Tithes and First Fruits (Malachi 3:8-10; Proverbs 3:9-10; Romans 4:12; Genesis 7:11-8:14; 41:25-57)

TOTALLY SEPARATE

The first thing to establish is that tithes and first fruits are two totally separate entities, which you can easily do simply by running through a Strong's concordance and seeing the number of times the two words are used together, in the same passages, obviously referring to two separate offerings.

2 CHRONICLES 31:5 "And as soon as the commandment came abroad, the children of Israel brought in abundance the first fruits of grain; wine; and oil; and honey; and of all the increase of the field; and the tithe of things brought they in abundantly".

NEHEMIAH 10:37 "...and that we should bring the first fruits of our dough, and our offerings [our first fruit offerings (LXX)], 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".

NEHEMIAH 12:44 "...at the time were some appointed over the chambers for storage, for the offerings; for the first fruits; and for the tithes, to gather into them, out of the fields of the cities, the portions of the law for the priests and the Levites...".

LXX

The distinction is also very obvious in the Septuagint (abbreviated "LXX", the Roman numerals mean 70, and the word is from the Latin word "septuaginta", meaning 70). The Septuagint is a translation of the original Hebrew scriptures into Greek, by 70 Greek and Hebrew scholars, approximately 2-3 hundred years before the birth of Christ. The Greek language had dominated the known world, to the point, that many in Israel did not speak Hebrew as fluently as Greek, and it was necessary to have a translation that all Jewish people could read and understand. The LXX is suggested to be from the oldest known Hebrew scriptures at the time. The authenticity and credibility of the translation is supported by the fact that over 95% of all quotations in the New Testament, whether from Jesus; Paul; or any of the NT writers, are taken from the LXX, and not the Hebrew translation of the Old Testament.

LXX Translations

DEUTERONOMY 12:11 "...and there shall be a place which the LORD your God shall choose for His name to be called there, there shall you bring all things that I order you today; your whole burnt offerings; and your sacrifices; and your tithes; and the first fruits of your hands; and every choice gift of yours; whatsoever you shall vow to the LORD your God".

DEUTERONOMY 12:17 "...you shall not be able to eat in your cities the tithe of your corn; and of your wine; and of your oil; and the firstborn of your herd and of your flock; and all your vows, as many as you shall have vowed; and your thank-offerings; and the first-fruits of your hands".

2 CHRONICLES 31:12 "...and they brought there the first fruits and the tithes faithfully...".

NEHEMIAH 13:5 "...the tithes of the grain; the new wine; and the oil; ...and the first fruits of the priests".

MALACHI 3:8 "...will a man insult God? for you insult me. But you say, 'Wherein have we insulted You?', In that the tithes and first fruits are with you still.".

NOT the SAME

Obviously, from the scriptures, tithes and first fruits are not the same thing. In fact, if the first fruits were the tithe, it would be called "last fruits", since the tithe is given from the whole of whatever comes in from harvest; livestock born; fruit of the ground; [or the tithe (10%) of whatever we earned from our paycheck or income]; whereas first fruit is exactly as the name implies, the very first sheaf; the first of cattle; first sheep; first goats; or first born; the first of the fruit harvested; [the first paycheck of the year; the first income from a business deal].

CASE for the TITHE:

JACOB

First, to understand the tithe, it is important to understand that all peoples tithed, just not all to the LORD. It is a historical fact that all people groups gave a tenth, or 10% [tithe means 10th] of all their income [produce; crops; livestock], every harvest season, to the god, or gods, that they worshiped. Even Jacob "...vowed a vow, saying, 'If God will be with me, and will KEEP ME in this way that I go, and will GIVE ME bread to eat, and raiment to put on, so that I come again to my father's house in peace; then shall the LORD be my God: and this stone, which I have set for a pillar, shall be God's house; and of all that You shall GIVE ME I will surely give the tenth to You' ". [Literally, "...surely tithing I will tithe...] (Gen.28:20-22).

