Numbers 18:31

31 And ye shall eat those tithes in all your places, as well ye as your families, for it is the price for the service, for which ye serve in the tabernacle of witnessing. (And ye shall eat those tithes in all your dwelling places, ye as well as your families, or your households, for it is the payment for the service which ye do, in the Tabernacle of the Witnessing.)

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 All (the) things which ye shall offer of (the) tithes, and shall separate into the gifts of the Lord (and shall set apart for a gift to the Lord), shall be the best, and all the choice things.
30 And thou shalt say to them, If ye offer to the Lord all the [more] clean and better things of tithes, it shall be areckoned to you, as if ye gave the first fruits of the cornfloor, and of the press. (And thou shalt say to them, When ye have offered to the Lord all the more clean and better things of the tithes, it shall be counted for you, like the first fruits from the threshing floor, and from the winepress.)
31 And ye shall eat those tithes in all your places, as well ye as your families, for it is the price for the service, for which ye serve in the tabernacle of witnessing. (And ye shall eat those tithes in all your dwelling places, ye as well as your families, or your households, for it is the payment for the service which ye do, in the Tabernacle of the Witnessing.)
32 And ye shall not do sin on this thing, and reserve [the] noble things and [the] fat to you, lest ye defoul the offerings of the sons of Israel, and ye die. (And ye shall not do sin with these things, and take the noble and the fat things for yourselves, lest ye defile the offerings of the Israelites, for then ye shall die/for then ye must be put to death.)
Copyright © 2001 by Terence P. Noble. For personal use only.