Numbers 18:1-10

1 And Jehovah said to Aaron, Thou and thy sons and thy father's house with thee shall bear the iniquity of the sanctuary; and thou and thy sons with thee shall bear the iniquity of your priesthood.
2 And thy brethren also, the tribe of Levi, the tribe of thy father, bring near with thee, that they may unite with thee, and minister unto thee; but thou and thy sons with thee [shall serve] before the tent of the testimony.
3 And they shall keep thy charge, and the charge of the whole tent: only they shall not come near to the vessels of the sanctuary and to the altar, that they may not die, and you as well as they.
4 And they shall unite with thee, and keep the charge of the tent of meeting, for all the service of the tent; and no stranger shall come near to you.
5 And ye shall keep the charge of the sanctuary, and the charge of the altar; that there come no wrath any more upon the children of Israel.
6 And I, behold, I have taken your brethren, the Levites, from among the children of Israel; to you are they given as a gift for Jehovah to perform the service of the tent of meeting.
7 But thou and thy sons with thee shall attend to your priesthood for all that concerneth the altar, and for that which is inside the veil; and ye shall perform the service: I give you your priesthood as a service of gift, and the stranger that cometh near shall be put to death.
8 And Jehovah spoke to Aaron, And I, behold, I have given thee the charge of my heave-offerings, of all the hallowed things of the children of Israel; to thee have I given them, because of the anointing, and to thy sons by an everlasting statute.
9 This shall be thine of the most holy things, [reserved] from the fire: every offering of theirs, of all their oblations, and of all their sin-offerings, and of all their trespass-offerings, which they render unto me, it is most holy for thee and for thy sons.
10 As most holy shalt thou eat it: every male shall eat it; it shall be holy unto thee.

Numbers 18:1-10 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO NUMBERS 18

This chapter gives an account of the distinct work and service of the priests and Levites, Nu 18:1-7; and of several things given to the priests for their maintenance, Nu 18:8-19; and of the tithes the Levites should have to live upon, since they were to have no inheritance in the land of Israel, Nu 18:20-24; and of the tenth out of those tithes they were to give to the high priest, Nu 18:25-32.

Footnotes 3

  • [a]. See Note, Gen. 29.34.
  • [b]. Corban, Lev. 1.2.
  • [c]. Or 'in the most holy place:' but see Ex. 29.37.
The Darby Translation is in the public domain.