PORTION “PARASHA” OF THE WEEK RE’EH – SEE 6 OF 7 Julie Praker - Copyright © 2003-2012 Deuteronomy 11:26 to 16:17 - Isaiah 44:11 to 45:51 Corinthians 5:9 – 13 - 1 John 4:1-6 Tithe – The Covenant of Salt Deuteronomy 14:22 to 15:23 The next area under blessings and curses is the teaching on the tithe. Tithes are for the Levites, widows, orphans and poor among us. The Levitical tithe was to maintain the temple. We are commanded to bring in our tithe, or tenth, for Temple maintenance and for the Levites’ upkeep. The physical Temple no longer exists in Jerusalem. Today the Temple is in us. Our temple is maintained if we give our tenth to those who are true Levites/shepherds, those looking after Yeshua’s sheep according to His Word. This tithe is our deposit into our temple. A tenth is to be given on a regular basis (not sporadically) as a joyful offering. The Levites/shepherds today are those who teach a correct understanding of Yahweh’s Word to the people. The tithe was for the sole use of the Levites. According to Ezekiel 44, the tithe is to go to those who instruct on the clean and unclean, the holy and unholy, and who keep Yahweh’s decrees, appointed feasts and Sabbath. Do you wish to receive a blessing in your temple? Give the whole tithe! Scripture tells us to test Yahweh on this, and see if He will not open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that we will not have room for it! (Ezekiel 44:23-24; Leviticus 27; Numbers 18; Jeremiah 33:17-26; Matthew 9:27-28; Malachi 3:10). It is interesting that after the tenth is given, the ninety percent portion that is left for our sole use is called most holy (Leviticus 2:3,10). Giving freely and making sure the community is provided for, brings us joy. The more we care and give, the more we receive. The less we give, the less we receive. This is the principle of sowing and reaping into the Kingdom of Yahweh. Again we see blessings and curses. Faith brings the birthright (inheritance); obedience brings the blessing. This is called the law of reciprocation, which produces multiplication and provision in our lives. Another consideration on tithes pertains to the biblical account of Abraham’s encounter with Melchizedek, the High Priest of Salem. Melchizedek brought out bread and wine to share with Abraham and Abraham then gave Melchizedek a tenth (tithe) of all he had received (Genesis 14:18-20). This scripture portrays prophetic imagery for us as we are Abraham’s seed. Melchizedek was a king and a priest, foreshadowing of Yeshua our High Priest, the Davidic Covenant and our position in His Kingdom. The priests handled the sacrifices for the burnt offerings as well as the meal offerings and the wine offerings. The sacrifice, bread and wine (free will offerings) were to be offered together and never be separated. That is why we see Melchizedek offering bread and wine to Abraham. Abraham also knew that these elements were to be offered with the tithe, which is why Abraham gave his tithe to Melchizedek. The tithe was called the Covenant of Salt and our holy portion (Numbers 18:19). When we partake in the bread, the wine and the tithe, this confirms the Covenant and the sacrifice (of Yeshua) within us. The bread, wine and tithes offered by Abraham and Melchizedek happened before the Abrahamic Covenant, before there was an Exodus from Egypt at the first Passover, and 400 years before the law/Torah was given to Moses at Mount Sinai. This reveals that these elements are eternal originating in the beginning before time with Yahweh (Genesis 14:18-20; 15: 4-20; Exodus 12:40; Galatians 3:7, 17, 29). Yeshua, the Lamb slain from before the creation of the world, is serving in a heavenly Tabernacle. He is the sacrifice that now lives in us. Today, we represent His heavenly Tabernacle on earth. The Tabernacle is a representation of the Covenant given to David. Because of this, we are part of the Davidic Covenant Yeshua renewed and when we partake in the bread and wine as a remembrance of that Covenant our tithe should also be presented. We are not to separate the bread, the wine and the tithe. They are eternal and carry an eternal blessing for those who obey (Hebrews chapters 7-9). Currently 2.7% of Believers are remembering to tithe on a regular basis. Not giving the tithe is one of the blockages that prevent Yahweh’s blessings from flowing in our lives (Malachi 3:8-10). We are of the royal priesthood of the Messiah and as priests offering sacrifices, partaking in the