Kim and I are reading the book of Jeremiah together one chapter every day. We thought it would give us a chance to digest the message a little better while we talked about the daily verses.
My initial reaction was to see Jeremiah as a wailing prophet, warning wrongdoers of impending doom. There are about a million examples.
‘Thus says the Lord: “Behold, I am fashioning a disaster and devising a plan against you. Return now every one from his evil way, and make your ways and your doings good.” Jeremiah 18:11
I’ve never seen myself as an evildoer so the Books of the Prophets haven’t interested me as much as the really cool stories about David, Gideon, or Elisha.
Eventually, one of the stories broke through to me.
In Jeremiah 34, God told Jeremiah to command the people to free the servants they had held beyond the 7 years allowed by Mosaic law. They obeyed but then took the same people back into servitude again. Another example of evildoers, right?
I skipped through this pretty quickly until I thought about it further.
When the servants were “released”, where were they supposed to go? As long-term members of one household, what job skills did they have to find income? What money did they have for the first month’s rent or a security deposit? Their social network was made up of other servants from that house or others close by – should they abandon their roots?
So the servants reluctantly asked to be taken back into their previous positions, surrendering freedom for familiarity.
The families were faced with a tough choice. Welcoming them back as servants meant ignoring Jeremiah. Rejecting their request meant casting them into a world they weren’t prepared for.
I can imagine hearing them talk about how the High Council should put together a transition program for these people before mumbling about the politics of the day never getting much done.
You can almost hear a husband and wife arguing about how to help – one seeing the need and the other bemoaning a difficult financial year where their resources were already spread thin.
In the end, they conceded that if their servant wanted to “come home”, then they would let them. This time they would be nicer, maybe get them some new clothes, or give them an afternoon off every other week.
After all, what else would they do? Anything more would require completely upending their lives and raise a thousand questions where they didn’t know the answers.
The more I reflected over how Jeremiah 34 actually played out for the people, the more it sounded like a very practical solution I would have devised. It changed the way I viewed this wailing prophet.
Jeremiah wasn’t talking to people who didn’t care or viewed themselves as the “bad guys”. Most of these people believed they were doing the best they could in their situations. They had either drifted or were following paths they were raised on.
Jeremiah was primarily talking to people who followed most of the laws of the day – observing the Sabbath, avoiding unclean foods, and displaying mezuzahs on their doorposts.
When God judged the people, he called whole families together (Rekabites in Jer 35). Each was accountable not only for their own behavior, but also for their parents, siblings, and children. That must have been difficult to hear.
God was judging whether or not they would listen to His prophet, reflect on their lives, and blow everything up if it brought them closer to Him.
Jeremiah is pleading for me to ask myself:
Am I willing to listen to what he says and reflect on my own life, or assume he is talking to someone else and keep flipping pages? Do I want more, or am I satisfied with what I have?
I’ve recently rearranged my life to give time to contemplate a lot of things. Some questions are easy – How much should I exercise, and what diet do I want? Some questions are hard – Am I building a city on a hill, joyfully surrendering everything I have been given to expand His kingdom? Are there parts of my life I am holding back, not doing evil, but not pursuing relation with Him as my highest priority?
Jeremiah asks hard questions. He warns of punishment but also promises reconciliation.
Most of the people of his day ignored him. They had busy lives and were generally satisfied with themselves and their situation. Reflection is time-consuming and difficult.
Jeremiah challenges me:
Will you welcome me into your house, listen to me as the voice of God, and then repent?
I have ADHD. It’s not necessarily like what most people imagine it to be. It is more than being easily distracted.
Because of the “AD” part, there are always different, competing thoughts swirling through my head and it can be very difficult to focus on just one of them.
The “H” part makes it hard to sit still. I tend to fidget restlessly because somehow it helps me to find focus. Sitting still can feel restrictive and stifling.
If you don’t deal with this, imagine being confined to a small chair with televisions surrounding all of your vision. You try to pay attention to what is playing on a particular screen, but each television is loudly playing something different. The longer you are required to sit in the chair after the screens blend into cacophony, the more anxiety builds. Eventually you become numb and tune everything out.
Yesterday, I sat in a Leadership Development event at the main campus of our church. It is a very large venue and hosted close to a thousand people that day. Its goal was to share insight with the church’s leaders, to motivate them, and give a sense of shared purpose. It did not go like I thought it would.
From the beginning, the worship style was difficult for me. Usually when the instruments play and the singers begin, I close my eyes. That is my effort to block out all of the external and internal distractions. It requires a lot of focus to make things “quiet”. The louder the music plays and the more people press in on all sides, the harder it is to separate the worship from the competing noises.