TITHING

The most amazing thing about this passage, is that the implication, from the Hebrew text, is that Jacob was already tithing, ["...surely tithing I will tithe..."], just that he wasn't tithing to the LORD, as he had not yet made the LORD his God, which happened after his return to Canaan, when he erected an altar to God, the God of Israel, (Gen.33:20).

ALL PEOPLES TITHED

But the point is, as is substantiated by historical record; all peoples tithed to some god, or gods, and Jacob was no different. There is no record of who he was tithing to, in the sense of what priest, of what false god, but he basically made a deal with the LORD, that if He would protect and provide for him, that then he would take Him as his God. Whoever you tithe to is also the God or god that you worship; are in service to.

ABRAHAM

Abraham paid tithes to Melchizedek, who had "brought forth bread and wine", which was a sign of covenant, signifying which God you worshiped (Gen.14:18-20). As Abraham said, 'I have lifted up my hand [i.e., in swearing a covenant oath], to the LORD, the Most High God, the possessor of heaven and earth' (Gen.14:22).

GOD YOU WORSHIP

The tithe represented, the God that was your sole provider [possessor of heaven and earth], and that the God you worshiped was the deliverer/protector from all your enemies. The tithe still represents the sign of the covenant with the God you worship, that He is your protector and provider.

GALATIANS 3:29 says that if we are Christ's then we are Abraham's seed and Romans 4:12 says we are to walk in the steps of our father, Abraham. The word in the Greek literally means the "footprints" of our Father Abraham, meaning, as far as it concerns faith, we are to not just follow his example, but we are to 'step exactly where he stepped; in the same footprint, and do exactly what he did', including tithing.

JESUS

Jesus also said that the scribes and Pharisees paid tithes of mint; anise; and cummin, and though they were missing justice; mercy; and faith, Jesus said these ought to be done, but "NOT TO LEAVE THE OTHER UNDONE" (Matt.23:23). In other words, Jesus endorsed tithing.

PAUL

1 CORINTHIANS 9:13-14. Paul, by the Holy Spirit said, "Do you not know that they who minister about holy things live of the things of the temple? And they who wait at the altar are partakers with the altar? Even so has the LORD ordained that they who preach the gospel should live of the gospel".

THE LORD ORDAINED

Those "who minister about the holy things" were the priests and Levites. "The things of the temple" and being "partakers with the altar" refers to the tithes and offerings, including the first fruits, and the scripture further states that the LORD has "ordained that they who preach the gospel should live of the gospel" (1 Cor. 9:14), again referring to the tithes and offerings, including the first fruits. This is something that "the LORD ordained".

HEBREWS 6:20 - 7:10 speaks of Jesus being made after the order of Melchizedek and that He receives our tithes. Obviously He doesn't physically receive our tithes, but the tithe being the sign of the covenant is still recognized by Jesus as the acknowledgement of that covenant, and that He is our sole provider and protector.

NOT TITHING

To be quite emphatic, if a person, who claims to be a Believer, is not tithing, then they are not even in covenant relationship with the Father, and He is not their protector or their provider. They may acknowledge Him in name, but they are either ignorant of the teachings of scripture, or out of fear and rebellion, they are in covenant with some other god they worship.

SAME COVENANT

To be quite clear, there is no difference between what is termed the old and new testaments, concerning tithing. It is simply a continuation of the same covenant, operating under the same spiritual law of faith (Rm.3:27).

FIRST FRUITS REVELATION

The revelation concerning first fruits was borne out of frustration, and the apparent lack of evidence, of God fulfilling His word. Obviously, the Father is not negligent concerning what He has said, and if there is an apparent contradiction with the truth, then the problem is concerning our perception of the facts, and not the facts themselves.

LAW of FAITH

As suggested by the term, the "law of faith", there is a spiritual principle in place, that no matter who engages, or comes into agreement with the reality of the truth of God's word; the results are the same. In other words, like the multiplication table, 2 x 2 always equals 4; it never equals 6, or some other numeric. In the same way, there is no variation, or even a shadow of turning (Ja.1:17) with our Father, and His word works the same way, no matter who works the word; the results are the same.

