THE TITHE WAS NEVER MONEY

Friday 10 January

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. Every tithe of the herd and flock—every tenth animal that passes under the shepherd’s rod—will be holy to the Lord. Leviticus 27:30,32

As soon as the commandment was circulated, the children of Israel brought in abundance the firstfruits of grain and wine, oil and honey, and of all the produce of the field; and they brought in abundantly the tithe of everything. 2 Chronicles 31:5 (NKJV)

The word tithe is maaser in Hebrew and dekate in Greek. The term tithe simply means tenth. There are two ‘one off’ instances before the law. One was when Abraham gave a tenth of the spoil to Melchizedek in Genesis 14:18-20. It was cultural practice to give a tithe of the spoils of war in Abraham’s day. We never hear of Abraham repeating this act.

The second example is when Jacob vowed to God in exchange for his presence, protection and provision to give God a tithe or tenth of what he had. This came directly after encounter with angels ascending and descending on what is known as Jacob’s ladder. He also was aware of the culture of tithing to a deity as was the custom of the day.

Apart from these two cases, all tithing was practiced under the law of Moses both in the Old Testament and the gospels. As we have seen in our text scriptures there is no mention of money ever being used to pay tithes. One of the arguments used by those who are pro-tithing is that the only reason they tithed the produce from the land is because they didn’t have money. This is simply not true. There was money in circulation in those days so why did they tithe food?

When you look at the different types of tithing in the Old Testament, there is a common thread. It was like a welfare ‘food bank’ system that was used to feed the priests, the Levites (that had no land and lived in their designated cities) and to look after the poor, the widow, the fatherless and the stranger in the land; none of which were required to tithe. Only those who produced from their land were commanded to do so.

The star scripture on tithing is Malachi 3:10 that says ‘bring the whole tithe into the storehouse that there may be meat (food) in my house… why? Because the tithe under the law was food, not money.

Here are some scriptural considerations on this ‘hot potato’ of a topic. Jesus in Matthew 23:23 referred to tithes as a ‘matter of the law.’

There were three tithes given although one tithe had two components. The Lord’s tithe/Levite’s tithe, the festival tithe and the tithe for the poor. Which tithe was the one brought into the store house? Answer, the Lord’s tithe which was a tenth of the Levite’s tithe. A tenth the tenth.

This tithe had to be collected and distributed by someone from the tribe of Levi. The priesthood were of the Levites. Question: who are the Levites today? Answer: Nobody knows because the genealogical records of Levi were destroyed by the Romans when they reduced the Temple to rubble in A.D. 70.

Some say that Pastors and leaders are the spiritual versions of the Levites and priests and the storehouse is the church. Again this cannot be the case. Why? God only commanded the Jews to tithe when they were in Canaan.

Deuteronomy 12:1,12. This tells us that tithing was connected to a geographical location. Canaan. Not America, India, Asia, Europe, Africa, China, Australia, etc. When the Jews were exiled from the land, they stopped tithing. When they returned from Babylon, tithing was reinstated to look after those that needed welfare.

It’s impossible to recreate Malachi 3:10 or any other tithe for that matter because:

Only Levites could collect tithes. You have to be a Jewish citizen in Israel.

Are you a Levite? Are you living in Israel? Are you living in the Old Testament? Are you getting the point? The book of Malachi was addressing descendants of Levi, not you.

here is a new way for believers to give in Christ. It’s called kingdom generosity. 2 Corinthians 9:7 shows us how. There’s no more tithe and only free will offerings now. ‘Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.’ Selah.

APPLICATION

Go through the New Testament (Acts to Revelation) and see if you can find tithing mentioned except for Hebrews 7:1-10. Next, see if you can find the practice of tithing anywhere in the other epistles.