🌻18 Then Melchizedek King of Salem brought out bread and wine; he was the Priest of God Most High.
19 And he [Melchizedek] blessed him [Abraham] and said: “Blessed be Abram of God Most High, Possessor of heaven and earth;
20 And blessed be God Most High, Who has delivered your enemies into your hand.” And he [Abraham] gave him a tithe of all.
[Genesis 14:18-20]
🌻1 For this Melchizedek, King of Salem, Priest of the Most High God, who met Abraham returning from the slaughter of the kings and blessed him,
2 to whom also Abraham gave a tenth part of all, first being translated King of righteousness, and then also King of Salem, meaning King of peace,
3 without father, without mother, without genealogy, having neither beginning of days nor end of life, but made like the Son of God, remains a priest continually.
[Hebrews 7:1-3]
For those who still believe that tithing was under The Law; and that we don’t need to pay tithe because we are under the Grace, this is just a reminder that tithe existed before the Law came into existence. Abraham was the first person mentioned in the Bible to have paid tithe. He did so on all the booty he got from the war in which Lot was rescued. All the booty belonged to Abraham legitimately, as spoils of war.
Melchizedek is a Type, a Shadow of Christ. As the Book of Hebrews tells us, Melchizedek means King of Righteousness. He was the King of Salem, meaning the King of Peace. How else do these descriptions fit anyone apart from Jesus Christ? And that’s exactly what the Book of Hebrews says.
Jesus Christ is the Priest of God, According to the Order of Melchizedek. Jesus is still collecting our tithes today. Who do you pay your tithes to? The Pastor/Priest? The Church? Christ? It should be Christ. Church and Pastor/Priest are just human representatives. When you read in the news that some angry church members have gone to the Pastor, demanding their tithes paid over the past few years, you know these are people who don’t understand from the scriptural point of view who collects our tithes as New Testament Believers. Let’s change our perspective and the blessings of tithing will follow us.
God doesn’t need our money and substance for Himself. He however ordained that the tithes should be used to cater for the priest, the poor, the widow and the fatherless (the vulnerable).
Melchizedek blessed Abraham for paying tithe. May we also be blessed as we give for the work of God and take care of the needs of others. Amen
