Lech Lechah 3-4

Go for you

Genesis 14:1-20

And Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine. (He was priest of God Most High.) And he blessed him and said, "Blessed be Abram by God Most High, Possessor of heaven and earth; and blessed be God Most High, who has delivered your enemies into your hand!" And Abram gave him a tenth of everything.

Gen.14:18-20 ESV

Who is the real owner of everything?

Melkhi-Tzedek was priest of El Eliyon – The Most High. When he blessed Avraham he pointed out that El Eliyon was the Possessor of heaven and earth. The Hebrew word translated as “possessor” is kanah – קנה  – whose root has to do with: to build, to create, to obtain, to buy. In this passage, the Eternal is portrayed not only as the Creator – in Hebrew, boreh, בורא  – but also as the Owner of heavens and earth. He is the Owner of all that exists, as it is written in Psalm 50:10-11: “For every beast of the forest is mine, the cattle on a thousand hills. I know all the birds of the hills, and all that moves in the field is mine.” (ESV) And Ezekiel 18:4a: “Behold, all souls are mine; the soul of the father as well as the soul of the son is mine...” (ESV)

This truth, the fact that the Eternal is the Owner of all that exists, caused Avraham to give his tithe to Melkhi-Tzedek who represented the Owner of the world. Since everything is His, we have to acknowledge Him in a practical way, with our personal finances. None of Avraham’s riches belonged to him. By tithing, he showed that he was only an administrator of the goods that belonged to the Most High, who is the Possessor of heaven and earth.

In the Scriptures, the number 10 represents a totality. The one who tithes is saying, in a practical way, that everything he has received to administer belongs to the Eternal and that one day, he will have to account for the way he used the remaining 90%.

There is no word for “mine” in Hebrew. So, to say that something belongs to me, we say: “yesh li,יש לי  – “there is (something) for me” – or sheli, שלי  – “(it) is for me”. In other words, all that we possess is actually not ours, they are things that the Eternal has allowed us to manage. Our giving up the tithe is the only practical way to express this truth.

Tithe all you receive and in this way you will acknowledge that the Most High is the Possessor of your belongings. Thus, the windows of heaven will always be open in favour of your finances.

May the Eternal bless you and truly prosper you,