Tithing is a principle that many avoid, partly as talking about money was always considered unseemly. Many pastors avoid it as they don’t want to be perceived as asking for more money, or worse, as greedy. Tithing is a subject that has come up recently in my life, and I felt that a dive into what the Bible has to say on the issue would be enlightening. I think we have to begin by making it clear that when we say ‘tithing’, what we are actually doing is referencing a broad range of contributions that appear throughout the Old Testament (cf. Num 18:21-32; Deut 14:22-27). In fact, I feel it is technically correct to say Israel did not regard tithing as a gift to God, more of a payment, almost a land rent, that they owed to the Creator of all.

Different tithes and gifts

Even before tithing, every Israelite was required to give a gift to the priests known as ‘terumah’ (תְּרוּמָה), which means ‘a gift which one lifts up’ (Ex 25:2-3; 30:13-14; Lev 7:32; Deut 12:11). According to the Jewish Mishnah, a collection of Judaism’s oral traditions, the amount for this offering was flexible. This could be from around 1/30 to 1/50 of the harvest, as detailed in the section called Terumot, chapter 4:3.

It was only after the terumah that the first tithe (מַעֲשֵׂר; maaser) could be set aside. This tithe, which amounted to a tenth, or 10%, of the harvest would be given to local Levites, as detailed in Numbers 18:24 and Nehemiah 10:39. Then on top of that there was a second tithe which was to be used to cover expenses and food when the family worshipped in Jerusalem, as detailed in Deuteronomy 14:24-26. Personally, I find it fascinating that part of the tithe was for a celebration of God’s provision, in a manner that is as much about thanksgiving and celebration as a gift. This tithe operated in a seven-year cycle, with the third and sixth offerings to be given to the poor – a gift spelt out in Deuteronomy 26:12.

Now technically, as detailed in the Mishnah, the tithe laws were only to be applicable for grain, wine and oil – a definition articulated in Deuteronomy 14:22 and Nehemiah 13:12. However, from a very early stage the biblical tradition expanded the tithing requirements to encompass fruit and other agricultural produce – moves that are set down in Leviticus 27:30; 2 Chronicles 31:5 and in the New Testament’s Matthew 23:23. There are large sections of the Mishnah that cite Leviticus 25:23 as they go into the detail of tithes that are only applicable for produce grown within ‘God’s own land’.

Principles behind tithing

So we can see that the biblical issue of tithing is a relatively complex issue, and that these tithes were always crops and produce, rather than actual money (though the crops could be changed into money for ease of transport – Deut 14:24-25). However, this is the original context, which bears little resemblance to our current one. We live in a world where the majority of us aren’t involved in farming, although we still need roughly the same amount of land to feed each person. We live in a world where the priesthood is paid employment and where there is no temple functioning in Jerusalem. We need to bear this in mind when we seek to understand the concept of tithing for today, where our standard ‘it’s 10% of your net income’ doesn’t properly align with any of these biblical practices. But whilst the context has changed, the principle behind God’s commandments on tithing have not.

If we look to Judaism, we see a commitment to giving to the needy, of benevolence and charitable contributions that makes them among the most generous people in the world¹. Sadly this is a little more hit and miss with Christians. Somewhere in the middle of all our fine words we seem to miss out on the principal of imitating our maker who in his goodness feeds the whole earth (Ps 136:25).

Malachi 3:8 carries the striking words, “Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed me. But ye say, wherein have we robbed thee? In tithes and offerings.” This passage is spoken in a context where people were paying lip service to tithing but actually had work-arounds to limit the impact of their giving – a little like tax evasion today. Lambs and other animals for sacrifice were supposed to be perfect and blemish-free, but what was happening was that the lame, the twisted, and the broken were being sacrificed. All this in contravention of the great commandment to “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength” (Deut 6:5).

Giving back to God

Adherence to this great command demonstrates very clearly that tithing goes far beyond the idea of apportioning a set element of God’s gracious gifts to us in the expectation that this will make us righteous in the sight of God. To love God with all our heart, soul and might must, surely, mean that we should be ready to give God everything. That we recognise that all we have belongs to God and that he will at different times require different things from us.

As we have seen, all of the original tithes were produce from the land. And Leviticus 25:23 makes it clear that God saw Israel as his own land: “The land must not be sold permanently, because the land is mine and you reside in my land as foreigners and strangers.” That principle – of us being essentially stewards for God’s property – holds true for whatever we own, and so should affect how we give.A mezuzah

Many years ago, I felt moved to take up the Jewish practice of the ‘mezuzah’. This small box contains two portions of scripture: Deuteronomy 6:4-9 and Deuteronomy 11:13-21. This covers the Sh’ma and the injunctions to bind God’s words to the gates and doorposts. I did this in the understanding that the mezuzah is not a magic charm or anything like that. Simply a declaration that the house is God’s and that we are simply custodians of it on God’s behalf. The reality is that I may go for two or three weeks without noticing it or thinking about it. Then suddenly one day out of the blue I see it (normally when I am feeling very proud of myself). The sight of that small box marked with the Hebrew name Shaddai clearly and precisely reminds me that before God I am nothing but dust, except for his grace. That all I have is from God’s good provision and that I simply hold it on his behalf.

What I am trying to say is that a tithe of 10% is merely the beginning and that our tithe should be given in the full and conscious knowledge that at some point the Lord may ask for more than 10%, may indeed ask for everything, and that whatever we may give, we are simply giving back to the Lord what is his already.

Notes

¹ see for example https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/religion/10885180/Religion-makes-people-more-generous.html