Reference: Tithes
Fausets
(See DEUTERONOMY.) Tenths of produce, property, or spoils, dedicated to sacred use. So Abram (and Levi, as in Abram's loins) to Melchizedek the king priest who blessed him (Ge 14:20; Heb 7:1-10). Jacob after his Bethel vision vowed a tenth of all that God gave him, should God be with and keep him, and give him bread and raiment, and bring him again to his father's house in peace (Ge 28:20-22). The usage of consecrated tithes existed among the Greeks, Romans, Carthaginians, and Arabians. See 1Ma 11:35; Herodotus i. 89; iv. 152; v. 77; vii. 132; 9:81; Diod. Sic. v. 42; xi. 33; 20:44; Cicero, Verr. ii. 3,6-7; Xenophon, Anabasis v. 3, section 9. The "tithe" (terumot) of all produce as also of flocks and cattle belonged to Jehovah. and was paid in kind, or if redeemed one fifth of the value was added. Le 27:30-33, "whatsoever passed under the rod": the rabbis had the tradition that the animals to be tithed were enclosed in a pen, from whence they passed one by one under the counter's rod, and every tenth was touched with a rod dipped in vermilion (Jer 33:13; Eze 20:37).
The Levites received this terumot; they in turn paid a tenth of this to the high priest (Nu 18:21-28,31). In De 10:9; 12:5-18; 14:22,29; 18:1-2; 26:12-14, the general first tithe of all animal and vegetable increase for maintaining the priests and Levites is taken, for granted; what is added in this later time is the second additional tithe of the field produce alone, and for celebrating the sacred feasts each first and second year in the Shiloh or Jerusalem sanctuary, and every third year at home with a feast to the Levites, the stranger, fatherless, and widow. The six years thus marked were followed by the Jubilee year; on it the attendance was the larger because of the scant attendance on the sixth year when most stayed at home. In the Jubilee year there was no tithe, as the land enjoyed its sabbath. Tobit (Tob 1:7-8) says he gave a third tithe to the poor; Josephus (Ant. 4:8, 8, section 22) also mentions a third tithe; so Jerome too on Ezekiel 45.
Maimonides denies a third tithe (which would be an excessive burden) and represents the seceded tithe of the third and sixth years as shared between the poor and the Levites. (See Selden on Tithes, 2:13). Ewald suggests that for two years the tithe was virtually voluntary, on the third year compulsory. Thus there was a yearly tithe for the Levites, a second yearly tithe for two years for the festivals; but this second tithe on every third year was shared by the Levites with the poor. The kings, Samuel foresaw, would appropriate the three years' poor man's tithe (1Sa 8:15,17). Hezekiah rectified the abuse (2Ch 31:5,12,19); also Nehemiah after the return from Babylon (Ne 10:38-39; 13:5,12; 12:44).
The Pharisees were punctilious in paying tithe for all even the smallest herbs (Mt 23:23; Lu 18:12). Amos (Am 4:4) upbraids Israel with zeal for the letter of the tithe law while disregarding its spirit. Malachi (Mal 3:10) seconded Nehemiah's efforts. God promises to "open heaven's windows and pour out a blessing" so that there would be no "room to receive it," provided the people by bringing in all the tithes would put Him to the proof as to keeping His word. Christians, whose privileges are so much greater and to whom heaven is opened by Christ's death and ascension, should at least offer no less a proportion of all their income to the Lord's cause than did the Israelite: we should not lose but even in this world gain thereby (Pr 3:9-10). Azariah the high priest told Hezekiah: "since the people began to bring the offerings into the house of the Lord we have bad enough to eat, and have left plenty, for the Lord hath blessed His people, and that which is left is this great store" (2Ch 31:10).
The New Testament plan of giving is 1Co 16:2; 2Co 9:7-9. Moral obligation, not force, was what constrained the Israelite to give tithes. He solemnly professed he had done so every third and sixth year (of the septennial cycle), when instead of taking the second or vegetable tithe to the sanctuary he used it at home in charity and hospitality (De 26:13-14; 14:28-29). Ananias' and Sapphira's declaration corresponds, but it was a lie against the Holy Spirit (Acts 5); Joseph's fifth of Egypt's increase to the sovereign who had saved the people's lives corresponds to, and was perhaps suggested by, the double tithe or fifth paid by Israel long before.
