Tithes and Offerings during the
Old Covenant under the Levitical and Aaronic
priesthood:
By
Evangelist Ron Davis, a minister of Christ
First,
I thought it would be good
to help you understand the reason why
God chose the Hebrews out of all the peoples on
earth
to enter into this “Covenant”
with,
now
called the
“Old Covenant”.
We
see in
Genesis chapters 12 and 13 where
God called Abraham and made a promise to him
(Genesis 12:1-3 and 13:14-17); God
also made a covenant (agreement) with Abraham in
Genesis 15:18-20, saying "To
your descendants I have given this land, from the river of Egypt to
the great river, the River Euphrates—19 the Kenites, the
Kenezzites, the Kadmonites, 20 the Hittites, the
Perizzites, the Rephaim, 21 the Amorites, the Canaanites,
the Girgashites, and the Jebusites."
This
same covenant between God and Abraham was further expound upon in
Genesis 17 where God says to Abraham then name Abram at age
99:
- Genesis
17
The
Sign of the Covenant
- 1
When
Abram was ninety-nine years old, the LORD appeared to Abram and
said to him, "I am Almighty God; walk before Me and be
blameless. 2 And I will make My covenant
between Me and you, and will multiply you exceedingly." 3
Then Abram fell on his face, and God talked with him,
saying: 4 "As for Me, behold, My covenant is
with you, and you shall be a father of many nations. 5
No longer shall your name be called Abram, but your name
shall be Abraham; for I have made you a father of many
nations. 6 I will make you exceedingly fruitful;
and I will make nations of you, and kings shall come from
you. 7 And I will establish My covenant
between Me and you and your descendants after you in their
generations, for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and
your descendants after you. 8 Also I
give to you and your descendants after you the land in which you
are a stranger, all the land of Canaan, as an everlasting
possession; and I will be their God." 9 And God said
to Abraham: "As for you, you shall keep My covenant, you and your
descendants after you throughout their generations. 10
This is My covenant which you shall keep, between Me
and you and your descendants after you: Every male child among you
shall be circumcised; 11 and you shall be circumcised
in the flesh of your foreskins, and it shall be a sign of the
covenant between Me and you. 12 He who
is eight days old among you shall be circumcised, every male child
in your generations, he who is born in your house or bought with
money from any foreigner who is not your descendant. 13
He who is born in your house and he who is bought
with your money must be circumcised, and My covenant shall be in
your flesh for an everlasting covenant. 14 And the
uncircumcised male child, who is not circumcised in the flesh of
his foreskin, that person shall be cut off from his people; he has
broken My covenant." 15 Then God said to Abraham,
"As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her name Sarai, but
Sarah shall be her name. 16 And I will bless her and
also give you a son by her; then I will bless her, and she shall
be a mother of nations; kings of peoples shall be from her."
17 Then Abraham fell on his face and
laughed, and said in his heart, "Shall a child be born to a man
who is one hundred years old? And shall Sarah, who is ninety years
old, bear a child?" 18 And Abraham said
to God, "Oh, that Ishmael might live before You!" 19
Then God said: "No, Sarah your wife shall bear you a
son, and you shall call his name Isaac; I will establish My
covenant with him for an everlasting covenant, and with his
descendants after him. 20 And as for Ishmael, I
have heard you. Behold, I have blessed him, and will make him
fruitful, and will multiply him exceedingly. He shall beget twelve
princes, and I will make him a great nation. 21
But My covenant I will establish with Isaac, whom
Sarah shall bear to you at this set time next
year."
Here
in Genesis 17:5 God changes Abram name [which meant
“exalted father”] to Abraham meaning “father of many
nations” [more on this later]; and his wife name Sarai meaning
“princess” was changed to Sarah meaning “mother of
nations” (Gen. 17:15). God also tells Abraham what he and his
descendants must do to maintain this covenant (agreement) between
God and Abraham. Notice, in verse 10 where it says, “every
male child… shall be circumcised”, and verse 11 where
again it says, “circumcised in the flesh” [today under the
“New Covenant” we are circumcised in the heart see Romans
2:28-29 and Colossians 2:11-12]. God then informs Abraham that
He would establish His covenant with a son, called Isaac (God
named Isaac before he was born - verse 19) whom God promised
Abraham, Sarah would bear to him the next year [notice here in
verse 17 that Abraham had a moment of unbelief in what God
promised which is why God named the son of the promise, Isaac
meaning “he laughs”. Abraham did what we, as Christians today
at times have done, yet God is still able to fulfilled His promises
and help our unbelief at the same time, as He did for Abraham
(Romans 4:19-21)]. God says His covenant with Abraham will be
established with Isaac (verse 21). This covenant that God
made with Abraham was both physical and spiritual. In verse
8, God says, “I give to you and your descendants after you
the land in which you are a stranger, all the land of Canaan, as an
everlasting possession”. And in verse 10-11, God
speaks of every male child of Abraham’s descendants or any male
foreigner who joins his household must be circumcised in the flesh
of their foreskins, as a sign of the covenant between God and
Abraham and his physical descendants. This covenant with Abraham
the friend of God is why Jacob (Israel) was chosen by God to be His
very own nation of peoples on this planet. As the prophet Isaiah
says:
- Isaiah
41
8 "But you, Israel, are My servant, Jacob whom I
have chosen, The descendants of Abraham My friend. 9
You whom I have taken from the ends of the earth, And called
from its farthest regions, And said to you, "You are My servant, I
have chosen you and have not cast you
away:
After
making this covenant with Abraham, God confirmed
this covenant with an oath in Genesis
22, where
God tested Abraham. After Abraham obeyed God by intending to offer
up his only son, Isaac, the son of the Promise as a burnt offering.
