The Financial Support of the Priests and Levities

 Paul said in 1 Cor. 9:13 that those who were priests and Levites under the Old Law had their portion with the altar and ate of the things of the temple. He then said that the Lord had ordered that evangelists now are to be provided with wages “in the way it was done” with the priests and Levites. In order to appreciate this analogy and help brethren see how God intends for evangelists to be supported, we need to examine the manner in which this support was provided to these men.

The source of the priests’ support, Num. 18:8-24

Numbers 18, along with Deut. 18:3-5; 2 Chron. 31:4-6; Neh. 12:44 provide us with the essential information concerning the sources of this support and need to be read carefully.

 1-They were given all the offerings and holy gifts, Num. 18:8,19; 5:9-10

 2-Every grain, sin, and guilt offering was theirs, Num. 18:9

 3-All wave offerings belonged to them, Num. 18:11

 4-The first of the ripe fruits was for them, Num. 18:12-13

 5-They had a right to every devoted thing, Num. 18:14

 6-The first issue of the womb, both of man and animal, was theirs, num. 18:15-17

 7-They had access to the meat of all sacrificed animals, Num. 18:18

 8-All of the tithe was given to them, Num. 18:21-24

The generosity of the support

Let’s take just one of the items in the list above and see if we can get some approximate idea as to the amount given to the priests and Levites. Take, for example, the tithe.

At the census taken in Num. 26, there were 601,730 sons of Israel who were twenty years old and above, able to go to war, vss. 2, 51. At the same numbering there were 23,000 priests from a month old and upward, vs. 62. Just for the sake of computation purposes, let’s affix an “income” of $10 for every one of the 601,730 Israelites. The tenth part, or tithe, that each one would contribute would be $1 or a total of $601,730. This amount would be divided among the 23,000 priests and comes about to approximately $26 per priest or two and a half times the amount that the other Israelites had as income. But perhaps either our method of computation is faulty or we’ve mad some other error in figuring. We’ll be generous and allow for a 40% margin of error. This still would give each priest $15 per man as opposed to $10 for each Israelite or half again as much. And remember, the tithe was just a part of their income. In addition to this was all of the things brought in for sacrifice.

That these calculations can’t be too far from wrong can be seen as we look at the generous way in which the people responded to Hezekiah’s appeal for proper support for the priests and Levites.

 In 2 Chron. 31, the king set out to restore the proper functioning of the priests and Levites, vss. 2-3. He also determined to restore the proper support of these men in order that they might function as God directed. In vs. 4, king Hezekiah gave the order. In vss. 5-9 the liberality of the people is described: they “provided in abundance” and placed their contributions “in heaps”. And when questioned about these heaps by Hezekiah, Azariah the chief priest said, since the contributions began to be brought into the house of the Lord, we have had enough to eat with plenty left over, for the Lord has blessed his people, and this great quantity is left over,” vs. 10

 Keil and Delitzsch lend support to this approximation of the generous way in which God’s servants were supported:

 “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…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 other Israelites.” They go on to point out that the tithes were not paid with great conscientiousness and that the priests and Levites often received less than a tenth, but conclude by saying, “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…” vol. 1, p. 120. 

The attitude of the people toward such generous support

Notice the attitude of Hezekiah and the rulers in 2 Chron. 31:8, “And when Hezekiah and the rulers cam and saw the heaps, they blessed the Lord and his people, Israel.”

 But the attitude of the rulers was just a reflection of what the general feeling was among the people, and explains the “heaps” that were brought in. During Nehemiah’s attempts at restoration we find a similar disposition: “On that day men were also appointed over the chambers for the stores, the contributions, the first fruits, and the tithes, to gather into them from the fields of the cities the portions required by the law for the priests and Levites; for Judah rejoiced over the priests and Levites who served,” Neh. 12:44

Concluding observations

1-Our purpose has been to give some approximate idea as to how liberally God intended for the priests and Levites to be supported and how he evidently intends for evangelists today to be supported. Now lest someone draw the wrong conclusion, let me say that I’m not arguing, or suggesting that Paul was arguing, that brethren today should take the average income of the congregation and provide the preacher with a wage that is two and a half times that amount. What I am suggesting is that Paul was laying down a principle from the Lord that was based upon an Old Testament example of extreme generosity and liberality, that illustrates just how well God intends for brethren to support evangelists today.

 2-How many times have we all heard it said, “the preacher makes more than I do”? There are several responses that could be made to that statement but in view of what we have seen, honest brethren should never make this statement as a serious complaint. Can’t you just hear some Jew in the time of either Hezekiah or Nehemiah complaining, upon viewing the heaps and hearing the chief priest say that they had enough with plenty left over, “the priests and Levites are making more than I am”? If the preacher is making more than you, so what? If there is any legitimacy and consistency at all to that statement, the preacher could never receive in wages anything above what the lowest salaried individual in the congregation receives. But if the preacher actually is receiving half again as much or two and one half times as much in wages as what others receive, it just could be that the elders have studied 1 Cor. 9:1-14 and decided to provide him with a wage that is based upon the principle that the Lord directed be used.

 3-“But”, someone is heard to say when thinking of setting or raising the preacher’s wages, “we must be careful how we spend the Lord’s money.” We should indeed be careful. Go back and read Num. 18 again. Notice the frequent use of “my offering”, “render to me”, “give to the Lord,” etc. in vss. 8,9,12-13,15,19,24. All of the tithes and offerings were given to the Lord (“the Lord’s money”) but were intended to be used generously for the support of the priests and Levites. A good example of how to use “the Lord’s money.”

 4-What a fine thing it would be if we could cultivate among God’s people the same attitude toward gospel preachers, their work, and the wages they receive, as the Jews had toward the priests and Levites, Neh. 12:44. Let us both as preachers and brethren generally work hard to nourish this feeling.

David Smitherman