Kleptomaniac: Chapter 9, Can First Fruits Be Money?

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C H A P T E R

9Can Money Be Required as Firstfruits?

Another teaching used as a slick fund raising tool is the topic of first-

fruits. If the 10 percent tithe doesn’t burn a hole in your pocketbook or

wallet, watch out because tithe’s first cousin, the firstfruits doctrine, will

sure hit you up for more money.

The modern day version of the firstfruits doctrine is causing fer-

vor among believers around the country and the world. This phenome-

non is emptying wallets and pocketbooks of many unsuspecting believers.

Fundraising gimmicks and twisted scriptural misinterpretations that

promise wealth easily sifts money out of people’s wallets and purses. Many

people accept new teachings from the Bible without questioning the views

of the teachers. It is amazing how many Christians interpret tithes and

firstfruits as money without undertaking an in-depth word study to seek

biblical truth on the issue. A general definition from the dictionary ought

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to settle the argument. So why would people toss out that firstfruits are

nothing but the earliest harvest of fruit dedicated to a Deity acknowledging

the blessings of fruitfulness?

This doctrine of firstfruits that emanates from the mouths of credible

authoritative spiritual figures in churches should not be taken at face value.

You must examine every word with a fine toothcomb like an investigative

reporter and ask who did God authorize to receive firstfruits and in what

form. Take a step to investigative what firstfruits mean. It is important to

understand that it is a common practice to define a person’s income as

firstfruits based on current cultural and financial norms outside of the

Bible. However, that’s where the error begins because the Bible defines

firstfruits as literal fruits, not first money. The first occurrence of firstfruits

is in Exodus 23:16:

And the Feast of Harvest, the firstfruits of your labors which you

have sown in the field; and the Feast of Ingathering at the end of the

year, when you have gathered in the fruit of your labors from the field

(NKJV).

The NKJV implies that firstfruits come from the labor of what the

people planted. Reading this same verse in the NIV version actually reflects

the correct rendering of the Hebrew word in Exodus 23:16, which states,

Celebrate the Feast of Harvest with firstfruits of the crops you sow in

your field. Celebrate the Feast of Ingathering at the end of the year,

when you gather in your crops from the field (NIV).

The Hebrew word for firstfruits is “bikkuwr” (Strong’s #1061).51 It is

the first of the grain, fruit and crop harvested from the field. When Israel

celebrated the three feasts, it was their acknowledgment that the fruits of

the harvest were from Yahweh. Further, that means the firstfruits were from

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God’s labor not man’s labor. Let’s explain this in more detail. Everything

we have comes from God. He gives us food, water, clouds, atmosphere,

vapors, crops, grain, and animals to sustain life. For example, cotton comes

from seed planted; our houses are built of wood, which comes from seed

planted. God’s labor includes the rain, sunshine, and the right environment

for cotton and trees to grow. This allows us to use cotton to make clothes

and have wood to build homes. This could not happen without God using

his labor to make things grow. So with God’s effort, he requires the first-

fruits from His effort, not the effort that comes from man’s labor to build

houses or when making clothes for example. Yahweh’s effort produced

firstfruits and tithes; our labor involves planting and harvesting. And that’s

the difference between man’s labor and God’s labor.52 The tithe and first-

fruits always came from God’s effort/labor and not from what a person

makes in income. That’s because we earn income from selling our labor to

an employer for a price and receive a paycheck. That means our labor is not

holy nor can our money be firstfruits.

One author writes that since the Israelite community (in a full theo-

cratic government) had the tithe, it took care of Levites, priests and other

social services for the less fortunate. As a result, the theocracy would have

no need of a further common fund to address social services because the

tithe took care of that. Taxes as we understand it did not exist in Israel per

se. That means if the tithe took care of everything, then an Israelite’s per-

sonal labor (money from a job) could not be forfeited partially or wholly

for the community, social services, a king, a church as a tithe or as a tax to a

government. The tithe was paid on the land’s yield. That means the laborer

of antiquity and those who work every day in this current economy own

their labor. Since God owned His own labor by providing produce, herds

and flocks, then the farmers and ranchers who inherited the land had to

pay God a tithe from His labor (produce, herd and flocks). The non-farm-

ing and non-rancher community who were daily workers owned their


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own labor and did not owe God a tithe. God’s owns the land because His

labor created the tithe and the firstfruits, so a tenth of the yield belonged

to Him. A worker like you and I own our labor because we create it and

the fruits of it belong to no one else because we produced it through work.

When you follow the tithe law in the Bible and the rules God set up for

the user and the leaser of the land with God as the legal owner, you realize

the community, the central government, or any church cannot confiscate

the money you work for in part or in whole for any good reason either

as a tax or a tithe. Today, tithes of money and taxes are collected because

we live in a democracy and not a theocracy. Although the Levites did not

receive a land inheritance, it is presumptuous to assume they were never

without income. Numbers 18:20-32 is where you read about their income.

