Numbers 18:29, commentary and pictures

God set Levi apart for the tabernacle service with no inheritance in the land, giving Israel's tithes as their inheritance so that those devoted to His work would be supported by the people's offerings. Israel was to bring a tenth of all increase regularly into the treasury for the Levites who depended on it for their living. Out of everything received, even out of that tithe, the best and hallowed part was to be lifted up as a heave offering to the Lord, with the Levites giving a tenth of the tithe to Aaron and his family for the central service at Jerusalem and keeping nine tenths for the workers in the forty-eight districts outside Jerusalem. That tenth of the tithe was reckoned to them as their own grain of the threshingfloor and wine of the press, and to withhold it was sin in misusing what had been received from the people. The tithe remains the Lord's and holy to its appointed purpose, setting the measure of a tenth of increase for His people now, of whom no less is expected in the short time left for the last message, and ministers who live of the tithe are themselves to tithe what they receive, finding blessing in giving and loss in withholding.

Levitical Tithing System

The verse belongs to God's definite plan for supporting ministers under the Levitical priesthood, in which the tribe of Levi was set apart from the other tribes for the service of the tabernacle and given no inheritance in the land. The tithes of the children of Israel were given to the Levites to inherit for that service, establishing that those set apart for God's work are entitled to material support through the people's offerings. Each member of the other tribes was to pay a tenth into the treasury for this purpose, because the tithe is the Lord's and is holy unto the Lord.

Israel was required to pay the first regular tithe, a tenth of all increase including wine, for the Levites. That first tithe was given regularly into the treasury, and the Levites received it regularly and depended on it for support and for the things necessary for their own sacrifices. Out of all gifts received, even the tithe received by the Levites and priests, a heave offering to the LORD had to be given from all the best and hallowed part. The Levites were to tithe what they received for the benefit of the priests, giving a tenth of the tithes received as the Lord's heave offering to Aaron and his family for the central service at Jerusalem. Nine tenths of the first tithe was kept to support the Lord's workers in the forty-eight Levitical districts outside Jerusalem where their homes were, and its use there did not make it a different work from the tenth used at Jerusalem.

That tenth of the tithe was counted to the Levites as their own produce from the threshingfloor or winepress. Withholding it made them guilty of sin through misusing what they had received from the people. Although the Levites had no inheritance in Israel and no vineyards from which to secure wine for drink-offerings, they were still expected to offer the usual offerings before the Lord just as the other tribes did, using what the tithe supplied. The verse also gives direction for thank-offerings to be brought when coming up to the feast of the Lord, and bringing them in this way brings God to meet with His people at the gathering.

Tithing Duty Today

The tithe is the Lord's and is holy unto the Lord, devoted to its appointed purpose and not to be diverted to other uses. The Lord's portion must be taken from the best of all that is received and treated as holy and set apart as an offering. Israel was required to give a tithe, a tenth of all increase, and that requirement sets the measure for God's people now. No less can be expected of them when time is emphatically short and a great work is to be accomplished with their means in giving the last merciful message to the world.

Ministers who receive the tithe for their service must also pay a tithe, giving a tithe of those tithes to the Lord. The same privilege of giving from means consecrated to God belongs to ministers today who receive such means. Their giving abounds to their own account in blessing. Withholding that portion forfeits a blessing that could have been theirs and leaves the giver the loser by letting it rest on others. Those who receive much cannot afford to lose this privilege, and those who receive little sell it very cheaply by withholding, even cheaper than Esau sold his birthright.

The chapter containing this law is profitable to consider when people challenge God's organized work out of ambition to seize authority.