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		Living in Exile     Korah   (Num 16:1 - 18:23)

B'Midbar/Numbers 18:20   And the L-rd said to Aharon, "In their land you shall not inherit; and a portion there shall not be for you among them. I am your portion and your inheritance among the Children of Israel."

View whole verse and interlinear translation ...

This is the third and final speech of The Name ...

HaShem: literally, Hebrew for 'The Name' - an allusion used to avoid pronouncing the Tetragrammaton, the so-called 'ineffable' name of G–d
HaShem directly to Aharon recorded in the Torah. These instructions point out the difference in calling and mission between priests and non-priests in Israel as we can see from the very first word spoken: בְּאַרְצָם. The land belongs to them, not to you, Aharon hears. Instead, your inheritance is Me; your special status and access to Me is your portion. Gunther Plaut suggests that HaShem's words, "I am your portion" are to be taken both spiritually and materially. Who Is ...

Chizkuni: Rabbi Hezekiah ben Manoah (13^th century), French rabbi and exegete; his commentary on the Torah was written about 1240 in memory of his father, based principally on Rashi, but using about 20 other sources
Chizkuni extrapolates this idea to, "You will need no other income and will be free to serve Me", while Who Is ...

Gersonides: Rabbi Levi ben Gershom, Gersonides or Ralbag (1288-1344 CE); famous rabbi, philosopher, mathematician and astronomer/astrologer; born at Bagnols in Languedock, France; wrote a commentary on the Torah and a parallel to Maimonides' Guide For The Perplexed
Gersonides explains that "the intent of this is that they should not be preoccupied with earning a living, but should be free to occupy themselves with Torah." While every Jew is to be involved with studying Torah alongside their normal work - Rabbi Elazar ben Azaryah said, "if there is no flour, there is no Torah; if there is no Torah, there is no flour" (m. Pirkei Avot 3:21) - the priests actually have it written into their job description and are compensated accordingly. The ancient rabbis interpret the phrase "you shall have no portion" to include even the spoils of war (WhatIsHrebrew(Left, Sifrei) 119): "I am your portion and you will eat at My table."

נַחֲלָה, nakhalah, and חֵלֶק, kheylek, are a set of paired terms that describe the process of inheritance from the two involved perspectives. נַחֲלָה is the inheritable possession that passes from one generation to the next, while חֵלֶק is an inheritance that children receive from their parents. נַחֲלָה is primarily the ancestral possession of land that was allocated, by lot, to each family in each tribe of Israel "by the priest Eleazar, Joshua son of Nun, and the heads of the ancestral houses, before the L-RD at Shiloh" (Joshua 19:51, NJPS); these were the portions of land that reverted to the family at the Jubilee, every fifty years. חֵלֶק, on the other hand, is the ability to earn a living and participate in the prosperity of the nation by cultivation of the land, artisan skills or providing other services. These understandings of נַחֲלָה and חֵלֶק are shared by all twelve tribes, but are denied to the Levites (B'Midbar 18:24) and the priests. Their mission is to be focused not on ownership of land and the generation of profit, but on the relationship between HaShem and His people.

Make no mistake, the priests and the Levites are to be just as concerned as regular Israelites about preserving their inheritance and passing that inheritance and mission on to the next generation, but instead of a physical land inheritance - although they are allowed to own houses and pasture land in the Levitical cities and cities of refuge - the priests have a spiritual inheritance and mission to facilitate the relationship between HaShem and Am Yisrael and to teach and model Torah: "They shall teach My people the difference between the holy and the common, and show them how to distinguish between the unclean and the clean" (Ezekiel 44:23, ESV). Generation by generation, the priests are to protect and pass on their identity as priests - something that is still done within the Jewish world today from father to son for both priests and Levites - and the ability to live, demonstrate and teach Torah both to the people of Israel and to the next generation. Each generation is to maintain the focus on mission and rely on HaShem to provide their material living and prosperity through the wider family of Israel. Rabbi Who Is ...

Hirsch: Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch (1808-1888 CE), German rabbi, author and educator; staunch opponent of the Reform movement in Germany and one of the fathers of Orthodox Judaism
Hirsch points out that the word order changes between the first and second halves of the verse to emphasise that, for the priest, accomplishing their mission in the current and future generations is more important than their status and standing within Israel.

What Is ...

Targum Onkelos: An early (1^st-2^nd Century CE) translation/paraphrase of the Torah into Aramaic; attributed to a Roman convert to Judaism, Onkelos; used in Babylonian synagogues during the Talmudic era
Targum Onkelos, alone among the targums, changes HaShem's statement that He is the portion and inheritance of the priests to, "The gift that I gave you is your portion and inheritance." Drazin and Wagner conclude that this reflects "the idea that the tithes and offerings given to HaShem will be, in turn, given to the priests", and indeed, looking back, we can see that "these the L-RD commanded to be given them, once they had been anointed, as a due from the Israelites for all time throughout the ages" (Vayikra 7:36, NJPS), but the Torah's emphasis here seems rather different: the close connection between the priests and HaShem. "Possessing Him," Michael Morales explains, "they also have what belongs to him, the tithes of Israel, as a divine gift."¹ It is not that the material provision is not important or neglected, but that the gift of identity and relationship is the real gift, with the provision coming - alongside the duties - as part of the package. Dennis Olson points that this too was part of living and modelling Torah before the Israelites: "The priests were a constant reminder of what was ultimately true of all the Israelites; they live in dependance on G-d's gifts and blessing.²

