Numbers 18:30

Therefore thou shalt say unto them, When ye 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.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(30) As the increase of the threshing-floor.—As the tithe rendered to the priests was to be regarded in the same light as if it had been the produce of their own labour (Numbers 18:27), so what remained after the heave-offerings had been duly set apart was to be reckoned as much the property of the Levites, and to be treated in the same manner, as the corn of the threshing-floor and the wine of the wine-press of the rest of the Israelites.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

18:20-32 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 ver. 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, 2Th 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.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Out of all your gifts - The spirit of this law would extend to all the revenues of the Levites; of the increase of their cattle, as well as of their tithes, a tithe would be paid by them for the Lord's service.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

26. the Levites … offer … a tenth of the tithe—Out of their own they were to pay tithes to the priests equally as the people gave to them. The best of their tithes was to be assigned to the priests, and afterwards they enjoyed the same liberty to make use of the remainder that other Israelites had of the produce of their threshing-floors and wine-presses.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

No text from Poole on this verse.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

Therefore thou shalt say unto them,.... The Targum of Jonathan is,"thou shalt say to them the priests;''but the words seem manifestly spoken to the Levites:

when ye have heaved the best thereof from it; taken out the tenth part of it, and that the best:

then it shall be counted unto the Levites as the increase of the threshing floor, and as the increase of the wine press; then what remains shall be reckoned as much their own, and may be as lawfully enjoyed, as the corn of the threshing floor, and the wine of the wine fat, of any Israelite whatever.

Geneva Study Bible

Therefore thou shalt say unto them, When ye 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.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

30. The regulation may be paraphrased as follows: When ye shall have contributed [as a tithe] the best part from it [i.e. from the tithe which you have received], then it [the remaining nine-tenths] shall be for your own use, just as the rest of Israel use their corn and wine after contributing a tithe of it to you.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 30. - Thou shalt say unto them, i.e., to the Levites. When they had dedicated their tithe of the best part, the rest was theirs exactly as if they had grown it and gathered it themselves. Numbers 18:30

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

They might eat it (the tithe they had received, after taking off the priests' tithe) in any place with their families, as it was the reward for their service at the tabernacle.