Almsgiving

Q. In Mt 6.1-4 it says when we give alms we are not to "sound a shofar(trumpet)", what does this mean?
A. The context of Yeshua's statement is giving alms. Alsgiving was done on a freewill basis and it has certain rules attached to it. The term used many times to cover this type of giving is "righteousness" which is the Hebrew word "tzedekah" and can also mean charity. There are many scriptures relating to this and one of the requirements is that you just didn't hand out money to anyone. You had to know whether or not they were really in need. In Vayikra Rabbah 34, which a rabbinic commentary on Leviticus, it says that there is an admonition to us to take personal interest in the person you give to, and to simply give a stranger alms. The thinking behind this is that G-d gave the money to a person to give as G-d directs and to just give without checking out the person would be a misuse of those funds that were meant for someone else. So, when we give, we should be involved with these people to a degree. We should not be giving money to imposters..

There are people who make their living off charities. In the Temple, there was a chamber that people went into to give alms or to take something out if you were in need. Nobody knew why you went in there. Also, there were 13 trumpet shaped receptacles in the Temple. When you gave alms, you dropped you gift into one of them The Mishnah and Josephus talk about thes receptacles. The reason they were shaped like that is because you could drop money in but you could not reach in and take any out, giving the impression you were giving. So, in Mt 6 "sounding a shofar"(the sound the money made as it went in) meant" to give the appearance of giving." In Prov 21.14 it says that we are to give in secret. Yeshua uses the very Hebraic term of "not letting your left hand know what your right hand is doing" as a way of expressing that we are not to make a big production out of it. Today, people give and have their name written on a brass plate, or on a brick along a walkway, or have a building named after you.

THis practice ought not to be. THose things are incentives to get people to give and it appeals to the pride among the people. Yeshua said that they will not get a reward in Heaven because they were only after the affections of men, and they have their reward. In Lk 11.34-36 Yeshau uses another Hebrew idiom when He discussed giveng. He uses the terms "good eye" and "evil(bad) eye" and this term is also found in Proverbs. A "good eye" means a generous person and a "bad eye" is a stingy person. In our passage in Mt 6, verses 19-23 He uses these terms to describe a generous person contrasted with the stingy person. G_d wants people to give out of their hearts and with joy, not because you have to. There is an interesting passage in Num 31.48-54.

Christianity teaches that the sacrifices took away the sins of the people, and the Temple was destroyed because G-d sent the Messiah and a "new " way replaced this. They saw the passages about the sacrifices and how they "atone" for the soul. In Num 31, the people had just come from a battle with the Midianites and not one person was lost. In their thankfulness, the people gave gold, chains, bracelets, rings and earrings to "make an atonement for our souls before the L-rd." There were no animal sacrifices here.

The people were thankful in their hearts because they were safe and out of that they gave an offering back to the L-rd. It was not required but freewill, and it was equated with atoning for the the sins of the people. The blood of animals never took away sin, it was the hearts of the people in obedience to G-d that He saw, always did and always will. I hope this helps, now go and study.