Numbers 18:8 - Exposition

And the Lord spake unto Aaron. The charge and responsibility of the priests having been declared, the provision for their maintenance is now to be set forth. The charge, מִשְׁמֶרֶת , as in Numbers 18:5 , &c.; but here it means "the keeping" for their own use (cf. Exodus 12:6 ). Mine heave offerings. תְּרוּמֹתָי . The possessive pronoun marks the fact that these did not belong to the priest in the first instance, although they naturally came to be looked on as his perquisites (cf. 1 Samuel 2:16 ), but were a gift to him from the Lord out of what the people had dedicated. The word terumoth must here be understood in its widest sense, as including everything which the Israelites dedicated or "lifted" of all their possessions, so far as these were not destroyed in the act of offering. Of all the hallowed things. The genitive of identity: "consisting of all the hallowed things." By reason of the anointing. Rather, "for a portion," לְמָשְׁחָה (see on Le Numbers 7:35 ). The Septuagint has εἰς γέρας , "as an honour," or peculium.