Recently a very dear brother called me, along with another dear brother. This other dear brother asked me a question about a topic I know is of great concern to a number of my very dear Christian brethren – tithing.
Our brother asked me, “I try to tithe to my local assembly, based on Malachi 3:10. Is this correct?” I immediately replied – no! A book could be written on tithing (I actually have one I’ve worked on; more below). For here, let’s now please do a little learning together about tithing – and what it actually means for Christians!
I said to my brother here’s a simple question, before I explain how tithing is actually taught – backwards – to my dear Christian brethren. “If the Jewish Brothers (followers of Yeshua) in Acts for example – or anywhere else – do not tithe to their own assemblies, how can Christians today possibly be obligated to tithe to their assemblies”?
How Tithing is Taught Backwards to Christians
What do I mean that tithing is taught to Christians backwards? A big part of the problem is because tithing – as well as a number of particularly key things from the Hebrew Bible – are taught from English – not the Bible’s Hebrew. Now you’ll learn why I do all my teaching directly from the original languages! The Hebrew word tithe in Malachi 3:10 is typically translated/explained as “10%” or “1/10th”; but, it doesn’t mean that. Hebrew actually has a different word for 1/10th.
In Nehemiah 11:1 in Hebrew, it says that 1/10th of the Jews who returned to Israel (from Exile) will reside in Jerusalem. The two words in Hebrew for 1/10th in Neh.11:1 and in Mal. 3:10 ‘tithe’ are very similar. However, here’s the key; there’s a different meaning for each! In Neh.11:1 the Hebrew indicates 1/10th. In Mal. 3:10 though, the Hebrew for ‘tithe’ is used; not the Hebrew for 1/10th. Again, because Christians aren’t taught from the Hebrew text, it unfortunately causes misunderstanding – and misapplication of Scripture!
The word used in Malachi 3:10 refers to the tithe that’s found for example in Leviticus 27:30-32. Here, I said to our brother, is what a tithe is – from Hebrew. The tithe was not done by taking the whole of a herd of animals and removing 1/10th for the LORD. Rather; animals passed under a rod and would be counted 1, 2, 3, 4 etc. The 10th animal was the tithe designated for the LORD.
Hebrew is, as we repeatedly repeat – and cannot emphasize enough dear ones – wholeness, totality, connectedness, oneness, rooted. We also very much see this in the RCS (Renewed Covenant Scriptures). Cf. Num. 15:39-41, Dt. 13:1 et al.; Cf. esp. Mk. 12:28-30 from Dt. 6:4-5, Yochanon (‘God is gracious’, ‘John’s’ original Hebrew name) 17:20-23, 1 Cor.12:12-27, Eph. 2:11-22 etc. Cf. Jacob – not ‘James’ – 2:10. Cf. 1 Thess. 5:23; cf. also Numbers 15:39-40 et al. A Greek concordance lists almost 110 uses of olo ‘whole’. Something used that many times obviously is significant!
Incidentally – the idea of referring to the Word of God rather than Words of God, demonstrates again the very key Biblical principle of whole/wholeness. It is entirely based on Hebrew thought! Cf. esp. Ex. 24:12; cf. Acts 18:11 etc.
Tithing does not lessen a whole; tithing builds up to make a whole. As a modern Orthodox Jewish rabbi who is also a mathematician astutely points out; 10 is the first number that makes a complete unit. Meaning, it is the first number that is formed from two numbers; not one number. The idea of units in the Hebrew Bible is important but that’s another discussion. Further, 10 in Hebrew is extremely significant, but that is also another discussion.
So then dear ones; how is it that my Christian brethren are taught tithing – backwards? Again; Mal. 3:10 is not – at all – about removing 1/10th of the whole and giving it to the LORD. What makes up that whole unit, the 10th animal etc. counted – is what was given by my ancestors (meaning the Jewish People) to the LORD!
Are Christians Actually Biblically Obligated to Tithe? And, What If They Are Not? Plus – Why Malachi 3:10 is Cited
Again please: Christians absolutely are not required to tithe on the basis of Mal. 3:10 or any other verse for that matter – period! Further – and most definitely – certainly not by tithing to Gentile enterprises. Nowhere is this found – in the entire RCS (Renewed Covenant Scriptures)! The fact that nowhere in the entire RCS is there anything written to Gentiles about tithing, is the reason why Malachi 3:10 is cited today.
