Terumah — Giving From the Heart, Not From Obligation

The One Torah Portion About Money

Parashat Terumah is the only time of the year that I used to teach about giving in the congregation in Jerusalem. In fact, this is what happens in most of the Jewish synagogues around the world. This topic is powerful and challenging, and therefore one time per year is enough to make just the right impression to those people who have a heart for the Lord, and His Kingdom and Kingship over their lives.

The Torah reading opens with words that set the tone for everything that follows:

The only contribution that is acceptable by the Lord is the one given from a willing heart. There is no command in the New Testament to give 10 percent to the Lord. The 10% was given for the Levites — not for building buildings and for the expenses of the community. The 10% was for the maintenance of the Levites who served in the Tabernacle. They didn't get land in the Promised Land. God was their portion. And because of that, everybody that got land owed it to the Levites to give them 10% of their crops, of their wealth. To tell Christians to give a tithe is actually a part of the replacement theology of the Catholic Church — they rejected the Torah and the prophets, but they kept the 10 percent and demanded it from their parishioners with impunity. In some of the old Catholic churches in Europe, even in Finland, you see the paintings on the walls of the church where people who didn't put the money in the collection bag would be hit on the head with the long wooden poll that held the bag at its end.

What Paul Actually Taught About Giving

The request of the Apostle Paul from all the churches was not for 10% of their earnings, but for a collection for the saints in Jerusalem. No amount is mentioned, and no obligatory amount of the contribution is suggested. Here is how the text from the Apostle Paul brings a different outlook on giving:

Notice the description of how these brothers and sisters in Macedonia gave: they were tested by suffering; they were overflowing with joy; they gave out of their extreme poverty, and that kind of giving made them more generous; they gave from their free will; they gave all they could give, even more than they could afford; and they made an appeal to the Jewish apostles to let them participate in the ministry of God's kindness to His holy people in Jerusalem.

The hypocrites give to be seen by man and praised by man, and for gaining points in the society. This is what Yeshua our Lord criticized in how the Pharisees conducted their affairs:

I actually like the method that just has some small safes in the lobby of the church and people can just put their checks or cash discreetly in the box. This is much more in obedience to the command of the Lord to give your offerings discreetly so that your right hand doesn't know what your left hand is doing.

Paul Worked With His Hands — And Why

Hear what the teacher of the Apostle Paul, the great Rabbi Gamaliel was teaching his students:

This statement of Gamaliel explains why the Apostle Paul was working as a tent maker in Corinth and not begging the church to support him financially. Paul was obedient to his teacher Gamaliel — and this is also the same Pharisee that saved Peter and John from prison in Jerusalem.

Three Blessings From Giving

If your giving is from your heart and if it is as you have prospered — using the words of Paul — you will have triple blessings from your giving. First, you will be participating in the blessing of the needy and the blessing of the community. Second, you will be blessed by God to continue to prosper — the Lord blessed you and you are blessing His children and your fellow man. Third, the prosperity of the body of the Messiah anywhere in the world and the blessing that sincere people give from their heart is always also the blessing of Jerusalem and the preparation of the Bride of the Messiah to receive Him back in Jerusalem.

Spread your seeds far and wide to increase the harvest before the Lord returns to Zion to judge all flesh. You spread your seeds a little, your harvest will also be little! If you spread your seeds liberally, with all your heart, your harvest will also be blessed by the Lord of the Harvest and will grow accordingly to what you have put in the land!