Numberschapter 18
32 verses · Moses, by tradition · 15th to 13th century BC · The Law
Therefore thou and thy sons with thee shall keep your priest’s office for every thing of the altar, and within the vail; and ye shall serve: I have given your priest’s office unto you as a service of gift: and the stranger that cometh nigh shall be put to death.
Introduction
Moses, by tradition, The Law, Numbers Overview.
Numbers 18 is law spoken to Aaron himself, which happens only rarely in the books of Moses. It comes right after a camp has cried out that anyone who comes near the tabernacle will die. The answer is a charge laid on one family and the means to support them. The first hearers knew what an offering, a firstborn and a tithe cost a household, since they gave them. Listen for who carries the risk of the sanctuary and why. Listen also for what the priests are given in place of land, and for the tithe the Levites must pay out of the tithe they receive.
Context
- Who
- A people afraid of the tent they camped around, and a priesthood that had to be told what it would live on
- What
- Law setting the duties of the priests and Levites and the offerings and tithes that would support them.
- Where
- The wilderness camp, spoken to Aaron at the Tent of Meeting.
- When
- After the rebellion of Korah and the budding of Aaron's staff, during the years of wandering, between about 1445 and 1407 BC on the traditional dating.
- Why
- To guard the people from wrath by placing the charge of the sanctuary on the priests, and to provide for those who had no land.
Historical context
The chapter belongs to Aaron and his sons, and to the Levites set beside them. Aaron was the high priest whose office had just been challenged and confirmed.
Show the rest of the historical context, 3 more paragraphs
The time is the wilderness years, following the staff that budded in chapter 17. The chapter carries no date of its own, so the year is held loosely at about 1443 BC on the same chronology the other rows of this book use. The place is the tabernacle and the camp around it, and the occasion is the cry at the end of chapter 17, where Israel said that anyone who came near the tabernacle would die.
There was no coined currency in that world, so a priest's living is listed as food and produce. It runs to portions of the grain, sin and guilt offerings, the best of the fresh oil, the new wine and the grain given as firstfruits, everything devoted, and the firstborn of clean animals. Firstborn sons and the firstborn of unclean animals were bought back at five shekels of the sanctuary weight.
Eating salt together was a pledge of faithfulness in that part of the world, and salt kept food from spoiling, so the phrase at verse 19 said that the arrangement would last. Every other tribe would hold fields with boundary stones, and Levi would eat only what Israel brought in.
Significance
For Israel this tied the worship of the LORD to the harvest basket. The Levites ate when the nation kept the tithe, and they went hungry when it did not. For the priests the arrangement was sober, since they lived on the offerings of the people they were charged to keep from wrath. The chapter also answered the fear the staff had left behind, by naming who carries the danger of the sanctuary and why the guard is set.
This chapter in Jewish lifeWhat this chapter is in Jewish life and reading.
How it is read
The classical reading treats this chapter as the settlement of the quarrel that began two chapters earlier, and Rashi gives the reason in a parable. A king gave a field to his friend and wrote no deed, sealed nothing and recorded nothing in the court. When a man came and claimed the field, the king said that anyone might now come and claim against him, and that he would write and seal a deed of gift and record it. So, Rashi says, when Korah laid claim to the priesthood, God gave Aaron the twenty-four gifts of the priesthood as an everlasting covenant of salt. That is why this section stands here after the rebellion (Rashi on Numbers 18:8:1, citing Sifrei Bamidbar 117:1). Rashi is quoted in this row from the Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A. M. Silbermann, 1929 to 1934, which the corpus marks public domain. He reads the opening word behold as a mark of pleasure in the giving, on the model of Exodus 4:14. The chapter's first verse is read as spoken to Aaron through Moses (Rashi on Numbers 18:1:1). The charge against anger is tied back to the plague of the chapter before, in the words of Numbers 17:11 (Rashi on Numbers 18:5:1, citing Sifrei Bamidbar 116:1).
The duties are read as a chain of responsibility running downward. The brethren given to Aaron are the sons of Gershon and Merari (Rashi on Numbers 18:2:1). The warning that no layman approach is addressed to the priests themselves (Rashi on Numbers 18:4:1). The Levites are given as a gift for God's service rather than for a priest's own work, which Rashi settles from the wording (Rashi on Numbers 18:6:1, citing Sifrei Bamidbar 116:2). The priesthood itself is a gift (Rashi on Numbers 18:7:1). The heaviest line of that chain falls on the Levites at the end. They bear the iniquity of the children of Israel, because the duty lies on them to warn Israel away from what would kill them (Rashi on Numbers 18:23:1).
