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THE REQUIRED AMOUNT OF THE TÂRUMAH

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THE REQUIRED AMOUNT OF THE TÂRUMAH:

When a person steals, restitution must be in full. The loss must be made good. The criminal must give back what was taken, or its equivalent. In today’s world, people go to jail as a means of “paying one’s debt to society.” However, it is the exact opposite or the avoidance of proper biblical restitution.

The principle of restitution is essential to the just resolution of the responsibility of criminals for their victims’ injuries. Return of victims by the guilty is the basic biblical principle, which dates back to ancient times.

Restitution is paid in full plus one-fifth (Num. 5:7). A fifth is given as târumah to the priest if the party is not alive. Târumah is legally a fifth; this is why the fair man (in the three kinds of givers) pays 2%. This is what is just. Someone who is generous pays more (2.5%), while someone who is stingy pays less.

They must pay in full for what they did wrong. And they must add a fifth of the value to it. (Numbers 5:7b, emphasis added)

Târumah is legally a fifth; this is why the fair man (in the three kinds of givers) pays 2%.

The 20% penalty is disciplinary, but it is neither excessive, greedy, nor destructive. Justice must be proportional and keep the emphasis on responsibility for the restoration and, ultimately, reconciliation. In this way, the righteousness of God is served.

 

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The Tărūmāh and The Protection of God

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The Tărūmāh and The Protection of God: 

“With time you can learn where to go for nourishment, where to hide for protection, where to turn for guidance. Just as your earthly house is a place of refuge, so God’s house is a place of peace.”

– Max Lucado

No testing has overtaken you that is not common to everyone. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tested beyond your strength, but with the testing, he will also provide the way out so that you may be able to endure it.

1 Corinthians 10:13 NRSV

Exodus 30 shows us another interesting purpose for the offering and how it is made for atonement. It is an offering that is used to save people’s lives. First, let’s examine the passage below:

11 Then the Lord spoke to Moses. He said, 12 “Make a list of the Israelites and count them. When you do, each one must pay the Lord for his life at the time he is counted. Then a plague will not come on them when you count them.

13 Each one counted must pay a fifth of an ounce of silver. It must be weighed out in keeping with the standard weights that are used in the sacred tent. The payment is an offering to the Lord.

14 Each one counted must be 20 years old or more. He must give an offering to the Lord.

15 When you make the offering, rich people must not give more than a fifth of an ounce of silver. And poor people must not give less. The offering you give to the Lord will pay for your lives.

16 Receive the money from the people of Israel. Use it for any purpose in the tent of meeting. It will remind the people that they are paying me for their lives.” (Exodus 30:11-16)

The context of the passage above took place at the numbering of people for the purpose of enrolling them in the arm of Jehovah (Num. 1:3, Exo. 7:4, 12:41). Everyone who passed over to those that were numbered was to pay half a shekel to the sanctuary as atonement money. Both the rich and the poor paid the same amount 1/5 of an ounce of silver.

Both the rich and the poor both paid the same amount 1/5 of an ounce of silver.

We are all equal in the sight of Jehovah. This payment was to be a târumah (Exo. 25:2) for Jehovah for the expiation of souls.

If we relate it to today’s context, the tithes are the same for both the rich and the poor, it is the first 10%. In terms of the târumah, it is 1/40th for the generous person.

The shekel of the sanctuary, which contained 20 s, can be considered as the original shekel of full weight. There was a lighter shekel which was currently in ordinary use. The sacred shekel, according to the present valuation is worth 26 groschens. One Euro is equivalent to 13.76 groschens. In dollar former, one sacred shekel is about $2.14.

During this time, it was a huge task to take a census. However, this is what Israel will undergo. If you have ever done an inventory, you know that the only one who can order this is the one in authority. Only the person who owns whatever is counted can order an inventory. We only have the authority to count things that are rightfully ours. We cannot put our numbers on other people’s stuff. The census declares that the Israelites who were numbered are God’s.

They were His people, and He alone had the authority to count them.

Who had the right to number the Israelites? It was only God who has the authority to do this. They were His people, and He alone had the authority to count them.  According to the commentary of A. W. Pink “When God numbers or orders anything to be numbered, taking the sum of them denotes that they belong to Him and that He has the sovereign right to do with them as He pleases. The action itself says of the things numbered, ‘These are Mine, and I assign them their place as I will.” The only way to properly count the Israelites was for God’s glory alone.

There is a risk that whenever the Israelites took a census, they are in danger of forgetting this. After all, they are the ones physically doing the counting. Thus, they would be tempted to think that their great numbers were a credit to them, rather than to God. They would be tempted to think that their great numbers were a credit to them, rather than to God. It’s not a sin to take a census, but it is a sin to rob God of His glory.

They would be tempted to think that their great numbers were a credit to them, rather than to God.

King David experienced this downfall. He started saying and feeling pride about how big his army was, without attributing its number to the Lord. David got caught up in the numbers game. This boasting can be a temptation for everyone, even a temptation for churches. Pastors always want to see the latest church attendance figures, especially based on the tithes and offering. This information is indeed useful since we want to measure if what we are doing is productive. However, we cannot use it to keep score and to compare our ministry with that of another senior pastor. We are not in a competition. We are on the same team, with the desire to advance God’s Kingdom.

In this context, to make sure the Israelites remembered that they did not belong to themselves but to God, God required a târumah. He required a ransom for every man in Israel. By paying half a shekel, they were acknowledging that they did not belong to themselves, but to God. In the same way, our tithes and offering declare that we belong to the Lord, and we (as well as our finances) are therefore protected.

In the same way, our tithes and offering declare that we belong to the Lord, and we (as well as our finances) are therefore protected.