G-d's provision for those who serve Him is illustrated by the prophet Elijah. He makes his first appearance proclaiming a drought in Israel to King Ahab - "As the L-RD lives, the G-d of Israel whom I serve, there will be no dew or rain except at my bidding" (1 Kings 17:1, NJPS) - a drought that would go on for three years. Having put his life in the firing line on G-d's behalf, Elijah then hears a command to go into exile and hide in the Wadi Cherith, on the east of the Jordan and rely on G-d's provision: "You will drink from the wadi, and I have commanded the ravens to feed you there" (v. 4, NJPS). Walter Brueggemann points out that Elijah is "immediately obedient. He has no regular food supply. He is at the mercy of the elements."³ But provision is indeed forthcoming - "The ravens brought him bread and meat every morning and every evening, and he drank from the wadi" (v. 6, NJPS) - until the wadi dries up because of the drought. G-d then moves him on: "Go at once to Zarephath of Sidon, and stay there; I have designated a widow there to feed you" (v. 9, NJPS); Elijah is still in exile, but still in the centre of G-d's miraculous provision: "The jar of flour did not give out, nor did the jug of oil fail, just as the L-RD had spoken through Elijah" (v. 16, NJPS).

Yeshua tackles the same issue in the Sermon on the Mount, telling the disciples and the listening crowds, "Do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?" (Matthew 6:25, ESV). That's a lot to ask in a Middle Eastern context where life and daily sustenance are not guaranteed without significant and consistent effort; sometimes not even then! Pointing to the marvels of creation: the birds in the sky, the lilies in the fields and the grass of the field, all of which are fed - without doing any work - by G-d's hand, Yeshua repeats His challenge: "Do not be anxious, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?'" (v. 31, ESV). Doesn't G-d know that His children need food and clothing? Then He sets the priority for the disciples: "Seek first the kingdom of G-d and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you" (v. 33, ESV). This is exactly the same as for the priests in our text: the priests and Levites need food, clothing and a roof over their heads but when they focus on their mission and service to G-d, He will provide what they need.

As followers of Yeshua today, Jew and Gentile standing firm on the word of G-d, proclaiming the kingdom of G-d and looking for the signs and wonders of the Spirit to bear witness to that word and proclamation (Hebrews 2:3), we place our lives at risk for His name. We have no inheritance in the things of this world - "As [a man] came from his mother's womb he shall go again, naked as he came, and shall take nothing for his toil that he may carry away in his hand." (Ecclesiastes 5:15, ESV) - for our inheritance is in heaven, "an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you" (1 Peter 1:4, ESV). Yeshua, who is already in heaven seated at the right hand of the Father (Colossians 3:1), is our inheritance; the Ruach testifies to our spirits that we are G-d's children "and if children, then heirs -- heirs of G-d and fellow heirs with Messiah" (Romans 8:17, ESV).

Just as Elijah was in exile - east of the Jordan and then in Sidon - so we are in exile and dependent upon the hand of G-d to provide for us. He provides for us physically, either - depending on where He has placed us and called us to serve Him - through our daily jobs, which cannot be guaranteed in these days, or through the support of others in the Body of Messiah: "having sown spiritual seed ... reaping a material harvest" (1 Corinthians 9:11). He also provides spiritually for us by His Spirit, by His word, through prayer and community with fellow exiles as together we wait for the return of Yeshua. He calls us now, in this age to invest our lives, time and resources, into the kingdom so that we may reap a rich harvest both now and in the age to come. Yeshua taught His disciples, "Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also" (Matthew 6:19-21, ESV). As Thomas Adams said: "To part with what we cannot keep, that we may get what we cannot lose, is a good bargain."⁴ Have you taken the Master up on His offer?

1. - L. Michael Morales, Numbers 1-19, Apollos Old Testament Commentary, (London, Apollos, 2024), page 476.

2. - Dennis T. Olson, Numbers, Interpretation, (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2012), page 116.

3. - Walter Brueggemann, 1 & 2 Kings, (Macon, GA: Smyth & Helwys, 2000), page 209.

4. - A Golden Treasury of Puritan Quotations, ed. Isaac David Ellis Thomas, (Edinburgh, Banner of Truth, 1977), page 250.

Further Study: Luke 16:1-9; Acts 20:31-35; Ephesians 1:11-14

Application: How do you invest your time and resources to serve G-d and maximise the return for His kingdom? Are you so obsessed with sowing and reaping to meet your physical needs that you have no time for sowing spiritual seed to reach and teach others about the kingdom? Call in the Master Strategic Investment Adviser to find out how you can participate in the work of the kingdom today!

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© Jonathan Allen, 2025

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