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ou may never find another illustration of tithing quite like
this one in Nehemiah 11. It's not monetary donations that we are reading about
here though. People were tithing people. The people living in the cities around
Jerusalem quite literally tithed of their citizenry to fill their capital city
with a sufficient populace to sustain its viability (Nehemiah 11:1).
Interestingly, there were both divine and human elements to the selection of
who would move into the Holy City. They cast lots; that is, they used a random
method of selection, recognizing that it would be both fair and faithy
(Proverbs 16:33). Yet Nehemiah 11:2 says that the folks who plucked up and
transferred into the city did so willingly, not begrudgingly. They were not
coerced.
Much of this chapter is devoted to specifying which families
in Israel contributed citizens. Jerusalem was populated with peoples from the
tribes of Levi, Benjamin and Judah. But, is there a principle that we can glean
from this part of Nehemiah's story? There
are several. 1) Sacrifice: we should be willing to sacrifice ourselves, or even
harder... people that we love, if that is what it takes for the promotion of
true worship. 2) Growth: sometimes in our attempts at humility and piety we can
be guilty of excusing powerlessness and a lack of corporate vision. Every
living thing that I can think of experiences growth of some kind. Growth is
generally an indication of health... not always, but usually it is. 3) Direction:
they used randomizers to determine God's will back in the Old Testament times.
The indwelling presence of the Spirit of Christ in every believer in this age
now precludes the need signs and proofs. We are led by His Spirit (Romans
8:14).
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