1 Samuel 8:15

15 De vuestro grano y de vuestras viñas tomará el diezmo, para darlo a sus oficiales y a sus siervos.

1 Samuel 8:15 Meaning and Commentary

1 Samuel 8:15

And he will take the tenth of your seed
When grown up and ripe, as their wheat and barley:

and of your vineyards;
the tenth of the grapes they should produce:

and give to his officers, and to his servants;
for the support and maintenance of them; and to pay this, besides the tithes of the priests and Levites, would make it very burdensome to them; and this was no other than what kings of other nations usually had, the like to whom they were desirous of having, and therefore must expect that they would insist upon the privileges and revenues that others had. In Babylon, as Aristotle ^F7 relates, there was an ancient law which required the tenth of whatever was imported for the public revenue, which was revived in the times of Alexander by Antimenes the Rhodian. In Arabia Felix was an island abounding with frankincense and myrrh, and various spices, the tenth of the fruits of which the king always had, as Diodorus Siculus ^F8 reports, as in the Apocrypha:

``And as for other things that belong unto us, of the tithes and customs pertaining unto us, as also the saltpits, and the crown taxes, which are due unto us, we discharge them of them all for their relief.'' (1 Maccabees 11:35)

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FOOTNOTES:

F7 Oeconomic. l. 2. p. 283.
F8 Bibliothec. l. 5. p. 317.

1 Samuel 8:15 In-Context

13 Tomará también a vuestras hijas para perfumistas, cocineras y panaderas.

14 Tomará lo mejor de vuestros campos, de vuestros viñedos y de vuestros olivares y los dará a sus siervos.

15 De vuestro grano y de vuestras viñas tomará el diezmo, para darlo a sus oficiales y a sus siervos.

16 Tomará también vuestros siervos y vuestras siervas, vuestros mejores jóvenes y vuestros asnos, y los usará para su servicio.

17 De vuestros rebaños tomará el diezmo, y vosotros mismos vendréis a ser sus siervos.