THE TITHE

(Quotes from the ESV Bible)

OVERVIEW

Where do we get our understanding of what a tithe is and how to give it out? I will attempt to review, hopefully, most verses in the Bible regarding information relating to the tithe (If anyone knows of other Bible verses that are applicable to this subject, please tell me what these verses are and send them to me in an email: wzersen@comline.com).

I am writing this only to make people think a little bit more about their money and what the Lord would want them to do with it. We waste a lot of money on material things in this country. Do we use our money for these things before or after we give our tithe? Do you use your money wisely, in God's sight?

I am not addressing the tithe from the perspective of Church or Canon Law or tradition. I believe that the Bible is the only true source for what the Lord wants us to do. Consequently, if we do what the Lord wants us to do as specified/discussed in the Bible, we should not feel guilty about what the Church tells us regarding the tithe or other subjects. We need to follow the Lord. We need to ask the Holy Spirit to open up our hearts and minds and wallets as to what the Lord wants us to do with our money. The church should provide us with reminders as to what the Bible tells us regarding the tithe.

I will not recommend what should be done regarding the tithe; I leave that up to the reader. From my perspective, I personally believe that we need to tithe--everything we have is God's! Therefore I need to give back to God my tithe or 10% of all my increase.

Since the world is God's, everyplace is or can be "His" storehouse. So my question would be: why is my local church the only "storehouse" that ever talks about that I need to give it my tithe? Is not the place that helps the poor (there are many places in the Bible that talk about supporting the poor) also one of God's storehouses? What about my individually supporting a missionary? Who specified or determined what a "storehouse" was in the first place? What if I attend one church but give my tithe to another church?

Until Israel came back from Babylon, Israel did not have Synagogues in every town. The tithe (as discussed below) was to be taken to the place where either the "Tent of Meeting" was located (before the temple), or to the Temple. And it is mentioned in several places that the tithe was to be given every third year, even though all the men were to go to the temple three times a year.

Why does the church tell us that in order to do "good deeds" with our money we need to give above and beyond our 10% tithe to the church? To me, a tithe can be much more effective for God's work if we didn't have to support the infrastructure of a local congregation. Where does God even say that we need infrastructures? Added to that, isn't my commitment of a tithe between the Lord and myself? By the way, the Temple tax was the way Israel was able to keep up the Temple--the tithe was not used for the upkeep.

Another question is: since tithes support a number of people in any congregational family, what is the incentive for church workers to work outside of the church? The Apostle Paul worked as a tent maker. Paul didn't want to be a burden on the people he was bringing the Gospel to. His basic idea was that it would be good for all of the congregations (house churches?) to help support the home congregation in Jerusalem which was under fire from Rome and perhaps even starvation.

So with this in mind let's dig into some scriptures.

SCRIPTURES

Genesis 14:17-24 - The first mention of a tithe (or 10%) comes in the book of Genesis. After Abraham had rescued Lot and was blessed by Melchizedek, Abraham gave him a tithe of everything. But Abraham only gave him a tithe of what he (Abraham) brought back from winning the battle, not of his (Abraham's) own possessions. The Bible does not say that Abraham gave Melchizedek 10% of everything he owned. And also note that Abraham gave the 10% after Melchizedek had blessed him (Abraham). What did Abraham do with all of the other increases we read about in the Bible? This passage does not talk about the tithe as a "Commandment" or a "Law" (Is there a difference between the two?).

Genesis 28:22--Jacob was on his way to Laban and this was the morning after he had his vision in his sleep. And Jacob said: "And to all that you give me I will give a full tenth to you." But, where at that time would he have actually given his tenth?

Exodus 20:1-21--Unless you take verse 3 ("You shall have no other gods before me") as money being an idol that you should not use unless you gave first to the Lord your tithe, there is no Commandment requiring the tithe.

Exodus 34:22-23--Three times a year all males had to appear before the Lord which included bringing a tithe (?). Is this where we get the idea that people only have to come to church on Thanksgiving, Christmas and Easter?

Leviticus 27:30--"Every tithe of the land, whether of the seed of the land or of the fruit of the trees, is the Lord's; it is holy to the Lord." I would go one step further, the whole crop whether seed or fruit is holy to the Lord.

Numbers 18: 25-32--A tithe of a tithe for the Levites and the Priests. "31. And you may eat it in any place, you and your households, for it is your reward in return for your service in the tent of meeting." We need to realize that the Levites normally served in the Tent of Meeting 1 month out of 12. Other than that they lived in their various towns and had fields and cattle around their villages to tend to. Were they then required to tithe when not serving?

Deuteronomy 12: 5-28--Go to the Lord's place with your tithe. " . . . there you shall eat before the Lord your God . . . " In our day and age, where is the Lord's place? God is everywhere! So His place would also be everywhere.

Deuteronomy 14: 22-29--If you are too far away to bring your tithes to God's place, " . . . then you shall turn it into money and bind up the money in your hand and go to the place that the Lord your God chooses and spend the money for whatever you desire--oxen or sheep or wine or strong drink, whatever your appetite craves. And you shall eat there before the Lord your God and rejoice, you and your household." "28. At the end of every three years you shall . . . "

Deuteronomy 26:12-14--"When you have finished paying all the tithe of your produce in the third year, which is the year of tithing, giving it to the Levite, the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow, so that they may eat within your towns and be filled . . . " This talks about giving your tithe to not only your church, but also to the sojourner, the fatherless and the widow.