 

Your weekly dose of prophetic wisdom and anointing awaits you. Join our LIVE Conference Call!

1) Call 515-604-9266

2) Go to startmeeting.com, and use the login: BishopJordan

 

The Distinction of the Tărūmāh: What is a Heave Offering?

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“When a man becomes a Christian, he becomes industrious, trustworthy and prosperous. Now, if that man when he gets all he can and saves all he can does not give all he can, I have more hope for Judas Iscariot than for that man!”

John Wesley

“But woe to you Pharisees! For you tithe mint and rue and herbs of all kinds, and neglect justice and the love of God; it is these you ought to have practiced, without neglecting the others.

Luke 11:42 NRSV

Have you ever heard about the heave offering?

You can find the term “heave offering” several times in the Old Testament specifically. It’s a way of presenting one’s offering to the Lord. It usually appears together with burnt offerings, grain offerings, and the offering of the firstborn flocks. The Mosaic Law requires the people of God to give the heave-offering.

Heaving is an action. It pertains to an upward movement. An offering is distinguished as a heave offering because there is a generic movement of lifting or heaving the sacrifice toward the altar. It is also referred to as separating a portion of the sacrifice from the rest. The “heaved” up portion was set apart for the consumption of the priests (Lev. 7:34) because God takes care of His ministers. Here’s a picture of how the process of the heave offering is done:

 27 And thou shalt sanctify the breast of the wave offering, and the shoulder of the heave offering, which is waved, and which is heaved up, of the ram of the consecration, even of that which is for Aaron, and of that which is for his sons:

28 And it shall be Aaron’s and his sons’ by a statute for ever from the children of Israel: for it is an heave offering: and it shall be an heave offering from the children of Israel of the sacrifice of their peace offerings, even their heave offering unto the Lord. (Exodus 29:27-28, King James Version)

The distinction of târumah

Târumah is a heave offering; it is a contribution of the believer to the ministry of God.

The Hebrew term “Târumah” (תְּרוּמָה [târuwmah or târumah), pronounced as ter·oo·maw is translated as “offering” appears 51 times,  “oblation” 19 times, “heave” four times, “gifts” once, and “offered” once. There is an interesting correlation between how this single word is translated into different Scripture and it gives us a hint as to how important this concept is to the Lord. Târumah is a heave offering; it is a contribution of the believer to the ministry of God.

Târumah serves as a call for the Israelites to bring to God what we understand as “gifts”.  In Scripture, we read: “The Lord said to Moses: Tell the Israelites to take for me an offering; from all whose hearts prompt them to give you shall receive the offering for me” (Exodus 25:1-2). In The Torah: A Modern Commentary, it reads like this: “you shall accept gifts for Me from every person whose heart is so moved”. God uses His people to bless His ministers. It is because of God’s grace and will that the members of the Body of Christ bless His front liners in the ministry. It’s not because of the church member’s own generosity and wealth.

It is because God touches one’s heart to be generous and provides for him that he is able to give the Târumah offering.

A member of the church cannot say, “I am so generous to my pastor, which is why I am giving him my Târumah offering, on top of my tithes.” It is because God touches one’s heart to be generous and provides for him that he is able to give the Târumah offering. Otherwise, they cannot exhibit this generosity. This generosity comes from the Lordship the believer places himself under, in order to obey the commands of the Lord.

In the passage, after God enumerated the precious metals, stones, and materials that would constitute such gifts, God reveals the purpose of this command.[i] God said, “And have them make me a sanctuary, so that I may dwell among them” (Exo. 25:8). Do you want the Lord to truly dwell among you in your church? Then, you need to obey and bring in the Târumah offering.

People need symbols. They cannot fully grasp the concept of God because He is intangible and invisible. As human beings, we are used to understanding concrete things more effectively than abstract concepts. As a quest to make this human-divine partnership more tangible, the Bible presents the idea of making a sanctuary for God. The idea of gift-giving or donating to God is rendered so that human beings understand how they can express their worship and loyalty to the Lord.

The idea of gift-giving or donating to God is rendered so that human beings understand how they can express their worship and loyalty to the Lord.

Notice the words the author used in the passage from Exodus 25. The Scripture used “to take” instead of “to bring” in “Tell the Israelites to take for me an offering.”

Hold that thought for a second, and look at it from another angle. If we linguistically study this word, the verb meaning of “Târumah” is “to elevate.” Does this root meaning add anything more to our understanding of what’s going on here? Have you ever seen something elevate? If you’ve ridden an elevator before, it goes from the first floor to the second floor. It leaves the first floor and arrives on the second floor. An elevator that works cannot be both on the first floor and the second floor at the same time.

Going back, why did the verse say, “To take for me” The Bible talks about taking an offering, but why did it not directly say to bring your donations to God? A linguistic investigation shows us insights into human ways of thinking. There is a “Take and give” concept here.[i] In order to give something, it must be taken from ourselves. Said in another way, true gift-giving is about giving something up.

True gift-giving is about giving something up.

The Târumah is a heart offering (see Exo 25:2) that can be elevated.

The elevation here refers to the spiritual expansion because of the elevated nature of the gift. Throughout the Pentateuch, Moses is described as “going up” to commune with God. This suggests that through the gifts that the people of God give to the ministers, then all Israelites are able to ascend toward the Divine. They need to let go of something to get somewhere. As in the elevator illustration, they need to let go of being in the first floor in order to reach higher floors. In the context of the heave offering, it is letting go of a tangible object, in order to experience an intangible God.

 

Your weekly dose of prophetic wisdom and anointing awaits you. Join our LIVE Conference Call!

1) Call 515-604-9266

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