As we’ll learn below – Mal. 3:10 is completely, totally, and utterly taken out of context – as far as applying it to Christians! Is there even a single verse in which Paul writes to Gentile followers to tithe? No! Paul never uses the Greek words for ‘tithe’ – period. As he actually also never uses in Koine ‘Common’ Greek doctrine, convert/conversion – or, Xristianos Christians.
A Real Obligation Christians Are Not Taught
In Rom. 15:27, Paul’s Greek speaks of both the moral & ethical obligation and literally the fleshly, i.e., the material obligation of Gentiles to their Jewish Brothers. Why? Paul writes that the Gentiles received pneumatikois ‘spiritually’. The Gentiles received the truth about God, the Good News of Yeshua, and the Word, through the Jews and Jewish Brothers; and thus owed Jews sarkikois literally ‘fleshly’, i.e., materially. In context, Romans 15:27 is part of Rom. 15:25-28 and Paul’s 5-year effort in taking up a Collection from the Gentile Brothers to their Jewish Brothers and Jews in Jerusalem. While Paul says Gentiles do have both a moral & ethical and a material obligation to Jews and Jewish Brothers, Paul says nothing about Gentiles tithing to the Collection he spends 5-years – 5 years – on, for Jews. Cf. Rom. 15:25-28, 1 Cor. 16:1-4, 2 Cor. 8-9, Gal. 2:10; cf. Acts 24:17-18.
The context of Rom. 15:25-28 is also part of Paul’s larger emphasis on Jew & Gentile in Romans; cf Rom.1-3, 9-11, 12, 14-15. In fact, a very major focus of Paul’s 16-17 year ministry is trying to reconcile the Gentile Brethren together with their Jewish Brethren! Cf Acts 15, cf also Eph. 2:11-22 etc.
Mal. 3:10 is taken from what the Religious System emphasizes as ‘OT’ – a term Yeshua never uses – as the basis for tithing to a Gentile Building. Please notice, dear one, the following. More than several plus verses from the ‘OT’ that speak of Gentiles blessing the Jews, are generally not taught to Christians! (With the exception perhaps of Gen. 12:3). Those verses about blessing the Jews and Jewish Brothers most certainly do not receive from the Religious System, anywhere near the attention, that tithing to the local Gentile Building does!
Additionally; how then, can a Christian today possibly be obligated – or, frankly, even voluntarily tithe – to a local Gentile Building, in light of Paul’s 5-year Collection effort for Jews? As well as, what the Bible says about the Jewish People and Jewish Brothers – and what we mean to the LORD and to Yeshua? Cf. Ex. 4:22-23, Ish. 2:2-3, Zech. 2:14-17, 8:20-24 et al.
What you have received spiritually did not emanate from the ‘Church/church’ or, from the Gentiles. Cf. esp. 1 Cor. 4:7, 14:36! God, Yeshua, and the Ruach Hakodesh (Holy Spirit) bring it to the Gentiles through the Jewish People and the Jewish followers of Yeshua! Cf. Ex. 24, et al., Dt. 4:5-10, etc.; Cf. Ish. 2:2-3, Ps. 147:19-20, Mt. 28:19-20, Yochanon 13:20, 17:18-20; cf. Acts 9:15, 21:19, 22:14-15 etc. (Please note; if Luke was not a proselyte to one of the Judaisms at the time, he is dependent on and draws from, Jewish sources – not Gentile ones)!
“The Text Without Context Becomes a Pretext” – The Context of Malachi and Mal. 3:10
The first part of the heading above is a saying I actually heard from a Christian source – and is absolutely correct! The context – the context – of Malachi 3:10 is as follows. Malachi is addressed to the Jewish People who at the time were not doing what they were instructed in the Torah to do for the LORD. Thus the LORD speaks through the Prophet – to Israel. This is completely overlooked and ignored in Christian teaching. The fact that the Jewish People – the Jewish People – who were expected to tithe, were not then tithing as the LORD personally instructed them in His Torah, does not mean that Christians – today – are supposed to tithe to a local Gentile Building!
