When Offering Nourishes the Soul

This article was adapted for space from Dynamic Steward, October-December 2025, vol. 28, no. 2. It has been used with permission. Click here to read the original feature.—Editors

The current trend is to question almost everything. Practices, beliefs, traditions—nothing escapes critical scrutiny. Even religious practices are being examined closely. This attitude, often poorly received by older generations, can nonetheless become a blessed opportunity for reflection and renewal.

Personally, I welcome this questioning with open arms, because it allows us to reposition our practices and avoid falling into the trap of merely “doing for the sake of doing.” Among the sensitive topics today is the act of giving in the church. This theme, though central to spiritual life, has become highly problematic in some circles.

Let us return to the Word and consider the Hebrew context to better understand the culture and concept of offerings and thus restore to this act its full spiritual and biblical significance.

In the ancient Near East the relationship between gods and humans was often conceived as one of material dependence. Humans fed the gods through sacrifices, and in return the deities granted fertility and protection. As Thorkild Jacobsen notes: “The gods of Mesopotamia, like man, depended for their sustenance on the ingestion of food and drink. The sacrifice was, one might say, their daily bread, and the images of the gods in the temples were regularly served meals.”[1]

In these pagan cultures man existed to serve the gods by providing them with food, drink, and shelter, with Egyptian worship following a similar but highly codified pattern. Jan Assmann explains: “The worship of the gods in their temples adhered to an immutable ritualism. The central rite was the daily service of the divine statue: It was awakened, washed, dressed, adorned with jewelry, and presented with food offerings. The statue was not the god but a point of contact that allowed the divine power to manifest itself in the world.”[2]

This vision stands in stark contrast to that of Yahweh. Israel, having been in Egypt, was steeped in these conceptions of a god dependent on material offerings. To understand the nature of the true God, a cultural and theological transformation was necessary.

The Exodus from Egypt and the establishment of the sanctuary were both a theological judgment against the gods of Egypt and a pedagogical revelation of Yahweh. Jacques Doukhan identifies and confirms this divine pedagogy in his work, stating that “the wilderness sanctuary stood as a silent protest against Egyptian religion. Every detail of its construction and services conveyed a message that was diametrically opposed to Egyptian cultic practices.”[3]

The holiness of God in Leviticus is not merely ritual—it is ethical. It demands a wholistic response from His people.[4] Thus, the system of offerings to Yahweh was instituted immediately after the liberation from Egypt, to teach Israel about the identity of the God who had saved them. It aimed to build a holy community in relationship with a transcendent and holy God, in complete opposition to the Egyptian model of immanent and dependent deities. This distinction became the very foundation of Israel’s national and religious identity.

Covenant Relationship, Not Divine Sustenance

Considering the analyses of Jan Assmann and Jiří Moskala on the practice of offerings, it becomes clear that Adonai wanted the Israelites to completely distance themselves from the religious rites and practices of their former masters. It was with this intent that He instituted sacrifices within the sanctuary service.

The sacrificial system was intended to preserve communion with a holy God who had freely chosen to dwell among His people.

These offerings were not meant to sustain a needy god, as the surrounding nations believed, but served as a ritualized means of maintaining a covenant relationship (berit, בְּרִית). The sacrificial system was intended to preserve communion with a holy God who had freely chosen to dwell among His people. The Pentateuch illustrates this principle in several passages:

• Leviticus 21:6: “They shall be holy to their God . . . , for they offer the offerings of the Lord made by fire, and the bread of their God.”

• Leviticus 22:25: “And offer them as the food of your God” (NIV).

• Numbers 28:2: “Give this command to the Israelites and say to them: ‘Make sure that you present to me at the appointed time my food offerings, as an aroma pleasing to me’ ” (NIV).

These verses use the expression “food of God,” but with a transformed meaning. As Gary Anderson shows in his comparative study, the Bible adopts the ancient idea that gods rely on humans for their sustenance, but radically redefines it: The “food of God” is meant, not to nourish Yahweh, but to establish and sustain the covenant relationship.[5]

In contrast to the practices of the Egyptians, Sumerians, and other neighboring nations, the Israelites brought their offerings to nourish their relationship with the God of the Sinai covenant. The offering was therefore intended, not to meet Yahweh’s needs, but to nurture the worshipper’s relationship with their Creator. It was a ritualized act expressing devotion, gratitude, repentance, and a desire for communion with the covenant God, who, unlike the Egyptian deities, needed nothing but desired a relationship with His people.

Roy Gane explains that the sacrificial system in the sanctuary was a form of divine pedagogy, designed to teach sinners how to live in communion with a holy God. “The Israelite purification offering (ḥaṭṭā’ṭ) . . . functioned to remedy the disequilibrium of impurity, which otherwise would have severed the relationship between God and His people. The offerer was not ‘feeding God’ but initiating a process that would allow the divine presence to continue dwelling among them. The goal was continued communion.”[6]

Thus, the conservative rabbi and scholar Jacob Milgrom summarizes this perspective: The Israelite sacrificial system was a divine gift, designed not to meet a need of God, but as a gracious means offered to humans to maintain and express their relationship with Him.[7]
This idea lies at the heart of Milgrom’s theological interpretation and fundamentally distinguishes biblical worship from the surrounding religions of the ancient Near East.

