Numbers 18:21

_AND, BEHOLD, I HAVE GIVEN THE CHILDREN OF LEVI ALL THE TENTH IN ISRAEL FOR AN INHERITANCE, FOR THEIR SERVICE WHICH THEY SERVE, EVEN THE SERVICE OF THE TABERNACLE OF THE CONGREGATION._ I have given the children of Levi. Neither the priests nor the Levites were to possess any allotments of land, but to depend entirely upon Him who liberally provided for them out of His own portion; and this law was subservient to many important purposes-such as, that, being exempted from the cares and labours of worldly business, they might be exclusively devoted to His service; that a bond of mutual love and attachment might be formed between the people and the Levites, who, as performing religious services for the people, derived their subsistence from them; and further, that being the more easily dispersed among the different tribes: they might be more useful in instructing and directing the people....

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. Numbers 18:31, 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; but if any will not work, neither shall he eat, 2 Thessalonians 3:10. 2 Thessa...

Verse Numbers 18:21. _BEHOLD, I HAVE GIVEN THE CHILDREN OF LEVI ALL THE_ _TENTH_] First, the Levites had the tenth of all the productions of the land. 2. They had forty-eight cities, each forming a square of 4,000 cubits. 3. They had 2,000 cubits of ground round each city. Total of the land they possessed, 53,000 acres. 4. They had the first-fruits and certain parts of all the animals killed in the land. Canaan contained about 11,264,000 acres; therefore the portion possessed by the Levites was rather less than as _one_ to _two_ _hundred and twelve_; for 11,264,000 divided by 53,000, quotes only 212 28/53. - See _Lowman, Dodd_, c. But though this was a very small proportion for a _whole tribe_ that had consented to annihilate its political

Abraham paid tithes to Melchizedek: Jacob had promised the tithe of all wherewith God blessed him if he should return in peace to his father’s house. But now first the Lord’s tithes are assigned to the Levites for their support (compare Leviticus 27:30). The payment of tithes to them is recognized in Nehemiah 10:37; Nehemiah 12:44; Tobit 1:7....

EXPOSITION STATUS AND REVENUES OF PRIESTS AND LEVITES (Numbers 18:1). NUMBERS 18:1 THE LORD SPAKE UNTO AARON. This clear and comprehensive instruction as to the position and support of the sons of Aaron on the one hand, and of the Levites on the other, may very naturally have been given in connection with the events just narrated. There is, however, no direct reference to those events, and it is quite possible that the only connection was one of subject-matter in the mind of the writer. That the regulations which follow were addressed to Aaron directly is a thing unusual, and indeed unexampled. The ever-recurring statement elsewher

AND, BEHOLD, I HAVE GIVEN THE CHILDREN OF LEVI ALL THE TENTH IN ISRAEL FOR AN INHERITANCE,.... The tenth part of the produce of the land; of the wheat, barley, oil, and wine; the tenth part of their harvest and vintage; so that though they were the least of the tribes, they had the greatest share of the increase of the land, and that without any labour or expense; the other having but nine parts among them all, and at the charge and labour of manuring, cultivating, c. and this they were to have FOR THEIR SERVICE WHICH THEY SERVE, EVEN THE SERVICE OF THE TABERNACLE OF THE CONGREGATION see Numbers 18:3....

8. PRIESTHOOD AND INIQUITY AND THE RECOMPENSE OF THE PRIESTHOOD CHAPTER 18 _ 1. The iniquity borne by the priesthood (Numbers 18:1)_ 2. The recompense of the priests (Numbers 18:8) 3. The inheritance of the priests (Numbers 18:20) “Aaron, thou and thy sons and thy father's house with thee shall bear the iniquity of the sanctuary, and thou and thy sons with thee shall bear the iniquity of your priesthood.” This is evidently in answer to the question, “Shall we be consumed with dying?” (Numbers 17:13) The ministry of the priests and the Levites keeping the charge of the tabernacle and the charge of

THE DUES TO BE RECEIVED BY THE LEVITES FROM THE PEOPLE. These are here confined to the tithes (p. 99) of all vegetable produce: but in Leviticus 27:32 f. reference is also made to a tithe of cattle. The dedication of tithes (p. 99) to religious purposes was propably a more highly regulated form of the dedication on firstfruits, originating at a time when the organisation of religion became more costly. The principle of tithing was not confined to religious purposes, but was adopted in the contributions exacted from the people by their rulers (1 Samuel 8:15)....

_The Levites" dues_. These consisted in tithe levied on agricultural produce only (cf. Numbers 18:27_; Numbers 18:30_). This was similarly assigned to the Levitical priests in the earlier law contained in Deuteronomy 14:22-29; Deuteronomy 26:12-15. But the present regulation is in advance of that in Dt. in that it assigns the tithe to the Levites absolutely. According to Dt. the Levite shared it, in two years out of three, with the offerer and his household, and in the third year with the poor -sojourners, widows, and orphans." This variety led in post-Biblical times to the imposition of...

I HAVE GIVEN THE CHILDREN OF LEVI ALL THE TENTH, &C.— The enemies of religion, availing themselves of some minute descriptions given by commentators of the revenue assigned to the tribe of Levi, have been forward to remark, that this revenue was excessive, and that the Levites were blood-suckers to their brethren; but a little attention will serve to convince us, that the constitutions of the law of Moses, upon this subject, were wise and just. I. God, willing to be served suitable to his majesty, and having made choice of the tribe of Levi, and consecrated it to this service, thought it proper, on the one hand, that it should possess nothing as its own, in order that it might be solely occupied in the care of his worship; and on the other, that the members of that tribe might be dispersed over the country, in order to their being thereby better enabled to teach his law to his whole peop...