BIBLICAL Horizons, No. 8
November, 1989
Copyright 1989, Biblical Horizons
Will a man rob God? Yet you are robbing Me! But you say, `How have we robbed Thee?’ In tithes and offerings. You are cursed with a curse, for you are robbing Me, the whole nation of you! Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, so that there may be food in My house, and test Me now in this," says the Lord of hosts, "if I will not open for you the windows of heaven, and pour out for you a blessing until it overflows" (Malachi 3:8-10).
Malachi 3:8-10 is a well-known passage dealing with the tithe. There is, however, a seldom-recognized difficulty in verse 10, where God demands the tithe "that there may be food in My house." The word translated "food" in the NASB is tereph, which elsewhere carries the connotation of "prey." The use of this word in reference to the tithe is odd, but not altogether inexplicable. The difficulty is increased when we realize that the priests, whose livelihood was largely from the tithe, were forbidden to eat anything torn (terephah, Lev. 22:8). (Lay Israelites were also forbidden to eat terephah [Ex. 22:31], but since they did not receive any portion of the tithe, this fact is irrelevant to Malachi 8:10.)
Perhaps this apparent anomaly can be resolved by distinguishing between tereph and terephah. There appears to be a subtle difference of meaning. Tereph often refers to an animal (or symbolically, to a person or a nation) that is in danger from a predator; terephah refers to the torn flesh of an animal. But this distinction is fuzzy; in Ezekiel 22:27, for example, the princes of Israel are compared to "wolves tearing the tereph," and in Nahum 2:12 the two words are used in poetic parallelism. True, the notion of violent attack sometimes retreats to the background, so that tereph sometimes means simply "food" (cf. Job 4:11; 24:5; Ps. 111:5; Prov. 31:15), while terephah always refers to something torn. But it still seems odd that God would refer to the tithe as His "prey," instead of the more common "bread."
Practically, the resolution to this apparent contradiction lies in the fact that the priests were only forbidden to eat flesh that had died of itself, or had been torn by an animal predator. They could eat flesh that they themselves "tore," but could not eat flesh that had been torn by beasts (cp. Lev. 22:8 with Ex. 22:31: lit., "therefore flesh in the field, terephah, you shall not eat").
Still, we are left wondering in what sense the tithe may be considered "prey"? In order to answer this question, we shall examine the biblical usage of tereph and related words (terephah, verb: taraph, "to tear in pieces"). Then we shall apply our findings to the tithe.
The Meaning of Tearing
It is worth noting, first, that tearing flesh is associated with judgment and rule. The Lord’s anger tore Job (Job 16:9). Hosea warned that the Lord would be like a lion to Ephraim and Judah. He would tear them to pieces when there was none to deliver (5:14). Yet, Hosea promised, though the Lord had torn Israel, He would also heal (Hos. 6:1). Isaiah prophesied against those who went to Egypt for help. The Lord would come against them like a lion who is not scared away by shepherds. Like a lion who "growls over his prey," the Lord would come to wage war on Zion (31:1-5). When the Lord captured Israel, He would roar like a lion over His prey (Amos 3:4-8).
Tearing prey is associated not only with God’s judgment and rule, but with human rulership. In Genesis 49:9, Judah is compared to a lion’s whelp. The following words are enigmatic: "From the prey (tereph), my son, you have gone up." What does it mean for Judah to "go up" (`alah) from the prey? The remainder of the verse compares Judah to a lion that no one dare rouse, and verse 10 is a prophecy of Judah’s kingship (cf. Nu. 24:9). The image appears to be that Judah has finished devouring his prey, and then takes his rest. This would fit the following verse: After devouring his prey (defeating his enemies), Judah ascends to take his rest upon his throne. In any case, it is clear that tearing and eating prey is associated with human rule.
A similar image is used to describe Benjamin: He is a wolf that tears; in the morning, Benjamin devours his prey and in the evening he divides spoil (Gen. 49:27). Thus, Judah and Benjamin are the two tribes associated with the tearing-ruling function, and it was from these two tribes that Israel’s first kings came: Saul from Benjamin and David from Judah.
Along these lines, tearing prey refers to victory over one’s enemies (Gen. 49:27). Victory and governance are seen in a lamentation for the princes of Israel, where Ezekiel described Israel as a lioness who taught her cubs to tear their prey and to devour men (19:3, 6). We also see this in Micah 5:8, which describes the remnant of Jacob as dew among nations and as a lion that tramples down and tears.
