Parashat Qorach

(Numbers 16:1 - 18:32)

Took along: or, grasped—a more blatant example of the sin of the man who was “gathering sticks”, for Qorach was literally gathering men in the wrong way. Qorach means "bald"—not a natural baldness, but a self-imposed one (by shaving the head) like the practice of the monks who also claimed to have the law-making authority that only Moshe had (under YHWH). This was forbidden among Israelites, and especially the priests. (Lev. 21:5; Deut. 14:1) It was a symbol of shame (1 Chron. 19:4-5) or mourning (Yirmiyahu 16:6). So the seeds of rebellion are right in Qorach’s name. Despite his strong genealogy (as one of those in charge of the very furniture of the Tabernacle and Moshe and Aharon’s own first cousin), he betrayed his lineage. Perhaps the sons of Reuven felt they still had some claim to leadership since their ancestor was the eldest son of Yaaqov, though Yaaqov himself had clearly taken away his birthright, bringing them a certain amount of shame as a tribe already. (Gen. 49:3ff) Qorach played upon the fact that they still felt like they deserved more than they were getting.

Stood up to: or formed an uprising against. What audacity they had, after just having seen the ten "spies" consumed for playing this same political game. But human nature always looks for someone to blame, especially in the aftermath of great losses like they had just experienced (e.g., 15:36). Famous: literally “called”, for their names were household words. Renown: literally, "name".

All of them are holy: An oxymoron, in a way. Perhaps they deduced this from the fact that the whole congregation had just stoned a man--one who they considered holy by definition since he was an Israelite. (15:36) And compared to the rest of the world, they were right, but YHWH also chose some to be the "set apart among the set apart". Qorach took advantage of the congregation at this vulnerable time, since killing a man always does something to one's soul, even when it is proper to do so. He essentially accused Moshe, the shepherd, of killing his own sheep. He tried to make it look as if he were speaking for the whole congregation, but if they are all indeed holy, why does he wish to raise himself up? This generation knew they would not be going to the Promised Land after all, so they wanted another leader to take them somewhere--even back to Egypt. They did not accept YHWH's rebuke; they kept trying to have their way and get around His sentence. Perhaps if they would have truly repented He would have relented; He has been known to, though there are no guarantees. But they did not, and now even their children had to pay for it.

That is, he prostrated himself before YHWH to find out what He wanted to do about this:

This type of squabbles also arose among Y'shua's congregation once they forgot they were headed back to the Promised Land, and assumed they were settling down for the long haul in the mediocre places they had come to think of as normal.

7. "put fire in them, and set them before YHWH tomorrow [with] incense in them, and whomever YHWH chooses shall be the holy [one].

8. "[It is you who presume] too much for yourselves, sons of Levi!

He rightly turned their own accusation back on them. They were the ones who had bitten off more than they could chew. If they wanted to play games with YHWH, He would go along withg it, but when they lost, they would have to bear serious consequences which were no laughing matter. Sons of Levi: the Reuvenites are not addressed here, because it was a Levite who fomented the discontent in the rest. The Levites were given the most, and therefore are held more responsible.

Stand before: later, as musicians on the steps to the innermost courtyard of the Temple. Even Moshe did not have this privilege. Too small a thing: YHWH told Y’shua the same in a positive sense (Yeshayahu 49:6); compare His own advice in Luke 14:8-11 and Sha’ul’s summary in Phil. 2:5-9.

I.e., “Look at all you have already—so much more than the rest of Israel—and you still want someone else’s position?” YHWH essentially said the same to haSatan. (Y’hezq’el 28:13-17)

I.e., it is not really Aharaon or myself that you are opposing, but YHWH.

Apparently they had made all of these accusations from a distance, "behind Moshe's back", but were unwilling to do so to his face.

14. "What's more, you haven't brought us into a land gushing with milk and honey or given us property in fields or vineyards [after all]! What are you going to do? Gouge out these men's eyes? [No], we won't come up!"