MALACHI 3:8-10

"Will a man rob God? Yet you have robbed me. But you say, 'How have we robbed you?'. In tithes and offerings. You are cursed with a curse; for you have robbed me, even this whole nation. Bring all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house, and prove me now in this, says the LORD of hosts, if I will not open for you the windows of heaven, and pour out for you a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it".

MULTIPLE SERMONS

This passage of scripture bothered me immensely. Multiple sermons have been preached from this passage, on God blessing His people financially. The basic message has been that if you give the tithe, then God will give back to you; and several watered down versions, of God "opening the windows of heaven" supposedly meaning that He would give you a raise in pay, or an idea to make more money; etc.

WRONG NUMBER

It is not that all of these thoughts don't have merit, but like a mathematical equation, that has one of the numbers wrong, the results will also be skewed. If you have ever written down someone's phone number, or the number to a combination, and one of the numbers were not correct; no matter how hard you tried, you could not produce the desired results of calling the person you were trying to connect with, or opening the locked safe. It is no different with spiritual principles. Like making the recipe for a cake, you need all the correct ingredients to make the cake you want, or it doesn't taste right at all.

MAIN INGREDIENT

The main ingredient missing in this passage, is the first fruits. Over years and years of serving Jesus, I have never seen anyone prosper financially through simply tithing, and certainly not anywhere near the extent that this passage describes, and yet that was what was preached and taught, with zero results. It should be quite apparent, even in the English translation from the Hebrew, that something was missing beyond just tithing, because the text says that the nation was robbing God in "tithes AND offerings". In the LXX translation the truth is revealed, since it says you have robbed me in "tithes and first fruits".

DO WHAT YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO

Whereas the KJV, or English translations basically say, "...to bring all the tithes into the storehouse...", the Greek LXX says, "...return now in this..", or "...restore indeed in this..". In other words, the exhortation, similar to the English translation of the Hebrew, is saying to begin to do what you are supposed to be doing, but it encompasses not just the tithe, but first fruits as well.

WINDOWS of HEAVEN

GENESIS 7:11-8:14

There are only a couple places in the whole Bible where this phrase is used, and all of them speak of abundance. The first, and direct reference, is Genesis 7:11, where God opened the "windows of heaven", and the whole earth was flooded, to the point that it took 40 days to empty the ocean of water, in the heavens/atmosphere, that fell on the earth (7:17), and the highest mountain was covered at least 22' beyond the highest peak (7:20), and it took approximately one year for the waters to dry enough for Noah to go out of the ark (7:11/8:13). This, then, is the metaphorical standard to measure the abundance that Malachi is speaking about being released into the Believer's life, who tithes, and gives the first fruits.

2 KINGS 7:1-20.

The king of Syria was basically starving out the Israelites, not letting anyone in or out of Samaria. Elisha gave the prophetic word that by the next day, flour and grain would be so cheap that it would be sold for the lowest weighted value of currency. The king's advisor said, "...if the LORD would make windows in heaven..." (2 Kgs.7:2), a reference to the flood, it would still be impossible; but according to the word of the LORD, that's exactly what happened. There was such superabundance, that "...flour was sold for a shekel, and two measures of barley for a shekel, according to the word of the LORD" (7:16).

EMPTY OUT

The other factor about Malachi 3:10, is that, although many English translations say that God will "pour out" a blessing, both the Hebrew and Greek words are literally "empty out". Again, this is a reference to the flood, where the ocean of water in the heavens, that basically, dropped on the heads of those below, was not just "poured out", but "emptied out". When you empty out something, there is nothing else left or remaining.

EXTREME ABUNDANCE

God, our Father, is saying, that if we will follow Him in obedience, making Him our God; our sole protector and provider, through the covenant sign of tithing and first fruits, that, like the flood, He will 'empty out' extreme abundance on us, like an ocean of blessing, falling on our heads, until He has, metaphorically, emptied the heavens of resources, to the point that we cannot contain it.

