spiritual temple in the spring of 1918. This accounts for the searching judgment process that is going on at Jehovah’s temple, exposing the empty philosophies, false man-made traditions and demonic teachings of all the religions that are a part of this old system of things.

15. With whom did the judgment from the temple begin, and why?

¹⁵ Remember, however, that the people whom Malachi warned were those to whom God had said: “Ye are my witnesses, saith Jehovah.” (Isa. 43:10, 12, AS) So the judgment began first with Jehovah’s witnesses after he came to his spiritual temple in 1918. At that time they came into great trials because of the persecutions that were heaped upon them, particularly by those nations embroiled in World War I. Then especially they came into a captive, exiled condition like that of the ancient Israelites in pagan Babylon. There was an ensnaring, bondage-bringing “fear of man.” This resulted in a neglect of Jehovah’s spiritual temple, which is made up of his anointed witnesses. Under the restraints of the fear of men these were hurting their own spiritual interests, hence the interests of God’s temple class; and the temple service or God’s assigned work for them was not being done. To them the Bible says: “Do you not know that you people are God’s temple and that the spirit of God dwells in you? If anyone destroys the temple of God, God will destroy him; for the temple of God is holy, which temple you people are.” (1 Cor. 3:16, 17, NW) But the remnant of the temple class on earth were not giving the temple service the due support because of selfish fear of man and man’s governments, who were trying to destroy this remnant of the temple class. Hence Jehovah’s judgment at his spiritual temple had to begin with this anointed remnant of his witnesses.

16. What questions confronted the anointed remnant on their release from antitypical Babylon in 1919, and on what invitation did they act?

¹⁶ In 1919 Jehovah God by his Greater Cyrus, the reigning King Jesus Christ, delivered his witnesses from this modern Babylonish condition of bondage to worldly men. Quite a number of them came out of literal prisons where they had been confined for their religious faith. Now what would they do? The postwar world was now open before them with all its opportunities for trying to rebuild this old, war-torn world under its new League of Nations and give it an artificial prosperity. Would they now join this world in its materialistic desires and pursuits? Was that what they had been praying for when they were under Babylonish captivity and longing to be free? Was that why Jehovah’s Greater Cyrus had set them free? From a materialistic standpoint the worldly opportunities were very inviting. But God’s invitation and command to them was: “Bring the whole tithe into the treasure-house, that there may be food in my house, and prove me now herewith, saith Jehovah of hosts, if I open not to you the windows of the heavens, and pour you out a blessing, till there be no place for it.” (Mal. 3:10, Da) The temple remnant acted on God’s invitation to test him. How?

THE SPIRITUAL “WHOLE TITHE”

17. In what way was God asking for no more than he had covenanted for, and who was a worthy example of obeying this feature of God’s law?

¹⁷ Jehovah God was asking for no more than he had covenanted or contracted for. In the laws of his covenant with Israel Jehovah commanded the nation to give him a tithe or tenth of all their increase: “Without fail you should give a tenth of all the produce of your seed, what comes forth on the field year by year.” (Deut. 14:22, NW) Jehovah God placed his name upon the temple rebuilt at Jerusalem. Therefore the tithes or tenths had to be brought there and deposited in the treasure house or storerooms there. “To the place that Jehovah your God will choose out of all your tribes to place his name there, to have it reside, you will seek and there you must come. And there you must bring your burnt offerings and your sacrifices and your tenth parts and the contribution of your hand and your vow offerings and your voluntary offerings and the firstborn ones of your herd and of your flock. And there you must eat before Jehovah your God and rejoice in every undertaking of yours, you and your households, because Jehovah your God has blessed you.” (Deut. 12:5-7, 11, 12, 17-19; 14:23, NW) God deserved the best: “The best of the first ripe fruits of your ground you are to bring to the house of Jehovah your God.” (Ex. 23:19, NW; Deut. 26:2-4, 10, 12) Hezekiah (king 745-716 B.C.) was a worthy example of a ruler of Jerusalem who had Israel obey this feature of Jehovah’s law.—2 Chron. 31:2-16.

