8 And Jehovah speaketh unto Aaron: `And I, lo, I have given to thee the charge of My heave-offerings, of all the hallowed things of the sons of Israel -- to thee I have given them for the anointing, and to thy sons, by a statute age-during.
`And the remnant of it do Aaron and his sons eat; `with' unleavened things it is eaten, in the holy place, in the court of the tent of meeting they do eat it.
`Every male among the priests doth eat it; in the holy place it is eaten -- it `is' most holy;
and anointed them as thou hast anointed their father, and they have acted as priests to Me, and their anointing hath been to be to them for a priesthood age-during, to their generations.'
and thou hast clothed Aaron with the holy garments, and anointed him, and sanctified him, and he hath acted as priest to Me.
and thou hast said before Jehovah thy God, I have put away the separated thing out of the house, and also have given it to the Levite, and to the sojourner, and to the orphan, and to the widow, according to all Thy command which Thou hast commanded me; I have not passed over from Thy commands, nor have I forgotten.
and you, the anointing that ye did receive from him, in you it doth remain, and ye have no need that any one may teach you, but as the same anointing doth teach you concerning all, and is true, and is not a lie, and even as was taught you, ye shall remain in him.
thou didst love righteousness, and didst hate lawlessness; because of this did He anoint thee -- God, thy God -- with oil of gladness above thy partners;'
And it hath come to pass, in that day, Turned is his burden from off thy shoulder, And his yoke from off thy neck, And destroyed hath been the yoke, because of prosperity.
and thou hast taken of the blood which `is' on the altar, and of the anointing oil, and hast sprinkled on Aaron, and on his garments, and on his sons, and on the garments of his sons with him, and he hath been hallowed, he, and his garments, and his sons, and the garments of his sons with him.
`And it hath been, the place on which Jehovah your God doth fix to cause His name to tabernacle there, thither ye bring in all that which I am commanding you, your burnt-offerings, and your sacrifices, your tithes, and the heave-offering of your hand, and all the choice of your vows which ye vow to Jehovah;
and hast brought in thither your burnt-offerings, and your sacrifices, and your tithes, and the heave-offering of your hand, and your vows, and your free-will offerings, and the firstlings of your herd and of your flock;
`And the high priest of his brethren, on whose head is poured the anointing oil, and hath consecrated his hand to put on the garments, his head doth not uncover, nor rend his garments,
`And the breast of the wave-offering, and the leg of the heave-offering, ye do eat in a clean place, thou, and thy sons, and thy daughters with thee; for thy portion and the portion of thy sons they have been given, out of the sacrifices of peace-offerings of the sons of Israel; the leg of the heave-offering, and breast of the wave-offering, besides fire-offerings of the fat, they do bring in to wave a wave-offering before Jehovah, and it hath been to thee, and to thy sons with thee, by a statute age-during, as Jehovah hath commanded.'
And Moses taketh of the anointing oil, and of the blood which `is' on the altar, and sprinkleth on Aaron, on his garments, and on his sons, and on the garments of his sons with him, and he sanctifieth Aaron, his garments, and his sons, and the garments of his sons with him.
`And the priest hath made perfume with the fat on the altar, and the breast hath been Aaron's and his sons; and the right leg ye do make a heave-offering to the priest of the sacrifices of your peace-offerings; he of the sons of Aaron who is bringing near the blood of the peace-offerings, and the fat, his is the right leg for a portion. `For the breast of the wave-offering, and the leg of the heave-offering, I have taken from the sons of Israel, from the sacrifices of their peace-offerings, and I give them to Aaron the priest, and to his sons, by a statute age-during, from the sons of Israel.' This `is' the anointing of Aaron, and the anointing of his sons out of the fire-offerings of Jehovah, in the day he hath brought them near to act as priest to Jehovah,
`The priest who is making atonement with it doth eat it, in the holy place it is eaten, in the court of the tent of meeting;
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on Numbers 18
Commentary on Numbers 18 Matthew Henry Commentary
Chapter 18
Aaron being now fully established in the priesthood abundantly to his own satisfaction, and to the satisfaction of the people (which was the good that God brought out of the evil opposition made to him), in this chapter God gives him full instructions concerning his office or rather repeats those which he had before given him. He tells him,
Num 18:1-7
The coherence of this chapter with that foregoing is very observable.
Num 18:8-19
The priest's service is called a warfare; and who goes a warfare at his own charges? As they were well employed, so they were well provided for, and well paid. None shall serve God for nought. All believers are spiritual priests, and God has promised to take care of them; they shall dwell in the land, and verily they shall be fed, and shall not want any good thing. Godliness has the promise of the life that now is. And from this plentiful provision here made for the priests the apostle infers that it is the duty of Christian churches to maintain their ministers; those that served at the altar lived upon the altar. So those that preach the gospel should live upon the gospel, and live comfortably, 1 Co. 9:13, 14. Scandalous maintenance makes scandalous ministers. Now observe,
Num 18:20-32
Here is a further account of the provision that was made both for the Levites and for the priests, out of the country.