Numbers 18:1-32 - Sutcliffe's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

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Numbers 18:1. Thou and thy sons shall bear the iniquity of the sanctuary. You, and you only, shall be responsible for all breaches and errors in the holy pavilion: the levites might assist in labours, but not touch the holy things. We find old Eli and young Samuel watching by night. The sanctuary being a figure of heaven and all the offices of Christ, the hallowed types must not be marred by the touch of unhallowed hands. This however has nothing to do with the liberty of prophesying, which was left open to men of any tribe. Yet the pastors of the seven churches of Asia bore the iniquity of the people, and are blamed and menaced for all their faults. By consequence, no mere layman should give the Lord's supper, neither should any canon compel a minister to give it to any man who lives in known and wilful sin.

Numbers 18:14. Every thing devoted shall be thine; whether by blessing or cursing. The Lord having so amply provided for the priesthood, the sons of Aaron were not to follow secular trades of barter and gain, profit and loss. It is a pity to see a minister of religion working, except in the culture of his garden; because a man should “give himself wholly to the ministry.” And note well: he who detains a thing once devoted to the Lord, detains also the curse.

Numbers 18:17. The firstling of a cow. שׁור shor, a bull or bullock, as it is translated in Deuteronomy 33:17. The Chaldee is תור tor or taur, agreeing with the Greek ταυρος, and the Latin taurus. The paucity of words in the Hebrew text does not always distinguish the species of the genus: “cow” is therefore the proper reading in this place.

Numbers 18:19. A covenant of salt; that is, incorruptible; for the word of the Lord is clean, and abideth for ever. See on Lev 2:13; 2 Chronicles 13:5.

REFLECTIONS.

The Lord having prescribed the priests and the levites their several branches of duty, and having prohibited the approach of any stranger to his altar, thought proper to guard the ritual code by sentencing the invader to die. This he would not have done, had not the holy sanctuary been figurative of the heavenly glory. The violation of the first covenant was death; and the second death is denounced against all those who despise the gospel. Hence the Lord has awfully guarded the glory of his covenant and grace. Let every one therefore in the church of God be mindful of his salvation and his calling, for life and death are before him.

That Aaron and his household might be grateful, holy and diligent, the Lord most amply provided for his maintenance. The Levites gave him a tenth of all their tithes: and considering their number, it was a princely portion. Nehemiah 10:38-39. The free-will offerings, including those arising from vows, provided him and all the families with food. They had the redemption money of persons and of beasts, of the firstlings of the cattle. They had the appointed share in all the sin and trespass-offerings; but of these, whatever remained not eaten was burnt upon the altar. The skin of every burnt-offering was also the priest's. Besides these they had cities to dwell in, and gardens to the extent of five hundred yards around, in the suburbs. The Lord satiated the soul of the priest with fatness, and delighted the people with his goodness. Jeremiah 31:14. What an account must those ministers give to God whom he has thus blessed with revenues, if they do not seek to be holy; to devote their time and talents to his service, and their superfluities to the poor. What an account must rich men give, if they suffer the families of diligent ministers to languish and want.

The levites, as well as the priests, being amply invested with the tenths, were commanded to give to the altar its just share. If the ministers of religion who preach devotion be not devout; if they who preach charity be not liberal, they must, according to the 1st and the 32nd verse, bear the iniquity of the sanctuary. And oh, how difficult are sins of this nature to be purged; yet hypocrisy in religion is a crime that men will scarcely ever forgive. Oh Lord, clothe thy priests with salvation; let the people around them share in the glory of righteousness, and may the beauty of holiness forever adorn thy courts.

Related Commentaries of Numbers 18:1

Numbers 18:1-32

1 And the LORD said unto Aaron, Thou and thy sons and thy father's house with thee shall bear the iniquity of the sanctuary: and thou and thy sons with thee shall bear the iniquity of your priesthood.

2 And thy brethren also of the tribe of Levi, the tribe of thy father, bring thou with thee, that they may be joined unto thee, and minister unto thee: but thou and thy sons with thee shall minister before the tabernacle of witness.

3 And they shall keep thy charge, and the charge of all the tabernacle: only they shall not come nigh the vessels of the sanctuary and the altar, that neither they, nor ye also, die.

4 And they shall be joined unto thee, and keep the charge of the tabernacle of the congregation, for all the service of the tabernacle: and a stranger shall not come nigh unto you.

