WORD DEFINITIONS
A proper understanding of sacrifices, tithes and offerings is one of the most serious failures of Biblical interpretation in both Judaism and Christianity. Jews, despite their insistence on enforcing literal interpretations of the Law of Moses, remain conflicted within their sects about what the tithe is, when to give it, how often to give it, and to whom it should be given. Christians, on the other hand, have simplified the law of tithing so that the many, various types of sacrifices (e.g. thanksgiving, grain, blood, drink, etc.), tithes (e.g. grain, animals, first-fruits,etc.) and offerings (e.g. sin, burnt, heave, freewill, peace, etc.) are all converted to money which is the assumed substitute for all sacrifices, tithes and offerings. Thus Christians have found creative ways to justify their practices regarding tithes in the face of many scriptures that clearly reveal God’s opinions about physical/material offerings.

STUDY TIP: See Tithes for an extensive discussion of this topic. Also see Place Where God Will Place His Name  for understanding of the spiritual place (i.e. heart/spirit) where sacrifices, tithes and offerings are to be brought.

STUDY TIP: It is important to notice that God makes his point about the type of offering he accepts early in the Bible in the story of Cain and Abel. God’s reasoning for accepting Abel’s offering and rejecting Cain’s offering is impossible to understand unless we first understand God’s desire for clean, pure hearts. We conclude, therefore, that Abel had a clean pure heart, and that Cain had an evil, impure heart. And we also conclude that Abel’s offering was totally spiritual while Cain’s offering was fleshly and material. Abel’s offering was a matter of faith which cannot be seen, while Cain’s offering was religious which could be seen.

The mistake of thinking that God really wants material tithes and offerings, despite what he has said, is based to a great degree on the assumption that, since there is no temple anymore, and since animal sacrifices are not considered to be appropriate in most civilized cultures, believers should bring their modern-day substitute (i.e. money) for Biblical sacrifices, tithes and offerings to a church, synagogue, or some worthwhile religious organization or ministry that fulfills the duties of priests who would minister in the temple if it was still standing. This interpretation has been in place at least since the fall of the Second Temple which correlates with the emergence of the church. Jews, for the most part, no longer hold to the practice of animal sacrifices, but Orthodox Jews have only suspended this practice until the Temple in Jerusalem is rebuilt. In the meantime, many Jews give their tithes to the poor through charity, and Christians are divided on whether giving to the church equates with giving to the poor.

Substitution of money or some kind of physical property for sacrifices, tithes and offerings has been practiced and accepted for hundreds of generations. Over time the concept of giving something material to God through various ministries has been adapted to changing cultures and religions, but in all religions there is a remnant of sacrifices, tithes and offerings present in a general term often called free-will offerings that, for many, are believed to satisfy all Biblical requirements. But some more fundamental religious strains still try to hold to the literal, one-tenth idea of tithing.

Despite the historical practice of tithing and apparent Biblical legitimacy of material offerings, whether cash or grain or animals, it must be said that no kind of physical offering will satisfy God.  He has said as much in this scripture:

Psalm 51:16-17: For You do not delight in sacrifice, otherwise I would give it; You are not pleased with burnt offering. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; A broken and a contrite heart, O God, You will not despise.

If that is not enough to convince us that God does not want material sacrifices/offerings/tithes, we can firmly establish that material sacrifices, tithes and offerings are not acceptable to God because he clearly told Israel that it should not follow the customs of other nations (i.e. religions). Because ancient Israelites knew this to be true by observing the religious practices of other nations, they should have known enough not to practice tithing like their religious neighbors. And because we, in these modern times, also know from studies of ancient religions that tithing and offerings were important elements of those religions, we also should know enough not to practice tithing and making of offerings because we would violate God’s commands not to follow the customs of other religions.

Thus it must be said that any religion (including Judaism and Christianity) that practices a custom/tradition that includes payment or gifting of anything material (e.g. money, land, grain, personal property, etc.) to a religious person or organization has violated a clear commandment: Do not follow the religious customs of other past or present religions (i.e. nations).

With this commandment clearly in mind, we will show in these pages that the common interpretation of sacrifices, tithes and offerings as money/property is a wrong interpretation. We will show that throughout the Bible God used a natural, known religious practices to represent a unknown spiritual truths. We will also prove through scripture that the sacrifices, tithes and offerings that God wants are spiritual (i.e. they exist only in the heart of a New Covenant disciple). These arguments all bear witness to the fact that spiritual sacrifices, tithes and offerings are never physical and they never are brought to God through any kind of physical activity.

Proving that physical offerings of any kind are not what God wants is relatively easy in terms of tracking the symbolism in the Bible. The really hard task is overcoming the toxic influence of four thousand years of tradition and the stronghold of thinking and practice in both Judaism and Christianity that legitimizes material offerings of any kind.

AUTHORS’ NOTE: For more about overcoming strongholds of thinking, see Religion is Injustice, Slavery, Oppression and Affliction.

Since physical/material sacrifices and offerings are closely related to physical buildings and institutions, it is also necessary to understand God’s views of these topics. See Tabernacles, Temples, Altars, High Places and Pilgrimages.

To begin this study, we first look at word definitions. The Hebrew word (maser) translated as “tithe” appears in Old/First Covenant scriptures twenty-seven (27) times. The Hebrew word (minchah) translated as “offering” appears in Old/First Covenant scriptures two hundred and eleven (211) times. And the Hebrew word (zebach) translated as “sacrifice and/or sacrifices” appears in Old/First Covenant scriptures one hundred and sixty-two (162) times.

AUTHORS’ NOTE: Clicking on the links for each word (maser, minchah, zebach) will take you to word definitions and additional links (Hint: click on books of the Bible under KJV Verse Count ) to the read the uses of each word in various Old Testament books. We strongly recommend that readers explore a sampling of these scriptures to become familiar with them.

Similarly, clicking on the links for sacrifice, and offering will take you to word definitions and additional links (Hint: click on books of the Bible under KJV Verse Count ) to read the uses of each word in various New Testament books. Again, we strongly recommend that readers explore a sampling of these scriptures to become familiar with them.

Because there are so many scriptures, we leave it to readers to search out and study these scriptures as necessary to satisfy their personal desire to know what God has said about these concepts. For convenience, however, here are the links to sacrifices and offerings in the Old Testament. Because of the frequency of use of these terms, we can assume that they are very important concepts to God.

Once we become familiar with how these terms are used in the Bible, we next explore other scriptures that must be considered alongside the terms sacrifice and offering to gain a clear understanding of the symbolism of the terms.