God seeing that Abraham was about to slay his only son, the Angel of
God called out to Abraham from heaven saying "11…
Abraham, Abraham!"… 12… "Do not lay your hand on the lad, or do
anything to him; for now I know that you fear God, since you have
not withheld your son, your only son, from Me"… 15… Then the Angel
of the LORD called to Abraham a second time out of heaven, 16 and
said: "By Myself I have sworn, says the LORD, because you have done
this thing, and have not withheld your son, your only son—17
blessing I will bless you, and multiplying I will multiply your
descendants as the stars of the heaven and as the sand which is on
the seashore; and your descendants shall possess the gate of their
enemies. 18 In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be
blessed, because you have obeyed My voice" (Genesis
22:11-18 NKJV). Here
in these verses God gives us more details of the covenant with
Abraham. When God first called Abraham in Genesis 12, He
promised Abraham in him “all
the families of the earth shall be blessed" (Genesis
12:3). And
again here in Genesis 22, God promise Abraham that, “all
the nations of the earth shall be blessed” (verse 18) in his
“Seed” [this “Seed” was Christ Jesus our Lord and
Savior – the spiritual part of the covenant, and how we today can
receive these promises and blessings of Abraham given to him by God
(see Galatians 3:15-17 more on this later)]. We see in the
book of Hebrews that Abraham believed God would
provide a sacrifice in Isaac stead and God
did:
- Hebrews
11
The
Faith of the Patriarchs
17 By faith
Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had
received the promises offered up his only begotten son,
18 of whom it was said, "In Isaac your
seed shall be called," 19
concluding that God was able to raise him up, even from the
dead, from which he also received him in a figurative
sense.
In
Genesis 22:16, God says, "By
Myself I have sworn, says the LORD”; this
oath in which God swore to
Abraham was carried out through Abraham’s grandson Jacob known
spiritually as Israel
because he prevailed against both man and God (Genesis
32:28).
Israel’s (Jacob’s) twelve sons and his son Joseph two sons became
the nation of Israel. In Genesis
25,
Jacob was chose by God before he was born. God tells Rebekah that
the two twin children in her womb were struggling in her body
because they were two nations, two peoples, and “one
people shall be stronger than the other, and the older shall serve
the younger” (Genesis
25:22-23). Jacob
in the womb was struggling with Esau even grabbing his heel as Esau
came out first, giving Jacob his name, which means “heel
holder or supplanter” (Genesis 25:25). We
also see in Genesis
25
that “Isaac
loved Esau”
and “Rebekah
loved Jacob” (verse 28).
First, Jacob prevails against Esau in verses
29-34,
where he persuaded Esau to sell his birthright for some red stew,
giving Esau the nickname “Edom”
which
means
“red” [the
name Esau means “hairy”,
he
was a reddish hairy man, see Genesis
25:25, 27:11].
So
Esau is said to have “despised
his birthright” (Genesis 25:34),
he rejected his right as firstborn believing his belly was more
important than the rights of the firstborn. This is the first time
Jacob prevailed over Esau.
In
Genesis 26, God
tells Isaac why He will bless him and his descendants; saying to
Isaac
“I
will perform the oath which I swore to Abraham your
father’
(Genesis 26:3). Informing
Isaac that, “in your seed all the nations of the earth shall
be blessed” (verse 4); and telling Isaac that He, the God of
Isaac’s father Abraham will bless him (Isaac) and multiply his
descendants for His servant Abraham's sake, remember
this fact because even today under the “New Covenant” we are
blessed through this promise to Abraham and his “Seed”
(Genesis 26:24 and Galatians 3:15:17, 29). Isaac
received the blessing and promise because Abraham obeyed the voice
of God, as do we today.
Now
moving to Genesis 27, Jacob again prevails over Esau. Here,
Jacob’s mother Rebekah persuaded him to deceive his father Isaac by
pretending to be Esau his brother (Genesis 27:5-29). After
Jacob steals Esau blessing, Esau shows up thinking he would be
blessed by his father with the blessing he had despised earlier in
Genesis 25:34. Isaac gave Esau the bad news in saying,
"your brother came with deceit and has taken away your
blessing" (Genesis 27:35). Jacob and his mother deceived his
father Isaac because he had not known Esau despised his
birthright [for Esau had previous sold his birthright to Jacob for a
red stew, see Genesis 25:29-34]. Esau appears to have thought
the blessing was separate from the birthright. For in Genesis
27:36, “Esau said, "Is he not rightly named
Jacob? For he has supplanted me these two times. He took away my
birthright, and now look, he has taken away my
blessing!"”