Tearing prey is also used as an image of oppression. In Ezekiel 22:23-27, the prophet denounced a conspiracy of prophets. Like roaring lions tearing their prey, they have devoured lives, taken treasure, and made many widows. Similarly, the princes were like wolves tearing prey, shedding blood, destroying lives for their own gain. David viewed his enemies as lions preying on him (Ps. 7:2). In Ps. 124:6, God is praised for delivering Israel at the Red Sea, and for not giving His people "to be prey to [the Egyptians’] teeth."
Torn flesh (terephah) also appears in the Book of the Covenant. Exodus 22:13 says that no restitution is required if one loses a neighbor’s animal, provided he can bring the torn flesh to prove that the animal was killed and not stolen. Jacob apparently knew something of these provisions, for he defends himself to Laban by saying that he never brought terephah to Laban, but instead bore the loss himself (Gen. 31:39). Jacob’s statement implies that he had the right to relieve himself of his obligation to pay for a lost animal by bringing the torn flesh. His kindness to Laban was shown in the fact that he did not press his rights.
As we have already noted, the Israelites were forbidden to eat terephah. In Exodus 22:31, the rationale for this prohibition is that "You shall be men of holiness to me." The torn flesh could be given to dogs. Leviticus 7:22-27, where the same prohibition is repeated, also prohibit eating of fat and blood. Significantly, these verses place the fat of sacrificial animals, fat of corpses, and fat of terephah under category of animals which are offered to the Lord (vv. 24-25). Leviticus 17:15 makes provision for cleansing after eating of a carcass (nebelah) or a terephah: The offender, whether Israelite or alien, must wash clothes and bathe and remain unclean until evening (cf. Lev. 22:4-8).
Apparently, an animal becomes unclean, and a cause of uncleanness when it dies or when it is torn to pieces. The difference between a carcass and terephah appears to lie in the manner of death: An animal might fall off a rock, and become a corpse, but it had to be torn by a predator in order to be considered terephah (cf. Ezk. 4:14). Neither was edible by the Israelites, however.
Torn Flesh and the Tithe
Now let us turn to the relevance of all this for our understanding of the tithe, and draw out some biblical-theological connections. We have seen that the words tereph and terephah are associated with divine and human judgment and rule, that terephah was used in the law as a evidence in defense against charges of negligence in caring for a neighbor’s animal, and that the Israelites were forbidden to eat torn flesh. Now we shall attempt to determine what all this means, and specifically how it applies to the tithe.
Several things about tithed animals should be kept in mind here. Tithed animals were holy to the Lord, and sufficiently holy that, unlike some offerings, they were not permitted to be redeemed. "And for every tenth part of herd or flock, whatever passes under the rod, the tenth one shall be holy to the LORD. He is not to be concerned whether it is good or bad, nor shall he exchange it; or if he does exchange it, the both it and its substitute shall become holy. It shall not be redeemed" (Lev. 27:32-33). When Malachi calls such tithed animals "prey," he is likening God to a lion, or some other regal beast. God is the great King, who tears His prey.
Perhaps we should understand it this way: The priests are God’s agents to tear His tithe-prey. They use their sacrificial knives for this purpose, so that the flesh of the animal is not in fact "torn" as is the case when a wild animal tears another animal. Nevertheless, the two events seem to be symbolically parallel.
Although the priests are not to eat meat torn by beasts, they may eat of God’s tithe. What God tears is not rendered unclean.
We can connect all this with another important dimension of the tithe. Tithed animals represented the Israelites themselves. This connection is implicit in the fact that the offering of the tithe was an act of worship by which the offerer symbolically offered all he was and had, and is brought out explicitly when Isaiah calls the faithful remnant of Israel a "tithe" (Is. 6:13). The remnant that rebuilt Jerusalem had passed under the rod of God’s judgment, and had entered into a new covenant (Ezk. 20:37; cf. Lev. 27:30-33). Additionally, sacrificial animals in general represented Israel. The whole sacrificial system rested on the identification of the offerer with an animal substitute.
Putting these considerations together, we may conclude that the tithe is prey in the sense that it is God’s food. And, since the tithe and the sacrifices represent the Israelites, they are symbolically offering themselves to God as His food, through a sacrificial substitute (since they, being "lame" sinners, are not acceptable). God is the Great King, the Lion who has the right to tear and eat His prey. By presenting themselves before Him, they submit to His rule and judgment over them.
The association of judgment and "prey" is in view here in at least two ways. First, God judged the offering good or bad by "tasting" it, and, second, the sacrificial animal was a substitute that suffered the condemnation that the offerer deserved. In our tithes (and in worship generally), we offer ourselves as living sacrifices for God’s inspection and judgment. Whatever is hay and stubble is consumed, and whatever is gold and silver is purified.
