Expert: Pastor Don Carpenter - 11/19/2007

Question
QUESTION: Hi,

The tithe of Deuteronomy 14:27-29 (once every 3 years), has to be separate from the tithe for festivals of Deuteronomy 14:22-23, because the tithe for festivals was every year (Deuteronomy 14:22-23), unlike the other tithe a few verse down:

Deuteronomy 14:22-23
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,


A little further down when it comes to the tithe for Levites it says:

Deut. 14:27-29
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.

And finally in Deut. 26:12-15

12 “When you have finished laying aside all the tithe of your increase in the third year—the year of tithing—and have given it to the Levite, the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow, so that they may eat within your gates and be filled, 13 then you shall say before the LORD your God: ‘I have removed the holy tithe from my house, and also have given them to the Levite, the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow, according to all Your commandments which You have commanded me; I have not transgressed Your commandments, nor have I forgotten them. 14 I have not eaten any of it when in mourning, nor have I removed any of it for an unclean use, nor given any of it for the dead. I have obeyed the voice of the LORD my God, and have done according to all that You have commanded me.

There is no other way to look at this. There were 2 tithes. One annual tithe for festivals. And another tithe every 3 years for the Levites, which they were supposed to share with the poor.

Can you go against this? It seems obvious. The statements on tithing in Numbers discuss tithes for Levites and priests, but they don't say how often those tithes are to be. It is in Deuteronomy that we see that the tithes to the Levites were once every 3 years.

-Joshua

ANSWER: Hi Joshua,

As I said in the last post, I think that you are correct regarding the Levitical tithe.... that does not mean that all tithes in the Bible are like these.... but you are correct here.

In Christ
Pastor Don

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Hi Pastor,

Thank you for your response. I'm surprised that you agreed with me. Now the next question is that if tithing was only once every 3 years, that would mean that on a yearly basis it consisted of only 3.33% of the produce, and not 10%.

If it was a sum total of 3 years of tithes which were given every 3 years, that would mean that by the 3 year the produce from the first and second year would already be rotting. Since back then there was no refigeration.

If the Israelites just gave 30% every 3 years, then on the sixth year, when they had to prepare for the sabbath year (when the land was not cultivated) it would mean that each family gave 50% in tithes (one tithe to the king, 3 tithes to the Levites, and one tithe for festivals). To live for two years off 50% of one year's harvest would be a great burden on God's people. God did not mean to be a burden to his children. "my yoke is easy, my burden is light"

And this would no longer be a tithe, since it would really be 30% on the third year. It can only be a tithe if it was the sum total of three years of tithing, but then again the first year's produce would rot by the third year.

Do you see my reasoning?

-Josh

Answer
Once again you are trying to make the Levitical practice equal with tithing, and it is not.... TIthing is a transdisponsational concept.  Malachi 3 says TITHE, not 3.33%  I have tried to tell you this before.  It seems that we are going over and over the same material.

In Christ
Pastor Don