Yet,
this blessing belonged to the firstborn; and Esau had sold it to
Jacob. After Jacob stole Esau’s blessing, Esau set his heart on
killing Jacob when their father Isaac died, Genesis 25:41
says, “So Esau hated Jacob because of the blessing with which
his father blessed him, and Esau said in his heart, "The days of
mourning for my father are at hand; then I will kill my brother
Jacob."” Jacob the supplanter prevailed over Esau because
God chose Jacob over Esau, for it is said “Jacob I have loved,
but Esau I have hated”; remember also God had already chosen
Jacob over Esau in the womb of their mother Rebekah (Genesis
25:22-23 and Malachi 1:2-3). Esau rejected his birthright and
the blessing that came with it, this is the reason why God chose
Jacob over him (remember God knows the beginning to the end, meaning
He already knew Esau would reject this blessing even before he was
born – see Hebrews 12:16-17 below).
- Malachi
1
Israel
Beloved of God
2 "I have loved you," says the
LORD. "Yet you say, "In what way have You loved us?' Was not
Esau Jacob's brother?" Says the LORD. "Yet Jacob I have
loved; 3 But Esau I have hated, And laid
waste his mountains and his heritage For the jackals of the
wilderness."
-
- Romans
9
10
And not only this, but when Rebecca also had conceived by
one man, even by our father Isaac 11 (for
the children not yet being born, nor having done any good or evil,
that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not
of works but of Him who calls), 12 it was
said to her, "The older shall serve the younger."
13 As it is written, "Jacob I have loved, but
Esau I have hated."
-
- Hebrews
12
15
looking carefully lest anyone fall short of the grace of
God; lest any root of bitterness springing up cause trouble,
and by this many become defiled; 16 lest
there be any fornicator or profane person like Esau, who for
one morsel of food sold his birthright. 17
For you know that afterward, when he wanted to
inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no place for
repentance, though he sought it diligently with tears.
As
we move to Genesis 35, we see God appearing to Jacob after He
had returned him safely to the land of his father after he had fled
from his brother Jacob [I spoke concerning this in the “Tithing before the
Law” study where Jacob vowed to give a tithe of all that
God gave him “if” God brought him back to his father land
safely]. God gives the promise of Abraham to Jacob by saying, "I
am God Almighty. Be fruitful and multiply; a nation and a company of
nations shall proceed from you, and kings shall come from your
body. The land which I gave Abraham and Isaac I give to
you; and to your descendants after you I give this land" (Genesis
35:11-12).
Jacob
having received the promises of Abraham his grandfather in Genesis
48
passes these promises (the covenant God had sworn to give to
Abraham’s descendants) to his grandsons by Joseph. Please note Jacob
(called Israel) was the nation chosen by God as His very own, and
Joseph’s sons received the promise given to Jacob by God in
Genesis 35:11-12. Jacob in blessing the two sons of Joseph in
Genesis 48 says, "God Almighty appeared to me at Luz in
the land of Canaan and blessed me, 4 and said to me,
"Behold, I will make you fruitful and multiply you, and I will make
of you a multitude of people, and give this land to your descendants
after you as an everlasting possession.' 5 And now your
two sons, Ephraim and Manasseh, who were born to you in the land of
Egypt before I came to you in Egypt, are mine; as Reuben and Simeon,
they shall be mine. 6 Your offspring whom you beget after
them shall be yours; they will be called by the name of their
brothers in their inheritance” (verse 3-6).
Then
Jacob asked Joseph “please bring” your (his) sons to him so
he can “bless them” (Genesis 48:9). After Joseph brought his
sons to Jacob, Jacob (Israel) “stretched out his right hand
and laid it on Ephraim's head, who was the younger, and his left
hand on Manasseh's head, guiding his hands knowingly, for Manasseh
was the firstborn” (verse 14) saying “God, before whom
my fathers Abraham and Isaac walked, The God who has fed
me all my life long to this day, The Angel who has redeemed me
from all evil, Bless the lads; Let my name be named upon them, And
the name of my fathers Abraham and Isaac; And let them grow into a
multitude in the midst of the earth" (verse 15-16).
Joseph seeing Israel’s right hand on the head of Ephraim tried
to switch his hands saying to Israel that Manasseh was the
firstborn; but Israel refused to remove his right hand from
the head of Ephraim saying, "I know, my son, I know. He also
shall become a people, and he also shall be great; but truly his
younger brother shall be greater than he, and his descendants shall
become a multitude of nations." So he blessed them that day,
saying, "By you Israel will bless, saying, "May God make you
as Ephraim and as Manasseh!"' And thus he set Ephraim
before Manasseh” (verses 18-20).