The gifts are then read one by one as law. The priest's portion comes after the fire has taken its part (Rashi on Numbers 18:9:1). The most holy offerings are eaten in the forecourt and by male priests alone (Rashi on Numbers 18:10:1, citing Sifrei Bamidbar 117:2). The heave offering of their gifts is what is set apart from the thanksgiving offering, the festival offerings and the Nazirite's ram (Rashi on Numbers 18:11:1). The first fruits of the twelfth verse are the great heave offering of the produce (Rashi on Numbers 18:12:1). The flesh of the firstborn animals is eaten on the terms of the wave breast and the right shoulder. It is eaten over two days and the night between (Rashi on Numbers 18:18:1, citing Sifrei Bamidbar 118 and Zevachim 57a). Rashi even reads the arrangement of the section as affection, since Scripture states the whole in general terms at the beginning and again at the end and sets the details between (Rashi on Numbers 18:19:1). The tithe keeps the name of a heave offering until the Levite has set apart the heave offering of the tithe from it (Rashi on Numbers 18:24:1, citing Sifrei Bamidbar 119:5).
The price of all this is stated in the same breath, and it is the point a Christian reader should carry away. The priest is given no inheritance in the land and no portion among his brothers. Rashi extends the exclusion as far as it will go, to the spoil of war as well (Rashi on Numbers 18:20:1, citing Sifrei Bamidbar 119:1). The classical reading therefore makes the settlement of the quarrel over access into an exchange: the tribe that stands nearest to God is the tribe with nothing of its own, living on what Israel brings. Ibn Ezra comments at 18:3:1, 18:13:1, 18:15:1, 18:16:1, 18:17:1, 18:21:1 and 18:22:1, and Malbim at 18:14:1. The corpus carries no English text for either under its licence, so both stand here cited and unquoted.
What the rabbis say
The corpus carries forty locators on this chapter and the text of none, so each is cited here and never quoted. The Talmudic ones are twenty-five, the heaviest count of the first eighteen chapters, and they carry the working law of the priestly gifts rather than any narrative. The Jerusalem Talmud stands six times, at Yevamot 8:1:2 and 9:5:3, Terumot 1:1:11, Demai 5:2:5, Sanhedrin 9:7:5 and Challah 4:4:17. Bekhorot stands five times, at 34a:2, 34a:6, 53b:17, 27b:7 and 59a:1, and Arakhin three times, at 4a:13, 11b:2 and 28a:12. Bava Metzia stands at 22a:8 and 88b:7, and Beitzah at 13b:6 and 13b:7, both pairs on the tithe of the tithe. Seven more stand alone: Chagigah 11b:15, Kiddushin 52b:16, Menachot 83a:2, Chullin 136a:8, Bava Kamma 13a:11, Avot DeRabbi Natan, Recension B 48:1, and Bava Batra 143a:6.
The midrashic locators run to fifteen, the lightest midrashic count of the first eighteen chapters, which is the mirror of the Talmudic weight above. Midrash Aggadah carries four, at Numbers 18:1:1, 18:23:1 and 18:30:1, with Genesis 30:11:4 on the second verse. Bamidbar Rabbah carries four, at 3:2, 3:3, 4:8 and 6:10. Midrash Lekach Tov stands twice, at Numbers 18:22:1 and 18:25:1. Five more stand alone. They are Mekhilta DeRabbi Yishmael, Tractate Pischa 1:1, Bereshit Rabbati, Parashat Vayetze 61, and Sifra, Acharei Mot, Section 6 1. Beside them stand Ein Yaakov, Pesakhim 6:7, and Bereshit Rabbah 98:5 on the priest's want of an inheritance. What each of them teaches is a saying of the rabbis, and is reported as theirs wherever this site quotes one. The quotations wait on a fetch that carries the text.
Sources: Rashi, Rashi on Numbers 18:1:1 to 18:24:1, the Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A. M. Silbermann, 1929 to 1934, public domain; Ibn Ezra, Ibn Ezra on Numbers 18:3:1 to 18:22:1, cited by ref because the licence Sefaria reports does not permit the text here; Malbim, Malbim on Numbers 18:14:1, cited by ref because Sefaria holds no English version; The Sefaria corpus, scripts/data/sources/sefaria/numbers/18.json, the 25 Talmud and 15 Midrash locators of this chapter.
The heads below are this chapter's scenes. The numbered points under each are its verses.