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And blessed be the most high God, who has delivered your enemies into your hand. And he gave him tithes of all.
And Jacob vowed a vow, saying, If God will be with me, and will keep me in this way that I go, and will give me bread to eat and clothing to put on, and I come again to my father's house in peace, then shall Jehovah be my God. read more. And this stone which I have set for a pillar shall be God's house. And of all that You shall give me, I will surely give the tenth to You.
And all the tithe of the land, of the seed of the land, or of the fruit of the tree, is Jehovah's. It is holy to Jehovah. And if a man will at all redeem anything of his tithes, he shall add to it the fifth part of it. read more. And all the tithe of the herd, or of the flock, all that passes under the rod, a tenth shall be holy to Jehovah He shall not search whether it is good or bad, neither shall he change it. And if he changes it at all, then both it and the change of it shall be holy. It shall not be redeemed.
And behold, I have given the sons of Levi all the tenth in Israel for an inheritance, for their service which they serve, the service of the tabernacle of the congregation. Neither must the sons of Israel come near the tabernacle of the congregation from now on, lest they bear sin and die. read more. But the Levites shall do the service of the tabernacle of the congregation, and they shall bear their iniquity, a statute forever throughout your generations, that among the sons of Israel they have no inheritance. But the tithes of the sons of Israel, which they offer as a heave offering to Jehovah, I have given to the Levites to inherit. Therefore I have said to them, Among the sons of Israel they shall have no inheritance. And Jehovah spoke to Moses saying, And you shall speak to the Levites, and you shall say to them, When you take tithes from the sons of Israel, which I have given you from them for your inheritance, then you shall offer up a heave offering of it for Jehovah, a tenth of the tithe. And your heave offering shall be credited to you as grain of the threshing-floor, and as the fullness of the winepress. So you also shall offer a heave offering to Jehovah of all your tithes which you receive from the sons of Israel. And you shall give from it Jehovah's heave offering to Aaron the priest.
And you shall eat it in every place, you and your households. For it is your reward for your service in the tabernacle of the congregation.
Therefore Levi has no part nor inheritance with his brothers. Jehovah is his inheritance, according as Jehovah your God promised him.
But you shall seek to the place which Jehovah your God shall choose out of all your tribes to put His name there, even to His dwelling place you shall seek, and there you shall come. And there you shall bring your burnt offerings, and your sacrifices, and your tithes, and heave offering of your hand, and your vows, and your free-will offerings, and the first-born of your herds and of your flocks. read more. And there you shall eat before Jehovah your God, and you shall rejoice in all that you put your hand to, you and your households in which Jehovah your God has blessed you. You shall not do according to all that we do here today, each doing whatever is right in his own eyes. For you have not as yet come to the rest and to the inheritance which Jehovah your God gives you. But when you go over Jordan and live in the land which Jehovah your God gives you to inherit, and He gives you rest from all your enemies all around, so that you live in safety, then there shall be a place which Jehovah your God shall choose to cause His name to dwell there. There you shall bring all that I command you, your burnt offerings, and your sacrifices, your tithes, and the heave offering of your hand, and all your choice vows which you vow to Jehovah. And you shall rejoice before Jehovah your God; you, your sons, your daughters, your menservants, your female servants, and the Levite that is within your gates (because he has no part nor inheritance with you). Take heed to yourself that you do not offer your burnt offerings in every place that you see. But in the place which Jehovah shall choose in one of your tribes, there you shall offer your burnt offerings, and there you shall do all that I command you. However, with all your soul's desire you shall sacrifice and eat flesh in all your gates, according to the blessing of Jehovah your God which He has given you, the clean and the unclean, one may eat, as of the gazelle, and as of the hart. Only you shall not eat the blood. You shall pour it on the earth like water. You may not eat inside your gates the tithe of your grain or of your wine or of your oil, or the first-born of your herds or of your flock, or any of your vows which you vow, or your free-will offerings or the heave offering of your hand. But you must eat them before Jehovah your God in the place which Jehovah your God shall choose; you, and your son, and your daughter, and your manservant, and your maidservant, and the Levite within your gates. And you shall rejoice before Jehovah your God in all that you put your hand to.
You shall truly tithe all the increase of your seed that the field brings forth year by year.
