The LORD God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it. And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.” (Genesis 2:15-17 ESV)
A beautiful, lush garden with every type of fruit imaginable. What a strange place to start a series of blogs about tithing. What in the world does Genesis 2:15-17 have to do with tithing?
You might be rolling your eyes at this point and thinking that I'm off my rocker, and you have very good reasons for thinking so. However, what better place to start looking at the Biblical teaching of tithing than in the Garden of Eden?
First, let's review what we know about the Garden of Eden from what is revealed to us in Scripture:
And the LORD God planted a garden in Eden, in the east, and there he put the man whom he had formed. And out of the ground the LORD God made to spring up every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. The tree of life was in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
A river flowed out of Eden to water the garden, and there it divided and became four rivers. The name of the first is the Pishon. It is the one that flowed around the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold. And the gold of that land is good; bdellium and onyx stone are there. The name of the second river is the Gihon. It is the one that flowed around the whole land of Cush. And the name of the third river is the Tigris, which flows east of Assyria. And the fourth river is the Euphrates. (Genesis 2:8-14 ESV)
I want to mainly focus on what is revealed to us in verse 9 wherein we learn that every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food was made to spring up in the Garden. I cannot imagine a garden full of every type and variety of fruit imaginable let alone a garden that also contained the tree of life! God provided Adam with everything he needed for sustenance and then some. God planted the Garden, then He placed Adam within it, and then He charged Adam with working it and keeping it. God provided a home for Adam, a steady job for Adam, a never ending supply of food for Adam, and all that was required of Adam in order to remain in this paradise was obedience to one simple command, "Of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat."
What was so bad about the tree of the knowledge of good and evil that God required Adam to stay away from it? Would Adam know a secret that God was trying to keep away from him if he sunk his teeth into its nectar? Was it's fruit poisonous and God was trying to protect Adam? Would Adam gain an ability to be godlike if he ate that fruit? No on all three accounts.
Parents and Sunday school teachers, try this little experiment with your kids and students. Buy an assortment of snacks and candies and spread them all out on the table. Sort out the number of a certain kind of candy and separate that candy off to the side. Introduce your children or class to the large assortment of candy and tell them, "You can eat any kind of candy you see here to your heart's contentment. But you may not eat any of this candy over here." The first question out of the mouths of babes is, "Why can't I eat those?!" You're response, "Because I said so."
Due to our sinful inclination our hearts will gravitate towards and obsess with that one candy which has been removed rather than focusing on all of the assorted candy at our disposal. The only thing wrong with the candy that you set aside is that you set it aside and told your students or children that it was off limits. There is nothing inherently immoral about that candy, but because of the fifth commandment, your children and students now need to heed and obey your instruction as their superior or risk sinning against the command of God. This is an example of positive law.
A positive law is one that requires or prohibits that which is not inherently moral or immoral but God has commanded something so that disobedience to it is therefore immoral. A.W. Pink explains that:
"By 'positive' law we mean that God also placed certain restrictions upon Adam which had never occurred to him from either the light of nature or from any moral considerations; instead, they were sovereignly appointed by God and were designed as a special test of Adam's subjection to the imperial will of his King. The term 'positive law' is employed by theologians not as antithetical to 'negative,' but in contrast from those laws which are addressed to our moral nature: prayer is a 'moral' duty: baptism is a 'positive' ordinance." (From Divine Covenants)
In The Economy of the Covenants Between God and Man, Herman Witsius explains:
"For its being called the tree of knowledge of good, intimated, that man, if from principle of love he obeyed this probationary precept, should come to the knowledge, sense, and fruition of that good which is truly and excellently so, and the full knowledge of which is only obtainable by sense and enjoyment. On the other hand, when called the tree of the knowledge of evil, thereby is signified, that man, if found disobedient, should be doomed to the greatest calamity, the exceeding evil and wretchedness of which he should at last know by experience."