18. Why was the tithe to be paid to the Levites, and how was the material condition of the Levites affected by payment?

¹⁸ The tithe or tenth was required of the twelve tribes of Israel in order to support the tribe of Levi, whose males directly served God at his temple as priests and Levites. “And to the sons of Levi, look! I have given every tenth part in Israel as an inheritance in return for their service that they are carrying on, the service of the tent of meeting. . . . in the midst of the sons of Israel they should not get possession of an inheritance. For the tenth part of the sons of Israel, which they will contribute to Jehovah as a contribution, I have given to the Levites as an inheritance.” (Num. 18:21-24, NW) Thus nine tenths of its increase remained to each of the twelve tribes, and the tribe of Levi got all together twelve tenth parts. As the nation of Israel prospered, the Levites were bound to prosper if the whole tithe were paid them.

19. How did the tithing requirement apply to the nonpriestly Levites, and what did the tithes enable the receivers to do?

¹⁹ Even the nonpriestly Levites were required to pay tithes, to the priests, of the family of Aaron the Levite. “And you should speak to the Levites and you must say to them, ‘You will receive from the sons of Israel the tenth part that I have given to you from them for your inheritance, and you must contribute from it as a contribution to Jehovah a tenth part of the tenth part. . . . In this way you yourselves also will contribute a contribution to Jehovah from all your tenth parts that you will receive from the sons of Israel, and from them you must give the contribution to Jehovah to Aaron the priest. From all the gifts to you, you will contribute every sort of contribution to Jehovah, of the very best of it, as some holy thing from them.’” The tithes were like wages to them: “You must eat it in every place, you and your household, because it is your wages in return for your service in the tent of meeting.” (Num. 18:25-32, NW) “And the priest the son of Aaron must prove to be with the Levites when the Levites receive a tenth, and the Levites themselves should offer up a tenth of the tenth to the house of our God to the dining halls of the supply house. For it is to the dining halls that the sons of Israel and the sons of the Levites should bring the contribution.” (Neh. 10:38, 39, NW) Thus the payment of the whole tithe enabled priests and Levites to devote their time and strength to doing their duties at Jehovah’s temple; it kept the temple service going full scale.

20. Failure or refusal to pay the whole tithe was, in effect, what? How did Nehemiah show it affected Jehovah’s temple servants?

²⁰ The refusal or failure to pay the whole tithe was a robbing of Jehovah God, for it was a holding back of what he had covenanted for and deserved. (Lev. 27:30) It was a failure to support his priests and Levites in their service at his temple; it resulted in a lessening of his working staff and of their activities at his temple. It was a neglect of his sacred house and of their spiritual interests. It affected Jehovah’s temple servants just as Nehemiah, governor of Judah, described it: “I got to find out that the very portions of the Levites had not been given [them], so that the Levites and the singers doing the work went running off, each one to his own field. And I began to find fault with the deputy rulers and say: ‘Why has the house of The [true] God been neglected?’ Consequently I collected them [the Levites] together and stationed them at their standing place [in the temple]. And all Judah, for their part, brought in the tenth of the grain and of the new wine and of the oil to the stores. Then I put Shelemiah the priest and Zadok the copyist and Pedaiah of the Levites in charge of the stores, . . . and upon them it devolved to do the distributing to their brothers.” (Neh. 13:10-13, NW) Robbing God as respects his tithes ended up with reduced spiritual benefits and services to Israel.

21. Why, since 1918, can Jehovah’s anointed witnesses not pay tithes according to the ancient law, and why could the Christians of the first century not pay them?