Gouge out their eyes: So they will not notice that the wilderness is not the Promised Land? He was accusing Moshe of power-hunger and cruelty, which seems like the typical extrapolation of hearsay about what kind of a person he was--a case built on irrelevant ideas as we see so often in those with a radical agenda trying to sway people's hearts. They appealed to people’s natural hunger for possessions, but it was not yet time to receive their inheritance. So they made it look as if he wanted to keep all of these things for himself (which was not true, though YHWH had legitimately offered that to him on more than one occasion). Moshe brought his defense directly back to the Judge whom he knew was on his side (Romans 12:19; 1 Kefa 2:23):

Compare 1 Shmuel 12:13. He could well have added, "They're only alive because I begged You for their lives!" This is the first time he did not do so, but actually walked in his true authority and cursed even his fellow Levites, "stacking the deck" against them, because this was what was best for the rest of Israel. He was learning not to cast his pearls before swine by having mercy on those who would only take advantage of it. Donkey: To take someone's donkey would mean they had to carry their burdens themselves. But D'vorah also said those who sat in judgment rode on donkeys (Judg. 5:10); from this we could deduce that Moshe was saying he had not taken back the position of anyone whom he had appointed as a judge.

17. "And each of you bring his firepan, put incense on them, and bring them near before YHWH --250 firepans--you along with Aharon, that is, each [with] his firepan."

This should have jarred their memory with the frightening reminder of what had happened to Nadav and Avihu.

But only 250 came, not 254 (v. 35). Qorach, who started it all, would not even show up when it was time for his opinion to be given a true test, since in reality he was a coward. He may have thought that with the attention on these men, Moshe might forget his role in it and he might escape.

20. And YHWH told Moshe and Aharon,

21. "Withdraw from being in the same crowd as this company, so that I can put an end to them in [one] instant."

He could destroy them more easily if He could just attack the whole group at once and not have to find a way to spare some of those among them, for He was using natural forces that would have to thus be somehow limited.

Though he was rightfully angry, he knew that not everyone in Israel was guilty.

24. "Tell the congregation, 'Pull up [your tent stakes and get] yourselves away from all around the dwellings of Qorach, Dathan, and Aviram.'"

25. So Moshe got up and went to [where] Dathan and Aviram [were], and the elders of Israel walked behind him.

Though the rebellious 250 were men of renown, they were not the true leaders of Israel; those who were remained loyal to Moshe.

Evil men: LXX, "stubborn men". Do not touch: lest you be leavened by it. Have no part in what has clearly become opposed to YHWH. Even those who themselves were innocent might be punished. They had to take sides and form a clear line of demarcation, just as the blood on the doors in Egypt had.

The dwellings: Though these men were from two different tribes, they were in close proximity to one another. The Q’hathite branch of the Levites was immediately beside Reuven’s camp, on the southern side of the camp, so some of the Reuvenites had probably simply overheard Qorach complaining, and it resonated with a chord of discontent that already predisposed them to respond favorably to his ideas. Took their stand: or stood firm, upright, with their feet planted--still defiantly unwilling to bend.

Moshe never wished to cause anyone trouble; it was YHWH's choice to kill these cowardly rebels. And he was also letting them know that the decisions he made in his shepherding Israel wre not just his own whims. They were to measure his motives by their fruit.

30. "But if YHWH makes something new happen, and the ground opens her mouth and swallows them up along with all that they own, and they go down into the underworld alive, then you will know that these men have spurned YHWH!"

Something new: LXX, "a wonder"; another version reads, "a vision". They opened their mouths against Moshe; now the very ground would open its mouth against them. All that they own: the pattern of Egypt, which they considered their lost promised land (v. 13), was to bury all of one’s treasures with him. So YHWH “rubbed in” their punishment by adding this reminder of what they were really worshipping. The underworld: Heb., She'ol, the grave or the world of the dead; LXX, "Hades".

