(The view expressed in this blog are my own and should not be taken as inspired in any way.)
Numbers 18:20–32, “And the LORD spake unto Aaron, Thou shalt have no inheritance in their land, neither shalt thou have any part among them: I am thy part and thine inheritance among the children of Israel. And, behold, I have given the children of Levi all the tenth in Israel for an inheritance, for their service which they serve, even the service of the tabernacle of the congregation. Neither must the children of Israel henceforth come nigh the tabernacle of the congregation, lest they bear sin, and die. But the Levites shall do the service of the tabernacle of the congregation, and they shall bear their iniquity: it shall be a statute for ever throughout your generations, that among the children of Israel they have no inheritance. But 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. And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, Thus speak unto the Levites, and say unto them, When ye take of the children of Israel the tithes which I have given you from them for your inheritance, then ye shall offer up an heave offering of it for the LORD, even a tenth part of the tithe. And this your heave offering shall be reckoned unto you, as though it were the corn of the threshingfloor, and as the fulness of the winepress. Thus ye also shall offer an heave offering unto the LORD of all your tithes, which ye receive of the children of Israel; and ye shall give thereof the LORD’S heave offering to Aaron the priest. Out of all your gifts ye shall offer every heave offering of the LORD, of all the best thereof, even the hallowed part thereof out of it. 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. And ye shall eat it in every place, ye and your households: for it is your reward for your service in the tabernacle of the congregation. And ye shall bear no sin by reason of it, when ye have heaved from it the best of it: neither shall ye pollute the holy things of the children of Israel, lest ye die.”
We saw before, that Aaron and his tribe were dedicated to serving the Lord as long as the nation existed with the Tabernacle and, later, the Temple. They were not given any farming land, like the other tribes, so that they would not be distracted from serving the Lord. They were given a tenth of all the produce and trade of the other tribes as they worked their own inheritance and prospered in the Land that the Lord had given them. On the other hand, no member of the other tribes was allowed to come to Tabernacle or the Temple and offer priestly service. This meant that anyone involved in the Lord’s service should be at least as prosperous and the average person in the rest of the nation. The Lord understood that the priests and Levites would need to be in a position where they were not corrupted by too much wealth and not forced into sin because they were constrained by poverty (compare Prov 30:7–9, “Two things have I required of thee; deny me them not before I die: Remove far from me vanity and lies: give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with food convenient for me: Lest I be full, and deny thee, and say, Who is the LORD? or lest I be poor, and steal, and take the name of my God in vain”). The Lord did require that the rest of Israel make their offerings from their best produce rather than their worst produce.
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