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The Old Testament
Abraham's Tithe
The first mention of tithing is in Genesis when Abraham, returning home with the spoils of a battle, met Melchizedek the priest-king of Salem: "And he (Abraham) gave him (Melchizedek) a tenth of all" (Gen 14:20)
Right here we come up against a major obstacle, a teaching that for many has obscured the whole issue. From this incident it is taught:
i) Abraham predated Moses by some four hundred years so tithing was established before the Law and therefore apart from it
ii) Christians are not under the Law of Moses but are still to follow Abraham's example in tithing
There are two serious flaws in this approach. Firstly, those who teach this principle have to ignore other practices of Abraham, which were just as surely established before the Law and yet are not for Christians. What, for example, of circumcision "in the flesh of your foreskin" (Gen 17:11)? This was clearly the most important practice of Abraham, being the condition of the whole Abrahamic covenant (Gen 17:9-14), established before and apart from the Law, yet do those teaching tithing also advocate physical circumcision? In the Early Church, some of the Pharisees certainly did (Acts 15:50) and were strongly withstood by the apostle Paul (Gal 5:1-12). And what of animal sacrifices? Abraham offered animal sacrifices before and apart from the Law (Gen 12:8, 22:7). Do these teachers today advocate we offer these? Of course not, and I would agree with them (Hebrews 10:1-10). Then there is the issue of Abraham's concubines (Gen 25:6)....
So while the first of the above propositions. is true and valid, the second is false. In all sixty six New Testament references to Abraham, the ONLY practice of his we are told to follow is having faith (e.g. Rom 4:11 & 16, Gal 3:6-10). Some may still argue that we can infer a requirement to tithe from Hebrews 7:8, and we will look at that passage carefully later, but the point remains, there are no more New Testament commandments to tithe based on Abraham's example than there are to be physically circumcised, to offer animals as sacrifices, or to take concubines.
The second serious flaw in this approach to Abraham's tithe is that Genesis does not explicitly tell us the purpose of the tithe, nor its frequency. As far as we know, Abraham only did it the once, from the spoils of a battle, and Melchizedek blessed him on that occasion. In Hebrews 7:1-8, where we are given the divine commentary on the significance of this meeting, there is no mention of it being a regular occurrence and the ordinary inference is that it only happened once. Basing the practice of tithing on this incident then, we could give away one tenth of a particular increase in our wealth and then stop!
As to the purpose of the tithe, again Genesis tells us nothing explicitly. We can infer it was in response to Melchizedek's ministry as a priest when he brought out bread and wine for Abraham and blessed him (Hebrews 7 confirms that by telling us that this tithe proved that Melchizedek's priesthood is superior to that of Abraham's son, Levi). However, now that even the newest Christian believer belongs to "the royal priesthood" (I Peter 2:9), being in Christ who "forever" is of "the order of Melchizedek" (Heb 5:6) every Christian should therefore be RECEIVING tithes! Those teaching that we all need to follow Abraham's example of tithing surely need to explain why we all are not to follow Melchizedek's example of receiving them.
Actually Abraham was offering "first-fruits", which as we will see later was always given to the priests, and chose a tenth of his recent gain to show his thankfulness to God. Unfortunately, this only complicates the issue further. Under the Law of Moses, which is the only place we are given any explanation of these things, "first-fruit" offerings and tithes were different. They were given by different groups of people to different groups of people and for different reasons. There is therefore much room for misunderstanding in this whole area so let's leave Abraham and "first-fruits" for now and see what the Scriptures do teach us plainly about tithing.
Jacob
After Abraham, the second mention of this practice in the Old Testament is where his grandson, Jacob, vowed: "…of all that Thou dost give me I will surely give a tenth to Thee."
(Gen 28:22)
At least here we can find evidence for a system of tithing rather than a one-off event. Again it appears to be voluntary, probably a thanksgiving offering since Jacob's vow is conditional on God's helping him (vs. 20-21), but again there are no details as to how Jacob gave it - whether he offered it directly to God as a burnt offering, gave it to one of His servants like Melchizedek, gave it in the name of the Lord to the poor, or disposed of it some other way. If it was a thanksgiving offering, a portion, was burnt, a portion was given to a priest and a portion was eaten by the giver (Lev 3:3-4, 7:14-18).
The Law of Moses
a) Tithing Explained
It was not until the Law, four hundred years later that tithing became mandatory or a general requirement for the people of God and it is only in the Law that the use of the tithe is actually explained. So if we want to understand tithing, we have no choice but to study the Law, and here we will find another major flaw in what is being taught today.
The main purpose of the tithe was not to support the Levites, as is taught at present, but it was to provide the Israelites themselves with the feast for the Feast of Tabernacles (also known as the Feast of the Ingathering. See Exodus 23:16 and 34:22). To put it into modern terminology, it was holiday pay! Two out of every three years the tithe was not given away but was eaten by the tither and his household in the keeping of the Feast and was to be enjoyed in the presence of God in Jerusalem. It was only in the third year the tithe was given away. As we look at the Scriptures we will see that modern Jewish scholarship is right: although only one tithe was taken, it was used for two distinct purposes, as the Encylopaedia Judaica says.
