Deuteronomy 32-34 | Mark 15:26-47
“Honour the LORD with your wealth, with the firstfruits of all your crops; then your barns will be filled to overflowing, and your vats will brim over with new wine.” Proverbs 3:9-10
Throughout the Old Testament, we see a repeated call for the Israelites to set apart a tenth. In the book of Malachi, they were struggling in their worship of God and their tithe. When the Israelites returned from exile, things were difficult and God rebuked the Israelites saying: “I the LORD do not change. So you, the descendants of Jacob, are not destroyed. Ever since the time of your ancestors you have turned away from My decrees and have not kept them. Return to Me, and I will return to you, says the LORD Almighty. But you ask, ‘How are we to return?’ Will a mere mortal rob God? Yet you rob Me. But you ask, ‘How are we robbing you?’ In tithes and offerings. You are under a curse—your whole nation—because you are robbing Me. Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in My house. Test Me in this, says the LORD Almighty, and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it” (Malachi 3:6-10).
God was reminding His people that He is to be first. Moreover, the vulnerable, the poor and those who serve at the Temple were dependent on the obedience of the Israelites. Hence, God declared, “When you don’t do this, you are robbing Me, you are breaking a covenant with Me.” This is why God told them to test Him to see whether He will bless them when they are obedient to Him. What God was trying to form in His people early on is to practice generosity towards the needs of others; they were to love God and put Him first and love their fellow Israelite.
Yet, the generosity of the Israelites was not limited to just the tithe. There were also freewill offerings and special offerings. Leviticus 1-7 outlines all the offerings that an Israelite could make: burnt offering, grain offering, fellowship offering, guilt offering and sin offering. God detailed what was to be presented and how it was to be presented, but He did not give instructions as to when it was to be presented. Rather, each was to represent the Israelites’ relationship with God and their gratitude for His provision.
Additionally, God prescribed gleaning laws, where the Israelites were told not to reap the harvest to the edge of their field. The gleaning laws were an opportunity for them to practice benevolence towards those who were struggling and to care for the poor. Through the tithe, freewill offering and gleaning laws, God was shaping His people to be dependent on Him and generous towards others.
PRAYER
Lord God, I confess that I withhold what is rightfully Yours. In my giving, I want to declare my dependence and trust in You as well as my love for others. Thank You, Lord.