- Psalm
105
9
The covenant which He made with Abraham, And His oath to
Isaac, 10 And confirmed it to Jacob for a statute, To
Israel as an everlasting covenant, 11 Saying, "To you I
will give the land of Canaan As the allotment of your
inheritance,"
-
- Psalm
135
- 4
For
the LORD has chosen Jacob for Himself, Israel for His special
treasure.
-
- Psalm
147
19 He declares His word to Jacob, His statutes
and His judgments to Israel. 20 He has not dealt thus
with any nation; And as for His judgments, they have not known
them. Praise the LORD!
So,
we see God choosing Israel (Jacob) as His very own people and
nation, confirming His covenant with them, which He
had made with Abraham (Psalm 105:9). The Hebrews (Israelites)
whom God brought out of “the house of bondage” called Egypt
(Deut. 7:6-11 below). They are said to be a special
people chosen as God’s own in Deuteronomy 7 below, please take
note below of verse 11 where it says, “you shall keep the
commandment, the statutes, and the judgments which I command you
today, to observe them”. Here God made the “Old Covenant” with this nation on earth
“only” and this nation “only”, as it is said in verse 6 “above all the
peoples on the face of the earth”, God chose Israel to keep His
“Old
Covenant”. These laws
and commandments were required of this nation called Israel only,
and those who joined themselves with this nation by becoming
circumcised in the foreskin; no other nation on earth was
chosen to keep this “Old Covenant”. Now, we know today that Israel
failed their end of this covenant (agreement); and therefore, they
were removed from the “Promise Land” because of their disobedience to
the rules, regulations and commandment of the “Old Covenant”.
- Deuteronomy
7
A Chosen People
6 "For you are a holy people to the LORD
your God; the
LORD your God has chosen
you to be a people for Himself, a special treasure above all
the peoples on the face of the earth. 7 The LORD did not set
His love on you nor choose you because you were more in number
than any other people, for you were the least of all peoples; 8 but because the LORD loves
you, and because He would keep the oath which He swore to your
fathers, the LORD has brought you out with a mighty hand, and
redeemed you from the house of bondage, from the hand of Pharaoh
king of Egypt. 9
"Therefore know that the LORD your God, He is God, the faithful
God who keeps covenant and mercy for a thousand generations with
those who love Him and
keep His commandments; 10
and He repays those who hate Him to their face, to destroy
them. He will not be slack with him who hates Him; He will repay
him to his face. 11
Therefore you shall keep
the commandment, the statutes, and the judgments which I command
you today, to observe them.
Now,
we know why God chose the nation of Hebrews called by the name
Israel to make the “Old Covenant” with, and that these Israelites
(the nation of Israel) were required to keep these laws to remain
under this “Old Covenant”. We will now move to this covenant called
the Old Covenant and the requirement to tithe and give offerings
under it.
God made this covenant with the people called Hebrews and Israelites
(which included the mixed multitude of Exodus
12:38
and later those who joined Israel or Judah by becoming circumcised
[see Exodus
12:48
and Numbers
15:15-16]),
which made up those whom He brought out of Egypt by the hand of
Moses. God chose these people because of the promises He had made
and swore to Abraham His friend (Genesis
22:16, 26:3). Please
take note here before we began discussing the command by God to
tithed and give offerings at set times under the Old Covenant that
God spoke to these Israelites and this nation of people only (not to
the whole earth or other nations of people). The commandment,
statutes and judgments required under the “Old
Covenant”
applied to Israel only [later the nation of Israel became two
nations one called Israel and one called Judah which the scepter
(law) remained because of God’s servant David – see Genesis
49:10; Numbers 24:17; 1 Kings 11:1-13, 34-35; 1 Kings 12:1-24; 1
Kings 14:1-18 and 2 Kings 8:18-19].
Now,
when I say these statutes, judgments and commandment under the “old
Covenant” were for the Israelites only and not the other nations on
earth; please do not let someone deceive you with smooth
talk,
saying what about the other commands given to Israel, do this mean
we are not held accountable for them also (see
2 Peter 3:15-16)?
To those deceivers I ask these questions, are we circumcised in the
flesh or the heart today (Colossians
2:11 and Romans 2:28:29)?
Are you willing to stone someone for committing adultery today
(John
8:3-11)?
Just as there were and are two Covenants, there are also two nations
spiritual and physical, as well as both spiritual laws and physical
laws, each having their place under the two Covenants God made with
His people, which I discuss elsewhere on this site. These tithes and
offerings laws applied to the nation God made them with under the
Old Covenant, and not with the rest of the nations and peoples at
that time. Nor were these tithes and offerings laws made with us,
but with those who were the physical descendants of Abraham and
those foreigners who joined Israel by becoming circumcised in the
flesh. But when Christ came, He was nailed to the tree for all our
sins, and at that time this “Old
Covenant”
with its rules and regulations were nailed to the tree (cross) also,
meaning the end of this covenant with the nation of Israel and Judah
(Colossians
2:13-17) [more
on this later].
