Bible Studies

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Shocking Tithing Truths
By Patricia Backora, author of the book
Tough Love in Christ’s Millennium
Which you can order online from: http://www.publishamerica.com


After years of wondering why New Testament Christians were never reminded to pay tithes on their salaries and wages, I decided to do a thorough study of the Word of God for myself, rather than swallowing man-made tradition. To my utter shock, I discovered that not even those living under Old Testament Law ever tithed on money! For centuries God’s people have been fed a lie. One which has served to promote guilt feelings, condemnation, and financial hardship in the Body of Christ_and has deepened the rift between the leadership and working-class Christians out in the pews.

Even the prophet Malachi, so often quoted to keep the funds flowing, says the purpose of the tithe was to keep FOOD, NOT MONEY, in God’s House (Malachi 3:10). Why? God doesn’t need farm produce to stay alive! 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).

Three tithes (Ma’aserah) were paid by Old Testament Jews, two each year, during a seven-year tithing cycle (the Shemittah cycle). Every seventh year the Land was to lie fallow, to take its sabbath rest from being worked, even as the people rested every seventh day from physical labor. 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?

Here’s how the Levitical tithing cycle worked: The first tithe, the Ma’aser Rishon, 10% of all the produce OF THE LAND, went for the support of the Levites (Numbers 18:21-32). This was paid once every year, except the seventh year. The second tithe, the Festival Tithe (Ma’aser sheni), was levied on the remaining 90% of the crop, and was eaten by the worshippers themselves, as well as the stranger, the fatherless, the widow, and the Levite. It was collected on the first, second, fourth, and fifth years of the Shemittah cycle. In the third and sixth years, the Poor Tithe, (Ma’aser ani) was tithed on the 90% remaining after bringing in the tithe for the Levites. This one was paid instead of the Festival Tithe. In all, 19% of Israel’s produce was brought in by the people as payment of tithes. Tithes were collected to feed the stranger, the fatherless, the widow, and the Levite (Deuteronomy 14:28-29; 26:12-15). Let’s see what Deuteronomy 14:28-29 says: And at the end of three years thou shalt bring forth all the tithe of thine increase the same year; and shalt lay it up within thy gates: (And the Levite, because he hath no part nor inheritance with thee.) and the stranger (foreigner), and the fatherless and the widow, which are within thy gates, shall come and eat and be satisfied; that the LORD they God may bless thee in all the work of thine hand which thou doest. Notice, the landless Levites were counted among the poor! Thus, there were six Levitical tithes, four Festival Tithes, and two Poor Tithes in any given tithing cycle, followed by a sabbatical (seventh) year of rest for the Land. In every case, the tithe was eaten, not deposited in a bank account!

Finally, there was a fourth tithe paid not by the people, but by the Levites on the tithe they received, 10% of the tithes offered by all the other tribes of Israel to the tribe of Levi., or 1% of all the produce of the land. This tithe of the tithe was hand-picked and presented by the Levites to the High Priest; who in turn presented it as a "heave offering" to the Lord, as described in Numbers 18: 25-32 (KJV). This best part of the crop was eaten by the Priestly division of the tribe of Levi, who were descended from Aaron, brother of Moses. To qualify for the Levitical Priesthood, the highest calling among the Levites, only physically perfect male specimens of Aaron’s clan qualified to serve as priests at the Altar (Leviticus 21:16-24). All other Levites ate the remainder of the Levite’s tithe (Ma’aser rishon) brought by the people. It was their wages for the service they rendered in the Tabernacle of the congregation, under the authority of the Priesthood. These subordinate Levites played supporting roles. They served as policemen, health inspectors, and ministers of public education. Some Levites (the sons of Kohath) were responsible for transporting the sacred articles of the Tabernacle during the Israelites’ wilderness wanderings. All priests had to be Levites (members of the Tribe of Levi) but not all Levites were priests; just like all Alabamians are Americans, but not all Americans are Alabamians.

It was the Land, not the Federal Mint, which produced the tithe! Leviticus 27:30 says: And all the tithe OF THE LAND, whether of the seed OF THE LAND, or of the FRUIT OF THE TREE, is the Lord’s: it is holy unto the Lord. It is safe to say that only landowners who reaped the fruits of livestock or land cultivation ever paid tithes in ancient Israel. Fishermen surely did not tithe on their catch! Nor did God require tithes of manufactured articles, such as pottery, plows, tents and sandals.

Most poor Christians do not possess any Biblical inheritance (land). If you stuck faithfully to the principle of the tithing law, you’d have to tithe on the fruits of your inheritance like the ancient Jews did. Our inheritance is a heavenly inheritance. Our treasure is in heaven (Matt. 19:21; Luke 18:22). The Holy Spirit Himself is the Earnest of our Inheritance (Eph. 1:13-14). Are we, then, to tithe on the fruits of the Spirit? How can you put 10% of the Spirit’s love, joy and peace into the offering plate?

It was upon the Altar that the Firstfruits, the very first ripening fruits of a harvest, were brought in a basket (not a checkbook) by the Israelite farmer (see Exodus 23:19; Numbers 18:13; Deuteronomy 26:1-11; Nehemiah 10: 35-37). From this the “wavesheaf” was taken and offered up as holy unto the Lord (Leviticus 23: 9-12; ). This ritual was performed on the second day of Passover, or 7 weeks before Pentecost (verse 15).

