20 Yahweh said to Aaron, "You shall have no inheritance in their land, neither shall you have any portion among them. I am your portion and your inheritance among the children of Israel.
*Minor differences ignored. Grouped by changes, with first version listed as example.
I am thy part and thine inheritance - Compare the marginal references.
I am thy part and thine inheritance - The principal part of what was offered to God was the portion of the priests, therefore they had no inheritance of land in Israel; independently of that they had a very ample provision for their support. The rabbins say twenty-four gifts were given to the priests, and they are all expressed in the law. Eight of those gifts the priests ate nowhere but in the sanctuary: these eight are the following: -
1. The flesh of the Sin-Offering, whether of beasts or fowls, Leviticus 6:25, Leviticus 6:26.
2. The flesh of the Trespass-Offering, Leviticus 7:1, Leviticus 7:6.
3. The Peace-Offerings of the congregation, Leviticus 23:19, Leviticus 23:20.
4. The remainder of the Omer or Sheaf, Leviticus 23:10, etc.
5. The remnants of the Meat-Offerings of the Israelites, Leviticus 6:16.
6. The two Loaves, Leviticus 23:17.
7. The Shew-Bread, Leviticus 24:9.
8. The Log of oil offered by the leper, Leviticus 14:10, etc.
Five of those gifts they ate only in Jerusalem: -
1. The breast and shoulder of the Peace-Offerings, Leviticus 7:31, Leviticus 7:34.
2. The Heave-Offering of the sacrifice of confession, Leviticus 7:12-14.
3. The Heave-Offering of the Nazarite's ram, Leviticus 6:17-20.
4. The Firstling of the clean beast, Numbers 18:15; Deuteronomy 15:19, Deuteronomy 15:20.
5. The First-Fruits, Numbers 18:13.
Five gifts were not due unto them by the law, but in the land of Israel only: -
1. The heave-offering or First-Fruits, Numbers 18:12.
2. The heave-offering of the Tithe, Numbers 18:28.
3. The Cake, Numbers 15:20.
These three were holy.
4. The first-fruits of the Fleece, Deuteronomy 18:4.
5. The Field of Possession, Numbers 35.
These two were common.
Five gifts were due unto them both within and without the land: -
1. The gifts of the Beasts Slain, Deuteronomy 18:3.
2. The redemption of the First-Born Son, Numbers 18:15.
3. The Lamb for the firstling of an ass, Exodus 4:20; Numbers 18.
4. The restitution of that taken by violence from a stranger, Numbers 5:8.
5. All Devoted things, Numbers 18:14.
One gift was due unto them from the sanctuary: -
1. The skins of the burnt-offering, and all the skins of the other most holy things, Leviticus 7:8.
In all 24. See Ainsworth.
The gifts which the females of the priests' families had a part in were these: -
1. The heave-offering, or first-fruits.
2. The heave-offering of the tithe.
3. The cake.
4. The gifts of the beast, Deuteronomy 18:3.
5. The first of the fleece.
- See Mishna, Tract. Biccurim, and Ainsworth on the Pentateuch.
Besides all this the priests had the tribute money mentioned Numbers 31:28, Numbers 31:29.
And the LORD spake unto Aaron, Thou shalt have no inheritance in their (l) land, neither shalt thou have any part among them: I [am] thy part and thine inheritance among the children of Israel.
(l) Of Canaan.
