1 Samuel 8:15

15 El diezmará vuestras simientes y vuestras viñas, para dar a sus eunucos y a sus siervos

1 Samuel 8:15 Meaning and Commentary

1 Samuel 8:15

And he will take the tenth of your seed
When grown up and ripe, as their wheat and barley:

and of your vineyards;
the tenth of the grapes they should produce:

and give to his officers, and to his servants;
for the support and maintenance of them; and to pay this, besides the tithes of the priests and Levites, would make it very burdensome to them; and this was no other than what kings of other nations usually had, the like to whom they were desirous of having, and therefore must expect that they would insist upon the privileges and revenues that others had. In Babylon, as Aristotle ^F7 relates, there was an ancient law which required the tenth of whatever was imported for the public revenue, which was revived in the times of Alexander by Antimenes the Rhodian. In Arabia Felix was an island abounding with frankincense and myrrh, and various spices, the tenth of the fruits of which the king always had, as Diodorus Siculus ^F8 reports, as in the Apocrypha:

``And as for other things that belong unto us, of the tithes and customs pertaining unto us, as also the saltpits, and the crown taxes, which are due unto us, we discharge them of them all for their relief.'' (1 Maccabees 11:35)

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FOOTNOTES:

F7 Oeconomic. l. 2. p. 283.
F8 Bibliothec. l. 5. p. 317.

1 Samuel 8:15 In-Context

13 Tomará también a vuestras hijas para que sean perfumadoras, cocineras, y amasadoras

14 Asimismo tomará vuestras tierras, vuestras viñas, y vuestros buenos olivares, y los dará a sus siervos

15 El diezmará vuestras simientes y vuestras viñas, para dar a sus eunucos y a sus siervos

16 El tomará vuestros siervos, y vuestras siervas, y vuestros buenos mancebos, y vuestros asnos, y con ellos hará sus obras

17 Diezmará también vuestro rebaño, y finalmente seréis sus siervos