The Levites inherited the tithe from Yahweh and had to work for income.

Individuals in the Bible sold their labor for a price and the profit from sell-

ing their labor belonged to them as a worker. The tithe came from the land,

which God owned, not on the labor paid in wages by other workers outside

of the farming and herding community.53 It is important to never confuse

the tithe with firstfruits because they are not the same.

In Exodus 23:19, the same Hebrew word is used for firstfruits. “The

first of the firstfruits of your land you shall bring into the house of the LORD

your God.” When you read this verse in the NIV, RSV, KJV or the NKJV,

notice that either the word land, ground or soil is used and all three refer to

crops. Firstfruits are exactly what the Bible says and that means they are the

fruits that grow from the ground first or that which ripens first that quali-

fies as firstfruits. There is no way you can squeeze money out of firstfruits

Scripture unless you are a spiritual illusionist that pulls rabbits out of a hat.

In Exodus 34:22, “bikkuwr” is the Hebrew word. “And you shall

observe the Feast of Weeks, of the firstfruits of wheat harvest, and the Feast

of Ingathering at the year’s end.” This verse is clear because it speaks of the

wheat harvest.


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There are 31 verses in the Scripture from Genesis to Revelation con-

cerning firstfruits. As you read each verse, notice that firstfruits are asso-

ciated with eatable items in every verse. No other interpretation can be

figuratively forced to make the context suggest that money can be defined

as firstfruits. Fausset’s Bible Dictionary explains firstfruits and how Israel

celebrated the festivals.

The whole land’s produce was consecrated to God by the consecra-

tion of the firstfruits (Romans 11:16); just as the whole nation by that

of the firstborn. At the Passover, on the morrow after the Sabbath, a

sheaf of green barley (which is earlier than wheat), of the firstfruits

of the crop, was waved before the Lord. At Pentecost, 50 days later,

two loaves of wheaten bread (Leviticus 23). The feast of tabernacles,

on the 15th day of the seventh month, was itself an acknowledgment

of the fruits of the harvest. Besides these national offerings the law

required individuals to offer, the first of all ripe fruits, and liquors by

(Exodus 22:29). A cake of the first dough baked was to be a heave

offering (Numbers 15:19,21). The firstfruits of the oil, wine, and

wheat were to be offered to YHWH, for the benefit of the priests as

His representatives (Numbers 18:11-13). The Talmud fixed on the

60th as the least to be given of the produce, a 30th or 40th as a lib-

eral offering.

The individual presentation of the firstfruits in a basket took place

at the temple or tabernacle. The offerer said: ‘I profess this day unto

the Lord thy God that I am come unto the country which the Lord

swear unto our fathers to give us.’ The priest took the basket and set

it down before the altar of the Lord. The offerer added: ‘A Syrian

(Jacob) ready to perish was my father, and he went down into Egypt,’

etc. (Deuteronomy 26). The Talmud adds that companies of 24 used

to assemble at evening in a central station and pass the night in the


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open air; the leader in the morning summoned them, ‘Let us arise

and go up to mount Zion, the house of the Lord our God.’ On the

road to Jerusalem, they recited Psalms 122:150. Each party was pre-

ceded by a piper and a sacrificial bullock with horns gilt and crowned

with olives. The priests met them, and the Levites singing Psalms 30.

Each presented his basket, reciting the formula in Deuteronomy 26.

King Agrippa, it is stated, once carried his basket as others.

The offerings were either bichuriym, raw produce, firstfruits, or

trumowt, offerings, prepared produce. Times of apostasy brought a

neglect of this duty; the restoration of the offering of both kinds was

a leading point in the reformation under Hezekiah (2 Chronicles

31:5,11) and under Nehemiah (Nehemiah 10:35,37; 12:44). The

prophets insist on this duty (Ezekiel 20:40; 44:30; 48:14; Malachi

3:8). Fruit trees were to be regarded as uncircumcised, i.e. profane,

for three years. The produce of the fourth year was devoted to God,

and only in the fifth year the produce became the owner’s (Leviticus

19:23-25).54

Wikipedia verifies and supports the definitions contained in Fausset’s

Bible dictionary. This is how the Hebrew people handled firstfruits in an

article titled, How were the Firstfruits Handled by the Israelites?

The pilgrims that brought up the Bikkurim to the Temple were

obligated to recite a declaration set forth in Deuteronomy 26:3-10.

