Sermon Tone Analysis

Do Christians have to tithe?

Gen 14:

This is the first Reverence to The bible...

ABRAM’S RECOMPENSE (VV.

17–20)

The setting was the Valley of Shaveh, the King’s Valley, a brief distance south of Jerusalem.

There two kings greeted Abram and his warriors, the king of Sodom and the king of Salem.

Both were Canaanite kings.

The kings are a study in contrast.

The king of Sodom viewed Abram’s victory as a human feat, but the king of Salem saw it as divine.

The king of Sodom made a businesslike offer to Abram.

But the king of Salem “offered him, in token, a simple sufficiency from God, pronounces an unspecified blessing (dwelling on the Giver, not the gift), and accepts costly tribute” (Kidner).12

Melchizedek.

The king of Salem was none other than the mysterious Melchizedek, actually the king of Jerusalem.

Both etymology and rabbinic commentary as well as Psalm 76:2 confirm that Salem is Jerusalem.

So he was king of what would become the Holy City.

Melchizedek means “king of righteousness” or “my king is righteous.”

Either way his name stresses his righteous character.

And in addition to his royalty and righteousness, he was a priest of the Most High God.

Add to this the fact that he was a Canaanite, and you have the reality: Melchizedek was the God-fearing, Canaanite priest-king of Jerusalem.

He was a Canaanite like the king of Sodom, a descendant of Canaan, the cursed son of Ham.

He was not a physical descendant or relative of Abram.

Yet he was like Abram in this: He believed that there is one God, God the Most High.

Unlike Abram, he did not know that God’s name is Yahweh.

But he would know immediately (cf.

v. 22).

Gordon Wenham explains:

Within Genesis, however, Melchizedek is primarily an example of a non-Jew who recognizes God’s hand at work in Israel: like Abimelech (21:22), Rahab (Josh.

2:11), Ruth (1:16) or Naaman (2 Kings 5:15).

Similarly, he may be seen as a forerunner of the Magi (Matt.

2:1–12), centurions (Matt.

8:5–13; Mark 15:39; Acts 10), or the Syro-Phoenician woman (Mark 7:26–30), let alone the multitude of Gentile converts mentioned in Acts.

They are those who have discovered that in Abram all the families of the earth find blessing.

This union of priest and king at Jerusalem will move David, the first Israelite priest (or at least having priestly functions) and king, to sit on a throne in Jerusalem to sing of a greater Melchizedek to come (cf.

Psalm 110:4).

The significance of this is explained in depth in Hebrews 7, as we shall see in our next study.

What did this God-fearing Canaanite priest-king do?

First, he refreshed Abram: “And Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine” (v.

18a).

This expressed his goodwill and his generosity.

Bread and wine was royal fare (cf. 1 Samuel 16:20).

He laid out a royal banquet for the returning conquerors in the valley of the kings.

Melchizedek’s blessing.

Secondly, while his hands were full of gifts, his lips were full of blessing.

And he blessed him and said,

“Blessed be Abram by God Most High,

Possessor of heaven and earth.”

(v.

19)

This looks back to 12:1–3 when God promised Abram that he would be a blessing and that all the families of the earth would be blessed in him.

This was the initial fulfillment of that promise, as Melchizedek, one of the families of the earth, blessed Abram.

This suggests that Melchizedek himself would be blessed through Abram.

This was in stark contrast to the king of Sodom who was outside the blessing.

Melchizedek’s identification of God Most High as “Possessor of heaven and earth” grounded the blessing in the ultimate power in the universe.

These blessings “invite us to take creation faith out of the arena of ‘origins’ and see it as source for life buoying, and joy in the trials of the day” (Brueggemann).

God’s cosmic power is the ultimate ground of faith.

Then as Melchizedek’s blessing echoed over Abram, Melchizedek blessed God:

“… and blessed be God Most High,

who has delivered your enemies into your hand!” (v.

20)

Melchizedek understood what was lost on the king of Sodom—that the source of Abram’s victories was God

A. Old Testament

The first reference to the tithe in the OT appears in Gen 14:17–20, where Abram (Abraham) gives a tithe of the spoils of his recent battle to Melchizedek, king of Salem and priest of God Most High (ʾel ʿelyôn).

