Sforno on Deuteronomy 26:13/ספורנו על דברים כ״ו:י״ג

1הקודש מן הבית, because of our and our fathers’ sins the privilege of performing Temple service was removed from the firstborn, who otherwise would also have been the recipients of all the various tithes. Ezekiel 20,26 refers to this when he writes: ואטמא אותם במתנותם, בהעביר כל פטר רחם , “and I defiled them through their own gifts, when causing each first born to pass;” the prophet calls this line the ווידוי מעשר, the confession represented by the fact that the tithe cannot remain in the home but must be given to Levites who supplanted the family priest, the firstborn as a result of their having participated in the sin of the golden calf. (Maasser Sheyni 5,10)

2וגם נתתיו ללוי, the meaning of the word גם in our context is the same as the words אף על פי, “even so.” We find the word גם used as אף על פי also in Ruth 1,12 when Naomi explains to her daughters-in-law that even if she were to get married immediately she would not be able to produce sons who could become the husbands of her daughters-in-law and thereby keep their deceased husbands’ names alive vicariously (symbolic levirate marriage). We must therefore perceive the farmer’s declaration to mean: “I confess that my sin was great so that as a result I am forced to destroy or remove all sacred things from my house even though I, personally, have discharged my duties by giving the Levite and his companions these tithes at Your command. Having done so, I pray that You will look down benevolently. Seeing that normally the word השקפה is used in Scripture as “looking down to confirm something negative,” the farmer had to add that he means that he has merited a benevolent השקפה as expressed by the plea וברך את עמך את ישראל, “and bless Your people, Israel, etc.”