God as Our Portion: The Economics of Faith Text: Deuteronomy 18:1-8
Introduction: Spiritual Economics
We live in an age that is utterly consumed with materialism. Our entire culture, from the highest corridors of power down to the advertisements that flicker on our phones, is built on the assumption that what you own defines who you are. Your portfolio is your security, your possessions are your identity, and your inheritance is your hope. This is the catechism of mammon, and it is a damnable lie. It is a worldview that has produced unprecedented anxiety, envy, and a profound spiritual emptiness.
Into this frantic pursuit of earthly portions, the Word of God speaks a radical and liberating truth. It presents us with an entirely different economic system, one in which the ultimate treasure is not a parcel of land or a pile of gold, but God Himself. This is the principle laid down here in Deuteronomy for the tribe of Levi, the priestly tribe. While all the other tribes of Israel were to receive a tangible, geographic inheritance in the Promised Land, the Levites were to have something far greater. They were to have God.
This passage is not some dusty, irrelevant regulation for an ancient priesthood. It is a foundational statement about the nature of wealth, the purpose of ministry, and the heart of worship. It establishes a principle that runs straight through the entire Bible and finds its ultimate fulfillment in the New Covenant. What God established for the Levites in a typological way, He has now established for all believers in a substantive way. For the Christian, our true inheritance is not what we can get from God, but the fact that we get God Himself.
This has massive implications for how we view our money, our possessions, and our support of the ministry of the gospel. It forces us to ask ourselves what we truly treasure. Is our security in our 401k, or in the God who owns the cattle on a thousand hills? Do we see our giving to the church as a grudging duty, or as a joyful participation in the glorious economy of the kingdom, where we invest in that which is eternal? This passage confronts our materialism head-on and calls us to a radical reorientation of our desires, our wallets, and our worship.
The Text
"The Levitical priests, the whole tribe of Levi, shall have no portion or inheritance with Israel; they shall eat of the offerings to Yahweh by fire and of His inheritance. And they shall have no inheritance among their brothers; Yahweh is their inheritance, as He promised them. Now this shall be the legal judgment for the priests taken from the people, from those who offer a sacrifice, either an ox or a sheep: they shall give to the priest the shoulder and the two cheeks and the stomach. You shall give him the first fruits of your grain, your new wine and your oil and the first shearing of your sheep. For Yahweh your God has chosen him and his sons from all your tribes, to stand to minister in the name of Yahweh all the days. Now if a Levite comes from any of your gates of the towns throughout Israel where he sojourns and comes whenever he desires to the place which Yahweh chooses, then he shall minister in the name of Yahweh his God like all his brothers the Levites who stand there before Yahweh. They shall eat equal portions, except what they receive from the sale of their fathers’ estates."
(Deuteronomy 18:1-8 LSB)
The Divine Inheritance (v. 1-2)
The passage opens with a startling negative, a glorious deprivation.
"The Levitical priests, the whole tribe of Levi, shall have no portion or inheritance with Israel; they shall eat of the offerings to Yahweh by fire and of His inheritance. And they shall have no inheritance among their brothers; Yahweh is their inheritance, as He promised them." (Deuteronomy 18:1-2)
While the other eleven tribes were mapping out their territories, Levi was told to put their maps away. They were to be landless among their brethren. In an agrarian society, land was everything. It was wealth, security, and legacy. To be without land was to be dependent, vulnerable, and poor. But God's economy is not man's economy. Their lack of an earthly portion was the necessary prerequisite for them to receive a heavenly one.
Notice the glorious substitution: "Yahweh is their inheritance." This is not a consolation prize. This is the grand prize. God was not giving them something less than real estate; He was giving them something infinitely more valuable. He was giving them Himself. The other tribes got a piece of Canaan; the Levites got the God of Canaan. The other tribes got the streams; the Levites got the Fountain from which all streams flow.
This establishes the fundamental principle of all true ministry. Those who are called to minister the things of God must learn to live on God. Their trust cannot be in endowments, or building campaigns, or clever fundraising schemes. Their primary trust must be in the God who has called them. This is why the Apostle Paul, when arguing for the support of New Testament ministers, appeals directly back to this principle: "Do you not know that those who are employed in the temple service get their food from the temple, and those who serve at the altar share in the sacrificial offerings? In the same way, the Lord commanded that those who proclaim the gospel should get their living by the gospel" (1 Corinthians 9:13-14). The method has changed, the priesthood is now universal in Christ, but the principle remains. The ministry is to be supported by the gifts of God's people, because the ministry belongs to God.
The Levites were to "eat of the offerings to Yahweh." Their sustenance was to come directly from the worship of God's people. This tied the health of the priesthood directly to the spiritual health of the nation. When the people were faithful in their worship, the priests were well-fed. When the people fell into idolatry and neglected the tithes and offerings, the priests starved. This was God's design. It kept the priests dependent on God's faithfulness, which was expressed through the faithfulness of His people.
