We also placed ourselves under obligation to contribute yearly one third of a shekel for the service of the house of our God. (Nehemiah 10:32)
Many of us have signed pledge cards to give a certain sum to a good cause after hearing the stirring request of a banquet speaker. But upon further review, after seeing what insurance will cost with three boys on the road, you have to reconsider. The wording here suggests more than a pencilled-in pledge, but the placing of one’s self under obligation to Almighty God.
Our minds naturally want to equate the services rendered in and by the “house of God” to those available at our local churches. However, our worship of God no longer requires symbolic ritualistic activities that ultimately point to Christ, but are aimed at acknowledging and celebrating his presence within and amongst us through worship, serving one another by using our gifts, and learning more from his word. Surely a church can’t be solely operated by a few volunteers, but the Mosaic law required a pretty elaborate sacrificial process facilitated by priests, Levites, and temple servants. It’s also important to note that when Christ came and the church was born, the concept of mandatory tithing was replaced by voluntary generous giving, except perhaps in certain denominations where vestiges of an archaic 10% system remain.
Therefore the text states that the people placed themselves “under obligation” to give a “third of a shekel,” normally weighing about 4 grams or about one-eighth of an ounce, annually to cover these costs.1 This was considered the “temple tax,” and here’s how it was used:
for the showbread, for the continual grain offering, for the continual burnt offering, the sabbaths, the new moon, for the appointed times, for the holy things and for the sin offerings to make atonement for Israel, and all the work of the house of our God. (Nehemiah 10:33)
Without delving into an exhaustive Old Testament study, the common thread throughout these priestly duties was their regularity. Baking the showbread or the “bread of Presence” from fine flour and the sabbaths were weekly activities, the grain and burnt offerings were continual, and the many other tasks were at their appointed times or as needed. Likewise, financial support had to be dependable and predictable. Again, we’re not to equate the activities in our local churches in the same way, but you do want a good sermon weekly, someone to bury your family member, worship singers and musicians, missionaries sent out in your stead, and a clean and hospitable worship environment. Paul spent a lot of time raising support for the churches and their respective works, but most of all for their basic needs. Our giving should be gracious and bountiful in response to the gifts that we’ve been given, not under compulsion!
Not that I seek the gift itself, but I seek for the profit which increases to your account. (Philippians 4:17)
1Yamauchi, E. (1988). Ezra-Nehemiah. In F. E. Gaebelein (Ed.), The Expositor’s Bible Commentary: 1 & 2 Kings, 1 & 2 Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther, Job (Vol. 4, p. 742). Zondervan Publishing House.
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