• Welcome to White Horse Forums. We ask that you would please take a moment to introduce yourself in the New Members section. Tell us a bit about yourself and dive in!

Tithing

C

Comingfrom

Guest
An important yet still poorly understood topic,
so I make this thread so we can share what know.

I will start with what is probably the most infamous verse regarding tithing.
Malachi 3:10,
and try to describe how it unfolded for me.

Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in Mine house,
and prove Me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts,
if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing,
that there shall not be room enough to receive it.

I said infamous, because we all know this verse has been misused and abused,
I don't even want to go there.

I wanted to look at what it is actually saying.
The Lord is saying, this how we prove Him.
I thought, That is pretty important, isn't it?
And I assumed, that by proving the Lord [His existence] that would strengthen my faith.
And we do this by tithing?

To put this in context, we were just told in a previous verse that we rob God,
by not tithing and offering.
I was like, Whoa, that is a hefty accusation.
(And people suppose they are fulfilling this by throwing a few dollars in the collection plate.)
These were scary thoughts.

Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed Me.
But ye say, Wherein have we robbed Thee?
In tithes and offerings.

So I dove right in. What are we to tithe?
Meat.
Immediately I thought of Jesus' saying at John 6:27

Labour not for the meat which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life,
which the Son of man shall give unto you: for Him hath God the Father sealed.

Ok. An obvious connection.
But He hadn't given me any yet. Was my thought.
So what is the next question.
Where do we bring it?
Into the storehouse in His house.

Wow. I have a storehouse in His house? That is exciting.
What could 'His house' be?
And now it had me thinking of something else Jesus said.

In My Father's house are many mansions:
if it were not so, I would have told you.
I go to prepare a place for you.

A place, in God's house.
That must be my storeroom.
And God's house must be heaven, surely.
For He is 'our Father who art in heaven'.

That caused me to think of something else Jesus said.

But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven,
where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal:
For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.

Jesus was really helping me to understand this verse from Malachi,
and I was looking forward to having the windows of heaven opened for me.
And I prayed I would have room for His blessing.

But for now I still had to work out what this "meat" was,
that both Malachi and Jesus were referring to,
and how to get it.

~~
I'll take a break here, and continue it later, if you want.
But do add your comments, or questions,
regarding what you know about tithing, or how you tithe.
I would like to know your response.

❤️
 
In the land allotment to each tribe in Israel, no land was given to Levi, the priestly tribe responsible for the duties of worship of God. They were given 48 cities scattered within the other land allotments. The tithes (a tenth) were given to them for the work of serving at the tent of meeting, and later the temple. Numbers 18:21. In the NT church it is not called a tithe because it is not required and a tenth of income is not specified. But it serves the same purpose of providing for the shepherds, meeting the needs of the needy in the congregation. It is a means by which God established provision for the fatherless and widow and the shepherds (leaders in the church.)
 
Comingfrom said:
An important yet still poorly understood topic,
so I make this thread so we can share what know.

I will start with what is probably the most infamous verse regarding tithing.
Malachi 3:10,
and try to describe how it unfolded for me.

Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in Mine house,
and prove Me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts,
if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing,
that there shall not be room enough to receive it.

I said infamous, because we all know this verse has been misused and abused,
I don't even want to go there.

I wanted to look at what it is actually saying.
The Lord is saying, this how we prove Him.
I thought, That is pretty important, isn't it?
And I assumed, that by proving the Lord [His existence] that would strengthen my faith.
And we do this by tithing?

To put this in context, we were just told in a previous verse that we rob God,
by not tithing and offering.
I was like, Whoa, that is a hefty accusation.
(And people suppose they are fulfilling this by throwing a few dollars in the collection plate.)
These were scary thoughts.

Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed Me.
But ye say, Wherein have we robbed Thee?
In tithes and offerings.

So I dove right in. What are we to tithe?
Meat.
Immediately I thought of Jesus' saying at John 6:27

Labour not for the meat which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life,
which the Son of man shall give unto you: for Him hath God the Father sealed.

