ChristianObserver.org » T.M. Moore – Daily Devotionals

Devoted Things – The First Commandment

thousandhills — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 05:01:33 +0000

Devoted Things

The First Commandment

No other gods

Leviticus 27:28, 29

“But no devoted thing that a man devotes to the LORD, of anything that he has, whether man or beast, or of his inherited field, shall be sold or redeemed; every devoted thing is most holy to the LORD. No one devoted, who is to be devoted for destruction from mankind, shall be ransomed; he shall surely be put to death.”

Matthew 26:6-13

“Devoted things” might include spoil taken in battle or perhaps simply special offerings to the Lord for one reason or another. Devoting something to the Lord was not to be done frivolously or without full intention of carrying out the offering. Once something was devoted, it could not be redeemed. It was the Lord’s.

The same with enemy prisoners. It seems harsh to us to devote enemies to destruction by the sword, but we must remember the danger of allowing the pagan peoples of that day to influence the people of Israel. In the wisdom of God, for that time and place, He determined that the safest course for His people is to eliminate all their enemies who fall into their hands. Israel failed to do this more often than not, and spiritual and moral compromise, even disaster, were frequently the result.

In this series of In the Gates we present a detailed explanation of the Law of God, beginning with the Ten Commandments, and working through the statutes and rules that accompany each commandment. For a practical guide to the role of God’s Law in the practice of ethics, get The Ground for Christian Ethics by going to www.MyParuchia.com and click on our Book Store.

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In the Gates is a devotional series on the Law of God by Rev. T.M. Moore, editor of the Worldview Church. He serves as dean of the Centurions Program of the Wilberforce Forum and principal of The Fellowship of Ailbe, a spiritual fellowship in the Celtic Christian tradition. He is the author or editor of twenty books, and has contributed chapters to four others. His essays, reviews, articles, papers, and poetry have appeared in dozens of national and international journals, and on a wide range of websites. His most recent books are The Ailbe Psalter and The Ground for Christian Ethics (Waxed Tablet).

Scripture quotations in this article are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version, (c) copyright 2001, 2007 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

An Important Reminder – The First Commandment

thousandhills — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 05:01:58 +0000

An Important Reminder

The First Commandment

No other gods

Deuteronomy 26:12-15

“When you have finished paying all the tithe of your produce in the third year, which is the year of tithing, giving it to the Levite, the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow, so that they may eat within your towns and be filled, then you shall say before the LORD your God, ‘I have removed the sacred portion out of my house, and moreover, I have given it to the Levite, the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow, according to all your commandment that you have commanded me. I have not transgressed any of your commandments, nor have I forgotten them. I have not eaten of the tithe while I was mourning, or removed any of it while I was unclean, or offered any of it to the dead. I have obeyed the voice of the LORD my God. I have done according to all that you have commanded me. Look down from your holy habitation, from heaven, and bless your people Israel and the ground that you have given us, as you swore to our fathers, a land flowing with milk and honey.’”

A tithe every third year was apparently to be set aside for the Levites and the needy. Upon satisfaction of this tithe an Israelite was to make this declaration before the Lord. It would be difficult to make this declaration if one had not fulfilled the requirements of this tithe. Further, the declaration reminded the one making this offering that the blessing of the Lord—the realization of His promises—is tied to obedience to His Law. When God’s people are faithful in obeying Him they may feel free to call upon Him to fulfill His promises. So, again, this would be an important matter to be reminded of from time to time, and the third-year tithe provided just such an opportunity.

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Blessed by the Lord’s Offering – The First Commandment

thousandhills — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 05:01:56 +0000

Blessed by the Lord’s Offering

The First Commandment

No other gods

Deuteronomy 14:22, 23

“You shall tithe all the yield of your seed that comes from the field year by year. And before the LORD your God, in the place that he will choose, to make his name dwell there, you shall eat the tithe of your grain, of your wine, and of your oil, and the firstborn of your herd and flock, that you may learn to fear the LORD your God always.”

Part of the Lord’s tithe was to go to the support of the priests and the Levites. Part of it was to be consumed in this feast, so that even in our tithes to the Lord He can be seen to be caring for us.

Even today people benefit from the offerings they bring to their churches—facilities, staff, resources, and so forth all depend on the giving of the Lord’s people. We should not feel bad about the fact that we “spend the Lord’s money on ourselves,” as long as we are not neglecting the purpose of the church and her ministry.

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The Best Belongs to the Lord – The First Commandment

thousandhills — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 05:01:55 +0000

The Best Belongs to the Lord

The First Commandment

No other gods

Exodus 23:19

“The best of the firstfruits of your ground you shall bring into the house of the LORD your God.”

Proverbs 3:9, 10

Our text emphasizes that the best of our firstfruits are to go to the Lord. This required a process of selection, comparison, and “sanctification” of the firstfruits, setting apart the best for the Lord. Giving to the Lord must not be a mindless or automatic task. We should think and pray over our giving, make sure that we are investing in the best Kingdom enterprises, and consecrate our gifts to the Lord with prayer and rejoicing.

The way we practice giving to the Lord says as much, and perhaps more, about our relationship with Him as the mere fact that we give.

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Divine Substitutes – The First Commandment

thousandhills — Sun, 29 Aug 2010 05:01:49 +0000

Divine Substitutes

The First Commandment

No other gods

Exodus 22:29

“You shall not delay to offer from the fullness of your harvest and from the outflow of your presses. The firstborn of your sons you shall give to me.”

