Lessons on Giving From the Old Testament

Gen 14:18  And Melchizedek king of Salem brought forth bread and wine: and he was the priest of the most high God.
Gen 14:19  And he blessed him, and said, Blessed be Abram of the most high God, possessor of heaven and earth:
Gen 14:20  And blessed be the most high God, which hath delivered thine enemies into thy hand. And he gave him tithes of all.
Gen 14:21  And the king of Sodom said unto Abram, Give me the persons, and take the goods to thyself.
Gen 14:22  And Abram said to the king of Sodom, I have lift up mine hand unto the LORD, the most high God, the possessor of heaven and earth,
Gen 14:23  That I will not take from a thread even to a shoelatchet, and that I will not take any thing that is thine, lest thou shouldest say, I have made Abram rich:
Gen 14:24  Save only that which the young men have eaten, and the portion of the men which went with me, Aner, Eshcol, and Mamre; let them take their portion.

Luk 6:33  And if ye do good to them which do good to you, what thank have ye? for sinners also do even the same.
Luk 6:34  And if ye lend to them of whom ye hope to receive, what thank have ye? for sinners also lend to sinners, to receive as much again.
Luk 6:35  But love ye your enemies, and do good, and lend, hoping for nothing again; and your reward shall be great, and ye shall be the children of the Highest: for he is kind unto the unthankful and to the evil.
Luk 6:36  Be ye therefore merciful, as your Father also is merciful.
Luk 6:37  Judge not, and ye shall not be judged: condemn not, and ye shall not be condemned: forgive, and ye shall be forgiven:
Luk 6:38  Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom. For with the same measure that ye mete withal it shall be measured to you again.

Transforming Power Statements:

1) According to tradition many have said that tithing is the standard for the Church and that is what Abraham the Patriarch did even before the Law was given, therefore it is a universal principle; although they fail to acknowledge that there are also other practices that were done prior to the giving of the Law, such as Sabbath keeping & animal sacrifice which if this is true shouldn’t these also be considered the same for the Church as well? Certainly not!

2) There are basically two forms of giving taught in the Old Testament which are evident before and during the Law which are 1) Required giving (i.e. taxation) and Freewill offering, such as that which Abraham did in the pre-Law period; and were also seen during the time of Israel’s incubation in the land of Goshen under the leadership of Joseph who instructed the Pharaoh about the meaning of his dream about an approaching seven years of plenty followed by seven years of famine; and gave instruction to withhold 20 percent from the seven years of plenty in order to sustain the economy during the seven years of famine.

3) The New Testament teachings of Jesus instruct us into an entirely new way of seeing things as “Children of God His Father” who has abundance in everything, and to respond to every situation in this life knowing that our God is the most generous of all and that we too, therefore, ought to operate in a way that reflects who our God is rather than being like those who do not know Him!