<p>2:45 <i>And they sold their possessions and goods, and distributed the proceeds to all, as anyone had need</i>- The Holy Spirit appeared to the apostles as &ldquo;cloven / parted tongues&rdquo; (Acts 2:3), giving to each man what each needed (Eph. 4:8-13). In response to this, we read that the apostles sold their possessions and &ldquo;distributed s.w. &ldquo;cloven&rdquo; to all men, as every man had need&rdquo; (Acts 2:45). Likewise Paul speaks of how God gave the Spirit gifts to every member of Christ&rsquo;s body, so that there was no part which &ldquo;lacked&rdquo; (1 Cor. 12:24). And he uses the same idea when telling the Corinthians to give their excess funds to provide grace / gifts for their brethren who &ldquo;lacked&rdquo; (2 Cor. 8:15). The simple picture, which even in different circumstances abides for us today, is that God&rsquo;s thoughtful and specific generosity to us, His giving us of unique gifts as we &lsquo;have need&rsquo;, should lead us to materially assisting those likewise who &lsquo;have need&rsquo;.</p><p>Material giving to the Lord&rsquo;s cause was associated with the breaking of bread in the early church (Acts 2:42-46; 1 Cor. 16:1,2), after the pattern of how every male was not to appear empty before Yahweh (Heb. &lsquo;to appear for no cause&rsquo;) at the Jewish feasts (Dt. 16:16). We cannot celebrate His grace / giving to us without response. Because Israel had been redeemed from Egypt, they were to be generous to their brethren, and generally open handed (Lev. 25:37,38). This is why the Acts record juxtaposes God&rsquo;s grace / giving, and the giving of the early believers in response (Acts 4:33 cp. 32,34-37). The bread and wine of the drink offerings were to accompany sacrifice; they were not the sacrifice itself. And likewise the spirit of sacrifice must be seen in us as those emblems are taken. The Laodiceans' materialism resulted in them not realizing their desperate spiritual need for the cross (Rev. 3:17,18); Lemuel knew that riches would make him ask &quot;Who is Yahweh?&quot;; he wouldn't even want to know the Name /&nbsp;character of the Lord God (Prov. 30:9). The Jews' experience of redemption from Haman <i>quite naturally</i> resulted in them giving gifts both to each other and to the poor around them (Es. 9:22). &quot;You shall lend unto many nations&quot; has often been misread as a prediction of Jewish involvement in financial institutions and banking (Dt. 28:12). But the context is simply that &quot;The Lord shall open unto you <i>His</i> good treasure, the heaven to give the rain of your land... and <i>you</i> shall lend unto many nations&quot;. If God opens His treasure to us, we should open our treasures to others, even lending with a spirit of generosity, motivated by our experience of His generosity to <i>us</i>. Because Yahweh had redeemed Israel, they were not to be petty materialists, cheating others out of a few grams or centimetres in trading. The wealth and largeness of God&rsquo;s work for them should lead them to shun such petty desire for self-betterment.</p><p>Distribution as each &ldquo;had need&rdquo; may mean that people weren't given just because they asked, but according to their need, as judged by the elders.</p>