The Biblical tithe, re-examined

[Tithesmeister]

I am going to try to revive this thread, because I don’t see where anyone really has answered the original question. It is my understanding that there were indeed three distinct tithes under Mosaic Law. 1. Levitical tithe: Dedicated to the sustenance of the Levites. This was the tithe that the Levites tithed from to the priests, who were also Levites. All priests were Levites, but of course all Levites were not necessarily priests. In the same way that all roses 🌹 are flowers 🌸, but of course not all flowers are necessarily roses. The priests received only a tenth of the Levitical tithe which may possibly be a clue as to what percentage of the Levites were actually priests. The priests only received a tenth of the Levitical tithe. 2. Festival Tithe: God commanded the Israelites to congregate three times per year and dedicated a tithe to sustain them during these feasts. One was Pentecost, another was the Feast of Weeks and the third was the Passover. This is the tithe that was to be eaten before the Lord (at the temple) and was to be shared between the tither, and the Levites, the stranger, the fatherless, and the widows. This is also the tithe that was permitted to be exchanged for money if you were so far from the temple that transport to the temple would create a hardship for you. 3. The Poor Tithe: This tithe was to be given to the Levites, the widows, the strangers, and the fatherless, and was given every third year of the seven year cycle (years 3 & 6).

This is my understanding on Mosaic Law tithing. The Levitical tithe was to be paid every year, the Poor Tithe every on years three and six, skip the seventh and pay the third and sixth year again. (The law observed a cycle of seven years, with the seventh being the year that the land could not be planted or harvested.) I noticed someone mentioned the seventh year would not have any tithe, while this would be true for the tithe of crops, I’m not sure if it would be the case for flocks and herds. I can’t imagine that the clocks and herds quit reproducing every seventh year.

This is all from memory, so don’t be too harsh on me if it is not all technically correct. This subject would be best explored with a back and forth type dialogue, I think. If I see that it generates any interest I will respond with more detail and sources.

[Esaias]

I'd like to see an in depth analysis of the Biblical data. Not just taking a framework and pointing to verses that seem to support the conclusions, but an actual piece by piece progression through the data to see what is come up with.

I have a suspicion it may be as simple as "God commanded certain things be done, but left it to the elders/judges/Levites to determine how those things would be implemented."

[Tithesmeister]

I would like to discourage you from believing that anything was left to the discretion of the “elders/ judges/ Levites”. In my studies of Mosaic Law I have found this to seldom be the case, especially in the early years. The tithe was part of the law, it was not a suggestion. When we deal with the Mosaic Law legalism is actually a good thing. In this day and time legalism is considered a bad thing. In the Mosaic Law dispensation it was the order of the day. After all how else would you interpret the law except through legalism? I am away from my computer, so I am somewhat handicapped and as I said earlier I am drawing from memory, but I think it is a valuable subject that is too often misunderstood. Some information is intentionally misleading, while others are sincere. I think understanding the Mosaic Law tithe is incredibly beneficial to understanding the Bible. It is perhaps one of, if not the most confusing subject taught from the Bible. Most of the confusion is caused by people doing the teaching that are invested in the results of the teaching. If we approach the Word with the attitude of wanting to learn the truth, instead of having an axe to grind, we can let it say what it says and accept that. The tithing subject is hard for people to accept at face value. That has been my experience anyway. I’ll get back with you. I don’t intend to be rushed about it though.

[Esaias]

Originally Posted by Tithesmeister

I would like to discourage you from believing that anything was left to the discretion of the “elders/ judges/ Levites”. In my studies of Mosaic Law I have found this to seldom be the case, especially in the early years. The tithe was part of the law, it was not a suggestion.

I think you misunderstand what I am saying. As an example, the law commands certain trumpet blasts to be sounded during the offerings, at the new moons, at the various moedim, and for certain other purposes. Yet there is zero data as to exactly what those trumpet blasts were to consist in. Would an offering be accompanied with three short blasts? Or three long blasts? Or perhaps a sequence of short and long blasts? It is obvious they must consist in something, and if there is no data in the Scripture as to exactly how it was to take place then it must be up to someone to figure that out. Hence, the Levites, judges, elders, or whoever else would be in a position to determine such things would have to rule on the matter.

I never said or hinted that tithing was a mere "suggestion". I have not seen anything specific in the Law specifying exactly when or how tithes were to paid (for example, in which month? on what day? etc), so I suspect it may have been something determined in Israel by custom in order to fulfill the requirement of the command. I could be wrong, and I'd like to see some data on the subject. Unfortunately I haven't seen any such data, hence this thread. I have read a lot of opinions, but nothing laying out EXACTLY what all the scriptures say so as to form a coherent unified picture.

And I'm not really expecting such a thing to be done here on this forum. It's probably just something I'll have to continue to research myself on my own.

[Tithesmeister]

I’m sorry! I was responding to the question of how the law was applied regarding tithing. The basics are that, yes there were three tithes rendered by the Israelites. I’m fairly certain of this. If you count the tithe from the Levites to the priests it would actually be four. I’m not as sure of whether the tithes were rendered at a certain time of year. Common knowledge of the realities of farm life tells me that harvest times would be impacted by weather and labor availability on both the planting and the harvest ends of the cycle. I don’t think you will be able to find a certain day or date for that. If you do I’d be interested in knowing. It seems the planting and harvest cycles were timed according to the rain (ie former or latter), however this is possibly my opinion based on my impression of the word. I don’t believe there are answers to all of our questions on every detail of every tithe available in the Bible or in history books. The key is to use all available information, and where the information is not available, resist the urge to guess.

