You must be sure to set aside a tenth of all the produce brought forth each year from your fields. And you are to eat a tenth of your grain, new wine, and oil, and the firstborn of your herds and flocks, in the presence of the LORD your God at the place He will choose as a dwelling for His Name, so that you may learn to fear the LORD your God always. But if the distance is too great for you to carry that with which the LORD your God has blessed you, because the place where the LORD your God will choose to put His Name is too far away, then exchange it for money, take the money in your hand, and go to the place the LORD your God will choose. Then you may spend the money on anything you desire: cattle, sheep, wine, strong drink, or anything you wish. You are to feast there in the presence of the LORD your God and rejoice with your household. And do not neglect the Levite within your gates, since he has no portion or inheritance among you. At the end of every three years, bring a tenth of all your produce for that year and lay it up within your gates. Then the Levite (because he has no portion or inheritance among you), the foreigner, the fatherless, and the widow within your gates may come and eat and be satisfied. And the LORD your God will bless you in all the work of your hands.
Behold, I have given to the Levites all the tithes in Israel as an inheritance in return for the work they do, the service of the Tent of Meeting. No longer may the Israelites come near to the Tent of Meeting, or they will incur guilt and die. The Levites are to perform the work of the Tent of Meeting, and they must bear their iniquity. This is a permanent statute for the generations to come. The Levites will not receive an inheritance among the Israelites. For I have given to the Levites as their inheritance the tithe that the Israelites present to the LORD as a contribution. That is why I told them that they would not receive an inheritance among the Israelites."
Significance
Numbers 18:21-24 assigns the entire tithe to the Levites as a נַחֲלָה (nachalah, "inheritance") in exchange for tabernacle service, with the stipulation that Levites receive no land inheritance and non-Levites cannot approach the Tent. Deuteronomy 14:22-29 recasts tithing as a communal celebration: families eat their tithe at the central sanctuary, and every third year the tithe is stored locally for Levites, foreigners, orphans, and widows. The two systems are complementary rather than contradictory: Numbers addresses the institutional funding of the priesthood, while Deuteronomy emphasizes the social and worship dimensions. Together they show that Israel's tithe served both cultic and charitable purposes.
Found via
Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Reference Type
Allusion
Connection Method(s)
Longitudinal Theme — the tithe thread holds both stations together: Numbers 18:21-24 makes the tenth the Levites' נַחֲלָה (nachalah) in place of land, while Deuteronomy 14:22-29 makes it a sanctuary feast and third-year provision for Levite, foreigner, fatherless, and widow — complementary developments of the one canonical theme of the consecrated tenth.
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