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THE TRANSITION (New Testament, Pre-Resurrection of Christ, Under Law)

What did Jesus say about tithing?

The Pharisees’ Motives (Matthew 23:23; Luke 11:37-54)

23:23Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith. These you ought to have done, without leaving the others undone.

37And as He spoke, a certain Pharisee asked Him to dine with him. So He went in and sat down to eat. 38When the Pharisee saw it, he marveled that He had not first washed before dinner. 39Then the Lord said to him, “Now you Pharisees make the outside of the cup and dish clean, but your inward part is full of greed and wickedness. 40Foolish ones! Did not He who made the outside make the inside also? 41But rather give alms of such things as you have; then indeed all things are clean to you. 42But woe to you Pharisees! For you tithe mint and rue and all manner of herbs, and pass by justice and the love of God. These you ought to have done, without leaving the others undone. 43Woe to you Pharisees! For you love the best seats in the synagogues and greetings in the marketplaces. 44Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like graves which are not seen, and the men who walk over them are not aware of them.” 45Then one of the lawyers answered and said to Him, “Teacher, by saying these things You reproach us also.” 46And He said, “Woe to you also, lawyers! For you load men with burdens hard to bear, and you yourselves do not touch the burdens with one of your fingers. 47Woe to you! For you build the tombs of the prophets, and your fathers killed them. 48In fact, you bear witness that you approve the deeds of your fathers; for they indeed killed them, and you build their tombs. 49Therefore the wisdom of God also said, ‘I will send them prophets and apostles, and some of them they will kill and persecute,’ 50that the blood of all the prophets which was shed from the foundation of the world may be required of this generation, 51from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah who perished between the altar and the temple. Yes, I say to you, it shall be required of this generation. 52Woe to you lawyers! For you have taken away the key of knowledge. You did not enter in yourselves, and those who were entering in you hindered.” 53And as He said these things to them, the scribes and the Pharisees began to assail Him vehemently, and to cross-examine Him about many things, 54lying in wait for Him, and seeking to catch Him in something He might say, that they might accuse Him.

The Pharisees got mad when Jesus challenged them about why they were doing what they were doing.

Summary of Additions to the Law of Moses

1. In all of the previous references, tithing is always mentioned as a part of the whole; tithing is still a requirement to fulfill the Law of Moses.

2. Emphasis on caring for those in ministry, the poor and widow, and the foreigner are a constant thread throughout scriptures.

3. As the time draws near to the coming of the Messiah, the scriptures reflect God’s concluding letting the Law define His relationship with His people. As long as the Law is in effect, He can only have a surface relationship with them. He refers again and again to giving His people a new heart, with His commandments written on their hearts, so it’s not doing rightly because they have to, but because it is now in their heart to do it. It is natural, because He changes their nature.

The previous entries are a good place to start in judging what is being taught in many churches as the law of the tithe. As we see where additions and clarifications were made as time passed, we will continue to see God’s intent for instituting the law in general and the tithe in particular, and hopefully bring clarity to its place in Christian life today.

Malachi and the Lord’s List of Charges Against Israel (Malachi)

1:1The burden of the word of the Lord to Israel by Malachi. 2″I have loved you,” says the Lord. “Yet you say, ‘In what way have You loved us?’ Was not Esau Jacob’s brother?” Says the Lord. “Yet Jacob I have loved; 3But Esau I have hated, And laid waste his mountains and his heritage For the jackals of the wilderness.”

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Amos and Tithing to Idols (Amos 3:12-4:7)

    3:12Thus says the Lord: “As a shepherd takes from the mouth of a lion Two legs or a piece of an ear, So shall the children of Israel be taken out Who dwell in Samaria—In the corner of a bed and on the edge of a couch! 13Hear and testify against the house of Jacob,” Says the Lord God, the God of hosts, 14″That in the day I punish Israel for their transgressions, I will also visit destruction on the altars of Bethel; And the horns of the altar shall be cut off And fall to the ground. 15I will destroy the winter house along with the summer house; The houses of ivory shall perish, And the great houses shall have an end,” says the Lord.

