The Year Of Tithing

26:12When you have made an end of tithing all the tithe of your increase in the third year, which is the year of tithing, then you shall give it to the Levite, to the sojourner, to the fatherless, and to the widow, that they may eat within your gates, and be filled. 26:13You shall say before Yahweh your Mighty One, I have put away the holy things out of my house, and also have given them to the Levite, and to the sojourner, to the fatherless, and to the widow, according to all your commandment which you have commanded me: I have not transgressed any of your commandments, neither have I forgotten them: 26:14I have not eaten of it in my mourning, neither have I put away of it, being unclean, nor given of it for the dead: I have listened to the voice of Yahweh my Mighty One; I have done according to all that you have commanded me. 26:15Look down from your holy habitation, from Heaven, and bless your people Yisra'el, and the ground which you have given us, as you swore to our fathers, a land flowing with milk and honey.

Why has the third year been called the year of tithing? Was it that the Yisraelites tithed only once every three years? Or was this year so called because a special tithe for the needy was collected, a tithe in addition to other tithes that Yahweh commanded the children of Yisrael to observe?

In Deuteronomy 12 and 14 it is noted that the children of Yisrael were to tithe the increase of their agricultural and livestock produce in order to have sufficient provisions when they were at the place Yahweh chose to put his name, being there to learn how to fear Yahweh always. Leviticus 23 notes that the children of Yisrael were required to go to the place Yahweh had chosen to put his name three times a year. Implying that the children of Yisrael needed to have been tithing of their agricultural and livestock increase on a continual basis in order to have sufficient provisions when they went to the place Yahweh had chosen to place his name. It should therefore be evident that the children of Yisrael tithed the second category of tithes on a continual basis, seeing that they needed provisions each time they went to Yahweh's chosen place three times a year.

In the same vein it should be understood that the first category of mentioned tithes, that given by the children of Yisrael to the Levites, in exchange for the Levites' service to Yahweh in their tent of meeting service, was observed continually. For the Levites continually served in the tent of meeting, and needed continual provisions for their sustenance.

It therefore appears that the third category of mentioned tithes, that given to the needy, including Levites, sojourners, the fatherless and widows, was observed only once every three years. And it is this third category of tithes that gave the third year its descriptive name "the year of tithing", for it was observed only once every three years. The other two tithes were continual occurrences.

 

Pray For Yahweh's Blessing When You Provide For The Needy

26:15 shows that those who provide for the needy should pray that Yahweh bless them that they may have sufficient for their sustenance.

 

Robbing Yahweh

3:1Behold, I send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me: and the Sovereign, whom you seek, will suddenly come to his temple; and the messenger of the covenant, whom you desire, behold, he comes, says Yahweh-Tzva'ot. 3:2But who can abide the day of his coming? And who shall stand when he appears? For he is like a refiner's fire, and like fuller's soap: 3:3and he will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and he will purify the sons of Levi, and refine them as gold and silver; and they shall offer to Yahweh offerings in righteousness. 3:4Then shall the offering of Yahudah and Yerushalayim be pleasant to Yahweh, as in the days of old, and as in ancient years.

3:5I will come near to you to judgment; and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, and against the adulterers, and against the perjurers, and against those who oppress the hireling in his wages, the widow, and the fatherless, and who turn aside the sojourner from his right, and don't fear me, says Yahweh-Tzva'ot. 3:6For I, Yahweh, don't change; therefore you, sons of Ya`akov, are not consumed. 3:7From the days of your fathers you have turned aside from my ordinances, and have not kept them. Return to me, and I will return to you, says Yahweh-Tzva'ot. But you say, Wherein shall we return? 3:8Will a man rob the Mighty One? Yet you rob me. But you say, Wherein have we robbed you? In tithes and offerings. 3:9You are cursed with the curse; for you rob me, even this whole nation. 3:10Bring the whole tithe into the store-house, that there may be food in my house, and prove me now herewith, says Yahweh-Tzva'ot, if I will not open you the windows of Heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it. 3:11I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, and he shall not destroy the fruits of your ground; neither shall your vine cast its fruit before the time in the field, says Yahweh-Tzva'ot. 3:12All nations shall call you happy; for you shall be a delightful land, says Yahweh-Tzva'ot.