Let us turn to Deuteronomy 12:5-19. The tithes, along with the votive, free-will, first-fruits and heave offerings, were to be brought to Jerusalem and there eaten BY THE TITHER, and shared with others:
"…you shall eat them before the Lord your God. you and your son and daughter, and… your servants and the Levite." (vs. 18)
This is more clearly spelled out in Deuteronomy 14:22-27:
"You shall surely tithe and you shall eat in the presence of the Lord your God the tithe of your grain, your new wine, your oil and the firstborn of your herd and of your flock…" (vs. 22-23)
And if you as the tither lived too far away from Jerusalem to transport your tithe there, you were to sell it, take the money to Jerusalem and there buy "whatever your heart desires" (this is stated twice in case you don't believe it the first time) and there "eat in the presence of the Lord your God and rejoice, you and your household" (verse 26). Of course the Jewish household consisted of not only the children and the servants but was also extended to include the local Levites1 widows, orphans and strangers. All were to partake and enjoy; verse 27 here particularly mentions including the Levites because they didn't have a harvest to celebrate in this way.
b) The Feast of Tabernacles
For any who may not know, the Feast of Tabernacles (some translations use the name "Booths") was a week long festival (plus an extra sabbath) when families were to leave the security of their homes, travel to Jerusalem, and there live in temporary shelters (tabernacles or booths) made of "the foliage of beautiful trees". This part of the Feast was to remind all succeeding generations "that I had the sons of Israel live in booths when I brought them out from the land of, Egypt" (Lev 23:40 & 43). It was, if you like, a camping holiday. It was to be kept in the seventh month, "at the end of the (agricultural) year, when you gather in the fruit of your labours from the field" (Ex 23:16), so the other part of the Feast was to celebrate the ingathering of the harvest:
"you shall rejoice in your feast, you and your son and your dau8hter and your male and female servants and the Levite and the stranger and the orphan and the widow who are in your towns (i.e. your neighbours). Seven days you shall celebrate (in Jerusalem), because the Lord your God will bless you in all your produce and in all the work of your hands, so that you shall be altogether joyful" (Deut 16:t4-15)
In other words, this first use of the tithe consisted of every household at harvest-end setting apart a tenth of all the produce of the year and taking it to Jerusalem to celebrate the goodness of God. The year's hard work was over, now they were to relax and enjoy the fruits of their labour and God's provision, indulging the legitimate desires of their hearts "in the presence of the Lord". The family having known the stress of the work were now to know the pleasure, and no-one was to be left looking on as an outsider; they were to include neighbours who had no harvest. This was in sharp contrast to the fertility rites and the festivals of greed, immorality and drunkenness of the neighbourin8 countries as well as of the preceding Canaanite peoples.
c) The Third Year
Now consider the second use of the tithe. In Deuteronomy 14:28-29 the Israelites are told:
"At the end of every third year you shall brin8 out all the tithe of your produce in that year, and shall deposit it in your gates. And the Levite, because he has no portion or inheritance among you, and the alien, the orphan and the widow who are in your gates, shall come and eat and be satisfied, in order that the Lord your God may bless you in all the work of your hand which you do."
So we see that every third year the Levite, along with the alien, orphan and widow, received the whole tithe, not in Jerusalem at the Feast, but in the towns where they were living. This is restated in Deuteronomy 26:
"When you have finished tithing all the tithe of your increase in the third year, the year of tithing, then you shall give it to the Levite, to the stranger, to the orphan and to the widow that they may eat in your towns and be satisfied.
And you shall say before the Lord your God, 'I have removed the sacred portion from my house, and also have given it to the Levite and the alien, the orphan and the widow, according to all Thy commandments which Thou has commanded me' …" (vs. 12 &13)
Notice in verse 12, the third year is called "the year of tithing" since this was the only year the whole tithe was given away. In verse 13, this latter tithe is called "the sacred portion" i.e. it was the Lord's. The significance of this portion must not be underrated since it provided the physical means by which God would provide for those who looked to Him for their physical sustenance: the Levite, the stranger, the orphan and the widow. In taking away the rights of the Levites to "an inheritance in the land" and to "own any portion among Israel", God had promised them: "I am your portion and your inheritance among the sons of Israel." (Num 8:20)
He needed to give them an income since He had taken away their ability to earn one otherwise. It was also more than moral support He gave when it says:
"The Lord protects the stranger; He supports the fatherless and the widow." (Psalm 146:9)
Accordingly, the Levites, aliens/strangers/refugees, widows and orphans all partook of the "sacred portion", the portion of the Lord.
Some may say, "But what about that verse where the Lord says "to the sons of Levi ... I have given all the tithe in Israel for an inheritance" (Num 18:21-28). Doesn't that mean Levi received all tithes?' No, because in the rest of that passage in Numbers, the tithe given to the Levites is described as "the tithe of the sons of Israel, which they offer as an offering to the Lord", or in other words "the sacred portion". This description in Numbers only fits the third year tithe as we have just read in Deuteronomy 26:13, "I have removed the sacred portion from my house, and also have given it ..."
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• © 1999-2002 Len Hjalmarson.•
Last Updated on January 3, 2003