You shall bear the guilt of the sanctuary
Numbers 18:1-4
Chapter 17 closes with Israel crying that anyone who comes near the tabernacle will die, and this chapter answers by laying that danger on Aaron and his sons. Adam Clarke notes the play on the name in verse 2, since Levi comes from a root meaning to be joined, and the Levites join the priests. Here the word comes to Aaron directly, not through Moses.
Numbers 18:1
“The iniquity of the sanctuary - i. e. the guilt of the offences which an erring people would be continually committing against the majesty of God, when brought into contact, through the ordinances, with the manifestations of His presence. Compare the marginal reference. The iniquity of your priesthood - As the priests themselves were but men, they were strengthened to bear the iniquity of their own unintentional offences, by being entrusted with the ceremonial means of taking it away (compare Lev. 16).”
1 more voice on this verseWhat preachers and commentators have said about this verse, in their own words.
Numbers 18:1
“The coherence of this chapter with that foregoing is very observable. The people, in the close of that chapter, had complained of the difficulty and peril that there were in drawing near to God, which put them under some dreadful apprehensions that the tabernacle in the midst of them, which they hoped would have been their joy and glory, would rather be their terror and ruin.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
The helpers named here are the tribe Korah came from, whom Moses had rebuked at 16:8-10 for seeking the priesthood too. Adam Clarke reads the two orders as sharing the whole sacred office, with the priests at its head. Since 17:10, Aaron's budded rod lay before that Testimony.
Numbers 18:2
“Thy brethren also of the tribe of Levi - may be joined unto thee - There is a fine paronomasia, or play upon words, in the original. לוי Levi comes from the root לוה lavah, to join to, couple, associate: hence Moses says, the Levites, ילוו yillavu, shall be joined, or associated with the priests; they shall conjointly perform the whole of the sacred office, but the priests shall be principal, the Levites only their associates or assistants.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
Numbers 18:2
“Unto thee - About sacrifices and offerings and other things, according to the rules I have prescribed them. The Levites are said to minister to Aaron here, to the church, chap. xvi, 9, and to God, Deut. x, 8.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
The penalty falls on both orders at once. A Levite who touches the altar brings death on the priests over him, and Albert Barnes reads the iniquity of verse 1 as the guilt an erring people keeps incurring near God's presence. Numbers 4:15-20 set the same line, where the Kohathites carried the holy things only after the priests had covered them.
The word outsider shifts its reach inside this chapter. Albert Barnes reads it here as anyone outside the tribe of Levi, and at verse 7 as anyone outside the family of Aaron, which sets the camp in rings of nearness. Numbers 16:40 had just made the bronze censers of Korah's company a reminder against such an outsider.
Numbers 18:4
“A stranger - i. e. every one not a Levite. So in Num 18:7, it denotes each one who was not a priest: compare Num 3:10; Num 16:40.”
Numbers 18:5-7
Verse 5 gives the guard's purpose, so that wrath may not fall on the Israelites again, so the barrier protects the people outside it. Verse 7 calls the priesthood a gift, which Matthew Henry reads as ruling out lordship, since the gift is service. The sentence on any outsider who comes near repeats 3:10, and 16:35 had just carried it out.
The Levites were claimed by God in place of Israel's firstborn at 3:12 and 8:16. Here he hands them on to Aaron as a gift. John Wesley notes that the Levites are said to serve Aaron here, the congregation at 16:9, and God at Deuteronomy 10:8.
Numbers 18:6
“And I, behold, I have taken your brethren the Levites, from among the children of Israel,.... See Gill on Num 3:12; where the same is said, only they, are here called the brethren of the priests for the reason given, Num 18:2, to you they are given as a gift for the Lord, to do the service of the tabernacle of the congregation; See Gill on Num 3:7, Num 3:8, and See Gill on Num 3:9.”
2 more voices on this verse
Numbers 18:6
“The Lord instructs here the priests that the office which they fill, and the help which they enjoy, are gifts from Him, and are to be viewed as such.”
Numbers 18:6
“To you they are given as a gift - We are to value it as a great gift of the divine bounty, to have those joined to us, that will be helpful and serviceable to us, in the service of God.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
Both ends of the sanctuary belong to Aaron's house. The altar stands in the court and what is inside the veil lies behind the curtain, and Leviticus 16:2 and 16:34 open that inner room to the high priest alone, once a year. Albert Barnes ties the priests' burden in this chapter to the rite of Leviticus 16.
