Daily Scripture Reading Exodus 35:10-29
There is a mentality within Christianity that Christians should give ten percent of their income to the church. The ten percent comes from the tithe which was a requirement in the Mosaic Law. The word tithe means ten percent.
The Mosaic Law is not a good basis for determining how much Christians should contribute because the Mosaic law applied to Israel, not the church. Furthermore, the Mosaic Law also contained freewill offerings. The freewill offerings are better illustrations of the New Testament teaching on giving material resources to the work of the church.
In the early verses of Exodus 35, Yahweh commanded Moses to provide the Israelites an opportunity to contribute materials for the construction of the tabernacle. The contributions were to be voluntary, from those who were willing to donate metals, fabric, or gemstones.
Ex. 35:10 ¶ ‘And let everyone wise at heart among you come and make all that Yahweh has commanded:
Notice the word “wise”. Moses did not ask for skilled people to make the tabernacle. He asked for wise people to make it.
The modern mindset when seeking people to do a task is to find those with the greatest skill. Wisdom is often not considered.
Skill is certainly important, but if you have a worker who is skilled, but foolish, you may not end up with a good result. It takes wisdom to make good use of skill. A skilled person without wisdom may use his skill to create something bad or ugly.
The following verses list all the items that needed to be created for the tabernacle.
Ex. 35:11 the tabernacle, its tent and its covering, its clasps and its boards, its bars, its pillars, and its bases;
Ex. 35:12 the ark and its poles, the mercy seat, and the curtain of the screen;
Ex. 35:13 the table and its poles, and all its utensils, and the bread of the Presence;
Ex. 35:14 the lampstand also for the light and its utensils and its lamps and the oil for the light;
Ex. 35:15 and the altar of incense and its poles, and the anointing oil and the fragrant incense, and the screen for the doorway at the entrance of the tabernacle;
Ex. 35:16 the altar of burnt offering with its bronze grating, its poles, and all its utensils, the laver and its stand;
Ex. 35:17 the hangings of the court, its pillars and its bases, and the screen for the gate of the court;
Ex. 35:18 the pegs of the tabernacle and the pegs of the court and their cords;
Ex. 35:19 the woven garments for ministering in the holy place, the holy garments for Aaron the priest and the garments of his sons, to minister as priests.’”
Ex. 35:20 ¶ Then all the congregation of the sons of Israel went out from Moses’ presence.
Ex. 35:21 And everyone whose heart stirred him and everyone whose spirit was willing came and brought the contribution to Yahweh for the work of the tent of meeting and for all its service and for the holy garments.
Look at the words “stirred” and “willing”. Most Christians think the financial support for the Old Testament sacrificial system was all based on the requirement to give ten percent. The tithe did exist, but the Israelites were also given opportunities to make freewill donations. At the very beginning of the tabernacle, the materials for the tabernacle were gathered through a freewill offering, not by requiring each person to make a donation.
Ex. 35:22 Then all whose hearts were willing, both men and women, came and brought brooches and earrings and signet rings and bracelets, all articles of gold; so did every man who waved it as a wave offering of gold to Yahweh.
Once again we see the word “willing”.
Ex. 35:23 And every man, who had in his possession blue and purple and scarlet material and fine linen and goats’ hair and rams’ skins dyed red and porpoise skins, brought them.
Ex. 35:24 Everyone who could raise up a contribution of silver and bronze brought the contribution to Yahweh; and every man who had in his possession acacia wood for any work of the service brought it.
Ex. 35:25 All the women wise at heart spun with their hands and brought what they had spun, in blue and purple and scarlet material and in fine linen.
Take note of the words “wise at heart”. Wisdom was valued more than skill.
Ex. 35:26 And all the women whose heart stirred with wisdom spun the goats’ hair.
In this verse we also see the word “wisdom”.
When we seek people to do a task, skill is important. However, wisdom may be more important. A foolish person with skill may not be reliable. They may be difficult to work with. Foolish people might use their skills to create something ugly, or something that does not satisfy your requirements.
Ex. 35:27 And the rulers brought the onyx stones and the stones for setting for the ephod and for the breastpiece;
Ex. 35:28 and the spice and the oil for the light and for the anointing oil and for the fragrant incense.
Ex. 35:29 The sons of Israel—all the men and women whose heart was willing to bring material for all the work, which Yahweh had commanded through the hand of Moses to do—brought a freewill offering to Yahweh.
Take note of the word “willing”. Notice also the words “freewill offering”.
Many churches teach that Christians should give ten percent of their income to the church. However, just as the Israelites were not required to donate materials for the tabernacle, and instead were given an opportunity to make a freewill donation, so too the pattern in the New Testament is to provide flexibility in how much Christians donate to the church and the poor.
Paul wrote that Christians should give what they have decided, not under compulsion (2Cor 9:7). Even when Paul commanded believers to support other believers, he did not specify an amount (see Romans 12:13 or 1Cor 16:2). The New Testament teaching on giving can be summed up in the statements “God loves a cheerful giver” (2Cor 9:7) and “he who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly” (2Cor. 9:6).
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“Scripture quotations taken from the (LSB®) Legacy Standard Bible®, Copyright © 2021 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Managed in partnership with Three Sixteen Publishing Inc. LSBible.org and 316publishing.com.”