Thematic Bible: Custodians and administrators of the tithes and other offerings


Thematic Bible



On the fourth day, the silver and the gold and the vessels were measured out by weight in the house of our God into the hands of Meremoth, the son of Uriah, the priest; and with him was Eleazar, the son of Phinehas; and with them were Jozabad, the son of Jeshua, and Obadiah, the son of Binnui, the Levites.

He gathered the priests and the Levites and said to them: Go to the cities of Judah, and collect money throughout Israel to repair the Temple of your God every year. Do it immediately! But the Levites did not do it immediately.

They came to the chief priest Hilkiah and gave him the money that had been brought into God's Temple. It was the money that the Levite doorkeepers had collected from the tribes of Manasseh and Ephraim, from all who were left in Israel, from everyone in the tribes of Judah and Benjamin, and from the inhabitants of Jerusalem.

Those who had precious stones gave them to the Temple treasury, which was administered by Jehiel of the Levite clan of Gershon.

And everything dedicated by Samuel the seer and by Saul son of Kish, Abner son of Ner and Joab son of Zeruiah, and all the other dedicated things were in the care of Shelomith and his relatives.

But the four principal gatekeepers, who were Levites, were entrusted with the responsibility for the rooms and treasuries in the house of God. They would spend the night stationed around the house of God, because they had to guard it; and they had charge of the key for opening it each morning. Some of them were in charge of the articles used in the temple service; they counted them when they were brought in and when they were taken out. read more.
Others were assigned to take care of the furnishings and all the other articles of the sanctuary, as well as the flour and wine, and the oil, incense and spices.

When the Levites brought the box to the king's officers and they saw a lot of money. The king's scribe and the chief priest's officer would empty the box and put it back in its place. They would do this every day. They collected a lot of money.

On the king's orders they prepared storerooms in the Temple area and put all the gifts and tithes in them for safekeeping. They placed a Levite named Conaniah in charge and made his brother Shimei his assistant. Ten Levites were assigned to work under them: Jehiel, Azaziah, Nahath, Asahel, Jerimoth, Jozabad, Eliel, Ismachiah, Mahath, and Benaiah. This was done by authority of King Hezekiah and Azariah the High Priest. read more.
Kore son of Imnah, a Levite who was chief guard at the East Gate of the temple, was in charge of receiving the gifts offered to Jehovah and of distributing them. In the other cities where priests lived, he was faithfully assisted in this by other Levites: Eden, Miniamin, Jeshua, Shemaiah, Amariah, and Shecaniah. They distributed the food equally to their fellow Levites according to what their duties were. They were appointed to distribute them to males who were at least three years old. The way they were enrolled in the genealogical records did not matter. The six men who served under Kore were to distribute the offerings to everyone who went to Jehovah's Temple to perform the daily service that each division was responsible for. They were to distribute offerings to the priests who were enrolled by families and to the Levites who were at least twenty years old. Distribution was based on the way they served in their divisions. The priests and Levites were enrolled with their wives, sons, daughters, and other people who depended on them in the community. The priests and Levites had to be faithful in keeping themselves holy for the holy work. Men were appointed to give a portion of the offerings to all the males in the priestly families and to everyone listed in the genealogies of the Levites. These men were Aaron's descendants, priests who lived in the pasturelands of every Levite city.

Take care of them and keep them, till you put them on the scales before the chiefs of the priests and the Levites and the chiefs of the families of Israel, in Jerusalem, in the rooms of the house of Jehovah. So the priests and the Levites took the weight of silver and gold and the vessels, to take them to Jerusalem into the house of our God.

Men were stationed over the houses where the contributions and the first fruits and the tenths were stored. They were to take into them the amounts, from the fields of every town. The law fixed this for the priests and the Levites: Judah was glad on account of the priests and the Levites who were in their places.