Chapter 50—Tithes and Offerings
In the Hebrew economy one tenth of the income of the people was
set apart to support the public worship of God. Thus Moses declared
to Israel: “All the tithe of the land, whether of the seed of the land, or
of the fruit of the tree, is the Lord’s: it is holy unto the Lord.” “And
concerning the tithe of the herd, or of the flock, ... the tenth shall be
holy unto the Lord.”
Leviticus 27:30, 32
.
But the tithing system did not originate with the Hebrews. From
the earliest times the Lord claimed a tithe as His, and this claim was
recognized and honored. Abraham paid tithes to Melchizedek, the
priest of the most high God.
Genesis 14:20
. Jacob, when at Bethel,
an exile and a wanderer, promised the Lord, “Of all that Thou shalt
give me I will surely give the tenth unto Thee.”
Genesis 28:22
. As the
Israelites were about to be established as a nation, the law of tithing
was reaffirmed as one of the divinely ordained statutes upon obedience
to which their prosperity depended.
The system of tithes and offerings was intended to impress the
minds of men with a great truth—that God is the source of every
blessing to His creatures, and that to Him man’s gratitude is due for
the good gifts of His providence.
“He giveth to all life, and breath, and all things.”
Acts 17:25
. The
Lord declares, “Every beast of the forest is Mine, and the cattle upon
a thousand hills.”
Psalm 50:10
. “The silver is Mine, and the gold is
Mine.”
Haggai 2:8
. And it is God who gives men power to get wealth.
Deuteronomy 8:18
. As an acknowledgment that all things came from
Him, the Lord directed that a portion of His bounty should be returned
to Him in gifts and offerings to sustain His worship.
“The tithe ... is the Lord’s.” Here the same form of expression
is employed as in the law of the Sabbath. “The seventh day is the
Sabbath of the Lord thy God.”
Exodus 20:10
. God reserved to Himself
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a specified portion of man’s time and of his means, and no man could,
without guilt, appropriate either for his own interests.
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