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The Dues of Priests and Levites
v. 1. The priests, the Levites, the sons of the tribe of Levi, and all the tribe of Levi, the ministers known as the Levites proper, shall have no part nor inheritance with Israel, Num_18:20; they shall eat the offerings of the Lord made by fire, Num_18:8-9, and His inheritance.
v. 2. Therefore shall they have no inheritance among their brethren; the Lord is their inheritance, as He hath said unto them. The inheritance of Jehovah, which was to be the reward of the priests and Levites, consisted not only in the wave-breast and heaveshoulder of the sacrifices, as specified in the precepts of the sacrifices, but in all the gifts devoted to the Lord, also tithes and firstlings.
v. 3. And this shall be the priest's due from the people, that which he had a right to expect and demand, from them that offer a sacrifice, whether it be ox or sheep; and they shall give unto the priest the shoulder, Num_6:19, and the two cheeks, and the maw, the abomasum, the fourth, or true digestive stomach of ruminants, these three parts being considered great delicacies.
v. 4. The first-fruit also of thy corn, of thy wine, and of thine oil, Exo_22:29; Num_18:12-24, and the first of the fleece of thy sheep shalt thou give him; that was the priest's portion.
v. 5. For the Lord, thy God, hath chosen him out of all thy tribes to stand to minister in the name of the Lord, Deu_10:8; Exo_28:1, him and his sons forever.
v. 6. And if a Levite come from any of thy gates out of all Israel, from any of the cities which were set aside for the Levites, where he sojourned, Num_35:2-3, and come with all the desire of his mind, with all eagerness to share in the ministry of worship, unto the place which the Lord shall choose, the central Sanctuary,
v. 7. then he shall minister in the name of the Lord, his God, as all his brethren the Levites do, which stand there before the Lord. It seems that only a part of the Levites was actively engaged in the ministry of the Sanctuary, probably because their ministry was regulated by courses. The men here spoken of were not on duty, not under obligation to be present at the Sanctuary, but were simply zealous to be active.
v. 8. They shall have like portions to eat, as much as those who were on duty by selection, beside that which cometh of the sale of his patrimony, that is, regardless of the income he may have from the sale of goods inherited from his father. The meadow-land belonging to the Levites could not be sold, but they had the right either to sell or to rent a house belonging to them. The precept of the New Testament which corresponds to this order is that which establishes the rule that "they which preach the Gospel should live of the Gospel. "