Walter HR Schwenk

       “Let each one give as he purposes in his heart, not of grief or of necessity,

                                         for Elohim loves a joyous giver.”
                                                --Scriptural Tithe--


Scriptures quoted are from The Scriptures, Institute for Scripture Research, P.O. Box 1830, Northriding, 2162, South Africa. In this article the modern Hebrew letters they use for the sacred names have been replaced withYahueh and Yahushua.


                                                    – Scriptural Tithe –

                                   Is It Paid On Wages? Is It Still In Effect?


Torah contains the following tithing laws, please read carefully.

1. FIRST TITHE

          Wayyiqra (Leviticus) 27:30-34

 

:30 And all the tithe of the land - of the seed of the land or of the fruit of the tree - belongs to Yahueh. It is set-apart to Yahueh. :31 If a man indeed redeems any of his tithes, he adds one-fifth to it. :32 And the entire tithe of the herd and of the flock, all that passes under the rod, the tenth one is set-apart to Yahueh. :33 He does not inquire whether it is good or spoilt, nor does he exchange it. And if he exchanges it at all, then both it and the one exchanged for it are set-apart, it is not redeemed. :34 These are the commandments which Yahueh commanded Mosheh for the children of Yisra’el on Mount Sinai.

          Bemidbar (Numbers) 18:20-28

 

:20 And Yahueh said to Aharon, You are not to have an inheritance in their land, nor have any portion in their midst. I am your portion and your inheritance among the children of Yisra’el. :21 And see, I have given the children of Lewi all the tithes in Yisra’el as an inheritance in return for the service which they are serving, the service of the tent of Meeting. :22 And let the children of Yisra’el no more come near the Tent of Meeting, lest they bear sin and die, :23 because the Lewites shall do the service of the Tent of Meeting, so they themselves bear their crookedness. A law forever, throughout your generations: that among the children of Yisra’el they are to have no inheritance, :24 but the tithes of the children of Yisra’el, which they present as a contribution to Yahueh, I have given to the Lewites as an inheritance. That is why I have said to them, among the children of Yisra’el they have no inheritance. :25 And Yahueh spoke to Mosheh, saying, :26 Speak to the Lewites and say to them, When you take from the children of Yisra’el the tithes which I have given you from them as your inheritance, then you shall present a contribution of it to Yahueh, a tenth of the tithe. :27 And your contribution shall be reckoned to you as grain from the threshing floor and as filling from the winepress. :28 Thus you also present a contribution unto Yahueh from all your tithes which you receive from the children of Yisra’el. And you shall give from it the contribution to Yahueh to Aharon the priest.

2. SECOND TITHE

Debarim (Deuteronomy) 12: 1-19

:1 These are the laws and right-rulings which you guard to do in the land which Yahueh Elohim of your fathers is giving you to possess, all the days that you live on the soil. :2 Completely destroy all the places where the nations which you are dispossessing served their mighty ones, on the high mountains and on the hills and under every green tree. :3 And you shall break down their altars, and smash their pillars, and burn their Asherim with fire. And you shall cut down the carved images of their mighty ones and shall destroy their name out of that place. :4 Do not do so to Yahueh your Elohim, :5 but seek the place which Yahueh your Elohim chooses, out of all your tribes, to put His Name there, for His Dwelling Place, and there you shall enter. :6 And there you shall take your burnt offerings, and your offerings, and your tithes, and the contributions of your hand, and your vowed offerings, and your voluntary offerings, and the firstlings of your herd and of your flock. :7 And there you shall eat before Yahueh your Elohim, and shall rejoice in all that you put your hand to, you and your households, in which Yahueh your Elohim has blessed you. :8 Do not do as we are doing here today - each one doing whatever is right in his own eyes. :9 Because you have not yet entered the rest and the inheritance which Yahueh your Elohim is giving you. :10 But you shall pass over the Yarden, and shall dwell in the land which Yahueh your Elohim is giving you to inherit, and He shall give you rest from all your enemies round about, and you shall dwell in safety. :11 And it shall be, that unto the place which Yahueh your Elohim chooses to make His Name dwell there, there you are to bring all that I command you: your burnt offerings, and your offerings, and your tithes, and the contributions of your hand, and all your choice offerings which you vow to Yahueh. :12 And you shall rejoice before Yahueh your Elohim, you and your sons and your daughters, and your male servants and your female servants, and the Lewite who is within your gates, since he has no portion nor inheritance with you. :13 Guard yourself that you do not offer your burnt offerings in every place that you see, :14 except in the place which Yahueh chooses, in one of your tribes, there you are to offer your burnt offerings, and there you are to do all that I command you. :15 Only, whatever your being desires you shall slaughter and eat, according to the blessing of Yahueh your Elohim which He has given you, within all your gates. The unclean and the clean do eat of it, of the gazelle and the deer alike. :16 Only, the blood you do not eat, pour it on the earth like water. :17 You are not allowed to eat within your gates the tithe of your grain, or of your new wine, or of your oil, or of the firstlings of your herd or your flock, or of any of your offerings which you vow, or of your voluntary offerings, or of the contribution of your hand. :18 But eat them before Yahueh your Elohim, in the place which Yahueh your Elohim chooses, you and your son and your daughter, and your male servant and your female servant, and the Lewite who is within your gates. And you shall rejoice before Yahueh your Elohim in all that you put your hands to. :19 Guard yourself that you do not forsake the Lewite as long as you live in your land.

