Deuteronomy 26:1-15 -- Figuring Out What God Still Expects w.r.t. Tithing

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How Then Shall We Give? -- Deuteronomy 26:1-15 -- A Guide To Our Charitable Giving Today

We now come to what may be said to be the last of the Laws from God that Moses wanted to share with his people (at least for now). It's the Law of the Tithe. May I suggest that you read the passage before continuing on with this blog. What I intend to do is cover some of the highlights and phrases which I find have something to tell us today on how we go about making our charitable donations. I do not intend to cover the issue of the "size" of the tithe. We know the word means 1/10th and we'll leave it at that. There are many others things that we should note from this passage.

Verse 1: Please note this is a Law for when God has already blessed the Israelites. God has proven Himself. He has done His part. Now His People must show their appreciation. It is the same with us today. God has indeed done His part for us in having His Only Begotten Son die in our place so that we may live.  Following God's laws are the ways we can show our appreciation and our love for God. And whether we like it or not, this law on tithing is in there.

Verse 2: Here's how the Israelites were to go about their tithing. They would take "some of the first of all the produce" that they had, keeping in mind it was given to them by God in the first place, and take it into the place where God chose to "establish His name". Robert Jamieson says, "No Israelite was at liberty to use any productions of his field until he had presented the required offerings."

Simply put for us we are to take first and foremost a portion of our 'income' to give back to God where He is at work -- the church, the mission field, the lives of individuals that are otherwise neglected. Think of the "alien, orphan, or widow" repeated so often in regard to the other laws we have been studying.

We're not talking here about what is leftover for God. We get His portion out first and then use what is leftover for us. So many today just won't trust God with that approach. They want to cover their bases just in case, then if there's something left over, well, God gets it. Sorry, that's not trusting God at all. Keep doing it your way. But don't expect the same blessings. I'm not talking about becoming rich or prosperous -- I'm talking about seeing God work so that you are never left in a condition that you can't live or survive.

Secondly, many of us have to be reminded regularly that the very pay-check we receive regularly or pension or allowance is possible because God worked things out in your life in such a way that you would have that blessing. (Trust me, I know that to be true for me personally.) In today's economically volatile environment, God could allow you and I to lose what we thought was our guaranteed income. Think again folks. We shouldn't have to be reminded that any money or tangible asset we have is from God.

Thirdly, the Israelites were to take the first-fruits (their tithe) to where the Lord God established His name. That to me at least says, make sure you are giving your tithes to those that use it for the Kingdom of God and all that it stands for -- and nothing more. Giving to a political party because it goes along with your beliefs as a Christian, or because it does not support abortion is not, in my opinion, what the text means here as places where "God has established His name".  On the other hand, as an example, supporting the work of a Christian Pregnancy Care Center where young women and couples are encouraged to keep their babies and not abort them, would be a place where God has established His name.

Verses 5-9: Anytime we give our offering we are to recognize and remind ourselves again of what God has done for us. That's an important step in the process. We cannot ever forget why we are returning a portion of what is God's, back to Him.

I pay a lot of things by automatic withdrawal these days, but I personally refuse to do so with my donations to our church. That's just me. I took that position because I always felt there was something to be said about weekly putting my donation into the plate or the box at the back of the church. It reminded me of the story in the New Testament about the widow and her donation (Mark 12:41-44 & Luke 21:1-4). I wanted to be like that widow. But now reading this passage here in Deuteronomy I am more than convinced it's the right way to go for me as it gives me an opportunity to recognize His blessings before each of my offerings.

Verses 10-11: And once we have recognized His blessings, given our offering to Him, we are then to worship our God, and to celebrate. Chuck Smith points out the a most interesting aspect of this 11th verse when he says, "Again here is a commandment where God is commanding them to rejoice. God wants a happy people. And God's people should be a happy people. We should be the happiest people on the face of the earth. And what kind of a witness is it to God if His people are always depressed and down and sour and dour. God wants you to be a rejoicing people."

It has always bothered me how pastors of churches can make time for long announcements about volleyball games but when it comes to the act of tithing, it is rushed. Let's sneak it in while we're singing or having other announcements. As I read these Scriptures, I see that God intended our tithing to be an act of worship to Him. He wants that. I regret that many of us have failed in this regard big-time.

The passage then says that we are to celebrate, not our giving, but our blessings -- what God has given us. And we are to do this with guess who -- the congregation, the pastor, and even the aliens among us. Boy, do we ever shortchange God on the act of giving, if not on the actual giving itself.

