“THE TITHES” IN THE NEW PRIESTHOOD

The tithe as it is taught today by most ecclesiastical groups of giving 10% of income in money does not exist in the Bible.

1. The tithe was never given in money or currency but in fruits and animals.

Whenever the Holy Scripture speaks of the tithe, it is to give it in species, be it fruit or animals. (Gen 4,3-7; Lev 27,30-32;) and not in money. (Gen 47,13-18).

Genesis 4:3-7

3 And 3in the process of time it came to pass that Cain brought an offering of the fruit bof the ground to the Lord. 4 Abel also brought of cthe firstborn of his flock and of dtheir fat. And the Lord erespected Abel and his offering, 5 but He did not respect Cain and his offering. And Cain was very angry, and his countenance fell.

6 So the Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry? And why has your countenance fallen? 7 If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin lies at the door. And its desire is for you, but you should rule over it.”

Leviticus 27:30-32

Genesis 47:13-18

13 Now there was no bread in all the land; for the famine was very severe, so that the land of Egypt and the land of Canaan languished because of the famine. 14 And Joseph gathered up all the money that was found in the land of Egypt and in the land of Canaan, for the grain which they bought; and Joseph brought the money into Pharaoh’s house.

15 So when the money failed in the land of Egypt and in the land of Canaan, all the Egyptians came to Joseph and said, “Give us bread, for why should we die in your presence? For the money has failed.”

16 Then Joseph said, “Give your livestock, and I will give you bread for your livestock, if the money is gone.” 17 So they brought their livestock to Joseph, and Joseph gave them bread in exchange for the horses, the flocks, the cattle of the herds, and for the donkeys. Thus he [a]fed them with bread in exchange for all their livestock that year.

18. When that year had ended, they came to him the next year and said to him, “We will not hide from my lord that our money is gone; my lord also has our herds of livestock. There is nothing left in the sight of my lord but our bodies and our lands.

It was exclusively from the fruit of the land or from animals, not even mentioning giving something from mining, trade, carpentry, or various professional occupations.

In the book of Leviticus, chapter 27, 30-31, if someone wanted to pay something in money, they had to pay 20% more than the real value of the animal or fruit.

Leviticus 27: 30-31

Obviously, it was not money that God wanted. How many times have you heard the book of Malachi used to pressure you to give 10% when it is actually talking about food?

There are hundreds of biblical quotes where it says over and over: harvest and animals. The focus of the tithe was farming and ranching, everywhere in the Old Testament, it was food: food for the Levite, food for the stranger, food for the widow, food for the orphan, and God doesn’t change the subject in Malachi.

2. The tithe was for the Levites, widows and orphans, not for the pastor.

It served to support the Levites, because they had no inheritance on earth in common with the other tribes. (Lev. 27:30-33; Num. 18:21-32; Dt 14:27-29)). From this fund, certain portions were also taken to relieve the needs of foreigners, orphans, and widows. In the third year that year’s tithe was to be delivered directly to the local villages, and made available, not only to the Levites, but also to “strangers, orphans, and widows.” (Deut. 12:5-7; 14:22-29; 26:12-14).

Leviticus 27:30-33

30 And 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 to the Lord. 31 If a man wants at all to redeem any of his tithes, he shall add one-fifth to it. 32 And concerning the tithe of the herd or the flock, of whatever passes under the rod, the tenth one shall be holy to the Lord. 33 He shall not inquire whether it is good or bad, nor shall he exchange it; and if he exchanges it at all, then both it and the one exchanged for it shall be holy; it shall not be redeemed.

Numbers 18:21-32

21 “Behold, lI have given the children of Levi all the tithes in Israel as 9an inheritance in return for the work which they perform, the work of the tabernacle of meeting. 22 Hereafter the children of Israel shall not come near the tabernacle of meeting, o lest they bear sin and die. 23 But the Levites shall perform the work of the tabernacle of meeting, and they shall bear their iniquity; it shall be a statute forever, throughout your generations, that among the children of Israel they shall have no inheritance. 24 For the tithes of the children of Israel, which they offer up as a heave offering to the Lord, I have given to the Levites 1as an inheritance; therefore I have said to them, ‘Among the children of Israel they shall have no inheritance.

25 Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 26 “Speak thus to the Levites, and say to them: ‘When you take from the children of Israel the tithes which I have given you from them as your inheritance, then you shall offer up a heave offering of it to the Lord, pa tenth of the tithe. 27 And your heave offering shall be reckoned to you as though it were the grain of the qthreshing floor and as the fullness of the winepress. 28 Thus you shall also offer a heave offering to the Lord from all your tithes which you receive from the children of Israel, and you shall give the Lord’s heave offering from it to Aaron the priest. 29 Of all your gifts you shall offer up every heave offering due to the Lord, from all the best of them, the consecrated part of them.’ 30 Therefore you shall say to them: ‘When you have lifted up the best of it, then the rest shall be accounted to the Levites as the produce of the threshing floor and as the produce of the winepress. 31 You may eat it in any place, you and your households, for it is your reward for your work in the tabernacle of meeting. 32 And you shall bear no sin because of it, when you have lifted up the best of it. But you shall not profane the holy gifts of the children of Israel, lest you die.

