Quote:
Originally Posted by Digging4Truth
It would be great to see these type of principles in action in the church.
But it is one thing to put these things to work on a voluntary basis in a church setting and a totally different thing to have these things put to work under a forced taxation by a secular government.
You are comparing apples to band saws.
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Amen. It would be beautiful to see more churches supporting the poor and needy.
I contend that it’s not comparing apples to “band saws”. You see, the Law of Moses was the Law of the nation of ancient Israel. When you are reading the five books of Moses…especially the Law of Moses, you’re reading an ancient national Constitution. The gleaning laws and tithing laws were not voluntary. The tithe is essentially an ancient form of taxation. Israel had three different tithes: a tithe to care for the temple; a tithe to provide for the Levite; and a tithe to take care of those in need. This essentially added up to well over 10% of the Israelite harvest. Please note…Israel was also taxed a flat head tax on all males over 20 to protect the nation. Not to mention legal requirement to allow the poor to glean the corners, edges, and dropped harvest of their fields. These were essentially ancient social entitlements. We see similar laws among other ancient agricultural societies. God’s Law addressed everything for morality (Ten Commandments) to housing code (
Leviticus 14:33-57;
Deuteronomy 22:8). Oh…and the King would often impose “burdens” upon the citizens of ancient Israel for special projects. All of this could consume over 50% of the people’s harvest. Call burdens “pork”. LOL
Interestingly gleaning rights and the poor tithe weren’t voluntary. The magistrates and tribal leaders would hear the grievance of the poor in the gates and were expected to uphold the Law of Moses. However, in the time of Amos and Malachi the land owners and the farmers had made dirty deals with the magistrates, allowing them to ignore the “right of the poor” under the Law of Moses. Amos condemns this practice with strong warnings of judgment against the nation. When the poor and needy are left to languish…God promises to destroy the nation’s prosperity. In the time of Malachi the priests and the officials were hoarding the tithe for their own gain and refused to fill the storehouse to feed the poor and the needy. This greedy hoarding caused the whole nation to begin withholding the tithe…after all…it wasn’t being put into the storehouse to ensure that there was “meat” in God’s house for the needy. Malachi condemns them for robbing God because they neglected the poor tithe. The whole nation was neglecting to bring all of the tithe (meaning they were only tithing the Levitical and Temple tithes) into the temple. God shows that the tithe neglected was the poor tithe by illustrating that this was so that there might be “meat” in his house. The “meat” wasn’t for the priests…it was for the poor. Essentially this was robbing the poor and thereby robbing God. Jesus illustrates this well when He states that when we neglect to care for the least of these we have done so unto him. Robbing the poor by neglecting to provide meat in the storehouse is therefore as Malachi put it…robbing God.
Isaiah rebukes the lawmakers in
Isaiah 10….
Isaiah 10:1-4
{10:1} Woe unto them that decree unrighteous decrees,
and that write grievousness [which] they have prescribed;
{10:2} To turn aside the needy from judgment, and to take
away the right from the poor of my people, that widows
may be their prey, and [that] they may rob the fatherless!
{10:3} And what will ye do in the day of visitation, and in
the desolation [which] shall come from far? to whom will
ye flee for help? and where will ye leave your glory? {10:4}
Without me they shall bow down under the prisoners, and
they shall fall under the slain. For all this his anger is not
turned away, but his hand [is] stretched out still.
Bro…we often “religionize” the Old Testament. We have to realize that this is a chronicle of God’s dealing with a Nation after having drafted her laws and set her standards. There was no separation of church and state in Israel. The storehouse was the national social safety net for the nation’s most needy.
Ya dig, Digging?
LOL
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