Now,
let us move to Exodus 25
where God commands Moses to ask the children of Israel just
before making the tabernacle to bring a freewill offering of the things needed to
build a sanctuary that He, God “may dwell among them” (verse
8). This is the very
first time in Scripture where God is recorded as asking for an
offering from the people He had chosen as His very own nation of
people, the people were still in the desert on the mountain of God,
Mount Horeb (also called Sinai). Bringing us to this question, why
did God require from everyone who was willing to give Him an
offering (verse
2)? Well, there was a
requirement for the offering; that is to build a sanctuary for God
(a tabernacle and Tent of Meeting), for Him to dwell among
them.
- Exodus
25
Offerings for the
Sanctuary
- 1
Then
the LORD spoke to Moses, saying: 2 "Speak to the children of
Israel, that they bring Me an offering. From everyone
who gives it willingly with his heart you shall take My
offering. 3 And this is the offering which
you shall take from them: gold, silver, and bronze; 4 blue, purple, and
scarlet thread, fine linen, and goats' hair; 5 ram skins dyed red,
badger skins, and acacia wood; 6 oil for the light, and
spices for the anointing oil and for the sweet incense; 7 onyx stones, and stones
to be set in the ephod and in the breastplate. 8 And let them make Me a
sanctuary, that I may dwell among them. 9 According to all that I
show you, that is, the pattern of the tabernacle and the pattern
of all its furnishings, just so you shall make
it.
Without this
need to build a sanctuary for God to dwell in, there was no need to
give a freewill offering. [Today, God dwell within our hearts, our
bodies are God’s temple]. Next, we see the people only gave what was
needed to accomplish this task of building this sanctuary for God,
as the Holy Scripture says in:
- Exodus
36:2-7,
“…
Moses called
Bezalel and Aholiab,
and every gifted artisan in whose heart the LORD had put wisdom,
everyone whose heart was stirred, to come and do the work. 3
And they received from Moses all the offering which the
children of Israel had brought for the work of the service of
making the sanctuary. So they continued bringing to him freewill
offerings every morning. 4 Then
all the craftsmen who were doing all the work of the sanctuary
came, each
from the work he was doing,
5 and
they spoke to Moses, saying, "The people bring much more than
enough for the service of the work which the LORD commanded us to
do." 6 So Moses gave a commandment, and they caused it
to be proclaimed throughout the camp, saying, "Let neither man nor
woman do any more work for the offering of the sanctuary." And the
people were restrained from bringing, 7 for the
material they had was sufficient for all the work to be
done--indeed too much.
How
many churches do you know will tell you do not give any more tithes
and offerings for this year because we have enough for the minister
and all our bills already?
Please, note in verse
5
where it is said, "The
people bring much more than enough for the service of the work which
the LORD commanded us to do." Again,
we see in verse
6,
"Let neither man nor woman do any more work for the offering of the
sanctuary." And the people were restrained from bringing, 7
for the material they had was sufficient for all the work to
be done--indeed too much”. We
see from these verses, which teaches us as Christians to give enough
to completed the work, but do not over give to these gospel
peddlers. The churches of this world should not be maintaining
enormous bank accounts with your freewill offerings, yet how
churches have large bank accounts today?
Now,
I say this because there are Scripture, which says to support the
one who teaches the word, but there is no Scripture saying you must
continue to give to churches when their expenses have been met
(Matthew
10:5-10).
And please
remember under the New Covenant your body is God’s temple, whereby
God dwells today in the believer heart (mind) [see John
14:16-18,23 and 1 Corinthians 3:16-17], and God never
needed a place built by man to dwell in as the Holy Spirit says in
Isaiah 66:1-2, “Heaven
is My throne, and earth is My footstool. Where is the house that you
will build Me? For all those things My hand has made, and all those
things exist, says the LORD”; but
the building of this physical tabernacle and Tent of Meeting, later
becoming a temple was built for our learning and our understanding
of those things which of but a shadow of the things in the heavenly
realm (Col. 2:16-17 and Heb. 8:4-6). In Exodus 25, we
have the first instance in the Scriptures where God asks for an
“offering” from the people, nation of Israel, whom He called
His own. Note, this offering was asked only of those who gave freely
and “willingly with his heart” (Exodus 25:2).
Back
to Exodus 25, here
are some very critical questions for those who hold the belief, and
teaching others to believe this distortion of the Scriptures also
that the people of God were tithing prior to this event.
Now, if the people were already tithing regularly as these
self-appointed ministers today claim that Abraham did;
thereby,
proving “as they say” tithing was in effect prior to the
giving of the law of Moses (but the word of God do not say this nor
was tithing required or commanded by God before the law of Moses),
see “Tithing before the
Law”. First, why did God have to ask for a freewill
offering, if they were already required to tithe and give offerings?
Next, if they were tithing why didn’t God just say along with their
tithe, command the people who are willing to bring Me an freewill
offering to build My sanctuary? [Think about what I am saying here].