At the end of three years you shall bring forth all the tithe of your increase the same year, and shall lay it up inside your gates. And the Levite, because he has no part nor inheritance with you, and the stranger, and the fatherless, and the widow, who are inside your gates, shall come, and shall eat and be satisfied, so that Jehovah your God may bless you in all the work of your hand which you do.
And the Levite, because he has no part nor inheritance with you, and the stranger, and the fatherless, and the widow, who are inside your gates, shall come, and shall eat and be satisfied, so that Jehovah your God may bless you in all the work of your hand which you do.
The priests, the Levites, all the tribe of Levi, shall have no part nor inheritance with Israel. They shall eat the offerings of Jehovah made by fire, and His inheritance. Therefore they shall have no inheritance among their brothers. Jehovah is their inheritance, as He has said to them.
When you have made an end of tithing all the tithes of your increase the third year, the year of tithing, and have given it to the Levite, the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow (that they may eat inside your gates and be filled), then you shall say before Jehovah your God, I have brought away the holy things out of my house, and also have given them to the Levite, and to the stranger, to the fatherless, and to the widow, according to all Your commandments which You have commanded me. I have not broken Your commandments, neither have I forgotten.
then you shall say before Jehovah your God, I have brought away the holy things out of my house, and also have given them to the Levite, and to the stranger, to the fatherless, and to the widow, according to all Your commandments which You have commanded me. I have not broken Your commandments, neither have I forgotten. I have not eaten of it in my mourning, neither have I put any of it away for unclean use, nor have I given of it for the dead. I have listened to the voice of Jehovah my God, and have done according to all that You have commanded me.
I have not eaten of it in my mourning, neither have I put any of it away for unclean use, nor have I given of it for the dead. I have listened to the voice of Jehovah my God, and have done according to all that You have commanded me.
And he will take the tenth of your seed and of your vineyards, and give it to his eunuchs and to his servants.
He will take the tenth of your sheep, and you shall be his servants.
And as the command spread, the sons of Israel brought plentifully of the firstfruits of corn, wine, and oil, and honey, and of all the increase of the field. And the tithe of all things they brought in abundance.
And Azariah the chief priest of the house of Zadok answered him and said, Since the people began to bring the offerings into the house of Jehovah, we have had enough to eat and have plenty left. For Jehovah has blessed His people, and this great store is left.
and brought in the offerings and the tithes and the things dedicated to God faithfully. And over them was Cononiah the Levite ruler, and Shimei his brother the next.
And to the sons of Aaron, the priests, in the fields of the open lands of their cities, in each separate city were the men who were named by name, to give shares to all the males among the priests, and to all who were counted by genealogies among the Levites.
And the priest, the son of Aaron, 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 God, to the rooms, into the treasure house. For the sons of Israel and the sons of Levi shall bring the offering of the grain, of the new wine, and the oil, to the rooms where the vessels of the sanctuary are, and the priests who minister, and the gatekeepers and the singers. And we will not forsake the house of our God.
And at that time some were chosen over the rooms for the treasuries, for the offerings, for the firstfruits, and for the tithes, to gather to them out of the fields of the cities the portions of the Law for the priests and Levites. For Judah rejoiced for the priests and for the Levites who waited.
and he had prepared for himself a large room where they had in days of old laid the food offering, the frankincense, and the vessels, and the tithes of the grain, the new wine, and the oil, which was commanded to be given to the Levites, and the singers, and the gatekeepers, and the offerings of the priests.
And all Judah brought the tithe of the grain and the new wine and the oil into the treasuries.
Honor Jehovah with your substance, and with the firstfruits of all your increase; and your barns shall be filled with plenty, and your presses shall burst with new wine.
In the cities of the mountains, in the cities of the valley, and in the cities of the south, and in the land of Benjamin, and in the places around Jerusalem, and in the cities of Judah, shall the flocks pass again under the hands of him who tallies, says Jehovah.
And I will cause you to pass under the rod, and I will bring you into the bond of the covenant.
Come to Bethel and transgress; to Gilgal and multiply transgressing at Gilgal. And bring your sacrifices for the morning, your tithes for three years;
Bring all the tithe into the storehouse, so that there may be food in My house. And test Me now with this, says Jehovah of Hosts, to see if I will not open the windows of Heaven for you, and pour out a blessing for you, until there is not enough room.
Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you pay tithes of mint and dill and cummin, and you have left undone the weightier matters of the Law, judgment, mercy, and faith. You ought to have done these and not to leave the other undone.