Debarim (Deut.) 14:22-27

:22 You shall tithe without fail all the yield of your grain that the field brings forth year by year. :23 And you shall eat before Yahueh your Elohim, in the place where He chooses to make His Name dwell, the tithe of your grain and your new wine and your oil, and of the firstlings of your herds and your sheep, so that you learn to fear Yahueh your Elohim always. :24 But when the way is too long for you, so that you are not able to bring the tithe, or when the place where Yahueh your Elohim chooses to put His Name is too far from you, when Yahueh your Elohim is blessing you, :25 then you shall give it in silver, and shall take the silver in your hand and go to the place where Yahueh your Elohim chooses. :26 And you shall use the silver for whatever your being desires: for cattle or sheep, for wine or strong drink, for whatever your being desires. And you shall eat there before Yahueh your Elohim, and you shall rejoice, you and your household. :27 And do not forsake the Lewite who is within your gates, for he has no part nor inheritance with you.

3. THIRD TITHE

          Debarim (Deut.) 14:28-29

:28 At the end of every third year you bring out all the tithe of your increase of that year and store it up within your gates. :29 And the Lewite, because he has no portion nor inheritance with you, and the sojourner and the fatherless and the widow who are within your gates, shall come and eat and be satisfied, so that Yahueh your Elohim does bless you in all the work of your hand which you do.

          Debarim (Deut.) 26:12-13
:12 When you have completed tithing all the tithe of your increase in the third year, which is the year of tithing, and have given it to the Lewite, to the stranger, to the fatherless, and to the widow, and they have eaten within your gates and have been satisfied, :13 then you shall say before Yahueh your Elohim, I have put away the set-apart portion from my house, and also have given it to the Lewite, and to the stranger, and to the fatherless, and to the widow, according to all Your command which You have commanded me. I have not transgressed Your commands, nor have I forgotten.

Now that we have read all of the tithing laws given by Yahueh in Torah let us see what we can learn from them.

          What did the tithe consist of? (Wayyiqra 27:30, 32)

It is a tithe of the land -- crops, fruit, herds, flocks.

          Who pays the first tithe? (Wayyiqra 27:30, 32)

Those producing crops and raising cattle!

          Who gets the first tithe? (Bemidbar 18:21, 24)

The children of Lewi.

          Why do they get it? (Bemidbar 18:20-24)

Because they have no land inheritance the tithes are their inheritance for the work of service in the Tent of Meeting.

          Does the Aharonic priesthood also get tithes? (Bemidbar 18:26-28)

Yes, the Lewites give a tenth of the tenth to the priests.

          Do the common laborers pay tithes on their wages?

No. They only pay tithes if they also raise cattle and crops. There is no provision for any tithes to be paid from anyone’s wages. Is this a wrong answer? Go back and read the laws. Nobody is asked to tithe on money earned. Nobody. Not ever. Remember we are talking about tithing. We are not discussing first fruits or free-will offerings or vows or anything else, just tithing.

          Maybe no one was asked to tithe on earnings because nobody had earnings? (Wayyiqra 19:13)

Wages of people who were hired had to be paid by the end of the day. So definitely Torah recognizes that people would be working for wages.

          What do second tithes consist of? (Debarim 12:17, Deb. 14:22, 23)

They are the produce of the land the same as first tithes.