The Firstfruits is not synonymous with the tithe of the whole harvest offered by the laity of the Nation of Israel. The tithe was payable later in the season, when the whole crop ripened. Nehemiah Chapter 10 describes how sacrifices, tithes, and offerings were resumed after being discontinued in exile. Notice in verse 37: And to bring the firstfruits of our DOUGH (bread dough, that is!) and our offerings, and the FRUIT OF ALL MANNER OF TREES, unto the priests, to the chambers of the House of our God; and the tithes OF OUR GROUND (the Firstfruits and the tithes are listed separately) unto the Levites (who receive the people’s 10%). And remember, the LEVITE’S tithe of the tithe (Or 1% of Israel’s agricultural output) comprised the Heave Offering (Numbers 18:25-28 KJV), (Heb.”Terumah”).

Christ, our unblemished Passover Lamb, fulfilled the Wavesheaf offering when he offered Himself up to God once and for all for our redemption from sin (see Hebrews Chapter 10). Paul the Apostle compares the dying and burial of the natural body to the sowing of a seed which results in a harvest, where that seed is changed into a new, far more glorious form, speaking of our own resurrection to immortality (I Corinthians 15:35-44). Christ is the Firstfruits from the dead (verses 20-23), and the First to be resurrected to immortality and offered to God, in happy anticipation of the resurrection of His saints. Christ IS the Fulfillment of both the Firstfruits and the Wave Sheaf offerings, even as as He fulfilled in His own sacrificial death the animal sacrifices of ancient Israel. It is both wrong and deceitful to spin your own new law out of an ancient Mosaic ordinance, in order to bring in extra cash for the “church”. That not only puts poor, struggling Christians under bondage, that is leeching off the Body of Christ.

Again I emphasize: Numbers 18:21-24 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 (no Levitical priesthood exists today). And they’re doing it in the wrong land (God only commanded tithes to be taken from the produce of HIS land, not Wazoo City Michigan, or Orlando, Florida, but the Land of Israel! ) And they’re being collected for the wrong purpose. Not to feed widows and orphans who possess no Biblical inheritance of land, but they are being taken from the mouths of poor people on Social Security to build fancy buildings and other trivial things which will not pass the test of eternity.

Nowhere in Scripture is any believer authorized to waive the Old Testament preconditions of being a physically perfect male descended from the line of Aaron in order to hang onto the only Old Testament ordinance which fills pockets, while excusing Christians from other Jewish ordinances.Tithing on money is an example of offering “strange fire before the Lord, which He commanded not” (Leviticus 10:1). If God’s people give a set amount of money because some preacher threatens them with divine retribution, that springs from fear-mongering, not faith, and whatsoever is not of faith is sin (Romans 14:23). We who have entered into God’s perfect rest of faith (prefigured by the Jewish Sabbath) have ceased to rely on our own works to earn God’s approval (Hebrews 4: 1-13). Notice verse 10: He that has entered into his (God’s) rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from his.

When you pay "tithes" to some minister of Christendom, you deny your own priesthood in Christ Jesus and automatically divide the Body of Christ into clergy and laity. While these seemingly harmless terms help to differentiate between pulpit ministers and folks sitting out in the pews, clergy and laity is not a divinely ordained division in the Body of Christ. It is really a vain tradition of man. Christ said we are to all regard each other as brethren, rather than calling each other exalted titles such as “father” or “master” (Matt. 23:8-10). God does indeed have a spiritual priesthood under the New Covenant,but that includes every member of the Body of Christ, not just a privileged few! Not only have WE (everyday believers) been made a royal priesthood and a holy nation in Christ (I Peter 2:5,9), but we are the Temple of God (I Corinthians 3:16). What right does anyone have to force us, the so-called laity (a man-made division in the Body of Christ) to pay tithe money to “spiritual Levites”, when every blood-washed believer in Christ is called a priest? A believer’s position under the New Covenant is a much more desirable one than that enjoyed by any Old Testament Israelite or Levite, because whereas the Levitical High Priest was the only one permitted to enter the Holiest Place of all, and even then only once a year, we can draw nigh to God will full assurance that He will both receive us and hear us (Heb. 4:16). Under our Covenant, only Christ Jesus fills the position of High Priest (Heb. 5:9-10), and we are made one spirit with Him by faith (I Cor. 6:17).

Here is one final nail in the coffin of compulsory tithing:

Acts Chapter 15 tells of a great theological dispute among early church leaders. Were non-Jewish believers obligated to keep the Law of Moses in order to earn and keep their salvation? Not wishing to put a heavy yoke upon the Gentile brethren, only four (4) restrictions were placed upon their liberty:

To refrain from:
1. Foods offered to Idols
2. Fornication
3. Meat from strangled animals
4. The consumption of blood

Those original builders of the Church believed that if just those four things were observed, the Holy Spirit could surely lead His regenerated people in every other aspect of living out the Love of the Christ within them. Conspicuously absent from that short list is the Tithing Ordinance.

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