Then Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine; he was the priest of God Most High. And he blessed him and said:
“Blessed be Abram of God Most High,
Possessor of heaven and earth;
And blessed be God Most High,
Who has delivered your enemies into your hand.”
And he gave him a tithe of all.Genesis 14:18-20, NKJV
In our journey to better understand Jesus’ life and mission, we have been studying a passage in the Old Testament that some would think a little obscure, where God confirms His promise to the descendants of Abraham, because of Abraham’s faithfulness in obedience to God’s voice, charge, commandments, statutes, and laws. Our goal in spending significant time in this passage has been to better understand the scope of Jesus’ statement that He came to fulfill the Law.
In our last post, we examined the nature of God’s “statutes”, and learned that this word, חקה chuqqah (khook-kaw’) refers to religious rituals and ordinances that have been prescribed by God for His people. We looked at several passages relating to God’s instructions and promises to Abraham, and some significant actions that Abraham took which relate to such statutes. These passages are very significant as anchors in the journey of God’s people, and in the ultimate redemption through Christ. We introduced the giving of the tithe, the sign of circumcision, and the ultimate sacrifice which blesses all the nations. In this session, we will further explore the tithe.
The Hebrew word for tithe is מץשׂר ma`aser (mah-as-ayr’), and literally means a tenth part. In essence, the expectation is that, as God provides for His people, it is each individual’s responsibility to (joyfully) give back a tenth in thanks to God for His providence. God, in turn (ultimately), gave the tithe to the priests as a gift of sustenance to them, as they were not given land to provide their income, but instead, acted as servants to the Lord in His temple:
For the tithes of the children of Israel, which they offer up as a heave offering to the Lord, I have given to the Levites as an inheritance; therefore I have said to them, ‘Among the children of Israel they shall have no inheritance.'”
The Book of Numbers 18:24, NKJV
The statute of the tithe was given in scripture in Levitical law as found in the books of Numbers and Deuteronomy. But, as we have already seen, Abraham’s giving of the tithe to Melchizedek (which is the first mention of rc@u&m) actually predates the Law by several hundred years. And we know that Abraham’s grandson, Jacob understood and practiced the principle of the tithe in his life as well:
Then Jacob rose early in the morning, and took the stone that he had put at his head, set it up as a pillar, and poured oil on top of it. And he called the name of that place Bethel; but the name of that city had been Luz previously. Then Jacob made a vow, saying, “If God will be with me, and keep me in this way that I am going, and give me bread to eat and clothing to put on, so that I come back to my father’s house in peace, then the Lord shall be my God. And this stone which I have set as a pillar shall be God’s house, and of all that You give me I will surely give a tenth to You.”
Genesis 28:18-22, NKJV
So the tithe is a gift back to the Giver of all things. But why would God need this gift? Does the Creator of all things really need anything from us?
“Hear, O My people, and I will speak,
O Israel, and I will testify against you;
I am God, your God!
I will not rebuke you for your sacrifices
Or your burnt offerings,
Which are continually before Me.
I will not take a bull from your house,
Nor goats out of your folds.
For every beast of the forest is Mine,
And the cattle on a thousand hills.
I know all the birds of the mountains,
And the wild beasts of the field are Mine.
“If I were hungry, I would not tell you;
For the world is Mine, and all its fullness.
Will I eat the flesh of bulls,
Or drink the blood of goats?
Offer to God thanksgiving,
And pay your vows to the Most High.
Call upon Me in the day of trouble;
I will deliver you, and you shall glorify Me.”Psalm 50:7-15, NKJV
Clearly, God does not need anything from us! He owns it all, and as Job wisely tells us, “the Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away; blessed be the Name of the Lord!” So, then, what is the tither really all about? And why would it be a statute so important that it predates the advent of the Law? Might it be showing us the very nature of God, and of the nature that He is trying to embed in His children? Let’s take a look at some examples of this attribute of the Creator, and consider its implication on us, His children, and on Jesus. We’ll start at the beginning – as God lays the very foundation of His work of giving:
Then God said, “Let there be lights in the firmament of the heavens to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs and seasons, and for days and years; and let them be for lights in the firmament of the heavens to give light on the earth“; and it was so. Then God made two great lights: the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night. He made the stars also. God set them in the firmament of the heavens to give light on the earth, and to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good. So the evening and the morning were the fourth day.
Genesis 1:14-19, NKJV
Notice that God’s very first recorded creation (light) was also His very first gift to the earth and its inhabitants. He gathered the light together in the heavenly bodies in order to give their light to the earth. Notice that God also gave the light to the earth to “rule the day and night.” The Creator’s first gift allowed His creation to see and to be ruled fairly in light; not darkness. This gift is of critical importance to us; it is a symbol of God himself:
This is the message which we have heard from Him and declare to you, that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.
1 John 1:5-7, NKJV
James, the brother of our Lord, also speaks of this gift as coming straight from the Father; and he extends this thought to ALL gifts from our Creator:
Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren. Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning. Of His own will He brought us forth by the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of His creatures.
James 1:16-18, NKJV
God’s act of giving continued through the whole of His creation story. Let’s quickly examine His gifts to our first father and mother:
Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. Then God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”
And God said, “See, I have given you every herb that yields seed which is on the face of all the earth, and every tree whose fruit yields seed; to you it shall be for food. Also, to every beast of the earth, to every bird of the air, and to everything that creeps on the earth, in which there is life, I have given every green herb for food“; and it was so. Then God saw everything that He had made, and indeed it was very good. So the evening and the morning were the sixth day.
