A First fruits study: The Gateway to Prosperity Michael R.

Contents
Contents.................................................................................................................................................. 2 Chapter 1 What is Firstfruits .................................................................................................................... 3 Chapter 2 First Fruits not Tithe ................................................................................................................ 5 Chapter 3 Firstfruits study: Cain and Abel ................................................................................................ 6 New Testament Lessons on Cain and Abel ................................................................................. 10 Chapter 4 Jericho................................................................................................................................... 13 Chapter 5 Solomon: Ask what I shall give you ........................................................................................ 18

Chapter 1 What is Firstfruits

Defining firstfruits is not a simple task, especially when trying to understand what an equivalent would be in todays type of economy. Infact I dare say that this is more of a personal thing, something in which everyone must be led by the spirit. Nevertheless there are certain understanding on the subject that are held by most on the subject. I agree with some of them but and disagree with some of them. The choice is really yours. The Old Testament people lived in an agriculture based economy unlike our more industrial based one. Thus most of the offerings are around this principal source of sustenance, agriculture. Firstfruits is one of these. If a person was herding animals then the firstborn of all his animals belonged to God and were either redeemed or sacrificed to God. This was the firstfruits offering for this type of person. Num 18:15 Everything that openeth the matrix (womb) in all flesh, which they bring unto the LORD, whether it be of men or beasts, shall be thine: nevertheless the firstborn of man shalt thou surely redeem, and the firstling of unclean beasts shalt thou redeem. Exo 13:12 That thou shalt set apart unto the LORD all that openeth the matrix, and every firstling that cometh of a beast which thou hast; the males shall be the LORD'S. Exo 34:19 All that openeth the matrix is mine; and every firstling among thy cattle, (whether) ox or sheep, (that is male). (words in brackets not in original text) So the firstfruits offering for the farmer of animals is easily understood. It was basically the firstborn of all animals including human beings (who were redeemed). Now for the farmer of crops, the firstfruits were the first bit of the harvest. The way I understand it (I dont really have an agriculture background), it would appear that when the harvest time came the crops did not all bear fruit at the same time, so the first ones to present fruit were given to God. This reminds me of a mango tree at my dads place, when it starts presenting fruit it does so in phases and my guess is that the jews would give the first of the fruit to God. But what about todays economy? What does firstfruits mean to the engineer, accountant, lawyer, business man, secretary, banker. This is one of those things that can cause a lot of argument, and I personally think that if a believer reads the scriptures on firstfruits he will be led into an understanding of what this offering means for him or her. So the understanding I am presenting below is more a personal one that an authoritative one. Personally I think firstfruits today would be the first payment a person gets from their source of income. So if you just got a job then the very first payment would be a
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possible firstfruits offering. Also the first of every pay raise would be a possible firstfruits. Additionally the first payment of every year would be a possible firstfruit offering. If you were paid weekly then the first weeks payment would be firstfruits. I am also still meditating about the equivalent for all the openeth the matrix, but I dont have anything for now. So really thats MY understanding. Again this is not a thus saith the lord this is my personal understanding and it is also the way I practice firstfruits offering. If you think I am wrong, you are welcome to disagree.

Chapter 2 First Fruits not Tithe

First off let me say that i don't believe that firstfruits and tithes are a must for Christians. However i believe that both of them offer great reward to Christians. The reward here is not righteousness which is only obtained by faith in Jesus, the reward is of financial or economic nature. So with that said here is a brief write up on the difference between firstfruits offerings and tithe offerings: The firstfruit offering in the bible is not the same as the tithe offering. The firstfruit offering refers to the first of a harvest or the first born of an animal. The tithe refers to a tenth of the harvest or income. The two Hebrew words that are used for firstfruits both have nothing to do with the number ten as in tithe. The two words both mean first or principal, the beginning: raysheth means first (this is used in prov 3:9) strongs: the first, in place, time, order or rank (specifically a firstfruit): - beginning, chief (-est), first (-fruits, part, time), principal thing. bikurim means eldest (used in ezek 44:30) strongs: the firstfruits of the crop: - first fruit (-ripe [figuratively), hasty fruit. The root word for bikurim is baw-kar which means to open the womb i.e the firstborn. Equating first fruit to tithe is like saying since you have a first child you will have ten children. They are not the same thing. Some scriptures to verify this: Neh 12:44 And at that time were some appointed over the chambers for the treasures, for the offerings, for the firstfruits, and for the tithes, to gather into them out of the fields of the cities the portions of the law for the priests and Levites: for Judah rejoiced for the priests and for the Levites that waited. 2Ch 31:5 And as soon as the commandment came abroad, the children of Israel brought in abundance the firstfruits of corn, wine, and oil, and honey, and of all the increase of the field; and the tithe of all things brought they in abundantly. The scriptures aside it should be obvious the firstfruit is not the same as tithe. However this is one of the most pervasive mistakes made in the preaching of the word. And to be honest I still dont get it, why do people continuously mistake firstfruit and tithe to mean the same thing?

