Genesis 28:22

28:22 I will present to God a tenth: By paying a tithe (a tenth) as an act of worship, a person acknowledges that everything is a gift from God and belongs to God (see 14:19-20; Num 18:21-32; Deut 14:22-29; 2 Chr 31:5-6; Mal 3:7-12; Matt 23:23).

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 22. This stone shall be God's house] That is, (as far as this matter refers to Jacob alone,) should I be preserved to return in safety, I shall worship God in this place. And this purpose he fulfilled, for there he built an altar, anointed it with oil, and poured a drink-offering thereon.

For a practical use of Jacob's vision, See Clarke on Ge 28:12.

ON the doctrine of tithes, or an adequate support for the ministers of the Gospel, I shall here register my opinion. Perhaps a word may be borne from one who never received any, and has Done in prospect. Tithes in their origin appear to have been a sort of eucharistic offering made unto God, and probably were something similar to the minchah, which we learn from Gen. iv. was in use almost from the foundation of the world. When God established a regular, and we may add an expensive worship, it was necessary that proper provision should be made for the support of those who were obliged to devote their whole time to it, and consequently were deprived of the opportunity of providing for themselves in any secular way. It was soon found that a tenth part of the produce of the whole land was necessary for this purpose, as a whole tribe, that of Levi, was devoted to the public service of God; and when the land was divided, this tribe received no inheritance among their brethren. Hence, for their support, the law of tithes was enacted; and by these the priests and Levites were not only supported as the ministers of God, but as the teachers and intercessors of the people, performing a great variety of religious duties for them which otherwise they themselves were bound to perform. As this mode of supporting the ministers of God was instituted by himself, so we may rest assured it was rational and just. Nothing can be more reasonable than to devote a portion of the earthly good which we receive from the free mercy of God, to his own service; especially when by doing it we are essentially serving ourselves. If the ministers of God give up their whole time, talents, and strength, to watch over, labour for, and instruct the people in spiritual things, justice requires that they shall receive their support from the work. How worthless and wicked must that man be, who is continually receiving good from the Lord's hands without restoring any part for the support of true religion, and for charitable purposes! To such God says, Their table shall become a snare to them, and that he will curse their blessings. God expects returns of gratitude in this way from every man; he that has much should give plenteously, he that has little should do his diligence to give of that little.

It is not the business of these notes to dispute on the article of tithes; certainly it would be well could a proper substitute be found for them, and the clergy paid by some other method, as this appears in the present state of things to be very objectionable; and the mode of levying them is vexatious in the extreme, and serves to sow dissensions between the clergyman and his parishioners, by which many are not only alienated from the Church, but also from the power as well as the form of godliness. But still the labourer is worthy of his hire; and the maintenance of the public ministry of the word of God should not be left to the caprices of men. He who is only supported for his work, will be probably abandoned when he is no longer capable of public service. I have seen many aged and worn-out ministers reduced to great necessity, and almost literally obliged to beg their bread among those whose opulence and salvation were, under God, the fruits of their ministry! Such persons may think they do God service by disputing against "tithes, as legal institutions long since abrogated," while they permit their worn-out ministers to starve: - but how shall they appear in that day when Jesus shall say, I was hungry, and ye gave me no meat; thirsty, and ye gave me no drink; naked, and ye clothed me not? It is true, that where a provision is established on a certain order of priesthood by the law, it may be sometimes claimed and consumed by the worthless and the profane; but this is no necessary consequence of such establishment, as there are laws which, if put in action, have sufficient energy to expel every wicked and slothful servant from the vineyard of Christ. This however is seldom done. At all events, this is no reason why those who have served God and their generation should not be comfortably supported during that service; and when incapable of it, be furnished at least with the necessaries of life. Though many ministers have reason to complain of this neglect, who have no claims on a legal ecclesiastical establishment, yet none have cause for louder complaint than the generality of those called curates, or unbeneficed ministers, in the Church of England: their employers clothe themselves with the wool, and feed themselves with the fat; they tend not the flock, and their substitutes that perform the labour and do the drudgery of the office, are permitted at least to half starve on an inadequate remuneration. Let a national worship be supported, but let the support be derived from a less objectionable source than tithes; for as the law now stands relative to them, no one purpose of moral instruction or piety can be promoted by the system. On their present plan tithes are oppressive and unjust; the clergyman has a right by law to the tenth of the produce of the soil, and to the tenth of all that is supported by it. He claims even the tenth egg, as well as the tenth apple; the tenth of all grain, of all hay, and even of all the produce of the kitchen garden; but he contributes nothing to the cultivation of the soil. A comparatively poor man rents a farm; it is entirely out of heart, for it has been exhausted; it yields very little, and the tenth is not much; at the expense of all he has, he dresses and manures this ungrateful soil; to repay him and keep up the cultivation would require three years' produce. It begins to yield well, and the clergyman takes the tenth which is now in quantity and quality more in value than a pound, where before it was not a shilling. But the whole crop would not repay the farmer's expenses. In proportion to the farmer's improvement is the clergyman's tithe, who has never contributed one shilling to aid in this extra produce! Here then not only the soil pays tithes, but the man's property brought upon the soil pays tithes: his skill and industry also are tithed; or if he have been obliged to borrow cash, he not only has to pay tithes on the produce of this borrowed money, but five per cent interest for the money itself. All this is oppressive and cruelly unjust. I say again, let there be a national religion, and a national clergy supported by the state; but let them be supported by a tax, not by tithes, or rather let them be paid out of the general taxation; or, if the tithe system must be continued, let the poor-rates be abolished, and the clergy, out of the tithes, support the poor in their respective parishes, as was the original custom.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

