Tithing
I have seen many people agonize over this. If this is a Biblical, God-ordained procedure, why then does it put people in bondage and cause so much confusion? why? Why is there such a struggle to pay tithes.. Some say it was only for the High Priest. We not suppose to pay but only to the poor. We suppose to be following the Ten Commandments or Torah Laws. Where did we stir wrong? The Hebrew word for tithe, masser, simply mean, “a tenth part.” Genesis 14.20-24 Note that none of these goods were Abrams; they were all spoils of war as far as he was concerned.
That’s all there was to it. Nothing else. As far as the tithe is concerned, that’s all that happened. There is nothing prior to this encounter that gives us any information as to Yahweh ever having commanded Abram to give Him (or anybody else) a tithe of his possessions. The tithe, Abram gave in this instance was merely a custom among nations of the ancient Middle East. Clearly, there was no command from Yahweh.
After Israel was delivered from Egypt and brought to the wilderness, Yahweh commanded them to give Him a tithe of their crops. This tithe is first mentioned in Leviticus 27:30: “All tithes from the land, whether seed from the ground or fruit from the tree, are Yahweh’s; they are holy to Yahweh.” In addition, the Lord says that a part of the tithe may be redeemed by the giver by adding to it one-fifth of its value (Leviticus 27.31). (Try doing that in the institutional church today and see what happens.) Also, note that the tithe is from the land, from the seed of the land, or from the fruit of the tree. Yahweh did not say to bring money. And all the tithe of the land, .. The first tithe, the tithe out of the tithe, the second tithe, and the poor’s tithe, which are generally reduced to three,”The first tenth part of all increase I gave to the sons of Aaron, who ministered at Jerusalem: another tenth part I sold away, and went, and spent it every year at Jerusalem:” (Tobit 1:7)so Maimonides (p) says,”after they had separated the first tithe every year, they separate the second tithe, as it is said Deuteronomy 14:22; and in the third year, and in the sixth, they separate the poor’s tithe, instead of the second tithe:so that, properly speaking, there were but two tithes, though commonly reckoned three; the tithes of all eatables were given to the Levites every year, and a tenth part of that given by the Levites to the priests and the second tithe was eaten by the owners; instead of which, according to the above writer, in the third and sixth years it was given to the poor, and called theirs; of this second tithe, Jarche interprets this law, and so does Maimonides.
Next, we see what Yahweh had in mind for the tithe: “And to the Levites I hereby give all the tithes in Israel as their share in return for the services that they perform, the services of the Tent of Meeting.” (Numbers 18:21; also 18.24-28). So the purpose of the tithe was to provide for the priests for their services as Yahweh had determined that they would have no inheritance in the Land of Israel; Yahweh Himself was to be their inheritance (Numbers 18.19-20). The priests were of the tribe of Levite as chosen by Yahweh. They ministered in the Temple as He so designated. An additional tithe was also to be used in celebration of Biblical feasts, (Deuteronomy 14.22-27) and another tithe was designated for the alien, the orphan, and the widow (Deuteronomy 14.28-29; 26.12).
So how would the tithe apply today; what would it be used for? For one thing, it can’t be given to the priests who minister in the Temple as the Temple has not yet been rebuilt. Since the Temple is not standing in Jerusalem at this time, then the tithes would not be used in the celebration of Yahweh’s feasts as He designated to be celebrated at the Temple in Jerusalem three times a year (Exodus 23.14-17). That leaves the alien, the orphan, and the widow. Aside from being a different tithe, this is speaking of those who actually live in the land of Israel. We can see this because it addresses the aliens, who would be sojourners in the land. It is also a communal act to be done within each town (Deuteronomy 14.28-29).
So is the tithe no longer applicable? (Remember, we’re talking about the tithe here, not giving in general.)
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