I fast twice on the Sabbath, I give tithes of all that I possess.
On the first of the sabbaths let each of you put by himself, storing up what ever he is prospered, so that there may be no collections when I come.
For this Melchizedek, king of Salem and priest of the Most High God, met Abraham returning from the slaughter of the kings and blessed him. To him Abraham also gave a tenth of all. He was first by interpretation king of righteousness, and after that also king of Salem, which is king of peace, read more. without father, without mother, without descent, having neither beginning of days nor end of life, but made like the Son of God, he remains a priest continually. Now consider how great this man was, to whom even the patriarch Abraham gave the tenth of the spoils. And truly they who are of the sons of Levi, who receive the office of the priest, have a commandment to take tithes of the people according to the Law, that is, from their brothers, though they come out of the loins of Abraham. But he whose descent is not counted from them received tithes from Abraham and blessed him who had the promises. And without all contradiction the lesser is blessed by the better. And here men who die receive tithes; but there he receives them, of whom it is witnessed that he lives. And if I may say so, Levi, also, who receives tithes, paid tithes in Abraham. For he was still in the loins of his father when Melchizedek met him.
Hastings
According to both North Israelite (Ge 28:22) and Jud
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And blessed be the most high God, who has delivered your enemies into your hand. And he gave him tithes of all.
And blessed be the most high God, who has delivered your enemies into your hand. And he gave him tithes of all.
And Jacob vowed a vow, saying, If God will be with me, and will keep me in this way that I go, and will give me bread to eat and clothing to put on, and I come again to my father's house in peace, then shall Jehovah be my God. read more. And this stone which I have set for a pillar shall be God's house. And of all that You shall give me, I will surely give the tenth to You.
And this stone which I have set for a pillar shall be God's house. And of all that You shall give me, I will surely give the tenth to You.
And all the tithe of the land, of the seed of the land, or of the fruit of the tree, is Jehovah's. It is holy to Jehovah. And if a man will at all redeem anything of his tithes, he shall add to it the fifth part of it. read more. And all the tithe of the herd, or of the flock, all that passes under the rod, a tenth shall be holy to Jehovah He shall not search whether it is good or bad, neither shall he change it. And if he changes it at all, then both it and the change of it shall be holy. It shall not be redeemed.
And behold, I have given the sons of Levi all the tenth in Israel for an inheritance, for their service which they serve, the service of the tabernacle of the congregation. Neither must the sons of Israel come near the tabernacle of the congregation from now on, lest they bear sin and die. read more. But the Levites shall do the service of the tabernacle of the congregation, and they shall bear their iniquity, a statute forever throughout your generations, that among the sons of Israel they have no inheritance. But the tithes of the sons of Israel, which they offer as a heave offering to Jehovah, I have given to the Levites to inherit. Therefore I have said to them, Among the sons of Israel they shall have no inheritance.
But the tithes of the sons of Israel, which they offer as a heave offering to Jehovah, I have given to the Levites to inherit. Therefore I have said to them, Among the sons of Israel they shall have no inheritance.
You shall truly tithe all the increase of your seed that the field brings forth year by year.
Come to Bethel and transgress; to Gilgal and multiply transgressing at Gilgal. And bring your sacrifices for the morning, your tithes for three years;
To him Abraham also gave a tenth of all. He was first by interpretation king of righteousness, and after that also king of Salem, which is king of peace,
Now consider how great this man was, to whom even the patriarch Abraham gave the tenth of the spoils.
Morish
The giving of a tenth to God, or to His representatives, was practised long before the law enforced it. Abraham gave tithes of the spoils to Melchizedek, and Jacob vowed that he would give to God the tenth of all that God might give to him. Ge 14:20; 28:22; Heb 7:2-9. There is evidence that heathen nations devoted tithes to sacred and fiscal uses, consecrating them to their gods or to victorious generals, or as a permanent source of income to their sovereign.
The tithes under the law were
1. Those given to the Levites: they embraced a tenth of all produce. Every tenth animal as it passed under the rod was to be given, whether it was good or bad: if changed, both had to be given: if either animal or vegetable produce were redeemed, a fifth had to be added thereto. Le 27:30-33; Nu 18:21-24; Ne 10:37-38. Again a tenth of the tithe given to the Levites was a portion for the priests. Nu 18:26-28.
