Reference: Gift
Easton
(1.) An gratuity (Pr 19:6) to secure favour (Pr 18:16; 21:14), a thank-offering (Nu 18:11), or a dowry (Ge 34:12).
(2.) An oblation or proppitatory gift (2Sa 8:2,6; 1Ch 18:2,6; 2Ch 26:8; Ps 45:12; 72:10).
(3.) A bribe to a judge to obtain a favourable verdict (Ex 23:8; De 16:19).
(4.) Simply a thing given (Mt 7:11; Lu 11:13; Eph 4:8); sacrifical (Mt 5:23-24; 8:4); eleemosynary (Lu 21:1); a gratuity (Joh 4:10; Ac 8:20). In Ac 2:38 the generic word dorea is rendered "gift." It differs from the charisma (1Co 12:4) as denoting not miraculous powers but the working of a new spirit in men, and that spirit from God.
The giving of presents entered largely into the affairs of common life in the East. The nature of the presents was as various as were the occasions: food (1Sa 9:7; 16:20), sheep and cattle (Ge 32:13-15), gold (2Sa 18:11), jewels (Ge 24:53), furniture, and vessels for eating and drinking (2Sa 17:28); delicacies, as spices, honey, etc. (1Ki 10:25; 2Ki 5:1; 22). The mode of presentation was with as much parade as possible: the presents were conveyed by the hands of servants (Jg 3:18), or still better, on the backs of beasts of burden (2Ki 8:9). The refusal of a present was regarded as a high indignity; and this constituted the aggravated insult noticed in Mt 22:11, the marriage robe having been offered and refused.
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Then he took jewels of silver and jewels of gold and fair robes and gave them to Rebekah: and he gave things of value to her mother and her brother.
Then he put up his tent there for the night; and from among his goods he took, as an offering for his brother Esau, Two hundred she-goats and twenty he-goats, two hundred females and twenty males from the sheep, read more. Thirty camels with their young ones, forty cows, ten oxen, twenty asses, and ten young asses.
However great you make the bride-price and payment, I will give it; only let me have the girl for my wife.
Take no rewards in a cause: for rewards make blind those who have eyes to see, and make the decisions of the upright false.
And this is yours: the lifted offering which they give and all the wave offerings of the children of Israel I have given to you and to your sons and to your daughters as your right for ever: everyone in your house who is clean may have them for food.
You are not to be moved in your judging by a man's position, you are not to take rewards; for rewards make the eyes of the wise man blind, and the decisions of the upright false.
And after giving the offering, he sent away the people who had come with the offering.
Then Saul said to his servant, But if we go, what are we to take the man? all our bread is gone, and we have no offering to take to the man of God: what are we to do?
And Jesse took five cakes of bread and a skin of wine and a young goat and sent them to Saul by David.
And he overcame the Moabites, and he had them measured with a line when they were stretched out on the earth; marking out two lines for death and one full line for life. So the Moabites became servants to David and gave him offerings.
And David put armed forces in Aram of Damascus: and the Aramaeans became servants to David and gave him offerings. And the Lord made David overcome wherever he went.
Came with beds and basins and pots, and grain and meal, and all sorts of dry foods,
And Joab said to the man who had given him the news, If you saw this, why did you not put your sword through him, and I would have given you ten bits of silver and a band for your robe?
And everyone took with him an offering, vessels of silver and vessels of gold, and robes, and coats of metal, and spices, and horses, and beasts of transport, regularly year by year.
So Hazael went to see him, taking with him forty camels with offerings on their backs of every sort of good thing from Damascus; and when he came before him, he said, Your son Ben-hadad, king of Aram, has sent me to you, saying, Will I get better from this disease?
And the daughters of Tyre will be there with an offering; those who have wealth among the people will be looking for your approval.
Let the kings of Tarshish and of the islands come back with offerings; let the kings of Sheba and Seba give of their stores.
A man's offering makes room for him, letting him come before great men.
Great numbers will make attempts to get the approval of a ruler: and every man is the special friend of him who has something to give.
By a secret offering wrath is turned away, and the heat of angry feelings by money in the folds of the robe.
If then you are making an offering at the altar and there it comes to your mind that your brother has something against you, While your offering is still before the altar, first go and make peace with your brother, then come and make your offering.
If you, then, being evil, are able to give good things to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good things to those who make requests to him?
And Jesus said to him, See that you say nothing about this to anyone; but go and let the priest see you and make the offering which was ordered by Moses, for a witness to them.
But when the king came in to see the guests, he saw there a man who had not on a guest's robe;
If, then, you who are evil are able to give good things to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who make request to him?
And looking up, he saw the men of wealth putting their offerings in the money-box.
In answer Jesus said, If you had knowledge of what God gives freely and who it is who says to you, Give me water, you would make your prayer to him, and he would give you living water.
And Peter said, Let your hearts be changed, every one of you, and have baptism in the name of Jesus Christ, for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will have the Holy Spirit given to you.
But Peter said, May your money come to destruction with you, because you had the idea that what is freely given by God may be got for a price.
Now there are different qualities given to men, but the same Spirit.
For this reason he says, He went up on high, taking his prisoners with him, and gave freely to men.
Smith
Gift.
The giving and receiving of presents has in all ages been not only a more frequent but also a more formal and significant proceeding in the East than among ourselves. We cannot adduce a more remarkable proof of the important part which presents play in the social life of the East than the fact that the Hebrew language possesses no less than fifteen different expressions for the one idea. The mode of presentation was with as much parade as possible. The refusal of a present was regarded us a high indignity. No less an insult was it not to bring a present when the position of the parties demanded it.
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But certain good-for-nothing persons said, How is this man to be our saviour? And having no respect for him, they gave him no offering.