Deuteronomy. Day 67, The Share Of The Priests And Levites

We've already learned that the tribe of Levi will not be given an allotment of territory like the other tribes once Israel reaches the promised land. They will be given homes in the towns and cities but are to make their living from serving the Lord. This doesn't mean they couldn't plant gardens or have any livestock or own or rent fields for growing grain. (The books of Leviticus and Numbers made mention of the pasturelands surrounding the towns of the Levites as belonging to the Levites.) But since the men of this tribe served the Lord at His house, they were to receive income from His house just as anyone working any other type of job receives income from it. Moses reminds the congregation that their offerings support the priests and their families; this is their primary source of income.

"The Levitical priests---indeed, the whole tribe of Levi---are to have no allotment or inheritance with Israel." (Deuteronomy 18:1a) Not to have an inheritance might seem like a negative thing to us at first glance but the Levites will be sharing in the things brought to the Lord. This is a great honor. "They shall live on the food offerings presented to the Lord, for that is their inheritance." (Deuteronomy 18:1b) The Lord intends the Levites to be able to concentrate on their work for Him. They shouldn't have to have a second full time job outside of the work they do for the Lord.

Something we've previously talked about is how if the people withhold offerings from the Lord they will be causing the Levites and their families to suffer lack. This is why the instructions about offerings and tithes are given a number of times in the Old Testament. The Lord makes a statement here that He's already made several times before regarding the Levites: "They shall have no inheritance among their fellow Israelites; the Lord is their inheritance, as He promised them." (Deuteronomy 18:2)

The offerings are an opportunity to do good deeds for the whole community in addition to supporting the Levites. If each citizen brings the prescribed offerings and sacrifices then there will not only be plenty for the Levites but plenty for the needy as well. We studied in Deuteronomy 14 about the storehouses that were to contain the tithes the people brought and we learned that the widows and orphans and foreigners, along with the Levites, were to share in these supplies.

When Israel left Egypt it's estimated that the population numbered around 2,000,000. It's been forty years and the population has grown. The population will continue to grow in the promised land. Imagine how much food will be brought if each family obeys the Lord regarding tithes and offerings! Even though only certain portions of each animal offering belong to the priests, this is plenty when you consider how many offerings were to be brought. "This is the share due the priests from the people who sacrifice a bull or a sheep: the shoulder, the internal organs and the meat from the head." (Deuteronomy 18:3) Their portions of the other types of offerings are plenty as well. "You are to give them the firstfruits of your grain, new wine and olive oil, and the first wool from the shearing of the sheep, for the Lord your God has chosen them and their descendants out of all your tribes to stand and minister in the Lord's name always." (Deuteronomy 18:4) The tribe of Levi will be fed and clothed well if the congregation does what the Lord says.

To disobey the Lord in this matter is to rob Him, as He says in Malachi 3:8. The Lord will take it personally when the priests and Levites are not supported in the way He commanded. He takes it so personally that when He sees them suffering lack He accuses the nation of robbing Him. The men who stand before Him and minister to His people are to be supported by the work they do, and that means the people must bring the required tithes and offerings. It is a very serious thing to disobey the Lord in this matter.

Although the Lord did not give territories to the Levites in the promised land, a Levite could purchase and own property or livestock or rent a field in which to grow crops. Two men of the tribe of Levi (Abiathar and Jeremiah) are mentioned in the Old Testament as owning or purchasing land. If a Levite who owns a parcel of land or who owns some livestock dies, his heir who sells the land or livestock and comes to the house of God to serve Him is not to be excluded from the portion of tithes and offerings that belong to the Levites. The others aren't to say, "Well, he made money off his inheritance. He doesn't need anything from the house of God at this time." This man is to receive the same portion as every other Levite. "If a Levite moves from one of your towns anywhere in Israel where he is living, and comes in all earnestness to the place the Lord will choose, he may minister in the name of the Lord his God like all his fellow Levites who serve there in the presence of the Lord. He is to share equally in their benefits, even though he has received money from the sale of family possessions." (Deuteronomy 18:6-8) He is to be treated the same as the men who are relying solely on tithes and offerings. The only qualification he must possess in order to share in these good things is that he must be a Levite. 

Moses is going to pass on at the end of the book of Deuteronomy without ever setting foot in the promised land. While he's here he's working hard to set Israel up for success in the promised land. That means he must go back over all the laws and commandments that were given to the generation that came out of Egypt. Most of them have died during the forty years in the wilderness and Moses is talking to the new generation---the generation that will go in and take over the land. In Deuteronomy we find Moses restating a lot of the things we've already learned in the Old Testament but as we've noted before, he does it with new information or he does it from a new angle. Sometimes he adds details we weren't aware of before. Other times he approaches the subject from a spiritual angle rather than from a legal angle. This is because the Lord wants His people to follow the spirit of the law as well as the letter of the law. He wants their actions and their hearts to be in the same place. He doesn't want them simply going through the motions of religion while their hearts are somewhere else. 

Speaking of not letting one's heart go astray, the remainder of Deuteronomy 18 which we'll study tomorrow has to do with the congregation making sure they are faithful to the Lord so they won't be seduced by false prophets or be tempted by idolatry.