Numbers 18:7
“Not, "You shall rule" (it was never intended that they should lord it over God's heritage), but "You shall serve God and the congregation." Note, The priesthood is a service. If any desire the office of a bishop he desires a good work. Ministers must remember that they are ministers, that is, servants, of whom it is required that they be humble, diligent, and faithful.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
I am your portion and your inheritance
Numbers 18:8-14
The portions follow two rules, which the text marks without explaining. In verses 9 and 10 every male may eat the most holy offerings, while every ceremonially clean person in the priest's household, daughters included, may eat the gifts and firstfruits of verses 11 to 13. Paul appeals to this arrangement at 1 Corinthians 9:13.
Numbers 18:8
“Godliness has the promise of the life that now is. And from this plentiful provision here made for the priests the apostle infers that it is the duty of Christian churches to maintain their ministers; those that served at the altar lived upon the altar. So those that preach the gospel should live upon the gospel, and live comfortably, 1 Cor. ix.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
reserved from the fire: The priest's share is what the altar fire leaves, and Leviticus 6:16-18, 6:26 and 7:6 had already assigned the grain, sin and guilt offerings to him this way. John Wesley reads the guilt offering here as the ram paid as compensation for a trespass against God. Leviticus 5:15-16 sets that ram.
Numbers 18:9
“Most holy - Such as were to be eaten only by the priests, and that in the sanctuary. Reserved - That is, such sacrifices or parts of sacrifices as were not burnt in the fire. Render unto me - By way of compensation for a trespass committed against me, in which case a ram was to be offered, which was a most holy thing, and may be particularly designed here.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
John Wesley took the Hebrew as a place, the court of the priests kept for eating holy things. The Berean gives Albert Barnes's reading, a most holy offering, a class of food. Leviticus 6:18 adds that anything touching it becomes holy.
Numbers 18:10
“In the most holy place - Rather, “among the most holy things;” as in Num 4:4: i. e. “As the most holy of things shalt thou eat it.” Accordingly, only the males of the priestly families could eat of the things here specified.”
1 more voice on this verse
Numbers 18:10
“In the most holy place - In the court of the priests, where there were places for this use, which is called the most holy place, not simply and absolutely, but in respect of the thing he speaks of because this was the most holy of all the places appointed for eating holy things, whereof some might be eaten in any clean place in the camp, or in their own house.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
Leviticus 22:10-13 defines the household this verse feeds. A slave the priest had bought ate of it, a hired worker did not, and a daughter married outside the priestly line lost her share until she returned home widowed or divorced and childless. Matthew Henry calls this a plentiful provision, reaching the whole house of the priest.
The Hebrew behind freshest and finest is one word, the fat, the same word verse 17 uses for what is burned on the altar. The best of the oil, wine and grain goes to the priest as the fat of a sacrifice goes to God. Deuteronomy 18:4 repeats the grant and adds the first fleece.
Numbers 18:12
“Note, We must always serve and honour God with the best we have, for he is the best, and best deserves it; he is the first, and therefore must have the first ripe. Those that think to save charges by putting God off with the refuse do but deceive themselves, for God is not mocked.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Verse 12 and this verse use two Hebrew words for firstfruits. Verse 12 has reshith, the first portion of oil, wine and grain already pressed and threshed, and this verse has bikkurim, the first-ripe produce brought whole, as in the basket of Deuteronomy 26:1-11. Both go to the priest's clean household.
Numbers 18:13
“And whatsoever is first ripe in the land,.... Of any other sort of fruit, figs, pomegranates, apples, plums, pears, &c. besides olives and vines: which they shall bring unto the Lord, shall be thine; which they shall bring in a basket to the tabernacle, where it was, or to the temple, when built: this the priests were to have, see Deu 26:2, everyone that is clean in thine house shall eat of it; See Gill on Num 18:11.”
1 more voice on this verse
Numbers 18:13
“Whatsoever is first ripe - Not only the first-fruits of the oil and wine, and wheat now mentioned, but all other first-fruits of all other grains, and all fruit trees.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
A devoted thing is herem, something given over to the LORD for good, and Leviticus 27:28 rules that it cannot be sold or redeemed. John Gill gives devoted fields, houses and cattle to the priest. Jamieson, Fausset and Brown keep devoted gold and silver for the sanctuary.
Numbers 18:14
“Every thing devoted in Israel shall be thine. Fields, houses, cattle, &c. if absolutely devoted to the Lord, they were the priest's; but if devoted to certain uses, they were appropriated to those uses, as the repairs of the temple, &c. see Lev 27:1.”
