Numbers 18:31

And ye shall eat it in every place, ye and your households: for it is your reward for your service in the tabernacle of the congregation.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(31) And ye shall eat it in every place.—When the tenth which was due to the priests had been duly paid, the remainder of the tithe received from the people became the rightful portion of the Levites, as their ordinary means of subsistence, and might be eaten by them in every place, not being subject to the restrictions laid upon the priests in regard to the place in which the holy things were to be eaten. (See 5:10.)

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

18:20-32 As Israel was a people not to be numbered among the nations, so Levi was a tribe to be distinguished from the rest. Those who have God for their Inheritance and their Portion for ever, ought to look with holy contempt and indifference upon the possessions of this world. The Levites were to give God his dues out of their tithes, as well as the Israelites out of their increase. See, in ver. 31, the way to have comfort in all our worldly possessions, so as to bear no sin by reason of them. 1. We must be sure that what we have is got honestly and in the service of God. That meat is best eaten which is first earned; but if any will not work, neither shall he eat, 2Th 3:10. 2. We must be sure that God has his dues out of it. We have the comfort of our substance, when we have honoured the Lord with it. Ye shall bear no sin by reason of it, when ye have heaved the best from it. We should give alms of such things as we have, that all may be holy and comfortable to us.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Out of all your gifts - The spirit of this law would extend to all the revenues of the Levites; of the increase of their cattle, as well as of their tithes, a tithe would be paid by them for the Lord's service.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

26. the Levites … offer … a tenth of the tithe—Out of their own they were to pay tithes to the priests equally as the people gave to them. The best of their tithes was to be assigned to the priests, and afterwards they enjoyed the same liberty to make use of the remainder that other Israelites had of the produce of their threshing-floors and wine-presses.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

In every place, i.e. in every clean place, and not in the holy place only.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

And ye shall eat it in every place,.... In any of their tents or dwelling houses, not being obliged to eat it in the tabernacle, where the priests, were obliged to eat many of their holy things, and second tithes were only to be eaten at Jerusalem, Deuteronomy 14:22; but the Levites might eat theirs any where, in any place, clean or unclean, according to Jarchi; for, he says, it might be eaten even in a graveyard; but Aben Ezra much better, in a clean place, be that where it would:

ye, and your households; they and their wives, their sons and daughters, their servants, whether bought or hired; and they might sell it to strangers, to purchase other necessaries with. The Targum of Jonathan interprets this of the priests; but the Levites only are plainly spoken of:

for it is your reward for your service in the tabernacle of the congregation; which is said to encourage them in their work, and animate them to it, as well as to clear their right to such a maintenance against all objections; for the labourer is worthy of his reward, as those that labour in the word and doctrine are of theirs, 1 Timothy 5:17.

Geneva Study Bible

And ye shall eat it in every {r} place, ye and your households: for it is your reward for your service in the tabernacle of the congregation.

(r) As in Nu 18:11.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

31. in every place] Not in a holy place, but anywhere, as ordinary food for your households.

Numbers 18:31

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

They might eat it (the tithe they had received, after taking off the priests' tithe) in any place with their families, as it was the reward for their service at the tabernacle.