2. On coming into the land a second tenth of all produce was to be taken to Jerusalem, or, if the distance was too great, it could be turned into money, and when the offerer arrived at Jerusalem he could purchase any thing that he desired, which was to be eaten there by himself, his children, his servants, and any Levites that might be there at the time. De 12:6-12,17-18; 14:22-27.
3. Every third year (called 'the year of tithing') a third tenth was given according to Josephus (Ant. iv. 8, 22: cf. Tobit 1:7, 8), or, what is more probable, a variation was made in that year respecting the second tenth: it was not to be carried to Jerusalem, but to be laid up 'within the gates,' and there shared by "the Levites . . . . and the stranger, and the fatherless, and the widow." De 14:28-29; Am 4:4.
At the end of 'the year of tithing,' the offerer was to make a solemn declaration before the Lord that he had fully performed the commandment of the Lord, and had withheld for his own use nothing of the tithe. And on this ground he was to pray for the divine blessing on Israel. One of the charges brought against Israel at the end of the O.T. was that they had robbed God, because they had withholden the tithes and offerings; and therefore the whole nation was "cursed with a curse." But if they would bring the tithes into God's storehouse, and prove Him, there would be a blessing beyond their capacity to receive it. Mal 3:8-12.
In New Testament times many were punctilious in paying tithes of small things, while they neglected the weightier matters of the law
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And blessed be the most high God, who has delivered your enemies into your hand. And he gave him tithes of all.
And this stone which I have set for a pillar shall be God's house. And of all that You shall give me, I will surely give the tenth to You.
And all the tithe of the land, of the seed of the land, or of the fruit of the tree, is Jehovah's. It is holy to Jehovah. And if a man will at all redeem anything of his tithes, he shall add to it the fifth part of it. read more. And all the tithe of the herd, or of the flock, all that passes under the rod, a tenth shall be holy to Jehovah He shall not search whether it is good or bad, neither shall he change it. And if he changes it at all, then both it and the change of it shall be holy. It shall not be redeemed.
And behold, I have given the sons of Levi all the tenth in Israel for an inheritance, for their service which they serve, the service of the tabernacle of the congregation. Neither must the sons of Israel come near the tabernacle of the congregation from now on, lest they bear sin and die. read more. But the Levites shall do the service of the tabernacle of the congregation, and they shall bear their iniquity, a statute forever throughout your generations, that among the sons of Israel they have no inheritance. But the tithes of the sons of Israel, which they offer as a heave offering to Jehovah, I have given to the Levites to inherit. Therefore I have said to them, Among the sons of Israel they shall have no inheritance.
And you shall speak to the Levites, and you shall say to them, When you take tithes from the sons of Israel, which I have given you from them for your inheritance, then you shall offer up a heave offering of it for Jehovah, a tenth of the tithe. And your heave offering shall be credited to you as grain of the threshing-floor, and as the fullness of the winepress. read more. So you also shall offer a heave offering to Jehovah of all your tithes which you receive from the sons of Israel. And you shall give from it Jehovah's heave offering to Aaron the priest.
And there you shall bring your burnt offerings, and your sacrifices, and your tithes, and heave offering of your hand, and your vows, and your free-will offerings, and the first-born of your herds and of your flocks. And there you shall eat before Jehovah your God, and you shall rejoice in all that you put your hand to, you and your households in which Jehovah your God has blessed you. read more. You shall not do according to all that we do here today, each doing whatever is right in his own eyes. For you have not as yet come to the rest and to the inheritance which Jehovah your God gives you. But when you go over Jordan and live in the land which Jehovah your God gives you to inherit, and He gives you rest from all your enemies all around, so that you live in safety, then there shall be a place which Jehovah your God shall choose to cause His name to dwell there. There you shall bring all that I command you, your burnt offerings, and your sacrifices, your tithes, and the heave offering of your hand, and all your choice vows which you vow to Jehovah. And you shall rejoice before Jehovah your God; you, your sons, your daughters, your menservants, your female servants, and the Levite that is within your gates (because he has no part nor inheritance with you).
You may not eat inside your gates the tithe of your grain or of your wine or of your oil, or the first-born of your herds or of your flock, or any of your vows which you vow, or your free-will offerings or the heave offering of your hand. But you must eat them before Jehovah your God in the place which Jehovah your God shall choose; you, and your son, and your daughter, and your manservant, and your maidservant, and the Levite within your gates. And you shall rejoice before Jehovah your God in all that you put your hand to.