Verses 12-14: These verses take an interesting twist at least from what I have been sharing above. Moses seems to be saying that at end the of the third year, the tithe then goes to take care of your pastors, aliens, orphans, and widows. You were blessed to be a blessing to them. And there are rules about how that is to be done. And there's to be no cheating or holding anything back.

Now somebody may say, "Wait a minute, I thought you said we are to give our tithes to 'where God's name has been established' by which you meant where He is at work. And that included helping other Godly organizations working with God, not just our local church. But here it seems to imply that that kind of giving was to be separate after we already gave to the church. What goes here?" Good question.

David Guzik offers the following here to help us: "The tithe was required of Israel every year, but every third year, the tithe was given not only to the Levites for their support (as was instructed in Numbers 18:21-24), but was to by shared by the Levite, the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow, so they may eat within your gates and be filled."

Matthew Henry's commentary may also be helpful: "Concerning the disposal of their tithe the third year we had the law before, ch. 14:28, 29. The second tithe, which in the other two years was to be spent in extraordinaries at the feasts, was to be spent the third year at home, in entertaining the poor. Now because this was done from under the eye of the priests, and a great confidence was put in the people's honesty, that they would dispose of it according to the law, to the Levite, the stranger, and the fatherless (v. 12), it is therefore required that when at the next feast after they appeared before the Lord they should there testify (as it were) upon oath, in a religious manner, that they had fully administered, and been true to their trust."

It appears then that God wanted us to be directly involved not only with the needs of our "Levites" or pastors and the church, but to also be involved directly in taking care of the aliens, the orphans, and the widows.

How do we do both?  May I suggest that God and Moses did not mess up. What they are requiring in Deuteronomy is exactly what is expected. If anyone has screwed up, it is us. Possibly because our "Levites" don't always make the best use of our tithes and offerings, spending too much on themselves or on the building, etc. I don't know. I do know that God wants us somehow to take care of our pastors and the work of the church, but also to take care of aliens, orphans and widows. Given that we live in a fallen world, how we do that in detail needs to be settled between each of us and God. If we're satisfied that our church is using their funds in accordance with God's plan for them and His will for us to take care of others, then we can give it all to them. But if we don't have that assurance, then God has told us (it seems to me -- see verse 12 here) to do it ourselves. The responsibility is yours and mine alone.

Verses 15: Moses tells us that once we have done "according to all that God has commanded" us (verses 14), we can then ask God to "look down . . . and bless His people . . . and our land".  This of course, God had sworn to His People Israel. But I believe God has assured us of the same blessings on an individual basis if we have done all that He has commanded us.

Summary: Tithing then is not simply writing a check or transferring money by mobile means. It is a whole attitude and ceremony of worship and thanksgiving to our God. Many of our churches have a long way to go. But there's nothing stopping each one of us to make our tithing and charitable donating a more 'holy' experience.

Note to reader: If you like the way we are studying scripture, why not subscribe to our posts by providing us just with your email? You can do that to the right of this column in the "Subscribe to" section.  You can also search our earlier studies in the "Blog Archive" section below that.  Finally, please encourage others to study along with us by sharing this link with your family and friends. Thank you and God bless.  Ken G.

It would be great if you would share your thoughts or questions on this blog in the comments section below or on social media.

Sanctification also requires worship and guess what, giving is part of worship.

Numbers Chapter 7: Israel Gives Donations

Numbers 7:1-89

Day 43 of self-isolation. Raining all day. The grass needs it. But that means I can’t work in the backyard. Planning my personal “Independence Day” tomorrow. Sixteen-year-old grand-daughter fortunate to have a job in local Farmer’s Market butcher shop – saving her from going crazy – and it’s good for her. Life going on. Toronto leaders us pandemic to turn streets over to residents – they’ve wanted to do this for decades now as part of their long-term agenda. Eventually only the mayor will be able to drive in Toronto.  Okay, I’m exaggerating (or am I?). Anyway, you feel my frustration.  Meanwhile, I’m really enjoying my study of Numbers.  Thanks for joining me.  Read on and share.

The Passage

This is a long chapter (89 verses). It is all part of the Sanctification of Israel. We read about sanctification through various forms of separation and then sanctification through the Nazarite Vow. This chapter starts to talk about sanctification through worship. And making donations (what we call tithes and offerings) is part of worship. Putting it all into context helps us to remember that giving back to God is a form of worship which enables us to be ‘sanctified’ in order to be used for His purpose for the world.

Verses 1-83 give an account of all the leaders of the tribes bringing their offerings to the tabernacle that had been completed and set up to Moses, and Moses giving it to the Levites in accordance with God’s instructions. There is a detailed account of the offerings of each of the tribes.

