🔢WEB · Numbers 18:28
What does Numbers 18:28 mean?
"Thus you also shall offer a wave offering to Yahweh of all your tithes, which you receive of the children of Israel; and of it you shall give Yahweh’s wave offering to Aaron the priest."
— Numbers 18:28 (World English Bible)
Surrounding context
Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying,
“Moreover you shall speak to the Levites, and tell them, ‘When you take of the children of Israel the tithe which I have given you from them for your inheritance, then you shall offer up a wave offering of it for Yahweh, a tithe of the tithe.
Your wave offering shall be credited to you, as though it were the grain of the threshing floor, and as the fullness of the wine press.
Thus you also shall offer a wave offering to Yahweh of all your tithes, which you receive of the children of Israel; and of it you shall give Yahweh’s wave offering to Aaron the priest.
Out of all your gifts, you shall offer every wave offering of Yahweh, of all its best parts, even the holy part of it.’
“Therefore you shall tell them, ‘When you heave its best from it, then it shall be credited to the Levites as the increase of the threshing floor, and as the increase of the wine press.
You may eat it anywhere, you and your households, for it is your reward in return for your service in the Tent of Meeting.
Explanation
Numbers 18:28 comes at the end of a set of instructions God gives to the Levites through Moses regarding the tithe. In plain terms, the verse says that the Levites, who received a tithe (a tenth) of everything from the Israelites as their portion for serving in the tabernacle, were themselves required to set apart a "wave offering" — a portion lifted up and presented to the Lord — from that tithe, and give it specifically to Aaron the high priest. In other words, even the Levites, who lived off the tithes of the nation, had to tithe from what they received and pass a share on to the priesthood.
The context is the wilderness period after the Exodus, when God organized Israel's worship system. The tribe of Levi was set apart to serve in the tabernacle instead of receiving a land
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