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<span id="openzim-page-title" class="mw-page-title-main"><span class="mw-page-title-main">Merarites</span></span>
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<p>The <b>Merarites</b> were one of the four main divisions among the <a href="Levites" class="mw-redirect" title="Levites">Levites</a> in <a href="Hebrew_Bible" title="Hebrew Bible">Biblical</a> times. The Bible claims that the Merarites were all descended from the <a href="Eponym" title="Eponym">eponymous</a> <a href="Merari" title="Merari">Merari</a>, a son of <a href="Levi" title="Levi">Levi</a>,<sup id="cite_ref-1" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-1"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>1<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> although some <a href="Biblical_criticism" title="Biblical criticism">biblical scholars</a> regard this as a <a href="Postdiction" title="Postdiction">postdictional</a> <a href="Metaphor" title="Metaphor">metaphor</a>, providing an <a href="Origin_myth" title="Origin myth">origin myth</a> of the connectedness of the clan to others in the <a href="Israelites" title="Israelites">Israelite confederation</a>.<sup id="cite_ref-2" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-2"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>2<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup><sup id="cite_ref-Jewish_Encyclopedia_3-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-Jewish_Encyclopedia-3"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>3<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup>
</p><p>The Bible ascribes a specific religious function to the Merarites, namely care of the framework - posts, crossbars, courtyard, tent pegs, etc. - of the sanctuary.<sup id="cite_ref-4" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-4"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>4<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> This differentiation of religious activity between the Merarites and other Levites, in particular the <a href="Aaron#Descendants" title="Aaron">Aaronids</a>, is found only in the <a href="Priestly_Code" title="Priestly Code">Priestly Code</a>, and not in passages that <a href="Textual_criticism" title="Textual criticism">textual scholars</a> attribute to other authors.<sup id="cite_ref-5" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-5"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>5<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup><sup id="cite_ref-6" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-6"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>6<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup>
</p><p>According to the <a href="Book_of_Joshua" title="Book of Joshua">Book of Joshua</a>, rather than possessing a <a href="Simply_connected_space" title="Simply connected space">continuous</a> territory, the Merarites possessed several <a href="Levitical_city" title="Levitical city">cities</a> scattered throughout the geographic region of <a href="Gilead" title="Gilead">Gilead</a>, as well as in the south of the <a href="Galilee" title="Galilee">Galilee</a>,<sup id="cite_ref-7" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-7"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>7<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> the latter being quite unrealistically distant from the former:<sup id="cite_ref-8" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-8"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>8<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup>
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<ul><li>in the territory of <a href="Tribe_of_Reuben" title="Tribe of Reuben">Reuben</a>: <a href="Bezer" title="Bezer">Bezer</a>, Jahazah, <a href="Kedemoth" title="Kedemoth">Kedemoth</a>, and <a href="Mephaath" class="mw-redirect" title="Mephaath">Mephaath</a></li>
<li>in the territory of <a href="Tribe_of_Gad" title="Tribe of Gad">Gad</a>: <a href="Ramoth-Gilead" title="Ramoth-Gilead">Ramoth</a> (in Gilead), <a href="Mahanaim" title="Mahanaim">Mahanaim</a>, <a href="Heshbon" title="Heshbon">Heshbon</a>, and <a href="Jazer" title="Jazer">Jazer</a></li>
<li>in the territory of <a href="Tribe_of_Zebulun" title="Tribe of Zebulun">Zebulun</a>: <a href="Tel_Yokneam" title="Tel Yokneam">Yokneam</a>, <a href="Kartah" title="Kartah">Kartah</a>, <a href="Dimnah" class="mw-redirect" title="Dimnah">Dimnah</a>, and <a href="Nahalal" title="Nahalal">Nahalal</a></li></ul>
<p>The narrative in Joshua argues that the territory was taken by the Levites right after <a href="Joshua" title="Joshua">Joshua</a>'s conquest of <a href="Canaan" title="Canaan">Canaan</a>, but this is contradicted not only by archaeological evidence, but also by narratives in the <a href="Book_of_Judges" title="Book of Judges">Book of Judges</a>, <a href="Books_of_Samuel" title="Books of Samuel">Books of Samuel</a>, and <a href="Books_of_Kings" title="Books of Kings">Books of Kings</a>.<sup id="cite_ref-9" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-9"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>9<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup><sup id="cite_ref-10" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-10"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>10<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> The conclusion of most biblical scholars is thus that the whole system of Levite cities, in the Torah and <a href="Deuteronomist#Deuteronomistic_history" title="Deuteronomist">deuteronomic history</a>, is an attempt to explain the fact that important early sanctuaries existed at these locations, and thus were places where members of the priesthood naturally came to reside in large numbers.<sup id="cite_ref-Jewish_Encyclopedia_3-1" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-Jewish_Encyclopedia-3"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>3<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> Scholars believe that the priesthood was originally open to any tribe, but gradually became seen as a distinct tribe to themselves - the Levites.<sup id="cite_ref-Jewish_Encyclopedia_3-2" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-Jewish_Encyclopedia-3"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>3<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup><sup id="cite_ref-11" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-11"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>11<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup>
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<div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="See_also">See also</h2></div>
<ul><li><a href="Gershonites" title="Gershonites">Gershonites</a></li>
<li><a href="Kohathites" title="Kohathites">Kohathites</a></li></ul>
<div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="References">References</h2></div>
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<li id="cite_note-1"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-1">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://bible.oremus.org/?passage=Numbers%203:21&version=nrsv">Numbers 3:21</a></span>
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<li id="cite_note-2"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-2">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><i><a href="Peake's_Commentary_on_the_Bible" title="Peake's Commentary on the Bible">Peake's Commentary on the Bible</a></i></span>
</li>
<li id="cite_note-Jewish_Encyclopedia-3"><span class="mw-cite-backlink">^ <a href="#cite_ref-Jewish_Encyclopedia_3-0"><sup><i><b>a</b></i></sup></a> <a href="#cite_ref-Jewish_Encyclopedia_3-1"><sup><i><b>b</b></i></sup></a> <a href="#cite_ref-Jewish_Encyclopedia_3-2"><sup><i><b>c</b></i></sup></a></span> <span class="reference-text"><i>Jewish Encyclopedia</i></span>
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<li id="cite_note-4"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-4">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://bible.oremus.org/?passage=Numbers%203:36–37&version=nrsv">Numbers 3:36–37</a></span>
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<li id="cite_note-5"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-5">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><i>Peake's commentary on the Bible</i></span>
</li>
<li id="cite_note-6"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-6">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text">Cheyne and Black, <i><a href="Encyclopaedia_Biblica" title="Encyclopaedia Biblica">Encyclopaedia Biblica</a></i></span>
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<li id="cite_note-7"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-7">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://bible.oremus.org/?passage=Joshua%2021:34–40&version=nrsv">Joshua 21:34–40</a></span>
</li>
<li id="cite_note-8"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-8">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text">Richard Donald Nelson, <i>Joshua: a commentary</i>, Westminster John Knox Press (1997)</span>
</li>
<li id="cite_note-9"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-9">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text">Richard Donald Nelson, <i>Joshua a commentary</i>, Westminster John Knox Press (1997)</span>
</li>
<li id="cite_note-10"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-10">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><a href="Israel_Finkelstein" title="Israel Finkelstein">Israel Finkelstein</a>, <i>The Bible Unearthed</i></span>
</li>
<li id="cite_note-11"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-11">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><i>Peake's Commentary on the Bible</i></span>
</li>
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