1 more voice on this verse
Numbers 18:14
“Every thing devoted in Israel shall be thine--provided it was adapted for food or consumable by use; for the gold and silver vessels that were dedicated as the spoils of victory were not given to the priests, but for the use and adornment of the sacred edifice.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
Numbers 18:15-19
The claim on the firstborn from Exodus 13:2 returns as the priests' income, and the five shekels of verse 16 is the price Numbers 3:47 set when the Levites were counted against the firstborn. A clean firstborn is offered, while a son or an unclean animal is redeemed. Verse 19 calls it a permanent covenant of salt, which Jamieson, Fausset and Brown tie to salt as a pledge of fidelity.
Numbers 18:15
Every only child is a firstborn child; but not every firstborn is an only child. A firstborn child is not only one after whom other children are also born but also one before whom no other child is born. "All that opens the womb," says the Lord to Aaron, "of all flesh that are offered to the Lord, of men and beasts, shall belong to you; only the firstborn of men shall be redeemed with a price and the firstborn of beasts that are unclean." The Word of God defined what was meant by a "firstborn."
Jerome · written before 420 · AGAINST HELVIDIUS 10patristic
John Wesley reads this price as the redemption of sons alone, since Exodus 13:13 had an unclean firstling bought back with a lamb. Adam Clarke describes the rite as Jews still kept it. At thirty days a father pays a descendant of Aaron for his firstborn son.
Numbers 18:16
“Shalt thou redeem - for the money of five shekels - Redemption of the first-born is one of the rites which is still practiced among the Jews. According to Leo of Modena, it is performed in the following manner: - When the child is thirty days old, the father sends for one of the descendants of Aaron: several persons being assembled on the occasion, the father brings a cup containing several pieces of gold and silver coin. The priest then takes the child into his arms, and addressing himself to the mother, says: Is this thy son? Mother. Yes. Priest.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
Numbers 18:16
“Those that are to be redeemed - Namely, of men only, not of unclean beasts, as is manifest from the time and price of redemption here mentioned, both which agree to men; the time, ver. 16, the price, chap. iii, 46, 47, but neither agree to unclean beasts, which were to be redeemed with a sheep, Exod. xiii, 13, and that after it was eight days old.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
They are holy means these animals already belong to the LORD, and Leviticus 27:26 forbids anyone to dedicate a firstborn ox or sheep a second time. Albert Barnes notes that an owner unwilling to redeem an unclean firstling might destroy it. A clean firstling went to the altar.
Numbers 18:17
“But the firstling of a cow, or the firstling of a sheep, or the firstling of a goat, thou shalt not redeem,....”
The firstling's meat is ranked with the breast and right thigh of the peace offering, which Leviticus 7:34 gave to Aaron's house. John Gill reports the Jewish rule that it kept the same timetable, eaten over two days and one night. Gill adds that blemished firstlings went to the priest too.
The verse seals the whole list from verse 8 as a covenant, and Jamieson, Fausset and Brown tie the grant to the priests' continuing service. Malachi 3:8 later calls withheld tithes and contributions robbery of God. The covenant bound the giver too.
Numbers 18:19
“It is a common phrase among Oriental people, who consider the eating of salt a pledge of fidelity, binding them in a covenant of friendship. Hence the partaking of the altar meats, which were appropriated to the priests on condition of their services and of which salt formed a necessary accompaniment, was naturally called "a covenant of salt" (Le 2:13).”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
Numbers 18:20-24
Every portion above rests on this verse. Aaron will hold no land, and God names Himself in its place: I am your portion and your inheritance among the Israelites. Joshua 13:33 records the rule kept at the division, and Albert Barnes observes that verse 21 is where the tithe is first assigned to the Levites, which Hebrews 7:5 takes up.
Numbers 18:20
“I am thy part and thine inheritance - The principal part of what was offered to God was the portion of the priests, therefore they had no inheritance of land in Israel; independently of that they had a very ample provision for their support. The rabbins say twenty-four gifts were given to the priests, and they are all expressed in the law. Eight of those gifts the priests ate nowhere but in the sanctuary: these eight are the following: - 1. The flesh of the Sin-Offering, whether of beasts or fowls, Lev 6:25, Lev 6:26.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
Numbers 18:20
Indeed, do you wish to know what the difference is between the priests of God and the priests of Pharaoh? Pharaoh grants lands to his priests. The Lord, on the other hand, does not grant his priests a portion in the land but says to them, "I am your portion."
