the rest went to the offerer. This, however, riav 3'avar111/)dpov. In the sense of incurring does obvious violence to the limguage, and sin, and the consequent wrath and death, is not snpported by the Septuagint. 2. That Ver. 23.-And the:, shall bear (~tc~•~) their as the priest was bound to consume the first- iniquity. The Levites were to tak~ the re- lings with his family, and eould not sell sponsibility of the general iniquity so far a.s them, he would be certainly disposed to in- approach to the tabernacle was concerned. vite the offerer to join him in the sacred They have no inheritance. Like the priests, meal. This may have been usually the case, they had homes and cities, and they had but it was entirely within the option of the pasturages attached to these cities, but no the priest, and could sca.reely be made the separate territory. basis of a direct command, like that of Deut. Ver. 2,.-As an heave offering. This xv. 19, still less of an indirect assumption, means nothing more than an " offeriDg " like that of Deut. xii 17, 18, that the first- apparently. It is not to be supposed that lings stood upon the sa.In:e footing '!-5 fre~-will ~y ritual wa.s observed in the giviDg of offerings and heave offenngs. It 1s easier to tithes. 1mppose that the law wns actually modified Ver. 25. -And the Lord spake unto Moses. in this, as in some other particulars. This part of the instruction alone is addressed Ver. 19.-.&.11 the heave offerings of the to Moses, probably because it determined a holy things. Those, viz., enumerated from question as between priests and Levites to ver. 9. It is a covenant of salt for ever. the advantage of the former, and therefore Septuagint, o,a3'i,n, n).i>,; alwviov(cf. 2 Chron. would not have come well from Aaron. xiii 5). Salt was the natural emblem of Ver. 26.-Ye shall offer up an heave that which is incorruptible; wherefore a offering of it for the Lord, even a tenth part bindiDg alliance was (and still is) made by of the tithe. Thus the principle of giving a eating bread and salt together, and salt was tenth part of all to God was carried ot!t always added to the sacrifices of the Lord consistently throughout the whole of hlll (Lcvit. ii. 13 ; Mark iL 49). people. , Ver. 20.-Thou shalthave no inheritance Vdr. 28.-Yeshal.l give thereof the Lords in their land. The priests had of necessity heave offering to Aaron the Pi:iest . . The homes wherein to live when not on duty, Levites tithed the people, the pnests tithed bnt they had no territory of their own in the the Levites. At this time the other Israel- same selll!e as Jews of other tribes. I am ites were nearly fifty times as numerous as thy part and thine inheritaace. Septua~~. the Levites and therefore they would have ,y., µ.Epit; o-ov a:ai ,:).11povoµ.ia o-ov. This lS been exceptionally well provided for. It not to be explained away, as if it meant only must be remembered, howe,•er, that the that they were to live "of the altar." Just Levites would naturally increase faster than .as the priests (and in a lesser sense all the the rest, not being exposed . to the same Levites) were the special poss~ssion of ~he dangers ; and still more that tithes are never Lord, so the Lord was the special possession paid at all fully or generally, even when of -of the priests; and inasmuch as all the whole strict legal obligation. A glo.nce a.long the -earth belonged to him, the portion of the history of Israel after the conq_uest will priests was potentially in all cases, actually satisfy us that at no time could the people for those ~ho were capable of realising it, at large be trusted to pay their tithes, unless in.finitely more desirable the.n any other P?r• it were dwing the a.scendancy of the Macca- tion. The spiritual meaning of the prolillSe bees1 and afterwards under the influence of was so clearly felt th:tt it was. constan~ly the PhariBees (cf. Mai. iii. 9, 10). The claimed by the devout lD Israel, urespe~tive Levites, indeed, appear in the histo!Y of of their ecclesi.n.stical sta.tus (er. Ps. XVl. 5 ; Israel as the reverse of an opulent or wflu- Lam. ili. 24, &c.). ential class. It was no doubt much easier Ver. 21.-All the tenth. The tithe of for the sons ofAaron to obtain their tithes from all frnits and flocks had been already claimed the Levites· and as these were very numerous absolutely by the Lord (Levit. xxvii .. 3~, 32). in proporti;n, and the tithes themselves '!"ere It ill probable indeed that the givmg ~f only a part of their revenues, the pnests tithes had been more or less a matter of obli- should have been, and in later times cer- gation from time immemorial Abrah~m tainly were, sufficiently rich. If they were bad paid them on one memorable occasion devout they no doubt spent much on the (Gen. xiv. 20), and Jacob had vowed them service of the altar and of the sanctuary. on another (Gen. xxviii 22). From this Ver. 30.-Thou ■halt sa:, unto theJI!, i. 11. time forth, however, the tithes were formally to the Levites. When they had dedica~d 1l.8Si.gned to the maintenance of the Levites, their tithe of the best part, the rest was thell'S in return for their service. exactly as if they had grown it and gat~ered Ver. 22.-Lelt th97 bear Bin, and die. it themselves. L Mlt:l~ t(t;ir:, nt(v.z. Septuagint, Xa/3iiv apap- Ver. 32.-Ye ahell bear no ■in. ''7V CH. XVIII. 1-32.] THE BOOK OF NUMBERS. 231
~~i:'J:l"N?. They wocld not incur any guilty tion, and it conveyed a. final warning. See responsibility by enjoying it as and where Levit. xxii. 2 for one very obvious way in they pleased. Neither shall ye pollute the which the Levites migU pollute "holy holy things of the ohildren of Israel, leat things." ye die. Thie seems to be the true transla-