Day 78 – The Priests & Tithing

• Today is our last day looking at the duties of the priests in the Old Testament, and we finish with another typically detailed and potentially complex passage in Numbers. The role of priests, and their place in the people of Israel, may have been new and rather alien to you before started reading the bible this year. I hope the last few sessions of reading have given you a helpful overview and that you now know a little more! Read carefully today, and we’ll continue to keep learning.
• Why, according to God’s commands in Numbers 16, was it important only for priests to touch the items inside the tabernacle?
• Remember – the Levites were the group of the Israelites who were descended from Joseph’s brother Levi. God had ordained that they would either be priests, or would have some other role involved with looking after the tabernacle, as detailed in Exodus 28:1-4. Later, you may remember, during the incident with the golden calf, the Levites – according to Exodus 32:26 – remained faithful to God. This further cemented their blessing and the special roles they were given, as described in today’s passage.
• Later on in this study, when we see the people enter the Promised Land, the Levites will not given their own section of the land for themselves (this is what it refers to in Numbers 18:20). Why is this the case? If you’re not sure, try thinking about the next question.
• Because they were not to get an inheritance of physical land, what did the Levites have to live on instead? Number 18:23-24 will help you. You might find it helpful to reference our second passage in Deuteronomy 14, especially verse 27. There are a variety of answers.
• The word “tithe”, you may recall, means a set amount of your income that you give away, usually to a church to help with the everyday running costs or mission. We see the word pop up many times in the Bible, including in verse 21 onward of today’s first reading. You might remember that we looked at the subject when we thought about Melchizedek in Genesis 14.
• What were the Levites supposed to give God? Verse 26, back in Numbers 18, will help. It’s important to see how the Levites also tithed in this way.
• Malachi is a small, but important, book. You might not have known where to find it in the bible today! The passage in Malachi talks about “robbing God”. How might we be doing this ourselves?
• What does God say He will provide for those who are generous with their tithing to God?
• Do you or your parents give a percentage of the money that you get back to church? Do you think you could consider doing so, if you don’t?

Today’s passages help us to focus on two things.

The first is that of the position of the Levites. The Levites had special roles as priests and were blessed to be given that role. They took the offerings from the people and were, after sacrificing them properly, allowed to use the animal for themselves as food. The Levites, therefore, were able to survive via the offerings of the people from all of the other tribes, and this would continue on even when they didn’t have any special area of their own in the Promised Land to come. The special role of the Levitical priests continued all the way up to Jesus death and resurrection.

The second is the challenge to us to be generous with our money to support those around us. A church works much like the way the Levites worked. Our church leaders make it their full-time job to help teach and lead us in our Christian lives. They have a special role. In order for them to be able to do this, we give money to the church (some call it a tithe) to support them. It’s an important thing, as our support to them helps them to support us. You and your family may also give to charities or other causes to help those around us in our society who need our help.

If you earn, you should consider carefully whether you can give away some of your earnings. It’s a great habit to form early, as the idol of money can easily be one of the biggest snares you’ll face as you get older.