          Who eats the second tithes? (Debarim 12:12, 18, Deb. 14:26, 27)

You, your children, your servants, and the Lewites. (Dare we make an assumption that the poor also were given to eat of these tithes? Maybe.)

          Do some of the second tithe go for travel expenses, inns, etc.?

Torah doesn’t say that.

          Where are the second tithes eaten? (Debarim 12:5-7, Deb. 14:23)

Where Yahueh choose to place his name.

          What if the distance was too far to take your second tithe? (Debarim 14:24-26)

You can turn it into silver and buy what you want when you get to the place where Yahueh has placed his name.

          Does this mean that you can spend it on travel expenses and inns?
(Debarim 14:26-27)

No. You shall eat there before Yahueh your Elohim.

          Are wage earners asked to pay second tithes on their incomes?

Torah does not require that.

          What does the third tithe consist of? (Debarim 14:28-29, Debarim 26:12-13)

It is the same as the first and second tithe, produce of the land.

          Who is it for? (Debarim 14:29, Deb. 26:12-13

The poor of the land. The Lewites, strangers, widows, fatherless.

          Are wage earners asked to pay a third tithe on their income?

Torah does not require that.

Okay. Now we have studied the law of tithing in Torah. Where do we go from here? Maybe we can show that someone in Hebrew Scriptures (Old Testament) times paid tithes according to the Torah of Yahueh.

Abraham, maybe. Let’s take a time out and read Bereshith (Genesis) 14.

          What was Abram paying tithes on to Malkitsedeq? (Ber. 14:16, 20)

The spoils of war. The people and goods that belonged to Sedom and Amorah.

          Did this fulfill the tithing laws that we read in Torah?

No. Torah asks for a tithe of the produce of the land, crops and cattle.

          Did Yahueh ever ask for a percentage of spoils of war? (Bemidbar 31: 21, 25-30)

Yes. But it was not a tithe (10%). It was 1/10th of one percent to the priests and one percent to the Lewites. [Of the total spoils.]

          So was Abram fulfilling the above law?

No, because he gave a full tenth.

          So was Abram’s giving a tenth of the spoils of war to Malkitsedeq fulfilling  any law of Yahueh’s?

No.

          Would Yahueh accept a person’s tithes if they were paying with stuff that they made a vow not to take so much as a sandal strap from? (Ber. 14:22-23)

What do you think?

          So why did Abram give a tenth of the spoils to this Malkitsedeq?

Maybe because Malkitsedeq was a powerful king. In I Shemu’el 8 Yahueh warned the people who wanted a king over them like the nations around them that the king would take what he wanted of what they had.

          Is there any place in Scriptures where Abram paid tithes according to the laws of Torah?

No.

           Did Abram see Malkitsedeq any other time?

There is no record of it in the Scriptures.

          Is it possible that Abram would never have ever seen this Malkitsedeq had he not gone to rescue Lot?

It is very possibly so.

          Did Ya’aqob tithe?

There is no record of it in the Scriptures.

          Did Ya’aqob make a vow to give Yahueh a tenth of all that Yahueh would give him?

Yes, he made a conditional vow . There is no record that he ever tithed. (I am not sure if there is a record that he ever paid his vow either.)

          Is there any record in the Hebrew Scriptures of anyone ever (prior to the time of the Tent of Meeting) tithing produce or money to any priest of Yahueh or anyone else according to the laws of Torah?

No.

          Weren’t Abram and the other patriarchs acting as priests when they did their own sacrificing? (As also Qayin (Cain) and Hebel (Abel) did their own sacrificing.)

Yes.

          So there would not have been any need for them to tithe to some other priests, would there have been?

It does not seem likely.

          Did anybody tithe to the patriarchs?

There is no record of it.

Let’s look at what happened when King Hizqiyahu re-established worship in the House of Yahueh. Read 2 Dibre HaYamim (2 Chronicles) chapters 29, 30, and 31. Perhaps people were asked to pay tithes on their wages then.

          Were they still paying tithes on produce of the land? (2 Dib. HaYam 31:5,6)

Yes -- the tithe was still on produce of the land. There is not one word here to indicate they paid tithes on their earnings.

Let’s look in the Book of Nehemyah where after their return from Babylon they again re-estalished worship of Yahueh including paying tithes. Let’s read chapters ten through thirteen. Perhaps now they were paying tithes on income? (Neh. 10:37-38, 12:44, 13:5, 12)

It’s still a tithe on the land and they are bringing in produce. Nothing said here about tithes of money.

