17 The Lord said to Moses, 18 “Speak to the Israelites and say to them: ‘When you enter the land to which I am taking you 19 and you eat the food of the land, present a portion as an offering to the Lord. 20 Present a loaf from the first of your ground meal and present it as an offering from the threshing floor. 21 Throughout the generations to come you are to give this offering to the Lord from the first of your ground meal.
Numbers 15:17-21
In Chapter 15 of Numbers through verse 16, God repeats laws he had mentioned before. Next in verses 17-21, God talks about the land to which the Israelites will be going. Once they arrive, the one thing that is to be on their mind is to give back to God for what they have received. When they eat of the food of the land, they are to give a portion back as an offering.
There is nothing exceptionally exciting about this passage. But, the one thing that struck me was in verse 20 which says “Present a cake from the first of your ground meal and present it as an offering from the threshing floor.” This offering was to be presented “from the threshing floor.”
Now, the threshing floor was a flat outside area, usually circular and created with some sort of stone. This was the place where they would winnow the grain which was a process to separate the chaff. It also cleaned the grain to make it useful which was sort of a sanctification (to set apart). You may have heard of the term sanctification which is a biblical term referring to the fact that we as Christians have been set apart from the world. God has set us apart to be in his kingdom.
In the same way the grain was cleaned at the threshing floor, we too are cleaned by the process of continual renewal. Paul in the book of Ephesians, in chapter 1, tells us we were marked with the seal of the Holy Spirit when we first believed. But, because we still live in this earthly body, continual sanctification is needed in our hearts to rid ourselves of harmful desires. This is accomplished by the unity of the body and living as Children of Light as described in chapter 4 of Ephesians.
From what I have seen leading up to this Scripture in Exodus through Numbers 15, the Israelites have always prepared their sacrifice such as a goat, dove, waffer, bread and so on and then brought it to the Priest to perform the offering. The offering was taken from their store house. They looked at what they had and then gave from that the Lord’s portion.
But here, we see that right from the place of work, the place where hands are getting dirty, where sweat and long hours are plentiful, God creates a place of holiness. A point where they stop their work and offer a portion straight from the threshing floor. From this grain, they bake their bread. They don’t take all the grain back to their store house and then bake all the bread and then give a portion of that. No, they take the Lord’s portion straight from the source. Once the grain is cleaned, it is then ready to be stored. But before it is stored, the offering is separated.
I have heard some say that we should tithe from the gross of our paycheck rather than our net. In other words, from amount you get paid before taxes and deductions. It seems right and makes sense especially in comparison with this passage, that we give God his portion before we store it. However, it is also important that we don’t feel that we are under obligation or legalism. In Galatians, Paul denounces those who put undue burdens on other Christians. But, it is important that we each follow that with which we are convicted to give of your time and money.
This passage impacts me in my concept of offering, sacrifice, and sanctification. God wants us to take our ordinary day and riddle it with times where we stop and take time to honor him. We not only honor with our tithes and offerings but also with our time and our thoughts. We can sacrifice a part of our day to remember his goodness and even perhaps share that with others around us.
I think we as believers sometimes feel as though we can only worship God in our prayer closet or at church. But, this passage I believe, is a reminder to us that God wants us to offer right from where we are. We don’t have to clean ourselves up for Sunday morning church in order to honor God. Because of the power of the cross, God meets us right where we are and from our offerings creates a place of holiness.
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