Origen of Alexandria · written before 253 · HOMILIES ON GENESIS 16:5patristic
The tithe of Israel belongs to Levi
Leviticus 27:30 had declared every tithe holy to the LORD, and here the LORD passes it to the Levites as wages for the work of the tent. Albert Barnes traces the payment into Nehemiah 10:37 and 12:44, where the returned exiles bound themselves to it again. The tithe stands where their land would be.
Numbers 18:21
“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 Lev 27:30). The payment of tithes to them is recognized in Neh 10:37; Neh 12:44; Tobit 1:7.”
No longer marks a change after the plague of 16:46-49. From here the Levites stand between the people and the tent, the arrangement 1:53 had set so that wrath would not fall on the congregation. Albert Barnes reads this guard as mercy toward a people prone to trespass.
Numbers 18:22
“The Levites have the honour of attending the tabernacle, which is denied the Israelites; but then the Israelites have the honour of inheritances in Canaan, which is denied the Levites; thus each is kept from either envying or despising the other, and both have reason to rejoice in their lot.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Their iniquity has two readings. Jamieson, Fausset and Brown take it as the Levites' own liability for any neglect of the holy things, and Albert Barnes takes it as the people's offence, which the Levites carry by keeping the people back. John Wesley holds both, and points to the priests who withstood King Uzziah at 2 Chronicles 26:17-18.
Numbers 18:23
“But the Levites shall do the service of the tabernacle of the congregation: they shall bear their iniquity--They were to be responsible for the right discharge of those duties that were assigned to them, and consequently to bear the penalty that was due to negligence or carelessness in the guardianship of the holy things.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
2 more voices on this verse
Numbers 18:23
“Their iniquity - The punishment due not only for their own, but also for the people's miscarriage, if it be committed through their connivance or negligence. And this was the reason why the priests withstood King Uzziah, when he would have burnt incense to the Lord.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
Numbers 18:23
“Bear their iniquity - The words probably refer to the iniquity of the people; who would, had they approached the tabernacle have fallen, from their proneness to transgress, into overt acts of offence. Against such a result they were, through the ministrations of the Levites, mercifully protected. Compare Num 18:1.”
The tithe is called a contribution, the Hebrew terumah, a portion lifted off and set apart for the LORD. Albert Barnes links it to the gifts for the tabernacle at Exodus 25:2, and John Wesley reads it as Israel's acknowledgment that land and harvest came from God's bounty. The Levites live on that acknowledgment.
Numbers 18:24
“Here the tithes (and in Num 18:26 the priestly tithes) are to be dedicated to their purpose by the ceremony of heaving them to the Lord. The tithes, being solemnly set apart for sacred purposes, became virtually a heave-offering, like the gifts for the tabernacle Exo 25:2.”
1 more voice on this verse
Numbers 18:24
“An heave-offering - An acknowledgment that they have all their land and the fruits of it from God's bounty. Note the word heave-offering, which is for the most part understood of a particular kind of offerings heaved or lifted up to the Lord, is here used for any offering.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
Levi tithes too: the best of the best
Numbers 18:25-32
This word goes to Moses, and John Gill records Aben Ezra's reason, that it concerned a payment into Aaron's own house. The Levites give a tithe of the tithe, reckoned to them as grain from the threshing floor or juice from the winepress, so men with no fields are credited with a harvest. What they give is the best part, the standard verse 12 set for Israel.
Numbers 18:25
“And the Lord spake unto Moses,.... And not unto Aaron, because a tithe out of the tithe was to be given to Aaron, as Aben Ezra observes, and it was not so proper that he should have this order to deliver to the Levites, in which he and his sons were so much concerned, and therefore it was given to Moses to acquaint them of it: saying; as follows.”
The Levites receive the tithe and then pay one, so every order in Israel gives to God. John Calvin counts only two divisions of the tithe in a year, and he explains the priests' share as an honour carrying a demand for greater holiness. Hebrews 7:9 says Levi paid tithes through Abraham.
Numbers 18:26
“Assuredly it is not probable that in the same year double tithes were exacted and paid. Let this twofold division, therefore, be enough for us. A larger portion was given to the priests, not only as an honorable distinction, but. because greater holiness and integrity in expending them was expected from them; and also that they might meet many peculiar burdens.”
John Calvin · Commentaries (1554)reformed
The Levites own no fields, so their tenth of the tithe is counted to them as if it came from their own threshing floor and winepress. Albert Barnes notes that the phrase may also be read as reckoned by you. The Levites give as farmers give.