Similarly, social interactions intended to be lighthearted and relaxing are a challenge. It is not easy for me to focus on a lot of new people in a group. Because I process information differently than most people, it takes me more time. I am easily distracted by the abundance of new inputs – what they are wearing, how they do their hair, how they carry themselves. Piecing together the litany of social cues requires concentration. Without taking the time to process the situation first, I just fake the conversation – trying to act like everyone else.
Breaking into groups with strangers to pray is hard. I believe that Jesus carries my requests into the throne room of God and petitions on my behalf. I consider my words carefully. Throwing out quick prayers for people I do not know is uncomfortable. I need more time to understand them and connect to their feelings first. It feels wrong to throw around words recklessly that I am asking my Savior to carry to the Father.
The last social activity was to share a word God was speaking to me. By this time, my anxiety had heightened. So many voices. So loud. I tried to block them out and hear the Spirit whisper to me, but I couldn’t focus. My brain screamed for quiet and the more I tried unsuccessfully to find it, the more anxiety I felt.
Fortunately, a friend noticed something was wrong and told me it was OK if I stepped away.
I left the event and walked out of the building. I found a quiet, shaded spot in a remote corner of the parking lot where I sat cross-legged under a tree. I closed my eyes and focused on quieting the noise. Gradually, everything subsided.
As peace came back to me, my thoughts were drawn back into the worship center. All of the people who were there, motivated by the setting, drawn into the moment. They genuinely enjoyed the morning.
And suddenly I felt very different from everyone else. I realized that I would never belong there with them. I was aware of God’s love but wished I could be like everybody else, sharing the rapturous moments with them.
The feeling of isolation is familiar. It is the same feeling I have in large groups at work. It is the same feeling I get at family gatherings when the group grows very large. The more people, the louder it gets, the harder it becomes to connect. When I can no longer process everything going on around me, I begin to drift alone.
I hoped it would get better as I’ve gotten older. In some ways it has. Coping is easier. Avoiding certain situations is more automatic. But in other ways, my sensitivity seems to be heightening.
There is no danger that I will give up and walk away from the people I care about. However it will take me time to consider how I can be a leader in my church family. I will have to find a way to be at peace with them the same way I can be at peace alone with God.
There are others like me who connect differently. God will place them in my path, but probably not at these large gatherings.
Last, I have to remember that He created me this way – not by accident but with a plan. I am not alone because He is always there, and He surrounds me with people who love me. My ideal settings are different from other people, but that is OK. He made me this way for a reason. Instead of feeling outcast, I will focus on feeling unique and special while helping others to experience it also.
And maybe at the next gathering, I will search for a different way ahead of time. 🙂
Tithing has been one of the most frustrating and misunderstood concepts in my walk with Christ. This article is my effort to provide Biblical interpretation of the tithe and how it applies to us today.
What Is a Tithe?
Throughout the Bible, tithing is mentioned as a 10% gift given to God. In a non-profit charity, our gifts are considered a donation. Tithing is more than that, it is a way of using what we have been given to establish His kingdom on earth.
In the original Hebrew, “Ma’aser” when was used discussing what we now call the tithe. It literally meant “tenth part”. There are several places in the Bible that call it out as 10%. In our current language, the original Old English word used was “teogotha”, which means tenth. Teogotha was modified into the current word “Tithe” which still means tenth.
Biblical Guidance for Tithe
Pre-Moses Both Abraham (Gen 14:17-20) and Jacob (Gen 28:10-22) practiced the tithe. Abraham’s example was given from spoils of war and Jacob’s was given from “all that you give me.” There wasn’t any written command that guided them, the tithe seems to have been an expression of their hearts.
Torah (Law given through Moses) Moses provided written instruction on tithing as the basis of giving under Judaic law. He spelled out the detail in Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. He distinguished between three unique and separate types of tithing (more to follow on those).
New Testament In Christ, we are no longer held under the law (Gal 5:16-18). Our salvation is not based on adherence to Torah law. However, tithing is not obsolete . Jesus did not come to make the Torah irrelevant, but to fulfill it (Matt 5:17-20). He even encouraged the Pharisees to adhere to the tithe (Matt 23:23).
Paul’s later guidance focused more on giving in general (1 Cor 16:1-4) but he never replaced tithing with another teaching (such as Jesus did with eating unclean food or Paul did with circumcision).
What Are the Three Different Tithes?
First Tithe (Ma’aser Rishon) – Tithe for the Levites
When God set apart the Levites apart to serve Him (Num 8:5-19), they lost their inheritance of property in the Promised Land. To ensure they were provided for, He established the First Tithe (Num 18:21-24) to meet their needs. The people of Israel paid these tithes to their local synagogues (Neh 10:34-39) who in turn carried their portion of that tithe to the Temple in Jerusalem.