You shall truly tithe all the increase of your seed that the field brings forth year by year. And you shall eat before Jehovah your God in the place which He shall choose to place His name there, the tithe of your grain, of your wine, and of your oil, and the first-born of your herds and of your flocks, so that you may learn to fear Jehovah your God always. read more. And if the way is too long for you, so that you are not able to carry it, or if the place is too far from you, which Jehovah your God shall choose to set His name there, when Jehovah your God has blessed you, then you shall turn it into silver and bind up the silver in your hand, and shall go to the place which Jehovah your God shall choose. And you shall pay that silver for whatever your soul desires, for oxen, or for sheep, or for wine, or for strong drink, or for whatever your soul desires. And you shall eat there before Jehovah your God, and you shall rejoice, you and your household and the Levite within your gates, you shall not forsake him, for he has no part nor inheritance with you. At the end of three years you shall bring forth all the tithe of your increase the same year, and shall lay it up inside your gates. And the Levite, because he has no part nor inheritance with you, and the stranger, and the fatherless, and the widow, who are inside your gates, shall come, and shall eat and be satisfied, so that Jehovah your God may bless you in all the work of your hand which you do.
and that we should bring the firstfruits of our dough, and our offerings, and the fruit of all kinds of trees, of wine and of oil, to the priests, to the rooms of the house of our God; and the tithes of our ground to the Levites, and they, the Levites, might have the tithes in all the cities we farmed. And the priest, the son of Aaron, 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 God, to the rooms, into the treasure house.
Come to Bethel and transgress; to Gilgal and multiply transgressing at Gilgal. And bring your sacrifices for the morning, your tithes for three years;
Will a man rob God? Yet you have robbed Me. But you say, In what have we robbed You? In the tithe and the offering! You are cursed with a curse; for you are robbing Me, the nation, all of it. read more. Bring all the tithe into the storehouse, so that there may be food in My house. And test Me now with this, says Jehovah of Hosts, to see if I will not open the windows of Heaven for you, and pour out a blessing for you, until there is not enough room. And I will rebuke your devourer, and he shall not decay the fruit of your ground against you; nor shall your vine miscarry against you in the field, says Jehovah of Hosts. And all nations shall call you blessed; for you shall be a delightful land, says Jehovah of Hosts.
Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you pay tithes of mint and dill and cummin, and you have left undone the weightier matters of the Law, judgment, mercy, and faith. You ought to have done these and not to leave the other undone.
But let him who is taught in the Word share with the one teaching in all good things.
To him Abraham also gave a tenth of all. He was first by interpretation king of righteousness, and after that also king of Salem, which is king of peace, without father, without mother, without descent, having neither beginning of days nor end of life, but made like the Son of God, he remains a priest continually. read more. Now consider how great this man was, to whom even the patriarch Abraham gave the tenth of the spoils. And truly they who are of the sons of Levi, who receive the office of the priest, have a commandment to take tithes of the people according to the Law, that is, from their brothers, though they come out of the loins of Abraham. But he whose descent is not counted from them received tithes from Abraham and blessed him who had the promises. And without all contradiction the lesser is blessed by the better. And here men who die receive tithes; but there he receives them, of whom it is witnessed that he lives. And if I may say so, Levi, also, who receives tithes, paid tithes in Abraham.