This passage is extremely difficult to date but would appear to be preexilic.

It is known by the author of Psalm 110.

The next reference to the tithe in the OT and probably the earliest reference chronologically is Gen 28:18–22, where Jacob, while making the shrine at Bethel, promises a tithe to God.

This passage is from the E source (ca.

850 B.C.E.).

While these two passages set the tithe in the patriarchal period, they cannot be accepted as historical.

Gen 28:18–22, however, does establish that the tithe goes back at least as early as the period of the divided monarchy.

This is confirmed by a reference to tithes in Amos 4:4 (ca.

750 B.C.E.).

Substantial information on the tithe comes from the D source (ca.

650 B.C.E.), almost surely “the Book of the Law” discovered by the high priest Hilkiah in the Jerusalem temple in 621 B.C.E.

during the reign of King Josiah (2 Kgs 22:3–20).

Chapters 12, 14, and 26 of Deuteronomy provide extensive regulations for tithing.

The people are instructed to tithe the following resources: seed, grain, wine, oil, and firstlings of herds and flocks (Deut 14:22–23).

They are to consume the tithes of grain, wine, oil, and firstlings as a sacrificial meal in a place chosen by God.

Since the discovery of the Book of the Law generated a reformation of Israelite worship on the part of Josiah, and since one of Josiah’s major reforms was the centralization of worship in Jerusalem, it appears certain that he understood the place chosen by God for the bringing of the tithes to be Jerusalem.

The family or extended family is to eat the meal together.

The family is also to invite a Levite from the family’s town to eat the meal with them, since the Levites possess no land and thus have no tithes of their own to bring (Deut 14:27).

If the distance to the place for the sacrificial meal (i.e., Jerusalem) is too great for the family to be able conveniently to bring all their tithes, the tithes are to be sold for money and the money brought to the place for the meal (Deut 14:24–26).

The family then uses the money to buy whatever food and drink they desire for the meal.

The family is to use their tithes for a sacrificial meal for two consecutive years out of every three.

On every third year the tithe is to be kept within the town and given to the Levite, the sojourner, the orphan, and the widow, because they do not possess land (Deut 14:28–29; 26:12).

Two passages from the P source of the Pentateuch discuss tithes.

Lev 27:30–33 states that tithes come from the seed of the land, the fruit of the trees, and every tenth animal of the herds and flocks.

The owner is simply to take every tenth animal that passes under the herdsman’s staff without any inquiry as to whether it is a good animal or a bad animal, and he is not to exchange it for another.

But if he exchanges it for another animal, both it and the animal for which he exchanged it become part of the tithe.

Animals that are a part of the tithe are considered sacred.

If an owner wishes to redeem any of his tithes for money, he may do so, but only if he adds an extra fifth of the animal’s full monetary value.

The priest makes the valuations (Lev 27:23).

The second Priestly passage dealing with tithes is Num 18:20–32.

The central subject of this passage is the role of the Levites in Israelite society.

Since the Levites do not possess any land and therefore cannot readily produce their own food, they are given the agricultural tithes of the people for their sustenance and as reward for their service in the tent of meeting.

The Levites are to present to the Lord a tithe of the tithes given them; that is, they are not to consume but to sacrifice a tenth of the tithes they receive.

This tithe of the tithes is given by the Levites to the priests and is presumably used to support them.

One marked difference in the P source’s understanding of tithes from that of the D source is that the former regards all tithes from the people as going for the support of the Levites, not just the tithes of every third year.

Another difference from D is that P does not stipulate any tithes going to sojourners, orphans, and widows.

These differences reflect the sociological viewpoints of D and P. D is a “popular” writing concerned with the whole of Israelite society: it could not easily ignore the plight of the poor.

P, on the other hand, was more concerned with the status of the priestly class and less with that of the masses, who were perhaps expected to fend for themselves.

It should be noted that in both D and P tithes are by no means the only offerings of the people of Israel.

Other offerings included peace offerings, sin offerings, guilt offering, wave offerings, heave offerings, etc. See also SACRIFICE AND SACRIFICIAL OFFERINGS.