As their economy was predominantly agrarian, many of the tithes were grain, oil, and other food products. These tithes were delivered after the harvest and consumed by the Levites over the course of the year. They were held in storehouses (see previous link from Nehemiah). References about bringing tithes to the storehouse indicate the First Tithe.
Second Tithe (Ma’aser Sheni) – Tithe for Rejoicing
Before Moses surrendered leadership of Israel to Joshua and they crossed the Jordan to take their inheritance, he delivered a series of teachings that are captured in Deuteronomy. He reminded them of their identity in God, the law they were to follow, and to serve God with a fierce passion that exceeded all others (Deut 6:4).
Jesus later reinforced that passion for God as the greatest of all the commandments (Matt 22:34-40). The second tithe is a celebration of that love (Deut 14:22-27). The people of Israel were instructed to set aside a tenth of what was left after the First Tithe to use to travel to Jerusalem for the three annual holy festivals.
They could spend it any way they chose – food, drink, clothing, or just fun. They were encouraged to share it with others who did not have the means to do the same otherwise. There were no real restrictions other than it was to be used during the festivals, not at other times or places (Deut 16:16-17)
The Second Tithe differed from the First Tithe because it was not applied to every year. Of the seven year cycle they observed, the Second Tithe was only to be collected in Years 1 and 2, then again in Years 3 and 4.
This tithe has shifted in form since the destruction of the Temple and the great distance many people of faith live from Jerusalem. In Jewish faith the form may have varied, but the income is still considered sacred and not to be used for other purpose.
Third Tithe (Ma’aser Ani) – Tithe for the Poor
After he laid out instruction for the second tithe, Moses immediately pivoted to lay out the Third Tithe (Deut 14:28-29). This gift was to be shared with others – the foreigners, fatherless, widows, Levites, etc. People were free to use this however they chose.
The third tithe was not given to the synagogue as the First Tithe or used in Jerusalem as the Second Tithe. It was a personal choice to be shared in each local community when and how they saw fit to help the poor to “eat and be satisfied”.
The Third Tithe was also not due every year. It was to be collected from income every third year of the seven year cycle – Years 3 and 6.
Second Tithe – The Three Holy Festivals
The Second Tithe was specifically to be used when travelling to Jerusalem for the three holy festivals.
Passover – Pesach Celebrates the Israelites liberation from slavery in Egypt with a special meal called Seder. Bread made with yeast was forbidden, a reminder to the Israelites that they had to be ready to leave Egypt at a moment’s notice, without time for bread to rise. They ate bitter herbs to remind them their ancestors experienced oppression as slaves.
Their food was dipped twice before being eaten – once in saltwater representative of their tears and once in sweet haroset to remind them there is sweetness in bitter times.
Last, the Seder was eaten from a reclining position (most meals were eaten seated). This represented the transformation from slaves to royalty.
Passover typically precedes Easter by a week.
Festival of Weeks – Shavout This holiday celebrated God revealing the Torah at Mt Sinai. It was held at harvest time fifty days after Passover. Dairy foods were popular as a parallel to the Promised Land that would flow with milk and honey.
The Festival of Weeks coincides with Pentecost whose name originated from the Greek “pentekoste” meaning “fiftieth”. It is the seventh Sunday after Easter.
Feast of Tabernacles – Sukkot Commemorates the Israelites 40-year journey through the wilderness living in temporary shelters. Tents or other temporary shelters were erected to sleep in at night while celebratory meals filled the days.
Sukkot falls in September/October.
Relevance
Each of the individual types of tithes speaks to a different part of our spiritual walk.
The first tithe represents adherence to our faith and belief – our regular walk with God and embracing the truths He has given to us.
The second tithe represents the spirit with which we worship. A carefree release of our treasure while we passionately pursue Him and celebrate everything He has done for us and promises to do for us.
The third tithe represents the authority He has given us on this earth to provide for each other. We are to share what He has given to us to meet our own needs and to do the same for others in an outreach of love.
What Do We Do With This?
Each form of tithe is more than a simple 10% gift to God. It is a three-faceted expression of our faith. None of the individual tithes are complete without the others. We need all of them for completeness in our walk with Him – unshakeable faith, boundless passion, and consuming love.
The Israelites built their budgets, schedules, and priorities around the three tithes, setting aside 20% of their income and the time to attend three festivals.
Rather than an obligation, the tithe is a chance to lean into the embrace of a God who loves us.
