Abram's Tithe

Abram is well known in the Bible as the one whom God called to be the Father of the nation of Israel. He's the one who pretended his wife, Sarai, was his sister to save his own neck (more than once, I might add). He's the one who picked up and left Ur of the Chaldeans upon God's request. Abram is the one who took Isaac to be sacrificed even though Isaac was the chosen son through whom the nation of Israel would be born.

Abram is famous for a lot of different things, but did you know that Abram was the first person with whom tithing is mentioned in the Bible?

Then Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine. He was priest of God Most High, and he blessed Abram, saying, "Blessed be Abram by God Most High, Creator of heaven and earth. And blessed be God Most High, who delivered your enemies into your hand." Then Abram gave him a tenth of everything. Genesis 14:18-20 NIV

Tithing (giving "one-tenth") is certainly an Old Testament tradition. In the book of Deuteronomy, tithing is explained as a means by which to celebrate the abundance of the Lord's provision (Deut 14:22-26), to support the Levites (Deut 14:27) and to provide for the poor (Deut 14:28-29). God wasn't too pleased about the postexilic Israelites who were withholding their tithes and offerings (Malachi 3:6-12). They were accused by God of not only robbing the Levites and the poor, but robbing Him!

Jesus also endorsed tithing and He did all the Law (Matthew 5:17-20, 23:23). Of course, obedience to the Law doesn't result in our salvation; however, our salvation should result in our obedience to the Law. Throughout Scripture, loving God and worshiping Him are at the heart of tithing.

We should also understand that all of what we have ultimately belongs to God, Himself. We are merely stewards. Giving a tenth back to God is simply giving back a portion of what rightly belongs to Him in the first place.

In America, there is an old adage. It says, "20 percent of the people do 80 percent of the giving and ministry within the Church." I would venture to say, that the adage should be updated to something along the lines of "15 percent of the people do 85 percent of the giving and ministry within the Church." And in this current economy, churches and ministries are having to further cut budgets even more.

Tithing began with Abram. It continued with the Jews during Moses' time and then with the nation of Israel under Malachi's watch. Jesus endorsed the tradition so that we can continue it today.