Deuteronomy 10:9

9 Therefore {there was not} for Levi an allotment or an inheritance [along] with his brothers; [rather] Yahweh [is] his inheritance [just] as Yahweh your God {promised} to him.

Deuteronomy 10:9 Meaning and Commentary

Deuteronomy 10:9

Wherefore Levi hath no part nor inheritance with his brethren,
&c.] In the division of the land of Canaan, because being separated to the service of the sanctuary, he had no leisure to plough and sow, as Jarchi observes:

the Lord is his inheritance,
as the Lord thy God promised him; not in a spiritual sense, for so the Lord was an inheritance and portion of other Israelites; though these being taken off of worldly employments, and devoted to sanctuary service, might have more communion with God than others; but in a temporal sense, provision being made particularly by tithes, which were the Lord's, for their maintenance; and so the Targums of Onkelos and Jonathan paraphrase the words;

``gifts which the Lord gave him are his inheritance;''

see ( Numbers 18:20 Numbers 18:21 ) .

Deuteronomy 10:9 In-Context

7 From there they journeyed to Gudgodah, and from Gudgodah to Jotbathah, a land [flowing with] streams of water.

8 At that time Yahweh set apart the tribe of Levi to carry the ark of the covenant of Yahweh to stand {before} Yahweh, to serve him and to bless [the people] in his name until this day.

9 Therefore {there was not} for Levi an allotment or an inheritance [along] with his brothers; [rather] Yahweh [is] his inheritance [just] as Yahweh your God {promised} to him.

10 And I stayed on the mountain [just] as [during] the former forty days and forty nights, and Yahweh listened to me also on that occasion; Yahweh was not willing to destroy you.

11 And Yahweh said to me, '{Come, continue} your journey {before the people}, so that you may go and take possession of the land that I swore to their ancestors to give to them.'

Footnotes

• [a] Literally "it/he was not"
• [b] Literally "spoke"