Watsons
TITHES. We have nothing more ancient concerning tithes, than what we find in Ge 14:20, that Abraham gave tithes to Melchisedec, king of Salem, at his return from his expedition against Chedorlaomer, and the four kings in confederacy with him. Abraham gave him tithe of all the booty he had taken from the enemy. Jacob imitated this piety of his grandfather, when he vowed to the Lord the tithe of all the substance he might acquire in Mesopotamia, Ge 28:22. Under the law, Moses ordained, "All the tithe of the land, whether of the seed of the land, or of the fruit of the tree, is the Lord's; it is holy unto the Lord. And if a man will at all redeem aught of his tithes, he shall add thereto the fifth part thereof. And concerning the tithe of the herd, or of the flock, even of whatsoever passeth under the rod, the tenth shall be holy unto the Lord," Le 27:30-32. The Pharisees, in the time of Jesus Christ, to distinguish themselves by a more scrupulous observance of the law, did not content themselves with paying the tithe of the grain and fruits growing in the fields; but they also paid tithe of the pulse and herbs growing in their gardens, which was more than the law required of them. The tithes were taken from what remained, after the offerings and first fruits were paid. They brought the tithes to the Levites in the city of Jerusalem, as appears from Josephus and Tobit, 1:6. The Levites set apart the tenth part of their tithes for the priest; because the priest did not receive them immediately from the people, and the Levites were not to meddle with the tithes they had received, before they had given the priests such a part as the law assigned them. Of those nine parts that remained to the proprietors, after the tithe was paid to the Levites, they took still another tenth part, which was either sent to Jerusalem in kind, or, if it was too far, they sent the value in money; adding to it a fifth from the whole as the rabbins inform us. This tenth part was applied toward celebrating the festivals in the temple, which bore a near resemblance to the agapae, or love feasts of the first Christians. Thus are those words of Deuteronomy understood by the rabbins: "Thou shalt truly tithe all the increase of thy seed, that the field bringeth forth year by year. And thou shalt eat before the Lord thy God, in the place which he shall choose to place his name there, the tithe of thy corn, of thy wine, and of thy oil, and of the firstlings of thy herds and of thy flocks: that thou mayest learn to fear the Lord thy God always," De 14:22-23. Tobit, 1:6, says, that every three years he punctually paid his tithe to strangers and proselytes. This was probably because there were neither priests nor Levites in the city where he dwelt. Moses speaks of this last kind of tithe: "At the end of three years thou shalt bring forth all the tithe of thine increase the same year, and shalt lay it up within thy gates. And the Levite, (because he hath no part nor inheritance with thee,) and the stranger, and the fatherless, and the widow, which are within thy gates, shall come, and shall eat and be satisfied; that the Lord thy God may bless thee in all the work of thine hand which thou doest," De 14:28; 26:12. It is thought that this tithe was not different from the second kind before noticed, except that in the third year it was not brought to the temple, but was used upon the spot by every one in the city of his habitation. So, properly speaking, there were only two sorts of tithes, that which was given to the Levites and priests, and that which was applied to making feasts of charity, either in the temple of Jerusalem, or in other cities. Samuel tells the children of Israel, that the king they had a mind to have over them would "take the tenth of their seed, and of their vineyards, and give to his officers, and his servants. He will take the tenth of your sheep, and ye shall be his servants," 1Sa 8:15,17. Yet it does not clearly appear from the history of the Jews, that they regularly paid any tithe to their princes. But the manner in which Samuel expresses himself, seems to insinuate that it was looked upon as a common right among the kings of the east. At this day, the Jews no longer pay any tithe; at least they do not think themselves obliged to do it, except it be those who are settled in the territory of Jerusalem, and the ancient Judea. For there are few Jews now that have any lands of their own, or any flocks. They only give something for the redemption of the first-born, to those who have any proofs of their being descended from the race of the priests or Levites. However, we are assured, that such among the Jews as would be thought to be very strict and religious give the tenth part of their whole income to the poor.
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And blessed be the most high God, who has delivered your enemies into your hand. And he gave him tithes of all.
And this stone which I have set for a pillar shall be God's house. And of all that You shall give me, I will surely give the tenth to You.
And all the tithe of the land, of the seed of the land, or of the fruit of the tree, is Jehovah's. It is holy to Jehovah. And if a man will at all redeem anything of his tithes, he shall add to it the fifth part of it. read more. And all the tithe of the herd, or of the flock, all that passes under the rod, a tenth shall be holy to Jehovah
You shall truly tithe all the increase of your seed that the field brings forth year by year. And you shall eat before Jehovah your God in the place which He shall choose to place His name there, the tithe of your grain, of your wine, and of your oil, and the first-born of your herds and of your flocks, so that you may learn to fear Jehovah your God always.
At the end of three years you shall bring forth all the tithe of your increase the same year, and shall lay it up inside your gates.
When you have made an end of tithing all the tithes of your increase the third year, the year of tithing, and have given it to the Levite, the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow (that they may eat inside your gates and be filled),
And he will take the tenth of your seed and of your vineyards, and give it to his eunuchs and to his servants.
He will take the tenth of your sheep, and you shall be his servants.