And to the children of Levi, behold, I have given all the tithes in Israel for an inheritance, for their service which they perform, the service of the tent of meeting.
The Levites were the one tribe in Israel with no farmland of their own. This verse tells them how they would live: the nation's tenth is their inheritance, and it is pay for their work at the tent of meeting.
Priests and Levites both owned no land. God fed them by two different routes, and both routes ran from His hand.
The priests had all the offerings and sacrifices that a man might share in. The Levites had the tithes from all Israel. The one was fed from within, the other from without. But both received from Jehovah, for He was their inheritance. Otherwise they were miserable — what else did they have?
The tithe is not charity. It is pay for service, and one commentator does the arithmetic to show how generous that pay was.
The twelve tribes were to give one tenth of their produce to God. He handed it to the children of Levi as a reward for the service they gave Him. So God provided for them generously. Suppose the twelve tribes were about equal in numbers and possessions. Take 100 as the produce of each tribe. Each tribe would then be left with 90, while the Levites would receive 120. But the Levites had to offer the Lord a tithe of the very best they received. That would leave 108 for their own use. This short calculation may help to show us that God does not mean to underpay His servants.
Notice that the verse does not say the people give to the Levites. God says, "I have given."
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?" They would answer, "We receive them from the Lord."
The gift passed through God's hands first. That left His workers depending on Him alone for everything they needed.
Verses 20-32 teach us that the priests and Levites — God's worshippers and workers — were to have no inheritance among the children of Israel. They were to depend entirely on God Himself for all their need. It is a most blessed position. The children of Israel were to bring their offerings and lay them down at the feet of Jehovah. Then, in His infinite grace, He told His workers to pick up these precious offerings — the fruit of His people's devotedness — and feed on them in His own presence with thankful hearts. So the circle of blessing went round. God met every need of His people. His people had the privilege of sharing the rich fruits of His bounty with the priests and Levites. And these last could taste the rare and exquisite pleasure of giving back to God what had flowed from Him to them.
Receiving the tenth did not free the Levites from giving. And for Christians, no fixed fraction replaces it.
In receiving tithes, the Levites were not exempt from paying tithes. When the other tribes brought in their tithes, the Levites were to offer God a tenth of the tithes as their own contribution (v.26). In our present day of grace there is no law about tithing. Instead the measure of our giving is "as he may prosper" (1 Cor. 16:2) or "as he has decided in his heart" (2 Cor. 9:7). Each believer settles the amount by his own spiritual exercise. The people of God may give support, as to the Lord, for the need of the Lord's servants. The servant is to be just as exercised as they are about using funds for the Lord's sake, and glad to give as the Lord prospers him.
The same writer applies this pattern to gospel work today, and draws a careful line.
The Levites received the tithes of the people (Num. 18:21), and in this way God provided for their support. In the same way God has ordained that those who preach the gospel should "get their living by the gospel." This does not mean the preacher himself is free to take collections or to charge anything for his preaching. This is written not to the servant but to the assembly. It stresses the assembly's responsibility to provide such support willingly — not as a salary, but entirely by voluntary exercise.
If the tithe is God's, then keeping it back is not just meanness towards a neighbour.
The Jews had taken for their own use the tithes and offerings that were Jehovah's by right. The portions of the priests and Levites laid down by the law (Num. 18:8-24) were not forthcoming... The priests and Levites were the direct sufferers, but the Lord counted it an offence against Himself.
- No portion — the Levites owned no land. God Himself was their inheritance; without Him they had nothing.
- God's portion — the tenth was the Lord's first. Israel gave it to Him, and the Levites received it from Him, not from men.
- A worker's portion — the tithe was pay for real service. The numbers show God does not mean to underpay His servants.
- A shared portion — the gift moved in a circle. God supplied the people, the people laid it before God, and the workers ate it in His presence and gave back out of it.
