The Tenth Goat

Tithing, surprisingly, can be quite a controversial subject. There are those who question its applicability in today's day and age and those who think that it must be practiced. Among those who think that it must be practiced, there are disagreements on how they think it should be applied. To get around all those people, today, we are going to ignore the first issue and focus on what exactly tithing was. How was it done, and when? This is a larger issue than it appears on the surface, and it bleeds over into the other offerings quite a bit, especially freewill offerings. We will keep it strictly to tithing as much as we can today, and in the future, we will explore the other offerings.

I say the other offerings because tithing is an offering, too. It is a form of giving back to God a portion of what He has blessed us with. However, it had a practical application for God's people as well. God never asks us for more than we can bear, and every offering takes the person giving it into account. Tithing is no exception, for it prepares the people of God for an important yearly event. Everyone has probably heard of something called a second tithe and associates it with the Feast of Tabernacles, but did you know that there is nowhere in scripture that refers to a second tithe? Or even a first or third tithe, for that matter. You can google it; I'll wait. 

Where do we get the idea that there are three tithes from then? "Taditionnnn, tradition!" to quote the fiddler on the roof guy. Let's take a look at the first time tithing is mentioned in the Bible. 

Genesis 14:20 CSB — and blessed be God Most High who has handed over your enemies to you. And Abram gave him a tenth of everything.

The first time tithing is ever mentioned was when Abraham tithed to Melchizedek, the high priest of God. He gave him a tenth of all the spoils that he had captured from the enemy to show his gratitude for the victory. As we see here, the translators translated the word tithing as tenth. That is actually a very accurate translation because tithing is the modern word for giving a tenth. So, was Abraham giving a commanded tithe, or was he giving a freewill offering? Let's come back to that. First, I want to see what God had to say when He commanded tithing for the Israelites. 

Tithing is a topic I have been undecided on for a while now, and the purpose of this article is to give me greater clarity on the subject. If it gives some of you greater clarity, so much the better. That's why I'm not approaching it straight off as what we should be doing now, but rather, what were they doing then? The first time God commanded tithing, He said this.

Leviticus 27:30 CSB — “Every tenth of the land’s produce, grain from the soil or fruit from the trees, belongs to the LORD; it is holy to the LORD.

31 "If a man decides to redeem any part of this tenth, he must add a fifth to its value. 

32 "Every tenth animal from the herd or flock, which passes under the shepherd's rod, will be holy to the LORD. 

33 "He is not to inspect whether it is good or bad, and he is not to make a substitution for it. But if he does make a substitution, both the animal and its substitute will be holy; they cannot be redeemed." 

This is the first thing that God has to say about tithing, and here, He gives instructions for exactly how to count the animals for tithe. It’s important to note that God says the tithes belong to Him. He is the one who decides what happens to them, but first and foremost, the tithes belong to Him. Interestingly, He says something very similar about the firstborn of the flock and the herd. In addition to the firstborn, every tenth animal from the herd is also God’s, which is where we get the word tithe. These are the only instructions given at this time, which is quite fitting because this is only their second year into their journey. 

They will not be implementing tithing anytime soon, so more instructions can be added later, which is precisely what happens. Leviticus is the one-month interlude between Exodus and Numbers, and God gives His next instructions in Numbers. The tabernacle has been sanctified, and the sacrifices have been laid out in an orderly manner. They will be revisited many times, but the basic framework is now in place. The next time God elaborates on tithing is in Numbers 18, where He instructs what to do with the tithe that is holy to the Lord. Chapter 18 is all about the inheritance that the Levites receive. 

The rest of Israel got vast portions of land as their inheritance, but Levi, because they served the Lord, got a different inheritance. Their inheritance was the contributions of the rest of Israel. A portion of all the Holy offerings belongs to Levi (except for the burnt offerings. Those were charcoal and not edible). The presentation offering, the fresh oil, the new wine, the new grain, the first fruits, everything dedicated, the firstborn (humans had to be redeemed cause they don’t make a pleasing aroma and they are poor eating), and all the holy contributions belonged to the Levites. Of course, there is more to it than that, and as we get into each individual offering in later articles, we will see specific instructions regarding what portion of each offering actually belonged to the Levites. The point of all this is that more detailed instructions exist elsewhere in the five books, as indeed they do for the section of chapter 18 that is of particular interest to us.

