CHAPTER 18

(1454 B.C.)

PRIESTLY FUNCTIONS

¹And the LORD said unto Aaron, You and your sons and your fathers house with you shall bear the iniquity of the Sanctuary: and you and your sons with you shall bear the iniquity of your Priesthood. (Thus the Children of Israel found security in that very Priest Whom they despised and rejected. It is the same with Christ! The Lord of Glory, despised and rejected by the world, at the same time, is their only hope.)

²And your brethren also of the Tribe of Levi, the Tribe of your father, bring thou with you, that they may be joined unto you, and minister unto you: but you and your sons with you shall minister before the Tabernacle of witness (the Levites were to help in certain ways; much work was to be done, and done constantly, which required the hands of a good number of people; and yet, even as we shall see, the duties of the Levites were limited).

³And they shall keep your charge, and the charge of all the Tabernacle (do exactly what Aaron told them to do): only they shall not come near the vessels of the Sanctuary and the Altar, that neither they, nor you also, die (if Aaron did not properly assign their duties to them, and warn of the danger, not only would they die, but he would die as well; it is the same presently! All of this represented the Cross and, if the Cross today is improperly attended, to be sure, spiritual death is the result).

⁴And they shall be joined unto you, and keep the charge of the Tabernacle of the congregation, for all the service of the Tabernacle: and a stranger (in this case, one not a Levite) shall not come near unto you.

⁵And you shall keep the charge of the Sanctuary, and the charge of the Altar (the Altar was the single most important vessel of the entire installation): that there be no wrath any more upon the Children of Israel (the Altar alone stood between the people and death, and is the same presently!).

⁶And I, behold, I have taken your brethren the Levites from among the Children of Israel: to you they are given as a gift for the LORD, to do the service of the Tabernacle of the congregation.

⁷Therefore you and your sons with you shall keep your Priests office for everything of the Altar (the Brazen Altar, typifying the Cross), and within the Veil (the Ark of the Covenant, into which presence the High Priest could come only once a year, on the Great Day of Atonement; however, the way to the Ark of the Covenant, in a sense a symbol of the Throne of God, could only be reached by the way of the Altar); and you shall serve: I have given your Priests office unto you as a service of gift: and the stranger (one not a Levite) who comes near shall be put to death.

OFFERINGS

⁸And the LORD spoke unto Aaron, Behold, I also have given you the charge of My Heave Offerings of all the hallowed things of the Children of Israel; unto you have I given them by reason of the anointing, and to your sons, by an Ordinance forever (all of this information concerning the Priesthood comes immediately after the rebellion of Korah to intrude into that high and Holy Office).

⁹This shall be yours of the most holy things, reserved from the fire: every oblation of theirs, every Meat Offering of theirs (the people), and every Sin Offering of theirs, and every Trespass Offering of theirs, which they shall render unto Me, shall be most holy for you and for your sons (these three particular Offerings were most holy, simply because they represented Christ, and what He would do on the Cross to address the terrible problem of Sin; the Burnt Offering and the Peace Offering were designated as holy).

¹⁰In the most holy place shall you eat it; every male shall eat it: it shall be holy unto you. (Concerning this, Williams says, Aaron and his sons were to make the sins of the people so truly their own that they were to eat the Sin Offerings, as already commanded in Leviticus.)

¹¹And this is yours; the Heave Offering of their gift (heaved up and down by the Priests, signifying that Christ would come from above, down to this Earth), with all the Wave Offerings (signifying that all Blessings come from the Lord) of the Children of Israel: I have given them unto you, and to your sons and to your daughters with you, by a Statute forever: everyone who is clean in your house shall eat of it.

¹²All the best of the oil, and all the best of the wine, and of the wheat, the firstfruits of them which they shall offer unto the LORD, them have I given you (the love that appointed this Ministry provided for its maintenance, by granting to it all the best of the oil, and all the best of the wine, and of the wheat; along with particular Offerings, which could be eaten by the Priests and their families, this provided most of their sustenance; when the people drifted from the Lord, as they, at times did, thereby omitting most of the Sacrifices, the Priests went hungry).

¹³And whatsoever is first ripe in the land, which they shall bring unto the LORD, shall be yours; everyone who is clean in your house shall eat of it (meaning they were not ceremonially defiled in some way).

