TAKING A LOOK AT THE DUTIES OF THE LEVITES...THE PRIESTS... THEY WERE NOT ONLY RELIGIOUS WORKERS BUT ALSO WERE POLITICAL WORKERS.... Levites Were Only Partially Religious Workers As temple workers, David re-organized the Levites’ work schedules under his political authority. Levites served in 24 divisions, each serving at the temple only a week at a time, or about two weeks per year (1 Chron. 24 all; Luke 1:5-6). During the construction of the temple David divided the 38,000 Levites as follows: 24,000 construction supervisors, 6,000 treasurers and judges 4,000 gatekeepers, and 4,000 musicians (1 Chron. 23:4-5). Duties of 38, 000 Tithe-Receiving Levites as Religious/Political Workers: 24, 000 Temple Workers (23:4) 6, 000 civil and religious judges and officers (23:4; 26:29-31) 4, 000 civil and religious guards (23:5) (Neh. 13:22) 4, 000 singers (23:5) 4, 600 earlier served as soldiers (1 Chron. 12:23, 26) (1 Chron 27:5) While preachers want us to think that Levites received the tithe because they were full-time workers for God, they are deceiving us! Look at the list above! As temple workers and supervisors of temple workers, they certainly must have been experts in crafts and trades! They were also politicians and soldiers. After the temple construction was completed, most likely many of the 24,000 Levites who were construction supervisors continued to serve the king in other roles. First Chronicles, chapter 26 is a very interesting chapter for those who want to know how their tithe was used. While only serving about two weeks a year in religious activities at the temple, the remainder of the time many Levites were still the core of the king’s officials. Inspired by God, King David used the Levites as the base of his POLITICAL support. Levites Were Also Political Leaders and Rulers In their political role as servants to the king, the government consisted of leaders, priests, and Levites (23:2). There were 6,000 Levites who served as governmental judges and treasurers in the Levitical cities: 1,700 judged and collected revenue in one region of the country, 2,700 in another region, and (evidently) 1,600 in a third region (26:31-32). Certainly David (and Solomon) would have been corrected by God, or the prophets, if they had used tithes incorrectly. As inspired writers of Scripture, the Holy Spirit was guiding their decisions. Yet Scripture records that Levites were for the outward business over Israel, (1) for every matter pertaining to God, and (2) affairs of the king (26:32). Compare also Ezra 2:40-42, 61; Neh. 7:43-45; Neh. 8:9; 10:28, 39; 12:44-45. A Theocracy Combines Both Civil and Religious Taxation God placed all of these verses in our Bibles to remind us that Levites were public officials of the state and tithes were included as state-taxation to support them. It is difficult for some to understand that the above political positions were supported by the tithe for sustenance of the Levites which allowed the king to use his first tithe-tax for other purposes. Using the excess Levites (who were already due ten percent) was a simple matter of good political money management by the king. It is even more difficult to understand how Christian tithe-teachers can ignore this Old Covenant context of tithing as a political tax. Total taxation, including tithes, easily approximated forty (40) percent, which is comparable to that found in our modern society. In addition to wholly religious duties, the Levites (who received the whole tithe) performed normal governmental positions such as judges, treasurers, registrars, census takers, genealogists, building and city policemen, and social service workers! READ MORE: tithing-russkelly/id20.html
Posted on: Sun, 10 Nov 2013 11:11:17 +0000
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