There is not much left to look at in the Hebrew Scriptures pertaining to tithes other than Mal’aki (Malachi). Let’s read Mal. 3:7-10. We can all almost quote it from memory we have heard it so many times. Must be something here that tells us we have to pay tithes on our incomes!

Well, sorry, it is still about produce. Verse 10 says bring all the tithes into the storehouse and let there be food in My house. What, let there be piles of gold and silver in my house? No, let there be food!

It seems to be time that we accept the fact that Yahueh never asked his people to pay tithes on their income. Yahueh always seemed concerned about the poor people. He didn’t ask for them to do things that would make them even poorer. And neither should the preachers of today. Let’s go back to Mal’aki (Malachi) again and look at Chapter 3, verse 5.

And I shall draw near to you for right-ruling. And I shall be a swift witness against the practicers of witchcraft, and against adulterers, and against them that swear to falsehood, and against those who oppress the wage earner in his wages and widows and the fatherless, and those who turn away a sojourner and do not fear Me, said Yahueh of hosts.

Did you get that? And I shall a swift witness against . . . those who oppress the wage earner in his wages . . . Why don’t we ever hear this verse preached?

You know how we have been told that the tithe is fair because it asks for the same amount (10%) from all. Do a little calculating here. The rich people will pay more tithes but it hurts them much less because they still have much more left to live on. The poor person who is scraping away trying to make ends meet will just get poorer when he pays tithes.

Go through the Scriptures and note all the passages that pertain to the poor, the widow, the fatherless, the stranger and see how compassionate Yahueh is to these people. He never asked them to give ten percent a year of their income to anyone, priests or preachers, and he never asked them spend ten percent of their yearly income going to feasts. He surely never asked them to give ten percent of their income every third year to the poor because they were the poor!


Perhaps the tithing law got changed in the Messianic Scriptures (New Testament). What did our Messiah say about the tithe? Did he give any new commandment pertaining to it? No he did not. Mattithyahu (Matthew) 28:18-20. After his resurrection, what was the commission he gave to his disciples? Start a new religion? Celebrate my birthday? Celebrate easter? Change my Sabbath to the day of sun worship? Change the tithing law and now start making everybody pay tithes on their income? No. He sent them out to teach people to guard all that he had taught them. Did he teach them anything new about tithing that was different from Torah? No.

What about Mattithyahu 23:23 and Luke 11:42? What happened here? Was Yahushua putting his stamp of approval on tithing on income? It doesn’t say that. He was saying that they were supposed to tithe according to Torah but they shouldn’t neglect other matters. The House of Yahueh was still standing and all the tithing laws of Torah were still in effect.

Luke 18:12 tells the parable of a Pharisee bragging about all that he did including giving tithes of all that he possessed. This Pharisee was not declared right by Yahushua. So we cannot use this to try to justify tithes needing to be paid on anything other than what Torah required.

Now we know that there is no law anywhere in Scriptures requiring that tithes be paid on wages. That should be the end of it, right?

Well, it should be, but it isn’t. The Scripture of Last Resort to the Tithe Preacher is, of course, Ibrim (Hebrews) 7:1-19. Who wrote Ibrim? Could have been Sha’ul (Paul). Remember Kepha’s warning about Sha’ul’s writings? 2 Kepha (Peter) 3:15-17. It might be good to refresh ourselves and read that right now:

. . . as also our beloved brother Sha’ul wrote to you, according to the wisdom given to him, as also in all his letters, speaking in them concerning these matters, in which some are hard to understand, which those who are untaught and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do also the other scriptures, You, then, beloved ones, being forewarned, watch, lest you also fall from your own steadfastness, being led away with the delusion of the lawless,

So, regardless of who wrote Ibrim let us read it keeping in mind that we do not want to twist it to our own destruction. And this might also be a good time to refresh ourselves on these verses: Debarim (Deuteronomy) 4:2, Debarim 12:32, Mishle (Proverbs) 30:6.