Thus – taken completely out of context – Mal. 3:10 becomes a pretext for telling, pressuring, or haranguing my dear Christian brethren that they ‘need/should’ tithe. Christians though – unfortunately – are not told what their real Biblical source of blessing and obligation is – the Jew and Jewish Brother! Cf. Gen. 12:3, 27:29; cf. 28:3-4, cf. Dt. 4:6-8, cf.1 Saml. 15:6; cf. .Ish. 2:2-3, Ps. 20:3, 122:6, 147:19-20 et al. Cf. Yochanon (God is gracious ‘John’) 13:20, Acts 10:1-4, Rom. 16, Phpns. 4:17-19, 2 Tim. 1:16-18 et al.!
The Critical Difference Between Lesson and Application in Scripture – and With Mal. 3:10.
All Scripture has lessons for all people for all time; however, not all Scripture applies to all people for all time. This is easily seen in the following. The covenant of circumcision for example has a lesson for an elderly female Gentile follower of Yeshua; yet obviously, it has no actual application to her!
In the same way with Malachi 3:10; there is a lesson for Christians – but no application for Christians when it comes to Christians actually tithing.
Dear ones, please always always remember to look at the context which Scripture is given in. Remember; ‘the text without context becomes a pretext’. Scripture is not given in a vacuum!
Frankly, this is one reason your Jewish Brothers are being raised up today and sent to you – through Yeshua (cf. Yochanon 13:20; cf. Yochanon 17:20-23). Unfortunately. in too many instances our dear Christian brethren are either simply not taught correctly or, are unnecessarily being burdened! If you have felt burdened or pressured that you ‘need’ to tithe to your local Building, you are Biblically free of it!
Imagine, just imagine (!) the tremendous potential positive possibilities of Scripture being taught both in depth and, authentically and accurately applied!
Something Biblically Key Christians May Not Be Fully Aware of – Because of the System
Many who leave the Religious System and its pressure to ‘give’, speaking the truth in love, may not be aware of the following. Leaving the System does not free one from the actual Biblical model of blessing the Jew and your Jewish Brothers; cf. Gen.12:3 et al, Rom. 15:27 etc. However; one is free to bless the Jew and Jewish Brother – without pressure or guilt – as they are led. One most certainly doesn’t have to tithe! Further; Christians are actually blessed for blessing the Jew and Jewish Brother – as the Bible is abundantly clear!
What Then Might Christians Do? What, Actually is, A Biblical Basis Through Which Christians Are Blessed?
Praise God, our very dear brother John and I continue to work closely together – right along the lines of the actual Biblical model of Jew & Gentile! This is what we read about in Acts and what Paul writes about in Phpns. 4:3 and at the end of Philippians 4; as well as in Romans 16!
John and I also learn & work together as John shepherds the very dear Philippians at Centerville. Some of our learning together is also uploaded to our website. (Praise God; one problem we have is more content than John has time to process & upload to the site)! I call Centerville my Philippians because of their real concern and, both their material and spiritual help and encouragement for Rachel and I. This is what the first Philippians did for their Jewish Brother Paul! The Philippians at Centerville are blessed, as we’ve pointed out before on Philippians 4:17-19! Cf also Phpns. 4:3; cf 4:10, 15.
Exciting News!
A very Biblical and Hebrew & Jewish way of looking at technology is that of taking what the LORD directly creates and allows Man to develop, and then elevating it for a holy and a spiritual purpose! The Israelites used the silver and gold they received from the Egyptians when the Israelites left Egypt, to make what’s called in Hebrew the holy vessels that were used in the Source Place, the ‘Tabernacle’! Cf. the opening of Exodus 11 and Ex. 25 etc. etc.
The landline phone, the internet, and the smartphone were not invented for the purpose of disseminating Torah and the Good News. Yet with God’s help, we take Man’s technology that God allows Man to develop and use for business and secular purposes, and we elevate it for a holy and spiritual purpose!
Praise God, my very dear Christian brother John and I are very excited to let you know that we are in the process of expanding our Outreach through the following means!
We are developing E (Electronic) books, initially through Kindle which is part of Amazon, then God willing to go out even wider! E-books of a certain length can also be published in paperback. We hope to be able to produce those also! We are also actively working to expand our blogs and A Little Learning Together, into the wider blog universe. We are also excited about and working to expand our audios onto Spotify and other major platforms!
My very dear Rachel has been after me for many years to start writing books; especially one on the Hebrew and Jewish basis of things in the Bible that would be specifically written for pastors, to use with their assemblies. I said sweetheart that would be great – but here’s the problem. What I wrote above about tithing & giving I actually has about 325 pages handwritten on – so far. I said to Rachel, sweetheart, “I can’t leave out the truth about tithing. Giving, and obligation for Christians – but if I include it, no evangelical publisher will touch my book”.