(Bikkurim 3:6). This declaration was incorporated into a beautiful

and grand festive celebration with a procession of pilgrims march-

ing up to Jerusalem and then the temple with gold, silver or willow

baskets to which live birds were tied. (Bikkurim 3:3,5 and 8). The

pilgrims were lead by flutists to the city of Jerusalem where dignitar-

ies greeted them (Bikkurim 3:3). The procession would then resume


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with the flutist in the lead until the Temple Mount where the Leviim

[Levites] would break out in song. (Bikkurim 3:4). The birds were

given as sacrificial offerings and the declaration would be made

before a priest while the basket was still on the pilgrim’s shoulder

(Bikkurim 3:5-6). After the basket was presented to the priest, it was

placed on the Altar and the pilgrim would bow and leave. (Bikkurim

3:6).55

If you read carefully, notice that firstfruits were brought in a basket

in a festive celebration to the temple and given to the priests. The firstfruits

were subject to strict Torah and later rabbinical regulation. The regulation

was that God wanted seven specific items as firstfruits and they could only

be presented in a basket. The Scriptures are clear on this requirement in

Deuteronomy 26:2.

Take some of the firstfruits of all that you produce from the soil of the

land the LORD your God is giving you and put them in a basket. Then

go to the place the LORD your God will choose as a dwelling for his

Name (NIV).

Deuteronomy 26:1-11 pinpoints what happened with the Israelites

and the firstfruits. God tells them that he wants the firstfruits (produce)

from the land. Yahweh identifies different types of firstfruits from the land

that were brought to the temple in the basket in Deuteronomy 8:7-8 and

18:4.

For the LORD your God is bringing you into a good land—a land with

brooks, streams, and deep springs gushing out into the valleys and hills;

a land with wheat and barley, vines and fig trees, pomegranates, olive

oil and honey…


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Then when you read Deuteronomy 18:4 God talks about more first-

fruits, You are to give them the firstfruits of your grain, new wine and

olive oil, and the first wool from the shearing of your sheep… (NIV).

If God wanted grapes, barley, wheat, figs, honey, oil, olives, pome-

granates, and wool as firstfruits, who has the authority to change firstfruits

to money? NO ONE CAN OVERULE GOD’s definition of firstfruits. The

firstfruits were so small; it was brought in a decorated basket and given to

the Levitical high priest. Firstfruits was not about quantity as was the case

with the tithe, but it was more about quality of the firstfruits as indicated

by Numbers 18:12, “All the best of the oil, all the best of the new wine and

the grain, their firstfruits which they offer to the LORD, I have given them to

you” (NKJV). Giving firstfruits to the high priest is well established and

you can see that even in Ezekiel 44:30, “The best of all firstfruits of any kind,

and every sacrifice of any kind from all your sacrifices, shall be the priest’s;

also you shall give to the priest the first of your ground meal [not money],

to cause a blessing to rest on your house” (NKJV). Again, firstfruits were

food for the priests to eat, given to them by the crop growers and it was not

money for them to spend. Firstfruits and tithes are not interchangeable.

You cannot treat firstfruits like tithes because it was only the Levites that

tithed a tithe they received from the Israelites and gave the best portions

to the high priests.

The Hebrew people (farmers, herders, and crop growers) were obli-

gated to give the high priest including his family not just firstfruits but the

best of grapes/wine, barley, wheat, figs, olives/oil, honey, and pomegran-

ates from what grew early from the ground. Because the law strictly regu-

lated firstfruits as eatable items, paying money instead violates the Torah.

Substituting money instead of giving eatable items as firstfruits is an insult

to Yahweh and represents unauthorized spiritualizing of the firstfruits


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Scriptures. Reinterpreting Bible verses out of context is exegetical treason

of the Word of God and hermeneutical twisting for financial gain.

Hypothetically, if firstfruits were converted into money today

according to the law and rabbinical teaching as understood by the Hebrew

people, it would look something like this: let’s say your first weeks pay of

the year is $900.00. Based on the math calculation, 1/40th of this is consid-

ered generous firstfruits, which is about $3.60. So why do tithe teachers ask

for your first weeks pay or first days pay when God only asked for 1/40th

of the amount, which is much less than 10 percent? It is also noted that

1/60th is considered a stingy offering.56 The Bible lists seven kinds of first-

fruits and nowhere is money mentioned as firstfruits despite what modern

Bible teachers and scholars say. The only relationship between tithes and

firstfruits is that they are a part of the harvest. If someone says tithes and

firstfruits are interchangeable, the rebuttal is absolutely not. That’s because

they both refer back to two different laws in the Scripture. Their contents

went to two different groups. Tithes went to the Levites and the firstfruits

went to high priests. We know this is true because Nehemiah 10:36-37 say:

To bring the firstborn of our sons and our cattle, as it is written in the

Law, and the firstborn of our herds and our flocks, to the house of our

God, to the priests who minister in the house of our God; to bring

the firstfruits of our dough, our offerings, the fruit from all kinds of

trees, the new wine and oil, to the priests, to the storerooms of the

house of our God; and to bring the tithes of our land to the Levites,

for the Levites should receive the tithes in all our farming communities

(NKJV).