In Summary

As the Jewish Study Bible (2nd edition) points out, the Bible is explicit on this matter: God has no need for the food of His worshippers.[8] “If I were hungry, I would not tell you. . . . Do I eat the meat of bulls?” (Ps. 50:12, 13, NLT).[9] Yet God cherishes the intimate relationship His people and His priests maintained with Him. Thus, in the Hebrew Bible the expression “the food or bread of God” (leḥem Elohim) refers, not to a material need of the deity, but to a symbolic and relational reality. It reflects a radical theological transformation compared to the religious conceptions of the ancient Near East, where gods were seen as dependent on human offerings for sustenance.

In Israelite worship, then, the offering was not a way to feed God, but a response of love, gratitude, and communion with the Creator—a sign of a living and sanctified covenant.

Spiritual Application for Today

After understanding what it meant to present offerings to God in the context of Israel in the wilderness, what principles can we draw from it for our twenty-first-century lives?

• The offering is an expression of a relationship, not a transaction. We give, not in order to receive, but to express our gratitude toward God.

• It reveals the faithfulness of the heart. The way we manage our possessions reflects the place God truly holds in our lives.

• It nourishes communion. Just as the sacrificial rites brought the people closer to God, our gifts and commitments today strengthen our relationship with Him and with our community.

• It reflects a theology of service and sharing. To give is to take part in God’s mission of justice, love, and the restoration of the world.

These four principles serve as a powerful antidote to our resistance or distrust when it comes to giving to God through His church. They remind us that spiritual giving is neither a material transaction nor an administrative duty—it is, above all, an act of faith, love, and covenant.

The root of true offering is not found in records or ledgers—it is found in the heart.

It is true that in our time good governance holds a legitimate place in church administration—and I fully support it. Transparency and integrity are essential. But the root of true offering is not found in records or ledgers—it is found in the heart. My relationship with God remains the priority, for it is the very foundation of any authentic offering.

Thus my motivation to give should never be fear of mismanagement, nor even the desire to receive a blessing in return. It should arise from an inner impulse of gratitude, a deep desire to nourish my communion with the living God—the one who delights more in a faithful heart than in the amount of the gift.

King David understood this well when he declared: “Everything comes from you, and we have given you only what comes from your hand” (1 Chron. 29:14, NIV). With these words David confesses that to give to God is, in fact, to return what already belongs to Him. The offering then becomes a sign of humility, a testimony of gratitude, and an act of living covenant with the God of provision.

• To give is to recognize that I am not the owner, but the steward of God’s resources.

• To give is to affirm my trust that God will always provide for my needs.

• To give is to take part in the economy of the kingdom, in which love and generosity are the true riches.

Thus every offering—no matter how modest—becomes a sacrifice of praise (Heb. 13:15, 16), a tangible expression of my faith, and a joyful response to God’s faithfulness.

Conclusion

Giving within the church is not merely a material or administrative act. From the time of Israel in the wilderness to today, the offering has always been a way to nourish a relationship with God, not to meet a need in Him. While surrounding cultures viewed their gods as dependent on human offerings, biblical theology radically transforms this idea: God, self-sufficient and transcendent, invites His people to give as an expression of their faithfulness, gratitude, and communion with Him.

In our contemporary context—in which questioning and critical thinking are widespread—this understanding reminds us that every offering is an act of living faith and personal transformation. It reflects the state of our hearts, our level of trust in God, and our sincere desire to participate in His work. As King David declared: “Everything comes from you, and we have given you only what comes from your hand” (1 Chron. 29:14, NIV). To give thus becomes an expression of gratitude, a silent confession of dependence on God, and a way to sanctify our possessions, our talents, and our entire lives.

Giving today must be done with love and intention—not out of obligation or calculation, but as a response to God’s faithfulness and a living testimony of our covenant with Him. Offerings remind us that all we possess comes from God and ultimately returns to Him, and that our true wealth lies in a living, loving relationship with Him.

[1] Thorkild Jacobsen, The Treasures of Darkness: A History of Mesopotamian Religion (New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1976), p. 86.

[2] Jan Assmann, Death and Salvation in Ancient Egypt, trans. David Lorton (Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press, 2005), p. 287.

[3] Jacques Doukhan, Hebrew for Theologians: A Textbook for the Study of Biblical Hebrew in Relation to Hebrew Thinking (Lanham, Md.: University Press of America, 1993), p. 112.

[4] Jiří Moskala, “The Laws of Clean and Unclean Animals of Leviticus 11: Their Nature, Theology, and Rationale (An Archaeological, Zoological, and Linguistic Study)” (doctorate thesis, Andrews University, 1998), p. 312.

[5] Gary A. Anderson, Sacrifices and Offerings in Ancient Israel: Studies in their Social and Political Importance (Chico, Calif.: Scholars Press, 1987), pp. 15, 16.

[6] Roy Gane, Cult and Character: Purification Offerings, Day of Atonement, and Theodicy (Univesity Park, Pa.: Eisenbrauns, 2005), p. 287.

[7] Jacob Milgrom, Leviticus: A Book of Ritual and Ethics (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2004), p. 45.

[8] Adele Berlin and Marc Zvi Brettler, eds., The Jewish Study Bible, 2nd ed. (New York: Oxford University Press, 2014), p. 324.

[9] Scripture quotations marked NLT are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.