- Your portion — grace sets no fixed fraction. The measure is "as he may prosper." Withhold what is God's, and He counts it an offence against Himself.
Neither shall the children of Israel henceforth come near the tent of meeting, to bear sin and die.
At the end of the previous chapter the people panicked and cried that anyone who came near God's dwelling would die. Verse 22 turns their own words into law — yet the same chapter names who will carry the danger for them.
Fear came first, and the command followed. One writer traces where their thinking went wrong:
They had a conscience of sin, and it opened their eyes to see the "token." The rod stood there as a testimony. Israel could not come near without remembering their sin and its judgment. They cry out, "Behold, we perish, we are all undone. Everyone who comes near the tabernacle of the LORD shall die. Are we all to perish?"... Blind unbelief! They were not forbidden access to God through the priest, but only to take up the function of priesthood that belonged to Aaron and his sons. They expected death if they came near. They connected death with their access to God, not with their sin.
The ESV does not use the word "henceforth" here, but older translations do. That one word marks a change:
Verse 22 of our chapter makes the separate place of Aaron and the Levites more pronounced. The mass of the people were not to come near the tabernacle. The word "henceforth" shows that before this they had come nearer than they were now allowed to come. The change came because they had displayed their "rebel" character so sadly.
Their own words came back on them. The same writer shows where that landed them:
They said that anyone drawing near to the tabernacle would die. The result is that their drawing near is forbidden. For their standing before God, their unbelief and mistrust of Him is more serious than their earlier presumption. They are brought down to the level of the outsider: "any outsider who comes near shall be put to death." From now on Israel cannot come nearer than the outsider. That privilege is lost.
The barrier was not God abandoning the people. The same chapter appoints priests to carry what would otherwise have destroyed the nation:
"You and your sons and your father's house with you shall bear iniquity connected with the sanctuary." This is plainly in answer to the question, "Are we all to perish?" The priests and the Levites kept the charge of the tabernacle and of the altar "that there may never again be wrath on the people of Israel." The priesthood, which had been the target of rebellion, was to be their security. Without that priestly service the wrath of God would have consumed them all. Christ is again in view here — He who always lives and intercedes for His own people. He bore the iniquity and the wrath Himself.
The Levites carried a share of that burden, and their service was fenced off too:
The work was theirs alone. Other Israelites were not to come near and take any part in the service God had given the Levites. They were no more to do that than to intrude on the service of the priests. In their measure the Levites too were to "bear their iniquity." That is, they took responsibility for the iniquity of the people of Israel, as those identified with the priests, who alone could offer the sacrifices for that iniquity.
Under the law the way in stayed shut. One writer sets that against what the cross changed:
Israel had "an earthly place of holiness," and their worship had that same character. "The way into the holy places is not yet opened as long as the first section is still standing." But the blood of Jesus has opened the way. The same stroke that killed the Lamb tore the veil from top to bottom... There is no outer-court worship now for the people and temple worship for the priest, as under the law. These distinctions are unknown in the Church of the living God. All are equally near. All have equal liberty. All are equally acceptable, through the presence and intervention of the great High Priest of His people.
- Cry — The people declared that anyone approaching God's dwelling would die. Verse 22 is God taking them at their word. Fear spoke first, and the fence followed.
- Cost — Their misreading of God cost them ground. God brought them down to the level of the outsider, and they lost a nearness they had once had.
- Cover — The ban came with a provision. Priests and Levites now bore the iniquity of the sanctuary, so that wrath would not fall on the nation again.
- Christ — The very priesthood the rebels had despised became Israel's security. It points to the One who bore the iniquity and the wrath Himself.
- Come near — What Israel could not do, believers now do. The torn veil ends the split between outer court and sanctuary. All are equally near, through the great High Priest.
But the Levite, he shall perform the service of the tent of meeting, and they shall bear their iniquity it is an everlasting statute throughout your generations. And among the children of Israel shall they possess no inheritance;
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.
for I have given for an inheritance to the Levites the tithes of the children of Israel, which they offer as a heave-offering to Jehovah; therefore I have said of them, They shall possess no inheritance among the children of Israel.
