Numbers 18:22, commentary and pictures

The verse bars the rest of Israel from approaching the tabernacle on pain of bearing sin and death, setting its service apart to the Levites alone under the ceremonial order. Within that order priests and Levites had distinct appointed duties, so to intrude upon priestly work was rebellion against God's direction. Because Aaron and Levi were given no land inheritance, God Himself being their portion, He gave them all the tenth in Israel for their service of the tabernacle to sustain those devoted to His work. That tenth was fixed by command at exactly one-tenth of the increase of flocks, grain, fruit and vegetables, and the Levites in turn were to tithe what they received for the priests. The tithe is a moral obligation like the Sabbath, honored by Abraham and Jacob long before Israel became a nation and taken up unchanged into the sanctuary service, so it remains God's ordained plan for supporting His ministers, including the aged, sick, and widowed families of faithful workers.

Exclusive Service Under Warning

Neither must the rest of the children of Israel henceforth come nigh the tabernacle of the congregation, lest they bear sin and die, for its service belongs to the Levites alone. The tribe of Levi was chosen from the twelve families to minister before God day by day continually, taken from among the children of Israel and joined to Aaron to keep the charge of the tabernacle of the congregation. This reservation of sanctuary duties to the appointed servants is part of the ceremonial law regulating the Levites' priestly service, which commands the sons of Levi to receive tithes from the people. Because they were set apart to this work they were given no apportioned land and no inheritance among Israel, but all the tenth in Israel was given to them for an inheritance for their sanctuary service, the tithes which Israel offers as a heave offering unto the Lord. Each member of the other tribes was to pay a tenth into the treasury and storehouse for their support, for the tithe is the Lord's and holy unto the Lord. This was a fixed law commanded by God for the support of His servants, not left to chance or to uncertain liberality, with precept added to precept to charge Israel with faithfulness lest they neglect the Levites, and the Levites in turn were required to give a tenth of what they received to the priests.

Within that order God established distinct responsibilities for priests and Levites in the sanctuary service, so that to challenge this order in order to seize priestly authority was rebellion against God's direction. The command belongs to the detailed sanctuary instruction given through Moses after the descendants of Jacob were delivered from long bondage in Egypt and established in the land promised to Abraham. It stands within the awful and sad record of sin in Numbers 16-19, given as one of God's object-lessons to teach Israel the true way. In that service God required a tithe of all the increase of flocks and fields, yet that system of tithes and offerings was not new and peculiarly Israelite but the plan God had from the beginning devised for the good of all men and for the support of His work in the earth. It was incorporated of necessity into the sanctuary service when the children of Abraham and Jacob became a nation themselves, and the differing conditions between the forefathers Abraham and Jacob and their children made no difference in God's plan, with His requirements in both periods identical.

The Levites were thus set apart for God's service and supported by Israel's offerings in place of the first-born. The first-born of people and of unclean animals were to be redeemed, while clean first-born animals were given to God in sacrifice. This arrangement illustrates holiness as separation and consecration to God's service.

Tithe Supports Sanctuary Ministry

When the Aaronic priesthood was organized the tribe of Levi was taken from among the children of Israel and joined to Aaron to keep the charge of the tabernacle of the congregation, with its service reserved to them alone. Aaron and Levi were given no apportioned land and no inheritance among Israel because God Himself was their part and inheritance, and all the tenth in Israel was given to the Levites as their inheritance for their service of the tabernacle. That tenth, offered as a heave offering unto the Lord, was brought into the storehouse and treasury to sustain the ministry and those who devote their lives to God's work, for the tithe is the Lord's and holy unto Him.

This provision was a fixed law commanded by God for the support of His servants, not left to chance or to uncertain liberality, with precept added to precept to charge Israel with faithfulness lest they neglect the Levites. It required exactly one-tenth of increase, whether of flocks and herds, grain, fruit, or vegetables, to be paid by each member of the other tribes. It was to be collected in kind but was exchangeable into money when more convenient to convey a long distance.

The regular first tithe belonged to the Levites for the house of God and the support of those who ministered there and could not be appropriated as pleased. The Levites in turn were required to tithe what they received for the benefit of the priests. That regular tithe was distinct from a second festival tithe used in connection with the feasts where the people met together, with sacrifices, offerings, firstlings of herds and flocks, and the entertainment of God's people.

That Israelite system for supporting the Levitical priesthood was necessary within God's plan, but it did not include the whole duty of believers in freewill offerings. One-tenth of income is sacredly His as the minimum of gifts, while all possessions and all time are His.

Tithe Continuing and Applied

The tithe did not originate in the Levitical law but is a moral obligation like the Sabbath, resting on the same basis and not abrogated by change of dispensation. It was recognized by Abraham and Jacob long before the national establishment, proving it was God's uniform plan devised from the beginning. It was God's plan from the beginning for the good of all men and for the support of His work in the earth, incorporated of necessity into the sanctuary service when the children of Abraham and Jacob became a nation themselves, with identical requirements in both periods despite differing conditions. What did not foreshadow the death of Christ was not taken away at His death, and therefore the foundation given in Numbers 18:21-24 remains binding.

Numbers 18:20-24 gives all the tenth in Israel to the Levites as their inheritance for their service of the tabernacle, Aaron and Levi receiving no land inheritance because God Himself was their part and inheritance. This establishes paying tithe as God's ordained and continuing plan for the support of His ministry on earth, the earlier-dispensation plan pointed to in the ordination that those who preach the gospel should live of the gospel. The tithe is thus laid up as an inheritance with God's people for His ministers, His ambassadors and priests.

A man does not cease to be a priest or minister of the gospel when he grows old or sick, so the tithe remains the proper fund to care for the Lord's ministry in sickness and age. It supports the true, earnest, hard-working minister while well and equally when sick, aged, or broken down, while a careless minister who will not work and devote himself is not worthy to receive it. It also supports his dependent widow and children after his death just as if he were still living and working, with help to earn a living where possible until assistance can cease, for the priest's wife and children ate the same tithe provision as the priest and ministers' families are to live from what ministers live from.

The passage establishes two equally perfect systems side by side with exact equality for rich and poor. The first tithe supports ministers at home and those chosen for foreign fields, with surplus sent by vote of the conference to other needy fields. The Bible instructor in the higher conference schools is to be paid from this first tithe for ministry in the service of the tabernacle, while the other teachers are paid from the second tithe, making advancement free and keeping youth separate from public schools and the world at the critical time of youth. The second tithe pays teachers at home and teachers called to other fields and especially supports church schools, with two thirds sent to a central treasury to pay teachers as conference employees and one third retained at the home church for local needs, and surplus from time to time devoted to missionary work and the places of greatest need. Payment of the one regular tithe is clearly required as a debt owed to God that nothing excuses, while a second tithe is not clearly required and is left to best light, to be paid honestly when believed to be duty.