Genesis 28:10-32:3
Hosea 11:7-14:9 (10 TNK)
Introduction
As Jacob journeys to the homeland of his mother to find a wife at her brother Laban’s home, and to flee from Esau’s anger, Jacob has an encounter with God. God will abide with Jacob and bless him and all of his descendants, and bring them into the Promised Land. Jacob awakens from his dream in awe, realizing and experiencing God’s presence.
Genesis 28:20-22 20 Then Jacob made a vow, saying, "If God will be with me and will keep me in this way that I go, and will give me bread to eat and clothing to wear, 21 so that I come again to my father's house in peace, then the LORD shall be my God, 22 and this stone, which I have set up for a pillar, shall be God's house. And of all that you give me I will give a full tenth to you." (ESV)
Jacob was making a deal with the Lord, laying out certain conditions he wanted the Lord to fulfill. If He fulfilled them, Jacob would make the Lord his God and give Him a tenth of what he would earn. We need to remember at this point in time Jacob had nothing except for the clothes on his back. He left in a hurry so his brother Esau would not harm him. He was on his way to his uncle Laban’s home, who was his mother’s brother, but what is important here is Jacob knew about tithing. He had to learn about it from his father Isaac and his grandfather Abraham, who practiced it according to Scripture.
Genesis 14:18 And Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine. (He was priest of God Most High.) 19 And he blessed him and said, "Blessed be Abram by God Most High, Possessor of heaven and earth; 20 and blessed be God Most High, who has delivered your enemies into your hand!" And Abram gave him a tenth of everything. (ESV)
Tithing is a Biblical practice. It was not just limited to the Temple, even though the Lord set up a system later on where the Priests and Levites would have a source of income. Please don’t mistake the half-shekel Temple tax as the means of support for the Priests and Levites. The Temple tax was for the on-going operation of the Temple. The point I am trying to make is tithing goes beyond the Temple. There are those who like to say since there is no Temple today we don’t have to tithe, but as made clear in this passage from the Torah, tithing is incumbent upon us beyond a Temple. I dislike having to bring up the issue of tithing and I very rarely talk about it, but without the support of a congregation’s members, how is the congregation to operate? If you are part of a Body of Believers and they have a place to meet with expenses such as rent, utilities, insurance, etc., if you don’t help to defray the costs, will you have a place to gather together?
Beyond that, are you doing what the Lord has instructed you to do? As long as I have been a Believer I have tithed. It was never a question of whether I should or not. It was a matter of being faithful to the word of the Lord. I don’t tithe because of teachings that say if you give a dollar the Lord will bless you with two dollars. I give because the Lord has instructed me to do so in Torah, and in my walk with Him according to Torah I am trying to be obedient. I don’t give begrudgingly. I give because I love the Lord and desire to please Him. I have had people tell me over the years they can’t afford to tithe. My thinking is you cannot afford not to tithe. The Lord asks for ten percent of your earnings. This should be the first fruits of your giving and not after taxes, expenses, etc. The Lord should be first, not last. It is a small thing the Lord is asking of you, so are you being faithful in this? Jacob was pledging ten percent of what he would get to the Holy One, though it kind of sounds like he was bargaining with God. What I believe we are seeing is the gradual maturing of Jacob’s walk with the Lord. He was starting out as a child and would eventually grow into a true man of God.
Numbers 18:26 "Moreover, you shall speak and say to the Levites, 'When you take from the people of Israel the tithe that I have given you from them for your inheritance, then you shall present a contribution from it to the LORD, a tithe of the tithe. 27 And your contribution shall be counted to you as though it were the grain of the threshing floor, and as the fullness of the winepress. 28 So you shall also present a contribution to the LORD from all your tithes, which you receive from the people of Israel. And from it you shall give the LORD's contribution to Aaron the priest. 29 Out of all the gifts to you, you shall present every contribution due to the LORD; from each its best part is to be dedicated.' (ESV)
Because the Levites were being given the tithes from the Israelites they would receive no land inheritance. The Levites were then to give ten percent of what they received to the Lord, and the Lord instructs His tithe go to the priests. We need to keep in mind not all Levites were priests, only those from the line of Aaron who was a Levite. So, not all Levites were priests, but all priests were Levites. It runs along the same line of thinking that not all Israelites are Jewish.
We don’t have a half-shekel Temple tax today, since there is no standing Temple in Jerusalem, but in many ways we could consider the places we meet to be temples worthy of our tithes and offerings. Offerings are above and beyond one’s tithes. If you want to give to a ministry you feel is worthy of support, it should be from your offerings and not from your tithes, if you have a home congregation. If you do not have a home congregation, then you are free to give to those ministries you feel led to help. What you should not do is lie about what you give, because it will bring you nothing but heartache, as evidenced in Scripture.