22. And this stone which I have set for a pillar. This ceremony was an appendage to divine worship; for external rites do not make men true worshippers of God, but are only aids to piety. But because the holy fathers were then at liberty to erect altars wherever they pleased, Jacob poured a libation upon the stone, because he had then no other sacrifice to offer; not that he worshipped God according to his own will, (for the direction of the Spirit was instead of the written law,) but he erected in that place a stone — as he was permitted to do by the kindness and permission of God, which should be a testimony of the vision. Moreover, this form of speech, that the stone shall be Beth-el, is metonymical; as we are sanctioned, by common usage, to transfer to external signs what properly belongs to the things represented. I have lately shown how ignorantly posterity has abused this holy exercise of piety. What next follows respecting the offering of tithes, is not a simple ceremony, but has a duty of charity annexed; for Jacob enumerates, in a threefold order, first, the spiritual worship of God; then the external rite, by which he both assists his own piety, and makes profession of it before men; in the third place, an oblation, by which he exercises himself in giving friendly aid to his brethren; for there is no doubt that tithes were applied to that use.

John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.

22. God’s house] See note on Gen_28:17. Here the title “God’s house” is applied to the stone itself.

of all … give the tenth] Very strange is this concluding promise to pay a tithe to Jehovah. In Gen_14:20, Abraham pays a tithe to Melchizedek of Jerusalem (?). The payment of tithe was maintained at Bethel in the times of the Israelite monarchy, cf. Amo_4:4. The mention of Jacob’s promise at Bethel to pay a tenth to Jehovah, shews that this Israelite religious usage was believed to go back to pre-Mosaic times. For the Levitical tenth or tithe, cf. Lev_27:30-33.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And this stone, which I have set for a pillar, shall be God's house,.... Building an altar of it with some others, and sacrificing to God on it; and wherever God is worshipped, that place is his house, be it what or where it will; and Jacob did as he promised to do, see Gen 35:3,

and of all that thou shalt give me, I will surely give the tenth unto thee; for the support of his worship; for the maintenance of such that were employed in it; for the provision of sacrifice, and for the relief of the poor, or for any use or service in which God might be glorified: this was imitated by the Heathens in later times, who gave the tenth of their substance to their gods, Jupiter, Hercules, and others (w).

(w) Herodot. Clio sive, l. 1. c. 89. Varro apud Macrob. Saturnal. l. 3. c. 12. Pompon. Laet. de Sacerdot. Rom. c. 3.

Next: Genesis Chapter 29

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

God’s house, i.e. a place where I will offer prayers and sacrifices to God; such places being commonly called God’s houses, and God is oft said to dwell in them, in regard of his special presence there. See Exo 20:24. Compare Gen 28:17, and Gen 35:1,3,7.

