Numbers 18:31

31 You may eat it anywhere, you and your household, because it [is] a wage in return for your service in the tent of assembly.

Numbers 18:31 Meaning and Commentary

Numbers 18:31

And ye shall eat it in every place
In any of their tents or dwelling houses, not being obliged to eat it in the tabernacle, where the priests, were obliged to eat many of their holy things, and second tithes were only to be eaten at Jerusalem, ( Deuteronomy 14:22 Deuteronomy 14:23 ) ; but the Levites might eat theirs any where, in any place, clean or unclean, according to Jarchi; for, he says, it might be eaten even in a graveyard; but Aben Ezra much better, in a clean place, be that where it would:

ye, and your households;
they and their wives, their sons and daughters, their servants, whether bought or hired; and they might sell it to strangers, to purchase other necessaries with. The Targum of Jonathan interprets this of the priests; but the Levites only are plainly spoken of:

for it [is] your reward for your service in the tabernacle of the
congregation;
which is said to encourage them in their work, and animate them to it, as well as to clear their right to such a maintenance against all objections; for the labourer is worthy of his reward, as those that labour in the word and doctrine are of theirs, ( 1 Timothy 5:17 1 Timothy 5:18 ) .

Numbers 18:31 In-Context

29 From all your gifts {you will present} every contribution of Yahweh, from all its fat, the part [that is] sacred.'
30 You will say to them, 'When {you are presenting} its fat, the rest will be credited to the Levites like a yield of the threshing floor and like a yield from the press.
31 You may eat it anywhere, you and your household, because it [is] a wage in return for your service in the tent of assembly.
32 You will not bear any sin because {you have presented} its fat; you will not defile the holy objects of the {Israelites}, or you will die.'"
Scripture quotations marked (LEB) are from the Lexham English Bible. Copyright 2012 Logos Bible Software. Lexham is a registered trademark of Logos Bible Software.