Net English TranslationNumbers 18 =

Responsibilities of the Priests1

18

1 The Lord said to Aaron, “You and your sons and your tribe2 with you must bear the iniquity of the sanctuary,3 and you and your sons with you must bear the iniquity of your priesthood.

2 “Bring with you your brothers, the tribe of Levi, the tribe of your father, so that they may join4 with you and minister to you while5 you and your sons with you are before the tent of the testimony. 3 They must be responsible to care for you and to care for the entire tabernacle. However, they must not come near the furnishings of the sanctuary and the altar, or both they and you will die. 4 They must join6 with you, and they will be responsible for the care of the tent of meeting, for all the service of the tent, but no unauthorized person7 may approach you. 5 You will be responsible for the care of the sanctuary and the care of the altar, so that there will be8 no more wrath on the Israelites. 6 I myself have chosen9 your brothers the Levites from among the Israelites. They are given to you as a gift from the Lord, to perform the duties10 of the tent of meeting. 7 But you and your sons with you are responsible for your priestly duties, for everything at the altar and within the curtain. And you must serve. I give you the priesthood as a gift for service; but the unauthorized person who approaches must be put to death.”

The Portion of the Priests

8 The Lord spoke to Aaron, “See, I have given you the responsibility for my raised offerings; I have given all the holy things of the Israelites to you as your priestly portion11 and to your sons as a perpetual ordinance. 9 Of all the most holy offerings reserved12 from the fire this will be yours: Every offering of theirs, whether from every grain offering or from every purification offering or from every reparation offering which they bring to me, will be most holy for you and for your sons. 10 You are to eat it as a most holy offering; every male may eat it. It will be holy to you.

11 “And this is yours: the raised offering of their gift, along 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 ordinance. Everyone who is ceremonially clean in your household may eat of it.

12 “All the best of the olive oil and all the best of the wine and of the wheat, the first fruits of these things that they give to the Lord, I have given to you.13 13 And whatever first ripe fruit in their land they bring to the Lord will be yours; everyone who is ceremonially clean in your household may eat of it.

14 “Everything devoted14 in Israel will be yours. 15 The firstborn of every womb which they present to the Lord, whether human or animal, will be yours. Nevertheless, the firstborn sons you must redeem,15 and the firstborn males of unclean animals you must redeem. 16 And those that must be redeemed you are to redeem when they are a month old, according to your estimation, for five shekels of silver according to the sanctuary shekel (which is twenty gerahs). 17 But you must not redeem the firstborn of a cow or a sheep or a goat; they are holy. You must splash16 their blood on the altar and burn their fat for an offering made by fire for a pleasing aroma to the Lord. 18 And their meat will be yours, just as the breast and the right hip of the raised offering is yours. 19 All the raised offerings of the holy things that the Israelites offer to the Lord, I have given to you, and to your sons and daughters with you, as a perpetual ordinance. It is a covenant of salt17 forever before the Lord for you and for your descendants with you.”

Duties of the Levites

20 The Lord spoke to Aaron, “You will have no inheritance in their land, nor will you have any portion of property18 among them – I am your portion and your inheritance among the Israelites. 21 See, I have given the Levites all the tithes in Israel for an inheritance, for their service which they perform – the service of the tent of meeting. 22 No longer may the Israelites approach the tent of meeting, or else they will bear their sin19 and die. 23 But the Levites must perform the service20 of the tent of meeting, and they must bear their iniquity.21 It will be a perpetual ordinance throughout your generations that among the Israelites the Levites22 have no inheritance.23 24 But I have given24 to the Levites for an inheritance the tithes of the Israelites that are offered25 to the Lord as a raised offering. That is why I said to them that among the Israelites they are to have no inheritance.”

Instructions for the Levites

25 The Lord spoke to Moses: 26 “You are to speak to the Levites, and you must tell them, ‘When you receive from the Israelites the tithe that I have given you from them as your inheritance, then you are to offer up26 from it as a raised offering to the Lord a tenth of the tithe. 27 And your raised offering will be credited27 to you as though it were grain from the threshing floor or as new wine28 from the winepress. 28 Thus you are to offer up a raised offering to the Lord of all your tithes which you receive from the Israelites; and you must give the Lord’s raised offering from it to Aaron the priest. 29 From all your gifts you must offer up every raised offering due29 the Lord, from all the best of it, and the holiest part of it.’30

30 “Therefore you will say to them,31 ‘When you offer up32 the best of it, then it will be credited to the Levites as the product of the threshing floor and as the product of the winepress. 31 And you may33 eat it in any place, you and your household, because it is your wages for your service in the tent of meeting. 32 And you will bear no sin concerning it when you offer up the best of it. And you must not profane the holy things of the Israelites, or else you will die.’”34

