By JOHN AMODA

We should remember that we have already pointed out the obvious, that Malachi’s Tithe is one of the four tithes of the Law and it is the Numbers 18 Tithes.

Oyedepo’s confident assertion is assertion concern-ing Numbers 18 Tithes and God has declared his ever-lasting ordinance concerning all His Hallowed Things of the children of Israel in Numbers 18. The bishop declares that to disobey his doctrine on tithing is to transgress against God’s doctrine on tithes.

What then is God’s commandments on His Hallowed things? Firstly, the subject of His Law is the hall-owed Things of the children of Israel; this is why Abram’s tithe and Jacob’s vow to tithe are excluded from Numbers 18 Tithe which is one of the four tithes of the Law.

That Abram paid tithes is a non-sequitur when the subject matter are the Tithes of the Law. Abraham was circumcised before circumci-sion of all males, whether Hebrew or Gentile born in Israel was made a law. Just as Abraham’s circumcision was not a circumcision under the law, so his onetime tithing in Genesis 14 is not a tithe of the Law.

Oyedepo quotes Malachi 3:8-10 to buttress his assertion. His tithes nonetheless is the Tithe of Numbers 18. What is God’s commandments on His Hallowed things of the children of Israel, for God in His Law had Israel in mind, not Christ-endom. (Ephesians 2:11-13). Below are God’s command-ments on His Hallowed Thin-gs:

God’s Offerings of Malachi 3 is God’s Offerings of Numbers 18
“This shall be thine of the most holy things reserved from the fire: every oblation of theirs, every meat offerings of theirs, and every sin offerings of theirs and every trespass offerings of theirs, which they shall render unto me, shall be most holy for thee and for thy sons. In the most holy place shalt thou eat it; every male shall eat it: it shall be holy unto thee”.

Note God’s offerings, be they sin offerings, or trespass offerings which they shall render unto God are most holy for Aaron and his sons and they shall eat these meat offerings in the most holy place – they shall eat where Aaron and all his sons can eat, and that is in Holy Place in the Sanctuary, not within the veil.

In not making these offerings, Israel denied God what is His; they robbed Him of His Offer-ings, of His holy things reserved from the fire. These offer-ings are His and they are given to be eaten by Aaron and his sons according to an ordinance forever.

The Law on Heave Offerings
“And this shall be thine: the heave offering of their gift, with all the wave offerings the children of Israel: I have given them unto thee, and to thy sons and to thy daughters with thee, by a statute for ever; every one that is clean in thy house shall eat of it.” (Numbers 18:11).

The heave offerings and the wave offerings of the children of Israel are given to Aaron and his sons and daughters and shall be eaten in his house by all that is clean. This provision is by God’s statute forever.

The Law on First Fruits
“All the best of the oil, and all the best of the wine, and of the wheat, the firstfruits of them which they shall offer unto the LORD, them have I given thee. And whatsoever is first ripe in the land, which they shall offer unto thee shall be thine; every one that is clean in thine house shall eat of it.” (Numbers 18:12-13).

The best gifts including whatsoever is first ripe in the land is God’s and He gives it to Aaron and to everyone that is clean in his household. This is God’s law on firstfruits and the Lord said He has given such to Aaron and Aaron’s household to consume. The firstfruits are for Aaron and his children and the only limit-ation; only all that are clean can eat it. This is the same firstfruits that have now been transform-ed into a complement of Christ-ian Tithing.

Devoted Things
“Everything devoted in Israel shall be thine.” (Numbers 18:14)

All Heave Offerings
“All the heave offerings of the holy things which the children of Israel offer unto the Lord, have I given thee and thy sons and thy daughters with thee, by a statute for ever: it is a co-venant of salt for ever before the Lord unto thee and to thy seed with thee.” (Numbers 18:19).

Aaron and Land Inheritance in Israel
“And the Lord spake unto Aaron, thou shalt have no inheritance in their land, neither shalt thou have any part among them: I am thy part and thine inheritance among the children of Israel.” (Numbers 18:20).

