Numbers 18:31

31 You may eat it in any place, you and your households; for it is your payment for your service in the tent of meeting.

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 the gifts to you, you shall set apart every offering due to the Lord; the best of all of them is the part to be consecrated.
30 Say also to them: When you have set apart the best of it, then the rest shall be reckoned to the Levites as produce of the threshing floor, and as produce of the wine press.
31 You may eat it in any place, you and your households; for it is your payment for your service in the tent of meeting.
32 You shall incur no guilt by reason of it, when you have offered the best of it. But you shall not profane the holy gifts of the Israelites, on pain of death.
New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.