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Chapter 13ViaRegia.1.13

De decimis et primitiis

The Stewardship of Tithes

The author calls the king to honor God through the faithful offering of tithes and firstfruits, citing the Law and the prophets as divine mandates.

Honor the Lord your God, most illustrious king, through your character and your deeds; honor the Lord your God with tithes, firstfruits, and every offering throughout your life, as it is written: “Son, if you have the means, do good with what you have and offer God offerings worthy of him. Remember that death does not delay.” For in the Law as well, when the Lord was commanding the children of Israel, he said: “When you have finished tithing all your produce in the third year, the year of tithes, you shall give to the Levite and the sojourner, the orphan and the widow, so that they may eat within your gates and be filled. And you shall speak in the presence of the Lord your God:”✦ “I have taken what was set apart as holy from my house and given it to the Levite, the sojourner, the orphan, and the widow, just as you commanded me. I have not neglected your commandments, nor have I forgotten your charge.” “I have not eaten any of it while I mourned, nor set any of it apart in any uncleanness, nor spent any of it on funeral rites.” The Lord himself speaks again through the prophet Malachi: “Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, so that there may be food in my house, and put me to the test in this,” says the Lord.✦ “If I will not open the floodgates of heaven for you and pour out a blessing on you until there is abundance, and rebuke the devourer for your sake so that it will not spoil the fruit of your land, and the vine in the field will not be barren,” says the Lord of hosts.✦1 “And all the nations will call you blessed, for you will be a desirable land,” says the Lord of hosts.✦2

The Heavenly Reward of Faithfulness

The king is encouraged to view his earthly stewardship as a path to eternal fellowship with the saints and angels in the age to come.

So look and understand wisely, most illustrious king, the good Giver and best Bestower, who, though he has given you countless royal riches, has commanded that only the tithes and firstfruits be brought into the storehouse. While you are still on earth, honor him with tithes and firstfruits; but once you are in heaven, he will enrich you with angelic riches. Consider, king, how sweet the company of the just kings will be for you, how pleasant the fellowship of the patriarchs, how sweet the companionship of the prophets, how bright the kinship of the apostles, how joyful the dignity of the martyrs, how surpassing the glory of the virgins, how delightful and honorable equality with the angels, how blessed that unquenchable life that lasts forever and ever.3 This treasure, so vast and beyond all telling, you will receive in the age to come, king, if only you honor your God with tithes and firstfruits.

Read the original Latin

Honorifica ergo, rex clarissime, moribus et actibus tuis Dominum Deum tuum; honorifica decimis et primitiis, et omnibus oblationibus in vita tua Dominum Deum tuum, sicut scriptum est: Fili, si habes, benefac tecum, et Deo dignas oblationes offer: memor esto quoniam mors non tardat. Nam et in lege Dominus praecipiens filiis Israel, ait: Quando compleveris decimam cunctarum frugum tuarum, anno decimarum tertio, dabis levitae et advenae, et pupillo et viduae, ut comedant intra portas tuas, et saturentur: loquerisque in conspectu Domini Dei tui. Abstuli quod sanctificatum est de domo mea, et dedi illud levitae et advenae, et pupillo ac viduae, sicut jussisti mihi: non praeterivi mandata tua, nec sum oblitus imperii tui. Non comedi ex eis in luctu meo, nec separavi ea in qualibet immunditia, nec expendi ex his quidquam in re funebri. Ipse iterum Dominus per Malachiam prophetam ait: Inferte omnem decimam in horreum, et sit cibus in domo mea, et probate me super hoc, dicit Dominus. Si non aperuero vobis cataractas coeli, et effudero vobis benedictionem usque ad abundantiam, et increpabo pro vobis devorantem, et non corrumpet fructus terrae vestrae, nec erit sterilis vinea in agro, dicit Dominus exercituum. Et beatos vos dicent omnes gentes; enim terra desiderabilis, dicit Dominus exercituum.

Vide ergo et prudenter intellige, clarissime rex, largitorem bonum, optimumque datorem, qui cum tibi innumerabiles regiasque dederit divitias, in horreo inferre jussit tantum decimas et primitias. Tu eum adhuc in terra positus decimis honora atque primitiis, ille vero te in coelo collocatum divitiis ditabit angelicis. Considera, rex, quam dulcis tibi erit societas regum justorum, quam suavis collatio patriarcharum, quam dulce consortium prophetarum, quam clarissima germanitas apostolorum, quam laeta dignitas martyrum, quam excellentissima gloria virginum, quam delectabilis et honoranda aequalitas angelorum, quam felix vita inexstinguibilis manens in saecula saeculorum. Hunc tam grandem et inenarrabilem, rex, accipies in futuro thesaurum, si modo decimis et primitiis tuum honorificaveris Deum.

Scripture echoes

  1. ↩Deut.26.12-Deut.26.13 — When you have finished setting aside a tenth of all your produce in the third year, the year of the tithe, you shall give it to the Levite, the foreigner, the fatherless, and the widow, so that they may eat in your towns and be satisfied. Deut.26.13 — Then you shall say before the LORD your God, 'I have removed the holy things from my house, and I have also given them to the Levite, to the sojourner, to the fatherless, and to the widow, according to all your commandment that you have commanded me. I have not transgressed any of your commandments, and I have not forgotten them.'
  2. ↩Mal.3.10 — Bring the full tithe into the storehouse, so that there may be food in my house. And put me to the test in this, says the LORD of hosts; I will surely open the windows of heaven for you and pour down blessing for you until there is no more need.
  3. ↩Mal.3.10-Mal.3.11 — Bring the full tithe into the storehouse, so that there may be food in my house. And put me to the test in this, says the LORD of hosts; I will surely open the windows of heaven for you and pour down blessing for you until there is no more need. Mal.3.11 — And I will rebuke the devourer for your sake, and he will not destroy the fruit of your soil; neither will the vine fail you in the field, says the LORD of hosts.
  4. ↩Mal.3.12 — And all the nations will call you blessed, for you will be a land of delight, says the LORD of hosts.

Notes

  1. 1 ↩Si non aperuero is the Vulgate challenge formula: God stakes his promise on the condition of full tithing (‘see if I will not…’).
  2. 2 ↩Source has enim terra desiderabilis without an explicit copula/predicate subject; sense supplied from the Malachi oracle as ‘you will be a desirable land.’
  3. 3 ↩collatio rendered as 'fellowship' (gathering/coming-together of the patriarchs); germanitas as 'kinship' (brotherly bond of the apostles).

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