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Frank Chase Jr
a book bubble about
Kleptomaniac
Christian Books & Bibles
Author Insight
What is Old Testament Tithing?
Chapter 16 of my book, lays out the difference between giving and tithing. In this excerpt, it is clear that unless you explain tithing in the context of the land, language and literature of the time, people always assume tithing is money. The excerpt makes clear that meanings of words matter when it comes biblical interpretation. Error is often produced because people refuse to do word study, and in the case of tithing, many believers fall short of studying tithing to show themselves approved of God. Rightly dividing the word of truth involves taking a biblical term and breaking it down to its core meaning based on cultural practices. The excerpt gives eight explanations as to what the tithe contents is and juxtaposing it to how money is defined in scripture. Explaining how tithing was practiced and how money was used in the Old Testament breaks open a stark difference between tithing, which is food for Levites and giving, which involves shekels given to the temple but was never used for tithing. By doing this, the excerpt shows that giving ten percent of your income and calling it a tithe is clearly a practice not endorsed by the Bible and represents an incorrect interpretation based on the wrong hermeneutic and isesgetical application to explain a tithe doctrine.
Book Excerpt
Kleptomaniac
Many giving sermons focus on where people should give money or show charity. The Bible isn’t that complicated about freewill giving. Having a desire to give money, time, talent, a smile, or an encouraging word to help the poor, the hungry, widows and orphans must be done with a willing, loving, motivated heart without subterfuge. This chapter will summarize why New Testament giving is not tithing. It will also present Scriptures showing how freewill giving took place in the New Testament. There are numerous reasons for not believing that paying 10 percent is tithing. New Testament giving is not tithing for the following reasons:1. The Old Testament tithe comes from what farmers and herders produced in an agrarian society. The contents comprised of grain, fruit, oil, wine, cattle, oxen, sheep, and goats. And God’s law made it clear what He required in Leviticus 27:30-33 and Numbers 18.2. While the Old Testament Hebrew people were an agricultural theocracy, this book has proven that money existed in Israel but the people were not required to tithe money. When Paul wrote about money, gifts, or support, he never mentions tithes as the method of support for ministry or for himself. He argued for the right of support but then refused to use his right for support. Consequently, good Bible students should question why modern day pastors never discuss Paul’s decision to refuse support and work part-time while encouraging the Elders to follow his example.3. Ten percent giving is not tithing because God never commuted the food tithe to money in the Scripture. To argue that times have changed from an agricultural economy to a monetary economy is not a valid justification to switch to money as a tithe. Frankly, the argument is stretching the truth to fit a private interpretation, and it won’t work because those in the Old Testament who worked jobs in the non-agrarian population did not tithe. Therefore, no believer has a command from God to tithe money when the tithe has always been food.4. Giving 10 percent of your income and calling it a tithe is out of context and an inaccurate interpretation. Since the Old Testament priests did not tithe under the law, then all believers who are a part of the royal priesthood of Christ in the New Testament according to 1 Peter 2:5 and 9, don’t tithe either. Revelation 5:10 is where God defines who we are in his Kingdom, “And have made us kings and priests to our God and we shall reign on the earth” (NKJV). If we are priests, then why are we trying to tithe money to God out of context with the Scripture?5. The Bible states that only the Levites and priests received the tithe as an inheritance instead of land in Canaan. The tithe served as a wage for the Levites according to Numbers 18:24. God never transferred the tithe inheritance from Levites to pastors. Moreover, pastors are not descendants of the Levitical tribe by bloodline and therefore are not permitted to receive tithes. In fact, the standard that Paul commands for every believer is: “For even when we were with you, we commanded you this: if anyone will not work, neither shall he eat” (2 Thessalonians 3:10, NKJV). This command applies to preachers and pastors and all title seekers in the church who desire to matriculate to full-time ministry to receive a full-time salary. Sorry folks, according to the Bible, the command is work. Pastors cannot take another tribe’s inheritance that was not willed to them by God and claim it as their own. However, according to Peter, Christians have a future inheritance waiting for them as stated in 1 Peter 1:3-4, “Praise be to the God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade—kept in heaven for you” (NIV). As you can see, the Levites received a physical inheritance, which was the tithe; we as believers receive eternal life as our spiritual inheritance.6. I noted earlier that those who tithed in the Old Testament ate their tithe during three mandatory festivals. Tithing was described in three different ways, the Levitical tithe, the festival tithe and the poor tithe, which happened on the yearly sabbatical and harvesting cycles. Since tithing in the Old Testament took place based on planting and harvesting cycles and because Christians do not have mandatory festivals, our obligation is to give in a freewill manner without pressure to support a ministry.7. Tithing took place eight out of twelve months during the planting and harvesting cycles. However, that is not a choice in the New Testament, as giving is undertaken on a regular basis.8. We know money is not a tithe because every third year, the tithe serviced the poor as the law instructs. In today’s churches, tithe money does not go to the poor regularly, but is used to maintain the buildings and pay salaries, which violates the tithe law. We don’t pay a tithe every three years to help the poor like it is described in the Bible.
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