Acts 5:1 But a certain man named Ananias, with Sapphira his wife, sold a possession. 2 And he kept back part of the proceeds, his wife also being aware of it, and brought a certain part and laid it at the apostles' feet. 3 But Peter said, "Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and keep back part of the price of the land for yourself? 4 "While it remained, was it not your own? And after it was sold, was it not in your own control? Why have you conceived this thing in your heart? You have not lied to men but to God." 5 Then Ananias, hearing these words, fell down and breathed his last. So great fear came upon all those who heard these things. 6 And the young men arose and wrapped him up, carried him out, and buried him. 7 Now it was about three hours later when his wife came in, not knowing what had happened. 8 And Peter answered her, "Tell me whether you sold the land for so much?" She said, "Yes, for so much." 9 Then Peter said to her, "How is it that you have agreed together to test the Spirit of the Lord? Look, the feet of those who have buried your husband are at the door, and they will carry you out." 10 Then immediately she fell down at his feet and breathed her last. And the young men came in and found her dead, and carrying her out, buried her by her husband. 11 So great fear came upon all the church and upon all who heard these things. (NKJ)
If you give you should not do so in order to bring attention to yourself. What you give is between you and the Lord, so if you try to hold back some, or all of your tithe, the only one you are fooling is yourself. Sure, things are difficult for many in the world’s economy today, but as an old saying goes, “When the going gets tough, the tough get going.” Be faithful in your giving to the Lord because He has instructed you do so in the Torah, and if you consider yourself to be Torah observant you should be tithing. It is one of those commandments that is easy to understand but very difficult to put into action. I know of one teacher who came out with a study years ago where he said we only have to tithe off of our net, that we couldn't be expected to tithe off of the gross when we only have the net left after the government gets done with us, as well as other expenses. The Lord makes it very clear we are to give the best of what we receive, not what is left over. This is what got Cain into trouble with the Lord. He did not bring from the first fruits of his harvest, but simply from his harvest, while his brother Abel brought the best of what he had in his flocks. I remember another time when someone told me they had to pay their mortgage so they would have a roof over their heads. Where is trust in the Lord to provide our needs? Do we truly trust in the Lord to provide for us? I am not saying we should quit our jobs and sit around expecting the Lord to take care of us. Even Adam had to do some work in the garden before the fall. It was only afterwards his work load increased as part of his punishment. I believe in the Olam Haba or the World to Come we will have jobs to do as well as in eternity.
The end result of all of this is my hope you have a better understanding of tithing and your responsibility to the Lord. There does not have to be a Temple in Jerusalem for you to give tithes and offerings. Our forefather Abraham gave and Jacob bargained with the Lord, promising to give Him ten percent of what he would eventually have if God helped him.
Mark 12:41 Then Yeshua sat down opposite the Temple treasury and watched the crowd as they put money into the offering-boxes. Many rich people put in large sums, 42 but a poor widow came and put in two small coins. 43 He called his talmidim to him and said to them, "Yes! I tell you, this poor widow has put more in the offering-box than all the others making donations. 44 For all of them, out of their wealth, have contributed money they can easily spare; but she, out of her poverty, has given everything she had to live on." (CJB)
I don’t share this teaching on tithing with you to try to make you feel bad, but to simply remind you that tithing is part of the Torah, and even Yeshua upheld it. Remember this when you are blessed, that all we have comes from Him, and all He asks for is ten percent. That is the minimum He asks; nothing prevents you from giving more. I realize this teaching may offend some of you. If so, you need to ask God about what it is you find offensive.
Hosea 13:4-6 4 But I am the LORD your God from the land of Egypt; you know no God but me, and besides me there is no savior. 5 It was I who knew you in the wilderness, in the land of drought; 6 but when they had grazed, they became full, they were filled, and their heart was lifted up; therefore they forgot me. (ESV)
The tendency is to forget about God once our prayers are answered. If we find ourselves in a crisis situation in our lives we usually turn to the Lord and cry out to Him for help, but once the crisis passes we begin to forget about the Lord and move on with our lives. After the United States was struck on September 11th with the worst terrorist attack we had ever seen in our history many people began to attend church and synagogue. As time went on and the memory of this awful event began to fade and no new threats materialized, we became complacent once again and churches and synagogues found their numbers dwindling as they had before 9-11. What does this say about the state of mankind today? Are we finding ourselves drifting toward the days of Noah before God brought the flood upon the earth to wipe out mankind except for eight people? This is a sad commentary that we only turn to our heavenly Father in times of need and don’t remain in a relationship with Him when times are good. My friends, we need God and His Son even more in times of plenty than in times of need. When times are tough it is easy to call upon the name of the Lord, but in times of plenty we forget who God is and lose sight of our need for Yeshua. It is through Yeshua we have been given the greatest blessing of all—redemption.
Matthew 1:21 She will give birth to a son, and you are to name him Yeshua, [which means 'ADONAI saves,'] because he will save his people from their sins." (CJB)
If Yeshua will save people from their sins He cannot be only a man, because how can a man, no matter how perfect, save anyone? Only the Lord God Almighty can forgive sin! To me it is not a question of whether Yeshua is God, because He is the Son of God and has inherited all His Father has. That includes His Godhood. I am not going to belabor the point, but Yeshua said the only way to the Father is through the Son, and if you have seen the Son you have seen the Father—so is He God or not? If He is not, how can He forgive your sins?
Mark 2:7 "Why does this man speak like that? He is blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but God alone?" (ESV)
Luke 5:21 And the scribes and the Pharisees began to question, saying, "Who is this who speaks blasphemies? Who can forgive sins but God alone?" (ESV)
Yeshua’s crime was not claiming to be the king of the Jews as the Jewish leadership said, but that He was placing Himself on the same level as the Holy One of Israel by forgiving sins. As understood by the scribes and Pharisees, that power belonged to God alone. This is why they accused Yeshua of blaspheming: He was doing something that only God could do. So the question is, if Yeshua is not God He cannot forgive sin, and if He is not God, then why do we pray to Him for forgiveness of our sins as we are told to do in Scripture? If the only way to the Father is through the Son, then I accept Yeshua is the Son of the Most High. He has been with the Father since the beginning, before we were created, and I accept Him as my Redeemer and God. All of Scripture has led up to this point, and the final decision is up to you.
1 John 1:7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Yeshua his Son cleanses us from all sin. 8 If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. (ESV)
Blessings, Mordecai Silver
For their twentieth wedding anniversary, Shimsky bought his wife a cemetery plot. As their twenty-first anniversary approached, Mrs. Shimsky asked “What are you going to give me this year for our anniversary?” “Nothing,” he replied. “You still didn’t use what I gave you last year.” (offered by Betty Bustamante)
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