Chapter 3 Firstfruits study: Cain and Abel Now Abel was a keeper of sheep, but Cain was a tiller of the ground. And in the process of time it came to pass that Cain brought an offering of the fruit of the ground to the LORD. Abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat. And the LORD respected Abel and his offering, but He did not respect Cain and his offering. And Cain was very angry, and his countenance fell. So the LORD said to Cain, "Why are you angry? And why has your countenance fallen? 7 If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin lies at the door. And its desire is for you, but you should rule over it." Genesis 4:2-7 (NKJV) The story of cain and abel is one that is well known by most people. The story is found in the fourth chapter of genesis right after the story of mans fall. Cain and abel were both farmers, one was a tiller of the ground while the other was keeper of animals. And so it happened that after some time passed both of them were fruitful, they both had results to show for all their work. When this time came they brought offerings to God from their fruit. Now as to who taught them to bring offerings to God we can only speculate that it was Adam or maybe they just knew to do it. Maybe they just knew that their fruitfulness was a gift from God and that it wasnt their own. However something is very important about this story. Realise for example that these are second generation men, the only people that existed before them were adam and eve. So the fact that they brought these offerings before God goes to show how fundamental the offering to God from mans fruitfulness is to mankind. We instinctively at a very basic level know to bring offerings to God. Anyway after they brought their offerings to God they got different results. God respected Abels offering but did not respect the offering of Cain. In fact God respected both Abels offering and Abel himself and likewise did not respect both Cain and his offering. There are lessons to draw from this; 1. God is capable of respecting an offering and likewise capable of not showing respect for an offering. In other words God does not respect all offerings, just because it is an offering does not mean that it will call for respect from God.Not all offerings are equal, some offerings carry more meaning to God. The Hebrew word used for respect here is and it has its root in the word used to observe, to gaze with great reward, other words used in other portions of scripture for this same word include to look(with intentfull purpose as in to seek), to see. When God received Abels offering it made him pay attention, the offering commanded Gods focus. Interestingly this also drew Gods attention to Abel and that is the second lesson. 2. The offering and the offerer receive the same attention from God, in a sense the offering is