²¹ As Malachi 3:10 applies to the spiritual Israelites, the remnant of the temple class, since Jehovah came to his temple for judgment work in 1918, do these anointed witnesses of Jehovah have to bring literal tithes to him? No; no more than there is a literal house at Jerusalem with literal Levites and priests of the family of Aaron to which to bring such literal tithes. Malachi 3:10 had its first application to the anointed Christian witnesses of Jehovah back in the first century, from Pentecost of A.D. 33 onward. So they are an example to us. After they were anointed with God’s holy spirit on the day of Pentecost these Jewish Christians could no longer bring the literal tithes to Herod’s temple at Jerusalem. To do so would have meant supporting a material temple that God had abandoned. It would have meant supporting a priesthood that had hatefully put Jesus Christ to death and that was fighting Christianity, opposing Christ’s apostles, imprisoning them and trying to kill them.—Matt. 23:37, 38; 27:20; Acts 4:1-10; 5:17-27, 40; 12:1-5.

22. How does the record show that those first-century Christians did not tithe literally?

²² Neither did that remnant of Jewish Christians tithe to support the twelve apostles and the rest of the governing body of the congregation in Jerusalem. If they tithed or tenthed literally in obedience to Malachi 3:10, how is it that the record says that the believers “were together in having all things in common, and they went to selling their possessions and properties and to distributing the proceeds to all just as anyone would have the need”? “And not even one would say that any of the things he possessed was his own, but they had all things in common.” (Acts 2:44, 45; 4:32-37; 6:1-6, NW) Materially, this was more than a whole tithe and it did not go to just the apostles, overseers and ministerial servants.

23, 24. What is the antitypical tithe, and how did the fistful of a grain offering that the priest burned on the altar illustrate it?

²³ What, then, is the tithe that must be brought into the storehouse of Jehovah’s spiritual temple by his people today? What today did the tithe or tenth of ancient Israel typify or foreshadow?

²⁴ It is true that in Scripture ten is used as a symbol of earthly allness, entirety, completeness, but a tenth is not. The Israelite tenth did not typify the all that Christians dedicate to God through Christ. So the Israelite’s giving of the tenth does not picture our dedicating ourselves wholly to Jehovah and symbolizing it by water baptism. The Israelite tithe was not all their increase; it was a fraction, a mere tenth. Therefore it represents only a part of all that we have dedicated. Our bringing in the antitypical tithe to Jehovah’s temple storehouse is simply a token or symbol of the fact that we have dedicated our all to Jehovah as our God; it is a memorial of our dedication. It is like the memorial that the priest offered up directly on the altar to God: “In case some soul would present as an offering a grain offering to Jehovah, his offering should prove to be fine flour and he must pour oil over it and put frankincense upon it. And he must bring it to the sons of Aaron, the priests, and the priest must grasp from it his fistful of its fine flour and its oil along with all its frankincense, and he must make it smoke as a remembrancer of it upon the altar, as an offering made by fire of a smell of appeasement to Jehovah. And what is left of the grain offering belongs to Aaron and his sons, as something most holy from Jehovah’s offerings made by fire.” (Lev. 2:1-3, 7-10, 14-16; 6:14-18, NW; Num. 5:25, 26) The fistful that the priest burned directly on the altar was just a remembrancer of the entire offering to God. The priest could use the rest.

25. In view of the purpose of the Israelite tithe, what, in brief, is our antitypical tithe?

²⁵ So, too, we Christians who have become God’s people must give proof that we have dedicated our all to Jehovah through Christ, and this proof we must give year after year. This regular contribution that we give in token of the fact that we have given all that we are and have to the Most High God—this is our antitypical tithe. Remember that the purpose of the Israelite tithe was to support Jehovah’s temple and its service by his chosen priests and Levites. So our antitypical tithe is the support that we give directly to Jehovah’s temple service. We may bring this antitypical tithe into the storehouse of Jehovah’s spiritual temple in two ways.

