Softly and tenderly preachers preach: "God will get you if you eat your tithe!" But what was the original purpose of the true Biblical tithe, and what did it consist of?

Curious as to why the early apostles never reminded New Testament believers to pay their tithe on time, I did an exhaustive study on Biblical tithing. This article is excerpted from a much larger paper I wrote. Here are some of my conclusions:

1. Unqualified religious leaders (Gentiles) should not be taking up tithes.
2. God's tithe NEVER consisted of money!
3. NOWHERE in either Testament are Christians commanded to pay monetary tithes.
4. Tithes consisted only of agricultural produce.
5. Biblical tithes were sometimes EATEN by the worshipper himself!

Deuteronomy 14: 22-27 deals with the Festival Tithe, one of three tithes paid by the laity of Israel. I've been a believer for many, many years, and NOT ONCE have I ever heard this Scripture passage expounded on by any tithe-taking preacher. I wonder why!

Verse 22 Thou shalt truly tithe all the increase (harvest) of thy seed, that the field bringeth forth year by year.

Verse 23 And thou (the tithe-payer!) shalt EAT before the LORD thy God, in the place which He shall chose to place His name there, the tithe of thy corn, of thy wine, and of thy olive oil, and of the firstlings of thy herds and of thy flocks; that thou mayest learn to fear the LORD thy God always. Tithes were EDIBLE things! Pottery makers and sandal makers didn't tithe on their products. Unless you raised crops or livestock, you didn't owe any tithes.

Verse 24 introduces the only context in the whole Bible where money is mentioned in conjunction with tithing! And if the way be too long for thee, so that thou art not able to carry it; or if the place be too far from thee, which the Lord thy God shall choose to set His Name there, when the Lord thy God hath blessed thee;

Verse 25 Then thou shalt turn it into money, and bind up the money in thine hand, and shalt go unto the place which the Lord thy God shalt choose:

Verse 26 And thou shalt bestow that money for whatsoever thy soul lusteth after; for oxen, or for sheep, or for wine, or for strong drink, or for whatsoever thy soul desireth: and THOU SHALT EAT there before the Lord thy God, and thou shalt rejoice, thou and thy household,

Verse 27 And the Levite that is within thy gates; thou shalt not forsake him; for he hath no part nor inheritance with thee (in the Promised Land).

Israelite worshippers could even buy beer or wine to drink at their holy feasts! If anyone claims that their church traditions are supported by the Word of God, they ought to take a closer look at what their Bible really says.

Numbers 18:21-24 says makes it plain that only the sons of Levi were ever authorized by God to collect tithes, and only from the children of Israel. No other tribes of Israel were ever supposed to collect tithes, and certainly not Gentiles! Any Gentile who takes tithes today is violating God’s Word. Today the wrong people (Gentiles) are collecting the wrong kind of tithe (money) from the wrong people (poor landless people) in the wrong period of history( the Levitical priesthood ended in 70 A.D. when the Temple was destroyed). And they’re doing it in the wrong land (God only commanded tithes to be taken from the produce of HIS land of Israel, not Wazoo City, Michigan). Old Testament tithes were never used for building projects, so why is that being done in the New Testament?

Nowhere in Scripture is any Christian authorized to waive the Old Testament precondition of being a physically perfect male member of the Tribe of Levi in order to fill his offering bag with his favorite Old Testament ordinance, while excusing Christians from all other Mosaic ordinances.

As for this loophole of "spiritualizing" the sons of Levi to be analogous to modern pulpiteers, you would have to be consistent and "spiritualize" all the other eleven tribes of Israel too. I Peter 2:9 makes it plain that every New Testament believer is part of Christ's Royal Priesthood. Paying tithes to some professional minister denies your own priesthood in Christ. The only time any Old Covenant priest would pay tithes to another priest would be when the Heave Offering, a tithe of all the other tribes' tithes, was presented to the High Priest by lower-ranking Levites (Numbers 18: 25-28). Jesus is the only High Priest of the New Covenant (Hebrews 4:14-16). Jesus did not finance His own ministry with tithes. If He had, He never would have had to say: The Son of Man hath nowhere to lay His head (Matt.8:20).

