Thou mayest not eat within thy gates the tithe of thy corn, or of thy new wine, or of thine oil, or the firstlings of thy kine or of thy sheep, nor any of thy vows which thou vowest, nor thy voluntary-offerings, nor the heave-offering of thy hand;
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but before Jehovah thy God shalt thou eat them in the place which Jehovah thy God will choose, thou and thy son, and thy daughter, and thy bondman, and thy handmaid, and the Levite that is within thy gates; and thou shalt rejoice before Jehovah thy God in all the business of thy hand.
What Israel set apart for God could not be eaten at home. It had to be carried to the one place He chose and eaten there in gladness — which raises two questions: why one place, and why a law about offerings ends in a command to rejoice.
A restless heart always wants a change of scene. One writer weighs that wish against what the chosen place really was:
Here was the one grand and all-important point. The dwelling-place of Jehovah was dear to the heart of every true Israelite. Restless self-will might want to run here and there. The poor wandering heart might long for some change. But for the heart that loved God, any change away from the place of His presence — the place where He had recorded His blessed Name — could only be a change for the worse.
"Before the LORD your God" is the key phrase. The food is not simply handed over; God takes it from their hands and shares the meal with them:
God wants His people to bring everything they consecrate to Him, out of willing, thankful and obedient hearts, to that place where He Himself is. He wants, so to speak, to receive it personally from their hands and collectively enjoy it with them. Part of the sacrifices was to be His "food" (or "bread", as it can also be translated) (Leviticus 3:11 and 16). The rest was for His people — their sons and daughters, menservants and maidservants and the Levites — as they gathered with a glad heart before His face.
Earlier instructions gave the firstlings — the firstborn of the herds and flocks — to the priests. Here the family that brings them eats them. One writer faces the change and shows what stayed the same:
In Numbers 18:17-18 He gave them to the priests to eat. In Deuteronomy 12:6, 17-18; 14:23; 15:19-20, He told the people who brought them to share in them with their families and the Levites who were within their gates. They were to do this at the place where He would choose to put His name. Now it is clear that there is a change made in the law. But the principle remains the same throughout: God claimed the firstlings as His, to dispose of as He would. In the wilderness God gave them to the priests. In the land the people were to eat of them too. God, of course, had the right to change His law, and no doubt there was a good reason for it.
Leaving home to eat before God might look like a loss to family life. One writer raises that objection and answers it:
And oh, what an unspeakable privilege for all who loved God and loved one another to gather at the place where He recorded His Name! And what touching grace shines in the fact that He desired to gather His people round Himself from time to time! Did that fact infringe their personal rights and domestic privileges? No — it enhanced them immensely.
The line ran the other way too. Their offerings "were to be given a marked distinction and eaten only in the place the Lord would choose. So their worship was to be completely set apart from their ordinary home life, and their whole family and servants were included in this, when they could rejoice only before the Lord" (Leslie M. Grant).
The list of guests runs wider than the worshipper's own family:
So the worshipper, his son and his daughter, his manservant and his maidservant, the Levite within his gates, the stranger, the orphan, and the widow, were to rejoice together in the place where Jehovah had set His name. God surrounded Himself with joy, the fruit of grace and of His blessing.
Thankful joy before God has an opposite. One writer names it:
The Lord expects this spirit of thankfulness and rejoicing before Him when people have been blessed, rather than an attitude of each person independently doing what is right in his own eyes (verse 8). That attitude often shows up when people are prosperous. If they have difficulties and hardship, people usually draw closer together to help one another.
What answers to that chosen place today? One writer points to a Person: "For us today, Christ and Him crucified is the Center of our worship, not a geographical location, but a living Person" (Leslie M. Grant).
- Chosen — God names the place. He recorded His Name there, so the loving heart wants no other; any change is a change for the worse.
- Shared — The gift is not handed over and lost. God takes it from their hands and enjoys it with them.
- Widened — The joy takes in sons, daughters, servants and the Levite. God surrounds Himself with joy, the fruit of His grace.
- Guarded — These portions stay out of ordinary meals. Worship keeps its own place and never blurs into daily life.
- Directed — Joy before God replaces every man doing what is right in his own eyes. For us the center is Christ, not a place.
Take heed to thyself that thou forsake not the Levite all the days thou shalt be in thy land.
Deuteronomy 12 fixes Israel's worship at one place of God's own choosing. In the middle of those rules about offerings and feasts comes a warning about one man with no land of his own — the Levite. The warning covers a whole lifetime. Why was this man's welfare tied so closely to the nation's worship?
The Levite's place among the tribes is what made the warning necessary.
They must not forsake the Levite either. The Levites were servants to the priests and had no inheritance assigned to them, because they were God's servants to care for the spiritual needs of the people.
The tithe came from Israel's fields and went to the Levite. But neither side described it that way.
Ask the children of Israel, "To whom do you give the tithes?" The godly would answer, "We give them to the Lord." Ask the faithful Levites, "From whom do you receive the tithes?" Their answer would be, "We receive them from the Lord."
That leaves a practical question: how well should the Lord's servant live?
The servant looks to his Lord for support. The Lord looks to His people to be the channels of that supply, and it is as unfailing as His love and care. The way this is put shows that the Lord's servant should live in the same comfort as the people he serves among. The Lord would not have His people burdened beyond their means so that His servants can live in luxury. Nor would He have His servants' appearance or circumstances bring shame on Himself and on His people.
This is not a side note about charity. It follows from who hosts the meal.
Care for the Levite is also insisted on, for if we are with God, He is master of the table at which He sits, and those He provides for become ours.
Israel's later history shows what the warning was guarding against.
Look through the history of Israel. Whenever things were in anything like a healthy condition, the altar of God was well cared for. As a result, the priests and Levites were well supplied. If the Lord had His portion, His servants were sure to have theirs. If He was neglected, so were they. They were bound up together. The people were to bring their offerings to God, and He shared them with His servants. The priests and the Levites were not to demand anything from the people. Instead the people had the privilege of bringing their gifts to the altar of God. And He let His servants feed on the fruit of His people's devotion to Him.
The same care carries over to Christians today, but not as a fixed percentage.
In Israel's system the people were to take special care of the Levite by giving him their tithes. In the Christian system there is no stated rule. Only special principles are given, and the love of Christ is the power that carries them out.
The point is not whether the worker looks poor.
Those who labour in the word, whether among those outside or among those inside, are entitled to the care of the church of God. The saints must make sure they are supported, so that the workers have no anxiety of their own... It does harm to make it a question of poverty. Divine love has its privileges, especially in honouring those who are its chief witnesses and workers... There is such a thing as the activity of love, not only the need of poverty. It would be a real loss and shame to the saints if there were no room for love in those taught, just because the teacher was not actually poor.
- No inheritance. God left the Levite without land on purpose. His work was to care for the people's spiritual needs.
- From the Lord. The giver gives to God and the servant receives from God; people are only the channel God uses.
- At His table. God hosts the meal, so everyone He feeds shares the care of everyone else He feeds.
- A gauge. When God had His portion, His servants had theirs. When Israel neglected Him, they neglected His servants too. The two rise and fall together.
- Still binding. No fixed rule replaces the tithe now. Love does the work, and it acts to honour the worker, not just out of pity for the poor.