Category Archives: Tithing

THE CODIFIED LAW (The Written Law of Moses)

Tithing Instituted as Part of the Covenant (Leviticus 27:30-34)

30″ ‘A tithe of everything from the land, whether grain from the soil or fruit from the trees, belongs to the Lord; it is holy to the Lord. 31If a man redeems any of his tithe, he must add a fifth of the value to it. 32The entire tithe of the herd and flock—every tenth animal that passes under the shepherd’s rod—will be holy to the Lord. 33He must not pick out the good from the bad or make any substitution. If he does make a substitution, both the animal and its substitute become holy and cannot be redeemed.’ ” 34These are the commands the Lord gave Moses on Mount Sinai for the Israelites.

Under the law, one tenth of everything from the land—plant or animal—was considered holy and belonged to God. This portion could be redeemed, but a fifth part of the value had to be added. There could be no substitutions or alterations (switch one cow for another, for instance; if you tried and someone found out, both would be considered part of the tithe). It wasn’t until Numbers 18 (following) that further instruction was given in regard to implementing the tithe; what to do with the cows, grain, etc.

PRE-CODIFICATION OF THE LAW

Abram (Genesis 14:17-20)

17And the king of Sodom went out to meet him after his return from the slaughter of Chedorlaomer, and of the kings that were with him, at the valley of Shaveh, which is the king’s dale. 18And Melchizedek king of Salem brought forth bread and wine: and he was the priest of the most high God. 19And he blessed him, and said, Blessed be Abram of the most high God, possessor of heaven and earth: 20And blessed be the most high God, which hath delivered thine enemies into thy hand. And he gave him tithes of all.

Abram gave a tithe, or one-tenth, of everything he had to Melchizedek, king of Salem. So if Abram had 600 sheep, 450 cows, 316 goats and 800 pieces of silver, Abram gave Melchizedek 60 sheep, 45 cows, 31.6 goats and 80 pieces of silver. “Giving” is the verb, “tithe” is a quantity. Who commanded, or told, Abram to do it? As far as we know, nobody. How many times did he do it? As far as we know, this was a one-time-deal. Why did he do it? To bless “the most high God.” This was his grateful response to the Lord blessing Him, not as a part of a covenantal relationship, to fulfill a commandment, to incur blessing or prevent consequences.

Abram didn’t tithe; Abram gave!

Jacob (Genesis 28:10-22)

10And Jacob went out from Beer-sheba, and went toward Haran. 11And he lighted upon a certain place, and tarried there all night, because the sun was set; and he took of the stones of that place, and put them for his pillows, and lay down in that place to sleep. 12And he dreamed, and behold a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven: and behold the angels of God ascending and descending on it. 13And, behold, the Lord stood above it, and said, I am the Lord God of Abraham thy father, and the God of Isaac: the land whereon thou liest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed; 14And thy seed shall be as the dust of the earth, and thou shalt spread abroad to the west, and to the east, and to the north, and to the south: and in thee and in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed. 15And, behold, I am with thee, and will keep thee in all places whither thou goest, and will bring thee again into this land; for I will not leave thee, until I have done that which I have spoken to thee of.

16And Jacob awaked out of his sleep, and he said, Surely the Lord is in this place; and I knew it not. 17And he was afraid, and said, How dreadful is this place! this is none other but the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven. 18And Jacob rose up early in the morning, and took the stone that he had put for his pillows, and set it up for a pillar, and poured oil upon the top of it. 19And he called the name of that place Bethel: but the name of that city was called Luz at the first. 20And Jacob vowed a vow, saying, If God will be with me, and will keep me in this way that I go, and will give me bread to eat, and raiment to put on, 21So that I come again to my father’s house in peace; then shall the Lord be my God: 22And this stone, which I have set for a pillar, shall be God’s house: and of all that thou shalt give me I will surely give the tenth unto thee.

In Genesis 28:22 the same word used above as “tithe” is translated “tenth.” In response to the promises of the Lord, Jacob makes up his own covenant. Even though God never asked for it, Jacob says that if God will take care of him, and bless him, he will, when he has arrived safely home again, give Him a tenth of everything he has. This reveals more the difficulty Jacob had in receiving unconditionally from God rather than a reflection of God’s heart and intentions toward him.

