The rewards for priestly service is income for their ministry. This income comes in different forms in ancient Israel, but it usually comes in cash in the present day. When pastors are blessed with cars, houses or other gifts, they are not income from the Lord, but simply gifts from the spiritual family.

In Ancient Israel, the first means of support came through the sacrificial system. The priests receives a portion of the meat from the various animals that were sacrificed as sin offerings, guilt offerings, or fellowship offerings (Num. 18:9). Part of the animal was offered as a sacrifice on the altar to the Lord, and another part was given to the priest. The same was true for the grain offerings and the wave offerings — dedication offerings — part was offered to the Lord on the altar and part given to the priest (Num. 18: 9–11).

The priests were also to receive all of the firstfruits of the land and the firstborn of the animals (Num. 18: 12–19). If the animals were holy (that is, ceremonially clean animals that were unblemished), their blood and fat would be offered as sacrifices, while the meat would belong to the priests. If the animals did not belong to a class that could be offered as sacrifices, such as donkeys or camels, the owner redeems paying the market rate for the animal plus 20% to the priest.

¹² He will decide whether it is good or bad. Its value will be what he decides it will be. ¹³ Suppose the owner wants to buy the animal back. Then a fifth must be added to its cost. (Leviticus 27:12-13)

The same requirement of redemption was true of firstborn male babies. They were to be redeemed at the set rate of five shekels of silver, and the money in either case was paid to the priests. Different kinds of offerings and ministries became the source of income for the priests, as appointed by the Lord. It is what a part of what it means to have the Lord as their inheritance.

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Many pastors around America and the world live on meager salaries from their church, yet they persist in ministry because they have a calling from God. Pastoral ministry involves long hours of sermon preparation, counseling different people, visiting the sick and elderly, sharing the Gospel with those who do not know Jesus, bible and discipleship instruction, leadership succession trainings, and so on. It would also include church administration and church planting work. Only someone who feels the Lord called him to full time ministry would want to take up such heavy responsibility with less than adequate pay.

In the context of ancient Israel, being a priest was not a glamorous job. First off, they did not have land for them to work and to leave as an inheritance to their children. It was literally a dirty and smelly job, considering the slaughter and burning of different animals. It was also dangerous, because they bore the responsibility of safeguarding the sanctuary (Num. 18:1).

The failure to carry out the ministry faithfully could result in one’s death (Num. 18:3). As children, did Levite boys dream they’d one day grow up to be priests? It’s hard to imagine. However, it is why the Lord called and designated a particular tribe and family to be his priests, instead of leaving the job to whoever felt they would do this job.

Experience the Power of Prophecy as a gift to open your mind to receive the Mind of Christ.

Priests had a legal right to receive restitution.38 When it comes to this restitution payment in the Numbers 5 passage, it is an additional payment on top of their ram of atonement offering. The ram offering is given to the injured party or his relatives. However, if the injured party dies and has no near relative, the restitution is given to the priest. The restitution is in addition to the sacrificial ram that the priest performs a purification ritual for.

In the modern day, the blood of Jesus Christ is enough restitution for our sins. However, as in Number 5, the penalty to be paid is in addition to the sacrificial lamb of Christ. It’s not to add to what Jesus did on the cross. However, additional restitution is to make amends for something one has done to contribute to the liveliness of the priests.

Numbers 5:9-10 underscores that the priests play a vital role in reestablishing the ceremonial purity of the people. In this way, the livelihood of the priests is also upheld. In the verse, special offerings to the Lord belong to the priest. Târumah or offering is translated as gift or donation that goes to the priest. Holy things are holy in the sense that they are offered to the Lord. When they are offered to the Lord, they go to the priest for their provision and portion.

The Hebrew practice is this: “When someone makes an offering to the Lord, he hands it over to the priest. Whatever someone gives to a priest belongs to the priest.”

Experience the Power of Prophecy as a gift to open your mind to receive the Mind of Christ.

Numbers 5:5-10 is a report of the proclamation of the Law. Yahweh pronounced a Law through the intermediary, Moses. A law has to be spoken to Israel, which is what the purpose of the text is for. It functions as a legal instruction, in which the pronouncement of the law and the reference to its author is combined.