    4:1Hear this word, you cows of Bashan, who are on the mountain of Samaria, Who oppress the poor, Who crush the needy, Who say to your husbands, “Bring wine, let us drink!” 2The Lord God has sworn by His holiness: “Behold, the days shall come upon you When He will take you away with fishhooks, And your posterity with fishhooks. 3You will go out through broken walls, Each one straight ahead of her, And you will be cast into Harmon,” Says the Lord.

    4″Come to Bethel and transgress, At Gilgal multiply transgression; Bring your sacrifices every morning, Your tithes every three days. 5Offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving with leaven, Proclaim and announce the freewill offerings; For this you love, You children of Israel!” Says the Lord God.

    6″Also I gave you cleanness of teeth in all your cities. And lack of bread in all your places; Yet you have not returned to Me,” Says the Lord. 7″I also withheld rain from you, When there were still three months to the harvest. I made it rain on one city, I withheld rain from another city. One part was rained upon, And where it did not rain the part withered.”

The prophet Amos, speaking for God, lists tithing and sacrifice to idols (at Bethel and Gilgal) as one of their crimes against Him. Clearly, it was not just tithing that was important.

Nehemiah and Enforcement of the Law (Nehemiah 12:44-13:14)

44And at the same time some were appointed over the rooms of the storehouse for the offerings, the firstfruits, and the tithes, to gather into them from the fields of the cities the portions specified by the Law for the priests and Levites; for Judah rejoiced over the priests and Levites who ministered. 45Both the singers and the gatekeepers kept the charge of their God and the charge of the purification, according to the command of David and Solomon his son. 46For in the days of David and Asaph of old there were chiefs of the singers, and songs of praise and thanksgiving to God. 47In the days of Zerubbabel and in the days of Nehemiah all Israel gave the portions for the singers and the gatekeepers, a portion for each day. They also consecrated holy things for the Levites, and the Levites consecrated them for the children of Aaron.

13:1On that day they read from the Book of Moses in the hearing of the people, and in it was found written that no Ammonite or Moabite should ever come into the assembly of God, 2because they had not met the children of Israel with bread and water, but hired Balaam against them to curse them. However, our God turned the curse into a blessing. 3So it was, when they had heard the Law, that they separated all the mixed multitude from Israel.

4Now before this, Eliashib the priest, having authority over the storerooms of the house of our God, was allied with Tobiah. 5And he had prepared for him a large room, where previously they had stored the grain offerings, the frankincense, the articles, the tithes of grain, the new wine and oil, which were commanded to be given to the Levites and singers and gatekeepers, and the offerings for the priests. 6But during all this I was not in Jerusalem, for in the thirty-second year of Artaxerxes king of Babylon I had returned to the king. Then after certain days I obtained leave from the king, 7and I came to Jerusalem and discovered the evil that Eliashib had done for Tobiah, in preparing a room for him in the courts of the house of God. 8And it grieved me bitterly; therefore I threw all the household goods of Tobiah out of the room. 9Then I commanded them to cleanse the rooms; and I brought back into them the articles of the house of God, with the grain offering and the frankincense.

10I also realized that the portions for the Levites had not been given them; for each of the Levites and the singers who did the work had gone back to his field. 11So I contended with the rulers, and said, “Why is the house of God forsaken?” And I gathered them together and set them in their place. 12Then all Judah brought the tithe of the grain and the new wine and the oil to the storehouse. 13And I appointed as treasurers over the storehouse Shelemiah the priest and Zadok the scribe, and of the Levites, Pedaiah; and next to them was Hanan the son of Zaccur, the son of Mattaniah; for they were considered faithful, and their task was to distribute to their brethren.

14Remember me, O my God, concerning this, and do not wipe out my good deeds that I have done for the house of my God, and for its services!

Nehemiah relates some political intrigue regarding the leadership, both political and religious, which contributed to the apostasy of the nation. He gathers together the (genealogically) appointed leaders and puts them back to the work they are supposed to be doing, as well as gathering the Levites, calling them to return from working in the fields instead of ministering to the Lord. He also records how he clears out the storeroom for the tithe, restores it to the Levites, asks the Lord to remember him for his good deeds, and condemns Israel for having failed to keep God’s commandments (immediately following this section Nehemiah gets on their case for working on the Sabbath, so he is definitely not picking out one area of the law to emphasize.)