¹⁴Every thing devoted in Israel shall be yours (the thing devoted, whatever it was, was to be brought to the Sanctuary).

¹⁵Every thing that opens the matrix in all flesh, which they bring unto the LORD, whether it be of men or beasts, shall be yours: nevertheless the firstborn of man shall you surely redeem, and the firstling of unclean beasts shall you redeem (with the appropriate amount of money).

¹⁶And those that are to be redeemed from a month old shall you redeem, according to your estimation, for the money of five shekels, after the shekel of the Sanctuary, which is twenty gerahs.

¹⁷But the firstling of a cow, or the firstling of a sheep, or the firstling of a goat, you shall not redeem; they are holy: you shall sprinkle their blood upon the Altar, and shall burn their fat for an Offering made by fire, for a sweet savour unto the LORD.

¹⁸And the flesh of them shall be yours, as the wave breast and as the right shoulder are yours.

¹⁹All the Heave Offerings of the holy things, which the Children of Israel offer unto the LORD, have I given you, and your sons and your daughters with you, by a Statute forever: it is a covenant of salt forever before the LORD unto you and to your seed with you (salt was the natural emblem of that which is incorruptible; therefore, a Type of the Word of God).

²⁰And the LORD spoke unto Aaron, You shall have no inheritance in their land, neither shall you have any part among them: I am your part and your inheritance among the Children of Israel (in essence, the portion given to the Priests was more desirable than any other portion; the Lord faithfully blesses those who faithfully serve Him).

TITHES

²¹And, behold, I have given the Children of Levi all the tenth (Tithe) in Israel for an inheritance, for their service which they serve, even the service of the Tabernacle of the congregation. (The record of the first Tithe being paid was that of Abraham paying Tithe to Melchizedek [Gen. 14:17-20]. Now the Tithes were assigned to the Levites and their maintenance. There were thousands of them; however, if all of Israel were faithful in this respect, the needs of each one would be met. Regrettably, they were not always faithful.

It is the same presently regarding Tithing. As it went then to support the Work of God, it continues to do the same.)

²²Neither must the Children of Israel henceforth come near the Tabernacle of the congregation, lest they bear sin, and die (the Priests and the Levites alone could attend to the duties of the Tabernacle).

²³But the Levites shall do the service of the Tabernacle of the congregation, and they shall bear their iniquity: it shall be a Statute forever throughout your generations, that among the Children of Israel they have no inheritance.

²⁴But the Tithes of the Children of Israel, which they offer as an Heave Offering unto the LORD, I have given to the Levites to inherit: therefore I have said unto them, Among the Children of Israel they shall have no inheritance.

THE LEVITES

²⁵And the LORD spoke unto Moses, saying,

²⁶Thus speak unto the Levites, and say unto them, When you take of the Children of Israel the tithes which I have given you from them for your inheritance, then you shall offer up an Heave Offering of it for the LORD, even a tenth part of the tithe. (Thus, the principle of giving a tenth part of all to God was carried out consistently throughout the whole of Gods people.)

²⁷And this your Heave Offering shall be reckoned unto you, as though it were the corn of the threshingfloor, and as the fullness of the winepress.

²⁸Thus you also shall offer an Heave Offering unto the LORD of all your tithes, which you receive of the Children of Israel; and you shall give thereof the LORDs Heave Offering to Aaron the Priest (the Levites tithed the people, the Priests tithed the Levites).

²⁹Out of all your gifts you shall offer every Heave Offering of the LORD, of all the best thereof, even the hallowed part thereof out of it (the best was to always go to the Lord).

³⁰Therefore you shall say unto them, When you have heaved the best thereof from it, then it shall be counted unto the Levites as the increase of the threshingfloor, and as the increase of the winepress (the increase pertained to the tithe, a tenth).

³¹And you shall eat it in every place, you and your households: for it is your reward for your service in the Tabernacle of the congregation.

³²And you shall bear no sin by reason of it, when you have heaved from it the best of it (they would not incur any guilty responsibility by enjoying it, as and where they pleased): neither shall you pollute the holy things of the Children of Israel, lest you die (the Levites must not intrude into the office of the Priests).