Numbers 18

Chap. XVIII. Ver. 1-32. Support of the ministry.—The office of a minister is a good work, and an important charge; and to be employed and trusted in it, to be approved faithful and made useful, is the like honour and favour which God ever confers upon mortal man. But it is weighty and perilous: “the iniquity of the priesthood,” and “of the sanctuary,” forms the most aggravated guilt, and will sink the mercenary, the careless, and the profligate minister, into the deepest condemnation; besides occasioning wrath upon the people, and dragging them down with him into destruction. All therefore, who are thus employed, should “rejoice with trembling;” and “take heed to themselves, and to their doctrine;”

not “entangling themselves in the affairs of this life,” but considering the Lord as their Portion, the interests of godliness as their interests, and the glory of God in the salvation of souls, as their grand, their sole object. They who desire this good work should look to it, that their motives, dispositions, and qualifications are such, as may give them a reasonable ground to hope, that they will “be approved of God, as workmen that need not be ashamed;” and that the maintenance which they receive, may be indeed “for their service in the sanctuary.”—On the other hand, it is the Lord’s pleasure, “that they who preach the gospel should live of the gospel,” and be preserved from the anxieties and temptations of pinching poverty; that they may have no occasion to engage in secular business, or inducement to flatter the rich, or to be silent out of pecuniary considerations.

Nay, it is his will, that they should not only have enough to maintain their families, and securely to discharge their debts; but that they should have a surplus for pious and charitable uses, and that they should thus employ it: not luxuriously spending, or covetously hoarding it, but living themselves, and leaving their families to live, in dependence on Providence. It is therefore criminal not only to defraud, but to be niggardly, to the ministers of God, and their maintenance must not be considered as an alms or an imposition, but their just due, as the Lord’s portion out of men’s estates, which being withheld will pollute the enjoyment of all the rest.—Whatsoever is offered to the Lord must be of the best; and they who have him for their inheritance, will be well provided for in this world and in the next, without the embarrassments and cares which perplex others.—Let us then endeavour to know and do our own work diligently; to be contented with our daily bread, and thankful for it; to seek our inheritance and our treasure in heaven; to “set our affections on things above;”

to have our conversation heavenly; to consider ourselves as “strangers and pilgrims upon earth;” and to leave the eager pursuit of earthly things to those who know no better treasures to be desired or enjoyed.—T. Scott.

Notes on the verses

Chap. XVIII. Ver. 1. Aaron shall bear the iniquity of the sanctuary.—{To counterbalance the high honour conferred on Aaron and his family, and to allay the fears and abate the envy of the people, it is here declared, that the priests must bear the blame of every thing which was not properly conducted in the sanctuary.}—Bagster. Ver. 2. Joined.—(There is a fine paronomasia in the original, Levi, is derived from /aivah, to join, couple, associate; hence Moses says, the Levites, yillazoo0, “shall be joined,” or associated, with the priests: they shall conjointly perform the sacred office, but the priests shall be principal, the Levites their associates or assistants.)—Bagster. Ver. 8. I have given the charge of mine heave-offerings.—In this and the following verses, we have the means by which the priesthood was to be supported, and its priests maintained; partly, by a certain portion of the various offerings, and partly by the first-fruits and tithes.

These have been repeatedly stated in the two preceding books; and they are here reminded, that by these means, though they had no possession in the land, they had a portion of the best of every tribe possessed by the other tribes. Ver. 10. In the most holy place.—The term “most holy,” is here extended to the courts of the tabernacle. See (Leviticus 6:16). (Nehemiah 13:5, 9). (Ezekiel 42:13). Ver. 11. The heave-offering.—Comp. (Leviticus 2:1-14).; vii. 29—34.; xxiii. 15—21. Ver. 15. Every thing that openeth the matrix.—Compare Exodus xiii. 11—16; Leviticus xxvii. Ver. 16. From a month old shalt thou redeem.—([Redemption of the firstborn is one of the rites, which is still practised among the Jews. According to Leo of Modena, it is performed in the following manner: When the child is thirty days old, the father sends for one of the descendants of Aaron: several persons being assembled on the occasion, the father brings a cup, containing several pieces of gold and silver coin.

The priest then takes the child into his arms, and addressing himself to the mother, he says, “Is this thy son?” Mother. “Yes.” Priest. “Hast thou never had another child, male or female, a miscarriage, or untimely birth?” Mother. “No.” Priest. “This being the case, this child, as first-born, belongs to me.” Then turning to the father, he says, “If it be thy desire to have this child, thou must redeem it.” Father. “I present thee with this gold and silver for this purpose.” Priest. “Thou dost wish therefore to redeem the child?” Father. “I do wish so to do.” The priest then turning himself to the assembly, says, “Very well: this child, as first-born, is mine; as it is written in Bemidbar, (ch.

xviii. 16.) Thou shalt redeem the first-born of a month old for five shekels; but I shall content myself with this in exchange.” He then takes two gold crowns, or thereabouts, and returns the child to his parents.]—Bagster. A feast generally follows this ceremony. Ver. 19. It is a covenant of salt.—Salt is the great preservative from putrefaction, and therefore was made the emblem of peace and friendship. See (Leviticus 1:13). and note. 207