Numbers 18:21-24 CSB "Look, I have given the Levites every tenth in Israel as an inheritance in return for the work they do, the work of the tent of meeting. 

22 "The Israelites must never again come near the tent of meeting, or they will incur guilt and die. 

23 "The Levites will do the work of the tent of meeting, and they will bear the consequences of their iniquity. The Levites will not receive an inheritance among the Israelites; this is a permanent statute throughout your generations. 

24 "For I have given them the tenth that the Israelites present to the LORD as a contribution for their inheritance. That is why I told them that they would not receive an inheritance among the Israelites." 

Here, through Moses, God instructs the Israelites further about the tenth that is holy to the Lord that they take from the land. God tells Moses it belongs to the Levites for the work they do in the Tabernacle because they do not have their own inheritance. According to this verse, every tenth in Israel belongs to the Levites; however, as we read in verse 24, we see that it is just the tenth that belongs to them that they are given by God. 

Deuteronomy 14:22-27 NKJV "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 forsake the Levite who [is] within your gates, for he has no part nor inheritance with you.  

We have something a little different here. The Israelites were supposed to honestly tithe all the increase of their fields and their herds and flocks and eat that tithe themselves. Odd, I thought that this was supposed to go to the Levites! Every tithe, after all, belongs to them. Well, as I pointed out, the tithe that belongs to them is the tithe God gives them. We see in verse 27 that they were not supposed to forget the Levite within their gate but were supposed to take care of him as well with this tithe. 

This tithe was not a tithe that they ate at just any time either; it was specifically for the festival at the end of the harvest season when they all gathered before the Lord in the place where He set His name; that is, Pentecost and the Feast of Tabernacles. We also see something else very interesting here that backs this interpretation up. The firstborn of the flock appears again, and instead of belonging to the Levites, it is supposed to be eaten by the Israelites themselves in the place where the Lord chooses to place His name. 

Exodus 13:2 NKJV "Consecrate to Me all the firstborn, whatever opens the womb among the children of Israel, [both] of man and beast; it is Mine."

Exodus 34:19-20 NKJV "All that open the womb [are] Mine, and every male firstborn among your livestock, [whether] ox or sheep. 

20 "But the firstborn of a donkey you shall redeem with a lamb. And if you will not redeem [him], then you shall break his neck. All the firstborn of your sons you shall redeem. And none shall appear before Me empty-handed.

The firstborn belongs to God just as the tithe does, and later, God apparently gives it to Levi.

Numbers 18:15 NKJV "Everything that first opens the womb of all flesh, which they bring to the LORD, whether man or beast, shall be yours; nevertheless the firstborn of man you shall surely redeem, and the firstborn of unclean animals you shall redeem.

What are we to make of this? What was Israel actually supposed to do? I think we get a clue of what Israel was actually supposed to do in this instance in the commands given for the freewill offering. Remember, the freewill offering was included in the list of things that Israel was supposed to take before the Lord and eat at the Feast of Tabernacles.

Deuteronomy 12:17-18, 26-28 NKJV "You may not eat within your gates the tithe of your grain or your new wine or your oil, of the firstborn of your herd or your flock, of any of your offerings which you vow, of your freewill offerings, or of the heave offering of your hand. 

18 "But you must eat them before the LORD your God in the place which the LORD your God chooses, you and your son and your daughter, your male servant and your female servant, and the Levite who [is] within your gates; and you shall rejoice before the LORD your God in all to which you put your hands.

26 "Only the holy things which you have, and your vowed offerings, you shall take and go to the place which the LORD chooses. 

27 "And you shall offer your burnt offerings, the meat and the blood, on the altar of the LORD your God; and the blood of your sacrifices shall be poured out on the altar of the LORD your God, and you shall eat the meat. 

28 "Observe and obey all these words which I command you, that it may go well with you and your children after you forever, when you do [what is] good and right in the sight of the LORD your God.

The children of Israel were very clearly supposed to eat these offerings, yet the Levites were also supposed to eat them! Again, I think the key to this whole subject can be readily found in the instructions for what the priests were to do with the freewill offering. The freewill offerings were of a class of offerings known as the peace/fellowship offerings, depending on your translation, and I think it was this that Abraham offered to God. 