Ok. An obvious connection.
But He hadn't given me any yet. Was my thought.
So what is the next question.
Where do we bring it?
Into the storehouse in His house.

Wow. I have a storehouse in His house? That is exciting.
What could 'His house' be?
And now it had me thinking of something else Jesus said.

In My Father's house are many mansions:
if it were not so, I would have told you.
I go to prepare a place for you.

A place, in God's house.
That must be my storeroom.
And God's house must be heaven, surely.
For He is 'our Father who art in heaven'.

That caused me to think of something else Jesus said.

But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven,
where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal:
For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.

Jesus was really helping me to understand this verse from Malachi,
and I was looking forward to having the windows of heaven opened for me.
And I prayed I would have room for His blessing.

But for now I still had to work out what this "meat" was,
that both Malachi and Jesus were referring to,
and how to get it.

~~
I'll take a break here, and continue it later, if you want.
But do add your comments, or questions,
regarding what you know about tithing, or how you tithe.
I would like to know your response.

❤️
Click to expand...
Yes, it means donate to the forum. :geek:
 
Arial said:
In the land allotment to each tribe in Israel, no land was given to Levi, the priestly tribe responsible for the duties of worship of God. They were given 48 cities scattered within the other land allotments. The tithes (a tenth) were given to them for the work of serving at the tent of meeting, and later the temple. Numbers 18:21. In the NT church it is not called a tithe because it is not required and a tenth of income is not specified. But it serves the same purpose of providing for the shepherds, meeting the needs of the needy in the congregation. It is a means by which God established provision for the fatherless and widow and the shepherds (leaders in the church.)
Click to expand...
Thank you for this.
I didn't go straight to the law,
because I wanted to get to how we are to tithe.

And for me, the best way to understand the law is through Jesus.
Can you say how, what you just offered up relates to those things that Malachi and Jesus said?
which I showed above.

I can say what I believe here,
and I planned to get to the commandments in the law,
but I wanted to establish first, how tithing relates to us today.

Because I cannot believe that proving the Lord is not still required. Can you?
I cannot believe that not robbing God is not still required.
And I cannot believe that if Jesus' followers had a place in God's house in Jesus' day, and in Malachi's day,
that there wouldn't be a place in God's house for us today.
A place for us to store our treasures in heaven.
 
In Jesus' day, the Pharisees tithed.
They tithed herbs, and according to Jesus, that was about all they done, out of the law.

Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!
for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin,
and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith:
these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone.
Matthew 23:23

But woe unto you, Pharisees!
for ye tithe mint and rue and all manner of herbs,
and pass over judgment and the love of God:
these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone.
Luke 11:42

Now let us see,
mint and aniseed and cummin, in Matthew
and mint and rue and all manner of herbs, in Luke.

And these were to sustain the Levite Priests?
and the fatherless and widows,
and the shepherds, the ministers in the church (synagogue).

Did these Pharisees know the law?
Did they know what they were doing?
Actually, Jesus was not condemning them for tithing herbs,
He is saying there, that tithing aught to be done.

Just don't leave out the rest of the law, the more important things that need to be done.
That is what Jesus called them hypocrites for.

So, how does this help us? in our understanding of tithing.
 
Comingfrom said:
Thank you for this.
I didn't go straight to the law,
because I wanted to get to how we are to tithe.

And for me, the best way to understand the law is through Jesus.
Can you say how, what you just offered up relates to those things that Malachi and Jesus said?
which I showed above.

I can say what I believe here,
and I planned to get to the commandments in the law,
but I wanted to establish first, how tithing relates to us today.

Because I cannot believe that proving the Lord is not still required. Can you?
I cannot believe that not robbing God is not still required.
And I cannot believe that if Jesus' followers had a place in God's house in Jesus' day, and in Malachi's day,
that there wouldn't be a place in God's house for us today.
A place for us to store our treasures in heaven.
Click to expand...
It can get involved, breaking down these questions that you ask. I could come up with off the top answers, but get the impression you have had about enough of those. :) I will have to tackle it later---more coffee!---when I can take the time to get my head wrapped around it.
 
