1 Corinthians 9:13

“Do ye not know that they which minister about holy things live of the temple? and they which wait at the altar are partakers with the altar?”

In heathen as well as in Jewish worship, it was customary for those who were employed in the sacred ceremonies, to live on the product of these rites. This was a matter so thoroughly received, that Rückert thinks he can apply the two terms used in 1 Corinthians 9:13 (minister, wait upon) to those heathen and Jewish worships, and that Hilary (Ambrosiaster) has applied the first to heathen and the second to Jewish worship. But by the expression: Do ye not know? Paul seems to appeal to a Divine authority; he means probably, therefore, to speak only of Jewish worship. The term temple, also, can hardly refer to any other edifice than the only one which in Paul's eyes deserved the name, the temple of Jerusalem; see on 1 Corinthians 8:10. Finally, in this sense the expression: even so, 1 Corinthians 9:14, would become somewhat unsuitable; for the apostle could not put on the same level the authority of heathen customs and that of the Lord. It is therefore with reason that most commentators refer these two examples to Jewish worship, with this difference only, that according to Meyer and others, the two propositions refer to the priests, while according to others,

Chrysostom, for example, the first refers to the Levites, the second to the priests; or finally, according to a third class, the first denotes the Levitical order as a whole (Levites and priests together), and the second, the priests only. This last meaning seems to me the only admissible one. To minister about holy things, in the first proposition, is a very general expression comprehending all the acts and all the individuals devoted to the temple service; whereas serving at the altar applies to none but to priests, who alone offered the victims on the altar. It is well known that the Levites lived by their employment by means of the tithes and offerings paid by the people, and that in like manner the priests lived by the altar, first by means of the tithe which the Levites paid to them, and then specially by the portion of the victims which was reserved for them. It is this last custom which explains the term συμμερίζεσθαι, to partake with the altar. Finally, the apostle reaches the unanswerable argument: the positive order of the Lord Himself.