Numbers 18:9

18:8-19 All believers are spiritual priests, and God has promised to take care of them. Godliness has the promise of the life that now is. And from the provision here made for the priests, the apostle shows that it is the duty of christian churches to maintain their ministers. Scandalous maintenance makes scandalous ministers. The priests were to be wholly devoted to their ministry, not diverted from it, or disturbed in it, by worldly care or business. Also, that they might be examples of living by faith, not only in God's providence, but in his ordinances. The best should be offered for the first-fruits unto the Lord. Those who think to save, by putting God off with the refuse, deceive themselves, for God is not mocked.

This shall be thine of the most holy things,.... For, as observed, there were some lighter and lesser holy things or sacrifices, and others superlatively so: and those are begun with, such as were reserved from the fire; those parts of sacrifices which were not burnt with fire on the altar of burnt offerings: every oblation of theirs; which is a general word, including various offerings, the particulars follow: every meat offering of theirs: or bread offering, for they were made of fine flour and oil, and burnt on the altar, the remainder of which was eaten by Aaron and his sons, Leviticus 6:14, every sin offering of theirs; which was offered to make atonement for sin, which also belonged to the priests and their sons, excepting such whose blood was carried into the most holy place, Leviticus 6:25, and every trespass offering of theirs, which they shall render unto me; which was offered for a trespass committed; what remained of this also, when burnt on the altar, was eaten by the priest and his sons, Leviticus 7:5; and this sacrifice was a ram, when a trespass was committed, either in the holy things of the Lord, or in wrongs done to men, Leviticus 5:15; Jarchi interprets it of an offering for a trespass committed by rapine or violence to a stranger: these, all of them, it is added: shall be most holy for thee and for thy sons; for their use, and for theirs only.

(9) F rom the fire.— i.e., from the fire which was kindled upon the altar of burnt offering. Every oblation of their’s, every meat offering of their’s . . . —Or, every oblation of their’s for all their meat offerings, and for all their sin offerings, and for all their trespass offerings (or, guilt offerings).

9 . The portions ‘[reserved] from the fire’ on the altar were a ‘handful’ or a small undefined quantity of the meal-offerings ( Leviticus 2:2 ; Leviticus 2:9 ; Leviticus 2:16 ; Leviticus 5:12 ; Leviticus 6:15 ), and in the case of animal offerings certain portions of the fat (described in Leviticus 3:3-5 ; Leviticus 7:3-5 ). The blood, which represented the sacred life of the animal, was never eaten, but was poured out.

Verse 9. - Reserved from fire, i.e., from the sacrificial altar. Every oblation of theirs. As specified in the following clauses. The burnt offering is not mentioned because it was wholly consumed, and only the skin fell to the priest. The sin offerings for the priest or for the congregation were also wholly consumed ( Leviticus 4:12, 21 ), but the sin offerings of private individuals, although in no case partaken of by the offerers, were available for the priests ( Leviticus 6:26 ), and this was the ordinary case. Numbers 18:9

The most holy things; such as were to be eaten only by the priests, and that in the sanctuary. How these differ from the holy things , see on Leviticus 6:17 . Reserved from the fire, i.e. such sacrifices or such parts of sacrifices as were not burnt in the fire. Every oblation; which may be understood either, 1. Of the wave-loaves, Leviticus 23:17 , and the shew-bread, which were most holy things , Leviticus 23:20 24:9 , and which did belong to the priest; nor was there any other such oblation besides what is here particularly expressed; for the peace-offerings were not most holy, and the burnt-offerings were not the priest’s. Or, 2. Of oblations in general; and so the following particulars are mentioned by way of explication and restriction of that general word, to show what oblations are here meant, and to exclude peace-offerings and burnt-offerings. Which they shalt render unto me, by way of compensation for a trespass committed against me, in which case a ram was to be offered, Leviticus 6:2,6 , which was a most holy thing, and may be particularly designed here. Shall be most holy; thou shalt esteem it a most holy thing, and shalt use it accordingly, in manner following. Or, these are most holy , and therefore shall be for thee, and for thy sons, to wit, exclusively, none else may eat them.

