1And the Lord said to Aaron: “You, and your sons, and the house of your father with you, shall carry the iniquity of the Sanctuary. And you and your sons together shall bear the sins of your priesthood.
2But take to yourselves also your brothers from the tribe of Levi, and the scepter of your father, and may they be prepared, and may they minister to you. Then you and your sons shall minister in the tabernacle of the testimony.
3And the Levites shall stand watch by your precepts, and for all the works of the tabernacle; yet in such a manner that they shall not approach the vessels of the Sanctuary and of the altar, lest both they die, and you perish, at the same time.
4But they may be with you, and they may watch over the care of the tabernacle and all its ceremonies. A foreigner shall not be mixed with you.
5Watch over the care of the Sanctuary, and over the ministry of the altar, lest an indignation may rise over the sons of Israel.
6I have given your brothers, the Levites, to you from the midst of the sons of Israel, and I have delivered them as a gift to the Lord, in order to serve in the ministries of his tabernacle.
7But as for you and your sons: guard the priesthood. For all that pertains to the service of the altar and of what is beyond the veil shall be exercised by the priests. If any outsider will approach, he shall be killed.”
8And the Lord said to Aaron: “Behold, I have given you custody of my first-fruits. Everything that is sanctified by the sons of Israel I have delivered to you and your sons, for the office of the priesthood, by everlasting ordinances.
9Therefore, you shall receive these, from the things that are sanctified and offered to the Lord. Every offering, and sacrifice, and whatever is repaid to me, on behalf of sin and also for offenses, and which becomes the Holy of holies, shall be for you and for your sons.
10You shall eat it in the Sanctuary. Only the males shall eat from it, because it has been consecrated for you.
11But the first-fruits, which the sons of Israel shall vow and offer, I have given to you, and to your sons, as well as to your daughters, by a perpetual right. Whoever is clean in your house shall eat them.
12All the innermost of the oil, and of the wine, and of the grain, whatever first-fruits they offer to the Lord, I have given to you.
13All the first of the crops, which the soil produces and which are carried to the Lord, shall fall to your use. Whoever is clean in your house shall eat them.
14All that the sons of Israel shall repay by vow shall be yours.
15Whatever goes out first from the womb, of all flesh, which they offer to the Lord, whether from men or from cattle, shall be your right; yet only in so far as, for the firstborn of man, you shall accept a price. And every animal that is unclean you shall cause to be redeemed.
16And its redemption shall be, after one month, five shekels of silver, by the weight of the Sanctuary. A shekel has twenty obols.
17But the firstborn of a cow, or of a sheep, or of a goat, you shall not cause to be redeemed, because they have been sanctified to the Lord. Thus, their blood you shall pour out upon the altar, and their fat you shall burn as a most sweet odor to the Lord.
18Yet truly, the flesh shall fall to your use, just as the consecrated breast and the right shoulder shall be yours.
19All the first-fruits of the Sanctuary, which the sons of Israel offer to the Lord, I have given to you and to your sons as well as to your daughters, as a perpetual right. It is an everlasting covenant of salt before the Lord, for you and for your sons.”
20And the Lord said to Aaron: “In their land, you shall possess nothing; neither shall you have a portion among them. I am your portion and your inheritance in the midst of the sons of Israel.
21But I have given, to the sons of Levi, all the tithes of Israel as a possession, for the ministry by which they serve me in the tabernacle of the covenant,
22so that the sons of Israel may no longer approach to the tabernacle, nor commit deadly sin.
23Only the sons of Levi may serve me in the tabernacle and may carry the sins of the people. It shall be an everlasting ordinance in your generations. They shall possess nothing else;
24being content with the oblation of tithes, which I have separated for their uses and necessities.”
25And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying:
26“Instruct the Levites, and also declare to them: When you will receive, from the sons of Israel, the tithes, which I have given to you, offer their first-fruits to the Lord, that is, the tenth part of a tenth,
27so that it may be accounted to you as an oblation of the first-fruits, as much from the threshing floors as from the oil and wine presses.
28And offer the first-fruits of everything, from which you receive tithes, to the Lord, and give them to Aaron the priest.
29Everything which you shall offer from the tithes, and which you shall separate as gifts to the Lord, shall be the finest and most select.
30And you shall say to them: ‘If you offer the noble and the better of the tithes, it shall be accounted to you as if you had given from the first-fruits of the threshing floor and of the oil and wine presses.’
31And you shall eat these in all your places, both you and your families, because it is your price for the ministry, by which you serve in the tabernacle of the testimony.
32And you shall not sin in this way: by reserving the excellent and fat things for yourselves, lest you pollute the oblations of the sons of Israel, and lest you die.”
Verse 1
And thy father's house with thee, shall bear the iniquity of the sanctuary: That is, you shall be punished if, through negligence or want of due attention, you err in the discharge of the sacred functions for which you were ordained.
Verse 15
Every only child is a firstborn child; but not every firstborn is an only child. A firstborn child is not only one after whom other children are also born but also one before whom no other child is born. “All that opens the womb,” says the Lord to Aaron, “of all flesh that are offered to the Lord, of men and beasts, shall belong to you; only the firstborn of men shall be redeemed with a price and the firstborn of beasts that are unclean.” The Word of God defined what was meant by a “firstborn.” “All,” it says, “that opens the womb.” Otherwise, if no child is a firstborn child but only one who subsequently has brothers, the firstborn are not due the priests until others are also born, lest perchance a child be an only child and not the firstborn child, in the event that no other child shall be born subsequently.
Verse 19
A covenant of salt: It is a proverbial expression, signifying a covenant not to be altered or corrupted; as salt is used to keep things from corruption; a covenant perpetual, like that by which it was appointed, that salt should be used in every sacrifice. Lev. 2.
Verse 20
Indeed, do you wish to know what the difference is between the priests of God and the priests of Pharaoh? Pharaoh grants lands to his priests. The Lord, on the other hand, does not grant his priests a portion in the land but says to them, “I am your portion.” You therefore who read these words, observe all the priests of the Lord and notice what difference there is between the priests, lest perhaps they who have a portion in the land and have time for earthly cares and pursuits may appear not so much to be priests of the Lord as priests of Pharaoh. For it is Pharaoh who wishes his priests to have possessions of lands and to work at the cultivation of the soil not of the soul, to give attention to the fields and not to the law. But let us hear what Christ our Lord admonishes his priests: “He who has not renounced all he possesses,” he says, “cannot be my disciple.”
For all this people had twelve tribes after the number of the twelve sons of Jacob. What we call tribes are as it were distinct houses and congregations of people. This people, I say, had twelve tribes, out of which twelve tribes one tribe was Judah, out of which came the kings. There was another tribe, Levi, out of which came the priests. To the priests serving the temple no land was allotted. So it was necessary that among twelve tribes all the land of promise should be shared. Having separated one tribe of higher dignity, the tribe of Levi, which was of the priests, there would have remained eleven, unless by the adoption of the two sons of Joseph the number twelve were completed.
Verse 22
Deadly sin: That is, sin which will bring death after it.