Even the prophet Malachi, blamed for inventing the church tithe, says the purpose of the tithe was to keep FOOD, NOT MONEY, in God’s House (Malachi 3:10). Why? Our Heavenly Father doesn't need farm produce to sustain His life. The Levites (priestly tribe of Israel) were denied an inheritance (of real estate) in the Promised Land. The tithe was their compensation for this, and their reward for their Tabernacle service (Numbers 18:21-24). Still other tithes were set aside to be consumed by worshippers and the poor at their yearly festivals (Deut.12:17-18; 14:22-27) . Every third year, a special tithe was stored up for the poor within the city gates (Deut.14:28-29).

Tithing was done six years out of every seven. Every seventh year the Land was to lie fallow, to give the land a rest (Lev.25:1-4). No tithes would be collected that year at all. Have you ever heard of any churchgoer getting a rest every seventh year from paying tithes?

No idea what you are talking about sir, I HAVE posted tons and tons of articles containing scores of scripture that totally destroy the lie called TITHE for new testament believers.


Sorry I do not have time for 'Jehova Witness ' type arguments.


Go and read the last 5 articles I posted about the tithe, if you have a humble mind you just might be enlightened.

Thanks,

The Bible was not written for babies. Therefore you will not find "law of tithing" but you will find other verses that show that tithing is part of the law:

Heb 7:5 And verily they that are of the sons of Levi, who receive the office of the priesthood, have a commandment to take tithes of the people according to the law, that is, of their brethren, though they come out of the loins of Abraham:

^^


Do not waste your time on these chaps, they only want to argue for argument sake.


I will not waste my time on false preachers, they are set in their false ways and deceived by Satan.

wetu:

The Bible was not written for babies. Therefore you will not find "law of tithing" but you will find other verses that show that tithing is part of the law:

Heb 7:5 And verily they that are of the sons of Levi, who receive the office of the priesthood, have a commandment to take tithes of the people according to the law, that is, of their brethren, though they come out of the loins of Abraham:

Hopefully, tonye-tithe has gotten what he was looking for. Will he be satisfied now? Nope, don't think so,

I think he's shocked. His version of the Bible has removed "the law" from Matthew 23:23, probably also removed "the law" from Hebrews 7:5. It's Ok. Just come out and tell us which cult sold or gave you that Bible and what is the name of that Bible. You can read the NIV and NASB freely on the internet if the KJV or NKJV is too hard for you, Tonye-t.

wetu:

I think he's shocked. His version of the Bible has removed "the law" from Matthew 23:23, probably also removed "the law" from Hebrews 7:5. It's Ok. Just come out and tell us which cult sold or gave you that Bible and what is the name of that Bible. You can read the NIV and NASB freely on the internet if the KJV or NKJV is too hard for you, Tonye-t.

You are about the most disgusting persona I have encountered in this section. . .you suck! . . .if you lack what to say wont it be honorable you just read contributions. Your first post was a lie and ever since, that trail has never lingered. four words decribe your ID W-eak E-rratic T-imid U-niformed.

You can as well say I faked this one too

(Matthew 23:23 of God's word Translation)
"How horrible it will be for you, scribes and Pharisees! You hypocrites! You give [God] one-tenth of your mint, dill, and cumin. But you have neglected justice, mercy, and faithfulness. These are the most important things in Moses' Teachings. You should have done these things without neglecting the others. ^{*google it*}

Was there any such thing as "law" mentioned? mumu! you just lack contents that's all!

Tonye-t:

Taaaaaahh! shut up! you have not answered a simple question

you were asked to pls open the whole scriptures from Genesis to Revelation and tell me where the word "law of tithing" was ever mentioned?

fear! fear! baby!!

The law is Moses' teachings.

Can we all ignore Tonye-t? The only thing we can do is pray for him. He's either a teenager who is bored or an adult who needs help.

^^^
Supported wholeheartedly

We need to keep THEM in our prayers.

@Tonye-t: What's with all this cussing and swearing?

Tonye-t:

I swear

Tonye-t:

you are a big fool ! better still a HUGE COWARD!

Tonye-t:

. . . damn

This most certainly is not the Christian witness.

@Tonye-t,

Serious Bible study students don't use the God's Word translation for an accurate translation of the scriptures.

Matthew 23:23 - use a Hebrew dictionary and you will see the word LAW in the KJV comes from a Hebrew word meaning LAW, SPECIFICALLY FROM MOSES.

