https://odb.org/2023/09/18/the-red-dress-project
An interesting fact I learnt today is that Aaron is not only Moses’s brother and spokesman during the time of the Israelites’ sojourn from Egypt to Canaan but also the founder of the Israeli priesthood. He and his two sons were the first priests of Israel, the first of the Levites whose lives were consecrated to serve the Temple. Thus, although there were 12 tribes of Israelites, only 11 tribes were given land in the Promised Land to cultivate crops and rear livestock. The Levites were not given land as they lived in and for the Temple. The other tribes were hence required to give one tenth of their produce to the Temple as a tithe unto the LORD for the subsistence of the priesthood.
The modern church has used this delineation by God of the Israeli tribes to justify the giving of tithes and offerings to the church with some churches going to the extent to interpret tithes as only for those in full-time ministry and offerings for the general upkeep and maintenance of the church. Churches also set up special building funds when they embark on substantial capital expenditure like the building of a church sanctuary.
The difficulty of this interpretation is that as believers, we are all part of a royal priesthood, each an individual priest to and for God. In 1 Peter 2:9, Peter wrote that – but you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His wonderful light.
Yet if believers do not support the church, the church and its full-time workers will not be able to live as the latter had given up gainful employment in the world to serve full-time in the church. In the same way that the Levites did not have land to cultivate and grow their own food and livestock, full-time workers do not have an income source outside of the church.
My view is that all that we have is God-given or God-enabled. Thus, we should be generous to give to God to support His work, and that in particular is His church. But there are times when He prompts us to help persons in need and other ministries. We should likewise be generous to respond to the prompting of God. People who live by faith, depending fully on God for their subsistence, actually depend on His children (you and I who are believers) responding to His prompting to give and share. We should give as the Holy Spirit prompts with one tenth as a rough guide because if we want to go back to the delineation of the tribes in Exodus as our basis for giving, the other tribes were not required to give more than one-tenth each for the Temple and Levites. In that sense, the maximum and the minimum remains that amount.
Ultimately, what matters is our heart, and we should give as the Lord prompts as generous as we are able and capable while setting aside for our own rainy day, our future, and our families.
Ronnie's Thoughts 