Numbers 18:31

31 And ye shall eat it in any place, ye and your family; for it is your reward for your ministry in the tabernacle of the testimony.

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 Out of all your gifts ye shall offer every offering unto the LORD, of all the best thereof ye shall offer the portion that is to be dedicated.
30 Therefore thou shalt say unto them, When ye offer the best thereof from it, then it shall be counted unto the Levites as the fruit of the threshingfloor and as the fruit of the winepress.
31 And ye shall eat it in any place, ye and your family; for it is your reward for your ministry in the tabernacle of the testimony.
32 And ye shall bear no sin by reason of it, when ye have offered from it the best of it; and ye shall not pollute the holy things of the sons of Israel, and ye shall not die.
The Jubilee Bible (from the Scriptures of the Reformation), edited by Russell M. Stendal, Copyright © 2000, 2001, 2010