Verses 84-89 talks about this being the “dedication offering of the tabernacle”.

And verse 89 ends the chapter and is, in my opinion, the most important.  It says,
“Now when Moses went into the tent of meeting to speak with Him, he heard the voice speaking to him from above the mercy seat that was on the ark of the testimony, from between the two cherubim, so He spoke to him.”

Thoughts on the Passage

We remind ourselves again that to be used by God, we need to be sanctified by God. And that requires separation from certain things and behaviors. We are also sanctified through ‘worship’. And a very important form of worship, is returning a portion of what is rightfully His.

I also note that giving back to God is something that is modelled and led by leaders – leaders of the twelve tribes in this case. But I can also see it applying to leaders of giant corporation – David Green, the CEO of Hobby Lobby comes to mind, but there are many others. And of course, modelled by the leaders of a family – the father, or the mother. Are we teaching our children to ‘give back to God’?

So, the tabernacle was built as God wanted it. The mercy seat, the ark of the testimony, the two cherubim, and everything else that we had read about in Leviticus where the blueprints were shared with us were all in their proper places. And then the dedication offering, the giving to God step, took place.

David Guzik has some interesting perspectives on this passage. First, he reminds us that in the first “giving” (verses 1-11), the leaders of each tribe bring a total of six carts (a cart for every two of the leaders) and twelve oxen (each one an ox), given to transport the tabernacle through the wilderness. Carts were a great luxury and no doubt, a significant offering from the tribes.

Moses distributes these carts to the three segments of the Levite priestly tribe. Gershon’s family got two with four oxen to transport the fabrics of the tabernacle (circle back to Numbers 4:25-26). Merari’s family got the rest, double that of Gershon’s family, as they had to transport the heavier and more awkward boards and pillars of the tabernacle. That left none for Kohath’s family. Why? Well Guzik suggests that while the others had a responsibility to transport the things they were responsible for, the family of Kohath had to actually “carry” the very holy things they were responsible for, perhaps on their shoulders using the “carrying poles” referred to in scripture and Moses did not want them to be tempted by the availability of carts and oxen to attempt other means of movement of these objects.

The second round of giving by the twelve leaders was also composed of identical offerings. This was so that humility would be the order of the day and no one tribe was to outdo the other. And Guzik reminds us that while we may all give the same offering, God still notices and appreciates our offerings just as much, if they are given in the right heart. Otherwise adds Matthew Henry why would God through Moses list them all in detail in this chapter. Interesting.

Then in verses 84-89, we have an account of the sum total of all the gifts to the Lord. From whom much is given, much is required. And certainly God had blessed the Israelites greatly in not only freeing them from slavery in the land of Egypt, but also in the manner in which He freed them – with Egyptians fighting to give them gifts as they departed.

It was only then, that the event of verse 89 could take place. Moses goes into the tabernacle, into the tent of meeting to speak with God and he hears God’s voice from above the mercy seat. You see, when we’ve done our part, God meets with us and speaks with us. (In fact, He does so even when we don’t do our part – but we need to know that the blessings are better and greater when we do our part.)

Robert Jamieson provides us with some additional insight in what verse 89 meant for Moses, when he writes:

As a king gives private audience to his minister, so special license was granted to Moses, who, though not a priest, was admitted into the sanctuary to receive instructions from his heavenly King as occasion demanded. . . .Though standing on the outer side of the veil, he could distinctly hear [God’s voice], and the mention of this circumstance is important as the fulfilment, at the dedication of the tabernacle, of a special promise made by [God], commanding its erection (Exodus 25:22). It was the reward of Moses' zeal and obedience; and, in like manner, to all who love Him and keep His commandments, [the Lord Christ Himself, the Angel of the Covenant] will manifest Himself (John 14:21).

What a day that will be. How is your sanctification, and mine, coming along? How is your separation going? How about our worship? Most importantly how about giving to God?   

It would be great if you would share your thoughts or questions on this blog in the comments section below or on social media.

Consecrated or devoted anyone or anything to God lately? Here's the fine print.

Leviticus Chapter 27: On Consecration, Tithes, and Conclusion

Leviticus 27:1-34

Day 31 of self-isolation. A beautiful sunny, but cool, day here in Toronto. Everyone is hearing rumors of areas in the world opening up again and we’re all itching for our local government to give us the go ahead. In the meantime, let’s take advantage of our ‘downtime’ as best we can. A friend of mine who knows I have been studying Leviticus sent me this picture earlier today, just in time as we look closely into the last chapter of the book.  I knew there was another reason for doing this. 