This verse is direct in saying who received tithes and who received

firstfruits with both comprising of different portions. The firstfruits were

the first of the pre-harvest and are associated with timing. The tithe is a

tenth from the full harvest, which is associated with the amount. Firstfruits


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came from the people and went to the priests; tithes came from the people

and went to the Levites, and the Levites gave a tithe of the tithe to the high

priests from the Levite tithe. Remember, the tithe laws were not a stand-

alone function; they were an intricate part of the entire law including the

laws for diet. You can’t break off the tithe law from the rest of the law like

a stalk of celery and say 10 percent from a believer’s paycheck is required.

The doctrine of the feast of firstfruits was fulfilled in Christ when

He rose from the grave. We know this is true because Christ rose on the

exact day of firstfruits, therefore fulfilling the law of firstfruits by rising

from the grave on the first day of the week, which was the 17th day Nisan,

the feast of firstfruits. You can check the Jewish calendar to verify this. Not

only is Christ the fulfillment of the tithe as a type and shadow of the sin

offering as the lamb of God, he is the fulfillment of firstfruits as Paul states

in 1 Corinthians 15:20-23, “But now Christ is risen from the dead, and has

become the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For since by man came

death, by Man also came the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die,

even so in Christ all shall be made alive. But each one in his own order: Christ

the firstfruits, afterward those who are Christ’s at His coming” (NKJV). So

the next time you hear a call from the pulpit to pay your firstfruits offering,

your only response to the request for firstfruits is that Christ paid it by rising

from the grave. To hand money over as a firstfruit rejects the resurrection

of Christ the Messiah. If you are still not convinced about what consti-

tutes firstfruits, check out this study at: http://www.firstfruits101.com/ff30.

htm. When you have a complete theological understanding of firstfruits

and tithing and are able to explain the distinctiveness between the two, you

will be able to refute time-honored error much like the Messiah did in the

temple when he was twelve years old. Explaining why tithes and firstfruits

are not money will be a breeze. Here is how one author explains firstfruits.


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Just as the first born of every womb both of man…and of every beast

that you own (Exodus 13:2 & 12) were to be sanctified or devoted

to the Lord, so too were the first products of every harvest of grain,

new wine, oil, honey, and all the produce of the field (2 Chronicles

31:5). Before any of the whole nation’s grain harvests could be eaten,

the sheaf of the firstfruits had to be waved before the Lord, two days

after the Passover (Lev 23:14). The Day of Pentecost, fifty days later,

was also known as the day of the firstfruits (Numbers 28:26). On

that day the high priest had to wave and then eat two loaves of the

bread of the firstfruits (Lev 23:20). The priests ate the rest of the first-

fruits, after being devoted to the Lord as in Numbers 18:12-15 and

Deuteronomy 18:3-4), while everybody else ate the firstborn of clean

animals in Deuteronomy 15:19-20 and Numbers 18:15.

This offering is sometimes confused with ‘the tithe of all’ because

of the similarity of what was offered and because they are several

times mentioned together (2 Chronicles. 31:5, Nehemiah 10:35-39).

However, the firstfruits differed from tithes in both their timing

and their purpose. Firstfruits celebrated the beginning of the har-

vest, in the first month, and when given away were given only to the

priests, whereas, the first and second year tithes celebrated the end

of the harvest, in the seventh month, and when given away in the

third years were given to those Levites who were not priests and to

the needy (Numbers. 18:21, Nehemiah 10:36-37). Firstfruits, when

mentioned in the New Testament is only used as a metaphor of Jesus

(1 Corinthians 15:20 & 23), of the Holy Spirit (Romans 8:23) and

of believers (James 1:8), so that the firstfruits festivals were actually

prophetic dramas, perfectly fulfilled on the very days by the resur-

rection of Jesus and the outpouring of the Holy Ghost. The first con-

vert in an area is also described as ‘firstfruits’ of the harvest in (1

Corinthians 16:15). The firstfruits emphasize that the harvest of the


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earth was only just the beginning then the general resurrection will

be the end of the harvest (Revelation 14:14-20).57

With this kind of information, how can anyone believe that first-

fruits refer to money when the Bible states otherwise? It is unconscionable

and disingenuous for anyone to redirect God’s word in an effort to pro-

claim money as firstfruits. Further, the problem gets worse because tithes

are also turned into money in the Book of Malachi.

Spiritual

Kleptomaniac: Chapter 9, Can First Fruits Be Money?