representative of the offerer. To put it another way if a person desired to get Gods attention they would simply have to bring him an offering that demands attention. This lesson will probably unsettle and disturb most people but this is what the scripture is telling us. The first person to grab, in a demanding way, Gods attention in the bible after the fall, did it by bringing God an offering that was demanding of attention, the firstfruit offering. This is the same thing that happened with Solomon when he brought his 1000 burnt offering to God, but that is a lesson for later. So what was it about Abels sacrifice that caused God to look at it with intent and likewise what is it about Cains sacrifice that caused God to have no respect for it. Well the scripture gives us the answer in a rather obvious way. While both brought offerings to the Lord, Abel brought the firstborn and the fat ones or the best ones from his animals while Cain simply brought an offering. Now on the offset it may not look like a big difference. In fact one may argue that Cain could have also brought of the firstfruit. I think not, because the Hebrew language is not lacking for words to describe first fruit from the ground nor is it lacking in words to describe the best of. So here there is clear mention that Abel brought the first and the best while Cain just brought an offering, by comparison we can deduce that Cain didnt bring the first or the best. He either brought mediocre or the worst. And that is the real difference. Because the first heralds the way for the rest to come it means so much to us. New years eve is so special because it brings us promise of a good year, a better year and that first day of the year is the beginning of something new. Likewise our first salary of a job or a year is taste of the good to come. When Able brought his first to God, he was giving to God that which was precious, that which meant a lot to him. And so God returned Abels offering with like attention and favour. And Cain noticed When God did not respect his offering and him but respected Abels,Cain became very angry. The word in the Hebrew translated as angry literally means hot and can mean tempered as a result of anger or jealousy. There are a few questions one can ask about this. 1. How were Cain and Abel able to tell that God had respect to either of their sacrifices? 2. Why did Cain care what God thought about him and his offering? I have an answer that meets these 2 questions but it is not necessarily the answer. But as we study other examples in the bible we will see that this is the most likely answer. In Gen 3 God cursed Adam with the following curse: And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life;
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Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field; In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return. Gen 3:17-19 You see before the Noahs flood, man was vegetarian, the geological and climatic conditions on the earth made it so man could survive on only the fruit of the ground. So when God cursed the ground saying, cursed is the ground... in sorrow shall you eat of it thorns and thistles shall it bring forth.. in the sweat of thy face shall you eat this was a very big deal. Man didnt eat animals and now the one thing he did eat was very hard to get to. He had to sweat in order to eat. The ground was hard. Oh by the way man was not the only vegetarian, all the animals on the earth were vegetarian as well. So if you kept animals life was equally as hard for you as it was for the tiller of the ground. Now given this background my belief is that after the two, Cain and Abel brought their offerings, there was a difference in the land on which Abel grazed his animals. The land was not as cursed and he didnt have to sweat as much. My belief is that after his offering the curse did not affect him as much. Now if this were the outcome we can see why Cain was very angry. He still had to sweat a lot to achieve much less than his brother. and the LORD said unto Cain, Why art thou wroth? and why is thy countenance fallen? If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? gen5:6-7 From the scripture above we see two things. 1. It was within Cains power to do right 2. Abel was accepted as a result of his offering. Lets look at both of these two closer. Cain was able to do the right thing, the lord said to him if you do well wont you be accepted. This lends itself to my earlier explanation that the real difference between Cain and Abels Sacrifices was that Abel brought the first and best while Cain only brought a random offering with no real thought to it. Some have said that the difference in the twos offerings was that Cain brought plants while Abel brought animals. I disagree with that for many reasons. One Cain had it within his power to do right (from the above scripture) which means with crops he could have done the right thing. The second is that in the law of Moses God still accepts plant offering, in fact there is one called bikkurim the first fruit. Thirdly The Hebrew language used is not lacking in word to describe best of or firstfruit when it comes to plants. So at least for those three reasons I believe that Cains fault was in not bringing the firstfruit and the best of. The second thing about that scripture is the word accepted. This time instead of saying respect like it did in the earlier verses it says accepted. What does this word mean. Below is Strongs definition of the Hebrew word used for accepted

an elevation or leprous scab; figuratively elation or cheerfulness; exaltation in rank or character: - be accepted, dignity, excellency, highness, raise up self, rising. The bit about that definition that jumps out for me is the words exaltation in rank, raise up, rising, excellency. God was saying to Cain that if he were to do the right thing he would be raised up, he would be exalted. Again this lends itself to my earlier explanation that Abel was raised above the curse on the ground after his offering. So God was telling Cain not be angry (probably because of jealousy) because he too could escape the curse and walk in the blessing if he did the right thing. And what was the right thing? The first fruit. And he called his name Noah, saying, This same shall comfort us concerning our work and toil of our hands, because of the ground which the LORD hath cursed. Gen 5:29 And Noah builded an altar unto the LORD; and took of every clean beast, and of every clean fowl, and offered burnt offerings on the altar. And the LORD smelled a sweet savour; and the LORD said in his heart, I will not again curse the ground any more for man's sake; for the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth; neither will I again smite any more every thing living, as I have done. Gen 8:20-21 The two verses above are to prove a point which may not be easily seen from the discussions above. The point is that the earth before Noahs flood was seriously cursed. It was HARD to get anything growing on that earth. But after the flood God lessened the curse and said he would no longer curse the earth. Thus today it is way easier to grow crops than during the age of Cain and Abel. Notice also that after the offering Noah made in Gen 8:20-21 God decided not to continue the curse on the ground. This somehow lends itself to what I was saying that Abel was able to operate outside the curse on blessed land as a result of his offering. Now even though God said he would no longer curse the ground, we all know that there are still many places on earth where the ground appears cursed (desserts for one) and on top of that God never said he had removed the curse of sweat. Plus dont forget the thorns and thistles. My point is that the curse is still out there, not as strong but it still lacks about the physical plane. Thus for many people food only gets on the table after sweating (in some cases literary). Lets not forget how the first person to beat this sweat curse did it, the first fruit. It is my belief that with the firstfruit anyone can escape the curse of sweat.