5 And ye shall keep the charge of the sanctuary, and the charge of the altar: that there be no wrath any more upon the children of Israel.

6 And I, behold, I have taken your brethren the Levites from among the children of Israel: to you they are given as a gift for the LORD, to do the service of the tabernacle of the congregation.

7 Therefore thou and thy sons with thee shall keep your priest's office for every thing of the altar, and within the vail; and ye shall serve: I have given your priest's office unto you as a service of gift: and the stranger that cometh nigh shall be put to death.

8 And the LORD spake unto Aaron, Behold, I also have given thee the charge of mine heave offerings of all the hallowed things of the children of Israel; unto thee have I given them by reason of the anointing, and to thy sons, by an ordinance for ever.

9 This shall be thine of the most holy things, reserved from the 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.

10 In the most holy place shalt thou eat it; every male shall eat it: it shall be holy unto thee.

11 And this is thine; the heave offering of their gift, with all the wave offerings of the children of Israel: I have given them unto thee, and to thy sons and to thy daughters with thee, by a statute for ever: every one that is clean in thy house shall eat of it.

12 All the besta of the oil, and all the best of the wine, and of the wheat, the firstfruits of them which they shall offer unto the LORD, them have I given thee.

13 And whatsoever is first ripe in the land, which they shall bring unto the LORD, shall be thine; every one that is clean in thine house shall eat of it.

14 Every thing devoted in Israel shall be thine.

15 Every thing that openeth the matrix in all flesh, which they bring unto the LORD, whether it be of men or beasts, shall be thine: nevertheless the firstborn of man shalt thou surely redeem, and the firstling of unclean beasts shalt thou redeem.

16 And those that are to be redeemed from a month old shalt thou redeem, according to thine estimation, for the money of five shekels, after the shekel of the sanctuary, which is twenty gerahs.

17 But the firstling of a cow, or the firstling of a sheep, or the firstling of a goat, thou shalt not redeem; they are holy: thou shalt sprinkle their blood upon the altar, and shalt burn their fat for an offering made by fire, for a sweet savour unto the LORD.

18 And the flesh of them shall be thine, as the wave breast and as the right shoulder are thine.

19 All the heave offerings of the holy things, which the children of Israel offer unto the LORD, have I given thee, and thy sons and thy daughters with thee, by a statute for ever: it is a covenant of salt for ever before the LORD unto thee and to thy seed with thee.

20 And the LORD spake unto Aaron, Thou shalt have no inheritance in their land, neither shalt thou have any part among them: I am thy part and thine inheritance among the children of Israel.

21 And, behold, I have given the children of Levi all the tenth in Israel for an inheritance, for their service which they serve, even the service of the tabernacle of the congregation.

22 Neither must the children of Israel henceforth come nigh the tabernacle of the congregation, lest they bear sin, and die.b

23 But the Levites shall do the service of the tabernacle of the congregation, and they shall bear their iniquity: it shall be a statute for ever throughout your generations, that among the children of Israel they have no inheritance.

24 But the tithes of the children of Israel, which they offer as an heave offering unto the LORD, I have given to the Levites to inherit: therefore I have said unto them, Among the children of Israel they shall have no inheritance.

25 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,

26 Thus speak unto the Levites, and say unto them, When ye take of the children of Israel the tithes which I have given you from them for your inheritance, then ye shall offer up an heave offering of it for the LORD, even a tenth part of the tithe.

27 And this your heave offering shall be reckoned unto you, as though it were the corn of the threshingfloor, and as the fulness of the winepress.

28 Thus ye also shall offer an heave offering unto the LORD of all your tithes, which ye receive of the children of Israel; and ye shall give thereof the LORD'S heave offering to Aaron the priest.

29 Out of all your gifts ye shall offer every heave offering of the LORD, of all the bestc thereof, even the hallowed part thereof out of it.

30 Therefore thou shalt say unto them, When ye have heaved the bestd thereof from it, then it shall be counted unto the Levites as the increase of the threshingfloor, and as the increase of the winepress.

31 And ye shall eat it in every place, ye and your households: for it is your reward for your service in the tabernacle of the congregation.

32 And ye shall bear no sin by reason of it, when ye have heaved from it the best of it: neither shall ye pollute the holy things of the children of Israel, lest ye die.