Deuteronomy 14:19-29 NKJV
19 “Also every creeping thing that flies is unclean for you; they shall not be eaten.
20 “You may eat all clean birds.
21 “You shall not eat anything that dies of itself; you may give it to the alien who is within your gates, that he may eat it, or you may sell it to a foreigner; for you are a holy people to the Lord your God.
“You shall not boil a young goat in its mother’s milk.
22 “You shall truly tithe all the increase of your grain that the field produces year by year. 23 And you shall eat before the Lord your God, in the place where He chooses to make His name abide, the tithe of your grain and your new wine and your oil, of the firstborn of your herds and your flocks, that you may learn to fear the Lord your God always. 24 But if the journey is too long for you, so that you are not able to carry the tithe, or if the place where the Lord your God chooses to put His name is too far from you, when the Lord your God has blessed you, 25 then you shall exchange it for money, take the money in your hand, and go to the place which the Lord your God chooses. 26 And you shall spend that money for whatever your heart desires: for oxen or sheep, for wine or similar drink, for whatever your heart desires; you shall eat there before the Lord your God, and you shall rejoice, you and your household. 27 You shall not forsake the Levite who is within your gates, for he has no part nor inheritance with you.
28 “At the end of every third year you shall bring out the tithe of your produce of that year and store it up within your gates. 29 And the Levite, because he has no portion nor inheritance with you, and the stranger and the fatherless and the widow who are within your gates, may come and eat and be satisfied, that the Lord your God may bless you in all the work of your hand which you do.
Tithing in the Old Testament, as we have seen before in the Torah, was not as simple as dropping an offering in a plate. Each family was to measure all their produce and count the new animals born to them every year, setting aside a tithe, that is a tenth of it, because that holy tenth belonged to the Lord.
But what were they to do with it? In two years out of three, they were to take it to that one chosen place in Israel, which would eventually be Jerusalem, to present it before the Lord in His temple, share some of it with the Levites, and eat the rest of it themselves. Moses even gave them a practical solution, if the journey should be too far for them to haul all those animals and vegetables. They could sell the tithe in the place where they lived, take the money with them to Jerusalem, and buy food and drink to enjoy there with the Levites, in the Lord’s presence. Tithing was intended to be something joyful as well as sacred.
Every third year, it seems that the people were not to take their tithe to Jerusalem, but were to set it aside where they lived as a form of support for the Levites who lived among them, and as a form of charity for the poor in their midst. What a beautiful society the Lord designed for His people! As long as the people kept the Lord’s commandments, the Levites (the ministers and their families) would always be properly cared for, and the poor would always have food to eat.
In the New Testament, there is no law concerning the tithe, except for God’s command “that those who preach the gospel should live from the gospel” (1 Cor. 9:14), that is, that Christians should provide a respectable living for the ministers who preach the gospel to them, and that Christians should be generous toward those who are truly needy. Let us do so with diligence and with joy in our hearts, because the Lord who blessed Israel so bountifully in earthly ways has blessed us in even greater ways, having “blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ” (Eph. 1:3). Let us pray: Father in heaven, You have blessed us beyond measure, both physically and spiritually. Accept the offerings we bring with joy and thankfulness in our hearts, and subdue the stinginess and worry of our flesh, that we may always be cheerful givers, for Jesus’ sake. Amen.