Genesis 1:26-31, NKJV
You see, after creating Adam, Eve and all His creatures, He gave Adam dominion over the earth, and all the trees and plants for food. God’s initial act of creation was infused with examples of God’s giving nature! Let’s take a look at a few more examples of God’s giving nature – to specific people:
Concerning Saul:
So it was, when he had turned his back to go from Samuel, that God gave him another heart; and all those signs came to pass that day.
1 Samuel 10:9, NKJV
Concerning Solomon:
And God gave Solomon wisdom and exceedingly great understanding, and largeness of heart like the sand on the seashore. Thus Solomon’s wisdom excelled the wisdom of all the men of the East and all the wisdom of Egypt.
1 Kings 4:29-30, NKJV
Concerning Daniel, Hananiah, Azariah and Mishael:
So Daniel said to the steward* whom the chief of the eunuchs had set over Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, “Please test your servants for ten days, and let them give us vegetables to eat and water to drink. Then let our appearance be examined before you, and the appearance of the young men who eat the portion of the king’s delicacies; and as you see fit, so deal with your servants.” So he consented with them in this matter, and tested them ten days.
And at the end of ten days their features appeared better and fatter in flesh than all the young men who ate the portion of the king’s delicacies. Thus the steward took away their portion of delicacies and the wine that they were to drink, and gave them vegetables.
As for these four young men, God gave them knowledge and skill in all literature and wisdom; and Daniel had understanding in all visions and dreams.
Dan 1:11-17, NKJV
Concerning Nebuchadnezzar:
Then Daniel answered, and said before the king, “Let your gifts be for yourself, and give your rewards to another; yet I will read the writing to the king, and make known to him the interpretation. O king, the Most High God gave Nebuchadnezzar your father a kingdom and majesty, glory and honor.
Dan 5:17-18, NKJV
Notice that God’s gifts are not confined to His chosen people! His giving nature is much too large to be confined to a few chosen people. In fact, Jesus remarked about this very concept:
But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.
Matthew 5:44-45, NKJV
God is indeed infinitely good! So, as we can clearly see in these passages, the act of tithing is largely a reflection of God’s perfect gifts of providence in the hearts of those that both receive from and recognize the Giver. Abraham’s gift of the tithe to Melchizedek was an acknowledgement of the gift of victory that God had given him over his enemies.
With all of this as the foundation of the statute of tithing, we must return to the original question: as a part of the Law, how did Jesus fulfill this statute? Did Jesus give a tenth back to God? By no means! Our Savior gave much more – He gave ALL! Let’s think this through.
Jesus came into this world in a very humble way. He was born in a manger and laid in a feeding trough. Later, He began His ministry with nothing but the clothes He was wearing. He received His food and clothing from those that He ministered to. How do we know these things? Let’s take a look at just two passages that indicate our Lord’s financial poverty:
And Jesus said to him, “Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head.”
Matt 8:20, NKJV
Jesus said to him, “Then the sons are free. Nevertheless, lest we offend them, go to the sea, cast in a hook, and take the fish that comes up first. And when you have opened its mouth, you will find a piece of money; take that and give it to them for Me and you.”
Matt 17:26-27, NKJV
These are just a couple of glimpses into the human poverty of Jesus. From an earthly perspective, He didn’t have much to give. In fact, He had to rely on a fish with a piece of money in its mouth to pay His taxes! Jesus simply wasn’t in a position to give. Unless the gift was Himself.
As the Father knows Me, even so I know the Father; and I lay down My life for the sheep.
…
“Therefore My Father loves Me, because I lay down My life that I may take it again. No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This command I have received from My Father.”
John 10:15, 17-18, NKJV
Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends.
John 15:13, NKJV
Jesus did not give a tithe; He gave 100%. But Jesus’ gift was so much more than our statutory 10%. It was everything. Jesus gave Himself to God in order to purchase us as an inheritance. The writer of Hebrews makes it very clear just how important Jesus’ gift was:
Now when these things had been thus prepared, the priests always went into the first part of the tabernacle, performing the services. But into the second part the high priest went alone once a year, not without blood, which he offered for himself and for the people’s sins committed in ignorance; the Holy Spirit indicating this, that the way into the Holiest of All was not yet made manifest while the first tabernacle was still standing. It was symbolic for the present time in which both gifts and sacrifices are offered which cannot make him who performed the service perfect in regard to the conscience — concerned only with foods and drinks, various washings, and fleshly ordinances imposed until the time of reformation.
But Christ came as High Priest of the good things to come, with the greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands, that is, not of this creation. Not with the blood of goats and calves, but with His own blood He entered the Most Holy Place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption. For if the blood of bulls and goats and the ashes of a heifer, sprinkling the unclean, sanctifies for the purifying of the flesh, how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? And for this reason He is the Mediator of the new covenant, by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions under the first covenant, that those who are called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance.
Hebrews 9:6-15, NKJV
The tithe is a symbol of our thanks to God for His providence in our lives. Abraham gave us the first glimpse of that tithe in action, as a gift of thanks for a significant military victory. But as important as that tithe was, Jesus’ gift of himself (which in turn gave us spiritual victory) was of infinitely more value. Jesus did, indeed, fulfill the tithe. Selah!
In our next session, we will discuss the strange and difficult ritual of circumcision. Until then, may God richly bless you in your study of His Word!
YouJi