32. and the earth opened her mouth and swallowed them, their houses, and all the people who were for Qorach, along with all their possessions.

Physically this may have still been one of the aftershocks as the earth adjusted to its former condition after the astronomical events that had been YHWH’s means of effecting the upheavals seen at the Exodus.

No evidence remained that they had ever even existed.

Voice: i.e., their cries and shrieks.

These were not the instigators, so their punishment was different, but they still participated willingly after being given a whole night to repent.

CHAPTER 17

2. "Tell El'azar, the son of Aharon, the priest, to remove the firepans from among [what was] burning, but scatter the fire out beyond, because they have become set apart.

El’azar had a difficult job because this would remind him of what had become of his two elder brothers, Nadav and Avihu. (Lev. 10) But he did not vacillate as his f ather often did, and he would be the one to later inherit Aharon’s position. Scatter the fire: or throw it away. Out beyond: or "yonder"--i.e., away from the Tabernacle. YHWH had not prescribed the incense to be brought by 250 separate individuals; only one incense-bringer was necessary. They had the idea of the incense right, but expressed it wrongly. YHWH listens only to "one man"--the restored Adam that Israel began, Y'shua guaranteed, and we are in the process of composing. Set apart: the survivors of these families could not be sustained by the sale of these expensive vessels, because they had been brought forward for a use that belonged to YHWH, though their motive was selfish. Incense represents prayer, and the words we say to YHWH are His; we cannot take them back. Though offerings, unlike tithes, are voluntary, once we designate them for YHWH, to withhold them is to rob Him. (Mal. 3:8) We ourselves were bought both from Pharaoh and ransomed from our exile through Y’shua’s blood, so we have no claim to any rights that YHWH does not expressly give us. (1 Cor. 6:19, 20)

4. So El'azar the priest took the bronze firepans which those who were burned up had brought near, and they were made beaten thin to form a plating for the altar,

5. as a reminder to the descendants of Israel, in order that no outsider, who is not of the seed of Aharon, would come near to cause incense to smoke before YHWH, so he would not become like Qorach and his party, just as YHWH had told him under Moshe's direction.

The point was made that there is one Holy One and one Mediator, and these men were neither. (Compare Yeshayahu 42:8) Bronze is often a connected with fire as a symbol of being purged from sin. It highlights the earthly side of our nature, and would serve as a somber, negative reminder of what not to do. Tzitziyoth, a symbol of the heavens, are a more positive type of reminder to challenge us to ascend higher. (15:39) Whichever of the two reminders is effective at the time is appropriate. It was the Levites (the initial perpetrators of this rebellion) who would see this reminder more frequently than anyone else. Yes, they served in the Temple, but no one had an audience with YHWH unless they went through Aharon (as we must now enter by way of Y'shua). Bringing incense is a symbol of Y'shua, who carries our prayers to the Father.

The people of YHWH: Just because they had been called by YHWH at one point, the people assumed they remained so, even though they had removed themselves from that calling and no longer deserved respect.

8. Then Moshe and Aharon came to the front of the Tent of Appointment.

9. But YHWH told Moshe,

10. "[This time you be the ones to] pull up [and get] away from being in the same crowd as this company, so that I can put an end to them in [one] instant." But they fell on their faces,

Compare 16:21, 24. Falling on their faces was not enough this time. YHWH had just established the fact that Aharon was the mediator, so Moshe recognized that if the plague were to stop, he would have to take up his duty as such.

Moshe did not just do it himself, but, though he was in authority over Aharon, he respected Aharon’s position and let him operate in the area that was assigned to him.

He could no longer simply beg YHWH to act; Aharon had to act out his role as mediator. This was still miraculous; there was no direct connection between the incense and the physical cause of this death, just as there is no connection between the oil the elders apply to the sick and their healing (Yaaqov 5:13). But there is a certain prescribed order that has to be followed, not just a nebulous "salvation". It is the same difference between keeping YHWH's commandments and walking up a mountain of glass on our knees in order to impress YHWH. I.e., keeping the Torah is not a work of the flesh, but the way to express a spiritual reality.