This shall be thine of the most holy things, reserved from the {e} fire: every oblation of theirs, every meat offering of theirs, and every sin offering of theirs, and every trespass offering of theirs, which they shall render unto me, shall be most holy for thee and for thy sons. (e) That which was not burned should be the priests.

Nu 18:8-20. The Priests' Portion. 8-13. the Lord spake unto Aaron, Behold, I also have given thee the charge of my heave offerings—A recapitulation is made in this passage of certain perquisites specially appropriated to the maintenance of the priests. They were parts of the votive and freewill offerings, including both meat and bread, wine and oil, and the first-fruits, which formed a large and valuable item.

The Revenues of the Priests. - These are summed up in Numbers 18:8 in these words, "I give thee the keeping of My heave-offerings in all holy gifts for a portion, as an eternal statute." The notion of משׁמרת, keeping, as in Exodus 12:6 ; Exodus 16:23 , Exodus 16:32 , is defined in the second parallel clause as משׁחה, a portion (see at Leviticus 7:35 ). The priests were to keep all the heave-offerings, as the portion which belonged to them, out of the sacrificial gifts that the children of Israel offered to the Lord. תּרוּמת, heave-offerings (see at Exodus 25:2 , and Leviticus 2:9 ), is used here in the broadest sense, as including all the holy gifts (kodashim, see Leviticus 21:22 ) which the Israelites lifted off from their possessions and presented to the Lord (as in Numbers 5:9 ). Among these, for example, were, first of all, the most holy gifts in the meat-offerings, sin-offerings, and trespass-offerings ( Numbers 18:9 , Numbers 18:10 ; see at Leviticus 2:3 ). The burnt-offerings are not mentioned, because the whole of the flesh of these was burned upon the altar, and the skin alone fell to the portion of the priest ( Leviticus 7:8 ). "From the fire," sc., of the altar. אשׁ, fire, is equivalent to אשּׁה ot , firing (see Leviticus 1:9 ). These gifts they were to eat, as most holy, in a most holy place, i.e., in the court of the tabernacle (see Leviticus 6:9 , Leviticus 6:19 ; Leviticus 7:6 ), which is called "most holy" here, to lay a stronger emphasis upon the precept.

In the second place, these gifts included also "the holy gifts;" viz., (a) ( Numbers 18:11 ) the heave-offering of their gifts in all wave-offerings (tenuphoth), i.e., the wave-breast and heave-leg of the peace-offerings, and whatever else was waved in connection with the sacrifices (see at Leviticus 7:33 ): these might be eaten by both the male and female members of the priestly families, provided they were legally clean ( Leviticus 22:3 .); (b) ( Numbers 18:12 ) the gifts of first-fruits: "all the fat (i.e., the best, as in Genesis 45:18 ) of oil, new wine, and corn," viz., ראשׁיתם, "the first of them," the בּכּוּרים, "the first-grown fruits" of the land, and that of all the fruit of the ground ( Deuteronomy 26:2 , Deuteronomy 26:10 ; Proverbs 3:9 ; Ezekiel 44:30 ), corn, wine, oil, honey, and tree-fruit ( Deuteronomy 8:8 , compared with Leviticus 19:23-24 ), which were offered, according to 2 Chronicles 31:5 ; Nehemiah 10:36 , Nehemiah 10:38 , Tob. 1:6, as first-fruits every year (see Mishnah, Bikkur, i. 3, 10, where the first-fruits are specified according to the productions mentioned in Deuteronomy 8:8 ; the law prescribed nothing in relation to the quantity of the different first-fruits, but left this entirely to the offerer himself); (c) ( Numbers 18:14 ) everything placed under a ban (see at Leviticus 27:28 ); and (d) ( Numbers 18:15-18 ) the first-born of man and beast.