Exodus 6:16
And these are the names of the sons of Levi according to their generations; Gershon, and Kohath, and Merari: and the years of the life of Levi were an hundred thirty and seven years. And these are the names of the sons of Levi according to their generations; Gershon, and Kohath, and Merari: and the years of the life of Levi were an hundred thirty and seven years.
Exodus means going out, referring to the departure of Israel from Egypt, and this verse stands in the first, mainly historical division of the book in chapters 1-18. That history moves from the family of Israel comfortable and prosperous and pleasantly settled in Egypt to that same family grown greater and mightier than the Egyptians yet in bitter bondage and oppression, then to their great deliverance and their becoming a nation with thorough organization, efficient leadership, a complete code of laws, and an established form of worship, with the life of Moses from his rescue from Egyptian malice in infancy through his experiences as the chosen leader at its center. The verse belongs to the account of Moses' experience in leading Israel out, from his first request that the people be allowed to worship God in the wilderness through their song of triumph after crossing the Red Sea. Within that history it stands in the section of chapters 5-10 that records the interviews with Pharaoh, the contest with his magicians, and the infliction of the plagues culminating in the tenth plague.
It stands in the opening part of Israel's deliverance when Israel is in oppression and bondage with the whole power of Egypt set against them. The verse names Levi's three sons, Gershon, Kohath, and Merari, and records that Levi lived 137 years. Their descendants formed the three houses of the Levites, with Amram, a descendant of Kohath, being the father of Moses and Aaron. Levi's 137 years make him the living link between Jacob his father and Jochebed his daughter, the mother of Moses and granddaughter of Jacob, spending more than half a century with Jacob and another period of similar length with Jochebed.
Through that overlap the doctrine of the second advent of Christ and the resurrection of the just was carried by Jacob into Egypt and handed down through Levi and Jochebed to Moses, so that Moses possessed all the treasures of divine truth held by his ancestors. That included the promise that Jacob should have the land of Canaan for an everlasting possession though a stranger in it in this life. The verse belongs to the account of God's wonderful deliverance of Israel from Egypt and again at the Red Sea, which demonstrates His wisdom, love, and power, His ability and right to rule, and Israel's obligation to obey. Yet it shows that Israel must still be tested and tried to prove whether they would walk in His law.
That deliverance is God's mighty saving work by creative power that brings Israel to triumph on the farther side of the Red Sea with the host of Egypt overthrown, a saving work greater than was ever done for any nation. The verse marks the point after which critics no longer relied on differences in the divine names to distinguish supposed sources in the biblical text.