Numbers 18:28

Aaron was to tell them what a provision would be made for them on account of their service, but Moses was to inform them what part Aaron was to have out of it: when ye take of the children of Israel the tithes which I have given you from them for your inheritance; which was done at the time of their harvest, and of the ingathering of the fruits of the earth: then ye shall offer up an heave offering of it for the Lord; in token of gratitude for the liberal provision he had made for the maintenance of them: [even] a tenth [part] of the tithe; a tenth part out of the tenth of the produce of the land of Israel. Numbers 18:27 Ver. 27. And [this] your heave offering,.... The tithe of the tithe, which though not properly heaved or lifted up, as the heave offerings, strictly so called, were, any more than the tithe itself, Numbers 18:24; yet is so called, because separated to the use and service of the Lord, as they were: shall be reckoned unto you, as though [it were] the corn of the threshingfloor, and as the fulness of the winepress; that is, it should be as acceptable to God as if they had fields and vineyards, threshing floors, and wine presses of their own, from whence corn and wine were taken, as the Israelites when they received their tithes from them; and what remained they had as good a right unto, and might make use of as their own, as well as they; see Numbers 18:30. Numbers 18:28 Ver. 28. Thus you also shall offer an heave offering unto the Lord,....

18:20-32 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. 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, 2Th 3:10. 2. We must be sure that God has his dues out of it. We have the comfort of our substance, when we have honoured the Lord with it. Ye shall bear no sin by reason of it, when ye have heaved the best from it. We should give alms of such things as we have, that all may be holy and comfortable to us.

Thus you also shall offer an heave offering unto the Lord,.... As the Israelites did when they paid tithes to them, Numbers 18:24 , of all your tithes which ye receive of the children of Israel; which heave offering was a tenth part of them: and ye shall give thereof the Lord's heave offering to Aaron the priest; that is, the said tenth part of the tithe was to be given not to Aaron only, as the high priest, as some have thought, and so to his successors in the high priesthood; but to him and his sons, even to all the priests in common, the high priest having his share of it; and Josephus (o) is clear for it, that the tithe of the annual fruits was paid to the Levites, and to the priests. Hecataeus, an Heathen writer, who lived in the times of Alexander the great, says (p), that all the priests of the Jews received the tenth of whatsoever was produced, and ministered things in common, and were 1500 in number. (o) Antiqu. l. 4. c. 4. sect. 3.((p) Apud Joseph. contr. Apion. l. 1. sect. 22.

Verse 28. - Ye shall give thereof the Lord's heave offering to Aaron the priest. The Levites tithed the people, the priests tithed the Levites. At this time the other Israelites were nearly fifty times as numerous as the Levites, and therefore they would have been exceptionally well provided for. It must be remembered, however, that the Levites would naturally increase faster than the rest, not being exposed to the same dangers; and still more that tithes are never paid at all fully or generally, even when of strict legal obligation. A glance along the history of Israel after the conquest will satisfy us that at no time could the people at large be trusted to pay their tithes, unless it were during the ascendancy of the Maccabees, and afterwards under the influence of the Pharisees (cf. Malachi 3:9, 10 ). The Levites, indeed, appear in the history of Israel as the reverse of an opulent or influential class. It was no doubt much easier for the sons of Aaron to obtain their tithes from the Levites; and as these were very numerous in proportion, and the tithes themselves were only a part of their revenues, the priests should have been, and in later times certainly were, sufficiently rich. If they were devout they no doubt spent much on the service of the altar and of the sanctuary. Numbers 18:28

26. the Levites … offer … a tenth of the tithe—Out of their own they were to pay tithes to the priests equally as the people gave to them. The best of their tithes was to be assigned to the priests, and afterwards they enjoyed the same liberty to make use of the remainder that other Israelites had of the produce of their threshing-floors and wine-presses.

Appropriation of the Tithe. - Numbers 18:26 . When the Levites took (received) from the people the tithe assigned them by Jehovah, they were to lift off from it a heave-offering for Jehovah, a tithe of the tithe for Aaron the priest (i.e., for the priesthood; see at Numbers 18:20 ). "Your heave-offering shall be reckoned to you as the corn of the threshing-floor, and the fulness (see Exodus 22:28 ) of the wine-press," i.e., according to Numbers 18:30 , as the revenue of the threshing-floor and wine-press; that is to say, as corn and wine which they had reaped themselves.

[Reformed Biblical] ave-offering, which is for the most part understood of a particular kind of offerings heaved or lifte d up to the Lord, is here used for any offering in general, as before, Num_18:8. Numbers 18:25 Numbers 18:26 Numbers 18:27 It shall be accepted of you as much as if you offered it out of your own lands and labours. Numbers 18:28 And to his children, which were one with him, and were all to have their share herein. Numbers 18:29 ## Out of all your gifts; not only out of your tithes, but out of the other gifts which you receive from the people, and out of those fields which shall belong to your cities. ## Ye shall offer, to wit, to the priest. ## Every heave-offering, i.e. as many gifts, so many heave- offerings; you shall reserve a part out of each of them for the priest. ## The hallowed part thereof: this may descri

[Reformed Biblical] its; in the f east of pente cost, Act_2:1. ## A new meat-offering; new fruits, two loaves made of your new corn, Lev_23:16. ## Your weeks, i.e. the seven weeks which you are to number from the passover, Lev_23:15 Heb. in the weeks, in being put for after , as it is Isa_20:1 Luk_9:36 11:37 . Nu mbers 28:27 ## The burnt-offering, for the celebration of the feast, over and besides that other offering which was joined with the first-fruits, Lev_23:18: so here is a new additional sacrifice prescribed, which doth not destroy the former. Numbers 28:28 Numbers 28:29 Numbers 28:30 Numbers 28:31 ## Numbers 29:1 NUMBERS CHAPTER 29 The sacrifice at the feast of the trumpets; its burnt-offering, and sin-offering, N um_29:1-4. Of the feast of atonement; its offerings, Num_29:5-11. Of the feast of tabernacles, during seven days; their offerings; the eighth day a great holiday Num_29:12-38. ## In the seventh month; so it was in their ecclesiastical account, in which the month Abib was the first; but as to civil matters, this was the first month. ## A day of blowing the trumpets; whereby the pe

25 . and weighed ] Money was still for the most part reckoned by weight (cf. on Ezra 7:22 ). the silver , &c.] The offerings referred to in Ezra 7:15-18 , and the vessels given by the king and others Ezra 7:19 ; Ezra 7:27 . the offering of the house , &c.] R.V. the offering for the house . A dedicatory offering (t‘rûmah), as is described in Exodus 35:24 . Literally ‘the offering of’, as in Exodus 30:15 , ‘the offering of the Lord’, or ‘heave offering unto the Lord’, Numbers 18:26 ; Numbers 18:28-29 ; Numbers 31:29 ; 2 Chronicles 31:14 , ‘the oblations of the Lord’. Here ‘the offering of’, i.e. ‘belonging to the house’ is equivalent to ‘the offering for the house.’ The expression does not occur again. his counsellers ] cf. on Ezra 7:14 . his lords ] R.V. his princes ; as in Ezra 7:28 . and all Israel there present ] Literally ‘and all Israel that were found’. A peculiar phrase, occurring also in 1 Chronicles 29:17 , ‘thy people which are present here ’ (lit. that are found here); 2 Chronicles 5:11 , ‘all the priests that were present ’ (lit. that were found).