Exodus 25:1-2:  “And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: ‘Speak to the children of Israel, that they take for Me an offering; of every man whose heart prompts him, you shall take My offering.’”

Why did God want the people to donate their gold, silver and other possessions of their prosperity to build His sanctuary?  God is rich enough, He owns the cattle on a thousand hills, the wealth in every mine, why not provide this out his vast creation, why take it from his people?

The word take here is tikechu which comes from the root lakach which means to take as spoil or loot.   It is the idea of taking something that was earned not given.  The word offering is terumah. It is interesting that this word comes from the root word rum. That was the easiest word for me to learn in Hebrew.  Rum – to be high, exalted.  Other words could have been used as there are any number of words in Hebrew that are rendered as offering.  I believe God specifically chose this word rum for a specific reason to express the idea of an offering.  God does not need our gold or silver, but it is in the sacrifice of that which we pour our life’s blood into obtaining that exalts Him. It declares that He is more important to us than our gold or silver. From some of the teachings I hear it sounds like God is important to us because of our silver and gold. It is not; “I am prosperous and rich bless the Lord.”  Rather this verse is saying: “I will bless the Lord with my prosperity.”

The word lakach has its origins in an Akkadian word the language of the Assyrians who were a warlike people.  The word is a picture of a warrior who has faced combat; suffering the risk of injury, perhaps mortal injury and then when he is victorious he claims his right to take what he has from the conquered enemy. Then after having risk his life, risk serious or mortal injury in battle to obtain this wealth, he then turns around and just give it to his king, for no other reason than to honor him.

Of every man whose heart prompts him.   Note the syntax here.  It is really, what prompts your heart.  In other words let everyman give what is prompting his heart.  This word prompting is nadav which is more like impelling. It is a sense of willingness such that you cannot almost help yourself from this giving.  It is just something you feel in your heart you must do.

What is motivating you to go to work every day?  To get that pay check, right? Then because you love your family you are nadav, compelled to use that check to take care of and better those that you love.  This is how God wants us to give to Him, out of love and honor as something we just want to do.   There was a Christian movie out not too long ago called Fire Proof.  Kirk Cameron played the lead role where he was on the verge of divorce.  He realized he really loved his wife.  He was saving his money to purchase a boat for himself, but realizing his wife needed money to care for her parents he used that money for his wife parents rather than himself. That is giving or taking in the sense of lakach.  That is how God is instructing us to give, not get something in return but to give because we are so filled with love that we just want express that love to Him.

The Talmud teaches that a person should seek ways to transform his tava’ot chitzonim which literally means, external desires or all that  your heart prompts you  into good qualities.  From our habitual bad traits, we are to learn how to serve the Creator God with the same passion and desire but even more intensely.  That Talmud teaches that from within every mundane desire the love of God can be found.

No, I am not pushing prosperity teaching, but yet, God wants us to prosper in order to give us an opportunity to exalt Him, to make a sacrifice to Him. How can you sacrifice something if you don’t have it in the first place.  I will have a book published by a Christian publishing house next spring.  I have a number of other books out there.  I want to make a lot of money off these books.  But I have made arrangements that I will not personally receive one dime of royalties off my books.  All royalties will go to ministry and missions because I want to express to God my love in some tangible way.  And if it is whole bunches of money that I could use for luxuries I could never afford, to turn it over to ministry and missions would be an even greater expression of my love to God.

There is a story in the Talmud of a king who had a son whom he wanted to teach the various subjects that a prince should now. But the boy failed to grasp a single area of knowledge.  The king gave up and only one sage remained to teach the boy.  One day the prince saw a beautiful young woman, who was a harlot and he desired her.  The woman as a harlot was not one for the prince to marry. Yet the sage told the king at least the prince desired something, perhaps this could lead him to desire knowledge.  So the king ordered the harlot brought to the palace.  The sage ordered the young woman to not listen to the prince’s solicitations, unless he agreed to master one branch of knowledge.  Afterwards she should demand that he learn yet another branch.  This continued until he mastered all areas.  Then when he acquired the knowledge, he became a wise man and rejected the harlot for a princess, as was fitting for him.

Yes, you give to the Lord He will repay you a hundredfold. So you must give more to continue the process.   True, you may give to get that hundred fold, your motives may be selfish.  That is only human. Yet God seems to have established a process in Exodus 25:1-2 whereby you will learn wisdom and in the learning of that wisdom the nadav promptings, compellings of your heart will change and before long it will not be to acquire wealth, but to exalt the one that you truly desire to honor.