Deuteronomy 14: 27-29

27 You shall not [a]forsake the Levite who is within your gates, for he has no part nor inheritance with you.

28 “At the end of every third year you shall bring out the tithe of your produce of that year and store it up within your gates. 29 And the Levite, because he has no portion nor inheritance with you, and the stranger and the fatherless and the widow who are within your gates, may come and eat and be satisfied, that the Lord your God may bless you in all the work of your hand which you do.

Deuteronomy 12:5-7

5 “But you shall seek the place where the Lord your God chooses, out of all your tribes, to put His name for His dwelling[a] place; and there you shall go. 6 There you shall take your burnt offerings, your sacrifices, your tithes, the heave offerings of your hand, your vowed offerings, your freewill offerings, and the firstborn of your herds and flocks. 7 And there you shall eat before the Lord your God, and you shall rejoice in [b]all to which you have put your hand, you and your households, in which the Lord your God has blessed you.

Deuteronomy 14:22-29

22 “You shall truly tithe all the increase of your grain that the field produces year by year. 23 And you shall eat before the Lord your God, in the place where He chooses to make His name abide, the tithe of your grain and your new wine and your oil, of the firstborn of your herds and your flocks, that you may learn to fear the Lord your God always. 24 But if the journey is too long for you, so that you are not able to carry the tithe, or if the place where the Lord your God chooses to put His name is too far from you, when the Lord your God has blessed you, 25 then you shall exchange it for money, take the money in your hand, and go to the place which the Lord your God chooses. 26 And you shall spend that money for whatever your heart desires: for oxen or sheep, for wine or similar drink, for whatever your heart desires; you shall eat there before the Lord your God, and you shall rejoice, you and your household. 27 You shall not [a]forsake the Levite who is within your gates, for he has no part nor inheritance with you.

Deuteronomy 26:12-14

12 “When you have finished laying aside all the tithe of your increase in the third year—the year of tithing—and have given it to the Levite, the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow, so that they may eat within your gates and be filled, 13 then you shall say before the Lord your God: ‘I have removed the holy tithe from my house, and also have given them to the Levite, the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow, according to all Your commandments which You have commanded me; I have not transgressed Your commandments, nor have I forgotten them. 14 I have not eaten any of it when in mourning, nor have I removed any of it for an unclean use, nor given any of it for the dead. I have obeyed the voice of the Lord my God, and have done according to all that You have commanded me.

In fact, the current Jewish rabbis do not ask for 10% for themselves, because they know the Law perfectly and they know that the tithe in species was only for the Levites. 10% of the salary for the boss, pastor or leader, has never existed in the Bible, except by “preachers or servants”, who demand for themselves in the name of God, what God has never asked for Him.

3. The tithe (food and animals) was a Law for the Jews in the Old Testament.

That is why the ecclesiastical groups that demand it have to resort to mentioning quotes from the Old Covenant and especially from Malachi in order to make people believe that it is biblical, but they do not mention that this was for the people of Israel, that it was with whom God had made that alliance, and we are not Jews, but Christians.

We belong to the New Covenant: “This is my blood, the blood of the new and eternal Covenant” Lk 22,20; Heb 10.9; Gal 3,23-25 this is achieved with the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ and now he is our Lord. Even Saint Paul corrects those who want to live under the Law again (Gal 4,21-26).

Luke 22:20

20 Likewise He also took the cup after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood, which is shed for you.

Hebrews 10:9

9 then He said, “Behold, I have come to do Your will, O God.” He takes away the first that He may establish the second.

Galatians 3:23-25

23 But before faith came, we were kept under guard by the law, kept for the faith which would afterward be revealed. 24 Therefore the law was our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith. 25 But after faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor.

Galatians 4:21-26

21 Tell me, you who desire to be under the law, do you not hear the law? 22 For it is written that Abraham had two sons: the one by a bondwoman, the other by a freewoman. 23 But he who was of the bondwoman was born according to the flesh, and he of the freewoman through promise, 24 which things are symbolic. For these are [a]the two covenants: the one from Mount Sinai which gives birth to bondage, which is Hagar— 25 for this Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia, and corresponds to Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children— 26 but the Jerusalem above is free, which is the mother of us all.

Unfortunately, because they do not have this knowledge, some are unconsciously mixing the two alliances as if it were the same thing. Sometimes they are Christians and, other times, when giving the tithe they are “Mosesians”. In any case, if someone wants to give it because it is in the Law of Moses, they should not forget that the Apostle James says that the Law was a packaged all or nothing.

A person was not allowed to choose what he liked about it, as if it were a religious menu and what he did not, he left aside. They couldn’t choose what to keep and what to reject:

James 2:10

“Because anyone who keeps the whole law but offends in a single point has been made guilty of everything.”

If you want to follow the Law, you have to be circumcised; keep the Sabbath; do not eat blood; give the tithe; do not eat fish without scales; stone those who break the Law etc. Or all or nothing. This is why Christians in the New Testament never gave or talked about tithing or the other things we just mentioned.