There was no evil contained in the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Additionally, Adam and Eve did not have to taste of the fruit of this tree to know what was good because God created them in His image, perfectly sinless, and surrounded them by His pronounced "good" creation. Also, shortly after commanding Adam not to eat of the tree, God further reveals what goodness is by revealing that Adam's being alone was "not good." Therefore, all that Adam and Eve stood to "gain" by eating of the forbidden fruit was a physical, intimate, destructive, and eternally damning taste of evil.
In the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, we see how can God set aside a good thing and prohibit it's consumption from those He loves not only as a test of their obedience and fidelity but also as a demonstration of how man's greatest good is to obey and glorify God. As good as the fruit of that tree appeared, Adam and Eve were to place their trust in the Lord above their every desire, knowing that which God forbid would only cause destruction upon consumption. Witsius explains it further when he states:
"[Man] was sincerely to contemplate and desire the chief good, but not to endeavor after it, but only in the manner and way prescribed by heaven; nor here to give in to his own reasonings, how plausible soever that might appear...[Man]'s happiness was not to be placed in things pleasing to the senses of the body. There is another and a quite different beatifying good, which satiates the soul, and of itself suffices to the consummation of happiness."
Now, what does all of this have to do with tithing?
Imagine your bank account as the Garden of Eden. Now, imagine that ten percent of your income is the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. God constantly replenishes the "fruits" you have already consumed week in and week out, and one of every ten trees that grow in your bank account are off limits. The fruit of these trees are "good for food, and [they are] a delight to the eyes" (Gen. 3:6), and they will surely be pleasurable to consume. They'll pay a few more bills. They'll give you that much more cushion in your tight financial situation. They'll give you that extra edge you need to be able to afford that one thing that you're saving up for. You're right, there is nothing evil about that ten percent but it would be evil to spend it for your own desires. Ninety percent of the trees in the Garden are not off-limits and you can eat of their fruit to your heart's desire, but ten percent are to be set aside for another purpose.
Much like the law given to Adam and Eve in the Garden, tithing is another positive law wherein our fidelity to God is tested. Tithing is as much about money as the tree of the knowledge of good and evil was about food. Satan was able to tempt Eve into believing that God had only forbidden the fruit because He wanted to withhold some good thing from her and her husband. Is not Satan's temptation the very same when it comes to setting aside a tenth of all that the Lord provides? Is it not a struggle to tithe because that tenth is perfectly good money that we can take to the bank? Was not the forbidden fruit perfectly good fruit that would satiate Eve's hunger? But Eve did not consume the fruit for she was hungry, and God's people do not hold back their tithe today because they are poor.
No, the Garden of Eden is not about tithing, but therein we see the same temptation that consumes Christians today when it comes to tithing. We fail to trust and obey God's Word, allowing ourselves to be convinced that it would be far better for us to consume that which God has prohibited. Either we excuse ourselves because we believe that tithing is not required of God's people any longer, or we believe that it is not required of us when we cannot seemingly afford to spare any more of God's provision for us. Neither positions, however, have a trust in the promises of God as their focus. For even if God no longer requires a tithe, should we not use all that the Lord has provided in order to bless those who have less than we with an abundance of provision and thanksgiving? Is that not a teaching that permeates the New Testament where the word "tithe" may be lacking? As for those who close their purse when funds are tight, does not Jesus command us to seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and rest in the knowledge that God will provide for your every need (Matthew 6:24-34).
We have forgotten Psalm 52's warning to the those who place their trust in riches, and its wonderful contrast with God's faithful servant and the rich man:
But God will break you down forever;
he will snatch and tear you from your tent;
he will uproot you from the land of the living. Selah
The righteous shall see and fear,
and shall laugh at him, saying,
“See the man who would not make
God his refuge,
but trusted in the abundance of his riches
and sought refuge in his own destruction!”
But I am like a green olive tree
in the house of God.
I trust in the steadfast love of God
forever and ever.
I will thank you forever,
because you have done it.
I will wait for your name, for it is good,
in the presence of the godly.
(Psalm 52:5-9 ESV)
For our next excursion on the subject of tithing we won't be going very far from Eden. In fact, we only jump to Genesis 4...
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