Again, I say while these
gospels peddlers claim this doctrine of men [claiming you must give
them a tithe], they do not explain nor can they explain why no other
references in the Holy Scriptures prior to the giving of the Law of
Moses, mention anyone regularly tithing to anyone (if there was
anyone to receive it for there were no priesthood before Moses); nor
can they show any of the former men of God (or women for that
matter) who were tithing prior to the Law of Moses. If they try to
point to Jacob, then I say he did not tithe either; and the vow that
he made to God in Genesis
28:20-22, he made it with an "if" God blessed him first
and brought him back to his father house in peace. I don’t think any
of these gospel peddlers will try to use Jacob’s example because
they will have to explain why Jacob asked for a blessing before
tithing; and explain to whom did Jacob give this tithe to when God
fulfilled His promise to Jacob by bringing Jacob back to his father
house safely. [See Genesis 33:10-11 where Jacob gave his
brother Esau gifts which he had counted out, was this Jacob’s way of
keeping his vow to give God a tenth of what He gave him? If so, this
bring up more questions than these gospel peddlers wish to answer
because Esau was never a priest. [See Eccl. 5:1-7 concerning
making vows and not keeping them with God].
I
say again, you must ask these questions, and think about what I am
saying here? If Abraham tithed on his produce and livestock on a
regular basis, then to whom did he give it to? If Jacob tithed then
to whom did he give it to (there was no priesthood before the law of
Moses)? Did he give the tithe to his uncle Laban while
staying with him? Why is it not recorded in the Holy Scriptures that
Isaac tithed or for that matter no other person of God is record as
tithing prior to the Law of Moses? Would it not be important for God
to show these men and women tithing before the Law, so we would not
have confusion about who tithed before the Old Covenant (1 Cor.
14:33 and James 3:16)? If God commanded the people of Israel,
who had land and livestock to tithe to maintain the tabernacle and
later the temple of God then what would Abraham and all the other
men of God tithe to maintain; if what these gospel peddlers today
claim about tithing was true? I mean yes, prior to the Law of Moses,
Abraham gave to the Priest of the Most High, Melchizedek; but this
was a one time thing (nowhere does it say he gave regularly nor do
it imply this), and it was not even Abraham’s goods and livestock he
gave from but what he had captured in battle. And to whom did Isaac,
Jacob, Job and all the other men (women) of God prior to Moses give
a tithed to, who represented God to receive the tithe? Would it not
be important for God to point to whom to give the tithe to before
the Law of Moses (Hebrews 7:5)? You see how many strange
questions we must answer when we entertain this twisted view of the
Holy Scriptures. Now, I say again under the New Covenant tithing is only a tradition of
men, a doctrine of Satan and his followers, used by those who wish
to gain financial from the word of God. These gospel peddlers
cannot point to any Scripture where God commanded anyone to tithe
prior to the Law of Moses. God never said to the people of God to
give tithes to anyone until He set-up the priesthood under the law
of Moses; and then God only commanded the land and livestock owners
to tithe (those who had the means to tithe) not the poor and needy
nor the widows.
The
New Testament or new covenant reminds us that the old covenant and
its ordinances and regulations were only shadows of the things to
come under the “New Covenant” and the age to come (the things in
heaven):
- Colossians
2
16 So let no one judge
you in food or in drink, or regarding a festival or a
new moon or sabbaths, 17
which are a shadow
of things to come, but the substance is of
Christ.
-
- Hebrews
8
4 For if He were on earth, He would
not be a priest, since there are priests
who offer the gifts according to the law; 5 who serve the copy and
shadow of the heavenly things, as Moses was divinely
instructed when he was about to make the
tabernacle. For He said, "See that you make all things
according to the pattern shown you on the mountain." 6 But now
He has obtained a more
excellent ministry, inasmuch as He is also Mediator of a
better covenant, which was established on better
promises.
Throughout
this study I want you to ask yourself questions and ponder these
things which I speak of,
and hold to those things which are good and true for the Holy Spirit
shall teach you all things as you humble yourselves to God my Father
and His Christ Jesus. Remember also that what we learn and see under
the old covenant concerning rules and regulations are only a shadow
of the heavenly things of God and His Christ. Those who were under
the Old Covenant were serving the copy and not the true and
“better
covenant, which was established on better promises”
(Hebrews 8:6). God
under the Old Covenant only accepted as His own those who were
actual descendants of Abraham and those who joined his household by
becoming physically circumcised in the flesh; but the New Covenant
is open to all who accept the calling of God. For many are called,
however only a few are chosen (those who accept the call and remain
faithful) in this present evil age (Matthew
20:16 and Matthew 22:13-14).
Remember,
what Mary, Jesus’ mother did when she heard things she did not fully
understand at the time,
in Luke 2:18-19 its said “… all those who heard it marveled at
those things which were told them by the shepherds. 19 But Mary kept
all these things and pondered them in her
heart”.
In
Exodus 25, God called for an offering to build a sanctuary that He
may dwell among the Israelites, His own nation, which He called out
of the earth because of the promises and oath He made to His servant
and friend Abraham. Next,
God
in Exodus
40
(listed below) called Aaron and his sons to minister to Him as
priests. Then “the
tabernacle was raised up”
after two years of the Israelites building it in the wilderness
(verse
17). Here
we have another need coming out of the building of the
tabernacle.