3:13Your words have been stout against me, says Yahweh. Yet you say, What have we spoken against you? 3:14You have said, It is vain to serve the Mighty One; and what profit is it that we have kept his charge, and that we have walked mournfully before Yahweh-Tzva'ot? 3:15Now we call the proud happy; yes, those who work wickedness are built up; yes, they tempt the Mighty One, and escape. 3:16Then those who feared Yahweh spoke one with another; and Yahweh listened, and heard, and a book of memory was written before him, for those who feared Yahweh, and that thought on his name. 3:17They shall be my, says Yahweh-Tzva'ot, even my own possession, in the day that I make; and I will spare them, as a man spares his own son who serves him. 3:18Then shall you return and discern between the righteous and the wicked, between him who serves the Mighty One and him who doesn't serve him.

4:1For, behold, the day comes, it burns as a furnace; and all the proud, and all who work wickedness, shall be stubble; and the day that comes shall burn them up, says Yahweh-Tzva'ot, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch. 4:2But to you who fear my name shall the sun of righteousness arise with healing in its wings; and you shall go forth, and gambol as calves of the stall. 4:3You shall tread down the wicked; for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet in the day that I make, says Yahweh-Tzva'ot. 4:4Remember you the law of Moshe my servant, which I commanded to him in Chorev for all Yisra'el, even statutes and ordinances. 4:5Behold, I will send you Eliyah the prophet before the great and terrible day of Yahweh comes. 4:6He shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers; lest I come and strike the earth with a curse.

It is evident from 3:8-9 that Yisraelites who do not fully and faithfully tithe to Yahweh are in reality ROBBING Yahweh. The tithe belongs to Yahweh, and must be given to the person Yahweh commands that it be given to.

 

Yahweh Blesses Those Who Faithfully Tithe To Him

3:10-12 shows that Yahweh indeed blesses those who faithfully tithe to him, by returning to him a tenth of what he gives one. He blesses them by ensuring that all of their needs are adequately catered for. He even blesses them by giving them more than their needs.

In assuring the children of Yisrael that he will bless them when they tithe to him Yahweh is simply repeating what he told them in Deuteronomy 26:15. Nevertheless, in Deuteronomy 26:15 he spoke similar words in the context of the tithe of the third year, promising to provide them with their needs. It therefore appears to be a law or principle of Yahweh that when he is fully and faithfully obeyed in the matter of tithing, he indeed blesses the ones who so fully and faithfully obey him. He gives them not only enough for their sustenance, but even more than they need for their sustenance.

 

How Yahweh's Blessing Reaches His Faithful Children

3:11 shows HOW Yahweh ensures that the blessing he has apportioned to his faithful children reaches them. He does this by rebuking the devourer to prevent the devourer from so preventing this blessing reaching Yahweh's faithful children. It should therefore be evident that the devourer is busy at work to thwart Yahweh's blessings for his children reaching them, doing all in his power to deny them Yahweh's blessings.

 

Tithing In Yisrael To Remain Applicable At The Time Just Prior To The Messiah's Return

It should also be noted that the context of Malachi 3 and 4 is the time of the end, the time just prior to the coming of the messenger of the covenant, Yah'shuah the Messiah, coming in power and glory. It should therefore be evident that Yahweh's commands to the children of Yisrael with respect to tithing remain applicable to them at this time just prior to the coming of Yah'shuah the Messiah in power and glory. This is the time when Yahweh sends Eliyah the prophet to turn the hearts of the children of Yisrael to Yahweh their Father, and the hearts of Yahweh and Yah'shuah to the children of Yisrael. It is also, as 4:4 shows, a time when the children of Yisrael should REMEMBER the Torah of Moshe, Yahweh's servant, commanded to him for all Yisrael at Chorev. It should therefore be evident that the Torah of Moshe remains applicable to all the children of Yisrael, even at the time just before Yahweh sends Yah'shuah the Messiah to come in power and glory.

 

Administration Of Tithing In Yahudah After Return From Captivity

10:34We cast lots, the Kohanim, the Levites, and the people, for the wood-offering, to bring it into the house of our Mighty One, according to our fathers' houses, at times appointed, year by year, to burn on the altar of Yahweh our Mighty One, as it is written in the law; 10:35and to bring the first-fruits of our ground, and the first-fruits of all fruit of all manner of trees, year by year, to the house of Yahweh; 10:36also the firstborn of our sons, and of our cattle, as it is written in the law, and the firstborn of our herds and of our flocks, to bring to the house of our Mighty One, to the Kohanim who minister in the house of our Mighty One; 10:37and that we should bring the first-fruits of our dough, and our heave-offerings, and the fruit of all manner of trees, the new wine and the oil, to the Kohanim, to the chambers of the house of our Mighty One; and the tithes of our ground to the Levites; for they, the Levites, take the tithes in all the cities of our tillage. 10:38The Kohen the son of Aharon shall be with the Levites, when the Levites take tithes: and the Levites shall bring up the tithe of the tithes to the house of our Mighty One, to the chambers, into the treasure-house. 10:39For the children of Yisra'el and the children of Levi shall bring the heave-offering of the grain, of the new wine, and of the oil, to the chambers, where are the vessels of the sanctuary, and the Kohanim who minister, and the porters, and the singers: and we will not forsake the house of our Mighty One.

