Hi all,
Last week was very practical information about money flowing to or away from us, changing our ability to be able handle more, and developing multiple streams of income flowing towards us.
A final thought on last week would include the Bible indicates our basic job should supply our needs. Developing multiple streams of income is what provides for our desires.
Consider any restaurant, any shop any store. There are multiple items on the menu, multiple items to buy in a store or shop, not just one item. Nearly every business uses this Biblical principle of multiple streams of income without even recognizing where it comes from.
Now we turn to the Old Testament tithe
I’ve been in church services where I could almost hear a collective groan from the congregation when the pastor gets up to the pulpit and says; ‘Let’s turn to Malachi 3: 8-11’. “Bring the tithes into the storehouse.”
Often they will add in a ‘You are robbing God’ statement for guilt, throw in a ‘you are under a curse if you don’t tithe’ for condemnation, add in a ‘He will rebuke the devourer for your sake’ to give hope, and finish on the positive by telling everyone that God is going to ‘open the floodgates of heaven’ to bless them IF they will tithe to the church. But is that a true and accurate understanding of scripture?
I’ll explain what opening the windows of heaven means below, but first, about the tithe….
In a 7 year cycle, there were 4 tithes over the course of 6 years, with no tithe on the 7th year because every 7th year was a Sabbath year.
There were 4 types of tithes listed below, with their common name underlined:
- The first type is ‘terumah, or the ‘first fruits offering’ 10% from the harvest.
- The second type is ‘ma’aser rishon’, or first tithe. From one’s normal pay.
- The third type is ‘ma’aser min hama’aser, the tithe of the tithe. For Levites only to give to priests.
- The fourth type is ‘ma’aser sheen’, or the second tithe. From normal pay, but for a special purpose.
These 4 were offered at different times over a 7 year period, with no tithe given that 7th year, a Sabbath year. On the 7th year no one tithed, they kept everything.
On years 1, 2, 4 and 5 of the 7 year cycle, the ‘second tithe’ was taken to Jerusalem and offered to the Lord, and after the priests took their part, was given back to the people who offered it. They went back home to their village or city, and with their neighbors held a community-wide party to celebrate God’s goodness.
On years 3 and 6 this ‘second tithe’ never even went to the temple. The funds stayed within the community and was used to care for the poor, fatherless, and widows and all in need. The Levites and priests had no inheritance of land so were considered the same as the poor, thus entitled to be supported by the larger community.
The purpose of the tithe therefore was the support of the people. Most pastors don’t know what I just wrote here, or if they do they ignore it, dismissing it as Old Testament. But in my thinking, to demand the tithe from the people means the people should be able to demand their portion back. It can’t be a one-way street. Something is definitely wrong with the current system.
Every estimate I have seen states the average Israelite in the Old Testament system, gave about 22% of their income to the Lord. The 10% tithe and the rest was various offerings a person would on make to the Lord over the course of a year: After sinning, after having a baby, freewill, and so on.
About Malachi 3: 8-11 (the windows of heaven part)
“…test me in this….and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out a blessing that you won’t have room to receive it all….”
What happens in everyone’s mind is an expectation that God becomes a Las Vegas slot machine. I put my tithe into the bucket, and God in turn blesses my life with money, promotion, status….and then everyone wonders why 1 in 1000 has a testimony like that…but what about me, they wonder.
I didn’t understand this verse until we lived in SE Colorado where crops are irrigated.
Just as in the time of Malachi, crops were watered by a canal from a river (Jordan), then the water flowed through smaller ditches to a farmer’s field.
That water flows through the field watering crops as it flows, and then into a ditch on the other side. It then flows to the neighbor’s field, and so on until everyone’s crops are watered. Each field experiences an overflow and there is no way to contain it. It requires an overflow to water everyone’s field in turn, one after another.
Here is the key to understanding this passage.
Jesus stated in Mark 4:13 that His Parable of the Sower is the most important parable He spoke, for by it we understand all parables. In that parable the earth is the human heart, and the seed is the Word (Jesus, the person who is the Word, not chapter/verse) is planted into that heart.
In Malachi 3 it means the water that is poured out through the flood gates of heaven is the Holy Spirit. He flows to our field – our heart – where our crops grow – our life, our family, job, possessions. The Father isn’t promising to bless you, He is promising to pour out His Spirit and THAT waters your heart, which then grows the ‘crops’ of your life – family, home life, job, and so on.
The principle of the Holy Spirit poured out in our hearts which then waters our ‘field of crops’, is very New Testament. And that brings us to the question: Why isn’t tithing mentioned in the New Testament?
That is for next week, until then, blessings,
John Fenn