Hopefully, at some point I’ll be able to go the more traditional publishing route. The great advantage of E books is complete freedom of content, of course as led by the Ruach (Spirit)! It means no compromises with the truth to get something published! That freedom though dear ones, comes at a very high cost – a very high cost – both personally and financially to Rachel and I.
Praise God, there are quite a number of topics we’d love to cover. Here is what with God’s help – and your support – we are working on getting out initially. We hope more will follow!
We will basically use as a template for our titles ‘A Jewish Follower of Yeshua’s Deeper Guide to….’ followed by the topic
A Wider Look at Yeshua
The Biblical Basis of Prayer
The Great Gentiles of the Bible
The Torah – A Deeper Introduction
Roots & Reality – Israel in the Bible Then and Now
I’m also looking at putting out two versions of an ebook on Israel, the Palestinians and Hamas. One version would be for followers of Yeshua, one for non-followers. The latter we’ll also use to try to reach people for Yeshua – as well as using the other tech formats for, God willing, expanding our original Biblical language-based teaching & encouragement Outreach!
Exciting Recent Updates on Our Website
If you haven’t been to the website recently we invite you and very much encourage you to please do so! We have updated and revamped the homepage; most especially we have added quite a bit of focus and original teaching (otherwise why do it cf. Rom.15:20) – on our wonderful Mashiach Yeshua!
All of these things take time and they also require not only spiritual support but material support.
Why Didn’t Rachel & I Go Out Through an Organization? Wouldn’t That Have Been Much Easier For You?
Absolutely, yes, it would have been easier – much much easier – especially financially. However from the time I came to Yeshua, praise God 32 years this month, Rachel four years before me, and now with almost 30 years in ministry, we always wanted to try to do things as much as possible according to the actual Biblical model. The ‘organization’ in the Bible, is the organism, i.e., the Body of Yeshua. That is the ‘organization’ we’ve always tried to work through!
We first attempted to go out through a local sending assembly with a letter of approbation – as was done in Acts. Unfortunately, that assembly wound up biting and devouring one another (Gal.5:15).
I’m Now Going To Be More Honest With You, More Than I Am Supposed To
I was told that one way organizations help you raise support is by teaching you a 3-part ‘formula’ for your support letters. You’re not taught the Biblical basis for people supporting you. What you are taught, is a very deliberately designed formula for your support letters. Here’s the heart of the formula I’m ‘supposed’ to use with you:
Part 2 of the 3 parts of the support letter is the key. This is the section that evokes a response for supporting you. Again; it’s not on the basis of citing the Bible. Part 2 of your support letter is deliberately designed to elicit a visceral emotional gut reaction of sympathy for you. You write about the difficulties and trials and tribulations of your ministry. You’re told – making Christians feel bad for you is what actually moves them to support you.
I’m not going to appeal to you on that basis; frankly, I won’t insult your intelligence by trying to do so!
We ask you to please support us – because of 2 simple things. Are we trying to do things in the most Biblical way possible, and with the actual Biblical emphasis? Is the Bible abundantly clear about Gentiles being blessed for blessing the Jew and the Jewish Brothers, and helping us take the Word forward?
Frankly, the painful truth is we have more than quite a tale of woe from almost 30 years of ministry. That however, is not our basis for asking you to please support us. We invite you to learn about the actual Biblical basis of blessing on our website! You’ll find it on our Homepage and in the 3rd of our 8 Teaching Windows, The Hebrew & Jewish Basis of the Bible From A-Z Plus Rich Greek Text Insights, under B Blessing, G Giving, and T tithing.
If we don’t meet those two things I mentioned above, then please don’t support us. If we do, then we encourage you with much love to support us – not just for our sake but so that you would be blessed too by doing so!
My Needs Now
$490 to cover the annual cost of the website with the webmaster. This includes things like their hosting & maintaining the website etc. It also includes $140 extra for a very high level of security for your gifts, called SSL.
$266 This is to repay money borrowed for a laptop including tax. Thank God I was able to get a very suitable laptop for the ministry very inexpensively! (They generally seem to run $400 and up). My PC is 15 years old and really not usable for ministry (or, for doing my taxes anymore either). A suitable laptop at $266 – including tax – saves us hundreds of dollars over buying another PC!