The Tearing of Christ
Of course, Jesus Christ is the True Israelite, the True Sacrificial Victim, and thus He is, in the deepest sense, the "prey" that is brought into the Lord’s house. Several Christological dimensions of tereph may be noted. First, it is clear that Christ Himself is the One torn. This is clear in the Christological Psalm 22, where the Psalmist speaks of his enemies as bulls of Bashan who open their mouths like a "tearing" lion (v. 13). There also appears to be a type of Jesus as tereph in the Joseph narrative. In Genesis 37:33 (cf. 44:28), Jacob sees Joseph’s bloody robe and concludes that some wild beast has devoured Joseph. Christ, the Greater Joseph, was also attacked by wild beasts — his brethren, the tribes of Israel — and torn.
Joseph’s bloody garments might be seen in the light of Exodus 22:10-13. They provided evidence (forged in this case) of the innocence of Joseph’s brothers. Because they brought evidence that Joseph had been killed by a wild animal, Jacob required no restitution of his sons. Similarly, the blood of Jesus is (genuine) evidence that He was slaughtered. It is a witness before the Father that His beloved Son is dead. The Church also is Joseph, her garments made bloody by the death of a substitute, a male goat, a sin offering. God sent His Son to His own, but His own received Him not. The torn-apart body of Christ provides evidence that we are not guilty of putting the Holy One to death, and we are therefore not required to pay with our own lives.
Though God permitted "wild bulls of Bashan" and other human beasts to "tear" His Son, it was actually God Himself who acted as Supreme King and Judge, and who sacrificed Jesus. Jesus was not rendered unclean, as was the flesh of animals torn by other animals; but like the tithe, Jesus was a clean tereph, torn by God Himself, and thus acceptable to Him.
(It may also be significant that the priests’ garments were blood-stained, Lev. 8:30. Because he was anointed with oil and blood, Aaron could enter the Most Holy Place. We, sprinkled with the blood of the Greater Aaron, and anointed with the Holy Spirit, enter into the heavenly sanctuary.)
These thoughts may also have some relevance for sacramental theology. In the Eucharist, we present before the Lord tokens of the body and blood of Christ as evidence that we are not liable to punishment. Moreover, the prohibition of eating terephah is, theologically speaking, fulfilled in the New Covenant: Christ is lamb of God torn to pieces by wild animals in the field, and if that were all there was to it, we would not be able to eat of Him. Beyond this, though, Christ is God’s tithe-lamb, torn sacrificially by God Himself, so that he is a clean Tereph. Thus, we are required to eat His flesh and drink His blood. Though we were once made unclean by eating at the table of demons, we have been washed and are now permitted to eat of the holy things (cp. Lev. 22:4-8).
Like Joseph, Christ is alive. Hosea 6:1-2 brings the tearing of prey into connection with resurrection. Hosea exhorted Israel to return to the Lord: He has torn, but He will revive and raise us on third day (v. 2). Christ, the True Israel, was torn, but revived. He was torn by beasts, but, as a descendent of Judah He devoured His enemies, was raised up and exalted, like Joseph, to be ruler over all.
BIBLICAL Horizons, No. 8
November, 1989
Copyright 1989, Biblical Horizons
Proverbs 30:5. Every word of God is tested; He is a shield to those who take refuge in Him.
6. Do not add to His words Lest He reprove you, and you be proved a liar.
We come now to Proverbs 30:5-6. The Sojourner (Agur) has already told us that he is "more stupid than any man," and that he has "not learned wisdom." He has told us that his only hope lies in the fact that "I have knowledge of the Holy One" (verses 1-4). Now, out of his intellectual humility, he points to the Word of God as the true foundation for life.
Every word of God, he says, is tested. The Hebrew word here means that God’s word has been tried in the fire. It is pure as gold from which all dross has been smelted. This pure word forms a shield for believers, and this shield is God Himself. Those who take refuge behind the shield of God and His word will not be ashamed.
I believe that we can see a parallel to this imagery in the provisions of the Temple. 2 Chronicles 9:15-16 tells us that "King Solomon made 200 large shields of beaten gold, using 600 shekels of beaten gold on each large shield. And 300 shields of beaten gold, using 300 shekels of gold on each shield, and the king put them in the house of the forest of Lebanon."
These shields were used in ceremony to form a glory cloud of fiery appearance around the king. As man is God’s image, so an honorable man may have an image of God’s glory around him. Thus we read that "it happened as often as the king entered the house of the LORD, the runners came and carried them [the shields] and then brought them back into the runners’ room" (2 Chron. 12:11).