1sn This chapter and the next may have been inserted here to explain how the priests are to function because in the preceding chapter Aaron’s position was affirmed. The chapter seems to fall into four units: responsibilities of priests (vv. 1-7), their portions (vv. 8-19), responsibilities of Levites (vv. 20-24), and instructions for Levites (vv. 25-32). 2tn Heb “your father’s house.” 3sn The responsibility for the sanctuary included obligations relating to any violation of the sanctuary. This was stated to forestall any further violations of the sanctuary. The priests were to pay for any ritual errors, primarily if any came too near. Since the priests and Levites come near all the time, they risk violating ritual laws more than any. So, with the great privileges come great responsibilities. The bottom line is that they were responsible for the sanctuary. 4sn The verb forms a wordplay on the name Levi, and makes an allusion to the naming of the tribe Levi by Leah in the book of Genesis. There Leah hoped that with the birth of Levi her husband would be attached to her. Here, with the selection of the tribe to serve in the sanctuary, there is the wordplay again showing that the Levites will be attached to Aaron and the priests. The verb is יִלָּווּ (yillavu), which forms a nice wordplay with Levi (לֵוִי). The tribe will now be attached to the sanctuary. The verb is the imperfect with a vav (ו) that shows volitive sequence after the imperative, here indicating a purpose clause. 5tn The clause is a circumstantial clause because the disjunctive vav (ו) is on a nonverb to start the clause. 6tn Now the sentence uses the Niphal perfect with a vav (ו) consecutive from the same root לָוָה (lavah). 7tn The word is “stranger, alien,” but it can also mean Israelites here. 8tn The clause is a purpose clause, and the imperfect tense a final imperfect. 9tn Heb “taken.” 10tn The infinitive construct in this sentence is from עָבַד (’avad), and so is the noun that serves as its object: to serve the service. 11tn This is an uncommon root. It may be connected to the word “anoint” as here (see RSV). But it may also be seen as an intended parallel to “perpetual due” (see Gen 47:22; Exod 29:28; Lev 6:11 [HT]). 12tn Heb “from the fire.” It probably refers to those parts that were not burned. 13tn This form may be classified as a perfect of resolve – he has decided to give them to them, even though this is a listing of what they will receive. 14tn The “ban” (חֵרֶם, kherem) in Hebrew describes that which is exclusively the Lord’s, either for his sanctuary use, or for his destruction. It seems to refer to an individual’s devoting something freely to God. 15tn The construction uses the infinitive absolute and the imperfect tense of the verb “to redeem” in order to stress the point – they were to be redeemed. N. H. Snaith suggests that the verb means to get by payment what was not originally yours, whereas the other root גָאַל (ga’al) means to get back what was originally yours (Leviticus and Numbers [NCB], 268). 16tn Or “throw, toss.” 17sn Salt was used in all the offerings; its importance as a preservative made it a natural symbol for the covenant which was established by sacrifice. Even general agreements were attested by sacrifice, and the phrase “covenant of salt” speaks of such agreements as binding and irrevocable. Note the expression in Ezra 4:14, “we have been salted with the salt of the palace.” See further J. F. Ross, IDB 4:167. 18tn The phrase “of property” is supplied as a clarification. 19tn The Hebrew text uses the infinitive construct of the verb “to bear” with the lamed (ל) preposition to express the result of such an action. “To bear their sin” would mean that they would have to suffer the consequences of their sin. 20tn The verse begins with the perfect tense of עָבַד (’avad) with vav (ו) consecutive, making the form equal to the instructions preceding it. As its object the verb has the cognate accusative “service.” 21sn The Levites have the care of the tent of meeting, and so they are responsible for any transgressions against it. 22tn Heb “they”; the referent (the Levites) has been supplied in the translation for clarity. 23tn The Hebrew text uses both the verb and the object from the same root to stress the point: They will not inherit an inheritance. The inheritance refers to land. 24tn The classification of the perfect tense here too could be the perfect of resolve, since this law is declaring what will be their portion – “I have decided to give.” 25tn In the Hebrew text the verb has no expressed subject (although the “Israelites” is certainly intended), and so it can be rendered as a passive. 26tn The verb in this clause is the Hiphil perfect with a vav (ו) consecutive; it has the same force as an imperfect of instruction: “when…then you are to offer up.” 27tn The verb is חָשַׁב (khashav, “to reckon; to count; to think”); it is the same verb used for “crediting” Abram with righteousness. Here the tithe of the priests will be counted as if it were a regular tithe. 28tn Heb “fullness,” meaning the fullness of the harvest, i.e., a full harvest. 29tn The construction is “every raised offering of the Lord”; the genitive here is probably to be taken as a genitive of worth – the offering that is due the Lord. 30tn Or “its hallowed thing.” 31tn The wording of this verse is confusing; it may be that it is addressed to the priests, telling them how to deal with the offerings of the Levites. 32tn The clause begins with the infinitive construct with its preposition and suffixed subject serving to indicate the temporal clause. 33tn The verb is the perfect tense with vav (ו) consecutive; it functions as the equivalent of the imperfect of permission. 34tn The final clause could also be rendered “in order that you do not die.” The larger section can also be interpreted differently; rather than take it as a warning, it could be taken as an assurance that when they do all of this they will not be profaning it and so will not die (R. K. Harrison, Numbers [WEC], 253).
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