ANCIENT JEW REVIEW: The Compositions Relating to the Levitical Line in the Qumran Aramaic Scrolls (Liora Goldman). These texts raise some fascinating questions. If, in their mythology, Levi was already a priest, what did their authors think of the elevation of the line of Aaron to the priesthood in the Mosaic Torah? That resulted in the tribe of Levi being made into attendants to the Tabernacle (Temple) and servants to the Aaronid (Zadokite) priests. That sounds like a demotion from the perspective of the Qumran Aramaic texts. Do these texts preserve memories of a non-Zadokite Levitical priesthood? Did such a priesthood survive into Second Temple times?
Last year I discussed some of these issues briefly in my summing-up post on the "John the Jew" Enoch Seminar at Camaldoli. But I have many more questions than answers.
