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Giving Like the OT Church: Lessons on Sacrifice and Offerings

· 9 min read
Lex Lutor Iyornumbe
Lex Lutor Iyornumbe
Senior Software Developer @ Punch Agency

Picture, if you will, a planet called Earth. A place where everyone — from your mama to your mechanic — is on the same holy mission: to collect your money. They may smile while doing it. They may even cook you jollof first. But trust me, everybody wants a slice of your financial meat pie. Even the devil himself has a budget line with your name on it.

💵 Money, dear reader, is not evil. It is the amplifier of life’s comfort. With it, NEPA light suddenly becomes less epileptic, your fridge hums like a lullaby, and you can buy suya without checking your wallet first. Without it? Ah. Welcome to the land of postponed dreams, hot sun, and unsolicited motivational quotes from people who own generators.

Now… A Quick Journey Back in Time​

The Israelites of the Old Testament — let’s call them the “O.T. Church” — were like us, only with more camels and less Instagram. We, the New Testament crowd, are spiritual descendants of Abraham. Same God. Same covenant roots. Only difference? They brought rams; we bring bank transfers.

And what was written in their days? For our example. So… let’s examine their “giving standard” — the O.T. Gold Standard — and see whether we, in our era of air-conditioned worship and smartphone Bibles, can even stand beside them without embarrassment.

🔥 Five Sacrifices – Not Suggestions, Actual Requirements​

1. The Burnt Offering ('Olah)​

  • Scripture: "If his offering is a burnt offering from the herd, he shall offer a male without blemish. He shall bring it to the entrance of the tent of meeting, that he may be accepted before the LORD. He shall lay his hand on the head of the burnt offering, and it shall be accepted for him to make atonement for him." (Leviticus 1:3-4)
  • Category: Primarily individual but also performed communally.
  • Time to be given: The communal burnt offering was offered daily, morning and evening. Individual burnt offerings were given voluntarily to atone for general sin or express complete devotion.

2. The Grain Offering (Minchah)​

  • Scripture: "When anyone brings a grain offering as an offering to the LORD, his offering shall be of fine flour. He shall pour oil on it and put frankincense on it." (Leviticus 2:1)
  • Category: Primarily individual but also performed communally.
  • Time to be given: This was a regular communal offering and also given voluntarily as an expression of thanksgiving for God's provision. It often accompanied a burnt or peace offering.

3. The Peace Offering (Zebach Shelamim)​

  • Scripture: "If his offering is a sacrifice of peace offering, if he offers an animal from the herd, whether male or female, he shall offer it without blemish before the LORD." (Leviticus 3:1)
  • Category: Primarily individual.
  • Time to be given: A voluntary offering brought to express thanksgiving, fulfill a vow, or simply to show fellowship with God. It was followed by a celebratory meal.

4. The Sin Offering (Chatta't)​

  • Scripture: "Speak to the people of Israel, saying, If anyone sins unintentionally in any of the LORD’s commandments about things not to be done, and does any one of them..." (Leviticus 4:2)
  • Category: Individual and communal.
  • Time to be given: This was mandatory when a person or the entire nation unintentionally sinned or required ritual purification.

5. The Guilt Offering ('Asham)​

  • Scripture: "If anyone commits a trespass and sins unintentionally in any of the holy things of the LORD, he shall bring as his compensation to the LORD a ram without blemish from the flock, valued in shekels of silver by the shekel of the sanctuary, for a guilt offering." (Leviticus 5:15)
  • Category: Individual.
  • Time to be given: This was mandatory when a person committed a trespass or caused a loss, either to something holy or to another person. It required both the sacrifice and restitution of the loss plus a 20% penalty.

B. Other Offerings and Contributions​

1. The Tithe​

  • Scripture: "And every tithe of the land, whether of the seed of the land or of the fruit of the trees, is the LORD's; it is holy to the LORD." (Leviticus 27:30)
  • Category: Communal (a national tax).
  • Time to be given: A mandatory annual contribution of 10% of produce and livestock. It was not a sacrifice but a means of supporting the Levites and priests.

2. Firstfruits​

  • Scripture: "You shall bring the first of the firstfruits of your ground to the house of the LORD your God." (Exodus 23:19)
  • Category: Individual and communal.
  • Time to be given: The first portion of the harvest (grain, fruit, oil, wine) was given to the priests to acknowledge God as the provider.

3. Wave Offering​

  • Scripture: "And the priest shall wave them for a wave offering before the LORD; they are holy to the priest, together with the breast of the wave offering and the thigh of the heave offering." (Leviticus 10:14)
  • Category: Individual and communal.
  • Time to be given: This was a special gesture performed by the priest, where an offering was waved before the altar. It was part of other sacrifices and was often given at festivals, such as the Feast of Weeks.