Generally there are certain misconceptions of Mosaic Law tithing. You probably aren’t guilty of these. One is that everyone gave tithes. They didn’t. Another common one is that all men of God received tithes. They didn’t. (Elisha and Jonah are just a couple of good examples of prophets of God that were not eligible to receive tithes. John the Baptist was another.) The only qualifying characteristic for being eligible to receive the Levitical tithe was to be a Levite.
Sorry for stating the obvious here, but it has become painfully obvious that what is obvious to some is incomprehensible to others. I have found that it is often the case with the tithe that it is not so much what people do not know about the tithe that causes so much confusion, as what they do know that simply is not true.

[jediwill83]

Originally Posted by Tithesmeister

I’m sorry! I was responding to the question of how the law was applied regarding tithing. The basics are that, yes there were three tithes rendered by the Israelites. I’m fairly certain of this. If you count the tithe from the Levites to the priests it would actually be four. I’m not as sure of whether the tithes were rendered at a certain time of year. Common knowledge of the realities of farm life tells me that harvest times would be impacted by weather and labor availability on both the planting and the harvest ends of the cycle. I don’t think you will be able to find a certain day or date for that. If you do I’d be interested in knowing. It seems the planting and harvest cycles were timed according to the rain (ie former or latter), however this is possibly my opinion based on my impression of the word. I don’t believe there are answers to all of our questions on every detail of every tithe available in the Bible or in history books. The key is to use all available information, and where the information is not available, resist the urge to guess.

Generally there are certain misconceptions of Mosaic Law tithing. You probably aren’t guilty of these. One is that everyone gave tithes. They didn’t. Another common one is that all men of God received tithes. They didn’t. (Elisha and Jonah are just a couple of good examples of prophets of God that were not eligible to receive tithes. John the Baptist was another.) The only qualifying characteristic for being eligible to receive the Levitical tithe was to be a Levite.
Sorry for stating the obvious here, but it has become painfully obvious that what is obvious to some is incomprehensible to others. I have found that it is often the case with the tithe that it is not so much what people do not know about the tithe that causes so much confusion, as what they do know that simply is not true.

Big eye opener to tithing for me was finding mention of the eating of the tithe when I was in my teens...I had never heard that mentioned behind a pulpit.

[Esaias]

Originally Posted by Tithesmeister

The basics are that, yes there were three tithes rendered by the Israelites. I’m fairly certain of this. If you count the tithe from the Levites to the priests it would actually be four.

Can you demonstrate this? That there "certainly" are three tithes specified? I'm not saying there aren't, I'm just trying to make heads or tails of the Biblical data.

[Tithesmeister]

In response to post #46 about eating the tithe. Most people overlook this part of the tithe law. It is of course a clear statute that had to be followed just as closely as any other law of Moses. When I was studying the law I found an interesting situation that presented itself. The law of tithing dictated that the tenth (not the first, but the numerical tenth) animal increased was to be tithed. It also dictates that the tithe is to be eaten. I wondered how this worked when they tithed an unclean animal. (The camel and the ass were both unclean but were valuable to the Israelites as beasts of burden.) The law says eat the tithe. The law also says do not eat an unclean animal. Obviously this would conflict with itself. I later found instructions for redeeming an unclean beast (such as the camel or ass) with a lamb or money? The law was really very comprehensive. Unfortunately I don’t believe we are necessarily afforded all of the details of the law in the Bible.

[Tithesmeister]

In response to post #47 I would direct you back to your original post. I think you did a good job of laying out the three tithes. I would add Deuteronomy 26:12 as a good description of the poor tithe, otherwise I believe you’ve pretty much covered the available scriptural evidence.

[Esaias]

Originally Posted by Tithesmeister

In response to post #46 about eating the tithe. Most people overlook this part of the tithe law. It is of course a clear statute that had to be followed just as closely as any other law of Moses. When I was studying the law I found an interesting situation that presented itself. The law of tithing dictated that the tenth (not the first, but the numerical tenth) animal increased was to be tithed. It also dictates that the tithe is to be eaten. I wondered how this worked when they tithed an unclean animal. (The camel and the ass were both unclean but were valuable to the Israelites as beasts of burden.) The law says eat the tithe. The law also says do not eat an unclean animal. Obviously this would conflict with itself. I later found instructions for redeeming an unclean beast (such as the camel or ass) with a lamb or money? The law was really very comprehensive. Unfortunately I don’t believe we are necessarily afforded all of the details of the law in the Bible.

So you are saying that to tithe on one's herds meant to offer the tenth animal born? Would that be the tenth animal born to a particular dam/heifer? Or just the tenth animal born in the flock?

I'm not sure that would make sense. The tithe was paid on the increase, was it not? Not just on the existence of the herd? so then, if you had ten animals, and the next year you still only had ten animals, you had zero increase, did you not? but if instead the next year you had say 14 animals, then you had an increase of 4 animals. So how would tithe be paid on four animals? One whole calf would be 25% of the increase... would it be killed and a little less than half the animal given as tithe?

If on the other hand the tithe of a flock or herd was the tenth animal born, would that be the tenth animal born in a year? Or the tenth animal born at any time? Suppose it took you seven years to get a tenth calf? You would only be paying a tithe every seven years, even though you had an increase each year...?