Numbers 18:25

"And Jehovah spake unto Moses, saying, Moreover thou shalt speak unto the Levites, and say unto them, When ye take of the children of Israel the tithe which I have given you from them for your inheritance, then ye shall offer up a heave-offering of it for Jehovah, a tithe of the tithe. And your heave-offering shall be reckoned unto you, as though it were the grain of the threshing-floor, and as the fullness of the winepress. Thus, ye also shall offer a heave-offering unto Jehovah of all your tithes, which ye receive of the children of Israel; and thereof ye shall give Jehovah's heave-offering to Aaron the priest. Out of all your gifts ye shall offer every heave-offering of Jehovah, of all the best thereof, even the hallowed part thereof out of it. Therefore thou shalt say unto them, When ye heave the best thereof from it, then it shall be reckoned unto the Levites as the increase of the threshing-floor, and as the increase of the winepress. And ye shall eat it in every place, ye and your households: for it is your reward in return for your service in the tent of meeting. And ye shall bear no sin by reason of it, when ye have heaved from it the best thereof: and ye shall not profane the holy things of the children of Israel, that ye die not."

The Levites gathered it themselves.[20] Note, however, that the Levite was in no manner exempt from the obligations incumbent upon all Israel; hence, they were to give a tithe of the tithe.

"That ye die not ..." (Numbers 18:32). Carson paraphrased the thought here as follows: "If they fail to give a tithe of the best they receive to the Lord, they will bear sin and die, because they are profaning the holy things by keeping for themselves what should be given to the priests."[21]

Keil's comment on the regulations here is thus: These regulations were in perfect harmony with the true idea of the Israelite Kingdom of God. In heathen states where there was an hereditary priestly class, that class was generally a rich one and held a firm possession in the soil. The Levites received no such inheritance.[22]

An example of the type of landed priesthood mentioned by Keil is that of Egypt, where, it will be remembered, when the Pharaoh took all the land from the people, there was a special exemption applied to the lands of the priests (Genesis 47:22).

One of the great lines in this whole chapter is, "I am thy portion and thine inheritance!" (Numbers 18:20). Happy indeed are they whose inheritance is the Lord, and that one of whom it may be said that the Lord is his inheritance is the only truly rich person on earth. It recalls the words of God Himself who said to Abraham, "Fear not, Abraham, I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward" (Genesis 15:1).