A laptop also allows me to see what the website looks like and how it functions for people using a PC. Up to this point the last few years I primarily had been using my phone, because I couldn’t afford Wi-Fi. A dear brother is now blessed for blessing his Jewish Brother by graciously covering the monthly cost of my Wi-Fi.
The laptop will finally – after many years – allow John and I to do professional-level recording. (John is in the process of showing me how to forward these on to him)! We’ve had to record audio teaching over the conference line phone line, but unfortunately sometimes the sound quality isn’t always as clear as we’d like it to be for you. I’ve read that for doing podcasts you really should have professional quality sound – the laptop enables us to finally do so!
Finally, a laptop enables me to use software to do my own taxes – cf. the opening of Romans 13. The laptop saves me hundreds of dollars a year by not having to pay an accountant or tax service!
$75 for the 6 month cost of renting a PO Box. Some people prefer to send their kind support by check. Some brethren send us a card or letter by regular mail, rather than email
Total Need Now – $831
It may sound like a lot and in some ways it certainly is. However dear ones please remember that:
Every dollar – every dollar – goes towards keeping a roof over the head of myself and my very dear Rachel – and being able to produce what we hope is very original and in-depth teaching and encouraging content! Not a dime goes to office rent or the mortgage for an office building. We have no superfluous overhead.
We have no materially paid staff. Just my very dear Tertios cf Rom.16:22, my Philippian brother John, who receives no financial remuneration from me. However he – along with the dear Philippians at Centerville and those of you who support Rachel and I – are accumulating in a real, concrete, present tense continuous process, compounding interest in your spiritual account! Cf. Phpns. 4:17-19, which we’ve learned about together before.
You’re Actual Biblical Opportunity for Blessing!
For those of you who materially bless us – be encouraged that you are and will be blessed by the LORD! If you are currently not supporting us why not take advantage of an opportunity the LORD gives you to be part of the Biblical model He has restored today – after a 1600-year absence! You will be blessed according to the actual Scripture basis of being blessed – as we listed in part above!
Will not God and His Son Yeshua be even more pleased and gracious towards you, for supporting us both spiritually and materially!
Lastly – The Unique Challenge Your Jewish Brothers Face
Your Jewish Brothers are the only ones – the only ones – who, have to raise support from the mission field we’re on; please think about that. Gentile missionaries and ministries raise support from their fellow Christians. Does someone doing say prison ministry or seeking to be a missionary to Japan, have to raise his support from prisoners or the Japanese? No; if you’re seeking to do prison ministry or go to Japan you go to your fellow Christians for support.
The Jewish Brothers – like us – whose mission field is the Assembly and our Gentile Brethren, means we have to raise support – uniquely – from those we minister to. Plus; the Jewish Brother – also very uniquely – unfortunately too often runs into anti-Semitism and opposition, from our Christian brethren.
How Can You Bless Us and Be Blessed?
Blessing us can very easily be done. On our website www.assemblywithoutthewalls.org, by simply clicking or tapping the Support page, the Teaching page, or within any of the 8 Teaching windows. You can very easily make a one-time or ongoing donation; anything helps!
Checks save us online processing fees and can please be sent to:
Together Outreach
P.O. Box 881
Westwood, Ma. 02090
Plus – by blessing us you are also blessing the People Yeshua is still part of the whole of cf. Rev. 5:5, 22:16. We gift a portion of what you bless us with, to poor and needy Jews and others in Israel and elsewhere!
Since God called me to Yeshua and I finally answered, 32 years ago, all I ever wanted to do was to try to repay, so to speak, what the LORD and Yeshua did for me, by ‘feed my sheep’ cf. Yochanon 21:15-17.
Praise God and thank you so very much!
May He Who makes all things possible sustain us, so that Together we continue to honor and serve Him and His Son Yeshua, and serve those who need the truth, encouragement, and hope of the LORD, His Son Yeshua, and, the Word!
Thank you!
Jacob
Gen.12:3 Ps.133 Phpns 4:3, 17-19 2 Tim.1:16-18
P.S. Needless to say; I have never – and will never – ask you to ‘tithe’ to me! Scripture is abundantly clear about blessing the Jew and Jewish Brother and being blessed. If Paul didn’t ask the Philippians to tithe to him, how could I possibly even think of it!