Tuesday, November 3, 2015

(11/03/2015) More On Sacrificial Giving

Today, more is shared on sacrificial giving using examples from the Bible along with instances of daily offerings commanded by GOD, free will offerings (we say, optional gifts), and required seasonal offerings (we say, tithes).  Like the celebration of Passover, the daily burnt offerings were fundamental to the full range of sacred operations for covenant bond (e.g., atonement, expiation, forgiveness, memorial).  Free will offerings are given voluntarily, and are not demanded as duty and obligation.  Tithes (one-tenth) are required from continuous income (such as salary and wages) and from each harvest of livestock (such as cattle and sheep) as well as for crops from ones field.  Thereby tithing becomes understood as seasonal on an annual and semi-annual basis.  Sacrificial giving requires releasing and sharing despite burden to the giver as cost, damage, inconvenience, and loss.  With this in view, the “$1,000 dollar seed” also may appear as acts of compassion, courage, reverence, and unselfishness.


daily offerings

Numbers 28:  2-8, King James Version (KJV):  2 Command the children of Israel, and say unto them, My offering, and my bread for my sacrifices made by fire, for a sweet savour unto me, shall ye observe to offer unto me in their due season.  3 And thou shalt say unto them, This is the offering made by fire which ye shall offer unto the LORD; two lambs of the first year without spot day by day, for a continual burnt offering.  4 The one lamb shalt thou offer in the morning, and the other lamb shalt thou offer at even;  5 And a tenth part of an ephah of flour for a meat offering, mingled with the fourth part of an hin of beaten oil.  6 It is a continual burnt offering, which was ordained in mount Sinai for a sweet savour, a sacrifice made by fire unto the LORD.  7 And the drink offering thereof shall be the fourth part of an hin for the one lamb:  in the holy place shalt thou cause the strong wine to be poured unto the LORD for a drink offering.  8 And the other lamb shalt thou offer at even:  as the meat offering of the morning, and as the drink offering thereof, thou shalt offer it, a sacrifice made by fire, of a sweet savour unto the LORD.

free will offerings

Numbers 6:  13-15, KJV:  13 And this is the law of the Nazarite, when the days of his separation are fulfilled:  he shall be brought unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation:  14 And he shall offer his offering unto the LORD, one he lamb of the first year without blemish for a burnt offering, and one ewe lamb of the first year without blemish for a sin offering, and one ram without blemish for peace offerings,  15 And a basket of unleavened bread, cakes of fine flour mingled with oil, and wafers of unleavened bread anointed with oil, and their meat offering, and their drink offerings.  16 And the priest shall bring them before the LORD, and shall offer his sin offering, and his burnt offering:  17 And he shall offer the ram for a sacrifice of peace offerings unto the LORD, with the basket of unleavened bread:  the priest shall offer also his meat offering, and his drink offering.  18 And the Nazarite shall shave the head of his separation at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, and shall take the hair of the head of his separation, and put it in the fire which is under the sacrifice of the peace offerings.  19 And the priest shall take the sodden shoulder of the ram, and one unleavened cake out of the basket, and one unleavened wafer, and shall put them upon the hands of the Nazarite, after the hair of his separation is shaven:  20 And the priest shall wave them for a wave offering before the LORD:  this is holy for the priest, with the wave breast and heave shoulder:  and after that the Nazarite may drink wine.  21 This is the law of the Nazarite who hath vowed, and of his offering unto the LORD for his separation, beside that that his hand shall get:  according to the vow which he vowed, so he must do after the law of his separation.

1st Chronicles 29:  13-18, KJV:  13 Now therefore, our God, we thank thee, and praise thy glorious name.  14 But who am I, and what is my people, that we should be able to offer so willingly after this sort? for all things come of thee, and of thine own have we given thee.  15 For we are strangers before thee, and sojourners, as were all our fathers:  our days on the earth are as a shadow, and there is none abiding.  16 O LORD our God, all this store that we have prepared to build thee an house for thine holy name cometh of thine hand, and is all thine own.  17 I know also, my God, that thou triest the heart, and hast pleasure in uprightness. As for me, in the uprightness of mine heart I have willingly offered all these things:  and now have I seen with joy thy people, which are present here, to offer willingly unto thee.  18 O LORD God of Abraham, Isaac, and of Israel, our fathers, keep this for ever in the imagination of the thoughts of the heart of thy people, and prepare their heart unto thee:

Romans 12:  1-9, KJV:  1 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.  2 And be not conformed to this world:  but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.  3 For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith.  4 For as we have many members in one body, and all members have not the same office:  5 So we, being many, are one body in Christ, and every one members one of another.  6 Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, whether prophecy, let us prophesy according to the proportion of faith;  7 Or ministry, let us wait on our ministering:  or he that teacheth, on teaching;  8 Or he that exhorteth, on exhortation:  he that giveth, let him do it with simplicity; he that ruleth, with diligence; he that sheweth mercy, with cheerfulness.  9 Let love be without dissimulation. Abhor that which is evil; cleave to that which is good.

tithes

Deuteronomy 12:  17-18, KJV:  17 Thou mayest not eat within thy gates the tithe of thy corn, or of thy wine, or of thy oil, or the firstlings of thy herds or of thy flock, nor any of thy vows which thou vowest, nor thy freewill offerings, or heave offering of thine hand:  18 But thou must eat them before the LORD thy God in the place which the LORD thy God shall choose, thou, and thy son, and thy daughter, and thy manservant, and thy maidservant, and the Levite that is within thy gates:  and thou shalt rejoice before the LORD thy God in all that thou puttest thine hands unto.

