פּירוש אויף שמות 6:14

“The following are the heads of their respective clans” [6:14]. Since the time had come to redeem Israel, that is why the verse lists each one according to his pedigree. That is, they are not like the Egyptians who have no pedigree. He gives their pedigree because he wants to say how Moses and Aaron are important, from their mother and father. Therefore, he must list them from Reuben until he comes to Levi.⁴Bahya, Exodus, 6:14.

The verse says that Levi was one hundred and thirty seven years old. This teaches us that as long as one of the twelve tribes still lived, Pharaoh did not make the Israelites work. This was until Levi died; then the exile began. Levi lived much longer than all of his brothers. Therefore, the verse tells us that Levi was one hundred and thirty seven years old, since the exile began then.⁵Rashi, Exodus, 6:16.

אלה ראשי בית אבתם THESE ARE THE HEADS OF THEIR FATHERS’ HOUSES — Since it (Scripture) finds itself compelled to give the genealogy of the tribe of Levi as far as Moses and Aaron because of Moses and Aaron, it begins to give the genealogy of the tribes in the order of their birth commencing from Reuben. And in Pesikta Rabbati 7 (on Numbers 7:12) I have seen the statement, that because their father Jacob reproached these three tribes in the hour of his death Scripture again enumerates here their genealogy alone of all the tribes to indicate that they nevertheless were men of worth.