New Testament Lessons on Cain and Abel

By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts: and by it he being dead yet speaketh. Heb 11:4 Some people have said that firsfruits was an old testament thing, but like I said before firsfruits is ingrained in the very nature of mankind. That fact aside the new testament does mention firstfruits, but in most of the mentions it is in a hidden way, a way that it is not immediately clear that the reference is firstfruits. I believe He 11:4 is one of these, in this portion of scripture the bible says that by faith Abel offered a more excellent sacrifice than cain. The offering that Abel made was one of faith, you could say from this that the firsfruit offering is one of faith. And indeed no other type of offering puts as much demands on the faith of the believer. Imagine giving one weeks or one months salary (whichever way you are paid), that would require a believing heart. Generally you can tell someones faith by their spending, Jesus said it this way where your treasure is there also will your heart be. In giving firsfruits Abel was saying that his heart was with God first and foremost and this was a thing of faith. I dont know the exact circumstances Abel was under, but I imagine that when he was bringing the firstborn of his animals most of them only had one child, the first. That would mean he was risking in the sense that there was uncertainity as to whether his animals would give birth again. Thus he was risking his increase. There is a sense of risk in giving firstfruits which is what if the rest doesnt come?. So to do firstfruits is a most definite faith thing. And faith comes by hearing, we must listen to the message on firstfruits in order to have the faith for it. Another thing we see in Heb 11:4 is that there is excellence in offering firstfruits. This is the shock which most believers will probably get: not all offerings are equal. Here in the new testament we see paul talking about one offering being better than another! He calls it a more excellent sacrifice. So fellow brethren, there is a more excellent sacrifice, the firstfruit sacrifice. But thats not all that the scripture says about Abels offering. Paul then says that in giving firstfruits Abel obtained witness that he was righteous! Now that will really stumble some. Forget all that I have said before but this one here will truly confound many. Here we have the apostle of Grace saying that it is possible to obtain witness to ones righteousness. Moreover that a second generation man called Abel was in fact righteous. That is just amazing. Please note that Abel did not become righteous by the giving of firsfruits but that rather his giving of firsfruits testified to his being righteous. That is to say that he was already righteous and in doing firsfruits one could now attest to that fact.
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It is my belief that even today the firstfruits offering is one that is done by righteous people and probably only righteous people. You see righteousness is only by faith and true faith will have accompanying works. This is one of those works that attest to a persons righteousness. You are welcome to disagree but I dont see any other way of interpreting that verse. To summarise I would say the firstfruits offering is a faith sacrifice that is excellent and attest to the givers righteousness. Finally for this verse God testified about Abels gift. God talked about Abels gift. You know how it is when something good happens to you and you go to church and you want to testify? Well Abels offering put God in that mood. Again you are welcome to your own interpretation but this is mine. Abel made God testify about him, how? By the offering of firstfruits, that alone is reason enough to try this firstfruits thing. Not as Cain who was of the wicked one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his works were evil and his brother's righteous. 1 john 3:12 (NKJV) This is the last verse for this portion of the study and man! This scripture says two things one of which is probably very touchy and so I have to give my disclaimer again. This is my interpretation of the scripture and not THE interpretation and as always you are welcome to your own view and I could be wrong so feel free to try and correct me. That verse says that Abel did a righteous work. The scripture records two main things about Abel; 1. He was herder of animals and 2. He gave the firstlings and of the best. Id like to think that raising animals is not a righteous work. If you agree with me then the righteous work that 1 john 3:12 is referring to is the firstfruits offering. And there you have it a new testament scripture that calls the firstfruit offering a righteous work. Like the earlier scripture we looked at in Heb 11:4 John here is confirming to us that Abel was indeed righteous, he somehow knew about jesus and that this gave him the necessary power to do righteous things like giving firstfruits. But there is something else that 1 john 3:12 says that may unsettle some, it calls Cains works evil. And it is not referring to the murder of his brother here it is referring to his sacrifice. Notice how it says and why did he kill him? Meaning what led to the killing, then it says because his works were evil. Again I dont think farming crops is evil so this must be referring to his sacrifice. Thats a hard pill to swallow but the scripture seems to be saying there is such a thing as an evil offering. And I dont want to go too far with this because of its obvious consequences (hopefully obvious) but I will likewise leave it vague like that. Remember the difference between Cain and Abels offering and try think what made Cains offering evil. Suffice to say with the two references above that the new testament continues to impress the view that Abels sacrifice was one that deserves attention even to the new
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testament Christian. And as we study the firstfruit offering we shall see many of these same elements bleeding through the other accounts. Including that of Solomon, Jericho, Abraham to mention a few. God took notice of the firstfruit offering and many times the giver moved out of the curse and into the blessing.