TITHING and FIRST FRUITS

In a very real way, giving the first fruits is a step of faith beyond the tithe. When you tithe, you are giving 10% of what has already come into your possession. You already have the money in the bank; or the harvest in the barn; or the cattle have already calved. However, when you give the first fruits, the harvest hasn't happened yet. You are expecting a harvest, and an abundance of harvest.

TESTIMONY

When we first received the revelation of first fruits giving, we gave a sum of money that was substantial to us at the time, which, in a very real way, we desperately needed ourselves, to pay bills, and meet financial commitments, but the revelation was so strong inside, that we knew God's word would work. Within a few short months, we went from being on the verge of considering debt consolidation and bankruptcy, to making more money than we could literally keep track of, at the time.

In 3-4 months time we paid off $80-90,000 in personal debt; credit card debt; and line of credit debt. In addition, we had another $70,000 to put down on the house we purchased; and we gave literally thousands of dollars in tithes and offerings.

CONTINUE to GIVE

Like the tithe, the first fruits is like any other cycle of harvest. It is not a one time experience or action. You continue to grow; you continue to tithe; and you continue to give the first fruits.

PROVERBS 3:9-10

A very similar passage of scripture to Malachi 3:8-10, is Proverbs 3:9-10.

"Honor the LORD with your substance, and with the first fruits of all your increase; so shall your barns be filled with plenty, and your presses shall burst out with new wine".

TRANSLATIONS

Other translations say to honor the LORD with your wealth or capital, being something that you already have; a reference to giving the tithe, and with the first fruits of all your crops; first fruits of all your produce; first fruits of all your income.

FILLED

Then, the text says that your barns, or storehouses, will be filled, to overflowing, with plenty, and your presses will burst out with new wine.

ABUNDANCE

The last phrase of 3:10 is a reference to grapes being pressed, and the juice flowing out into vats. The reference is to the harvesting of the grapes into the presses, to make wine, and the scripture is quite literally saying, that without even having to "press" the grapes, to extract the juice, the weight of the grapes will be in such abundance, that the vats will be literally breaking from the overwhelming abundance, let alone exerting pressure to get out the juice. The heaviness of the harvest of grapes will be squishing out the juice before any extra exertion is required, so much so that the vats or reservoirs cannot contain the overflow.

PLENTY

This word is only used 8 times in the scriptures, one of which is in Ecclesiastes 5:12, where it says that the rich man has so much wealth, that "...the abundance of the rich will not suffer him to sleep".

YEARS of PLENTY

Other than Proverbs 3:10 the other verses are all contained in Genesis 41 about the 7 years of plenty in Egypt (Gen.41:25-57).

SUPERABUNDANCE

In the 7 years of plenty, Joseph took up 20% of the total produce of the land into storage (41:34-36), and "...the earth brought forth by handfuls..."(41:47), and it was so much that it was without number (41:49). This is again superabundance, but the real measure of this abundance, was in the famine that followed.

1) 20% of the 7 years of plenty, fed all of Egypt for the 7 years of famine.

2) 20% of the 7 years of plenty, fed the WHOLE WORLD!

ALL COUNTRIES

"...the famine was over all the face of the earth..." (Gen.41:56) and "...all countries came into Egypt to Joseph to buy grain; because the famine was so severe in all lands" (Gen.41:57).

CAN'T BE COUNTED

The years of "plenty", and the famine that followed, very specifically defines the meaning of the word "plenty", as found in Proverbs 3:9-10. Again, the terminology speaks of such overwhelming abundance, that it cannot even be counted or comprehended.

EXAMPLES: FIRST FRUITS

DEUTERONOMY 26:1-11 talks about bringing the first fruits in a basket and giving it to the priest, to set before the altar, and worshiping and rejoicing before the LORD.

EZEKIEL 44:30 says that when you bring the first fruits, it will cause blessing to rest on your house.