The Passage

The majority of this passage is about consecration. You would do best to open a modern translation of your Bible and read it for yourself before we dig into it. Alternatively, I have tried to summarize the key points for you below.

Verses 1-8 discusses the consecration of persons. Verse 2 reads: “When a man makes a difficult vow, he shall be valued according to your valuation of persons belonging to the Lord.” Then verses 3-8 go on to describe that ‘valuation’ based on age and gender.
Verse 8 reads: “But if he is poorer than your valuation, then he shall be placed before the priest, and the priest shall value him; according to the means of the one who vowed, the priest shall value him.”

Verses 9-13 deal with the consecration of animals, primarily as offerings to the Lord, making the person presenting the offering ‘holy’. However, if one is not sure it a clean animal, the priest decides, and puts a value on it, which would need to be paid if the one who owned wants to redeem it, and a one-fifth amount of the value would be added to the redeeming price.

A person can also consecrate his house to God and the priest will put a value on it (14-15) and if the person wants to redeem the house – take it back for his own use, he would need to add one-fifth of the valuation price.

Fields could also be consecrated (16-24). The passage talks about how that is done, and how the value varies depending on when it is done. It also talks about the fact that it cannot be redeemed if once consecrated, it is sold. And when the year of jubilee comes around, it does not go back to the one who consecrated in the first place, but rather to the Lord, the original Owner and passed over to the priest. The section goes describes how if someone consecrates a field to the Lord that he has bought, it requires a valuation by the priest and at the year of jubilee returns to the person from whom he bought it.

Verse 25 may stand on its own or may be applicable to all the consecrations identified earlier in the chapter.  It reads: “Every valuation of yours, moreover, shall be after the shekel of the sanctuary. The shekel shall be twenty gerahs.”

Verses 26-27 deal with the commandment that first-born clean animals already belong to the Lord and cannot be consecrated by man. Unclean (first-born) ones (e.g. a horse) can be redeemed and/or sold if not redeemed.

Verses 28-29 is about devoted things: “Nevertheless, anything which a man sets apart to the Lord out of all that he has, of man or animal or of the fields of his own property, shall not be sold or redeemed. Anything devoted to destruction is most holy to the Lord. No one who may have been set apart among men shall be ransomed; he shall surely be put to death.”

Verses 30-33 deal with tithes. This section talks about how we are to tithe on the land and its produce, and the herds or flocks. It also says that if a man “wishes to redeem part of his tithe, he shall add to it one-fifth of it.”

And the last verse (34) closes off the chapter and whole book of Leviticus by stating “These are the commandments which the Lord commanded Moses for the sons of Israel at Mount Sinai.”

Thoughts on the Passage

This is a difficult chapter to make heads or tails out of, not only as to what God expected of the Israelites in those days, but what it may be saying to us today. Let’s start off with a modern (Wikipedia) definition of the word ‘consecration’:

Consecration is the solemn dedication to a special purpose or service. The word consecration literally means "association with the sacred". Persons, places, or things can be consecrated, and the term is used in various ways by different groups.

Chuck Smith says this whole chapter is about us “being totally serious” when we commit something or someone (like ourselves) to God. We need to think about it, because going back on that commitment has an incredible cost. Sometimes we dedicate our children or animals and they turn out to be so good in some other area of life, that we want them back for ourselves. I think of parents who dedicated their children to the Lord, and they grow up to be doctors who want to serve in a third world country, but the parents want them to stick near home now that they’re doctors. God says, “okay, but it will cost you a 20% premium.” He doesn’t like this changing of our minds back and forth.

The consecration of persons. David Guzik suggests a person could dedicate themselves to God, or their children. I would assume that the Israelites could dedicate their slaves to God’s work, too. Valuation of those individuals was assigned as per God’s instruction. This was according to their age and general usefulness or potential contribution to society. More importantly, even a poor person could if they wanted to, give their life to the Lord, and the priest would assign a special value for them. I would assume that this value was in case one changed their minds and had to buy back their consecration as discussed above. Matthew Henry seems to indicate that some of the “redemption” may have been due to an over-supply of manpower for the tabernacle. Certainly not the case we find ourselves in today. Also, we note that females were less esteemed in those days, but that changed with Christ and the New Covenant for we know, “in Christ Jesus there is neither male nor female” (Gal. 3:28).

The consecration of houses. Sometimes people would sanctify their houses to be used for God’s service.

Verse 25 implies a fee of some sort, but little information or commentary can be found on that. [Do let us know if you are more successful.]

For animals and First-born clean animals – see me thoughts in the passage section above.