10:37-38 demonstrates how the law of tithing was administered in the land of Yahudah after the exiles of Yahudah had returned to their own land after their captivity. The administration was in accord with Yahweh's law to Yisrael through Moshe.

It should be noted that the tithes of the people were taken by the Levites in the cities of tillage - where the agricultural and livestock produce were produced. The Levites, in turn, took their tithe of the tithes to the house of Yahweh in the location that Yahweh had placed his name to dwell.

 

Administration Of Tithing In Yahudah By Nechemyah

13:12Then brought all Yahudah the tithe of the grain and the new wine and the oil to the treasuries. 13:13I made treasurers over the treasuries, Shelemyahu the Kohen, and Tzadok the Sofer, and of the Levites, Pedayahu: and next to them was Chanan the son of Zakkur, the son of Mattanyah; for they were counted faithful, and their business was to distribute to their brothers. 13:14Remember me, my Mighty One, concerning this, and don't wipe out my good deeds that I have done for the house of my Mighty One, and for the observances of it.

Additional examples of how the law of tithing was administered in the land of Yahudah by Nechemyah the governor. It should be noted that capable and trustworthy individuals among the Kohanim and the Levites were appointed treasurers over the treasuries, to ensure that the distribution of these tithes to their brethren was conducted in a proper manner.

 

Administration Of Tithing In Yahudah By Chizkiyahu

31:1Now when all this was finished, all Yisra'el who were present went out to the cities of Yahudah, and broke in pieces the pillars, and hewed down the Asherim, and broke down the high places and the altars out of all Yahudah and Binyamin, in Efrayim also and Menashshe, until they had destroyed them all. Then all the children of Yisra'el returned, every man to his possession, into their own cities. 31:2Chizkiyahu appointed the courses of the Kohanim and the Levites after their courses, every man according to his service, both the Kohanim and the Levites, for burnt offerings and for peace-offerings, to minister, and to give thanks, and to praise in the gates of the camp of Yahweh. 31:3He appointed also the king's portion of his substance for the burnt-offerings, to wit, for the morning and evening burnt offerings, and the burnt offerings for the Shabbatot, and for the new moons, and for the set feasts, as it is written in the law of Yahweh. 31:4Moreover he commanded the people who lived in Yerushalayim to give the portion of the Kohanim and the Levites, that they might give themselves to the law of Yahweh.

31:5As soon as the commandment came abroad, the children of Yisra'el gave in abundance the first-fruits of grain, new wine, and oil, and honey, and of all the increase of the field; and the tithe of all things brought they in abundantly. 31:6The children of Yisra'el and Yahudah, who lived in the cities of Yahudah, they also brought in the tithe of oxen and sheep, and the tithe of dedicated things which were consecrated to Yahweh their Mighty One, and laid them by heaps. 31:7In the third month they began to lay the foundation of the heaps, and finished them in the seventh month.

31:8When Chizkiyahu and the princes came and saw the heaps, they blessed Yahweh, and his people Yisra'el. 31:9Then Chizkiyahu questioned the Kohanim and the Levites concerning the heaps. 31:10`Azaryah the chief Kohen, of the house of Tzadok, answered him and said, Since the people began to bring the offerings into the house of Yahweh, we have eaten and had enough, and have left plenty: for Yahweh has blessed his people; and that which is left is this great store. 31:11Then Chizkiyahu commanded to prepare chambers in the house of Yahweh; and they prepared them. 31:12They brought in the offerings and the tithes and the dedicated things faithfully: and over them Kananyahu the Levite was ruler, and Shim`i his brother was second. 31:13Yechi'el, and `Azazyahu, and Nachat, and `Asa'el, and Yerimot, and Yozavad, and Eli'el, and Yismakhyahu, and Machat, and Benayah, were overseers under the hand of Kananyahu and Shim`i his brother, by the appointment of Chizkiyahu the king, and `Azaryah the ruler of the house of the Mighty One.