And the Lord spake unto Aaron,.... What is said, being what concerned the tribe of Levi, at the head of which Aaron was, even concerning the maintenance of the Levites:
thou shalt have no inheritance in their land; in the land of Israel when they come to possess it, as the rest of the tribes had:
neither shalt thou have any part among them; any part of the land when it is divided by lot, as it was in the times of Joshua, when taken from the Canaanites; no tract of land was peculiarly assigned to them as were to the other tribes, as fields, nor vineyards; they had cities appointed them, and they had houses and fields devoted to the Lord which fell to them, and others they had by gift or legacy, or by purchase, as had Jeremiah the priest and Barnabas the Levite, Jeremiah 32:9 Acts 4:36; but they had no share in the distribution of the land of Canaan at the time of the division of it among the tribes; no, not even in the spoil of the cities of the land of Canaan, when they were conquered; this Maimonides (n) says they were warned not to take; and a son of Levi that took any part of the spoil was to be beaten; but the spoil of other lands, subdued by the kings of Israel, they might take, as other Israelites did: the reason of all this was, because they had a sufficient provision made for them in another way, and that they might not be entangled in worldly affairs, or spend their time in the culture of fields and vineyards, but wholly give themselves to the service of God in his house:
I am thy part and thine inheritance among the children of Israel; in things temporal, the offerings, tithes, firstfruits, &c. which were given to the Lord, being bestowed upon them; and in things spiritual, they being employed in the work and service of God, and having a peculiar nearness to him, and communion with him: so all that are made priests unto God, as all believers in Christ are, 1-Peter 2:5, have God for their portion and inheritance; God, in his persons and in all his perfections, and under every character, as the God of nature, providence, and grace, is the portion of his people; and a rich, large, and satisfying portion he is, and which is inexhaustible, and will endure for ever; he is their portion in life and at death, in time and to all eternity; see Psalm 73:26.
(n) Hilchot Shemittah Veyobel, c. 13. sect. 10, 11.
As Israel was a people not to be numbered among the nations, so Levi was a tribe to be distinguished from the rest. Those who have God for their Inheritance and their Portion for ever, ought to look with holy contempt and indifference upon the possessions of this world. The Levites were to give God his dues out of their tithes, as well as the Israelites out of their increase. See, in Numbers 18:31, the way to have comfort in all our worldly possessions, so as to bear no sin by reason of them. 1. We must be sure that what we have is got honestly and in the service of God. That meat is best eaten which is first earned; but if any will not work, neither shall he eat, 2-Thessalonians 3:10. 2. We must be sure that God has his dues out of it. We have the comfort of our substance, when we have honoured the Lord with it. Ye shall bear no sin by reason of it, when ye have heaved the best from it. We should give alms of such things as we have, that all may be holy and comfortable to us.
For this reason, Aaron was to received no inheritance in the land among the children of Israel. Aaron, as the head of the priests, represents the whole priesthood; and with regard to the possession, the whole tribe of Levi is placed, in Numbers 18:23, on an equality with the priests. The Levites were to receive no portion of the land as an inheritance in Canaan (cf. Numbers 26:62; Deuteronomy 12:12; Deuteronomy 14:27; Joshua 14:3). Jehovah was the portion and inheritance, not only of Aaron and his sons, but of the whole tribe of Levi (cf. Deuteronomy 10:9; Deuteronomy 18:2; Joshua 13:33); or, as it is expressed in Joshua 18:7, "the priesthood of Jehovah was their inheritance," though not in the sense that Knobel supposes viz., "the priesthood with its revenues," which would make the expression "Jehovah, the God of Israel" (Joshua 13:33), to be metonymical for "sacrificial gifts, first-fruits, and tenths." The possession of the priests and Levites did not consist in the revenues assigned to them by God, but in the possession of Jehovah, the God of Israel. In the same sense in which the tribe of Levi was the peculiar possession of Jehovah out of the whole of the people of possession, was Jehovah also the peculiar possession of Levi; and just as the other tribes were to live upon what was afforded by the land assigned them as a possession, Levi was to live upon what Jehovah bestowed upon it. And inasmuch as not only the whole land of the twelve tribes, with which Jehovah had enfeoffed them, but the whole earth, belonged to Jehovah (Exodus 19:5), He was necessarily to be regarded as the greatest possession of all, beyond which nothing greater is conceivable, and in comparison with which every other possession is to be regarded as nothing. Hence it was evidently the greatest privilege and highest honour to have Him for a portion and possession (Bhr, Symbolik, ii. p. 44). "For truly," as Masius writes (Com. on Josh.), "he who possesses God possesses all things; and the worship (cultus) of Him is infinitely fuller of delight, and far more productive, than the cultivation (cultus) of any soil."
In their land - In the land of the children of Israel. You shall not have a distinct portion of land, as the other tribes shall. The reason of this law, was, partly because God would have them wholly devoted to his service, and therefore free from worldly incumbrances; partly, because God had abundantly provided for them otherwise, by tithes and first - fruits and oblations; and partly that by this means being dispersed among the several tribes, they might have the better opportunity for teaching and watching over the people. I am thy part - I have appointed thee a liberal maintenance out of my oblations.
*More commentary available at chapter level.