Numbers 18:27
“Reckoned unto you - Or, by you. The Levites were, of their tithes, to pay tithe to the priests, just as other Israelites paid tithe to the Levites.”
to Aaron the priest: Matthew Henry passes on Bishop Patrick's conjecture that this tenth was kept for the high priest himself. Henry notes that the law names no other provision for him. Nehemiah 10:38 shows the practice after the exile, with the Levites carrying the tithe of the tithes to the storerooms of the house of God.
Numbers 18:28
“It is the probable conjecture of the learned bishop Patrick that the tenth of this last tenth was reserved for the high priest himself, to support his state and dignity; for otherwise we read not of any peculiar provision made for him.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
The best part is also called the holiest part, so the portion given up carries the tithe's holiness with it. Albert Barnes has it dedicated by heaving it before the LORD. What remains becomes ordinary food, which verse 31 lets the Levites eat anywhere.
Numbers 18:29
“As many gifts, so many heave-offerings; you shall reserve a part out of each of them for the priest. The hallowed part - the tenth part, which was the part or proportion that God hallowed or sanctified to himself as his proper portion.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
Numbers 18:29
“Out of all your gifts - The spirit of this law would extend to all the revenues of the Levites; of the increase of their cattle, as well as of their tithes, a tithe would be paid by them for the Lord’s service.”
The promise of verse 27 comes again with a condition set in front of it. The Levites' tithe counts as their own harvest once the best part has gone to the LORD, and Albert Barnes puts them here on the same footing as every other Israelite paying his tithe. Proverbs 3:9 sets that order for all.
The remainder of the tithe is common food for the Levite's whole family, while the most holy portions of verse 10 stayed inside the sanctuary. John Calvin ties the freedom to where the Levites lived, scattered by God's command across the whole land. Joshua 21 names their towns among the tribes.
Numbers 18:31
“But since by God's command they were scattered over the whole land, and did not cease to be ministers of the tabernacle on account of the distance of their residence, it was justly permitted that, wherever they might be, they should eat of the meat appointed them by God.”
John Calvin · Commentaries (1554)reformed
The chapter opened with Aaron bearing iniquity at verse 1 and closes with the Levites free of guilt once the best part is given. The phrase incur guilt is the same one verse 22 set over the Israelites. Leviticus 22:15-16 warns the priests the same way.
Numbers 18:32
“Neither shall ye pollute ... - Rather, and by not polluting the holy things of the children of Israel, ye shall not die.”
2 more voices on this verse
Numbers 18:32
“Neither shall ye pollute the holy things - As you will do, if you abuse their holy offerings, by reserving that entirely to yourselves, which they offer to God to be disposed as he hath appointed, namely, part to you, and part to the priests.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
Numbers 18:32
“It is your reward for your service; that meat is the best eating that is first earned; but, if any will not work, neither shall he eat, 2 Thess. iii. And that seems to be spoken of as having a particular comfort and satisfaction in it which is the reward of faithful service done in the tabernacle of the congregation. [2.] We must be sure that God has his dues out of it.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
How this psalm is built
The form: Law, the charge of the sanctuary laid on one house with the dues that support it, spoken to Aaron as a service, as Henry classes it.
