Ambrose, on Judas and the Bread

Leviticus 27:30

And all the tithe of the land, whether of the seed of the land, or of the fruit of the tree, is the LORD's: it is holy unto the LORD.

For some time I have been sounding the alarm on my observation that the tithe of the land has followed a pattern established in the wilderness. In Joshua we see a passing of the baton (bread) from the manna to the fruit of the land.

And the manna ceased on the morrow after they had eaten of the old corn of the land; neither had the children of Israel manna any more; but they did eat of the fruit of the land of Canaan that year. Joshua 5:12

Both had tithes taken from them and put in storage (Exodus 16:33, 36/Malachi 3:10), both had supplements of flesh to go with the main course (Exodus 16:12/Deuteronomy 12:20, 22), both tempted/proved God for water after the other provisions for bread and flesh were made (Exodus 17:2/Malachi 3:10). All this happened in Old Testament times to a people who were under another covenant. As Augustine said, there are elements of the Old that transfer to the New. They ate the bread that fell from heaven, we do too; they ate their bread that came from the land, we do too. Both point to Christ's body that is given to us, giving us eternal life.

“We have an example of this, for when Judas had received the bread from Christ, the devil entered into his heart, as though claiming his own property, as though retaining his right to his own portion, as though saying: He is not Thine but mine; clearly he is my servant, Thy betrayer, plainly he is mine. He sits at table with Thee, and serves me; with Thee he feasts, but is fed by me; from Thee he receives bread, from me money; with Thee he drinks, and has sold Thy Blood to me. And he proved how truly he spoke. Then Christ departed from him, Judas also himself left Jesus and followed the devil.”

— Ambrose, third century writer (385 A.D.)

To put money into the storehouse would be the same as putting money into the manna pot. If God says, put manna in there, you put manna. If he says put the fruit of the land into the storehouse, you do that. Replacing or exchanging either the manna or the fruit of the land with money would be the same as exchanging Christ for money. This is why we quoted Ambrose on Judas. Collecting monetary tithes is doing a Judas: part two.

This is very strong! Let us look at two things. The law of the tithe on exchanging the tithe for money. And the thirty pieces of silver prophecy in Zechariah 11.

Then shalt thou turn it into money... Deuteronomy 14:25

The 'it' here is the tithe of the land. One thing you can say about this, in God's mind, tithes and money are two separate things. The reason for exchanging the tithe for money is for distance. If it is 'too far' you can exchange the tithe for money. We could probably make something of this, saying that Judas betrayed Christ because the benefits of serving Him were 'too far' for him to make it. This would be too great a burden for the 'too far' to carry. Not proof enough to make the case that this is prophetic for the exchange of Christ for thirty pieces of silver. But, read on. Take the money and buy oxen, sheep, wine, and strong drink or for whatever you desire. (v. 26) The prophets and Jesus are on this 'strong drink' in a major way. We will go into this in other posts.

And I said unto them, If ye think good, give me my price: and if not, forbear. So they weighed for my price thirty pieces of silver. Zechariah 11:12

The word translated 'price' is also translated 'wage'. To weigh something requires a balance. On one side is the thirty pieces of silver. On the other we know was later to be Christ. But what if you put manna on the scales? What about putting the fruit of the land on the scales. Does this exercise on weighing Old Testament commodities make you nervous? It has frightened me. I am afraid of God. After we study the 'strong drink' and the 'weighing' of things, you, like me, will be terrified.