For
once the tabernacle was completed it need upkeep and someone to keep
it up, this required the need for tithes and offerings to maintain
this tabernacle of God and support for those called to serve in it.
Therefore, God commanded Moses to anoint Aaron and his sons as
priests for an “everlasting
priesthood”
in their generations (verse
15).
- Exodus
40
12 "Then
you shall bring Aaron and
his sons to the door of the tabernacle of meeting and wash
them with water. 13
You shall put the holy garments on Aaron, and anoint him and
consecrate him, that he may minister to Me as priest. 14 And you shall bring
his sons and clothe them with tunics. 15 You shall anoint them,
as you anointed their father, that they may minister to Me as
priests; for their
anointing shall surely be an everlasting priesthood throughout
their generations." 16 Thus Moses did; according to all
that the LORD had commanded him, so he did. 17 And it came to pass in the first month of the
second year, on the first day of the month, that the tabernacle was raised
up.
Moses
anointed the sons of Aaron for
"an
everlasting priesthood throughout their generations". "The
tabernacle was raised up”,"… in the first month of the second year,
on the first day of the month";
prior to this God had always asked for a freewill (all who were able
and willing) offering from the people. However, the physical
tabernacle (and later a temple) required maintenance, upkeep and
there were requirements to sacrifice at the altar. So, now God
required that the people who had the means to support the tabernacle
and support those who were required to take care of the needs of the
tabernacle (the Levites), and those who were required to make
sacrifices for the people (the sons of Aaron, the priests). What God
was doing when He required the people of Israel (those with the
means) to pay tithes to maintain the upkeep of the tabernacle was
the same as paying taxes to a government (remember the Israelites
had just become a nation, and did not have a human king yet - God
was their King). This tithe, a tenth was a tax on those with the
means to pay it.
Note,
today we do not have a physical tabernacle or temple to
maintain, but we have a spiritual temple, which are our
body. God and His Christ have made their home in our minds (hearts)
that we may be living sacrifices to Him (John 14:23 and Romans
12:1-2); therefore, when you submit your life to doing God's
will, doing good and "remembering the poor"
(Galatians 2:1-10), you have fulfilled your part in supporting
the temple of God under the “New Covenant” [more on this
later]. But, for now we will continue to examine tithing
during the Old Covenant (the Contract) between God and His people,
the physical nation of Israel (the house of Judah and the house of
Israel).
As
we see in 1 Samuel 8
below, kings of the ancient world had and would demand tithes of the
people for the upkeep of their government. This tenth must have been
a common amount given to kings during this period because Abraham
and Jacob both used this amount when determining how much to give as
a freewill offering.
[Note
also, we can study the story of Joseph and see how much he
demanded from the people during the famine of Egypt. For example, in
Genesis 41:34, Joseph advised the Pharaoh to
collect one-fifth of the produce from the people in the seven
years of plenty (remember afterwards Joseph sold this produce back
to the people during the famine)].
Later
on under the Old Covenant when the people of Israel decided, that
they did not want God to rule over them as their King
anymore.
God told Samuel to tell them what a king would do to them, that is
the king would demand the best of their people, grain, livestock and
all that he needed for his household and his servants. God also said
this human king would require the people to pay his household a
tenth (10%) of their grain and livestock.
So,
if you ask me these gospel peddlers today who demand that you give
them tithes of all your earnings.
They are just like those kings that Israel cried out for God to give
them to rule over them, and collect first fruits and a tenth of
their produce and livestock. For both the peddlers of God’s word and
the kings of this world have demanded, that the people give them a
tenth of their earnings, and the people today feel compelled to give
their earnings to these gospel peddlers. As it is written
in:
- 1
Samuel 8: “10
So Samuel told all the
words of the LORD to the people who asked him for a king. 11
And he said, "This will be
the behavior of the king who will reign over you… 14 … he will take the best of
your fields, your vineyards, and your olive groves, and give them
to his servants. 15 He
will take a tenth of your grain and your vintage, and give it
to his officers and servants. 16 And he will take your
male servants, your female servants, your finest young men, and
your donkeys, and put them to his work. 17 He will take a tenth of
your sheep. And you will be his
servants”.
Moving
back to the requirement to maintain the tabernacle and Tent of
Meeting, below in Numbers 18 God gives the Priests
charge of His offerings and gifts to offering sacrifices for the
people. The priesthood was given a tenth of the tithe (verses
26-28), and the Levites were given charge to collect the tithes
from the people.
- Numbers
18
- Offerings
for Support of the Priests
8
And the LORD spoke to
Aaron: "Here, I Myself
have also given you charge of My heave offerings, all the holy
gifts of the children of Israel; I have given them as a
portion to you and your sons, as an ordinance forever. 9 This shall be yours of the
most holy things reserved from the fire: every offering of
theirs, every grain offering and every sin offering and every
trespass offering which they render to Me, shall be most holy for
you and your sons. 10 In a
most holy place you shall eat it; every male shall eat it. It
shall be holy to you.