bread and the wine; they are a confirmation to the Covenant that we have agreed to live by. We are His dwelling place. May we be faithful to this priesthood calling and bring our holy tithes and offerings to HIM, Yeshua Ha Mashiach. Deuteronomy 12:11 “Yahweh will choose as a dwelling for his Name, there you are to bring everything I command you: your burnt offerings and sacrifices, your tithes and special gifts, and all the choice possessions you have vowed to Yahweh.” Isaiah 66:1 “Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool. Where is the house you will build for me? Where will my resting-place be?” 1 Corinthians 3:16-17, 6:15 Paul said, “Don’t you [Believers] know that you yourselves are Yahweh’s temple and that Yahweh’s Spirit lives in you? Yahweh’s temple is sacred, and you are that temple. Do you not know that your bodies are members of Yeshua Himself?” Romans 6:1 Paul said, “Do we [Believers] keep on sinning now that we have been purified? No!” It is up to us to keep our hearts clean and stay pure in thought and deed. This releases Yahweh to position us into holiness by His Spirit (1 Corinthians 1:30). It is a sacrifice to forgive someone who has hurt and wronged us. It is a sacrifice to offer ourself to someone in need. It is a sacrifice to love someone who does not love us in return. May we worship the Father in Spirit and in Truth, and may our tithe be offered from our hearts with joy (John 4:19-24). The Feasts of Yahweh Deuteronomy 16: 1-17 “Three times a year ALL your men [Believers] must appear before Yahweh at the place He will choose: At the Feast of Unleavened Bread [Passover], the Feast of Weeks [Shavuot/Pentecost] and the Feast of Tabernacles [Sukkot] (Deuteronomy 16:16).” All Yahweh’s feasts are prophetic and are appointments of time where He has said He will meet with us. The Spring Feasts come first, beginning in the first month of the biblical Hebrew calendar called Aviv (also called Nissan) during the first barley harvest. We are to celebrate the Passover on the same eve as when the Israelites left Egypt. It is a night of perpetual remembrance, a time when together we are to eat roasted lamb, unleavened bread and bitter herbs, and share the story of the Exodus of our ancestors. It is the time when Yeshua also chose His Bride, as it is a type of our salvation/deliverance. The Feast of Unleavened Bread starts the day after Passover and continues for seven days. The first and last days are to be High Holy Days, Sabbaths unto Yahweh. This is a holy time, a time of remembering Yahweh’s redemption, as Yeshua is our Sacrificial Passover Lamb who paid the price for our redemption and became the Firstfruits from the dead. In Yeshua we all are now His firstfruits from the dead! (Colossians 3:1-17). We are instructed to count seven Sabbaths or weeks, leading us to the next Feast on Yahweh’s calendar called Feast of Weeks or Shavuot (Pentecost), when Moses received the Torah on Mount Sinai, the moral and ethical laws for the Children of Israel. This is the official Marriage Covenant/ketubah called the gospel for His betrothed Bride. When Moses returned to camp with the ketubah he saw the newly betrothed Bride worshiping God through the form of an idol - a golden calf. That day three thousand died. On this same Feast day, thousands of generations later, Yeshua fulfilled Yahweh’s Word by writing the Torah onto the tablets of their hearts by His finger of authority. In this way, He fulfilled the prophesy in Jeremiah 31 (repeated in Hebrews 8), and on that day three thousand were restored (Acts 2). Hebrews 8:8-10 “Because finding fault with them, He says: ‘Behold, the days are coming, says Yahweh, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah - not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt; because they did not continue in My covenant, and I disregarded them, says Yahweh. For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says Yahweh: I will put My laws in their mind and write them on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people’”(Jeremiah 31:31-33). Following the Spring Feasts, there are three Fall Feasts on Yahweh’s calendar all in the seventh month on the Hebrew calendar, called Tishrei. Both Houses of Israel (the House of Judah and those sojourning with them and the House of Israel and their companions) are waiting for the fulfillment of these Feasts with great expectation, as these last three Feasts are the call of the Bridegroom, beckoning