(The view expressed in this blog are my own and should not be taken as inspired in any way.)
Deuteronomy 18:1–8, “The priests the Levites, and all the tribe of Levi, shall have no part nor inheritance with Israel: they shall eat the offerings of the LORD made by fire, and his inheritance. Therefore shall they have no inheritance among their brethren: the LORD is their inheritance, as he hath said unto them. And this shall be the priest’s due from the people, from them that offer a sacrifice, whether it be ox or sheep; and they shall give unto the priest the shoulder, and the two cheeks, and the maw. The firstfruit also of thy corn, of thy wine, and of thine oil, and the first of the fleece of thy sheep, shalt thou give him. For the LORD thy God hath chosen him out of all thy tribes, to stand to minister in the name of the LORD, him and his sons for ever. And if a Levite come from any of thy gates out of all Israel, where he sojourned, and come with all the desire of his mind unto the place which the LORD shall choose; Then he shall minister in the name of the LORD his God, as all his brethren the Levites do, which stand there before the LORD. They shall have like portions to eat, beside that which cometh of the sale of his patrimony.”
The Lord chose the tribe of Levi to be a substitute for all the firstborn in Israel as they had been miraculously saved from the angel of death on that first Passover night. As such they belonged to the Lord and were to act as His agents in the nation. The tribe of Levi represented the Lord to Israel and Israel to the Lord. We say before that even a king had to come to the Levites and obtain their version of the book of the Law so that he could copy it out for himself (Deut 17:18, “And it shall be, when he sitteth upon the throne of his kingdom, that he shall write him a copy of this law in a book out of that which is before the priests the Levites:”). The people had to respect the fact that the Levites were acting as the Lord’s agent for them and as their agent to the Lord. This was not a voluntary service but one commanded by the Lord and Israel had to pay for their service. However, the only had to pay from the abundance that the Lord provided for them.
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