God’s Commandment on All The Tithes of The Land
“And behold, I have given the children of Levi all the tenth in Israel, for their service which they serve, even the service of the tabernacle of the congre-gation. Neither must the child-ren of Israel henceforth come nigh the tabernacle of the con-gregation, lest they bear sin, and die. But the Levite shall do the service of the tabernacle of the congregation, and they shall bear their iniquity: it shall be a statute forever throughout your generations that among the children of Israel they have no inheritance.

But the tithes of the children of Israel, which they offer as a heave offering unto the Lord, I have given to the Levites to inherit, therefore I have said unto them, among the children of Israel they shall have no inheritance” (Numbers 18:21-24).

In the above, God makes provision for the Levites – their service has two aspects – they are the representatives of the 11 Tribes concerning ser-vice at the Tabernacle of Congregation, and they thus perform the service of the Tabernacle of the Congrega-tion.

For this service God has given all the tithes to the Levites and these tithes God reckons as their INHERITAN-CE. And thus it is that all the 12 tribes with the exception of Aaron and his household have inheritance and part in Israel.

God is Aaron’s Inheritance and His Part in Israel
God commandments on Tithes to the children of Israel was to provide an inheritance for the Levites. That was the sole and exclusive purpose of God in His Numbers 18 Tithes. We thus see that the assertion made by Oyedepo is at odds with God’s commandments as reproduced above.

His assertions cannot be taken for error or heresy – they are too boldly stated-they are assertions informed by adherence to Another Priesthood, not the priesthood of Aaron and the services of the Tabernacle of congregation and the office of the priest.

Numbers 18 tithes are deplored by him to justify views and objectives quite strange to what God clearly and plainly commands in the Numbers 18 Tithes of The Law. Nowhere in Numbers 18 has God commanded Gentiles, whether Proselytes or convert-ed disciples of the Lord to tithe.

And as it will be evident in what follows, God is not vague in his commandments and the purpose served by those commandments. God expects the children of Israel, the Levites, Aaron and Moses, the parties concerned in Numbers 18, to carry out His dictates exactly and that without addition or deletion. When Christian doctrines on tithes are based on Malachi without reference to Numbers 18 which is the Law defended by God through Malachi, a new purpose different from God’s is being served.

When Christ has redeemed mankind from the curse of the Law (Galatians 3:13-14), Bishop Oyedepo cannot bring the same under the curse of the Law. When the following is said of God: “Bless-ed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ.

 According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love.” (Ephesians 1:3-4); the contrary is being attributed to God when Oyedepo contends that non-payment of the tithes of the Law brings Gentile believers under the curse of the Nation of Israel. Oyedepo’s position, is as we have pointed out, is radically at odds with God’s explicitly stated com-mandments in Numbers 18. This we see in what follows:

The Law of The Tithes of The Tithes
In Numbers 18 God shows that He has made provision for the 12 Tribes to pay tithes to Aaron. The 11 Tribes give their tithes to the Levites and all the tithes of the children of Israel which are God’s He has given to be the inheritance of the Levites, that is, as the equival-ence of the inheritance of each of the 11 Tribes of the children of Israel.

The Tithes of the Tithes is thus the Tithes given by Israel through the Levites to Aaron. Here is God’s Word on the Tithe of the Tithes. “And the Lord spoke unto Moses, saying, thus speak unto the Levites, and say unto them, when ye take of the children of Israel the tithes which I have given you from them for your inheritance, then ye shall offer up a heave offering of it for the LORD, even a tenth part of the tithe.

And this your heave offering shall be reckoned unto you as though it were the corn of the threshing floor, and as the fullness of the winepress. Thus ye also shall offer a heave offering unto the LORD of all your tithes, which ye receive of the children of Israel and ye shall give thereof the Lord’s heave offering to Aaron the priest. Out of all your gifts ye shall offer every heave offering of the LORD, of all the best thereof, even the hallowed part thereof out of it.

Therefore thou shalt say unto them, when ye have heaved the best from it, then it shall be counted unto the Levites as the increase of the threshing floor, and as the increase of the winepress. And ye shall eat it in every place, ye and your household; for it is your reward for your service in the tabernacle of the congregation.

And ye shall bear no sin by reason of it, when ye have heaved from it the best of it; neither shall ye pollute the holy things of the children of Israel, lest ye die.” (Numbers 18:25-32).