Study Guide: Shareholders of Kingdom investments Tithing: Hebrew Numbers Understanding the Word “Tithe” (aHat) ַַאתח (shtyim) ִםַיְשׁתּ (Shalohsh) וֹלָשׁשׁ (arbah) ְַעבַּאר ֲֵרַמשׂﬠ (Hamaysh) ֵָחשׁמ (shaysh) ֵשׁשׁ (sheva) ַעֶשׁב (shmohnay) ֶהנְשׁוֹמ (taysha) ֵַתּעשׁ (esair) ֶֶﬠרשׂ www.HopeHill.com 1 Tithing: Hebrew Numbers Understanding the Word “Tithe” Malachi 3:8 אעְבִּקיֲה אםָדַ כּיםֱ]הָ אִי ִ קםַתּ יאםְﬠֹבֶ ִיֹתִ ְבּםתַּרֲמַאו קהַמֶּ וּ^נֲַﬠְבֶ ַֽמַּה ֵרֲﬠשׂ ְוְַהתּרָֽוּמה׃ Malachi 3:10 כּיוּאאָהב ֶָל־ִת־ ֲֵַֽﬠמַּהרשׂ ֶאתלה־בּ ֹרוָצֵיא ָו ִ הי ִ י ֶ ט ףֶ ר בְ בּ ֵ תי ִ י בוּ חְ נוּנָ יִ אָ נ תאֹזָ בּ מָ א רַ והְ י הָ בְ צ אָ תוֹ אֹל־ִם א פֶ א תְּ חַ כָ ל םֶ ת ֵא ת ֹוהתֻבֲּאר ַָמשּׁ םַי ִֹתיקֲרַהוִ ִלי בּםָכ ﬠָהכְרֶ ־ִידְלַ־דבָּ ָ ׃ֽי ִדל־בּ ָכר םכִיֹתקרהִםיָמ ותבּא Malachi 3 | Freeing God’s Hands to Bless 6 I the Lord do not change. So you, the descendants of Jacob, are not destroyed. 7 Ever since the time of your ancestors you have turned away from My decrees and have not kept them. Return to Me, and I will return to you, says the Lord Almighty. But you ask, “How are we to return?” 8 Will a mere mortal rob God? Yet you rob Me. But you ask, “How are we robbing You?” In tithes and offerings. 9 You are under a curse—your whole nation—because you are robbing Me. 10 Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in My house. Test Me in this, says the Lord Almighty, and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it. 11 I will prevent pests from devouring your crops, and the vines in your fields will not drop their fruit before it is ripe, says the Lord Almighty. 12 Then all the nations will call you blessed, for yours will be a delightful land, says the Lord Almighty. Discussion Questions: 1. How does God view it when His people do not bring “the whole tithe into the storehouse”? 2. When God said “test Me,” what was the test we are to put Him to? 3. What was God’s promise if we care about His house first? www.HopeHill.com 2 Bible History on Tithing Genesis 14 | First Appearance of “Tithe” 14 When Abram heard that his relative had been taken captive, he called out the 318 trained men born in his household and went in pursuit as far as Dan. 15 During the night Abram divided his men to attack them and he routed them, pursuing them as far as Hobah, north of Damascus. 16 He recovered all the goods and brought back his relative Lot and his possessions, together with the women and the other people. 17 After Abram returned from defeating Kedorlaomer and the kings allied with him, the king of Sodom came out to meet him in the Valley of Shaveh (that is, the King’s Valley). 18 Then Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine. He was priest of God Most High, 19 and he blessed Abram, saying, “Blessed be Abram by God Most High, Creator of heaven and earth. 20 And praise be to God Most High, who delivered your enemies into your hand.” Then Abram gave him a tenth of everything. Leviticus 27 | Second Appearance of “Tithe” 30 A tithe of everything from the land, whether grain from the soil or fruit from the trees, belongs to the Lord; it is holy to the Lord. 31 Whoever would redeem any of their tithe must add a fifth of the value to it. 32 Every tithe of the herd and flock—every tenth animal that passes under the shepherd’s rod—will be holy to the Lord. Discussion Question: 1. What was the main form of currency in the time Leviticus was written? What does the word .( שֶׁדֹק ָוהיֽ ַל הֽ ) ”This passage says the tithe is “holy to the Lord .2 “holy” mean? Deuteronomy 14 | Thoughts on Increase 22 You shall truly tithe all the increase of your seed, that the field brings forth year by year. Discussion Question: 1. How does the word “increase” teach us what should be tithed on and what should not? 2. Does this help us to understand pre-tax vs. post-tax tithing? Tax returns? www.HopeHill.com 3 why tithe? 3 Good Reasons We Give Back to God 1. Obedience 2. Blessing 3. Building God’s House (Kingdom Shareholding) www.HopeHill.com 4 1 of 3: obedience Matthew 23 | Jesus Teaches on Tithing 23 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith. These you ought to have done, without leaving the others undone. 