Update: 4/13/20
Would a person rob God? Yet you are robbing me. But you say, “How have we robbed you?” In tithes and offerings. You are cursed with a curse, for you are robbing me, the whole nation. Bring the full tithe into the storehouse, so that there may be food in my house, and test me now in this,” says the Lord of hosts, “if I do not open to you the windows of heaven and pour out a blessing on you, until there is no more room for it all” (Malachi 3:8–10).The sons of Levi who receive the priesthood have a command from the law to collect tithes from the people, that is, from their brothers, even though they, too, have come from Abraham’s body. But Melchizedek, whose descent was not traced from them, received tithes from Abraham, and blessed him, the one who had the promises. There is no denying that the lesser person is blessed by the greater person. In this case, mortal men receive tithes, but in that case it is testified that he lives on. And, in a manner of speaking, Levi, who received tithes, also paid tithes through Abraham, because Levi was in the body of his ancestor when Melchizedek met Abraham (Hebrews 7:5–10).
A tithe is a payment of 10% of net income, after deductions for capital expenditures. The Mosaic laws of the tithe are found in Numbers 18. [North, Numbers, ch. 10] “To the descendants of Levi, look, I have given all the tithes in Israel as their inheritance in return for the service that they provide in working at the tent of meeting” (Numbers 18:21). The Levites had no inheritance of land. This was a substitute. It was a payment of one-tenth of the produce of everyone else’s land. They in turn had to pay one-tenth to the temple of whatever they received in tithes. “The Lord spoke to Moses and said, ‘You must speak to the Levites and say to them, “When you receive from the people of Israel the tenth that I have given to you from them for your inheritance, you will present a contribution from it to the Lord, a tenth of the tithe. Your contribution must be considered by you as if it were a tenth of the grain from the threshing floor or of the production from the winepress”’ (Numbers 18:25–27). There is no indication that the tithe was paid by businessman who were town dwellers. It was a tax on the land to compensate the Levites for having no inheritance of land.
1. A Priestly Payment
The tithe is uniquely priestly. In the Old Covenant, the tithe was paid to a higher priest by a lower priest. The first recorded instance of a tithe is in Genesis 14. [North, Genesis, ch. 21] Abram made a tithe payment to Melchizedek, the priest of the most high God. This is the first reference in Scripture of the office of priest. First, Melchizedek presented bread and wine to Abram (v. 18). This was clearly a sacramental meal, since he presented it as a priest. The meal had to do with covenantal sanctions: point four of the biblical covenant model. Second, he blessed Abram, identifying Abram as also being of the most high God (v. 19). This blessing had to do with covenantal sanctions. Third, he blessed God, who had delivered Abram’s enemies into his hand (v. 20). Again, this was point four: sanctions. In response, Abram paid Melchizedek a tithe of the spoils that he had taken as a result of his defeat of Chedorlaomer’s army (v. 20): sanctions.
The tithe is an aspect of point two—ecclesiastical hierarchy—and point four: ecclesiastical sanctions. Abram’s tithe to Melchizedek began a series of covenantal events that established Israel as a kingdom of priests (Exodus 19:6).
Beginning with Abram’s tithe to Melchizedek, the priestly office has been associated with inheritance. In the chapter following the introduction of the tithe, Abram asked for an heir. Inheritance is point five of the biblical covenant model, as it applies to family government. God promised him that his heirs will be numerous and would inherit the land. To seal this promise, God required Abram to sacrifice animals: a priestly act (Genesis 15:9–10). This covenant had to do with family inheritance: the land of Canaan (Genesis 15:16–18). [North, Genesis, ch. 23]
2. An Inheritance
In Genesis 17, God renewed this covenant with Abram (high father), changing his name to Abraham (father of nations). This renewed covenant reasserted the inheritance established by the first covenant: God’s covenantal vow to Abram (Genesis 17:7–8). To mark this covenant, God required Abraham to perform circumcisions on every male in his household, including servants (Genesis 17:10). Circumcision was a priestly task: a sacrament. Abraham became a household priest (Genesis 17:27). This priestly act would continue for as long as the Old Covenant did. Circumcision was a formal act of covenant renewal.
