The Hebrew law exacted the first fruits of the field and the firstlings of the flock as a thank-offering to God. They were to give to God before they took aught for themselves. Here was a test of love and loyalty. While they honored and obeyed this law, they were prospered and had plenty, insomuch that they became the envy of the nations about them, who were more favored than they by natural conditions, but were not so prosperous. The secret of their prosperity was the fact that they loved God and gave to Him first; they denied self and selfishness, forgot themselves in remembering God, and put out of their thought that it was necessary for them to have all they earned, raised, or acquired, in order to "make both ends meet."
When we scientifically arrive at this consciousness of loving God first and supremely, we shall give, and have more to give than we have now, and then we shall know the proof of His promise: "Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it."