4. Neither Jesus nor the Apostles asked for or ordered the tithe.

As you are reading it, in reality there is not a single quote from the New Testament in which Jesus or any of the Apostles say that you have to pay the tithe and even less that it was 10% of the salary. Not even that of food and animals.

In the Gospels the word tithe is only mentioned three times and it speaks of the Pharisees who gave it (Mt 23,23; Lk 11,42) and by the way it does not speak well of them, and in the case mentioned in Lk 18,12 -14 The one who gave the tithe did not come out justified or blessed.

Matthew 23:23

23 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith. These you ought to have done, without leaving the others undone.

Luke 11:42

42 “But woe to you Pharisees! For you tithe mint and rue and all manner of herbs, and pass by justice and the love of God. These you ought to have done, without leaving the others undone.

Luke 18:12-14

12 I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I possess. 13 And the tax collector, standing afar off, would not so much as raise his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me a sinner!’ 14 I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”

The other times they are only in the letter to the Hebrews and it is the one that Abraham gave to Melchizedek for the only time and was part of a “spoils” of war. In the New Testament there is talk of help, collection, support, sharing everything they had, but never 10% weekly and in money. (Lk 10,3-7; 1 Tim 5,18).

Luke 10:3-7

3 Go your way; behold, I send you out as lambs among wolves. 4 Carry neither money bag, knapsack, nor sandals; and greet no one along the road. 5 But whatever house you enter, first say, ‘Peace to this house.’ 6 And if a son of peace is there, your peace will rest on it; if not, it will return to you. 7 And remain in the same house, eating and drinking such things as they give, for the laborer is worthy of his wages. Do not go from house to house.

1 Timothy 5:18

18 For the Scripture says, “You shall not muzzle an ox while it treads out the grain,” and, “The laborer is worthy of his wages.”

5. The early Church did not charge a 10% weekly salary.

Church historians make it very clear, the early community was not financed by tithes of any kind. The Hasting Dictionary says of the early Church:

“It is universally admitted that the payment of tithes, or tenths of possessions, for sacred purposes did not find a place within the Christian Church during the time of the apostles and their immediate successors.”

Likewise the Church says in the New Catholic Encyclopedia: “The early Church had no system of tithes…there was no need to maintain it, nor for it to exist or be recognized in the Church, but other means seemed to suffice.”

If someone wants to give the tithe for pleasure, tradition or their own decision, each one is free to spend their money wherever they want, but let no one make them believe things that the Bible does not teach.

Sadly, there are Protestant pastors who abuse when they claim that the person who does not give the weekly tithe (10% of salary) robs God and that it is a biblical mandate for Christians. It is actually something false, because it does not steal from God, nor is it a mandate of Jesus Christ.

6. Congregations Are Not The Real Church

In the New Testament, there are no synagogues to gather believers. We are the church, and we are not a temple made of men with four walls. The only church that we should help are the believers. We are the church, the habitation of God and the Temple of Jesus Christ. We are the building and the living stones.

Acts 7:48

48 “However, the Most High does not dwell in temples made with hands, as the prophet says:

1 Corinthians 3:9,16,17

9 For we are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s field, you are God’s building.

16 Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? 17 If anyone [b]defiles the temple of God, God will destroy him. For the temple of God is holy, which temple you are.

1 Corinthians 6:19

19 Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own?

Ephesians 2:21

21 in whom the whole building, being fitted together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord,

1 Timothy 3:15

15 but if I am delayed, I write so that you may know how you ought to conduct yourself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and [a]ground of the truth.

1 Peter 2:5

5 you also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.

1 Peter 4:17

17 For the time has come for judgment to begin at the house of God; and if it begins with us first, what will be the end of those who do not obey the gospel of God?

2 Corinthians 5:1

For we know that if our earthly [a]house, this tent, is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.

Hebrews 10:21

21 and having a High Priest over the house of God,

Everything concerning the priesthood of the Old Testament was for Aaron and his children who belong to the Tribe of Levi. In Hebrews 7, it says that the Levitical priesthood was abolished. Abolished means “Annulled” as if it had never existed. Verses 9 and 10 show that all tithes were paid in Levi through Abraham to Melchizedek. In verse 14 it says that our Lord arose from the Tribe of Judah, in which Moses never spoke anything concerning priesthood and tithing. Verses 23 and 24 reflect that those priesthoods are changeable with death, as many priests died, but the priesthood of Jesus Christ is an unchangeable one because He lives forever.

Hebrews 7:18-19

18 For on the one hand there is an annulling of the former commandment because of its weakness and unprofitableness, 19 for the law made nothing perfect; on the other hand, there is the bringing in of a better hope, through which we draw near to God.

SideNote

Many believers and non-believers have been blessed by “giving” because God created laws that operate without His intervention. For example, the laws of nature, the law of attraction, the laws of reaping and sowing, etc. The law of attraction has been widely used by “The Secret” and the benefits of reaping and sowing have been used by all humanity. Several religions call it “Karma”. When it comes to giving, the law of reaping and sowing is in operation. This means that a believer and a non-believer may become prosperous by helping others as well as becoming impoverished by destroying others.