21 "To the sons of Levi , behold , I have given all the tithe in Israel for an inheritance , in return for their service which they perform , the service of the tent of meeting . 22 " The sons of Israel shall not come near the tent of meeting again , or they will bear sin and die . 23 "Only the Levites shall perform the service of the tent of meeting , and they shall bear their iniquity ; it shall be a perpetual statute throughout your generations , and among the sons of Israel they shall have no inheritance . 24 "For the tithe of the sons of Israel , which they offer as an offering to the Lord , I have given to the Levites for an inheritance ; therefore e I have said concerning them, ' They shall have no inheritance among the sons of Israel .' "
Matthew Henry's Commentary on Numbers 18:21-24
Commentary on Numbers 18:20-32
(Read Numbers 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 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.