2nd Chronicles 31:  5-7, KJV:  5 And as soon as the commandment came abroad, the children of Israel brought in abundance the firstfruits of corn, wine, and oil, and honey, and of all the increase of the field; and the tithe of all things brought they in abundantly.  6 And concerning the children of Israel and Judah, that dwelt in the cities of Judah, they also brought in the tithe of oxen and sheep, and the tithe of holy things which were consecrated unto the LORD their God, and laid them by heaps.  7 In the third month they began to lay the foundation of the heaps, and finished them in the seventh month.

Nehemiah 10:  32-39, KJV:  32 Also we made ordinances for us, to charge ourselves yearly with the third part of a shekel for the service of the house of our God;  33 For the shewbread, and for the continual meat offering, and for the continual burnt offering, of the sabbaths, of the new moons, for the set feasts, and for the holy things, and for the sin offerings to make an atonement for Israel, and for all the work of the house of our God.  34 And we cast the lots among the priests, the Levites, and the people, for the wood offering, to bring it into the house of our God, after the houses of our fathers, at times appointed year by year, to burn upon the altar of the LORD our God, as it is written in the law:  35 And to bring the firstfruits of our ground, and the firstfruits of all fruit of all trees, year by year, unto the house of the LORD:  36 Also the firstborn of our sons, and of our cattle, as it is written in the law, and the firstlings of our herds and of our flocks, to bring to the house of our God, unto the priests that minister in the house of our God:  37 And that we should bring the firstfruits of our dough, and our offerings, and the fruit of all manner of trees, of wine and of oil, unto the priests, to the chambers of the house of our God; and the tithes of our ground unto the Levites, that the same Levites might have the tithes in all the cities of our tillage.  38 And the priest the son of Aaron shall be with the Levites, when the Levites take tithes:  and the Levites shall bring up the tithe of the tithes unto the house of our God, to the chambers, into the treasure house.  39 For the children of Israel and the children of Levi shall bring the offering of the corn, of the new wine, and the oil, unto the chambers, where are the vessels of the sanctuary, and the priests that minister, and the porters, and the singers:  and we will not forsake the house of our God.

sacrificial giving

1st Kings 17:  10-16, KJV:  10 So he arose and went to Zarephath. And when he came to the gate of the city, behold, the widow woman was there gathering of sticks:  and he called to her, and said, Fetch me, I pray thee, a little water in a vessel, that I may drink.  11 And as she was going to fetch it, he called to her, and said, Bring me, I pray thee, a morsel of bread in thine hand.  12 And she said, As the LORD thy God liveth, I have not a cake, but an handful of meal in a barrel, and a little oil in a cruse:  and, behold, I am gathering two sticks, that I may go in and dress it for me and my son, that we may eat it, and die.  13 And Elijah said unto her, Fear not; go and do as thou hast said:  but make me thereof a little cake first, and bring it unto me, and after make for thee and for thy son.  14 For thus saith the LORD God of Israel, The barrel of meal shall not waste, neither shall the cruse of oil fail, until the day that the LORD sendeth rain upon the earth.  15 And she went and did according to the saying of Elijah:  and she, and he, and her house, did eat many days.  16 And the barrel of meal wasted not, neither did the cruse of oil fail, according to the word of the LORD, which he spake by Elijah.

Luke 21:  1-4, KJV:  1 And he looked up, and saw the rich men casting their gifts into the treasury.  2 And he saw also a certain poor widow casting in thither two mites.  3 And he said, Of a truth I say unto you, that this poor widow hath cast in more than they all:  4 For all these have of their abundance cast in unto the offerings of God:  but she of her penury hath cast in all the living that she had.

Acts 3:  1-10, KJV:  1 Now Peter and John went up together into the temple at the hour of prayer, being the ninth hour.  2 And a certain man lame from his mother’s womb was carried, whom they laid daily at the gate of the temple which is called Beautiful, to ask alms of them that entered into the temple;  3 Who seeing Peter and John about to go into the temple asked an alms.  4 And Peter, fastening his eyes upon him with John, said, Look on us.  5 And he gave heed unto them, expecting to receive something of them.  6 Then Peter said, Silver and gold have I none; but such as I have give I thee:  In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk.  7 And he took him by the right hand, and lifted him up:  and immediately his feet and ankle bones received strength.  8 And he leaping up stood, and walked, and entered with them into the temple, walking, and leaping, and praising God.  9 And all the people saw him walking and praising God:  10 And they knew that it was he which sat for alms at the Beautiful gate of the temple: and they were filled with wonder and amazement at that which had happened unto him.

Mark 14:  3-9, KJV:  3 And being in Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, as he sat at meat, there came a woman having an alabaster box of ointment of spikenard very precious; and she brake the box, and poured it on his head.  4 And there were some that had indignation within themselves, and said, Why was this waste of the ointment made?  5 For it might have been sold for more than three hundred pence, and have been given to the poor. And they murmured against her.  6 And Jesus said, Let her alone; why trouble ye her? she hath wrought a good work on me.  7 For ye have the poor with you always, and whensoever ye will ye may do them good:  but me ye have not always.  8 She hath done what she could:  she is come aforehand to anoint my body to the burying.  9 Verily I say unto you, Wheresoever this gospel shall be preached throughout the whole world, this also that she hath done shall be spoken of for a memorial of her.

Of course, there is far more that could be said and shared.  Even so, I trust this fragment will be useful.  Be it unto you according to your faith.


THE BLACK PHOENIX
Washington, DC

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