Money and Tithing

Hi Bob!
I Hope you can read these chapters and verses for yourself and enjoy them!
Here are some verses from the Old Covenant that refer to money (which shows that they did use money - -but what they tithed was produce of land):

Genesis 17: 13 & 27 Abraham circumcised all the males in his household, including those bought with money.
Genesis 23: 9-16 Abraham paid for land to bury Sarah
Genesis 42: 1-38 also chapter 43- Joseph's brothers came to Egypt to buy corn - Joseph returned their money to them.
Exodus 21: 32 Money is restitution for an ox.
Exodus 30: 11-16 The Temple Tax is established.
If your translation of Scripture uses the word "shekel", the meaning of shekel is: - a weight, from three to six tenths of an ounce. In Jesus' day, the half-shekel was coined so that two people could pay the Temple tax mentioned here in Ex.30, with a silver shekel coin - as in Matthew 17:24.
Numbers 3:47-51 The redemption money is given to Aaron -the Temple priest.

Tithing was a well-known and common practice among all the nations (pagan nations) in the days of Abraham.

When Abraham gave a tithe to Melchizedek, he was following the Arab custom of war that was practiced in those days. Tithing was well known in Phoenicia, Egypt, Canaan and Mesopotamia. The war custom was to give 10% of the booty to the local king/priest. In Numbers 31:21-30, the war tithe of the Israelites was to give only 1% to the Levites, and one tenth of one percent to the priests.

Also, Melchizedek was a pagan priest. The true God, at that time, was known as Elohim or Yahweh. When Melchizedek blessed Abraham by the "God Most High", that name was the common Canaanite name for Baal, and Baal's father. The Hebrew words, "El Elyon", means "God Most High" and was used universally by Semitic people for the bull-god. (El is actually a generic term for "god")

When Joseph was made ruler over Egypt, in Genesis, he increased the tithe of the produce that Pharoah received, to 20%, in order to store it up (put into storehouses) during the days of plenty, for use when the famine came. (See Genesis 41:34,35). In Genesis 47 it says that Joseph ended up buying all the land from the people, except "he did not buy the priest's land because the priests were entitled to provisions from Pharoah and they ate from what Pharoah provided for them" (Gen. 47: 22-25).

Facts about tithing under the Law of Moses:

If the tithe was too much to carry to the Levites, the people were to sell it for money and go to the town where the Levite or Temple was. Then they were to go out and buy whatever they desired to eat, and bring the food to "the place where God chooses", and eat it in the presence of God, and enjoy themselves. See Deut. 14:22-26.

Every third year, the Levites were to put the 10% into storehouses in all the towns where they lived so that they and the poor, fatherless, widows and strangers in the land could come and eat and bless God. None of it would go to the priests in those years. See Deut. 14:27-29 and 26:12,13.

Also, the people were not to go back over a field to harvest what they missed the first time- the "gleanings" were to be left for the poor to come and eat and bless God. See Deut. 24:19-22.

The poor did not tithe, they were provided for by the tithes!

The Levites were considered poor - they are always listed along with the widows and orphans.

The tithe was tied to the land, to be kept as long as they lived in the land - Deut. 12:19.

First fruits were not the same as tithes. They were such a small amount, they could be carried in a basket and went to the priest. See Deut. 26:1-4

In conclusion, tithing as established under the law was always from the produce of the land or animals - not money, even though they had money and used it. Its purpose was to support the Levites and Priests, because they did not receive an inheritance of land, and to pay them for their service as priests - this is stated over and over again (see especially Numbers 18).

10% of the produce went to the Levites, who were helpers to the priests. Then the Levites gave 10% of that to the priests (which means that the priests received 1% of the peoples tithes).

The context of the book of Malachi is Nehemiah 13. Malachi 3:10 is often quoted to support tithing in the church today. But what happened is that Nehemiah had re-established tithing in Israel after the people had come back from Babylonian captivity and rebuilt the Temple. When Nehemiah went back to Babylon, the priest who was put in charge of the storehouse at the Temple, cleaned it out and gave it to Tobiah to live in. Since there was no food in the storehouse, the Levites (the Levites distributed the tithes) all left and went back to their farms. There were no Levites to bring tithes to. Everything fell apart. When Nehemiah returned, he was furious, and set the situation right once again - thus Malachi's prophecy was written to the priests (read it and see). The priests had robbed God of the tithes.

Also, it is kind of neat to realize that the verses in Malachi 3:1-5 are speaking of Nehemiah, who was a type of the Messiah to come.

This all took place between 536-400BC.

Also, it is interesting to note that when the system of tithes was set up under Moses, tithes were not money. And all these years later when Nehemiah re-established it, it still was not money. It was food.

If anyone is interested in reading more about this, a really good website is:

http://www.shouldthechurchteachtithing.com/

The author of the book has put it online so you can download it for free and read it when you have time. . .you can also buy the book. But I downloaded it. It is 288 pages long, and is full of great info.