2 Chronicles 31:4-20--" . . . to give the portion . . . And they brought in abundantly the tithe of everything."

Nehemiah 13:12-13--"Then Judah brought the tithe of the grain, wine, and oil into the storehouses." Reference the plural of storehouses. I assume what is meant is one storehouse each for grain, wine and oil.

Job 41:11--"Who has first given to me, that I should repay him? Whatever is under the whole heaven is mine." This is God speaking.

Malachi 3: 6-11--"Bring the full tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. And thereby put me to the test, says the Lord of Hosts, if I will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you a blessing until there is no more need." At the time of Malachi, the Jewish people had already brought back from Babylonia and Persia the synagogue system of the Pharisees. So does the storehouse include the synagogues and the Levites that ran them? I'm not positive we even know who ran the synagogues--Levites who were Pharisees? Or was the original synagogue actually a house church?

Another thought to throw in is the "storehouse" of one church a better storehouse than another church? If we look at all the references of the Bible regarding helping the poor, I would say that the "storehouse" that does the most for the poor and not use the tithe for their own churches beautification and upkeep may be the storehouse that the Lord is smiling on the most!

A chart from an article that I found on the web, summarized four of the tithes that are specifically mentioned in the Old Testament:

Matthew 6:30-34--"But seek first the kingdom . . . " Is not the church through the centuries violating these verses by pushing the tithe to come above "seeking first . . . " into a specific church? Don't these verses also apply to all church workers? If you seek God first, then everything will be added unto you as God sees fit.

Matthew 23:23--" . . . you tithe . . . and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness." So if I see a poor person on the streets and offer to buy him some food or put him up in a motel for a night and I use my tithe to do that, am I following what Jesus wants me to do or not? If I tithe to the church and the church is not taking care of the poor people, are we really doing what Jesus wants us to do?

Matthew 25:35-46 - Are we really doing what Jesus wants us to do?

Luke 18:10-14--One of the takeaways I get from these verses, besides the usual ones, is that when you tithe, a person should not lift himself up in either God's or other people's eyes. I would follow the idea of 'don't let the one hand know what the other hand is doing.'

Galatians 5:14--"For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: you shall love your neighbor as yourself." Am I telling my neighbor that anything I might give him I just gave to the church as a tithe? And then tell him to go to the church to obtain food from them? What about Proverbs 3:28? If I have my tithe with me and I am on my way to church, how do I deal with this verse?

"Do not say to your neighbor, 'Go, and come again, tomorrow I will Give it'--when you have it with you."

DISCUSSION

Tithe to the local church--for ministry and mission. The Apostle Paul worked as a tentmaker, why not have our Pastors/Bishops work outside of the church also? Some churches do not have to locally support the heavy overhead. Does God really love a big beautiful building? I say not: God wants our hearts! Big budgets do not necessarily produce big numbers of converts! Sometimes I think the opposite of this is true.

The local church today (and has for many years) assumes that the tithe going into the storehouse means their church. I find no reference in the New Testament that says that this is true. The collection that the Apostle Paul took to Jerusalem was based on a collection by the house churches in Asia. Was this money part of the tithes that the people gave to their congregations?

Government Activities--Because of our hard hearts regarding poor people, our government takes our taxes to help support the poor in a number of ways. I don't read where the Romans did this at the time of Jesus. So are not our taxes that go into food stamps, etc., also part of our tithe? Is the government taking the place of the church where the church should really be doing this work?

In my ESV there is a note on the bottom of the page under Matthew 21: "The Jewish leaders also taxed the people to maintain the temple." Was this tax before or after the tithe was given? There are many Jewish congregations that require their people, who are members, to pay an annual tax/dues (or whatever you would call them). Do some Protestant denominations do this also?

Distribution of Tithes--The Old Testament infers that the tithes would be distributed especially by the priests and I assume that the Levites would help them in their work. Supporting this is an article by Pastor Edie Cude titled "What Does God's Word Say About The Tithe?" that says "All of these tithes were brought to the storehouse, and the priest oversaw the distribution of same."

However, the New Testament in 1 Peter 2: 4-5, 9 says (my underlining):

Peter tells us that once we are in Christ we are all Priests. Since the Priests in the Old Testament made the determination as to how the tithes would be used, does that not then allow us to make the determination as to where a tithe should go? That I could give it directly to the poor without first giving it to a church?

These passages also have a number of other ramifications regarding Church and/or Canon tradition regarding the giving out the bread in Communion, etc., but I won't go into that.

FOOD FOR THOUGHT

I truly believe that God wants us to tithe 10% of all of our increase. However, if the tithe is given to one specific church and we find (in our heart that is prompted by the Lord through much prayer) that what the church does with the money is not what the Lord is calling us to do, does that allow us to tithe our conscience before the Lord and modify our giving pattern?

I would recommend that each member of a local congregation obtain a copy of your churches budget and see where and how your tithes are being used. After reviewing it, it is time for prayer for the Lord to indicate to you how He would like it to be used. Then use that information in helping your church put together it's next budget.

Is what I have written heresy or a quickening of my heart by the Holy Spirit? You need to pray and decide for yourselves.

I pray that the Lord would quicken our hearts and minds to accomplish His desires and not our own and to think a little deeper about this subject.

Bill Zersen

P.S. I must receive 2-3 requests per week from various organizations to help feed the "poor" and "starving" people--especially children. I have no idea which ones are legitimate or not--so I give to none of them. But the question remains--what are our churches doing to feed the poor (and all the other things as spelled out in Matthew 25) as Jesus commands?