I will tackle this now as per your post #6. I must say that I like your systematic follow through on questions you have, though I do not always agree with the conclusions or in the way you relate one thing to another. All I can do, is present my perspective on these verses. And it is true that one thing always connects to another with God, for His view is of the whole picture, from beginning to end. Nevertheless, when He says anything that is in scripture, it has one meaning---His meaning. It may have other, even many, applications---ways in which things relate, or how it can relate to our situation, but only one meaning. Therefore, for me, the most important and first thing is to ascertain what God meant.
Comingfrom said:
Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in Mine house,
and prove Me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts,
if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing,
that there shall not be room enough to receive it.

I said infamous, because we all know this verse has been misused and abused,
I don't even want to go there.
Click to expand...
The book of Malichi was dated around the time of Ezra and Nehemiah, during the restoration of Jerusalem by returning exiles from Babylon. It contains a series of prophetic disputation speeches. A contemporary saying is stated and then refuted by the prophet. They dealt with specific issues of the period in an attempt to restore the Law. Marriage to foreign women, neglect of the tithe, evils of a degenerate priesthood and social sins. On tithing: It was part of the Mosaic law to bring a tenth of the agricultural produce into the house of God, once a year. This was being neglected. The offerings were the portions of the animal sacrifices to which the priests were entitled. His house here refers to the temple. The storehouse was the room in the temple reserved for the storage of gifts so they could be distributed to the priests, Levites, and the poor in the community. This tithing was a mark of the Lord's ownership of the Promised Land (Lev 27:30; Numbers 18:26; Deut 14:22-29. The windows of heaven refers to rain (Gen 7: 11-12) that would bring plentiful crops and pasturelands. This is the meaning.
Comingfrom said:
I wanted to look at what it is actually saying.
The Lord is saying, this how we prove Him.
I thought, That is pretty important, isn't it?
And I assumed, that by proving the Lord [His existence] that would strengthen my faith.
And we do this by tithing?
Click to expand...
Some translations say "try" rather than prove. It is a reversal of what is the ordinary Biblical pattern. God typically tests or tries humans. There are only a few instances where humans are invited to test God, in order to prove His claims and justify His commands. The tithe was a covenant obligation that had specific blessings and curses attached to it. In the new covenant we are called to excel in the grace of giving (2 Cor 8:7.) It should move us to greater generosity that the Law ever could. It is not about proving the Lord's existence in this instance but proving that His commands with their cursing's and blessings, stands. And though the principle involved, that of trusting God and generosity in taking care of those in need, still stands, in the new covenant, those in this covenant through faith in Jesus, are not under the curses that existed in the Law.
Comingfrom said:
To put this in context, we were just told in a previous verse that we rob God,
by not tithing and offering.
Click to expand...
This "robbing" refers only to the neglect of the tithes and offerings that were commanded, not to actually stealing from God. It cannot mean that because we have Psalm 50: 7-13 that tells us otherwise, followed by Psalm 50:14-15 tells us what He does want from us.
Comingfrom said:
So I dove right in. What are we to tithe?
Meat.
Immediately I thought of Jesus' saying at John 6:27

Labour not for the meat which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life,
which the Son of man shall give unto you: for Him hath God the Father sealed.

Ok. An obvious connection.
Click to expand...
Not just meat was tithed, but a tenth of all the produce. The meat was the blood shed for forgiveness of sins. A life for a life. Shadowing temporarily the sacrificial, substitutionary, life for life, that was to come in Jesus. IMO there is no direct connection to Malichi as Jesus is not discussing the animal sacrifices but the reasons the crowd was seeking Him, to eat. Jesus simply told them that is of the temporary needs, that the weightier, eternal reasons should be why they seek Him.
Comingfrom said:
Wow. I have a storehouse in His house? That is exciting.
What could 'His house' be?
And now it had me thinking of something else Jesus said.

In My Father's house are many mansions:
if it were not so, I would have told you.
I go to prepare a place for you.
Click to expand...
The storehouse in Malachai is speaking of an actual room in the temple used to store the tithes and offerings. Will cover the rest later.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top