, and alone. The eye of Jacob in a land of corn and wine, and the heavens shall be misty with dew. 33:29. Blessed art thou, Israel: who is like to thee, O people, that art saved by the Lord? the shield of thy help, and the sword of thy glory: thy enemies shall deny thee, and thou shalt tread upon their necks.