C. Other Communal Offerings​

1. Sabbath Offering​

  • Scripture: "On the Sabbath day, two male lambs a year old without blemish, and two tenths of an ephah of fine flour for a grain offering, mixed with oil, and its drink offering: this is the burnt offering of every Sabbath, besides the regular burnt offering and its drink offering." (Numbers 28:9-10)
  • Category: Communal.
  • Time to be given: This was an additional sacrifice made every Sabbath, along with the regular daily offering.

2. New Moon Offering​

  • Scripture: "At the beginnings of your months, you shall offer a burnt offering to the LORD: two bulls from the herd, one ram, seven male lambs a year old without blemish." (Numbers 28:11)
  • Category: Communal.
  • Time to be given: This offering was made at the beginning of each new month.

3. Yearly Feasts​

  • Scripture: "On the fourteenth day of the first month is the LORD's Passover. And on the fifteenth day of this month is a feast. For seven days, unleavened bread shall be eaten." (Numbers 28:16-17)
  • Category: Communal.
  • Time to be given: These sacrifices were performed for the annual festivals, including Passover, the Feast of Weeks, the Feast of Trumpets, the Day of Atonement, and the Feast of Tabernacles.

Communal Sacrifices and Estimated Cost Summary​

The following table summarizes the numbers for the required public offerings and their estimated costs using present-day Nigerian market prices (January 2025).

Offering TypeDaily (Excluding feasts)Weekly (Excluding feasts)Monthly (Excluding feasts)Yearly (Total)
Lambs216751,093
Bulls002113
Rams00137
Goats00124
Grain Offerings1844834
Estimated Cost₦1,330,000₦10,640,000₦20,312,500₦203,130,000

(Quick summary for those who like bullet points better than sermons)

  1. Burnt Offering – Daily devotion and sin atonement. Every morning and evening.
  2. Grain Offering – Flour, oil, and frankincense. The ancient version of “cash plus kind.”
  3. Peace Offering – Thanksgiving, vow fulfillment, and a celebratory meal. 🥩
  4. Sin Offering – When you sin by mistake… which, let’s be honest, is most of the time.
  5. Guilt Offering – Trespass restitution, plus a 20% penalty. God invented “pay back with interest” before banks.

Plus, they had tithes, firstfruits, wave offerings, Sabbath sacrifices, New Moon sacrifices, and feast sacrifices. In short, giving wasn’t a casual “If I have change in my pocket” affair.

💡 Estimated Cost (If Done in Nigeria Today): ₦203,130,000 annually for communal sacrifices alone. Do the math: if your church is 2,000 members strong, that’s ₦101,565 per person per year. Roughly ₦8k per month.

Question: Can you, with holy confidence, say you are “doing better” than O.T. believers? Because we love to drag them for their lapses, but brother… sister… you nko?

And that’s just the baseline. The bare minimum.

Temple Tax Reality Check​

Every adult over 20 paid a half-shekel annually — about ₦11,000 in today’s money. If your yearly offering hasn’t crossed that figure, I won’t talk. I’ll let your conscience and the Holy Spirit do the whispering.

But We’re Under Grace, Not Law!​

True. You no longer need to bring goats for sin. But the New Testament still calls for sacrifices — praise, thanksgiving, generosity. Paul didn’t just thank God for the Philippians; he thanked God because of their gifts.

💭 Let Me Share A Personal Lesson in Faith & Giving. Once upon a time, I was “confessing” billionaire status with great faith. Then God told me: “If you believe you’re a billionaire, give the offering of one.” At that point, my total net worth — home and abroad — was ₦50k. I laughed in Greek. Then I repented. I realised my faith was mouth-deep, not heart-deep. Since then, I give according to my true level of faith and stretch to grow it.

🎨 Why God Even Asks For Your Gifts. Psalm 50 makes it clear: God doesn’t need your ram, naira, or crypto. He owns it all. Giving is His way of binding blessing to you. Like a child offering a crayon drawing to their father — He doesn’t need the art, but He treasures the effort and the love behind it.

🚨 Think About It If your yearly offering is less than ₦11k, or you’re not contributing enough for your spiritual community to thrive, you no dey try. Think of Solomon, David, and the rivers of wealth they poured into God’s work — and then think about your own wallet.

📌 God doesn’t measure the gift by its market value, but by the sacrifice behind it. And He’s watching. Not with the eyes of a tax collector, but with the heart of a Father.