Your "God's Word" translation is a paraphrase of the scriptures. It isn't a real translation.

The Bible CLEARLY SHOWS that the tithe ENDED at the cross in the Book of Hebrews. In the first nine verses of Hebrews 7 the words tenth or tithes appears SEVEN TIMES. The ONLY place in the Bible, after Calvary, that tithing appears is in Hebrews 7.

Hebrews 7:5 (KJV) “And verily they that are of the sons of Levi, who receive the office of the priesthood, have a commandment to take tithes of the people according to the law, that is, of their brethren, though they come out of the loins of Abraham:”

Verse 5 is the first occurance of the words TITHES, COMMANDMENT and LAW.

Hebrews 7:12 (KJV) “For the priesthood being changed, there is made of necessity a change also of the law.”

Hebrews 7:18 (KJV) “For there is verily a disannulling of the commandment going before for the weakness and unprofitableness thereof.”

The word COMMANDMENT in verse 18 must be referring to the word COMMANDMENT in verse 5 which is referring to the tithe.

Therefore, the COMMANDMENT to TITHE was disannulled.

Abraham gave a tithe to Melchiz, a Jesus incarnate. I hav Abraha blessing I so follow his ex of tithing; givin to God,

@DrummaBoy,

Do you really follow Abraham's example? Let's look at what the scriptures say about Abram's tithe.

First, the goods that Abram gave the tenth from didn’t even belong to Abram:

Genesis 14:21 (KJV) - And the king of Sodom said unto Abram, Give me the persons, and take the goods to thyself.

Notice in verse 21 the king of Sodom didn’t ask Abram if he would give back to him the people, but rather said GIVE ME the people and keep the goods for yourself. The way that is worded indicates that the king of Sodom was claiming that the people and the goods belonged to him, but he offered the goods to Abram.

It would normally have been the custom that the victor owns the spoils, but normally the spoils would have belonged to the enemy. In this case, Abram was RECOVERING goods belonging to the King of Sodom.

NOTE: The king of Sodom had an original right both to the persons and to the goods, and it would bear a debate whether Abram’s acquired right by rescue would supersede his title and extinguish it; but, to prevent all quarrels, the king of Sodom makes this fair proposal (v. 21).
--Should the Church Teach Tithing by Dr. Russell Earl Kelly, pages 24-25

Genesis 14:22-24 (KJV)
22And Abram said to the king of Sodom, I have lift up mine hand unto the LORD, the most high God, the possessor of heaven and earth,
23That I will not take from a thread even to a shoelatchet, and that I will not take any thing that is thine, lest thou shouldest say, I have made Abram rich:
24Save only that which the young men have eaten, and the portion of the men which went with me, Aner, Eshcol, and Mamre; let them take their portion.

Notice in verses 23 and 24 Abram also acknowledges that the goods belonged to the king of Sodom. But the king of Sodam offered that Abram could keep the goods for himself. Abram declined the offer. He didn’t want man to take credit for his wealth. By not accepting any of the goods for himself, Abram was putting all his faith in God to provide for him rather than man.

Therefore, it is clear that both the king of Sodom and Abram acknowledged that the spoils of war did NOT belong to Abram, yet he gave a tenth of the spoils to King Melchizedek. This would seem that Abram did something wrong, if not even illegal, but Biblical historians agree that it was custom in Abram's day to give the king a tenth of the war spoils. Had Abram not given the tenth, he would have gone against custom.

Conclusion: Abram did NOT give a tenth of his income, or his wealth. Abram gave a tenth of the spoils of war that didn’t belong to him and declined to keep the goods offered to him. That is NOT an example of tithing for Christians to follow today. By declining to keep any of the goods for himself, Abram showed his faith that God would provide. That is the example of faith that Christians should be following. Furthermore, the law did NOT require a tenth of war spoils to be given, so to say that tithing was before the law and then in the law is not true. What Abram did was NOT even codified into the later law.

NO ONE is following Abraham's example by tithing a tenth of their income to the church. That is just pure foolishness and shows a lack of understanding the scriptures.

^^

Thanks Gary, they will not listen for filthy lucre's sake.

^^ These people's acrobatics puzzle me. "drummaboy" said Abraham's blessings are his therefore he follows ABRAM. But this is so simple, if God saw all that ABRAM did as fine, why did He change his name?