David did the same by building an altar on the place that would later become the Temple Mount. (2 Shmuel 24). They were both acting out the picture of Y'shua's mediatorship. Efrayim's king did not stoke up the fire (as per Hoshea), so the northern Kingdom went astray. But we now have a King who went to the point of death to intervene for us; he can bring the incense more effectively when not confined to flesh and blood. There is a plague already at work today, preparing for the destruction of the Lawless One, though it is being partly restrained for the present. (2 Thess. 2)

The congregation did not learn from what happened to Qorach and his associates (about 250 people), so YHWH multiplied their deaths about sixty times.

16. [17:1 in most English Bibles] Then YHWH told Moshe,

17. "Speak to the descendants of Israel, and get a rod from each of them--a rod per patriarch's household, from every one of their leaders: twelve rods. You shall write each one’s name on his rod,

The Hebrew word for rod also means a branch, as it was often cut from a tree, and the root word means “to spread out” as branches do. By extension, then, the term can also mean a tribe, as a branch of the family “tree”. Israel is a nation of shepherds, and a rod was thus very important to them. It was used to beat off predators, but also to goad the sheep or goats in the right direction. The Hebrew word for “teach” also carries this sense of prodding. It therefore represents the bearer’s authority to correct and lead. Y’shua’s rod will be made of iron, signifiying an unbending standard—a strengthening, rather than a relaxing of the Torah, as the “Sermon on the Mounts” demonstrates. (Mat. 5-7) A shepherd’s rod typically had the most significant events in his life carved into it. The leader’s name is also important. In Israel, one’s name has meaning in regard to his life. For example, David means “beloved”, and this is borne out by how YHWH favored him and chastised him. Levi’s name means "my joining". It appears that YHWH was actually the one who named him, in contrast to the mothers naming all of the rest of Yaaqov’s sons. (Gen. 29:34) His tribe is indeed joined to YHWH in a special way, as is borne out by his being singled out here:

They may have brought the rod that actually belonged to each son of Yaaqov himself, or the rod belonging to the greatest person in the tribe’s history. If we follow the history of this rod carefully, we can see that it began as Moshe’s rod (Ex. 4:1ff). When Aharon was named as Moshe’s spokesman, he ended up using the rod himself. (4:13ff) By Exodus 7:8, the same rod is called Aharon’s. So Moshe and Aharon shared the rulership of the tribe of Levi. Aharon’s authority is that of Moshe; figuratively, the High Priest’s authority is the Torah. Aharon was the high priest, and as such prefigures Y’shua, our great High priest (Heb. 4:14), who derived His authority from the Torah. He is called the Rod (Mic. 6:9), and as such is YHWH’s means of ruling Israel. He is the one Mediator between Israel and YHWH, prefigured here by Aharon, whose name means “giver of light”. Moshe’s name, which means “the one who draws out”, would also be on the rod from previous days. They both bear witness to Y’shua. When He comes to rule and judge, there will no longer be any room for complaining about the Torah—or about His position as King.

Testimony: or witness; i.e., the Ark and what was inside it—the Torah, which served as a witness to His covenant, or marriage contract, with Israel. As the bride needs to sign it in front of a credible witness to indicate her agreement wit the proposal, the congregation had agreed to “carry it out and listen” to what it taught them. In Israel, the witness to a wedding also has the responsibility of doing his part to ensure that the agreement is upheld.

The man whom I select: again, YHWH's "elect", another picture of Y'shua. (Yeshayahu 42:1) YHWH is tired of their complaining and rebellion, and wants to put and end to it once and for all by an unmistakable sign so they would have no room left to asrgue. Compare Y'chezq'el/Ezekiel 17:24.