Devoted things. David Guzik talks considerably about this as he writes:

To devote something to the Lord was a further step than consecration by a vow; it often had the meaning of destroying the item (or executing the person) so that it could not be utilized by anyone else, and all of its [deemed or assessed] value was given to God.  Joshua 6:17 among other passages, translates this word ‘devoted’ with the word ‘accursed’ – because that thing devoted to God would be destroyed, being used for no other purpose. For these reasons, an item devote to God could not be “bought back” by giving its value plus 20% to the tabernacle treasury; it had to be given – and presumably destroyed – unto the Lord. . .. In this sense also, one could not escape execution by being “bought back” from the Lord; they had to face the penalty [that God had set] for their crime.

Tithing. Smith says you need to understand that God just takes claim of one-tenth of everything. There’s no room for quibbling here. Image how much better off the world would be if every person in it just followed that one commandment. And we are not to borrow on our tithes – keep our hands off of it, God says. If you do borrow, you need to add 20%. That’s some interest. What do I mean by borrowing? Well, perhaps for some of us it means delaying paying out title – especially our regular title to our local church. Perhaps this interest penalty should apply to us?  Hey, I’m not making this up – it’s right here in God’s Word and the concept of tithing has not disappeared with the New Covenant.

Last words. Guzik reminds us that these were not mere traditions and customs, though men began to attach traditions and customs to these commandments; these were - and are - the commandments (not suggestions) of the LORD. Woe to us who may neglect the ones that can be and were intended to continue with the New Covenant.

I have found Leviticus to be much more interesting than I expected. I hope you did as well. Next time we embark on the study of what many may consider the least interesting book of the Bible perhaps because of its name – Numbers.  That’s it. Numbers. Well, some people find numbers to be fascinating. Let’s find out.  Thanks for joining me on these studies. Let me leave you and Leviticus with these words from Chuck Smith:

Now as we go through the book of Numbers, whenever you get into the numbers, just skip [them] if you want. It's not required reading. When you get into the genealogies of the families, skip those, they're not required reading. I'll let you off on that, but there are some neat little nuggets buried in some of these genealogies, and truths, and thoughts.

I look forward to finding those gems with you.

It would be great if you would share your thoughts or questions on this blog in the comments section below or on social media.

Thinking of Mixing Sin With Your Sacrifice? Don't, says God in Exodus

Exodus 34:25-26

"You shall not offer the blood of My sacrifice with leavened bread, nor is the sacrifice of the Feast of the Passover to be left over until morning.
"You shall bring the very first of the first fruits of your soil into the house of the LORD your God. You shall not boil a kid in its mother's milk."

Thoughts on the Passage

Leaven depicts "sin" in Scripture. And the point God is making here is simply this, and yes, I'm taking some liberty here.  He's, in essence, saying, "Don't you dare mix your act of sacrificing to Me, your act of worship, with anything that smacks of sin or the world."  I don't think we've heard Him well enough on this point as we continue to bring "leaven" into our sacrifices. Our minds could go to what goes on in our services today under the excuse of trying to be attractive to the unchurched.  Or, I think of our act of tithing -- "not unless we can get a tax receipt for it".  I'm sure you could come up with other examples.

But let's not blame the 'church' when it comes to how we worship. What really matters is the attitude of our hearts. How do I worship and sacrifice for God, even in the presence of leaven?   And let's not ignore the legal opportunities for greater savings when it comes to getting tax receipts for our charitable donations. What matters is that when I see a need that God has moved me to address, will I do it gladly, even when there is no tax receipt?

God expects, nay, demands our very best -- the first of the first fruits of our labor. Not the leftovers; not the slightly marred; not the seconds. He is to have our very best. Explaining what this meant for the Israelites, David Guzik says that when Israel came into Canaan, "they had a special responsibility to make a firstfruit offering to God, in addition to their regular firstfruit offering (Exodus 23:16)." Giving to God first and giving Him our best is rightfully demanded from us.  In so doing, we recognize God as the One who provides us with everything.

The last phrase of this passage is a reference basically repeating the command in Exodus 23:19 when the Israelites were instructed not to copy any of the practices of the pagan Canaanites. Guzik believes this one, in particular, had to do with a cruel pagan fertility ritual the Cannanites observed. [Matthew Henry says it may have been that the Israelites had seen the Egyptians do this back in Egypt.]

The bottom line for us today is this: Are we true followers of the Divine Creator and Great Provider and Protector, or do we dabble with activities that belong to His adversary, especially in our worship and sacrificial living for Him?

If the latter, what is it that you or I can do today to more clearly establish us as a true follower?

It would be great if you would share your thoughts or questions on this blog in the comments section below or on social media.