Israel gives a tenth of its produce to the Lord, and He passes it straight on to the Levites as their inheritance. That raises two questions: what does it mean to lift a tithe up to God, and why does this leave the Levites with no land of their own?
Older translations call this contribution a "heave offering." One writer sets it beside the wave offering to show what each word meant.
The idea behind a heave offering was taking up a part of something to offer it to God. The idea of the wave offering is more general. It means consecration to God, for the gift was waved before the Lord. A gift might therefore be called both a heave offering and a wave offering. But not every wave offering could also be called a heave offering. To heave, you needed a larger amount to lift the portion out of. To wave, you needed only the gift itself.
So the tenth reached the Levites only after it had passed through God's hands.
The verse ends by saying the Levites will own no land. One writer explains what that meant day to day.
The Levites needed the tithes for their support. Like the priests, they had no inheritance among the children of Israel. They were scattered among the tribes and had no property of their own as a tribe.
Another writer sees their landlessness as a gain, not a loss.
The priests and Levites — God's worshippers and workers — were to have no inheritance among the children of Israel. They were to depend completely on God Himself for the supply of all their need. What a blessed position.
One writer puts the same question to both sides, and finds the same name in both answers.
If you asked the children of Israel, To whom do you give the tithes? the answer of the godly would be, We give them to the Lord. And if you asked the faithful Levites, From whom do you receive the tithes? their answer would be, We receive them from the Lord.
The gift then travels all the way round, back to where it began.
The children of Israel were to bring their offerings and lay them down at the feet of Jehovah. He, in His infinite grace, then told His workers to pick up these precious offerings — the fruit of His people's devotedness — and feed on them in His own blessed presence, with thankful hearts. So the circle of blessing went round. God supplied every need of His people. His people had the privilege of sharing the rich fruits of His bounty with the priests and Levites. And God let these last taste the rare and exquisite pleasure of giving back to Him what had flowed from Him to them.
One writer applies the same principle to those who preach the gospel today.
Some are truly called of God, gifted by Christ, and fitted by the Holy Spirit to preach the gospel. If they give themselves to that glorious work constantly and diligently, they have a moral right to support for their daily needs. But they should not look to those they preach to for a fixed sum. There is no such idea as this in the New Testament. The workman must look to his Master, and to Him alone, for support.
Another writer turns to how much the giver should give now.
In our present day of grace God gives no law about tithing. Instead the measure of our giving is "as he may prosper" (1 Cor. 16:2) or "as he has decided in his heart" (2 Cor. 9:7). The amount is left to the spiritual exercise of each individual. The people of God may give support, as to the Lord, for the need of the Lord's servants.
God Himself gives a hard name to keeping the tithes back.
He says, "Will man rob God? Yet you are robbing me" (Mal. 3:8). Doesn't it seem an extraordinary expression to you — robbing God? And it certainly is; yet it was the truth all the same. The Jews had taken for their own use the tithes and offerings that were Jehovah's by right. The portions of the priests and Levites, prescribed by the law, were not forthcoming. The priests and Levites were the direct sufferers, but the Lord counted it an offence against Himself.
- Lifted up. A heave offering means lifting a part out of a larger amount. Israel raised the tenth out of its harvest and put it in God's hands first.
- Handed over. What Israel gave to God, God gave to Levi — so the giver gave to the Lord and the receiver received from the Lord.
- Landless. The Levites held no property and were scattered through the tribes, so their whole living came from God's hand.
- Returned. The circle closed when God's workers fed on the gift in His presence and gave back to Him what had flowed from Him.
- Owed. Keeping back what was lifted up to God robs God Himself. Today the measure is not a fixed tenth but "as he may prosper" — and the servant looks to his Master, not to men.