22. Then Moshe placed the rods in front of YHWH, in the Tent of the Testimony.

23. And, sure enough, the next day when Moshe went into the Tent of the Testimony, lo and behold, Aharon's rod had [not only] sprouted, [but also] put forth buds, produced blossoms, and yielded ripe almonds!

All in one night! Yielded: the same word as "weaned"; i.e., they were ready to be picked. A tree is known by its fruit, so this rod was the branch of an almond tree, the first tree to bloom in the spring in the Middle East, sometimes even before the last snow. In Yirmeyahu 1:11-12 we see a play on the word "almond" and "stay alert" (from the same root in Hebrew). The appearance of its flowers "alerted" the nation that it was time to plant barley. The next full moon might be the time to celebrate Passover, if the barley was in the aviv stage by then. The new festival year would begin. Y’shua’s most frequent command to His followers was to “stay alert” or “be watchful”, and often in regard to the changing of YHWH’s “seasons”. (e.g., Mat. 22:42; 25:13; 26:41; Mark 13:33-37; Luke 21:36) But though the almond tree blooms first, it normally bears fruit last. It is thus also called the "resurrection tree". Almonds are edible at two different times--when they are green, and when they finally dry out, being inedible between those times. Y'shua spoke of his two comings as "the green tree" and "the dry tree" as well. (Luk. 23:31) Like Aharon's rod, the tree (or stick) that was dead is alive again--like Y'shua. The event here pictures the Torah judging Y'shua to be worthy of resurrection. Almonds are part of the menorah in the tabernacle as well, so they are doubly the sign of priestly authority.

Saw it: also means "took it into consideration". Took up his rod: also means "accepted his tribe" (since a tribe is a "branch" of the family), so they recognized their sphere of responsibility and no longer tried to go beyond it. And no one was killed here. This was the same rod Moshe had turned into a serpent, part the sea, bring water from the rock, and defeat Amaleq. But it did not come to life until it had Aharon's name engraved on it and was set in the right place. YHWH is restoring the tribe of Levi, because only they can build the altar and the Temple, and only then can Messiah come.

YHWH was tired of killing Israelites. Now if someone grumbled, all Moshe would have to do was bring out Aharon’s rod as a reminder of his authority and ask if they really wanted to argue with the sign YHWH had given. It was probably placed in the Holy Place rather than in the Holy of Holies for that purpose. Now there were three pictures of the Messiah there: the manna (see Yochanan 6:31ff), the Torah

Just as: or, precisely when.

28. "Whoever comes near--who approaches the Dwelling Place--is put to death! What if we are completely consumed to [the point of] expiration?

I.e., “What if it keeps happening until every last one of us is gone?” But this is a breakthrough. It means they finally recognize that they are guilty and that their actions have consequences—that if they get what they really deserve, they are in big trouble. This puts all their petty reasons for complaining into perspective as a deterrent to further foolishness.

CHAPTER 18

Perversion: literally: crookedness, twisting, or distortion. The people have just recognized the dilemma of being responsible to bring offerings to YHWH yet barred from the place He said to bring them. (17:28) They are beginning to realize they need a mediator—someone to pay the price--establishing the precedent of our need for a redeemer. To prevent the mass death that they feared, YHWH made the priests and Levites responsible to keep the wrong people from approaching. He is the one who decides how He wants to be approached; we are not. He has a prescribed order. It is the priesthood’s responsibility to teach Torah (Mal. 2:7). But today many not only pervert it, but claim it has been done away with completely. How can the wrath that is due us now be done away with unless this is righted again? We must stop pretending the cow is really a pig and that the pig is acceptable (kosher) to YHWH!

Joined: or "lent"; the root word is the same as that of "Levi", and actually means “intertwined” like a vine. In front of: but not inside. While the whole tribe is responsible for the upkeep of the Tabernacle, only the family of Aharon may handle its furnishings:

If anyone else did die due to his approach, it would mean the Levites were not doing their duty, and thus they too would be guilty. By the time of the second Temple, there were full-time Levitical guards on the Temple premises to keep anyone but the priests from trying to attend the altar, etc.

