Numbers 18

Duties of Levites

1 So the LORD said to Aaron, "You and your sons and your father's household with you shall ¹bear the guilt in connection with the sanctuary, and you and your sons with you shall bear the guilt in connection with your priesthood.

2 "But bring with you also your brothers, the tribe of Levi, the tribe of your father, that they may be ²joined with you and serve you, while you and your sons with you are before the tent of the testimony.

3 "And they shall thus attend to your obligation and the obligation of all the tent, but ³they shall not come near to the furnishings of the sanctuary and ⁴the altar, or both they and you will die.

4 "They shall be joined with you and attend to the obligations of the tent of meeting, for all the service of the tent; but an outsider may not come near you.

5 "So you shall attend to the ⁵obligations of the sanctuary and the obligations of the altar, ⁶so that there will no longer be wrath on the sons of Israel.

6 "Behold, I Myself ⁷have taken your fellow Levites from among the sons of Israel; they are ⁸a gift to you, dedicated to the LORD, to perform the service for the tent of meeting.

7 "But you and your sons with you shall ⁹attend to your priesthood for everything concerning the altar and inside * the veil, and you are to perform service. I am giving you the priesthood as ¹⁰a bestowed service, but ¹¹the outsider who comes near shall be put to death."

The Priests' Portion

8 Then the LORD spoke to Aaron, "Now behold, I Myself have given you charge of My ¹²offerings, even all the holy gifts of the sons of Israel I have given them to you as a portion and to your sons as a perpetual allotment.

9 "This shall be yours from the most holy gifts reserved from the fire; every offering of theirs, even ¹³every grain offering and every ¹⁴sin offering and every guilt offering, which they shall render to Me, shall be most holy for you and for your sons.

10 "As the most holy gifts you shall eat it; every male shall eat it. It shall be holy to you.

11 "This also is yours, ¹⁵the offering of their gift, even all the wave offerings of the sons of Israel; I have ¹⁶given them to you and to your sons and daughters with you as a perpetual allotment. Everyone of your household who is clean may eat it.

12 "¹⁷All the best of the fresh oil and all the best of the fresh wine and of the grain, the first fruits of those which they give to the LORD, I give them to you.

13 "¹⁸The first ripe fruits of all that is in their land, which they bring to the LORD, shall be yours; everyone of your household who is clean may eat it.

14 "¹⁹Every devoted thing in Israel shall be yours.

15 "²⁰Every first issue of the womb of all flesh, whether man or animal, which they offer to the LORD, shall be yours; nevertheless the firstborn of man you shall surely redeem, and the firstborn of unclean animals you shall redeem.

16 "As to their redemption price, from a month old you shall redeem them, by your valuation, five shekels in silver, according to the shekel of the sanctuary, which is twenty gerahs.

17 "But ²¹the firstborn of an ox or the firstborn of a sheep or the firstborn of a goat, you shall not redeem; they are holy. ²²You shall sprinkle their blood on the altar and shall offer up their fat in smoke as an offering by fire, for a soothing aroma to the LORD.

18 "Their meat shall be yours; it shall be yours like the ²³breast of a wave offering and like the right thigh.

19 "²⁴All the offerings of the holy gifts, which the sons of Israel offer to the LORD, I have given to you and your sons and your daughters with you, as a perpetual allotment. It is ²⁵an everlasting covenant of salt before the LORD to you and your descendants with you."

20 Then the LORD said to Aaron, "²⁶You shall have no inheritance in their land nor own any portion among them; ²⁷I am your portion and your inheritance among the sons of Israel.

21 "To the sons of Levi, behold, I have given all the ²⁸tithe in Israel for an inheritance, in return for their service which they perform, the service of the tent of meeting.

22 "²⁹The sons of Israel shall not come near the tent of meeting again, or they will bear sin and die.

23 "Only the Levites shall perform the service of the tent of meeting, and they shall ³⁰bear their iniquity; it shall be a perpetual statute throughout your generations, and among the sons of Israel ³¹they shall have no inheritance.

24 "For the tithe of the sons of Israel, which they offer as an offering to the LORD, I have given to the Levites for an inheritance; therefore * I have said concerning them, '³²They shall have no inheritance among the sons of Israel.' "

25 Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying,

26 "Moreover, you shall speak to the Levites and say to them, 'When you take from the sons of Israel ³³the tithe which I have given you from them for your inheritance, then you shall present an offering from it to the LORD, a ³⁴tithe of the tithe.

27 'Your offering shall be reckoned to you as the grain from the threshing floor or the full produce from the wine vat.

28 'So you shall also present an offering to the LORD from your tithes, which you receive from the sons of Israel; and from it you shall give the LORD'S offering to Aaron the priest.

29 'Out of all your gifts you shall present every offering due to the LORD, from all the best of them, the sacred part from them.'

30 "You shall say to them, 'When you have offered from it the best of it, then the rest shall be reckoned to the Levites as the product of the threshing floor, and as the product of the wine vat.