The Practical Provision (v. 3-5)
God's promises are never abstract. The declaration that "Yahweh is their inheritance" is immediately followed by the practical, tangible ways in which that inheritance would be delivered to their dinner table.
"Now this shall be the legal judgment for the priests... they shall give to the priest the shoulder and the two cheeks and the stomach. You shall give him the first fruits of your grain, your new wine and your oil and the first shearing of your sheep." (Deuteronomy 18:3-4)
This was not a matter of leaving a tip in the collection plate. This was "legal judgment." This was God's ordained law, His system of taxation for the support of His government, which was administered through the priests. The people were to bring their sacrifices, and from those sacrifices, specific, prime portions were designated for the priests. The shoulder represented strength, the cheeks represented the face or presence, and the stomach was a choice internal organ. These were not the leftovers; they were designated honors.
Furthermore, the priests were to receive the "first fruits." This is a crucial theological concept. The first fruits were not just the first part of the harvest; they were a representative portion that consecrated the entire harvest. By giving the first and the best to God, the Israelites were acknowledging that every bit of it, from first to last, belonged to Him. It was an act of faith, trusting that God, who provided the first, would also provide the rest. It was a tangible rejection of the materialist lie that says, "I'll give to God after I've taken care of my own needs." The principle of first fruits says, "I give to God first, because He is the one who takes care of all my needs."
The reason for this provision is stated plainly in verse 5: "For Yahweh your God has chosen him... to stand to minister in the name of Yahweh all the days." Their provision was tied directly to their function. They were set apart for a holy task. They were not to be distracted by plowing fields or managing herds. Their full-time job was the ministry of the Word and the administration of the sacrificial system. The people's tithes and offerings were not a payment for services rendered; they were the means by which the people freed up the priests to perform the service God required for the good of the whole nation.
Generosity and Equity (v. 6-8)
The final section of our text addresses the situation of a Levite who was not serving at the central sanctuary but who felt a zealous desire to do so.
"Now if a Levite comes from any of your gates... and comes whenever he desires to the place which Yahweh chooses, then he shall minister... They shall eat equal portions..." (Deuteronomy 18:6-8)
The Levites were scattered throughout the towns of Israel, serving as teachers and judges. But the central worship was in one place, "the place which Yahweh chooses." This law ensures that a Levite who was filled with zeal for God and wanted to serve at the tabernacle or temple would not be turned away. His desire to minister was to be honored.
And when he came, he was to be fully integrated into the system. "He shall minister... like all his brothers," and "They shall eat equal portions." There was to be no priestly caste system, no "A-team" of Jerusalem priests looking down on the rural Levites. If a man was qualified and desired to serve, he was to be welcomed and given his full share. The provision was for the office, not for the person's geographical origin or social standing.
This principle of equity is vital. It guards against the creation of a ministerial elite and ensures that the work of the Lord is supported on the basis of the calling, not on the basis of personality or politics. The final clause, "except what they receive from the sale of their fathers’ estates," simply clarifies that any personal property a Levite might have from his family was separate from his ministerial provision. His support from the offerings was his right by virtue of his service, regardless of his personal net worth.
The New Covenant Inheritance
So how does this apply to us? The Levitical priesthood has been fulfilled and gloriously consummated in the priesthood of the Lord Jesus Christ. He is our great High Priest, and through union with Him, all believers are now a "royal priesthood" (1 Peter 2:9). The shadows have given way to the substance.
And what is our inheritance as this new priesthood? It is the very same as the Levites', only magnified in glory. It is God Himself. Peter tells us we have been born again to a living hope, to an "inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you" (1 Peter 1:4). Paul says that in Christ, "we have obtained an inheritance" (Ephesians 1:11). That inheritance is not a mansion or a cloudy harp. Our inheritance is the full and unending enjoyment of the Triune God. Yahweh is our inheritance.
This means that the Christian life is to be marked by a radical detachment from earthly treasure and a radical attachment to our heavenly treasure. We are stewards of what God has given us, not owners. And our stewardship is to be characterized by the same principles we see here. We are to honor the Lord with the first fruits of all our increase (Proverbs 3:9). The tithe is not a Mosaic law that has been abrogated; it is a patriarchal principle that predates the law (Genesis 14:20) and is reaffirmed by the New Testament as the baseline for funding the ministry of the gospel.
Our giving is not a tip; it is a tribute. It is the joyful acknowledgment that everything we have comes from God and belongs to God. It is the means by which we support the proclamation of the gospel and the administration of the means of grace. When you give faithfully, you are freeing up your pastors and elders to "stand to minister in the name of Yahweh." You are participating in the economy of the kingdom.
Let us therefore repent of our materialism. Let us repent of our anxious grasping after earthly portions. God has given us something infinitely better. He has given us His Son, and in His Son, He has given us Himself. He is our portion. He is our inheritance. And when you truly believe that, when that truth grips your heart, you will find that your hands are opened, and you will give freely and joyfully, not out of duty, but out of the sheer delight of having God as your everlasting treasure.