5 The Lord said to Moses, 6 “Speak to the Israelites. Say to them, ‘Suppose a man or woman does something wrong to someone else. Then that person is not being faithful to the Lord. People like that are guilty. 7 They must admit they have committed a sin. They must pay in full for what they did wrong. And they must add a fifth of the value to it. Then they must give all of it to the person they have sinned against. 8 But suppose that person has died. And suppose that person does not have a close relative who can be paid for the sin that was committed. Then what is paid belongs to the Lord. It must be given to the priest. A ram must be given along with it. The ram must be sacrificed to the Lord to pay for the sin. 9 All the sacred gifts the Israelites bring to a priest will belong to him. 10 Sacred gifts belong to their owners. But what they give to the priest will belong to the priest.’” (Numbers 5:5-10)

The setting of this text is an instructional setting of the priestly writers, during the post-exilic time. In verse 8, the situation is the temptation of keeping property when the original owner or his next of kin was unavailable. For this situation, the text institutes the law, and not just an ethical obligation, that restitution must be made nevertheless, now to Yahweh and hence to the priest, because the misuse of human property is also a violation of trust against Yahweh. The priestly body becomes under this condition the legal receiver of liable compensation. In verse 9-10, there are specific situations about how priests are becoming deprived of the târumah given to them.

The intention of this text was not to replace the Law. Instead, it reaffirmed the specific formulations in a summary. By adding what was not specifically mentioned in the former law, it wants to clarify any loopholes that may exist. By designating the priests as receivers of the restitution, it also secures the livelihood of priests. Again, this specificity is from the Lord, and not from human authority.35 The one who committed the crime has the opportunity to make things right for himself and for his family.

Experience the Power of Prophecy as a gift to open your mind to receive the Mind of Christ.

Why do you think the Lord wants the priest to be provided for?

In Exodus 30, if a person does not give a ransom for himself to the Lord, thus declaring himself to be separate from God and putting oneself outside God’s protective care, this person becomes stricken by a plague. There will be no plague among them who would give an offering. The word plague means “blow” or “affliction.”

In any case, this word implies a disaster, in the Today’s English Version (TEV), and danger, in the Contemporary English Version (CEV) that God would bring upon people who do not bring in an offering.31 It is also possible to combine the final two sentences of the passage to get a better context of it. Doing so, we can read it as this. “Require each of the men to pay money to me in order to keep him safe from danger while you are doing this [counting].”32

Are you experiencing disasters or turbulence in your life right now? May I ask how are you handling your finances? Are you bringing in your tithe? If so, maybe it’s because you are not bringing in your târumah. When you are failing to do any of these things, in your actions you are saying you do not belong to God, therefore His hedge of protection cannot be around you. God is a gentle God. He basically lets you be when you reject Him. Along with that His protection and favor can also be withheld.

The money offering received served as a memorial unto the children of Israel before the Lord. In the Bible, there are different kinds of memorials. When the people gave as they were numbered, the children were a witness to this act. As the Israelites obeyed, they were also teaching their children to obey. The parents’ act of obedience also served as a blessing and inheritance to the next generation. The next generation would know that they also belong to the Almighty God.

Experience the Power of Prophecy as a gift to open your mind to receive the Mind of Christ.

What do you think happens when the priest is left empty-handed?

Even the New Testament has a specific call to provide for pastors, as listed in the following passages, aside from 1 Timothy 5:17-18:

6 But those who are taught the word should share all good things with their teacher. (Galatians 6:6)

7 Who serves as a soldier but doesn’t get paid? Who plants a vineyard but doesn’t eat any of its grapes? Who takes care of a flock but doesn’t drink any of the milk? 8 Do I say this only on human authority? The Law says the same thing. 9 Here is what is written in the Law of Moses. “Do not stop an ox from eating while it helps separate the grain from the straw.” (Deuteronomy 25:4) Is it oxen that God is concerned about? 10 Doesn’t he say that for us? Yes, it was written for us. Whoever plows and separates the grain hopes to share the harvest. And it is right for them to hope for this. 11 We have planted spiritual seed among you. Is it too much to ask that we receive from you some things we need? 12 Others have the right to receive help from you. Don’t we have even more right to do so?

But we didn’t use that right. No, we have put up with everything. We didn’t want to keep the good news of Christ from spreading.

13 People who serve in the temple get their food from the temple. Don’t you know this? People who serve at the altar eat from what is offered on the altar. Don’t you know this? 14 So those who preach the good news should also receive their living from their work. That is what the Lord has commanded. (1 Corinthians 9:7-14)

Carefully read these texts of scripture. Ask the Spirit of God to apply them to your own heart. It is shameful for a congregation if the pastor has to find other means to provide for his needs and his family’s material needs. If the church member has his own needs, so does the pastor. In the spiritual realm, it is the congregation that suffers when the pastor has to support himself.

Every local church must generously supply every need of the minister and his family so that he may be able to give himself fully to prayer, study, and preaching. His focus can be entirely on advancing God’s Kingdom when the material needs are already taken care of.

Experience the Power of Prophecy as a gift to open your mind to receive the Mind of Christ.