On loan to you: or extra attendants added in addition to you. They actually were in the position of slaves, though they were among the most highly esteemed in Israel. Israel’s “philosophy” of slavery is not like that of Gentile overlords, for to us the greatest is the one who serves. (Mat. 20:25ff; 23:11) Y’shua even said that if someone wants to be great, he should be made the servant of His disciples. I.e., he could thus be in an environment to learn what it truly means to be great. Eliyahu used this same methodology in training Elisha. (1 Kings 19: 2 Kings 2) Functions: or valuables; literally, "things that are to be guarded".

While the blood of bulls and goats never did take away sin (Heb. 10:4), it did serve to give us a clear conscience by clearing the breach in the relationship that making excuses for our guilt only perpetuated. Making a payment in the form of an animal atoned for, or covered up, our shame at having slighted Him or our neighbor.

7. "But you and your sons along with you shall guard your priestly office for every affair pertaining to the altar and up to [what is] inside the veil you shall perform the service. I will give you your priestly office as a service of giving [as one is able], but the outsider who approaches shall be executed."

Executed: This was not a job for a “Mr. Nice Guy”, and seems very unfair from the spirit of today’s times. But because Greeks were allowed to come in and desecrate the altar in the time of the Maccabees, by Y’shua’s day there was a wall barring non-Jews of any kind from entering, with signs which have been discovered by archaeologists proclaiming that if anyone crossed the line they were responsible for their own death. Paul argued that Y’shua had brought about a major exception to this rule. (Eph. 2:14) But the principle still remains. Since YHWH does not want His people to be heartless, it requires great discipline to ensure that it never gets to this point. (v. 3) Outsider: literally, one who is estranged, having forsaken the covenant. But in all practicality, most of Israel had done that at this time, and most have done so today.

This is the compensation for having such a heavy responsibility.

10. "It shall be most holy to you and your sons; in the holiest of holy places shall you eat it. Every male may eat it; it shall be holy for you.

11. "This is also for you: the contribution [lifted off] from what they give for all the wave offerings of the descendants of Israel; I have given them to you and to your sons and daughters along with you as a prescribed due forever. Everyone in your household who is ritually pure may eat from it.

While what was most holy (v. 10) could be eaten nowhere but in the Temple precincts, the wave offering had a lesser degree of sanctity and could actually be taken home to the priests’ families. This was a main point of this whole passage. While Qorach was right in one sense that all of Israel was set apart unto YHWH (16:3), and his family was even, in fact, more set apart than most in Israel, still there were levels of holiness exemplified by the names of the two rooms in the Tabernacle: the holy place and the “holy of holies”, or that which was set apart further from what was already set apart.

Grain: or produce in general.

Firstfruits: or that which ripens first, though another stipulation is that it be the best of the crop. (v. 12, 30).

Everything dedicated: or that which is forfeited, perhaps belonging to those who must be executed for their sins. At the time of the conquest of the Land it referred to things that were placed under the "ban"--wholly devoted to destruction.

Ransom/redeem: the same word, meaning to rescue from being killed (especially in the case of humans) by accepting the equivalent value in money. (v. 16) An unredeemed firstborn donkey had to be killed in a specific way. (Ex. 13:13)

17. "But the firstborn of cattle, the firstborn of sheep, or the firstborn of a she-goat, you shall not redeem; they are set apart. You must dash their blood against the altar and make their fat go up in smoke as a fire offering--a soothing aroma to YHWH.

18. "But their meat shall be yours, as the breast of the wave offering and the right foreleg shall be yours.

Once the Temple was established, the firstborn may have been given to the Levites in each region on one of the two annual occasions when it was their turn to go up and serve in Yerushalayim.

