We’ve looked at Abram’s example and Jacob’s example of tithing, which are the only two instances we have in the Bible of tithing before the Mosaic Law. Now we’re going to start looking at tithing as it is defined and laid out in the Law. I’m looking at the verses on tithing as they appear in the Bible, so today we’re going to look at Leviticus 27:30-33:
30 “‘All the tithe of the land, whether of the seed of the land or of the fruit of the trees, is Yahweh’s. It is holy to Yahweh. 31 If a man redeems anything of his tithe, he shall add a fifth part to it. 32 All the tithe of the herds or the flocks, whatever passes under the rod, the tenth shall be holy to Yahweh. 33 He shall not search whether it is good or bad, neither shall he change it: and if he changes it at all, then both it and that for which it is changed shall be holy. It shall not be redeemed.’”
Leviticus 27:30-33 (WEB)
It Is Holy to Yahweh (the Lord)
Many people look at these verses and determine that since the tithe is “holy to the Lord” we are required to pay it. However, if we’re going to use that as the standard for determining which Old Testament laws we should keep, we don’t want to leave anything out. Here are just a few other things we should be doing if we’re required to do anything that is “holy to the Lord” in the Old Testament:
- Make our grain and sin offerings (Leviticus 2:1-3 and Leviticus 6:25-29)
- Make our trespass offerings (Leviticus 7:1-6)
- Keep and do all the other things God commanded that were holy, including the feasts, holy days, the sanctuary (as it was described in the Old Testament), a crown for the high priest, the clothes for the priests (linen garments), and the fruit a tree produces in its fourth year (Leviticus 23:1-44, Leviticus 8:9, Leviticus 16:4, and Leviticus 19:24)
- Keep all the statutes in the Law so we can be holy to the Lord (Leviticus 20:7-8)
There are many other things besides the tithe that were considered holy to the Lord in the Old Testament. If we’re going to say that we must keep the tithe because “it is holy to the Lord”, then we must also keep all the other things that are “holy to the Lord”. That phrase is common throughout the Law and was used to signify the importance that the Israelites should keep the Law that they were under. Unless Christians are going to begin keeping all of the Law, we cannot pick and choose certain aspects to enforce based simply on the phrase “it is holy to the Lord”.
The Tithe of the Land, Herds, or Flocks
Only food items are discussed in this passage as being part of the tithe. In fact, as we continue to examine the tithe in the Bible, we’ll see that money and income are never mentioned as items to be tithed. Only crops from the land and animals from herds were used in any of the tithes. This means if you weren’t a farmer, shepherd, or otherwise didn’t grow crops or raise animals then you didn’t pay any kind of tithe as described in the Old Testament. (There are other offerings you would have had to pay, but if you were poor there were provisions for paying a smaller amount.)
Not the Best Tenth
Another aspect of this passage that is missed by those who teach that Christians should tithe is the fact that the tithe was not the best tenth. Those who teaching tithing say the tithe should be the first and best 10% of all our increase (not just the crops and animals). But in this passage on tithing we see the exact opposite.
First, there is no mention of the quality or order in which the crops should be tithed. It’s simply stated as the tithe of the land.
Second, in the section on herds and flocks, the animal that must be tithed is the tenth one to pass under the rod (shepherd’s staff) – not the first. If an Israelite only had nine animals in his flock, then he did not tithe any of them according to the Law.
Finally, those who had more than ten animals were forbidden from picking which one should be tithed. It had to be the tenth one to pass under the rod. He couldn’t change it regardless of whether it was bad or good. This means he couldn’t even choose to give God the best as the tenth animal – God told the Israelites that it must be the tenth animal no matter what.
Only the Levites were commanded to give the best tenth when they gave the priests the tithe of the tithes. The Levites received the tithes from the people of Israel, and in turn they were to give the best tenth of those tithes to the priests who served at the temple. We’ll look at that in the next part of this series, but that’s the only time anyone in Israel was commanded to give the best tenth and it only applied to the Levites.
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We’re already beginning to see that the tithe as it is taught to Christians today is not even based on the Bible’s definition of the tithe. Make sure you sign up for free updates to Provident Planning if you’re interested in learning more about what God’s Word says about tithing. If you want to know what the giving requirements are for Christians, I recommend you check out my posts on New Covenant giving principles.
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