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Chapter 4 Jericho
The LORD said to Joshua, "See, I have given Jericho into your hand, with its king and the valiant warriors. "You shall march around the city, all the men of war circling the city once. You shall do so for six days. "Also seven priests shall carry seven trumpets of rams' horns before the ark; then on the seventh day you shall march around the city seven times, and the priests shall blow the trumpets. "It shall be that when they make a long blast with the ram's horn, and when you hear the sound of the trumpet, all the people shall shout with a great shout; and the wall of the city will fall down flat, and the people will go up every man straight ahead." Josh6:2-5 At the seventh time, when the priests blew the trumpets, Joshua said to the people, "Shout! For the LORD has given you the city."The city shall be under the ban, it and all that is in it belongs to the LORD; only Rahab the harlot and all who are with her in the house shall live, because she hid the messengers whom we sent."But as for you, only keep yourselves from the things under the ban, so that you do not covet them and take some of the things under the ban, and make the camp of Israel accursed and bring trouble on it."But all the silver and gold and articles of bronze and iron are holy to the LORD; they shall go into the treasury of the LORD." Josh 6:16-19 Jericho was the first city that the Israelites overcame upon entering the promised land, the land of cannan. And the reason I include it as part of the firstfruits study is because upon overcoming the city they were not to take anything from the city for themselves. Everything was sacred and belonged to God. So in that sense this is a form of firstfruits; The spoils of the first victory completely belonged to God. The nature in which they overcame the city is one that deserves its own study. The study of the sevens involved and the blowing of the trumpets would without a doubt carry great significance to the new testament believer. However for this study I concentrate on the firstfruits nature of this story. Which is the way in which everything that was won was concentrated to God. First a quick background on Jericho. Jericho is said to be one of the oldest cities on earth and it is also the lowest city on earth. But more importantly Jericho was part of the reason that kept the Israelites in the desert for 40 years. What happened was that when Moses sent spies to check out the promised land, ten of the spies reported that the land was truly indeed good but that the cities were strongly walled and that men were too strong for them. And so Jericho was a symbol of this fear, Jericho was a strongly walled city which had scared the fathers of the Israelites and had held them in the desert 40 years. Jericho was the door to the promised land. If they overcame Jericho then they could go further into the land of blessing. A lot of the promises in the book of the law applied specifically to the promised land. For example:
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But you shall remember the LORD your God, for it is He who is giving you power to make wealth, that He may confirm His covenant which He swore to your fathers, as it is this day. (Deut 8:18) is preceded by For the LORD your God is bringing you into a good land, a land of brooks of water, of fountains and springs, flowing forth in valleys and hills; a land of wheat and barley, of vines and fig trees and pomegranates, a land of olive oil and honey; a land where you will eat food without scarcity, in which you will not lack anything; a land whose stones are iron, and out of whose hills you can dig copper. "When you have eaten and are satisfied, you shall bless the LORD your God for the good land which He has given you. "Beware that you do not forget the LORD your God (Deut 8:7-11) As you can see the power to make wealth was only available in the promised land. And So many other scriptures promising blessing tied the blessing to the land of promise. Hebrews compares the promised land to the rest of the lord. Needless to say the land of promise was a place of prosperity. This was what the jews had been looking upto for sometime. And the first city they had to take for them to begin enjoying this land was the city of Jericho. And when they had taken Jericho by the working of the LORD Joshua proclaimed something intresting. "The city shall be under the ban, it and all that is in it belongs to the LORD; only Rahab the harlot and all who are with her in the house shall live, because she hid the messengers whom we sent. "But as for you, only keep yourselves from the things under the ban, so that you do not covet them and take some of the things under the ban, and make the camp of Israel accursed and bring trouble on it. "But all the silver and gold and articles of bronze and iron are holy to the LORD; they shall go into the treasury of the LORD. Josh 6:17-19 The City was put under the ban, King James reads the city shall be accursed. And this is major point. The word used for accursed of under the ban is Harem. This is a very intresting word and I urge you to do your own study on it. The word as can be seen can be interpreted in many ways. One interpretation is an objected devoted to God. This carries the sense of dedicated, put aside for service to God. The word can also mean put aside for holy purposes to be destroyed. The word herem or harem has its own wikipidea page which I encourage you to check out. The city of Jericho was never the less put aside from the people of Israel. They were not to take anything from the city but were to either burn it or if it were silver or gold they were to give it to the treasury of the Lord. And this is the type of sacrifice that God calls from us even today. The firstfruits was a sacrifice that opened a door to the land of more than enough for the Israelites.

