Commentaria in Numeros
Chapter 18. Synopsis of the Chapter
God assigns to the priests, for their inheritance, sustenance and stipend, the victims, first-fruits and oblations; to the Levites, verse 24, the tithes. Secondly, verse 26, he commands the Levites to give to the priests a tithe of their tithes, and the better and choicer part.
1. And the Lord said to Aaron: Thou, and thy sons, and the house of thy father with thee, shall bear the iniquities of the sanctuary: and thou and thy sons together shall bear the sins of your priesthood. 2. And take with thee also thy brethren of the tribe of Levi, and the sceptre of thy father, and let them be ready and attend on thee: but thou and thy sons shall minister in the tabernacle of the testimony. 3. And the Levites shall watch to thy commands, and about all the works of the tabernacle: only so that they come not near the vessels of the sanctuary and the altar, lest both they die, and you also perish together. 4. And let them be with thee, and watch in the charges of the tabernacle, and in all its ceremonies. A stranger shall not be mixed with you. 5. Watch ye in the charge of the sanctuary, and in the ministry of the altar: lest there rise indignation upon the children of Israel. 6. I have given you your brethren the Levites from the midst of the children of Israel, and have delivered them as a gift to the Lord, to serve in the ministries of his tabernacle. 7. But thou and thy sons keep your priesthood: and all things that belong to the service of the altar, and are within the veil, shall be administered by the priests: if any stranger come to it, he shall be put to death. 8. And the Lord spoke to Aaron: Behold, I have given thee the custody of my first-fruits. All the things that are sanctified by the children of Israel, I have delivered to thee and to thy sons for the priestly office, by a perpetual ordinance. 9. Therefore thou shalt take these of the things that are sanctified and are offered to the Lord. Every oblation, and sacrifice, and whatsoever is rendered to me for sin and for trespass, and cometh to the holy of holies, shall be thine and thy sons’. 10. In the sanctuary shalt thou eat it: only the males shall eat of it, because it is consecrated to thee. 11. But the first-fruits, which the children of Israel have vowed and offered, I have given to thee, and to thy sons and daughters, by a perpetual right: he that is clean in thy house shall eat them. 12. All the best of the oil, and of the wine, and of the wheat, whatsoever they offer of the first-fruits to the Lord, I have given to thee. 13. All the first-fruits of the fruits, that the ground bringeth forth, and are brought to the Lord, shall fall to thy use: he that is clean in thy house shall eat them. 14. Every thing that the children of Israel render by vow shall be thine. 15. Whatsoever first breaketh the womb of all flesh, which they offer to the Lord, whether it be of men or of beasts, shall belong to thee: only that for the firstborn of man thou shalt take a price,
Verse 1.
and every unclean animal thou shalt cause to be redeemed: 16. whose redemption shall be after one month, for five sicles of silver, by the weight of the sanctuary. A sicle hath twenty obols. 17. But the firstborn of an ox, and of a sheep, and of a goat thou shalt not cause to be redeemed, because they are sanctified to the Lord: only thou shalt pour their blood upon the altar, and shalt burn the fat for a most sweet odour to the Lord. 18. But the flesh shall fall to thy use, as the consecrated breast and the right shoulder shall be thine. 19. All the first-fruits of the sanctuary, which the children of Israel offer to the Lord, I have given to thee, and to thy sons and daughters, by a perpetual right. It is a covenant of salt for ever before the Lord, to thee and to thy sons. 20. And the Lord said to Aaron: You shall possess nothing in their land, neither shall you have a portion among them: I am thy portion and inheritance in the midst of the children of Israel. 21. And I have given to the sons of Levi all the tithes of Israel for a possession, for the ministry wherewith they serve me in the tabernacle of the covenant: 22. that the children of Israel may not approach any more to the tabernacle, nor commit a deadly sin, 23. the sons of Levi alone serving me in the tabernacle, and bearing the sins of the people: it shall be an everlasting ordinance in your generations. They shall possess nothing else, 24. being content with the oblation of tithes, which I have set aside for their uses and necessities. 25. And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: 26. Command the Levites, and tell them: When you shall receive of the children of Israel the tithes which I have given you, offer the first-fruits of them to the Lord, that is, the tenth part of the tithe, 27. that it may be reputed to you as an oblation of first-fruits, as well of the barnfloors as of the winepresses: 28. and of all things of which you receive the first-fruits, offer to the Lord, and give them to Aaron the priest. 29. All the things that you shall offer out of the tithes, and shall separate for the gifts of the Lord, shall be the best and choicest. 30. And thou shalt say to them: If you offer the best and choicest things out of the tithes, it shall be reputed to you as if you had given the first-fruits of the barnfloor and winepress: 31. and you shall eat them in all your places, both you and your families, because it is the price for the ministry wherewith you serve in the tabernacle of the testimony. 32. And you shall not sin in this, reserving to yourselves the choice and fat things, lest you defile the oblations of the children of Israel, and die.
1. THOU AND THY SONS SHALT BEAR THE INIQUITY OF THE SANCTUARY—that is, thou and thy posterity, as priests, shall bear the penalty if any sin be committed by any of the people in the ceremonies of the sanctuary, or if any stranger intrude among them through your negligence, or through fear and dissimulation. For I have already confirmed you in the priesthood, and have gained for you authority with the people by the two sacred miracles related in chapters xvi and xvii; it is yours therefore to defend courageously the sacred things of God and the rights of the priesthood.
Verse 2.
Verse 3.
2. AND TAKE WITH THEE THE SCEPTRE OF THY FATHER—“Sceptre,” that is, tribe. For the Hebrew שבט shebet signifies both sceptre and tribe. Each tribe had its own rod or sceptre, as I said in chap. xvii, 3. Hence the Septuagint renders it, “the people of thy father,” namely the Levites sprung from Levi thy father.
3. AND THE LEVITES SHALL WATCH TO THY COMMANDS—that they may fulfil them, like vigilant servants who stand and, as it were, keep watch, awaiting the commands and orders of their masters; hence the Hebrew is: “Let them keep thy charge,” that is, let them keep thy commands most exactly and diligently. For the repetition of “charge” here signifies zeal and diligence.
AND ABOUT ALL THE WORKS OF THE TABERNACLE—namely, that they guard and carry them when the camp is to be moved, and take them down and set them up when the camp is to be pitched.
LEST BOTH THEY DIE, AND YOU ALSO—They, for transgression, namely the touching of sacred things forbidden to them; you, for omission and negligence, in that you did not keep them from the sacred things.
4. AND IN ALL ITS CEREMONIES.—“Ceremonies” here means the religious ministrations of the Levites about the tabernacle and its vessels, which I mentioned in verse 3. Note here that these five are the same, or nearly the same, namely the watches, the works, the ministrations, the charges, the ceremonies of the tabernacle; for all these signify nothing else than the offices and ministries that were to be discharged by the Levites and priests about the tabernacle. In these the priests ought to keep watch, as soldiers in the camp, and in them to fight the good fight, as St. Paul says.