Numbers 3:11-13

God Himself substituted for the first-born of the sons of Israel. He took the Levites unto Himself in the place of the sons of Israel (Num. 3:11-13). Still, all the first-born sons were His, and each time a father or mother looked on that first-born son, he or she would be expected to look upon the Levites as their own family, an entire tribe given to the Lord and His service in lieu of the child who labored with his father in the fields.

The people of Israel doubtless knew that God had a right to the first-born. They remembered how He had dealt with the first-born of Egypt. But in the Levites they had a perpetual emblem of God’s grace and of His own ability to “substitute” offerings pleasing to Him in place of His sinful people.

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Give First – The First Commandment

thousandhills — Sat, 28 Aug 2010 05:01:54 +0000

Give First

The First Commandment

No other gods

Exodus 22:29

“You shall not delay to offer from the fullness of your harvest and from the outflow of your presses. The firstborn of your sons you shall give to me.”

Numbers 3:11-13

Promptness in giving is what’s in view here. Israelites were expected to give on schedule as soon as the offerings came off the vine, tree, or stalk, or out of the flocks and herds.

Again, this passage speaks to the practices of giving of many believers, who pay all their bills and make all their purchases first, then, from whatever they have left over, they give to the Lord. God understood that His people might fall into this snare, and so He emphatically commanded them to give the offering at once, right off the top.

It’s not likely His opinion on this has changed.

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No Substitutes – The First Commandment

thousandhills — Fri, 27 Aug 2010 05:01:38 +0000

No Substitutes

The First Commandment

No other gods

Leviticus 27:30-33

“Every tithe of the land, whether of the seed of the land or of the fruit of the trees, is the LORD’s; it is holy to the LORD. If a man wishes to redeem some of his tithe, he shall add a fifth to it. And every tithe of herds and flocks, every tenth animal of all that pass under the herdsman’s staff, shall be holy to the LORD. One shall not differentiate between good or bad, neither shall he make a substitute for it; and if he does substitute for it, then both it and the substitute shall be holy; it shall not be redeemed.”

The notion of substituting for a tithe is rather more mysterious, at least to me. Why would a person want to substitute one, say, calf, for another? Perhaps the one to be retained was in better condition? By substituting a less robust animal a man might keep the healthy one for himself and still fulfill the obligations of the tithe.

Unless, of course, he was discovered. That seems to be the idea here, since substituting would go against the command not to differentiate between good and bad. A man who substituted a poorer offering for a better one, should he be discovered (we must assume), would be required to relinquish both the original offering and the substitute. Thus God seems to have wanted to discourage this practice, doubtless, at least in part, to keep mere self-interest from entering into the work of giving.

This is instructive for us, if only indirectly, in our day, when so many appeals for funding offer premiums or promises of divine blessing to come to the giver—blatant appeals to mere self-interest in seeking to garner funds for the “work of the Lord.”

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Redeeming the Tithe – The First Commandment

thousandhills — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 05:01:02 +0000

Redeeming the Tithe

The First Commandment

No other gods

Leviticus 27:30-33

Two other ideas are present here, that of “redeeming” one’s tithe and of “substituting” for it. Evidently it was possible to redeem a portion (or all?) of one’s firstfruit, perhaps to ensure more seed for a future planting or to build one’s flocks. It was lawful to do this, but sacrifice was still required. Paying merely the market price of grain, fruit, or livestock was not sufficient; a fifth of that price must be added. Thus one could accomplish the full purpose of the tithe in making an offering and in making it sacrificial.

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Whether Good or Bad – The First Commandment

thousandhills — Wed, 25 Aug 2010 05:01:28 +0000

Whether Good or Bad

The First Commandment

No other gods

Leviticus 27:30-33

The idea that we should not “differentiate between bad and good” is interesting. The giving of the firstfruits was literally to be that. The first of the harvest and the first of the flocks to pass under the staff were to be given to the Lord. Some of that fruit, grain, or flesh may not have been quite perfect. But the tithe is not like a sacrifice, which was to be pure and without blemish. In giving a tithe for the needs of the priests and Levites Israel shared their lives with these servants. The servants, in turn, shared in their lives, both the good and bad of them.

Now no one should have thought that he could select only the worst of his crop or herds to give to as the tithe. Just set apart the first tenth of all that you gather and bring that in as is, whether good or bad. Nor must one be expected to take the time to set apart only what is good. The Lord required the firstfruits, good and bad alike, and He expected His people to give them faithfully and His servants to receive them joyfully.

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We Can’t Outgive God – The First Commandment

thousandhills — Tue, 24 Aug 2010 05:01:31 +0000

We Can’t Outgive God

The First Commandment

No other gods

Leviticus 27:30-33

Tithes were also to be given from among the flocks and herds of Israel. These may have been somewhat harder to part with, since animals are the source of so much good, but God required them nonetheless. In giving up animals the people of Israel were forfeiting not only immediate good but what we might refer to as opportunity cost—the opportunity for more goods to consume or sell, as well as for more offspring.

God understands this full well. It pleases Him for us to give sacrificially to His work, without grumbling or complaining, and in the full assurance that we can never give away more than He is able to provide in meeting all our needs.

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