The next reference to the payment of a tenth came when Jacob was fleeing from Esau, after their father had given the inheritance to Jacob through his blessing. This blessing was comprehensive. Isaac had said: “May God give you a portion of the dew of heaven, a portion of the fatness of the earth, and plenty of grain and new wine. May peoples serve you and nations bow down to you. Be master over your brothers, and may your mother’s sons bow down to you. May every one who curses you be cursed; may every one who blesses you be blessed” (Genesis 27:28–29). Jacob was on the run. He was no longer inside the Promised Land. He was no longer under his father’s jurisdiction as the household priest who had circumcised him. He was no longer set apart (holy) either familistically or ecclesiastically. He had dreamed a supernatural dream in which he had been elevated to heaven. There, God reconfirmed His covenant with Jacob: covenant renewal. It was marked by God’s vow: inheritance (Genesis 28:12–15). Jacob then confirmed this oath as God’s vassal by stating his understanding of its terms. He also added a stipulation: a tithe. “Jacob vowed a vow, saying, ‘If God will be with me and will protect me on this road on which I am walking, and will give me bread to eat, and clothes to wear, so that I return safely to my father’s house, then the Lord will be my God. Then this stone that I have set up as a pillar will be a sacred stone. From everything that you give me, I will surely give a tenth back to you” (Genesis 28:20-22). Jacob promised to pay a tithe. Why did he make this promise? Because he was no longer under the jurisdiction of his father, the priest of his family: the agent of circumcision. He had not owed a tithe to Isaac while he was under Isaac’s jurisdiction. Why not? Because Isaac was the family priest. Isaac in turn paid no tithe, because there was no priest above him. [North, Genesis, ch. 29:B]
Jacob was now out from under his father’s jurisdiction. He would owe a tithe on the net increase of anything he earned outside this jurisdiction. But to whom would he pay it? Not to some priest outside the covenant line of Abraham. Then to whom? To Isaac, upon Jacob’s return to the family’s land. As a household priest, which he had not been before, he owed his tithe to a higher priest. Isaac was that priest.
The text in Malachi is clear: a refusal to pay the tithe is stealing from God. "Would a person rob God? Yet you are robbing me. But you say, “How have we robbed you?” In tithes and offerings. You are cursed with a curse, for you are robbing me, the whole nation. Bring the full tithe into the storehouse, so that there may be food in my house, and test me now in this,” says the Lord of hosts, “if I do not open to you the windows of heaven and pour out a blessing on you, until there is no more room for it all” (Malachi 3:8–10). [North, Prophets, ch. 33] There are no qualifications. If you do not pay your tithe, you are a thief. This is simple. It is straightforward. It is unarguable.
The Mosaic system of tithing applied inside the Promised Land. It was an aspect of hierarchy: lower priests to higher priests. It was an aspect of ecclesiastical sanctions: sacramental meals, which were associated with the tabernacle. It was an aspect of political decentralization: tribal control over specific regions. It was an aspect of common instruction: a priestly tribe separated from the others through geographical dispersion. What distinguished the Levite was his non-membership in the other tribes. He was not part of their inheritance. The Mosaic law’s tithes were tied to inheritance.
The tithe before the exile of Israel and Judah was based on the tribal system of inheritance of rural land. Families that were heirs of the conquest generation inherited rural land. Levites had no inheritance in rural land. They inherited the tithe of the net output of rural land. There is no evidence that the tribes reclaimed their original land after the exile. Samaritans—foreigners brought in by Assyria and Babylon—now occupied these lands. They were not evicted by the kings who ruled the succeeding empires: Medo-Persian, Alexandrian, and Roman.