Leviticus 7:11, 14-17, 29-34 ESV "And this is the law of the sacrifice of peace offerings that one may offer to the LORD.

14 And from it he shall offer one loaf from each offering, as a gift to the LORD. It shall belong to the priest who throws the blood of the peace offerings. 

15 And the flesh of the sacrifice of his peace offerings for thanksgiving shall be eaten on the day of his offering. He shall not leave any of it until the morning. 

16 But if the sacrifice of his offering is a vow offering or a freewill offering, it shall be eaten on the day that he offers his sacrifice, and on the next day what remains of it shall be eaten. 

17 But what remains of the flesh of the sacrifice on the third day shall be burned up with fire.

29 "Speak to the people of Israel, saying, Whoever offers the sacrifice of his peace offerings to the LORD shall bring his offering to the LORD from the sacrifice of his peace offerings. 

30 His own hands shall bring the LORD's food offerings. He shall bring the fat with the breast, that the breast may be waved as a wave offering before the LORD. 

31 The priest shall burn the fat on the altar, but the breast shall be for Aaron and his sons. 

32 And the right thigh you shall give to the priest as a contribution from the sacrifice of your peace offerings. 

33 Whoever among the sons of Aaron offers the blood of the peace offerings, and the fat shall have the right thigh for a portion. 

34 For the breast that is waved and the thigh that is contributed I have taken from the people of Israel, out of the sacrifices of their peace offerings, and have given them to Aaron the priest and to his sons, as a perpetual due from the people of Israel.

As we see here, it was a portion of the offering that belonged to the Levites and the priests, not the whole sacrifice. The person who made the sacrifice was the one who was supposed to eat it. So, did the freewill offerings, the first fruits, and the firstborn belong to the priests and the Levites? Yes, of course, but not the entire thing. The following two sections parallel each other and lend clarity to precisely what the priest's portion was. 

Ezekiel 44:28-30 NKJV "It shall be, in regard to their inheritance, [that] I [am] their inheritance. You shall give them no possession in Israel, for I [am] their possession. 

29 "They shall eat the grain offering, the sin offering, and the trespass offering; every dedicated thing in Israel shall be theirs. 

30 "The best of all first fruits of any kind, and every sacrifice of any kind from all your sacrifices, shall be the priest's; also you shall give to the priest the first of your ground meal, to cause a blessing to rest on your house.

Deuteronomy 18:1-4 NKJV "The priests, the Levites--all the tribe of Levi--shall have no part nor inheritance with Israel; they shall eat the offerings of the LORD made by fire, and His portion. 

2 "Therefore they shall have no inheritance among their brethren; the LORD is their inheritance, as He said to them. 

3 "And this shall be the priest's due from the people, from those who offer a sacrifice, whether [it is] bull or sheep: they shall give to the priest the shoulder, the cheeks, and the stomach. 

4 "The firstfruits of your grain and your new wine and your oil, and the first of the fleece of your sheep, you shall give him.

Deuteronomy 12:27 NKJV "And you shall offer your burnt offerings, the meat and the blood, on the altar of the LORD your God; and the blood of your sacrifices shall be poured out on the altar of the LORD your God, and you shall eat the meat.

As shown here, the priests were supposed to eat the sacrifices that the children of Israel made, but it wasn’t the whole thing; it was a portion—specifically, the breast, the right shoulder or thigh, the cheeks, and the stomach. That was the portion of every offering that belonged to them, also called the Lord’s portion in verse 1. I think we are finally getting the firstborn and first fruits straightened out.   

Deuteronomy 15:19-23 NKJV "All the firstborn males that come from your herd and your flock you shall sanctify to the LORD your God; you shall do no work with the firstborn of your herd, nor shear the firstborn of your flock. 

20 "You and your household shall eat [it] before the LORD your God year by year in the place which the LORD chooses. 

21 "But if there is a defect in it, [if it is] lame or blind [or has] any serious defect, you shall not sacrifice it to the LORD your God. 

22 "You may eat it within your gates; the unclean and the clean [person] alike [may eat it], as [if it were] a gazelle or a deer. 

23 "Only you shall not eat its blood; you shall pour it on the ground like water.