The Godly king wrapped himself not in his own glory, but in God’s glory. It was God’s glory that was to be his shield. When Rehoboam "forsook the law of the LORD," then God aroused Pharaoh Shishak to sack Jerusalem. "So Shishak king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem, and took the treasures of the house of the LORD and the treasures of the king’s palace. He took everything; he even took the golden shields that Solomon had made" (2 Chron. 12:1, 9). Notice the emphasis on the shields.
"Then King Rehoboam made shields of bronze in their place, and committed them to the hands of the commanders of the runners who guarded the door of the king’s house" (2 Chron. 12:10). Verse 11, quoted above, shows us how the shields were used: Rehoboam went into the Temple courtyard to worship, surrounded by these bronze shields. By doing this, he confessed that he had forsaken his own glory and his own sinful ways, and that he was committed to obeying God’s law and being protected by God’s glory. And so we read in verse 12, "And when he humbled himself, the anger of the LORD turned away from him so as not to destroy completely; and also conditions were good in Judah."
If we add to God’s word, we ruin our shield. God delights in our seeking new applications of His word, but He shares the ultimate authority of His word with no one. The man who adds to God’s word will find holes in his shield, and will not be able to stand in the day of battle. He is replacing God’s glory-shield with his own, and to that extent, he is left defenseless.
In order to have a fully working shield, we have to take seriously every word of God, says the Sojourner. We must not subtract any of them, just as we must not add to them. The shield is "beaten" into shape out of many small pieces, and we must have them all or else the shield will have holes in it.
The Shield of Jacob
We have taken note of the suggestion that Jacob is the Sojourner who authored this chapter of the Bible. Is there an incident in his life that illustrates this proverb? Certainly. To understand it, let’s look back at Genesis 14 and 15. Here we have the story of the war of the five kings against the four. After Chedorlaomer’s victory, Abram pursued him and defeated him in order to rescue Lot. Then Abram was afraid that Chedorlaomer would return.
God appeared to him and said, "Do not fear, Abram, I am a shield to you" (Gen. 15:1). How was God going to function as a shield to Abram? Through His word. God gave His word to Abram, and Abram "believed in the LORD; and He reckoned it to him as righteousness" (Gen. 15:6). God was Abram’s shield because Abram trusted God’s word. God’s word was this: That Abram would have a son who would fulfill the Messianic promise (Gen. 15:5 & Gal. 3:16).
Isaac was the immediate fulfillment of God’s promise to Abram, in that Abram did indeed have a son. Of course, it was Abram’s descendant through Isaac, Jesus the Christ, who was the ultimate fulfillment of the promise. Isaac knew about God as shield, but there came a time when Isaac decided not to keep God’s word.
God had told Isaac and Rebekah that Jacob, not Esau, was to be counted as the firstborn son (Gen. 25:23). Isaac knew that Esau had despised his birthright and had practically given it away to Jacob (Gen. 25:34). He knew that Jacob was a "perfect" man, fulfilling God’s command to Abraham (Gen. 17:1; 25:27). Yet, because he preferred the food of Esau (cp. Gen. 3), Isaac determined not to obey God’s word.
Isaac determined to bless Esau, and he also decided to give Esau not only the double portion of the inheritance that would normally go the firstborn, but to give him everything (Gen. 27:37). God through Rebekah thwarted Isaac’s plan however, and Isaac was reproved and proved a liar. From this we see that Jacob had plenty of experience with the meaning of Proverbs 30:5-6.
(For a fuller discussion of Jacob and Esau, see my book Primeval Saints, available for $10.00 plus $2.00 postage from Biblical Horizons .)
Conclusion
God continually humiliates the Christian Church today, and these verses show why. In America we have had the scandals surrounding televangelism. We may say that we are not part of the television evangelism scene, and few of us really see ourselves as part of that community, but in fact as far as the Church’s witness in the world is concerned we are united with them. Their scandals are our scandals. The scandals within the Churches, and within parachurch movements, are our scandals.
Evangelical Christianity, which professes to hold and guard the historic faith, does not take seriously every word of God, and because of this, evangelical Christianity has added lots of new words to God’s. This is not new, of course. It did not take very long for the early Church to start adding devotions to Mary and the saints, requirements of celibacy for bishops, and other rules to God’s word. Today we have all kinds of additional words, such as prohibitions on drinking alcohol and the moderate use of tobacco. In other conservative Christian circles new words include apostolic succession through bishops and other curiosities. As a result, the Church does not have much of a shield, and she is exposed to assaults on all sides.
God knows that we cannot master the details of His Word rapidly, but He counts the will for the deed. If we seek to understand and apply, in a New Covenant fashion, all the words of the Bible, God will begin once again to act as our Shield and Defender. If we don’t, Shishak will continue to spoil us, and more and more of our gold will become bronze.
