Bible Studies

---

After God’s rebuke of the devourer, Laban, Jacob and family leave their oppressor to serve God in the land He promised. God had said “vow (tithe)” and they said “let’s go, he (Laban) just wants our money” (paraphrased) Gen. 31:15. All of the children born to them, except one, were born in the shadow of Laban. Now they were free of their oppressor to serve God in the place of His choosing.

Augustine teaches that the fruit bearing wives of Jacob represent the fruitfulness of the Church. We should then take a close look at the last offspring of Jacob through his beloved wife, Rachel, to find insight into the nature of the Church’s last period of fruit bearing. Benjamin is the only son born after leaving Laban.

Just before Jacob’s death, he gives prophecies concerning his son’s fruit. The last prophecy given was of the last son, Benjamin. Benjamin was born just before the death of his and Joseph’s mother, Rachel. As she was departing this life, she names the child Benoni: but his father calls him Benjamin.

Just before Jacob’s death, after his reunion with his son Joseph in Egypt, he gives prophecies of the future. These prophecies are in relation to the tribes that come from his sons. The last prophecy is of his son Benjamin.
“Benjamin shall ravin as a wolf: in the morning he shall devour the prey, and at night he shall divide the spoil.” Genesis 49:27

God gives a wonderful promise to those who despise a certain kind of gain. In Isaiah 33:15-16.
“He that walketh righteously, and speaketh uprightly; he that despiseth the gain of oppressions, that shaketh his hands from holding of bribes, that stoppeth his ears from hearing of blood, and shutteth his eyes from seeing evil; He shall dwell on high: his place of defence shall be the munitions of rocks: bread shall be given him; his waters shall be sure.”

So what do we say of the ‘gain of oppressions’? In searching the Hebrew on this word for ‘oppressions’ we find an unusual spelling of the word that is quite different from the other Hebrew words used for oppress or oppression. The word here is ‘ma’ashaqqah’. What makes it different from the other words is the prefix ‘ma’. This prefix is the thirteenth letter of the Hebrew alphabet and is also used in making the word for ‘ten’ a ‘tithe’. This letter is called the ’mem’ and makes the ’mmm’ sound. God also adds this letter to the end of Baal to make Balaam who is known to ’love the wages of unrighteousness’. The word ‘tithe’ in Hebrew is ‘ma’aser’. So, then, the ‘ma’ is a tithe maker. God puts this same prefix at the front of ‘oppress, ashaq’ and makes ‘oppression’. In the NIV version of the bible, the word is translated ‘extortion’.

The question to ask is, is God pointing to the monetary tithe as the culprit to be despised by His representatives? Of the many choices of Hebrew words for ‘oppress’, He chooses to use the tithe maker ‘ma’ to make this word that is unmistakably pointing to tithe (ma’aser) as a problem. It definitely drags the much vaunted monetary tithe into the circle of suspects.

Another curiosity that troubles me is the ‘hearing of blood’. This makes me think of the middle ages when the Roman Catholic Church persecuted the Protestants for leaving the fold and taking their tithes that the church was in the habit of taking with them. Was this an end by-product of the teaching of tithing? It follows the pattern of Cain. His offering was not accepted then he murders the one whose offering was accepted. Jesus gives the modus operandi of the devil as a liar first then a murderer second. It seems that the one leads to the other in the case of tithing. Make the people give money ‘offerings’ and ‘tithes’. Not according to the law but according to what can be made plausible to the people who know little to nothing about the bible. When they stop, get the authorities after them. This did not happen that long ago. Already, ministers have forgotten why they are Protestants and the price that was paid for separating from an oppressive religious system.

In searching the prophecy of the ‘ravening wolf’ we go to Ezekiel 22:27.
"Her princes in the midst thereof are like wolves ravening the prey, to shed blood,
And to destroy souls, to get dishonest gain (betsa).”
There are only three verses in the bible where the Hebrew words for ‘raven’ and ‘wolf’ come together. This verse is the most revealing. It tells us the reason for the ravening of the wolves. It is for ‘gain, betsa’. This is the same ‘gain’ that is to be despised in Isaiah. 33. There is a strong match between the verses of Isaiah 33:15 and Ezekiel 22:27. Both have ‘gain’ and ‘blood’. If we read further down in Isaiah 33 we will find words that are prominent in the prophecy of the ravening wolf of Genesis 49. There in Genesis is “in the morning he shall devour the prey, and at night he shall divide the spoil.” In Isaiah 33:23 you have “then is the prey of a great spoil divided.”

It is because of these limited uses of the Hebrew words for raven, wolf, gain, prey, divide, spoil that we look to Genesis 49:27, Isaiah 33, and Ezekiel 22:27 for the most information to reveal to us as to the nature of this ‘Ravenwolf’ prophecy. I will make a connection here of the ravening wolf to the ‘gain of oppression’ of Isaiah 33 and to the ‘ma’ of tithe and oppression. I will say then that Ravenwolf loves the ’ma’. Ravenwolf loves the gain of oppressions. Ravenwolf loves the monetary tithe.