Read Ibrim (Hebrews) 7 and the other chapters around it. What is this chapter about? Is it not about the change of the priesthood from the Lewitical priesthood to the priesthood of Yahushua -- a priesthood called after the order of Malkitsedeq. Why did there have to be a change in the law? So that Yahushua who is of the tribe of Yahudah could be the high priest. This chapter is about the end of the Lewitical priesthood and the start of Yahushua as High Priest. Is Yahushua continuing sacrifices? No, he was a sacrifice once and for all. There is no more sacrificing at this time. The Lewitical Priesthood has come to an end and with it is the end of tithing which was in place because the Lewites had no inheritance. It is as simple as that. Yahushua is the high priest and he is now in heaven. THERE IS NO NEW COMMANDMENT IN IBRIM 7 SAYING THAT NOW TITHES ARE TO BE PAID ON WAGES. THERE IS NO NEW COMMANDMENT IN IBRIM 7 SAYING THAT TITHES WHICH WERE PAID TO THE LEWITES SHOULD NOW BE GIVEN TO ANYONE ELSE. Remember that the temple was still standing and The Lewitical priests were still sacrificing when Ibrim was written.

Are there priests after the order of Malkitsedeq on earth now? I don’t know. None of the disciples, Kepha, Sha’ul, Ya’qob, none of these people ever referred to themselves or each other as priests. 1 Kepha 2:5 and Revelation 5:10 I always thought was future, but if we are there now then we are all, each and everyone of us part of the priesthood, not just a few of us. What makes Yahushua’s priesthood after the order of Malkitsedeq? Because they are each both a king and a priest. Also, because of their genealogy, they have no one before or after them in their lineage in the priesthood. What the writer of Ibrim is doing is comparing the two priesthoods. This is not a chapter about tithing

To twist tithe-paying in to what is taught by many preachers nowadays takes a lot of changes in the law. It would require a change from being a tithe on the produce of the land paid by just the land and herd owners to now being paid by everyone on everything. Then there would have to be a change from it being paid to Lewitical priests to being paid to preachers. This change would have to also affect second and third tithes, neither of which are mentioned in Ibrim. Ibrim 7:23-28 says that in the Lewitical priesthood there were many men, but now there only needs to be one, and that is Yahushua.

If Yahushua had intended his disciples to collect tithes he would have taught them that. Instead he sent them out with empty purses and told them not to acquire gold or silver or copper for their money belts. Mattithyahu 10:8-9, Mark 6:8, Luke 10:4.

So, how then is the ministry to go forward? By giving. GIVING, GIVING, GIVING. That is what the Messianic Scriptures are all about. There are many verses talking about giving, brethren giving to help brethren, and giving that is done to help those who are traveling about establishing assemblies. 2 Corinthians 9:7 says: Let each one give as he purposes in his heart, not of grief or of necessity, for Elohim loves a joyous giver. 1 Corinthians 12:28 talks about the gifts of helps. This surely can include the help of money. Those who have been blessed with large incomes can help more.

We can all give all that we want to. We can give joyously when we can give as we are able. We each individually know what our own financial situation is. It is a terrible thing when people are made to feel guilty that they are robbing Yahueh because they can’t pay 23 1/3 percent “tithes” a year and still eat and have a roof over their heads and take care of their families. 1 Timothy 5:8 says that a person’s first obligation is that their brethren in the faith and their close relatives have their daily physical needs taken care of.

Is it to be up to just a few to spread the Truth of Yahueh’s word? Doesn’t the “Great Commission” (Matt. 28:19-20) tell them to go out and make taught ones of the nations? If we all did our part after we have had a few years to learn we could all be out there teaching people. It needs not to be left up to a few people. Ever since the printing press was invented several hundred years ago we all can have access to the scriptures and do our own studying. In Acts 15 the new believers were given a few things to start correcting right away and then they were told to go to the synagogues where they could hear Mosheh being read every Sabbath. We are blessed to have our own Scriptures to read and study whenever we want. We don’t have a need to go to a Sabbath service every Sabbath [to learn torah]. We can stay home, and we can rest, which is what the Fourth Commandment tells us to do.

When it comes to tithing or any other law we have a choice of following Yahueh and Yahushua or following the commandments of men (Matt. 15:9, Mark 7:7). Preaching that tithing is still in effect and is on wages and all of our sources of income now is a commandment of men.

I wonder how many people have been turned away from the truth of the Word when they have been told that the first 10% of their income has to be paid to the assembly, congregation, church, whatever, and they could not afford it, nor could they afford second and third tithes. I would not want to be the person who taught “tithing” and was responsible for lost souls.



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