I will surely give the tenth unto thee, to be laid out in thy service, and for sacrifices, and for the use and benefit of those who shall attend upon sacred things; as also for the relief of the poor and needy, whom God hath substituted in his room, and to whom part of the tithes were to be given by a following law, Deu 14:28,29.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

22. This stone… God’s house — Jacob undoubtedly means that here he will establish some sanctuary of worship, and the tenth, which he vows unto God, is what he proposes to devote to maintaining such a place of worship. On the fulfilling of this vow, see Gen_35:7. It is noticeable how in this case, as in that of Abraham, Gen_14:20, the tithe of all is specified as the proper portion of one’s increase to be consecrated to God. It is mentioned, not as a new, strange thing, but in such an incidental way as to imply that even in Abraham’s and Jacob’s day the custom was one of long previous standing. Thus early, it would seem, God had in some way revealed to man his claim to the tenth part of his gains. Jacob himself here recognises that whatever prosperity he might have would be a gift of God, for which the tithe would be on his part only a fitting acknowledgment.

Jacob’s dream and vow at Bethel have more than a mere historical importance. The dream was prophetic and far-reaching in its scope and bearings. We should note especially the four beholds, three of vision: “behold a ladder,” “behold the angels,” “behold Jehovah,” (Gen_28:12-13,) and one of promise. Gen_28:15. These words denote the intensely realistic character of the whole revelation, appealing at once to heart and soul and mind and strength. By symbol and by promise the great prophetic future of Jacob and his seed is opened to his soul.

We think of the lonely, helpless man at the bottom of the ladder, and Jehovah at the top, and the angels ascending and descending, and at once the vision becomes a complex symbol. It indicates: 1) That there is a passageway for spirits between earth and heaven; an invisible bridge between God and man; but a way supernaturally prepared and spiritually discerned. 2) The ministry of angels. Whatever revelation had previously been made of angelic natures, and there had been not a few, this vision deepened and confirmed them all. 3) The special and mighty providence of God, caring for his chosen by his own omnipresent gaze, and by innumerable ministering spirits. 4) The mystery of the Incarnation. The ladder was a symbol of the Son of Man, as Mediator of the New Covenant, upon whom (as on the sole ground and basis of all possibility of grace) the angels of God ascend and descend to minister to the heirs of salvation. John 1:52. In that mystery of grace Jehovah himself comes down, as from the top of the ladder, and reaching frail and helpless man below, lifts him upward to the heavens, and redeems him with the power of an endless life.

The vision and promise would serve to soften and change the heart of Jacob. It marked an epoch in his life, and we may now, with New Testament light, observe how grandly it fore-shadowed that his seed should be the depositaries of Divine revelation. To them were committed the oracles of God, and through them have those oracles been communicated to the world.

CHAPTER 29.

JACOB’S ARRIVAL AT HARAN, 1-14.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And (or then, the apodosis now commencing) this stone which I have set for a pillar (vide on ver. 18) shall be God"s house Bethel, meaning that he would afterwards erect there an altar for the celebration of Divine worship a resolution which was subsequently carried out. (vide Gen_35:1, Gen_35:15) "The pillar or cairn or cromlech of Bethel must have been looked upon by the Israelites, and may be still looked upon in thought by us, as the precursor of every "house of God" that has since arisen in the Jewish and Christian world the temple, the cathedral, the church, the chapel; nay, more, of those secret places of worship that are marked by no natural beauty and seen by no human eye the closet, the catacomb, the thoroughfare of the true worshipper (Stanley"s "Jewish Church," lect. 3. p. 60). And of all that thou shalt give me I will surely give the tenth unto thee. Literally, giving I will give the tenth (cf. Gen_14:20) The case of Jacob affords another proof that the practice of voluntary tithing was known and observed antecedent to the tune of Moses

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

והאבן הזאת THEN THIS STONE — This is how you should explain the ו of והאבן: if He will do these things mentioned in Genesis 28:15 as He promised, then I, also, will do this:

והאבן הזאת אשר שמתי מצבה THEN THIS STONE WHICH I HAVE SET UP FOR A PILLAR etc. — Explain it as the Targum translates it: “I shall serve the Lord upon it” This, indeed, he did on his return from Padan-aram, when God said to him, (Genesis 35:1) “Arise, go up to Bethel”. What is stated there? “And Jacob set up a pillar … and he poured out a drink-offering thereon” (Genesis 35:14).

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.