It is More Blessed to Give! Life in Yahuwah's Earthly Kingdom | Part C

The King James Version (KJV) is mostly used in these lessons. Click here to access the KJV online.

“Be not forgetful to entertain strangers; for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.”² These words have lost none of their force through the lapse of time. Our Heavenly Father still continues to place in the pathway of his children opportunities that are blessings in disguise; and those who improve these opportunities find great joy. “If thou draw out thy soul to the hungry, and satisfy the afflicted soul; then shall thy light rise in obscurity, and thy darkness be as the noonday: and . . . [Yahuwah] shall guide thee continually, and satisfy thy soul in drought, and make fat thy bones: and thou shalt be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters fail not.”³

In our modern world, it is easy to take too limited a view on just what constitutes “tithes and offerings.” It is easy to think that unless it is money given to support an organization it cannot count as tithe or offering. However, this is not consistent with Scripture.

Ancient Israel was an agrarian society: the people were, for the most part, farmers, ranchers and shepherds. Tithe could be paid in animals, jugs of oil, bushels of fruit, bags of grain or barrels of flour. Offerings could be anything one desired to give Yahuwah.

A woman who was good with needlework, could embroider a fine piece of cloth, or weave something on her loom. When her family traveled to the tabernacle for the Feast of Tabernacles, her husband might bring bags of grain as tithe on the increase of his farm, but she could also bring a personal offering: a love gift to show her gratitude to Yahuwah for His blessings throughout the year.

When not everyone could travel every year to Jerusalem for the feasts, allowance was also made for those who, for a lawful reason, could not make the journey. A second tithe was saved for the express purpose of hosting the poor in one’s own home for an annual feast. Yahuwah cares for the poor, the sick and the elderly. He made provision for all to share in the blessings of the feasts.

Those who were too poor to bear the expense of traveling to Jerusalem could still enjoy the blessings of a bountiful harvest and the spiritual feast by accepting the hospitality of those who had more. Thus, the entire Hebrew economy was based on a system of generosity and helping the poor and needy. Such gifts, although not monetary, were considered offerings and were accepted by Yahuwah as gifts given to Him.

He that giveth unto the poor shall not lack: but he that hideth his eyes shall have many a curse. (Proverbs 28:27, KJV)