31 'You may eat it anywhere *, you and your households, for it is your compensation in return for your service in the tent of meeting.

32 'You will bear no sin by reason of it when you have offered the best of it. But you shall not ³⁵profane the sacred gifts of the sons of Israel, or you will die.' "

Numbers 18 Commentary

Chapter 18

The charge of the priests and Levites. (1-7) The priests' portion. (8-19) The Levites' portion. (20-32)

Verses 1-7 The people complained of their difficulty and peril in drawing near to God. God here gives them to understand, that the priests should come near for them. Aaron would see reason not to be proud of his preferment, when he considered the great care and charge upon him. Be not high-minded, but fear. The greater the trust of work and power that is committed to us, the greater danger there is of betraying that trust. This is a good reason why we should neither envy others' honours, nor desire high places.

Verses 8-19 All believers are spiritual priests, and God has promised to take care of them. Godliness has the promise of the life that now is. And from the provision here made for the priests, the apostle shows that it is the duty of christian churches to maintain their ministers. Scandalous maintenance makes scandalous ministers. The priests were to be wholly devoted to their ministry, not diverted from it, or disturbed in it, by worldly care or business. Also, that they might be examples of living by faith, not only in God's providence, but in his ordinances. The best should be offered for the first-fruits unto the Lord. Those who think to save, by putting God off with the refuse, deceive themselves, for God is not mocked.

Verses 20-32 As Israel was a people not to be numbered among the nations, so Levi was a tribe to be distinguished from the rest. Those who have God for their Inheritance and their Portion for ever, ought to look with holy contempt and indifference upon the possessions of this world. The Levites were to give God his dues out of their tithes, as well as the Israelites out of their increase. See, in ver. ( 31 ) , the way to have comfort in all our worldly possessions, so as to bear no sin by reason of them. 1. We must be sure that what we have is got honestly and in the service of God. That meat is best eaten which is first earned; ( 2 Thessalonians. 3:10 ) We must be sure that God has his dues out of it. We have the comfort of our substance, when we have honoured the Lord with it. Ye shall bear no sin by reason of it, when ye have heaved the best from it. We should give alms of such things as we have, that all may be holy and comfortable to us.

Cross References

• 1. Exodus 28:38; Leviticus 10:17; Leviticus 22:16
• 2. Numbers 3:5-10
• 3. Numbers 4:15-20
• 4. Numbers 1:51; Numbers 18:7
• 5. Exodus 27:21; Leviticus 24:3
• 6. Numbers 16:46
• 7. Numbers 3:12, 45
• 8. Numbers 3:9
• 9. Exodus 29:9
• 10. Numbers 18:20; Deuteronomy 18:2; Matthew 10:8; 1 Peter 5:2, 3
• 11. Numbers 1:51
• 12. Leviticus 6:16, 18; Leviticus 7:28-34
• 13. Leviticus 2:1-16
• 14. Leviticus 6:30
• 15. Numbers 18:1; Deuteronomy 18:3
• 16. Leviticus 22:1-16
• 17. Deuteronomy 18:4; Deuteronomy 32:14; Psalms 81:16; Psalms 147:14
• 18. Exodus 22:29; Exodus 23:19; Exodus 34:26
• 19. Leviticus 27:1-33
• 20. Exodus 13:13, 15; Numbers 3:46
• 21. Deuteronomy 15:19
• 22. Leviticus 3:2
• 23. Leviticus 7:31
• 24. Numbers 18:11
• 25. 2 Chronicles 13:5
• 26. Deuteronomy 10:9; Deuteronomy 12:12; Deuteronomy 14:27, 29
• 27. Deuteronomy 18:2; Joshua 13:33; Ezekiel 44:28
• 28. Leviticus 27:30-33; Deuteronomy 14:22-29
• 29. Numbers 1:51
• 30. Numbers 18:1
• 31. Numbers 18:20
• 32. Deuteronomy 10:9
• 33. Numbers 18:21
• 34. Nehemiah 10:38
• 35. Leviticus 22:15, 16

Footnotes

• [a]. Lit "of the sanctuary"
• [b]. Lit "of your priesthood"
• [c]. Lit "a stranger"
• [d]. Lit "brethren the"
• [e]. Lit "given"
• [f]. Lit "service of gift"
• [g]. Lit "stranger"
• [h]. Lit "heave offerings," and so throughout the ch
• [i]. Lit "fat"
• [j]. Lit "fat"
• [k]. Lit "Everything that opens"
• [l]. I.e. A shekel equals approx one-half oz
• [m]. I.e. A shekel equals approx one-half oz
• [n]. Lit "flesh"
• [o]. Lit "seed"
• [p]. Lit "fat"
• [q]. Lit "its"
• [r]. Lit "lifted"
• [s]. Lit "lifted"
• [t]. Lit "fat"

Chapter Summary

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.