Tithing

• The tithing teachers try to prove that tithing was required by God long before He gave the Law to Moses. In the following section we will consider their favorite passages of Scripture.

Genesis 14

Then Melchizadek king of Salem brought out bread and wine. He was priest of God Most High, and he blessed Abram saying, “Blessed be Abram by God Most High, Creator of heaven and earth. And blessed be God Most High, who delivered your enemies into your hand.” Then Abram gave him a tenth of everything (Genesis 14:18-20).

“See,” they say, “tithing was a necessary practice way back in the days of Abraham.”

But read the context which, in this case, is the entire chapter.

The first thing you find is that the “everything” in question did not belong to Abram. It was the property of other people, including Abram’s nephew, Lot, who had been captured by the armies of several kings.

Abram and a small group of his servants had gone to battle against these great armies and—against all reasonable expectations—had won. Melchizadek recognized that God had granted this miraculous victory (v.20).

Notice Abram’s statements in verses 22-24. He owned none of the property in question before the battle and, although entitled to the spoils as the victor, he refused to take any of it: “I will accept nothing belonging to you…” (v.23).

Abram gave away ten per cent of other people’s stuff, in a representative act of thanksgiving to God on behalf of some people who had been miraculously rescued from a life of slavery.

This was a once-only event. It has nothing to do with the now common teaching that you should give ten per cent of your gross weekly income to a group of professional religious leaders.

• If such people insist that you follow the example of Abram in Genesis 14, you should go to their homes and take their property and give 10% of it away.

There were four tithes in the Old Testament.

1. The people paid a general tithe to the Levites

“I give to the Levites all the tithes in Israel as their inheritance in return for the work they do while serving at the Tent of Meeting” (Numbers 18:21).

All the tribes of Israel, except the Levites, had a designated geographical area as their “inheritance”. But the Levites—in return for their work within the nation—received income tax of 10% from the rest of the population.

The Levites functioned as:

• the Health Inspectors,

• the Police,

• the Justice Department, and

• the Education Department.

To put it simply, the Levites were the Public Service in Israel, and they were supported by a system of income tax called “tithes”.

And interesting point to consider in this book is the fact that these tithes were only allowed to be given to Levites. So if you “really” feel the need to tithe to someone, for it to be acceptable, you are going to have to find a Levite, and I am sure that he or she will thank you.

2. The Levites paid a tithe of the general tithe to the priests

The Lord said to Moses, “Speak to the Levites and say to them: ‘When you receive from the Israelites the tithe I give you as your inheritance, you must present a tenth of that tithe as the Lord’s offering…to Aaron the priest…’” (Numbers 18:25-31).

All the priests were Levites, but not all Levites were priests. The priestly caste were descended from Aaron and they had specific responsibilities related to the Temple worship.

The second tithe guaranteed the financial security of the priests, and thereby protected the Temple system..

3. The people kept a tithe to pay for their annual pilgrimage to Jerusalem

Be sure to set aside a tenth of all that your fields produce each year. Eat the tithe of your grain, new wine and oil, and the firstborn of your herds and flocks in the presence of the Lord your God at the place he will choose as a dwelling for his Name, so that you may learn to revere the Lord your God always.

But if that place is too distant and you have been blessed by the Lord your God and cannot carry your tithe (because the place where the Lord will choose to put his Name is so far away), then exchange your tithe for silver, and take the silver with you and go to the place the Lord your God will choose.

Use the silver to buy whatever you like: cattle, sheep, wine or other fermented drink, or anything you wish. Then you and your household shall eat there in the presence of the Lord your God and rejoice (Deuteronomy 14:22-26).

The people of Israel were required to assemble three times a year at Jerusalem (as the place chosen by the Lord) for the major feasts.

This was meant to be a time of rejoicing and the Lord ensured that everybody had sufficient resources available to enable them to fully enter into the rejoicing by commanding that they set aside 10% of their annual income for that purpose.

Notice the next verse (27), “And do not neglect the Levites…” This was a reference to the first tithe. In other words, the third tithe—for the annual feasts—was not to be confused with the separate and distinct general tithe for the Levites.

Also note that this tithe was not acceptable in the form of money or silver. If needed they could bring silver to purchase their tithe and then consume it. It was provision for their own house hold.

4. The people paid a tithe for the poor, the orphans and the widows

At the end of every third year you shall bring out all the tithe of your produce in that year, and shall deposit it in your town. And the Levite, because he has no portion or inheritance among you, and the alien, the orphan and the widow who are in your town, 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 (Deuteronomy 14:28-29).

This tithe went to the poor, the widows and the orphans. In Australia, we call that “Social Security”. It was payable once every three years, which equals one-third of a tenth annually.

These tithes were not ‘gifts’, they were taxes. The total tithes paid by the Israelites were 23.3% of their total income, about the same as what the average person pays today in income tax.

But we do not live under the Law, we live under the grace provided in Jesus Christ. If you choose to submit yourself to even part of the Law of Moses, you have a problem.

For as many as are of the works of the Law are under a curse; for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who does not abide by all things written in the book of the Law, to perform them” (Galatians 3:10).

If you choose to place yourself under the works of the Law, you are under a curse, for the simple reason that you cannot keep the Law of Moses. Your fallen, sinful nature will see to that.

I do have one question for anyone still stuck in the “tithing” mind set. Why are you bound by only one of the Laws of Moses? If you are bound by one of them shouldn’t the whole Law of Moses apply to you? it is written, “Cursed is everyone who does not abide by all things written in the book of the Law, to perform them” (Galatians 3:10). If you are following these Laws then what is the point of GRACE? If the Laws of Moses still stand then Jesus Christ died and rose for nothing!

Interesting fact that the Jewish (people that do still follow the law) do not tithe.

Which one was justified?

Jesus taught us about two men, one of whom tithed and one of whom did not.

“Two men went up into the Temple to pray, one a Pharisee, and the other a tax-gatherer. The Pharisee stood and was praying thus to himself, ‘God, I thank Thee that I am not like other people: swindlers, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax-gatherer. I fast twice a week; I pay tithes of all I get.’

But the tax-gatherer, standing some distance away, was even unwilling to lift up his eyes to heaven, but was beating his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, the sinner!’

I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other; for everyone who exalts himself shall be humbled, but he who humbles himself shall be exalted” (Luke 18:10-14).

Which one was justified before God, the tither or the non-tither?

There is a form of sacrificial giving that God despises:

And if I give all my possessions to feed the poor, and if I deliver my body to be burned, but do not have love, it profits me nothing (1 Corinthians 13:3).

God looks on the heart, and He is not impressed by loveless giving. Your motivation is everything.

Cheerfully

Let each one do just as he has purposed in his heart; not grudgingly or under compulsion; for God loves a cheerful giver (2 Corinthians 9:7).

What the Bible is saying here is: Give what you are genuinely happy to give.

It is not saying: Give more than you can afford, and then pretend to be happy about it.

The closest thing to a formula for giving in the New Testament is found in the words, “…as he has purposed in his heart…”

God wants you to give what you want to give, what you are comfortable in giving. If you cannot give it cheerfully, don’t give it at all.

…from every man whose heart moves him…

“Tell the sons of Israel to raise a contribution for Me; from every man whose heart moves him you shall raise My contribution (Exodus 25:2).

This offering was for the construction of the tabernacle, the most important thing in the Old Testament. God only wanted contributions from those who were genuinely happy to give them

What does the Bible really teach about tithing?

Tithing has nothing to do with being a Christian.

Spiritual abusers have frequently used tithing as a method for squeezing God’s people dry.