Genesis 28:22

28:22 Then this stone ¹  that I have set up as a sacred stone will be the house of God, and I will surely ²  give you back a tenth of everything you give me.” ³ 

Leviticus 27:32

27:32 All the tithe of herd or flock, everything which passes under the rod, the tenth one will be holy to the Lord. ⁴ 

Numbers 18:21

18:21 See, I have given the Levites all the tithes in Israel for an inheritance, for their service which they perform – the service of the tent of meeting.

Numbers 18:1

Responsibilities of the Priests

18:1 ⁵ The Lord said to Aaron, “You and your sons and your tribe ⁶  with you must bear the iniquity of the sanctuary, ⁷  and you and your sons with you must bear the iniquity of your priesthood.

Numbers 8:15

8:15 “After this, the Levites will go in ⁸  to do the work ⁹  of the tent of meeting. So you must cleanse them ¹⁰  and offer them like a wave offering. ¹¹ 

Numbers 8:17

8:17 For all the firstborn males among the Israelites are mine, both humans and animals; when I destroyed ¹²  all the firstborn in the land of Egypt I set them apart for myself.

[28:22]  ¹ tn The disjunctive clause structure (conjunction + noun/subject) is used to highlight the statement.

[28:22]  ² tn The infinitive absolute is used before the finite verb for emphasis.

[28:22]  ³ tn Heb “and all which you give to me I will surely give a tenth of it to you.” The disjunctive clause structure (conjunction + noun/object) highlights this statement as well.

[27:32]  ⁴ sn The tithed animal was the tenth one that passed under the shepherd’s rod or staff as they were being counted (see J. E. Hartley, Leviticus [WBC], 485, and B. A. Levine, Leviticus [JPSTC], 200).

[18:1]  ⁵ sn This chapter and the next may have been inserted here to explain how the priests are to function because in the preceding chapter Aaron’s position was affirmed. The chapter seems to fall into four units: responsibilities of priests (vv. 1-7), their portions (vv. 8-19), responsibilities of Levites (vv. 20-24), and instructions for Levites (vv. 25-32).

[18:1]  ⁶ tn Heb “your father’s house.”

[18:1]  ⁷ sn The responsibility for the sanctuary included obligations relating to any violation of the sanctuary. This was stated to forestall any further violations of the sanctuary. The priests were to pay for any ritual errors, primarily if any came too near. Since the priests and Levites come near all the time, they risk violating ritual laws more than any. So, with the great privileges come great responsibilities. The bottom line is that they were responsible for the sanctuary.

[8:15]  ⁸ tn The imperfect tense could also be given the nuance of the imperfect of permission: “the Levites may go in.”

[8:15]  ⁹ tn Heb “to serve.”

[8:15]  ¹⁰ tn The two verbs in the rest of this verse are perfect tenses with vav (ו) consecutive constructions, making them equal to the imperfect. Some commentators try to get around the difficulty of repetition by making these future perfects, “and you will have cleansed,” as opposed to a summary statement, “for thus you will cleanse….”

[8:15]  ¹¹ tc The Greek text adds “before the Lord.”

[8:17]  ¹² tn The idiomatic “on the day of” precedes the infinitive construct of נָכָה (nakhah) to form the temporal clause: “in the day of my striking…” becomes “when I struck.”