Chapter Eighteen

The service and means of support of the Levites.

Numbers 18:1. And the Lord spoke to Aaron: You and your sons and your father’s household with you shall bear the iniquity relating to the sanctuary; and you and your sons with you shall bear the iniquity relating to your priesthood. Numbers 18:2. And bring with you your brothers of the tribe of Levi, the tribe of your father, that they may be joined with you and serve you, while you and your sons with you are before the tent of the covenant; Numbers 18:3. and they shall keep your charge and the charge of the whole tent; only they shall not come near to the furnishings of the sanctuary or to the altar, lest they die, and you die as well. Numbers 18:4. They shall be joined with you and shall be responsible for the tent of meeting, for all the services of the tent; and no outsider shall come near you. Numbers 18:5. You shall be in charge of the sanctuary and of the altar, so that there will be no more wrath upon the children of Israel; Numbers 18:6. and I have taken your brothers the Levites from among the children of Israel, and given them to you as a gift, dedicated to the Lord, to do the service of the tent of meeting; Numbers 18:7. and you and your sons with you shall guard your priesthood for everything related to the altar and for everything inside the veil, and you shall serve. I give you the priesthood as a gift, and any outsider who comes near shall be put to death. The priests and Levites were obligated to be reverent and careful executors of their duties. Neither a regular Israelite had the right to intrude into the sphere of the Levite’s service, nor a regular Levite into the sphere of the priest’s service, under penalty of death.

Numbers 18:8. And the Lord spoke to Aaron: Look, I give you charge of my contributions, all the holy offerings of the children of Israel; I have given them to you and your sons as a perpetual share by statute; Numbers 18:9. this shall be yours of the most holy offerings reserved from fire: every offering of theirs, every grain offering and every sin offering and every guilt offering which they shall render to me, shall be most holy for you and for your sons; Numbers 18:10. In a most holy place you shall eat it; every male shall eat it; it shall be holy to you. Numbers 18:11. And this shall be yours: the contribution of their gifts, all the raised offerings of the children of Israel; I have given them to you and your sons and your daughters with you as a perpetual share; all that is clean in your household may eat of it. Numbers 18:12. All the best of the oil and all the best of the grape juice and grain, the first fruits which they give to the Lord, I have given to you; Numbers 18:13. the first ripe fruits of the land which they give to the Lord shall be yours; all that is clean in your household may eat of it. These are the parts of the sacrifices and the offerings of first fruits determined by law, which belong to the priests. The offerings of first fruits, devout gifts to the tent, the breast and shoulder of the peace offerings could be eaten by all (clean) members of the priestly family, including servants; the rest, as a “great holiness,” was eaten only by men of the priestly lineage.

Numbers 18:14. Everything devoted in Israel shall be yours. The devoted thing could not become anyone’s private property; it came into the possession of the tent (Lev 27:26). The devoted Gibeonites were made hewers of wood and drawers of water “at the altar of the Lord” (Josh 9:27).

Numbers 18:15. All that opens the womb of all flesh, which they bring to the Lord, whether human or beast, shall be yours; but the firstborn of humans you shall redeem, and the firstborn of unclean beasts you shall redeem; Numbers 18:16. and the redemption price, from one month old, you shall assess at five shekels of silver, according to the shekel of the sanctuary, which is twenty gerahs; Numbers 18:17. but you shall not redeem the firstborn of cattle, or the firstborn of sheep, or the firstborn of goats: they are holy; you shall sprinkle their blood on the altar and turn their fat into smoke as an offering, a pleasing aroma to the Lord; Numbers 18:18. and their meat shall be yours, as the breast of a raised offering and the right thigh shall be yours. See Exod 13:2. The firstborn from clean cattle was taken in kind. The firstborn human was replaced by a redemption price. The firstborn from unclean animals was either redeemed, or replaced by a clean animal, or sold, with the proceeds turned over to the tent (Lev 27:27).

Numbers 18:19. All the raised holy offerings which the children of Israel raise to the Lord I have given to you, and to your sons and your daughters with you as a perpetual share; this is a covenant of salt, an eternal covenant before the Lord, for you and your descendants with you. “A covenant of salt” – a covenant of perpetual fellowship.

Numbers 18:20. And the Lord said to Aaron: You shall have no inheritance in their land, and no portion among them; I am your portion and your inheritance among the children of Israel; The tribe of Levi received no land inheritance as did the other tribes. Materially the welfare of the priests and Levites was placed in the closest connection with the intensity of the religious sentiment of the Jewish people. Therefore, alongside moral incentives, the priests and Levites had material incentives to care for maintaining the religious life of Israel at the height required by the law.

Numbers 18:21. and to the children of Levi I have given all the tithe in Israel for an inheritance in return for their service which they perform, the service of the tent of meeting; Alongside portions of the sacrifices and offerings of first fruits, the children of Levi received a tenth part (tithe) of everything that members of the other tribes received from their land holdings. Considering that under the theocratic regime in the Jewish community ecclesiastical duties were at the same time state duties, we will find that the aforementioned complex of material obligations of Israel for the needs of its ecclesiastical and civil organization cannot be called unbearable.

Numbers 18:26. Speak to the Levites and say to them: When you take from the children of Israel the tithe that I have given you from them as your inheritance, then you shall set apart a raised offering to the Lord, a tithe of the tithe; – Numbers 18:27. and your raised offering shall be reckoned to you as grain from the threshing floor, and as vintage from the wine press; Numbers 18:28. thus you also shall set apart a raised offering to the Lord from all the tithes that you receive from the children of Israel; and from it you shall give the raised offering to the Lord to Aaron the priest. Numbers 18:29. From all the gifts to you, you shall set apart all the best part of them, the holy part dedicated to the Lord. Numbers 18:30. Therefore say to them: When you have set apart the best from it, then the rest shall be reckoned to the Levites as produce of the threshing floor, and as produce of the wine press; Numbers 18:31. and 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 18:32. and you shall bear no sin because of it, when you have set apart the best from it; and you shall not profane the holy offerings of the children of Israel, lest you die. From the common Levitic tithe, a tenth part (tithe) is set apart for the priests as an offering from the Levites.