Only 341 non-priestly Levites returned with Zerubbabel (Ezra 2:40–54). In contrast, 4,289 priests returned (Ezra 2:36–39). As Levites, the priests received income from the farming population. The language of Malachi in the passage with which I began this article refers only to the fruit of the ground (Malachi 3:8–12). The tithe was still agricultural, as far as the post-exilic texts indicate. Operationally speaking, this tithe came directly to the priests as Levites, because there were so few non-Levitical priests. The nation still tithed to the Levites as Levites. “We will bring the first of our dough and our grain offerings, and the fruit of every tree, and the new wine and the oil we will bring to the priests, to the storerooms of the house of our God. We will bring to the Levites the tithes from our soil because the Levites collect the tithes in all the towns where we work” (Nehemiah 10:37). [North, Historical Books, ch. 41]
Jesus did not mince words when He dealt with the scribes and Pharisees. This was surely the case in His accusation against them with respect to their commitment to tithing. “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cumin, but you have left undone the weightier matters of the law—justice and mercy and faith. But these you ought to have done and not to have left the other undone. You blind guides, you who strain out a gnat but swallow a camel!” (Matthew 23:23–24). The key words for the purposes of this exposition are these: “these you ought to have done and not to have left the other undone.” What did He mean, “these”? This: “the weightier matters of the law—justice and mercy and faith.” Then what was “the other”? The tithe of mint and dill and cumin. The leaders of Israel still tithed on whatever they grew agriculturally. They were careful to tithe on the herbs and spices. They did not try to short-change the Levites or the priests.
The New Testament does not mention this, but the Sadducees were the temple priests in Jesus’ era. The Pharisees were the main rival faction. The Pharisees were careful to pay their tithes to the Levitical priests, despite the fact that this was a rival faction. They adhered to the letter of the law. Jesus recognized this. He did not fault them on this. He challenged them to adhere to the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith.
The central theme of the Book of Hebrews is the ascension of Jesus Christ to the right hand of God. Jesus Christ was the true high priest in history. “So it was necessary for him to become like his brothers in all ways, so that he would be a merciful and faithful high priest in relation to the things of God, and so that he would bring about the pardon of the people’s sins. Because Jesus himself has suffered and was tempted, he is able to help those who are tempted. Therefore, holy brothers, you share in a heavenly calling. Think about Jesus, the apostle and high priest of our confession” (Hebrews 2:17–3:1). [North, Epistles, ch. 29] He is the high priest in heaven. “Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us firmly hold to our beliefs” (Hebrews 4:14). He is not a Levitical priest. He is a Melchizedekian high priest. “He was designated by God as high priest after the manner of Melchizedek” (Hebrews 5:10). “It was this Melchizedek, king of Salem, priest of God Most High, who met Abraham returning from the slaughter of the kings and blessed him. It was to him that Abraham gave a tenth of everything. His name ‘Melchizedek’ means ‘king of righteousness.’ His other title is ‘king of Salem,’ that is, ‘king of peace’” (Hebrews 7:1–2).
The principle of the tithe was established by Melchizedek. He possessed ecclesiastical authority over Abram. Only when Abram acknowledged this by paying a tithe of his gains under Melchizedek’s jurisdiction (Genesis 14) did God make Abram a household priest by covenant (Genesis 17). The future lower priest tithed to the high priest. Christians are the heirs of the Israelites as the kingdom of priests. Peter declared: “But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s possession, so that you would announce the wonderful actions of the one who called you out from darkness into his marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God. You did not receive mercy, but now you have received mercy” (I Peter 2:9–10).
The kingdom of priests under the Mosaic law was confessional and sacramental: citizens of Israel by profession of faith and by the sacraments. Here was the profession of faith: “Listen, Israel: the Lord our God is one. You will love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your might” (Deuteronomy 6:4–5). The sacraments were circumcision and Passover. The kingdom of priests under the New Covenant is also confessional and sacramental: citizens of the Israel of God, the church (Galatians 6:16), by profession of faith and by the sacraments. Here is the confession. “For if with your mouth you acknowledge Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart man believes for righteousness, and with the mouth he acknowledges for salvation” (Romans 10:9–10). The sacraments are baptism and the Lord’s Supper.