31:14Kore the son of Yimnah the Levite, the porter at the east gate, was over the freewill-offerings of the Mighty One, to distribute the offerings of Yahweh, and the most holy things. 31:15Under him were `Eden, and Minyamin, and Yeshua, and Shemayahu, Amaryah, and Shekhanyahu, in the cities of the Kohanim, in their office of trust, to give to their brothers by courses, as well to the great as to the small: 31:16besides those who were reckoned by genealogy of males, from three years old and upward, even everyone who entered into the house of Yahweh, as the duty of every day required, for their service in their offices according to their courses; 31:17and those who were reckoned by genealogy of the Kohanim by their fathers' houses, and the Levites from twenty years old and upward, in their offices by their courses; 31:18and those who were reckoned by genealogy of all their little ones, their wives, and their sons, and their daughters, through all the congregation: for in their office of trust they sanctified themselves in holiness.

31:19Also for the sons of Aharon the Kohanim, who were in the fields of the suburbs of their cities, in every city, there were men who were mentioned by name, to give portions to all the males among the Kohanim, and to all who were reckoned by genealogy among the Levites.

31:20Thus did Chizkiyahu throughout all Yahudah; and he worked that which was good and right and faithful before Yahweh his Mighty One. 31:21In every work that he began in the service of the house of the Mighty One, and in the law, and in the commandments, to seek his Mighty One, he did it with all his heart, and prospered.

 

Why Tithes And Offerings Were Given To The Priests And Levites

31:4 reiterates the PURPOSE of the Kohanim and the Levites being given their portion. "That they might give themselves to the law of Yahweh." In other words, the reason why the Kohanim and the Levites were to be provided for by receipt of the tithes and offerings that Yahweh gave them was to facilitate their serving Yahweh in matters of the law of Yahweh, including service in the tent of meeting.

 

The Results Of The King's Command To Give Tithes And Offerings

31:5-6 notes the results of the king's command to the people that they give the various tithes and offerings according to the law. Plenty of produce came to the Levites and the Kohanim, with some accumulated in heaps, as they were more than needed. It appears that sometimes Yahweh's people have to be commanded by those in authority in order for them to abide by Yahweh's commandments. When this happens - when the people abide by Yahweh's commandments, they reap his blessings.

Nevertheless, it should also be noted that the heart of the people might not have been to obey Yahweh. For if it had been they would have been expected to be abiding by Yahweh's commandments without the king having to issue his own additional command that the people abide by Yahweh's commandments. It would seem that the people obeyed Yahweh out of fear of the consequences arising on account of not obeying the king, rather than willingly obeying Yahweh from their heart.

 

Tithing To Yahweh Is Goodness, Righteousness And Faithfulness

31:11-19 clearly shows the administration of the law with respect to tithing and offerings during the days of Chizkiyahu king of Yahudah.

31:20-21 notes that these works of Chizkiyahu were to his credit, for he worked that which was good and right and faithful before Yahweh his Mighty One. And he did these works to seek his Mighty One with all his heart, and he prospered. Chizkiyahu's example is certainly one what we all should emulate.

 

Tithing Is Not One Of The Weightier Matters Of The Law

23:23Woe to you, Sofrim and Perushim, hypocrites! For you tithe mint, dill, and cummin, and have left undone the weightier matters of the law - justice, mercy, and faith. But you ought to have done these, and not to have left the other undone.

The law of tithing should indeed be held in perspective. It is NOT one of the weightier matters of the law, though it is still a matter of the law that should be adhered to. And seeing that Yah'shuah endorsed the performance of the law of tithing, it should indeed be abided by all those heeding Yah'shuah's words.

 

Practice Of Tithing Ought To Continue

11:42But woe to you Perushim! For you tithe mint and rue and every herb, and bypass justice and the love of the Mighty One. You ought to have done these, and not to leave the other undone.

Tithing as a practice should continue, according to Yah'shuah's words. In addition, those practising tithing should also practice justice and the love of the Mighty One, for these latter practices are more important than tithing.

 

Temper With Humility Your Observance Of Tithing And The Rest Of Yahweh's Law

18:9He spoke also this parable to certain people who were convinced of their own righteousness, and who despised all others. 18:10"Two men went up into the temple to pray; one was a Parush, and the other was a tax collector. 18:11The Parush stood and prayed to himself like this: 'Mighty One, I thank you, that I am not like the rest of men, extortioners, unrighteous, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. 18:12I fast twice in the week. I give tithes of all that I get.' 18:13But the tax collector, standing far away, wouldn't even lift up as his eyes to Heaven, but beat his breast, saying, 'Mighty One, be merciful to me, a sinner!' 18:14I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other, for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but he who humbles himself will be exalted."

When we tithe, we should not get carried away into exaltation by virtue of our tithing. For those who exalt themselves will indeed be abased. We should therefore strive to remain humble in attitude, even when we are adhering to Yahweh's laws, including his law on tithing.

 

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