"Will a man rob God? Yet you rob me.
"But you ask, 'How do we rob you?'
"In tithes and offerings."
Have you ever thought that when we do not tithe we are robbing God? I never thought of it that way....until I read this passage. Pastors, preachers, and people in general don't want to talk about tithing or giving to charity or giving to the church. It makes us nervous. We are bound to step on toes. Also, it can cause heated discussions. People want to say that tithing was put in place before there were the taxes we have now. To that I say, that is true - but so what? According to one of the first stories in the Bible, we are to give our best, not what is left over. We are to present to God our first fruits. We are not to quibble over amounts and who gets what. We are supposed to tithe to the church, the Christian church, to support the spreading of the good News of Jesus Christ. It is that simple.
Father God, Please accept what we give even when we are stingy by Biblical standards. Make us increasingly more inclined to giving to your church universal to spread your message. Amen
Church leaders ignore God's definition of His tithe, and ignore God's ordinances for His tithe. They change the words to fit their pocket book. This is nothing but manipulation of God's Word. They are false teachers.
ReplyDeleteThe Bible CLEARLY SHOWS that the tithe ENDED at the cross in the Book of Hebrews. In the first nine verses of Hebrews 7 the words tenth or tithes appears SEVEN TIMES. The ONLY place in the Bible, after Calvary, that tithing appears is in Hebrews 7.
In Hebrews 7:5 we are told that Levi (the Levites) took the tithes under the law. In Hebrews 7:12 we are told that when the priesthood changes, the law will change. Hebrews 7:18 is telling us that Numbers 18 was disannulled. Numbers 18 established the Levitical priesthood, and part of that establishing included tithing. When the Levitical priesthood ended (at Calvary, or at least in the year 70AD when the temple was destroyed), all laws that established that priesthood were canceled. If Numbers 18 wasn't canceled, we would still be under the Levitical priesthood.
Those who argue they didn't have money or income then are really ignorant of what the scriptures say. They had money and wages, even in Genesis. The farmers had income from barter exchanges, and they had markets to buy and sell as proven in Deuteronomy 14:24-26.
Those who argue Malachi 3:8, robbing God, need to start with verse 7. God is talking about His ordinances in Numbers 18 which we learned were disannulled according to Hebrews 7:18. Also, if you start with Malachi 1, you will see that God is speaking to the priests, not the people. The priests robbed God of the tithe (Nehemiah 13) and the priests robbed God of the offerings (Malachi 1).
Preacher: You tithe on the first ten percent of your income.
God’s Word: You tithe on crops, and every tenth animal that passes under the rod. NOT the first, but the tenth. See Leviticus 27:30-33. Preachers are mixing firstfruits with the tithe and they are NOT the same. In Nehemiah 10:37-38 we learn that the firstfruits were taken to the temple for the priests, and the tithe was taken to the Levites to go into their cities.
Preacher: The Levites worked full-time at The Temple.
God’s Word: The Levities and priests were divided into “24 courses” and they rotated working at The Temple one week out of every 24 weeks. Therefore, the priests and Levites actually worked at The Temple about two weeks a year. The rest of the time they had regular jobs. See First Chronicles 24 for the priests and chapters 25 and 26 for the Levites.
Preacher: You tithe the BEST to God.
God’s Word: You tithe every tenth animal whether that animal be good OR BAD. See Leviticus 27:30-33.
Preacher: The firstfruits of your income belong to God.
God’s Word: In the Old Testament, every time a firstfruits offering is mentioned it is referring to the first of the crop, assets that came from God’s hand, not man’s labor. Firstfruits offerings has nothing to do with income.
Preacher: The tithe was taken to The Temple.
God’s Word: The tithe was taken to the Levites to go into their cities. See Nehemiah 10:37-38.
Preacher: Malachi 3:10 Take all the tithes to the storehouse.
God’s Word: The Levites received the tithe, and they were required to take a tenth of the tithe to the priests. ONLY that tithe went to the storehouse, NOT the tithe from the people. Again, see Nehemiah 10:37-38.
Preacher: You are robbing God if you don’t bring your tithe to the church. Malachi 3:8-10.
God’s Word: The priests were robbing God, not the people. The priests robbed God of the tithe by stealing the Levites portion (Nehemiah 13). The priests robbed God of the offerings by giving the worst and keeping the best (Malachi 1).
God defined His tithe in Leviticus 27:30-33 as HOLY. How dare anyone change God’s definition and then call a tenth of their income a HOLY tithe!