God never told Jacob to do anything! Nonetheless, Jacob made a vow, that at some point in time he would give a tenth of everything God blessed him with back to Him. We have no record of his carrying out the “giving” part, though God certainly blessed Him as He had said.

Summary of the Tithe before the Law was Written Down

1. In both of these instances, God never commanded anyone to “tithe.” There was no covenant. Later, God did indeed make a covenant with Abram; God made many promises to Abram and his successive generations. All Abram had to do was circumcise his sons.

2. The law had yet to be codified (written down). This is significant because it means that neither Abram nor Jacob were following guidelines previously given by God. These events were “outside” or “before” the law was given.

3. Neither Abram nor Jacob tithed; Abram gave (freely), and Jacob promised to give, if God did what He had already unconditionally promised to do. There were no consequences tied to either one of them NOT GIVING!

DEFINITIONS

One of the main reasons “tithing” has become a divisive issue in the church could be boiled down to a grammatical misunderstanding. To clarify, we will discuss “tithe” in the two forms in which it is used in scriptures, as a noun and as a verb.

“Tithe” as a Noun

“Tithe” simply means “tenth.” So, if I give you a dime, I am giving you a tithe of a dollar. Please note that “giving” is the verb, or action, and “tithe” is simply a quantity or amount. A tithe of 467 cows is 46.7 cows; a tithe of 12 months is 1 month +1 week (approximately). In many places in scripture the word is simply a number.

It is also used as a verb, or an activity God requires as partial fulfillment of His covenant with Israel.

Elements of a Covenant

The main elements of a covenant are based on “If you do such and such, I’ll do so and so.” Both parties agree to it, so there is an underlying assumption that each participant gets something out of it. When Christians speak of The Covenant, it is the covenant made in the Old Testament that is usually being referred to; specifically, the commandments and precepts given to Moses to bring the nation of Israel into a covenant-based relationship with God. The parties involved are Israel and God; the conditions of compliance are that if Israel will keep all the commandments and the precepts, God will be their God, and Israel will be His people. The consequences are long, happy, healthy lives; basically material blessings. (Remember, salvation was not available until the Resurrection of Jesus Christ.) The consequences for disobeying were also spelled out: failure to keep ALL of the law would result in God bringing judgment upon His people. Like the benefits, the consequences were likewise material in nature: disease, drought, war and famine.

There were many requirements of the law, only one of which was the tithe.

“Tithe” as a Verb

In the following section we will look at the specifics given in the scripture that make up the covenantal elements usually referred to as “the tithe.” In general, we can say that “to tithe” is to fulfill the law by paying a set amount in specific ways to specific people for specific uses at specific times in order to maintain a specific relationship with God. If the Israelites did their part, to fulfill the commandments (there were hundreds, by the way) and the precepts, then God was obligated by His Word to fulfill His part, and take care of them and bless them.

It may help to remember that the Levites were not the first to tithe; many idolaters dedicated a tenth of their increase to their gods, and held festivals and meccas to celebrate the blessing of their gods. Giving a portion of the spoils of war and of the increase of the field was common throughout the ancient world, from Greece to China to Mayan civilizations. And giving in proportions of ten was common, as it was the basis of most of the known counting systems (by virtue of the common counting appendages).

INTRODUCTION

One of the most divisive issues in the church continues to be regarding tithing. Many mis-understand the term, its use in the scriptures and its meaning for the church today. We will be looking at the topic from as clear a perspective as possible, based on the scriptures. The act of tithing is clearly delineated in the scriptures, but a misunderstanding of the ways the term is used in scriptures and what happened at the Cross and Resurrection has caused many Christians to continue to be brought under the heavy weights of the Pharisees.

The scriptures can generally be broken down into the following time-frames: 1. Pre-Codification of The Law (before the law was written down); 2. The Codified Law (the written law); 3. Additions to the Law (included in post-Torah books of the Bible), 4. The Transition (when Jesus taught under the law), 5. The Fulness of Times: Grace! (from the Resurrection until whatever comes next).

For clarity sake, and to see the progression of God’s unfolding plan, we will review the scriptural usage and function of the tithe and tithing within each of these time frames. The scripture verses being discussed are included for clarity sake. References are in The New King James Version unless indicated; please feel free to refer to additional references and versions as desired.