Verse 6 also mentions the tithes. This is not a course. This means one tenth of your produce. This is a total title of all the groceries. All the groceries are tithes. One tenth, the top part, of your produce is set apart for God.
The heave offering is also mentioned in verse 6. The heave offering is not the main offering. It may be considered a subordinate offering. The heave offering also includes the wave offering. The heave offering refers to the ascension, and when you mention the ascension, resurrection is included also. When you speak of resurrection, you may not have the ascension, but when you speak of the ascension, resurrection is also included. Just as the burnt offering includes all of the following offerings so the heave offering includes the foregoing offering. The foregoing offering to the heave offering is the wave offering. Resurrection goes before ascension, and ascension follows resurrection. So there is the burnt offering as the leading offering, and there is the heave offering as the ending offering. The burnt offering is the leading one of the main offerings, and the heave offering is one of the subordinate offerings. It is very meaningful.
In verse 6 the phrase “and your vows” is better translated, “and of your vows.” The whole phrase should read, “The heave offerings of your hand, and of your vows.” There are two things here. All the offerings offered to God are produced from the land by the labor of the hand. That offering was required just like today we have to pay income tax. Income tax is required today. Tithing actually was a kind of income tax. The first offering was required as a produce from your hand. But the second is offered for a vow. That is not required. For example, you are required to pay a certain amount of income tax, but besides the income tax you paid, you give the government something more. That is not a required tax; that is a kind of payment of your vow. That is a kind of a payment based upon your patriotism. Because you love your country you want to give your country something more than is required.
It was the same with the Israelites. Whether you loved God or didn’t love God, as long as you were an Israelite you had to bring in the tax. Of all your produce, one tenth should be brought in. This may be likened to the income tax. If you don’t pay your income tax you will get into trouble. The government may fine you or may put you into jail. But the vow is different. The vow means you like to give something more than what is required by the government because you are so patriotic.
The freewill offerings are also mentioned in verse 6. What is the difference between the offerings of the vow and the freewill offerings? The offerings of the vow were for a promise that you made. You promised to give a certain amount. Sometimes the church may practice this. Six years ago when we were preparing to build this hall we didn’t know how much the saints could or would give, so we asked many of you to write a kind of promise to the church telling us what you would give. Many of us including myself wrote a kind of promise. That became a vow to the church. Every month we put in a certain amount to fulfill our vows.
But besides that, some still gave something more. This was a freewill offering. It was voluntary. Some gave what they promised for the hall plus something more. The extra portion became the voluntary offerings. The offerings for the vow are stronger, and the tithe was even much stronger because that was to fulfill a requirement. The vow implies partially a kind of free will. If you never made such a vow you are not obligated. But whether we make a vow or don’t make a vow we still have to pay the income tax. According to the Pentateuch all the offerings are of these three degrees. The tithes are the strongest, the vows are weaker, and the voluntary offerings are the weakest.
From these verses we can see what are the main courses of the divine feast and what are the groceries. Thus far we haven’t gotten to the groceries. But now we come to the last item, the seventh: “And the firstlings of your herds and of your flocks.” These are items of the groceries. Firstly, it speaks of the firstlings of your herd, and secondly, the firstlings of your flocks. The herds refer to oxen, and the flocks refer to sheep. Now there are two kinds of groceries. The firstlings of the herds and of the flocks are the first two items of the groceries.