But the tithe of the children of Israel
The tenth of the produce of their land, as before:
which they offer [as] an heave offering unto the Lord:
by way of gratitude to him for giving them the land, and for making it so fruitful to them, and as an acknowledgment of his being the sovereign Lord and proprietor of it:
I have given to the Levites to inherit;
so that the Levites had the tithe not immediately from the Israelites, nor were they dependent on them for them; but they were first given to the Lord, and then by him to the Levites, who held them of him, and not of the Israelites; and were a portion and an inheritance, settled upon them by the Lord himself, which they had as good a right and title unto as the rest of the tribes had to their several inheritances:
therefore have I said unto them, among the children, of Israel they
shall have no inheritance;
as in ( Numbers 18:23 ) .