ABRAHAM is not the same as ABRAM. One was a pagan whist the other was God's friend. One gave out of what did not belong to him whist once chosen by God, God's friend never did such.

If you need to follow ABRAM, you're definitely not Abraham's seed. Plus you ought give tithes only of warfare even then.

garyarnold:

Conclusion: Abram did NOT give a tenth of his income, or his wealth. Abram gave a tenth of the spoils of war that didn’t belong to him and declined to keep the goods offered to him. That is NOT an example of tithing for Christians to follow today. By declining to keep any of the goods for himself, Abram showed his faith that God would provide. That is the example of faith that Christians should be following. Furthermore, the law did NOT require a tenth of war spoils to be given, so to say that tithing was before the law and then in the law is not true. What Abram did was NOT even codified into the later law.

NO ONE is following Abraham's example by tithing a tenth of their income to the church. That is just pure foolishness and shows a lack of understanding the scriptures.

Good talk gary

God is not a money doubler neither does He print  currencies as some men of God assume or paint Him to be,it is by His GRACE OF NO WORKS ANY MAN SHOULD BOAST-EPH 2:9 your tithe doesn't move God not even your faith- what faith does is reaches for what He provided by Grace.

Un matured(premature) Christians- all they want to hear is, do  this and that to get all. just like a politician campaining before his supporters telling all they want to hear to get their votes.
I don't blame them(MOG) much cos the only way to get their stiffed-necked congregations to give and be sure of their personal supply is to quote the scripture out of context,analyse,emphasised it then put fear into their mind by quoting Malachi 3.pronouncing the curses forgeting,GAL 3 :10,13.DEPRIVING THEM OF THE GRACE.

I was once a tither until I found and know the truth,there are many scriptures references  about giving and receiving taught by Jesus and the Apostles in the new testament yet there is none that states pay your tithe. HEB 7? read in context its about change in the priest-hood,end of the of the law.

Mat 7:7  Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find;  I seek-ed and find in the scriptures where Christ made mention of tithe all I found is  He(Christ) rebuked the legalistic Jews-Mat 23:23  Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone.
[b]Luk 11:42  But woe unto you, Pharisees! for ye tithe mint and rue and all manner of herbs, and pass over judgment and the love of God: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone.
Luk 18:12  I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess. Which reminds me of 1Co 13:3  And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing. [/b]So all I do is[b]( 2Co 9:7)  GIVE according as I purposeth in MY heart,  not grudgingly,  necessity,( or to escape the wrath or curse in mal 3 ) for God loveth a cheerful giver.

« #15 on: May 31, 2011, 06:35 PM »

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Abraham gave a tithe to Melchiz, a Jesus incarnate. I hav Abraha blessing I so follow his ex of tithing; givin to God,

Take a second look at ur words: Abraham gave, not paid. Which indicates it was not an obligation. Not also that the remainder of that verse says Abraham paid tithes of all. what is the all? War spoils not his own possessions. WAR SPOILS. That was wht he gave. Was he a warrior? Nope. Tithing is fraud in today's church. Giving to God from a cheerful heart is new testament's emphasis.

@Kennyyo,
but abraham met the priest on his way when returning from battle. All he had would have been the spoils of war, which were technically his as he fougt for it, and this is what he gave a tenth of to the Priest. Pure logic.

Was there any other account of Abraham meeting or welcoming or going to meet a Priest again?

[size=15pt]Abraham was still Abram when he gave a tithe to Melchizedek, there was not record of him giving tithe again after God called him and he became Abraham. So if these pastor are using the event of Sodom and Gomorrah and when Abraham was still Abram to deceive worshipers to pay tithes then it just shows that these tithe collectors are agents of the devil.[/size]

@Snowwy

Please note that the priest did not demand the tithe from Abraham, Abraham gave it of his own freewill. second, his occupation was not warfare. He went to war to rescue Lot and his family, so whtever he had with him at that time was not income(please check the definition of income). Third, If tithing was to be a regular thing, Abraham would av paid more than once. Generally, bible scholars believe there are no mistakes in the Book. So its not like Jesus and Paul forgot to mention that we should pay the way our pastors are demanding it today>

tithing is overhyped.pastors preach more on tithing and first fruit than salvation iteself!
stopped paying it ages ago.

the way some moG talk abt first fruits is appaling, u see members rushing to pay their whole january salary to the church