JOHN 6:5-13 is the story commonly referred to as Jesus multiplying the little boy's lunch, but in reality, this is an account of the multiplication of the first fruits. The term used for "baskets" (6:13), is the term used for the first fruit baskets referred to in Deuteronomy 26:1-11. The reality is that Jesus, our high priest, received the first fruits offering from the lad, of 5 barley loaves and 2 small fish, and fed 5,000 men, plus women and children, and then returned 12 baskets to the lad. What is really interesting, is that there were 12 empty baskets to fill, which meant that some of the worshipers ate their first fruits offering, before making it to the temple in Jerusalem.

2 KINGS 4:42-44 is a similar account to John 6:5-13, where a man "...brought the man of God bread of the first fruits twenty loaves of barley, and full ears of corn in its husk", and it fed a 100 men, plus there was food left over.

2 CHRONICLES 31:5-10 speaks of Hezekiah bringing the people back to giving the tithes and first fruits, and when they did, there was so much abundance, that it took them 4 months to collect the heaps of increase.

Who to Give the First Fruits to:

NUMBERS 18:8 says that the first fruits and all the holy things of the children of Israel were to be given to the priests because of the anointing.

NUMBERS 18:31 says that the tithe and first fruits are given to the priests as a reward for their service.

THE ANOINTING

Bottom line is that the first fruits can be given to those who have the anointing, as a reward for their service.

1 SAMUEL 10:4 says, concerning Saul meeting the 3 prophets, "...and they shall give to you two first fruits of bread loaves and you shall take them out of their hand" (LXX). The prophets gave the first fruits to the anointed king.

2 KINGS 4:42 the man brought the first fruits to the anointed prophet Elisha, and he multiplied the offering to feed over a hundred men.

EZEKIEL 45:16 says, "All the people shall give the first fruits to the one guiding Israel" (LXX), or as the English translation from the Hebrew says, the prince, or leader, in Israel.

ANOINTING

The first fruits is basically given to whoever has the anointing, and recognized as such, whereas the tithe is never designated to anywhere other than the location where God has placed His name [i.e., the local church].

FIRST FRUITS: SOBERING THOUGHTS

CAIN

"...Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering to the LORD, and Abel also brought of the first of his flock...and the LORD had respect to Abel and his offering; but to Cain and to his offering he had not respect" (Genesis 4:4-5). Abel brought the first fruits, but Cain disrespected God by not giving the first fruits, and lost out with God.

JERICHO

Jericho was the first city conquered, and as such, it was the first fruits which were devoted to God, but Achan took of the first fruits, and it brought horrid consequences for Israel (Joshua 6:1-7:26).

ELI

One of the reasons that Eli lost the priesthood, was because God said his sons were "...blessing themselves with the first fruit of every sacrifice of Israel, prior of me" (1 Sam.2:29)[LXX]. Eli had more respect for his sons than he did for the things of God, and allowed his sons to take what rightfully belonged to the LORD.

SAUL

One of the reasons Saul lost the kingship, was because he allowed the people to take "...the first fruits of the offering for consumption, to sacrifice before the LORD our God..." (1 Sam.15:21)[LXX]. Rather than honoring God, he honored himself by taking the first fruits to himself and the people.

ISRAEL

Malachi 3:8-10 specifically states that the whole nation was cursed because they robbed God by taking the tithes and first fruits to themselves (3:9). God didn't curse the people, they cursed themselves by devouring what rightfully belonged to the LORD.

INTERNAL REVELATION

God, our Father, is quite obviously not wanting us cursed, but is trying to get financial blessing into our hands, or he wouldn't be giving us clear instructions on how to be blessed. Similar to Joshua 1:8, where He gives us the principle for success, in every area of life, by speaking and praying/muttering; praying in tongues over, the Word of God, constantly, until the revelation becomes realization; His Word works, if we work the word. In other words, like any other scripture that belongs to us by covenant relationship, once it becomes internal revelation to us, it works 100% of the time; no exceptions.

You are God's Best and God's Best is Yours