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You see, in Egypt they had less than enough, In the desert they had just enough but in the land of Canaan they had more than enough. And how did they begin their entry into this land of more than enough? The firstfruit. We shall see shortly that if they didnt give all the firstfruit then they wouldnt be able to take anymore of the promised land despite their large numbers. So the firstfruits offering was a door into the land of abundance. The force that Israel came with was great, so great in fact that many of the kings in canaan feared them. And Jericho was no different in this, the hid behind their great walls for fear of Israel. But God provided a way for the Israelites to defeat them. In a way the entry into our land of abundant properity is for many people similar to that of Israel. There is a giant obstacle to progress which can only be taken down by a miracle. But for so many even when that obstacle is removed the road into properity remains shut. For example say you have been looking for a job for 4 months. Well then your first job is more like a miracle and I would say your first paycheck is your fruits from battleing Jericho. Or if you are a business man and you have hit a wall then that first client is Jericho. The first is really just a taste of whats to come but it doesnt belong to you. And here is where many in my opinon have failed. Lets continue with the storie of Jericho to illustrate this. But the sons of Israel acted unfaithfully in regard to the things under the ban, for Achan, the son of Carmi, the son of Zabdi, the son of Zerah, from the tribe of Judah, took some of the things under the ban, therefore the anger of the LORD burned against the sons of Israel. Now Joshua sent men from Jericho to Ai, which is near Beth-aven, east of Bethel, and said to them, "Go up and spy out the land." So the men went up and spied out Ai. They returned to Joshua and said to him, "Do not let all the people go up; only about two or three thousand men need go up to Ai; do not make all the people toil up there, for they are few." So about three thousand men from the people went up there, but they fled from the men of Ai. The men of Ai struck down about thirty-six of their men, and pursued them from the gate as far as Shebarim and struck them down on the descent, so the hearts of the people melted and became as water Joshua 7:1-5 The rest of Chapter 7 details exactly what went wrong. The next city after Jericho in the path of Israel was Ai, a small and inconsequential city according to the report of the spies. To paraphrase the report that the spies broghut back was this is a piece of cake. This was nothing like Jericho which was fortified an wilded a strong army. The spies went so far as to surgest that only a 2 to 3 thousand men were required to take down this city. But what happened. They were beaten bad. The jews were forced to retreat and they lost some 36 men that day. (As a side not 36 is the equivalent of 6X6 and 6 is the number of man, which spells that this battle was fought in the strength of man alone and not of God).