The Tithe of the Levites
25 Then
the LORD spoke to
Moses, saying, 26
"Speak thus to the
Levites, and say to them: "When you take from the
children of Israel the tithes which I have given you from them as
your inheritance, then you shall offer up a heave offering of it
to the LORD, a tenth of the tithe. 27And your heave offering
shall be reckoned to you as though it were the grain of the
threshing floor and as the fullness of the winepress. 28 Thus you shall also
offer a heave offering to the LORD from all your tithes which you
receive from the children of Israel, and you shall give the LORD's
heave offering from it to Aaron the priest. 29 Of all your gifts you shall
offer up every heave offering due to the LORD, from all the best
of them, the consecrated part of them.' 30 Therefore you shall
say to them: "When you
have lifted up the best of it, then the rest shall be accounted to
the Levites as the produce of the threshing floor and as the
produce of the winepress. 31 You may eat it in any
place, you and your households, for it is your reward for your
work in the tabernacle of meeting. 32 And you shall bear no
sin because of it, when you have lifted up the best of it. But you
shall not profane the holy gifts of the children of Israel, lest
you die."'
Note
here in verses 9 and 10,
the priests are given every offering of Israel: “every
grain offering and every sin offering and every trespass
offering”
to
eat in a most holy place. [Please note only the males “every
male shall eat it”
(verse 10),
no women - here God makes a distinction between men and women - just
as Adam was responsible for Eve, more on this later]. God chose the
priesthood of Aaron's sons to eat His offerings from the people - they represented God on this
earth to receive these offerings (Hebrews 7:5). No one else on
earth could receive this offering or eat it else they would die.
Then God required the Levites to give the priests of Aaron a tithe
of their tithe that they received from the people - the best of
tithe was to be eaten anywhere by the priests and their whole
household only (Numbers
18:26-31).
Now,
moving to
Deuteronomy chapters 12 and 14 we
find that God gives further instructions concerning offerings and
tithing of the people. Please notice here, in Deuteronomy
12:6-12
God required heave offerings, burnt offerings and firstborn
offerings, as well as tithes from the people.
- Deuteronomy
12
A Prescribed Place of
Worship
Only One Place of Worship
1 "These are the
statutes and judgments which you shall be careful to observe in
the land which the LORD God of your fathers is giving you to
possess, all the days that you live on the earth. 2 You shall utterly
destroy all the places where the nations which you shall
dispossess served their gods, on the high mountains and on the
hills and under every green tree. 3 And you shall destroy their altars, break their
sacred pillars, and burn their wooden images with
fire; you shall cut
down the carved images of their gods and destroy their names
from that place. 4 You
shall not worship the LORD your God with such things. 5 "But
you shall seek the place
where the LORD your God chooses, out of all your tribes, to
put His name for His
dwelling place; and there you shall go. 6 There you shall take your burnt
offerings, your sacrifices, your tithes, the heave offerings of
your hand, your vowed offerings, your freewill offerings, and the
firstborn of your herds and flocks. 7 And there you shall eat before the LORD
your God, and you shall rejoice in all to which you have put your
hand, you and your households, in which the LORD your God has
blessed you. 8 "You shall not at all do as we are doing here
today--every man doing whatever is right in his own eyes-- 9 for
as yet you have not come to the rest and the inheritance which the
LORD your God is giving you. 10 But when you cross over the
Jordan and dwell in the land which the LORD your God is giving you
to inherit, and He gives you rest from all your enemies round
about, so that you dwell in safety, 11 then there will be the
place where the LORD your God chooses to make His name abide.
There you shall bring all that I command you: your burnt offerings, your sacrifices, your tithes, the heave offerings of your
hand, and all your choice
offerings which you
vow to the LORD. 12
And you shall rejoice before the LORD your God, you and your
sons and your daughters, your male and female servants, and the Levite who is within
your gates, since he has no portion nor inheritance with
you.
In
Deuteronomy
14
below, the people were required to tithe on “all
the increase of”
(verse 22) of
their grain. Also, please note here in verse
28
the tithe “at the end of every third year” were to be eaten by the
“stranger
and the fatherless and the widow”
that they may be satisfied. This commandment to share the whole
tithe in the third year with the poor and needy is left out when
these gospel peddlers who claim to represent God to receive your
monies. I wonder why? Because these thieves, those who are peddling
the word of God for your money (2
Cor. 2:17),
these “gospel peddlers” wish to consume your tithes themselves, and
give the poor handouts at certain times of the year.
- Deuteronomy
14
Tithing Principles
22 "You shall truly tithe all the
increase of your grain that the field produces year by
year.
23 And you shall eat before the LORD
your God, in the place where He chooses to make His name
abide, the tithe of your
grain and your new wine and your oil, of the firstborn of your
herds and your flocks, that you may learn to fear the LORD
your God always. |