A kingdom of priests is marked by tithing: from lower priests to higher priests. To whom should Christians tithe as members of this kingdom? There are no Levites: a tribe set aside to defend the temple from trespassing and to sacrifice animals to placate God’s wrath. There is only the functional-judicial equivalent of the tabernacle-temple, where the high priest Jesus Christ resides judicially: the institutional church, which administers the sacraments of bread and wine to members of God’s royal priesthood, just as Melchizedek did.
Covenantally, by family representation, Levi paid his tithe through Abraham to a superior priest. “But Melchizedek, whose descent was not traced from them, received tithes from Abraham, and blessed him, the one who had the promises. There is no denying that the lesser person is blessed by the greater person. In this case, mortal men receive tithes, but in that case it is testified that he lives on. And, in a manner of speaking, Levi, who received tithes, also paid tithes through Abraham, because Levi was in the body of his ancestor when Melchizedek met Abraham. Now if perfection were possible through the Levitical priesthood (for under it the people received the law), what further need would there have been for another priest to arise after the manner of Melchizedek, and not be considered to be after the manner of Aaron?” (Hebrews 7:6–11).
The new law of the tithe is that Christians must pay their tithes to the local church, as the ecclesiastical representative (point two) of the high priest. They are under a hierarchy (point two). There had to be a new law of tithing, for there has been a change in the priesthood: from Levi to Judah. “For when the priesthood is changed, the law must also be changed” (Hebrews 7:12). Christians are priests through Jesus. How? Through adoption. “But when the fullness of time had come, God sent out his Son, born of a woman, born under the law. He did this to redeem those under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons” (Galatians 4:4-5). We are priests through adoption into the family of the high priest. The transfer of the priestly line from Levi to Judah marked the transition from the Old Covenant to the New Covenant. “By this also Jesus has given the guarantee of a better covenant. The former priests were many in number, since death prevented them from continuing in office. But because Jesus continues to live forever, he has a permanent priesthood” (Hebrews 7:22–24).
The lower priest pays a tithe to the higher priest. This is the covenantal structure of the tithe. The Melchizedekian priesthood is the biblical model.
The tithe is no longer exclusively agricultural. There is no holy land in Palestine. There are no family farms based on an original inheritance established by military genocide. Holy land now encompasses whatever is made holy—set apart—through ownership by Christians. That which we redeem—buy back—from the kingdom of mammon is made holy: set aside because it is under our lawful jurisdiction. This is our inheritance from God, and it is the inheritance that we leave behind to our heirs. God therefore deserves His tithe on the net output of that inheritance. This is a matter of godly inheritance.
First, you owe God a payment of 10% of your net earnings and profits, as surely as the owners of tribal rural land in Mosaic Israel owed the Levites ten percent.
Second, the civil government has nothing to do with tithing. The church is not Levitical. It did not gain an inheritance that is enforceable by civil law. The Levites did gain such an inheritance: an inheritance as enforceable by civil law as ownership of a crop in Mosaic Israel was enforceable by civil law.
Third, if you pay your tithe, you have met your obligation to God. You need not worry about not having paid enough. You can abandon all guilt for not having paid enough.
Fourth, if you do not pay your tithe, you are guilty before God. Start paying your tithe.
Fifth, you owe all of your tithe to your local congregation.
Sixth, if you choose to support other charities, these donations constitute your offerings above your tithe.
Is the tithe owed on gross income or net? Net. Here is why: locusts. “Suppose there is famine in the land, or suppose that there is disease, blight or mildew, locusts or caterpillars; or suppose that its enemies attack the city gates in their land, or that there is any plague or sickness—and suppose then that prayers and requests are made by a person or by all your people Israel—each knowing the plague and sorrow in his own heart as he spreads out his hands toward this temple” (II Chronicles 6:28–29). When they come, the fields are stripped of their crops. The result is devastation. A man owes a tithe on his increase. He does not owe it for that which the locusts consumed in the day of the locust.