His Bride to come to her wedding. The New Moon/Rosh Chodesh festival falls on the first day of each month at the first sighting of the new crescent moon. It is the Rosh Chodesh that reminds the Bride (Believers walking in their redemption), of all her appointments with her Husband and calls the wedding party to His rehearsals twelve times a year. On each Rosh Chodesh, Yahweh has His trumpets sound to call the Bride to prepare for Him. It will be at the last trump that they announce/cry out that the Bridegroom has come for His Bride! The Fall Feasts start with the Feast of Yom Teruah (also called the Feast of Trumpets and the Day of Blowing). The Jewish people know it as Rosh Ha Shannah, a manmade feast celebrating Happy New Year, which has nothing to do with Yahweh’s Feast of Yom Teruah. Yom Teruah falls on the first sighting of the seventh New Moon/Rosh Chodesh and heralds in the Bridegroom by the blowing of Trumpets. The expectant Bride has been walking in all the appointments and Covenants and has plenty of extra oil for her lamp. All spots or wrinkles (personal sins) in her priestly wedding garment have been cleansed from her. She checks her heart and makes right any adjustments before her wedding day. No one knows the exact day or hour of the Groom’s return, only the Father knows but when He commands that moon to appear and the last trump to cry out– the doors will open for the approaching King/Bridegroom. The Bride, having her sanctification process completed, is ready to take her lamp and proceed out to meet Him. Ten days of awe and perfection are fulfilled as the two come together to take their place (Matthew 25:1-13; Revelation 19:7-9). The tenth day of Tishrie is the Feast of Yom Kippur, also called Day of Atonement. It is the holiest Feast of the year representing the wedding day where we will all appear before Yahweh. The Bride has made herself ready; she has been faithful to personally prepare her heart/white linen garments before the last trumpet sounded on Yom Teruah. There will be some Brides lacking oil (wisdom, sanctification and holiness) who leave just before the wedding takes place [Yom Kippur] to buy extra oil, as they see that their lamps are losing their light. Holiness and sanctification cannot be bought; they are issues of the heart. All is made ready and it is time to close the doors. Those who went in search for extra oil return but it will be too late for them to enter in (Matthew 25:1-13). Matthew 25:10-13 “And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the wedding [Yom Kippur]; and the door was shut. Afterward the other virgins came also, saying, ‘Lord, Lord, open to us!’ But he answered and said, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, I do not know you.’ Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour [reference to the sighting of the New Moon] in which the Son of Man is coming.” Five days after Yom Kippur is the final celebration called the Feast of Tabernacles(also called Sukkot or Booths) and it is a seven-day Feast of great joy called the Wedding Supper of the Lamb. This is the wedding reception after their wedding (Revelation 19:9). The first day and the eighth day are High Holy Days and Sabbaths unto Yahweh. We are to carry a lulav (the bridal bouquet) made from boughs of different species of trees and wave them before the Messiah. We are to live in booths for the week to cause us to remember how the Children of Israel lived in temporary dwellings in the Wilderness in their betrothal season with their Bridegroom. It is here that we remind ourselves of the great provision of Yahweh, His loving care and delivery by His great Power. Shemini Atzeret is the eighth day at the end of the seven-day celebration of Sukkot/Tabernacles. This Feast day is a quiet, holy time representing our final rest in the Mashiach, the goal of our redemption. It is a very special time after all the wedding guests returned home, and the Bridegroom says to the Bride “Let us linger one more day and savor this moment together.” This day represents a thousand years. Many in Judah’s camp have placed a manmade feast on top of Yahweh’s Feast calling it Simchat Torah/Rejoicing in the Torah. To hide Yahweh’s Feast from the Bride will blind her from walking in her new beginnings in the Millennial with her Bridegroom (Hebrews 3-8; Leviticus 23:33-36; Psalms 90:4; 2 Peter 3:8).
Posted on: Fri, 09 Aug 2013 01:05:23 +0000
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