Numbers 18 · a question people ask
Whose iniquity do the priests and Levites bear?
Aaron's house "shall bear the iniquity of the sanctuary" and "the iniquity of your priesthood" (18:1). Of the Levites the chapter says, "they shall bear their iniquity" (18:23), right after "the children of Israel shall not come near the Tent of Meeting, lest they bear sin, and die" (18:22). Christians read "their iniquity" in two ways. Those who hold each view agree on what the chapter says the arrangement is for: "that there be no more wrath on the children of Israel" (18:5).
How Christians read it
Where Christians differ, Favor sets out the main views side by side and doesn't pick one.
They bear the people's iniquity
Those who hold this view read 18:22-23 together: the people may not come near "lest they bear sin, and die" (18:22), and the Levites do the service instead and "shall bear their iniquity" (18:23), that is, the people's. Numbers says the Levites were given "to make atonement for the children of Israel, so that there will be no plague" (Numbers 8:19), and Moses told Aaron's sons that the sin offering was given them "to bear the iniquity of the congregation" (Leviticus 10:17).
Numbers 18:22-23 · Numbers 8:19 · Leviticus 10:17
They answer for their own charge
Those who hold this view read "bear iniquity" as carrying the guilt if the holy things are wronged, the way the chapter speaks to the Levites at its end: "You shall bear no sin by reason of it, when you have heaved from it its best. You shall not profane the holy things of the children of Israel, that you not die" (18:32). On this view 18:1 and 18:23 lay the charge of the sanctuary on the priests and Levites, so that they, not the whole people, answer for it, "that they not die, neither they nor you" (18:3).
Numbers 18:1 · Numbers 18:3 · Numbers 18:23 · Numbers 18:32
The verses
“The LORD said to Aaron, “You and your sons and your fathers’ house with you shall bear the iniquity of the sanctuary; and you and your sons with you shall bear the iniquity of your priesthood.”
““You shall perform the duty of the sanctuary and the duty of the altar, that there be no more wrath on the children of Israel.”
“Henceforth the children of Israel shall not come near the Tent of Meeting, lest they bear sin, and die. But the Levites shall do the service of the Tent of Meeting, and they shall bear their iniquity. It shall be a statute forever throughout your generations. Among the children of Israel, they shall have no inheritance.”