Numbers, Chapter 18

Numbers Chapter 18

Verses 1-32: The Duties and Rights of Priests and Levites

1. The LORD said to Aaron, “You, your sons, and your ancestral house with you shall bear the iniquity related to the sanctuary, and you and your sons with you shall bear the iniquity associated with your priesthood.”
2. “Also bring your brothers, the tribe of Levi, the tribe of your father, to join you and assist you and your sons before the tent of testimony.”
3. “They shall perform duties for you and for the whole tent. However, they shall not come near the vessels of the sanctuary and the altar, lest they, and you also, die.”
4. “They are to be joined to you and guard the tent of meeting, doing all the work at the tent, but no outsider may come near you.”
5. “You shall guard the sanctuary and the altar, so that wrath may not again come upon the Israelites.”
6. “See, I have taken your brothers the Levites from among the Israelites. They are a gift to you, dedicated to the LORD, to do the service of the tent of meeting.”
7. “But you and your sons with you shall guard your priesthood for everything concerning the altar and inside the veil, and you shall serve. I give your priesthood as a gift for service, but any outsider who comes near shall be put to death.”
8. Then the LORD spoke to Aaron, “I myself have put you in charge of the offerings presented to me; all the holy gifts of the Israelites I have given you and your sons as a portion, as a perpetual due.”
9. “This is yours of the most holy things, reserved from the fire: every offering of theirs, every grain offering of theirs, every sin offering of theirs, and every guilt offering of theirs, which they shall render to me, shall be most holy for you and for your sons.”
10. “As the most holy offerings, you shall eat them; every male may eat them. They shall be holy to you.”
11. “This also is yours: the gift of their offering, together with all the wave offerings of the Israelites. I have given them to you, and to your sons and daughters with you, as a perpetual due; everyone in your household who is clean may eat it.”
12. “All the best of the oil, all the best of the wine and of the grain, the firstfruits of what they give to the LORD, I give to you.”
13. “The first ripe fruits of all that is in their land, which they bring to the LORD, shall be yours; everyone in your household who is clean may eat it.”
14. “Everything devoted in Israel shall be yours.”
15. “Everything that opens the womb of all flesh, whether human or animal, which they offer to the LORD, shall be yours; nevertheless, the firstborn of humans you shall surely redeem, and the firstborn of unclean animals you shall redeem.”
16. “And their redemption price (at a month old you shall redeem them) you shall fix at five shekels in silver, according to the shekel of the sanctuary, which is twenty gerahs.”
17. “But the firstborn of a cow or the firstborn of a sheep or the firstborn of a goat you shall not redeem; they are holy. You shall sprinkle their blood on the altar and shall burn their fat as an offering by fire, for a pleasing aroma to the LORD.”
18. “Their meat shall be yours, as the breast that is waved and as the right thigh are yours.”
19. “All the holy contributions that the Israelites present to the LORD I give to you, and to your sons and daughters with you, as a perpetual due; it is an everlasting covenant of salt before the LORD for you and for your offspring with you.”
20. And the LORD said to Aaron, “You shall have no inheritance in their land, nor shall you have any portion among them; I am your portion and your inheritance among the Israelites.”
21. “To the Levites I have given every tithe in Israel for an inheritance, in return for the service that they do, their service in the tent of meeting,”
22. “so that the Israelites may not come near the tent of meeting and bear sin and die.”
23. “It is the Levites who shall do the service of the tent of meeting and bear their iniquity; it is a perpetual statute throughout your generations, and among the Israelites they shall have no inheritance.”
24. “For the tithe of the Israelites, which they present as an offering to the LORD, I have given to the Levites for an inheritance. Therefore I have said of them that they shall have no inheritance among the Israelites.”
25. The LORD spoke to Moses, saying,
26. “Speak to the Levites and say to them, ‘When you take from the Israelites the tithe that I have given you from them for your inheritance, then you shall present an offering from it to the LORD, a tithe of the tithe.”
27. “Your offering shall be reckoned to you as the grain from the threshing floor and as the fullness from the winepress.”
28. “Thus you also shall offer an offering to the LORD from your tithes, which you receive from the Israelites; and from it you shall give the LORD’s offering to Aaron the priest.”
29. “Out of all the gifts to you, you shall present every offering due to the LORD, from all the best of them, the sacred part from them.’
30. “You shall say to them, ‘When you have offered the best of it, then the rest shall be accounted to the Levites as produce of the threshing floor and as produce of the winepress.”
31. “You may eat it anywhere, you and your households, for it is your compensation in return for your service in the tent of meeting.”
32. “And you shall bear no sin by reason of it, when you have offered the best of it. But you shall not profane the sacred donations of the Israelites, lest you die.'”

Interpretation: This passage outlines the responsibilities and privileges of the priests and Levites, emphasizing the sacred duties they perform in service to the LORD and the Israelite community. It delineates their rights to certain offerings and tithes as compensation for their service, setting a divine order for the sustenance of those who dedicate themselves to religious service. The intricate system of offerings and tithes underscores the holiness of their work and the community’s obligation to support them.