24 Blind guides, who strain out a gnat and swallow a camel! Matthew 6 | Treasure and the Heart 19 “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; 20 but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” Immature Discipleship = I Obey God for What He Will Do for Me Mature Discipleship = I Will Obey God Because He is My Lord www.HopeHill.com 5 2 of 3: blessing Remember Malachi 3 God Said: “Test me” Luke 21:1-4 | What Jesus Sees And He looked up and saw the rich putting their gifts into the treasury, 2 and He saw also a certaiN poor widow putting in two mites. 3 So He said, “Truly I say to you that this poor widow has put in more than all; 4 for all these out of their abundance have put in offerings for God, but she out of her poverty put iN all the livelihood that she had.” www.HopeHill.com 6 3 of 3: building god’s house Luke 8:1-3 | Jesus’ Ministry Funders 1 After this, Jesus traveled about from one town and village to another, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom of God. The Twelve were with Him, 2 and also some women who had been cured of evil spirits and diseases: Mary (called Magdalene) from whom seven demons had come out; 3 Joanna the wife of Chuza, the manager of Herod’s household; Susanna; and many others. These women were helping to support them out of their own means. www.HopeHill.com 7 3 of 3: building god’s house Nehemiah 12 44 At that time men were appointed to be in charge of the storerooms for the contributions, firstfruits and tithes. From the fields around the towns they were to bring into the storerooms the portions required by the Law for the priests and the Levites, for Judah was pleased with the ministering priests and Levites. 45 They performed the service of their God and the service of purification, as did also the musicians and gatekeepers, according to the commands of David and his son Solomon. 46 For long ago, in the days of David and Asaph, there had been directors for the musicians and for the songs of praise and thanksgiviNg to God. 47 So in the days of Zerubbabel and of Nehemiah, all Israel contributed the daily portions for the musicians and the gatekeepers. They also set aside the portion for the other Levites, and the Levites set aside the portion for the descendants of Aaron. Nehemiah 13 4 Now before this, Eliashib the priest, having authority over the storerooms of the house of our God, was allied with Tobiah. 5 And he had prepared for him a large room, where previously they had stored the grain offerings, the frankincense, the articles, the tithes of grain, the new wine and oil, which were commanded to be giveN to the Levites and singers and gatekeepers, and the offerings for the priests. 6 But during all this I was not in Jerusalem, for in the thirty- second year of Artaxerxes king of Babylon I had returned to the king. Then after certain days I obtained leave from the king, 7 and I came to Jerusalem and discovered the evil that Eliashib had done for Tobiah, iN preparing a room for him in the courts of the house of God. 8 And it grieved me bitterly; therefore I threw all the household goods of Tobiah out of the room. 9 Then I commanded them to cleanse the rooms; and I brought back into them the articles of the house of God, with the grain offering and the frankincense. 10 I also realized that the portions for the Levites had not been given them; for each of the Levites and the singers who did the work had gone back to his field. 11 So I contended with the rulers, and said, “Why is the house of God forsakeN?” And I gathered them together and set them in their place. 12 Then all Judah brought the tithe of the grain and the new wine and the oil to the storehouse. 13 And I appointed as treasurers over the storehouse Shelemiah the priest and Zadok the scribe, and of the Levites, Pedaiah; and next to them was Hanan the son of Zaccur, the son of Mattaniah; for they were considered faithful, and their task was to distribute to their brethreN.