We now look to the early church fathers to see what they have to say about Ravenwolf. We find this written by Tertullian from the second century after Christ’s birth.
“Because even the book of Genesis so long ago promised me the Apostle Paul. For among the types and prophetic blessings which he pronounced over his sons, Jacob, when he turned his attention to Benjamin, exclaimed, "Benjamin shall ravin as a wolf; in the morning He shall devour the prey, and at night he shall impart nourishment." He foresaw that Paul would arise out of the tribe of Benjamin, a voracious wolf, devouring his prey in the morning: in other words, in the early period of his life he would devastate the Lord's sheep, as a persecutor of the churches; but in the evening he would give them nourishment, which means that in his declining years he would educate the fold of Christ, as the teacher of the Gentiles. Then, again, in Saul's conduct towards David, exhibited first in violent persecution of him, and then in remorse and reparation, on his receiving from him good for evil, we have nothing else than an anticipation of Paul in Saul — belonging, too, as they did, to the same tribe — and of Jesus in David, from whom He descended according to the Virgin's genealogy. Should you, however, disapprove of these types, the Acts of the Apostles, at all events, have handed down to me this career of Paul, which you must not refuse to accept.”

Ravenwolf is, according to Tertullian, Paul the apostle. This is a perfect answer to the prophecy in Genesis 49. Of the tribe of Benjamin, first a persecutor, then a feeder of the sheep. The part that says ‘at night he shall divide the spoils’ would then be interpreted as ‘feeder of the sheep’. If you use the parallel verse to the ravening wolf scripture in Ezekiel to that in Isaiah 33 you could say that Paul went from loving the ‘gain of oppressions’ (ma’ashaqqah) to one who despised the ‘gain of oppressions’. You could say that if you accept Ezekiel’s characterization of the wolf nature, that he would “destroy souls to get dishonest gain”. In the Hebrew there is no ‘dishonest’, there is only ‘gain (betsa). This is the same ‘gain’ that we find in Isaiah 56, Malachi 3, Isaiah 33. They are “shepherds that do not understand” in Isaiah 56. These love the ‘strong drink’ of Deuteronomy 14, where you are to purchase ‘strong drink’ with the money that you have exchanged the holy tithe.

Did Paul collect tithes? This man read Hebrew like we read English. He saw the ‘ma’aser and ma’ashaqqah’, Would he have despised the collecting of tithes? Or was he the first or last of the apostles who would have appealed to the Old Testament practice as a pattern to be applied to the New Covenant people? Let’s look to Paul's writings to find evidence of his knowledge of the dual practices of Ravenwolf.

I searched the New Testament for the uses of the word ‘gain’ in the King James Version. There are fifteen 'gains' in the New Testament. One of those references is in relation to Paul’s former life as Ravenwolf. I looked at the original language of the Greek to find any differences in the types of ‘gain’. There are only three uses of this Greek word that Paul uses at least once in describing his former life. The following are all three verses that can be linked directly to the same 'gain (betsa)' in the Old Testament if they are related to greed. It is likely that Paul would have the Old Testament use of 'gain' in mind when he wrote in his letters using this Greek word 'kerdos' for the same word.

"For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain (kerdos)." Philippians 1:21

"Circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, an Hebrew of the Hebrews; as touching the law, a Pharisee;
Concerning zeal, persecuting the church; touching the righteousness which is in the law, blameless.

But what things were gain (kerdos) to me, those I counted loss for Christ.
Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ," Philippians 3:5-8

"For there are many unruly and vain talkers and deceivers, specially they of the circumcision:
Whose mouths must be stopped, who subvert whole houses, teaching things which they ought not, for filthy lucre's (kerdos) sake.
One of themselves, even a prophet of their own, said, The Cretians are alway liars, evil beasts, slow bellies.
This witness is true. Wherefore rebuke them sharply, that they may be sound in the faith."
Titus 1:10-13

If indeed this is Paul's Greek version of the Hebrew word in question, he is saying that he prefers death to the 'gain' of Ravenwolf, or he is saying as most would characterize this, dying is an advancement after a life of serving Christ. How about wording it like this: “I’m counting on death as my pay day, my salary, my gain, my wage of righteousness.“ Under the law, as a member of the tribe of Benjamin, Paul who was Saul, at the time, would not have had a right to the tithes that were for the Levites only. He could have profited from those that hired him to go after Christians who probably did not pay tithes to the Levites once they went under the new leadership of the apostles. But these were only Levites and land owners who paid tithes under the law. Did Paul ever contemplate taking tithes as a New Testament minister? As a walking Hebrew lexicon himself, would he have looked at the money for tithe as filthy lucre? Is the 'gain' (lucre) of Titus 1:11 the gain of Isaiah 33, Isaiah 56, and Ezekiel 22?

Paul preferred to suffer loss as a reformed Ravenwolf than to take 'gain' or 'filthy lucre'. Are we living in an era of many Ravenwolves? What is left is the 'tearing' that a wolf does. The taking of gain is already there.

---

PLEASE ENCOURAGE AUTHOR BELOW LEAVE COMMENT ON ARTICLE