The patterns in this chapter
| Device | What it does | Where to see it |
|---|---|---|
| The word that comes to Aaron himself | Three times in this chapter the LORD speaks to Aaron directly rather than through Moses, at verses 1, 8 and 20, and the exposition note records that this is rare elsewhere in the Torah. The fourth speech, at verse 25, goes to Moses, and it is the one that orders a payment into Aaron's own house. Each of the three direct speeches opens a section, the charge, the portions and the inheritance.Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible, 1832, on Numbers 18:1 to 4, cited by the chapter's exposition note. | Numbers 18:1, Numbers 18:8, Numbers 18:20, Numbers 18:25 |
| Levi, the tribe joined to the priests | Adam Clarke marks the play on the name in verse 2, where the Hebrew Levi comes from a root meaning to join, and the Levites are the brothers who shall be joined to Aaron. The same verb stands again at verse 4, where they are to join him and attend to the duties of the Tent. The name of the tribe carries its job description.Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible, 1832, on Numbers 18:2. | Numbers 18:2, Numbers 18:4 |
| What the priests eat, sorted by two rules | Verses 9 to 19 list the income in order and mark the difference between two classes without explaining it. The most holy offerings of verses 9 and 10 are eaten by the males of the priestly families. The wave offerings and the firstfruits of verses 11 to 13 are eaten by every ceremonially clean person in the priest's household, daughters included. Devoted things, the firstborn and the redemption price follow at verses 14 to 19.Albert Barnes, Notes on the Old Testament, on Numbers 18:8 to 14, cited by the chapter's exposition note. | Numbers 18:9, Numbers 18:11, Numbers 18:14, Numbers 18:16 |
| Bearing the guilt | The phrase opens the chapter and returns near its end. At verse 1 Aaron and his sons must bear the iniquity involving the sanctuary and the priesthood. At verse 23 the Levites are to do the work of the Tent and must bear their iniquity. Albert Barnes reads the second as the iniquity of the people, who would have fallen into open offence had they approached the tent themselves.Albert Barnes, Notes on the Old Testament, on Numbers 18:23. | Numbers 18:1, Numbers 18:22, Numbers 18:23 |
| So that wrath does not fall, and lest they die | The purpose stated at verse 5 is that wrath may not fall on the Israelites again, which answers the cry at the end of chapter 17. The chapter closes at verse 32 with a warning to the Levites against defiling the sacred offerings, or else they will die. The guard set at the start to keep death away from the camp ends as a guard on the men who keep it.Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible, 1710, on Numbers 18:5 to 7, cited by the chapter's exposition note. | Numbers 18:5, Numbers 18:22, Numbers 18:32 |
The historical value
9 more paragraphs on the patterns
The chapter is the charter of an economy with no land in it. Verse 16 sets the redemption price of a firstborn son at five shekels of the sanctuary shekel, which is twenty gerahs. Numbers 3:46 to 51 had already set that price when the Levites were counted against the firstborn of Israel. The claim on the firstborn itself goes back to Exodus 13:2 and returns here as income. Adam Clarke records that the redemption of the firstborn was still practised among the Jews in his own day. He describes the ceremony from Leo of Modena, with the child brought at thirty days old to a descendant of Aaron.
Verse 19 calls the arrangement a covenant of salt. The same phrase stands over the grain offering at Leviticus 2:13 and over the throne of David at 2 Chronicles 13:5. Jamieson, Fausset and Brown tie it to the eastern practice of eating salt together as a pledge of fidelity, which makes the shared meal the sign of the bond. Albert Barnes reads salt as the token of perpetuity, since it enters every article of diet. Adam Clarke reads it as the emblem of incorruptibility, because salt preserved food from decay.
What is contested
How many tithes Israel paid is the chapter's open question. John Calvin holds that double tithes in the same year are improbable and that a twofold division is enough. He gives the larger portion to the priests, because more was expected of them and they carried peculiar burdens. Adam Clarke reports the rabbis as counting twenty four gifts given to the priests, eight of which were eaten only in the sanctuary. That count treats the priestly income as a larger system than this chapter alone sets out. Matthew Henry passes on the conjecture of bishop Patrick that the tenth of this last tenth was reserved for the high priest himself, since no other provision for him is recorded. The chapter states the tithe of the tithe plainly at verse 26 and says nothing of a second tithe.
What the phrase in the most holy place means at verse 10 is read two ways. Albert Barnes renders it among the most holy things and makes the sentence a class of offering rather than a room. John Wesley takes it as the court of the priests, called the most holy place in respect of the thing spoken of rather than absolutely. Both readings end at the same practice, that only the males of the priestly families ate these portions.
How the New Testament reads it
Paul cites this arrangement by name at 1 Corinthians 9:13 and uses it to argue for the support of those who serve at the altar. Hebrews 7:5 takes up verse 21 by name. Albert Barnes observes that Abraham had paid tithes to Melchizedek long before this at Genesis 14:20, and that verse 21 is where the tithe is first assigned to the Levites.
The divine connection
Verse 20 is the sentence every portion above it depends on. Aaron is told he will have no inheritance in the land, and the portion named in its place is God Himself. Origen sets the arrangement against Egypt, where Pharaoh granted lands to his priests, and reads the difference as the mark of the priests of God. Matthew Henry holds that the tribe was kept distinct so that neither Levi nor Israel could envy or despise the other, since each held what the other lacked. Verse 7 puts the same point in the priest's own hands, calling his office a service given to him.
Keep studying
Sources for this chapter
The summary
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory; John Calvin, Commentaries; John Wesley, Notes on the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Complete Commentary.
The form and classifications
Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible, 1710, on Numbers 18:7.
The exposition
Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Calvin; John Gill; John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament; Keil and Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament: The Pentateuch and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.