Covenant of salt: symbolizing eternity and something to be preserved. Anything brought to YHWH belongs in practicality to the priests, who then distribute it among themselves and the needy in prescribed ways. Y’shua said the same holds true for His followers, since all that the Father has is His to use, and He gives us from what belongs to Y’shua. (Yochanan 6:20ff; 16:14) Like the priesthood, He bore the burden of the perversion of YHWH’s human sanctuary (Israel) through His crucifixion, but when He comes back He will do away with the repeated perverting of His words into the “animated Disney” version so rampant today—not by dying again, but with a sword and a rod of iron.

Inheritable property: literally, "that which flows", i.e. from one generation onward. Share: or "divided portion". Land: or earth. Since Y’shua is our High Priest (Heb. 4:14), His followers also receive no inheritance in this age, but in the age to come (His Kingdom). We also gives the faithful ones high positions there, but they will be positions of servanthood. He gives us the right to draw near (Heb. 10:22), as well as authority to correct what has become twisted. (Mat. 16:19; Luke 10:19) The same standard the priests were held to is what He holds His students to (Mat. 8:22; Luke 9:60), for the Aharonic priesthood was a foreshadowing of His Highest priesthood. (Heb. 9:11) The Father could be dimly seen through the priesthood, but clearly through Y’shua, since His connection to YHWH was unbroken. He fulfilled correctly that which the priests accomplished only poorly. He embodied as much of YHWH as could be contained in one man; now it takes all of us as His Body (His “levitical” slaves) to contain what He had in Himself.

22. "The descendants of Israel shall not come close to the Tent of Appointment anymore, [which would lead them] to take on guilt [and] to die [for it].

23. "Rather, the Levite is the one who shall carry out the service of the Tent of Appointment, and they shall bear their crookedness, as an eternally-prescribed appointment for your generations; but among the descendants of Israel, they shall have no inheritance,

24. "because the tithes of the descendants of Israel, which they shall bring near to YHWH I have given to the Levites as a contribution [skimmed off the top] as an inheritance. That is why I have told them that they are to inherit no property that they can pass on."

The Levites had no farms of their own, so they depended directly on YHWH for their daily bread--but this also meant they were free from other concerns so they could concentrate fully on the special task He had given them. But Paul said those who bring the Gospel were permitted to live thereby (1 Cor. 9:14), though he did not exercise that privilege. The Hebrew word for "Gospel" is from the root meaning "flesh" or "meat". A teacher certainly learns more when preparing to teach. If the Levites stopped teaching the people the Torah, the people would stop bringing their firstfruits and tithes, and they would not have food to eat.

26. "Speak [again] to the Levites, and tell them, 'When you receive from among the descendants of Israel the tithe that I have given you from them to be your inheritance, you shall lift off a contribution to YHWH from it--a tenth of the tithe.

The Levites did not use all of the tithes themselves; they only received ten percent of them; the rest went to the widows, orphans, and foreigners staying in Israel to study the Torah.

28. "Likewise, you shall lift off the contribution to YHWH from all the tithes that you receive from the descendants of Israel, and from it you shall give YHWH's contribution to Aharon the cohen.

29. "Out of all that is given, you shall lift off YHWH's whole contribution out of all its best and the parts of it that are set apart.

30. "And tell them, 'When you lift off its best part out of it, it shall be calculated for the Levites like the produce of the threshing floor and the produce of the wine-vat.

31. "Also, you may eat it in any place, you along with your households, because it is your reward in exchange for your service in the Tent of Appointment.

32. "And you shall bear no guilt on account of it, since you have lifted off its best part from it. Do not desecrate the holy things of the descendants of Israel, and you will not die."

Bear no guilt: If the part that belonged to YHWH were not separated off, they would be stealing from Him. Desecrate: lower by putting it to common use, when it has been dedicated to holy use alone, or eating the portion which was to be their tithe. Give it back to Him, and you have earned the other 90%. As the fullness of the earth belongs to YHWH, yet He gives most of it back to us when we recognize that it is from His hand.