26. How may we, in part, bring in the antitypical tithe?

²⁶ We may, in part, bring in the antitypical or spiritual tithe by making money or material gifts to the promoting of Jehovah’s worship at his spiritual temple, the Foundation Cornerstone of which temple is Jesus Christ. (Eph. 2:20-22, NW; 1 Pet. 2:4-6) These material contributions are not held down to a tenth, neither must they be at least a tenth; they may amount to more or to less than a tenth. But they must be cheerfully given, for “God loves a cheerful giver.” (2 Cor. 9:7, NW) We can make such contributions to the upkeep and furtherance of Jehovah’s worship by donating money to the service agency of His witnesses, the Watch Tower Bible & Tract Society of Pennsylvania, or contributing to the expenses of our local congregation or of a larger assembly or directly to individuals engaged in some department of the temple service or to the poor who belong to Jehovah and by our gifts to whom we lend to Jehovah. (Prov. 19:17) Contributing materially is only part of tithe bringing.

27. How may we bring in the antitypical tithe as respects meetings?

²⁷ We may also bring in the antitypical or spiritual tithe by personally participating directly in the temple worship and promoting it. Ancient temple worship meant to go with your tithe to the temple and be in contact with the priests, Levites and other Israelites there at God’s house; it was more than private worship at home. So we can bring in the spiritual tithe by attending meetings at gathering places of Jehovah’s worshipers and not only being personally present but also taking whatever part is allowed in such meetings and so building up the others there by some spiritual word or assistance; by afterward encouraging newcomers or newly interested ones, as also by aiding others to get to meetings. All this may require doing some private preparing of oneself for the temple worship opportunities. Neglecting meetings is neglecting temple worship now when Jehovah’s day draws near.—Heb. 10:24, 25.

28. How do we also bring in the antitypical tithe as respects field activity?

²⁸ We also bring in the spiritual tithes by preparing ourselves and then going out into the field either alone or in a group to preach the commanded Kingdom message, thus showing others that we worship Jehovah and thus encouraging others to do so. The preparing of ourselves for this will be helped by our attending the congregational “service meeting” and “theocratic ministry school.” Ancient tithes went to supporting the priests and Levites. We must thus support the antitypical “sons of Levi,” the present-day remnant of Jehovah’s “royal priesthood,” in their preaching of his established kingdom and in putting his worship topmost, high above all the political and religious “mountains” of this system of things. (1 Pet. 2:5, 9) This field activity will also include advertising public meetings by word of mouth and leaflet, by attending them oneself and by helping others, whether dedicated brothers or recently interested persons, to attend. Spiritual tithing or tenthing includes our helping along the global movement of “all nations” and “all peoples” up the exalted mountain of Jehovah’s house to his temple courts, there to worship him together.—Isa. 2:2-4, AS.

29. Why does the spiritual tithe-bringing apply to the poor as well as to the materially rich?

²⁹ This spiritual contribution, accompanied by prayer, is more important than the material contribution. All persons dedicated to Jehovah God, whether materially rich or poor, can bring in this kind of spiritual tithe into his storehouse. Whereas some may see themselves able to give only the ‘widow’s mite’ (Luke 21:1-4), they can still give the more vital spiritual tenth to temple worship by directly doing witness work according to opportunity, by offering the home for holding temple-worship meetings, or by some other valuable assistance to Jehovah’s work. The materially well supplied who can give money or goods must not think that that is enough. The money gift does not excuse them from the spiritual contribution in the way of preaching and making public declaration either at meeting place or out in the field in house-to-house work. “This good news of the kingdom” must be preached by all the temple worshipers in all the inhabited earth for a witness to all the nations, and we must bring in the whole spiritual tithe by backing up the preaching and personally taking part in it.—Matt. 24:14, NW.

Blessed Results from Making the Test

1. What happened when the Israelites listened to Malachi and brought in the whole tenth, and how was that illustrated in Nehemiah’s governorship of Judah?

WHEN the Israelites listened to Malachi and brought in the whole tithe to the temple storehouse, what followed? The full quota of priests and Levites turned out regularly to serve at the temple and to care for the spiritual needs