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God
explained rhis principie ro rhc ancienr
Israelires co whorn He gave rhe pos–
session of rhe Ho ly Land: "The land
shall nor be sold inco perpetua! own–
ership, for rhe land is
~ fi ne;
you are
(only
J
srrangers and remporary resi–
denrs wirh Me" (Leviricus 25:23,
Tbe
Amplijied Bjbfe).
God is rhe One who
owns everyrhing forever! Ir is wise ro
keep on rhe good side of such a pow–
erful Landlord ! But
1
musr also say
rhar afrer pracricing rirhing for many
years,
1
have learned ro do ir joyfully!
God Commands Titbing
Borh rhe Old and rhe New Testa·
menes are very plain on rhe poinr of
rithing. The firsr rnenrion of rhe prin–
cipie of rithing has already been men–
tioned in the above reference ro Abra–
ham in
G~nesis
14.
Here, long before
rhe law was codified and given from
Sinai's rop, long before rhere
was
an
Israel, our father Abraham (by faith,
Romans
4:16
and Galarians 3:29)
pracriced rirhing. So did Jacob - see
Genesis 28:22.
Surcly rhere is no quesrion abour ir
being a
lazo
in Israel. "And, behold, 1
have given rhe children of Levi all rhe
renrh in Israel for an inherirance, for
rhei r service ... cven the scrvice of
thc rabernacle of rhe congrcgation"
(Numbers 18:21). This law itself
changed rhe manner of rirhing in the
sense of
to wbom
ir was paid at that
time. Abraham paid his tirhe ro Mel–
chizedek, God's represenrative on
earth in his time.
Ir
is nor srared ro
whom Jacob paid his rirhes, but he
did pay rhem.
The titbe beltmgs lo God.
God governs ro whom ir is ro be
paid. In Abraham's day ir was Mel–
chizedek. (By rhe way, wrire for om
free arride "The Mysrery of Melchize–
dek Solved." Ir rells all about who he
was.)
Ar rhe establishment of Israel as a
narion, Mdchizedek did nor make
himself available ro havc rirhes paid
direcrly ro him. God made a change
in rhe law regarding rirhing. He
didn'r alrer rhe amount. He just
changed rhe recipienr, rhe one(s) ro
38
whom ir should be paid. Thar's why
He says,
·· ¡
have given rhe children
of
Le~i
all che renrh in Israel." The
renrh ( rirhe) belongs ro God, and
God ar chis rime chose co give ir ro
Levi.
The Levites were at rhar rime per–
forming rhe rcligious duties for rhe
church of rhar day - "church" just
means callcd-our ones, and God had
called Israel our of Egypr, as Srephen
poinred our ro rhe high priesc in bis
day when he called Israel rhe "chu rch
in rhe wildt:rness" (Accs 7:38). From
rhe rime God gave rhc remh (rirhe)
ro rhe Levites unril rhc rime of che
esrablishmenc of rhe New Tesramenr
Church of God. rhe law of rirhing
remained in effecr wich no furrher
change regarding whom rhe ri thes
should be paid ro.
Bur Chrisr esrablished a mmtsrry
called bv rhe Spirir and nor chosen
only
thr~ugh
rhe lineage of Levi; He
did away wirh rhe need for sacrinces
b~·
His own sacrifice: chus temple ser–
vices were no longer required; He
commandcd His own Spirir-lilled
miniscry, ·'Go }'e inro all rhc world.
and preach rhe gospd co every crc-a–
rure·· (Mark
16:15).
Afrer this unique
poinr in hisrory, rhe services God
commandcd ro be pcrformed for all
people changed.
tmd with that
C!Jtt~Jge
God agttin changed the lazo ofllthmg.
He didn'r alter che amounr - a cirhe
is cen percenr by dcfinirion - bur
~le
again alrered ro
wbom it should be pa1d.
Afrer Chrisr's rime, rhe Levites were
no longer His minisrry, doing His
service. Afrer Chrisr's time, che rithes
were ro be paid ro His scrvanrs doing
His service ro mankind. Paul. in rhe
book of Hebrews - which explains
rhe rransirion from a Levi ri cal priesr–
hood ro a Spirir-chosen and Spirir-led
minisrry of Jesus Chrisr - plainly
shows rhis change in che scvenrh
chaprer.
[Ediror's Note: For rhe reader who
would like a more rechnical exposi–
cion of rhis and relared poims. requesr
our free bookler
Ending Your Finan–
cia/ lfVorries.
Ir explains che rithing
sysrem in grcarer dcrail.]
I Like God's Blessings
"'Bring ye all rhe rirhes inro che
srorehouse, rhar rhere may be mear in
mine house, and prove me now here–
wirh. sairh che lord of hosrs. if I wi ll
not open you rhe windows of heaven.
and pour you out a blessing, rhar
rhere shall nor be room enough ro re–
ceive ir'' (Malachi 3:10). Or, as ir ex–
presses ir at che end of Deureronomy
14 where rirhing is discussed, one of
rhe main Bíblica! reasons given is
''rhar rhe Lord rhy God may bless
rhee in all che work of rhine hand
which rhou docsr" (verse 29).
Ir is not wrong ro wanr ro be
blcssed by God. And ofcen che bless–
ing does nor come in rhe form of
immediare monerarv increasc. In facr,
1
'm su re from
sor~e
sour cxarnples
l'm pcrsonally familiar wirh rhar if
somcone
riche~
wirh a belligerenr arri–
rude, just co ··prove" rirhing doesn·r
work, sure enough ir doesn'r fo r him
- unril his arrirude changcs! Paul ex–
plains rhe principie of che arrirudc
roward giving. and ir mosc cerrainly
percains ro giving ro God, •·not
grudgingly, or of ncccssiry: for
God loverh a cheerful giver" !
(11 Corinrhians 9:7.) God, rhe giver
of al! good gifrs, hopes wc will all
learn ro givc lovingly. gcnerously,
even eagerly as He gives.
This is
one
of the rcason-. why 1
ri rhe - nor
the
reason. Bu r ir is
a
rc:t
son, and I wil l nor apo logize
for
God's blessing. No one c:tn ourgive
God. There are
rhousand~
of orhers
among our inner family of co-workers
who help supporr rhis worldwide
\Y/
ork of God and who sharc experi–
enn: with me in chis. Lcr me quore
just a couple cxcerpts from lerrers
rhey have senr ro us as a wirness rhar
God indeed blcsses rhose who rirhe:
My husband and
l
have been tith·
ing for a little more rhan a yea r now,
and I would like co say rhar God al–
ways keeps ll is promises. Afrer rirhing
abolll six monrhs,
my
husband re–
ceived a raise rhar was acrua lly more
than we had given God in tirhes. \Y/e
have never found rirhing ro be a liuan–
cial burden, bur ir
bm
been a rrue
bless·
PLAIN TRUTH July 1972