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So why wasnt God with them? The first few verses tell us why, Achan had taken some things that were herem, put aside for God. In doing so, Achan had brought sin onto the people of Israel. God could no longer fight their battles because they had put their trust in flesh. Earlier I said that the study of the number of sevens involved in the fall of Jericho would have meaning to the new testament believer, this is part of the reason. The time they overtook Jericho they went around it 7 times and on the 7th day another 7 times. But when Ai defeated them 36 men died which as I have said above shows the effort of man involved. Here is the thing, Israel was scared of Jericho and yet they overcame Jericho without much trouble. Israel felt very confident about Ai and yet they were beaten again without much trouble. The power of God allows as to overcome even things that seem impossible. The power of man allows as to fail at even things that seem simple. And so regardless of the strength of israels army they were not going to overcome any other cities (atleast not with certainity) unless they moved in the power of God. And how were they to do this, how were they to continue their journey of taking the promised land. By giving the full firstfruit. They corrected the error of Achan in a very brutal way, they killed him and all of his family. This is the old testament way of doing things. But needless to say this got the Job done and after this they defeated Ai with no problem. And here is where it gets interesting:
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Now the LORD said to Joshua, "Do not fear or be dismayed. Take all the people of war with you and arise, go up to Ai; see, I have given into your hand the king of Ai, his people, his city, and his land. "You shall do to Ai and its king just as you did to Jericho and its king; you shall take only its spoil and its cattle as plunder for yourselves. Set an ambush for the city behind it." Joshua 8:1-2

This time God told the people that they could take all the spoil they wanted. And that is the difference. The first belongs to God but the rest is yours to enjoy. And with the first given the rest is guaranteed. You dont just need a miracle or God just to enter the Promised Land, you need him all the way. Sometimes we get that big break we have been looking for only to hit another wall like the jews did. But with the offering of firstfruits we can continue in prosperity indefinitely keeping the first things first. I need to say something about righteousness by faith here. You see we have our rightstanding with God because of Jesus work and not our own. Thus what happened to Israel because they didnt give all the firstfruit on account of achan will not necessarily happen to us in the same way. God has promised not to leave us nor forsake us and he is always with us. So like I have said in previous chapters we give not to get the blessing of God but rather to walk in it. And I strongly believe that if you dont give your
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firstfruits you will probably still see some of the goodness of God. But if you do give your firstfruits offering you will not just some but a lot of the goodness of God. Here is something else to think about. For Israel to move from the land of less than enough (Egypt) to the land of just enough(the desert) The first of born of Egypt was taken. And now to move into the land of more than enough the firstfruit of the land was given. It seems to change financial status the children of Israel had to participate in some kind of first fruit offering. And that is why I see the firstfruit offering as an elevation of finance and prosperity means. So consider this when thinking about doing firstfruits, this may be your door into the land of more than enough.

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Chapter 5 Solomon: Ask what I shall give you

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Now Solomon the son of David was strengthened in his kingdom, and the L ORD his God was with him and exalted him exceedingly. 2 And Solomon spoke to all Israel, to the captains of thousands and of hundreds, to the judges, and to every leader in all Israel, the heads of the fathers' houses. 3 Then Solomon, and all the assembly with him, went to the high place that was at Gibeon; for the tabernacle of meeting with God was there, which Moses the servant of the LORD had made in the wilderness. 4 But David had brought up the ark of God from Kirjath Jearim to the place David had prepared for it, for he had pitched a tent for it at Jerusalem. 5 Now the bronze altar that Bezalel the son of Uri, the son of Hur, had made, he put before the tabernacle of the LORD; Solomon and the assembly sought Him there. 6 And Solomon went up there to the bronze altar before the LORD, which was at the tabernacle of meeting, and offered a thousand burnt offerings on it. 7 On that night God appeared to Solomon, and said to him, "Ask! What shall I give you?" 2 chronicles 1:1-7 After Solomon had established his kingdom, God being with him, he made this amazing offering to God. He called all the leaders of Israel and went up with them to the high place gibeon and their offered a thousand burnt offerings. That same night after he had made this offering God appeared to Solomon in a dream and asked him to name anything and it would be his. Youd have to be blind or something to miss the relationship between Gods offer to Solomon and Solomons offering to God. Why am I including this offering in the study of firstfruits. I include it because this was Solomons first order of business after becoming king. This significant sacrifice marked the beginning of Solomons reign. Not only that, it was a huge offering

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