Read Deuteronomy 18:1-8 at Bible Gateway.
Previously: deuteronomy 17:14-20, authority of the king
(Please review the teaching tools of scripture, especially the Hebrew paragraph divisions and chiastic structures. The paragraphs marked by an “s” at their close are weak paragraphs, which indicate a change of facet but not a change of theme or topic. The paragraphs marked by a “p” at their close are strong paragraphs, which indicate the completion of a theme or topic. The paragraph divisions reveal the chiastic structures: narratives which zero in on the main point of the narrative at its center, like a bull’s eye at the center of a target. The main point is revealed, because the narrative elements before the main point (or central axis) are repeated after the central axis, in reverse order, while the central axis itself is not repeated.)
This section, Deu 18:1-8, is the fourth section explaining the fifth commandment, Honor your father and mother. (The fifth commandment is explained in Deu 16:18-18:22, and this is my summary of it.) The Hebrew paragraph divisions are:
Deu 18:1-2 {s} The inheritance of the Levites
Deu 18:3-5 {s} What is due the Levites
Deu 18:6-8 {s} Equal shares for Levites
The responsibilities of the priests and Levites — all the tribe of Levi — are not to labor at farming or other occupations, but to stand and minister in the name of the Lord. That is their occupation, and that is their inheritance among the children of Israel instead of land. Priests and Levites minister to the Lord for the people, and they also minister to the people from the Lord. Their specific duties are explained elsewhere in Torah (we saw for example, that the priests and Levites are national authorities who are to judge the cases that are too difficult for local judges and officers. It is implied by this that part of their responsibility in ministering to the people from the Lord, is to know and study the Torah so that they can render just judgments).
The priests and Levites then, have something due them because they carry this responsibility and authority, and the rest of this section explains what is due them. They are provided for out of the offerings and first fruits (tithes at harvest) from the people. The three weak paragraphs concerning the national office of priests and Levites forms a chiastic structure:
1a) Deu 18:1-2 s, The priests + Levites shall have no inheritance with Israel/ the Lord is their inheritance;
1b) Deu 18:3-4, The priest’s due;
1c) Deu 18:5 s, The Lord has chosen him out of the tribes to stand to minister in the name of the Lord, him and his sons forever;
central axis) Deu 18:6, If a Levite from any of your gates comes with all the desire of his mind to the Lord’s place;
2c) Deu 18:7, He may serve in the name of the Lord as all Levites do, who stand there before the Lord;
2b) Deu 18:8a, They shall have equal portions to eat with that which is his due;
2a) Deu 18:8b s, According to the fathers’ houses.
The Hebrew Bible in English renders Deu 18:8 differently from the New King James:
They shall have equal portions to eat, besides what comes from the sale of his inheritance. Deu 18:8, NKJ
They shall have like portions to eat, beside that which is his due according to the fathers’ houses. Deu 18:8, HBE
The beginning of this section just explained that the Levites had no inheritance among the tribes of Israel, as the Lord was their inheritance. So what sale of their inheritance is the New King James talking about? It didn’t make sense, that is why I looked it up. All the rest of Israel, however, does have an inheritance according to their father’s houses, and the Levites are due the first fruits of the increase from that inheritance.
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