The Main Thing Series

But we do read this Genesis 14:20 And blessed be God Most High, who has defeated your enemies for you.” Then Abram gave Melchizedek a tenth of all the goods he had recovered.

The next time the tithe is mentioned is later in the book of Genesis when Abraham’s grand-son Jacob is feeling blessed and decides to make an offering to the Lord and we read in Genesis 28:22 “And this memorial pillar I have set up will become a place for worshiping God, and I will present to God a tenth of everything he gives me.”

Now isn't that strange, of all the choices that Jacob could make he decides on the very same amount that Abraham did. No written instructions. No law. This was before the bible said "a tithe belongs to the lord” matter of fact it was before the bible. He could have made a hundred choice, 1%, 2%, and 3%, all the way up to 100%. Could it be that God told Him?

And then of course when the law was laid down we arrive at the scripture I had mentioned earlier Leviticus 27:30 “One tenth of the produce of the land, whether grain from the fields or fruit from the trees, belongs to the Lord and must be set apart to him as holy.”

The next question I get asked is The Why of the Tithe People wonder why it had to be dictated what people should give? Couldn’t God have just asked people to give and then leave it up to each person to determine what they should give? Perhaps. But there was The Philosophy of the Tithe and that was recognizing that what we have isn’t ours at all, instead it comes from God. The tithe was the acknowledgement of that. It puts us in our place and God in His place. It allows us to acknowledge that we exist because of him and that all we have is because of him.

So why not just let it happen? You know, let people decide on their own to give back to God and then let them decide how much to give to God. But seriously do you think with human nature being what human nature is that would work? How many people would just give? It’s not just the church that has to ask for money, every organization that does good things needs to ask good people to support their work. Do you think without the Christmas Daddies Telethon each year people would just decide to send their money in? How many people driving down the Bedford Highway go by “Feed Nova Scotia” and stop and give them food or money, just because.

There was also The Necessity of the Tithe. The tithe wasn’t just collected for fun, it was collected to support God’s work. 3000 years ago it was used for the sacrifices that were offered to God, to maintain the tabernacle and eventually the temple and to support the priest’s whose job it was to lead people into the presence of God. Even back then there were musical instrument that needed to be purchased and maintained, building maintenance to be done and salaries to be paid. It was for God’s work and it was God’s people who were expected to support it. And throughout the Old Testament or the New Testament you will not find evidence of a bean supper, raffle sale or chariot wash to support the work of the Lord, you will just find God’s people giving.