Pro 3:9 | KD | STEP | Honour Jahve with thy wealth, And with the first-fruits of all thine increase: 10 Then shall thy barns be filled with plenty, And thy vats overflow with must. It may surprise us that the Chokma , being separated from the ceremonial law, here commends the giving of tithes. But in the first place, the consciousness of the duty of giving tithes is older than the Mosaic law, ; in this case, the giving of tithes is here a general ethical expression. עשּׂר and מעשׂר do not occur in the Book of Proverbs; in the post-biblical phraseology the tithes are called חלק הגּבהּ, the portion of the Most High. כּבּד, as the Arab. waḳḳra, to make heavy, then to regard and deal with as weighty and solemn (opp. קלּל, to regard and treat as light, from קלל = Arab. hân, to be light). הון, properly lightness in the sense of aisance , opulency, forms with כּבּד an oxymoron ( fac Jovam gravem de levitate tua ), but one aimed at by the author neither at nor here. מן (in מהונך and 'מר, ) is in both cases partitive, as in the law of the Levitical tenths, , and of the Challa (heave-offering of dough), Num 15:21, where also ראשׁית (in , ἀκροθίνια) occurs in a similar sense, cf. Num 18:12 (in the law of the Theruma or wave-offering of the priests), as also תּבוּאה in the law of the second tenths, , cf. Num 18:30 (in the law of the tenths of the priests).

‏ Proverbs 3:9

Pro 3:9-10 Honour Jahve with thy wealth, And with the first-fruits of all thine increase: 10 Then shall thy barns be filled with plenty, And thy vats overflow with must.

It may surprise us that the Chokma, being separated from the ceremonial law, here commends the giving of tithes. But in the first place, the consciousness of the duty of giving tithes is older than the Mosaic law, Gen 28:22; in this case, the giving of tithes is here a general ethical expression. עשּׂר and מעשׂר do not occur in the Book of Proverbs; in the post-biblical phraseology the tithes are called חלק הגּבהּ, the portion of the Most High. כּבּד, as the Arab. waḳḳra, to make heavy, then to regard and deal with as weighty and solemn (opp. קלּל, to regard and treat as light, from קלל = Arab. hân, to be light). הון, properly lightness in the sense of aisance, opulency, forms with כּבּד an oxymoron (fac Jovam gravem de levitate tua), but one aimed at by the author neither at Pro 1:13 nor here. מן (in מהונך and 'מר, Pro 3:9) is in both cases partitive, as in the law of the Levitical tenths, Lev 27:30, and of the Challa (heave-offering of dough), Num 15:21, where also ראשׁית (in Heb 7:4, ἀκροθίνια) occurs in a similar sense, cf. Num 18:12 (in the law of the Theruma or wave-offering of the priests), as also תּבוּאה in the law of the second tenths, Deu 14:22, cf. Num 18:30 (in the law of the tenths of the priests).