The payment is owed on the increase when you convert the asset into money. It is not owed on the income before you deduct your original capital investment. God does not tax your income twice. We know this because of the Mosaic law of the tithe that governed animals. The owner paid the Levite the tenth animal that passed under the bar. If nine passed through, he owed nothing. “As for every tenth of the herd or the flock, whatever passes under the shepherd’s rod, one-tenth must be set apart to the Lord. The shepherd must not search for the better or the worse animals, and he must not substitute one for another. If he changes it at all, then both it and that for which it is changed will be holy. It cannot be redeemed. These are the commandments that the Lord gave at Mount Sinai to Moses for the people of Israel” (Leviticus 27:32–34). [North, Leviticus, ch. 37]
Should a Christian pay his tithe first or his income tax? The answer is based on the tax code.
In the United States, taxpayers are allowed to deduct charity payments from their gross income. They pay income tax on their net income after charitable donations.
Here is a hypothetical case. A man earns $50,000. Let us make this calculation easy. Let us say that the United States government is merely as tyrannical as the prophesied Hebrew king (I Samuel 8:14, 17). Let us say that he must pay 10% of his income to the government. He can do this in one of two ways.
Pre-tax: $50,000 minus $5,000 tax = $45,000 after taxes. Tithe owed: $4,500. Total retained after tax and tithe = $40,500After-tax: $50,000 minus $5,000 tithe = $45,000 after tithe. Tax owed = $4,500. Total retained after tax and tithe = $40,500.
For a Christian, this decision is a no-brainer. Pay the tithe on gross income. The church gets $5,000. The Federal government gets $4,500.
If a tax is imposed before charity, as the Social Security (FICA) tax is, he owes the tithe on whatever is left over.
The modern limited liability corporation is legally a person in Anglo-American law. It should therefore pay the tithe. When a Christian creates a limited liability corporation or its equivalent, he should allocate 10% of the shares to his local congregation. If the corporation pays dividends to him, it also pays dividends to the local congregation. He therefore does not owe the payment of a tithe on the dividends he receives. If he decides to reinvest the money rather than take a dividend, the corporation builds equity. At some point, the corporation may be able to pay more dividends as a result of this reinvested capital investment. If the corporation decides not to pay dividends, then the church will profit from any increase in the value of the shares. It can sell the shares for money. Or, if the owner of the company decides that he wants to sell the company to a large corporation, the church participates in the capital gain associated with the sale of the property. This way, the church is paid what it is owed. In most nations, a corporation is not allowed to pay 10% on its profits to a local church. This gets around that limitation. The church prospers if the individual prospers. In this case the individual is a legal fiction: a corporation.
The payment of 10% of your gross income to your local congregation is a moral responsibility. The prophet Malachi made this clear. Not to pay the tithe to your local congregation is stealing from God.
The tithe is owed to your local congregation because it is the covenantal equivalent of the storehouse in Mosaic Israel. It is payment to the high priest. The high priest is Jesus Christ, the son of God. This is the message of the epistle to the Hebrews. Jesus owes his priestly position to Melchizedek, not Levi. The family of Levi was subordinate covenantally to the high priest of Salem, Melchizedek. Again, the epistle to the Hebrews makes this clear.
The tithe is a priestly obligation. It is the obligation of lower priests to higher priests. The apostle Peter taught specifically that Christians are the New Testament nation of priests that replaced Israel’s nation of priests. Israel’s nation of priests owed a tithe to the Levites. But the Levites have now been replaced by the priestly order of the institutional church. Therefore, church members owe their tithes to the institutional representative of the high priest, Jesus Christ. This is the institutional church.
The payment of the tithe is an acknowledgment of the non-autonomy of man. The New Testament is clear that the Second Person of the Trinity was the Creator. He was incarnate in bodily form as Jesus Christ. Both are called the son of God. Covenant keepers acknowledge that they are in need of redemption. The high priest has paid the price of their redemption. They are to acknowledge this payment by their payment of 10% of their gross income to the institutional church. They are under the authority of an institutional church. They receive the sacraments from the institutional church. The sacraments are bread and wine. These were also the sacraments that Melchizedek gave to Abram. As the household priest, Abram paid Melchizedek his tithe. As household priest, the heads of Christian households are to imitate Abram.
I have gone into all this in greater detail in my book, The Covenantal Tithe (2011).
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