Numbers 18:32

Num 18:32. Neither shall ye pollute the holy things — As you will do, if you abuse their holy offerings, by reserving that entirely to yourselves which they offer to God, to be disposed as he hath appointed, namely, part to you, and part to the priests. Thus we learn in what manner God regulated the offices of the priests and Levites, and how he provided for their subsistence. The tribe of Levi had no part nor inheritance in the land of Canaan as the other tribes had; but had for their share the tithes of the whole country; and the priests, in particular, had their portions of the sacrifices and offerings, and a tenth part of the tithes. By these means the ministers of religion were supported in a comfortable, decent manner, without being forced to neglect the duties of their function to provide for the necessities of the body. This proves that, in the Christian Church, provision should be made for the maintenance of those that serve in the sacred ministry, as St. Paul teaches: “They which minister about holy things, live by the things of the temple; and they which wait at the altar are partakers with the altar; even so hath the Lord ordained that they which preach the gospel, should live by the gospel.”

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

18:32 The food tithes had a sacred origin as holy gifts of the people of Israel; they were not to turn these gifts into something common by neglecting to give a tithe to the priests.

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

The offerings which the Israelites have offered to God.

Ye shall not be punished therefore.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

ye shall bear no sin by reason of it, &c.--Neglect in having the best entailed sin in the use of such unhallowed food. And the holy things would be polluted by the reservation to themselves of what should be offered to God and the priests.

Next: Numbers Chapter 19

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

(32) And ye shall bear no sin . . . —i.e., shall not incur any guilt, or become liable to any punishment. (See Note on Num_18:22.)

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

32. profane the holy things] i.e. the tithe of the tithe, which they would profane if they did not give it to the priests.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Neither shall ye pollute ... - Rather, and by not polluting the holy things of the children of Israel, ye shall not die.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

By, &c. Hebrew, "when you have made a heave-offering of the best of it; nor shall you profane the holy things of," &c. (Haydock) --- This they would do, if they gave the worst only to the priests. (Du Hamel) --- There were only three at this time; yet they received the 100th part of the produce of so many thousands. Well therefore might God say, I will fill the souls of the priests with fatness: and my people shall be filled with good things, Jeremias xxxi. 14. (Tirinus)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

The best of it; implying, that if they neglected this duty, they sinned in the use of such unhallowed food.

Neither shall ye pollute the holy things, as you will do, if you abuse their holy offerings, by reserving that entirely to yourselves which they offer to God to be disposed as he hath appointed, to wit, part to you, and part to the priests.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

32. Ye shall bear no sin — In the free use of the tithed tithe the Levites would violate no ceremonial law nor expose themselves to penalty.

Neither shall ye pollute — In this prohibition both priests and Levites are addressed. The holy things are to be exempt from profanation.

Mat_7:6, note.

Lest ye die — The attention of the Hebrews was directed more to a judicial, physical death than to a punishment after death. Yet even in the Pentateuch, מותand θανατος, death, sometimes implies the perdition and misery of that exclusion from the presence and favour of God which in the New Testament is called the second death. See Deu_30:19.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Ye shall bear no sin. wyl WactiAalo. They would not incur any guilty responsibility by enjoying it as and where they pleased. Neither shall ye pollute the holy things of the children of Israel, lest ye die. This seems to be the tree translation, and it conveyed a final warning. See Lev_22:2 for one very obvious way in which the Levites might pollute "holy things."

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Neither shall ye pollute the holy things - As you will do, if you abuse their holy offerings, by reserving that entirely to yourselves, which they offer to God to be disposed as he hath appointed, namely, part to you, and part to the priests.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

They would load no sin upon themselves by so doing (see Lev 19:17), if they only lifted off the best as tithe (for the priest), and did not desecrate the holy gifts, sc., by eating in all kinds of places, which was not allowed, according to Num 18:10, with regard to the most holy gifts. These regulations concerning the revenues of the priests and Levites were in perfect accordance with the true idea of the Israelitish kingdom of God. Whereas in heathen states, where there was an hereditary priestly caste, that caste was generally a rich one, and held a firm possession in the soil (in Egypt, for example; see at Gen 47:22), the Levites received no hereditary landed property in the land of Israel, but only towns to dwell in among the other tribes, with pasturage for their cattle (ch. 35), because Jehovah, the God of Israel, would be their inheritance. In this way their earthly existence as based upon the spiritual ground and soil of faith, in accordance with the calling assigned them to be the guardians and promoters of the commandments, statutes, and rights of Jehovah; and their authority and influence among the people were bound up with their unreserved surrender of themselves to the Lord, and their firm reliance upon the possession of their God. Now, whilst this position was to be a constant incitement to the Levites to surrender themselves entirely to the Lord and His service, it was also to become to the whole nation a constant admonition, inasmuch as it was a prerogative conferred upon them by the Lord, to seek the highest of all good in the possession of the Lord, as its portion and inheritance. - The revenue itself, however, which the Lord assigned to the Levites and priests, as His servants, consisting of the tenths and first-fruits, as well as certain portions of the different sacrificial gifts that were offered to Him, appears to have been a very considerable one, especially if we adopt the computation of J. D. Michaelis (Mos. Recht. i. 52) with reference to the tithes. "A tribe," he says, "which had only 22,000 males in it (23,000 afterwards), and therefore could hardly have numbered more than 12,000 grown-up men, received the tithes of 600,000 Israelites; consequently one single Levite, without the slightest necessity for sowing, and without any of the expenses of agriculture, reaped or received from the produce of the flocks and herds as much as five of the other Israelites." But this leaves out of sight the fact that tithes are never paid so exactly as this, and that no doubt there was as little conscientiousness in the matter then as there is at the present day, when those who are entitled to receive a tenth often receive even less than a twentieth. Moreover, the revenue of the tribe, which the Lord had chosen as His own peculiar possession, was not intended to be a miserable and beggarly one; but it was hardly equal, at any time, to the revenues which the priestly castes of other nations derived from their endowments. Again, the Levites had to give up the tenth of all the tithes they received to the priests; and the priests were to offer to Jehovah upon the altar a portion of the first-fruits, heave-offerings, and wave-offerings that were assigned to them. Consequently, as the whole nation was to make a practical acknowledgment, in the presentation of the tithe and first-fruits, that it had received its hereditary property as a fief from the Lord its God, so the Levites, by their payment of the tenth to the priests, and the priests, by presenting a portion of their revenues upon the altar, were to make a practical confession that they had received all their revenues from the Lord their God, and owed Him praise and adoration in return (see Bhr, Symbolik, ii. pp. 43ff.).

Keil & Delitzsch — Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament (1861–1891) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API. (Old Testament only.)

ולא תשאו עליו חטא וגו׳ AND YE SHALL BEAR NO SIN BY REASON OF IT etc. — This implies: consequently if you do not set it aside you will bear sin on that account.

ולא תמותו LEST YE DIE — consequently if you do profane them you will die (Bekhorot 26b; cf. Rashi on Exodus 30:20 and Note thereon).

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.