This week I begin a new series looking at what the Bible says about money, from the perspective of how its teaching unfolds. In other words, we will trace the theme of money from the beginning to the end of Scripture.
There are a number of references to money in the Book of Genesis. The first mention of gold in the Bible is in Genesis 2. The garden of Eden was the place where the river divided into four:
The name of the first is the Pishon. It is the one that flowed around the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold. And the gold of that land is good; bdellium and onyx stone are there.
(Genesis 2:11-12)
No one knows for sure where Havilah was, but the emphasis in this passage is on the perfection of the earth that God had created. Both gold and onyx were used in the construction of the tabernacle, so there might be an allusion here to the world being a holy place.
When we come to the story of Abraham, we are introduced to the concept of wealth. Abraham is a rich man, in that he has large flocks as well as servants, and this comes as a result of God's blessing:
And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing.
(Genesis 12:2)
Yet the first time we see this promise being fulfilled it is as a result of Abraham doing the wrong thing: he goes down to Egypt and pretends that his wife Sarah is actually his sister.
And for her sake Pharaoh dealt well with Abram; and he had sheep, oxen, male donkeys, male servants, female servants, female donkeys, and camels.
(Genesis 12:16)
Thus, as soon as we are introduced to the concept of possessions being a blessing from God, we are warned that this does not justify the actions we take to acquire those possessions! God does not bless Abraham because of Abraham's righteousness, but in spite of Abraham's sin:
Now Abram was very rich in livestock, in silver, and in gold.
(Genesis 13:2)
The first reference to tithing is in Genesis 14:20. Abraham has just won a battle, and the priest-king Melchizedek comes out to bless him. It then says that Abraham “gave him a tenth of everything”. This is not a tenth of all that Abraham owns, but rather a tenth of the plunder obtained in the battle (Hebrews 7:4). However, we read later (verse 24) that Abraham didn't keep anything for himself.
The tithe here is a one-off event (as opposed to a regular contribution) made in response to the victory God has given Abraham, and in acknowledgement that Melchizedek is God's representative.
We now come to the first economic transaction described in Scripture. Sarah has just died, and Abraham is looking for a place to bury her:
Abraham rose and bowed to the Hittites, the people of the land. And he said to them, “If you are willing that I should bury my dead out of my sight, hear me and entreat for me Ephron the son of Zohar, that he may give me the cave of Machpelah, which he owns; it is at the end of his field. For the full price let him give it to me in your presence as property for a burying place.” Now Ephron was sitting among the Hittites, and Ephron the Hittite answered Abraham in the hearing of the Hittites, of all who went in at the gate of his city, “No, my lord, hear me: I give you the field, and I give you the cave that is in it. In the sight of the sons of my people I give it to you. Bury your dead.” Then Abraham bowed down before the people of the land. And he said to Ephron in the hearing of the people of the land, “But if you will, hear me: I give the price of the field. Accept it from me, that I may bury my dead there.” Ephron answered Abraham, “My lord, listen to me: a piece of land worth four hundred shekels of silver, what is that between you and me? Bury your dead.” Abraham listened to Ephron, and Abraham weighed out for Ephron the silver that he had named in the hearing of the Hittites, four hundred shekels of silver, according to the weights current among the merchants.
(Genesis 23:7-16)
This is a fascinating example of Ancient Near Eastern negotiation. Abraham just wants a cave in which to bury Sarah, but Ephron forces him to buy the field as well. Abraham offers to pay full price, and Ephron is going to milk him for everything he's got. It appears that the Hittites loved indirect speech (like many non-Western cultures today), and “a piece of land worth four hundred shekels of silver, what is that between you and me?” really means “this is the price”. If we compare this amount with other purchases in the Old Testament, it seems exorbitant: a thousand years later, David pays fifty shekels for a threshing floor (2 Samuel 24:24).
We need to see this story in the context of God's promise to give Abraham the land. On the one hand, this is the first fulfilment of the promise – Abraham now owns some real estate in Canaan. Abraham made sure that he got a final and fully legal sale. On the other hand, he has to pay through the nose to get it, and so the promise of the land will be difficult to fulfil: if just a field and cave costs so much, how will Abraham get the whole land?
In some ways, Abraham allowed himself to get ripped off in order to do what was right. In this he is like the Hebrews commended in the New Testament:
You joyfully accepted the plundering of your property, since you knew that you yourselves had a better possession and an abiding one.
(Hebrews 10:34)