Deuteronomy 12:5-7 NKJV "But you shall seek the place where the LORD your God chooses, out of all your tribes, to put His name for His dwelling 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 all to which you have put your hand, you and your households, in which the LORD your God has blessed you.

The firstborn animals were supposed to be eaten before the Lord by the one who brought them. A portion of the firstborn animal was given to the priest, but the whole offering was holy. We see the exact same thing with the first fruits. 

Exodus 23:19 NKJV "The first of the first fruits of your land you shall bring into the house of the LORD your God. You shall not boil a young goat in its mother's milk. 

Exodus 34:26 NKJV "The first of the firstfruits of your land you shall bring to the house of the LORD your God. You shall not boil a young goat in its mother's milk."

Ezekiel 44:30 NKJV "The first of all firstfruits of any kind, and every sacrifice of any kind from all your sacrifices, shall be the priest's; also you shall give to the priest the first of your ground meal, to cause a blessing to rest on your house. 

They were not to mix the harvest of the previous year with what they were offering to the priests. It was supposed to all be from that year's harvest. Hence the turn of phrase: do not boil a young goat in its mother’s milk. These sections illuminate for us that it was the first of the first fruits that they brought to the priests, not the whole thing. As we will see in this next verse, the first of the first fruits was a single sheaf. 

Leviticus 23:10 NKJV "Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them: 'When you come into the land which I give to you, and reap its harvest, then you shall bring a sheaf of the firstfruits of your harvest to the priest.  

In the light of discovering what they did with the tithing, it’s important to note that it was always a portion of every offering and sacrifice that belonged to the priests, not the whole thing. Tithes were an offering from the people to God; as He said, they belonged to Him. It stands to reason, then, that it is also a portion of the tithes that belonged to the priests, not the whole thing. The instructions for tithing back this up.

Deuteronomy 12:18-19 NKJV "But you must eat them before the LORD your God in the place which the LORD your God chooses, you and your son and your daughter, your male servant and your female servant, and the Levite who [is] within your gates; and you shall rejoice before the LORD your God in all to which you put your hands. 

19 "Take heed to yourself that you do not forsake the Levite as long as you live in your land.

Deuteronomy 14:27 NKJV "You shall not forsake the Levite who [is] within your gates, for he has no part nor inheritance with you.  

This all brings us to the third tithe, as it is commonly called (though inaccurately), also known as the year of tithing. Every three years, that is, the third and the sixth years of the Sabbath year cycle, they were to set aside a tithe for the Levites. Not just the Levites, though. It was to be for all those who did not have a portion. The stranger, the fatherless, and the widow were all allowed to come and eat of it. It was collected in every town, and the Levites were allowed to eat their portion wherever they wanted, in contrast with the tithe for the Feasts. 

Deuteronomy 14:28-29 CSB "At the end of every three years, bring a tenth of all your produce for that year and store it within your city gates. 

29 "Then the Levite, who has no portion or inheritance among you, the resident alien, the fatherless, and the widow within your city gates may come, eat, and be satisfied. And the LORD your God will bless you in all the work of your hands that you do.

Deuteronomy 26:12-15 CSB "When you have finished paying all the tenth of your produce in the third year, the year of the tenth, you are to give it to the Levites, resident aliens, fatherless children, and widows, so that they may eat in your towns and be satisfied. 

13 "Then you will say in the presence of the LORD your God: I have taken the consecrated portion out of my house; I have also given it to the Levites, resident aliens, fatherless children, and widows, according to all the commands you gave me. I have not violated or forgotten your commands. 

14 "I have not eaten any of it while in mourning, or removed any of it while unclean, or offered any of it for the dead. I have obeyed the LORD my God; I have done all you commanded me. 

15 "Look down from your holy dwelling, from heaven, and bless your people Israel and the land you have given us as you swore to our ancestors, a land flowing with milk and honey.

This tithe, then, was the Levite's portion. They gave the Levites an additional tithe every three years. The Levites shared in the festival tithe; their portion was the majority of the third-year tithe, and they shared in all the offerings and sacrifices, in the first fruits, and in the firstborn of all the animals—all the clean animals, that is. They were to redeem the unclean ones, and if they could not, they were to break their necks. 

The Levites received the other offerings every year, but their tithe was only in the third and sixth years. It doesn’t end here, though. The Levites were to offer up a tenth of all that they received to God. This portion went into the storerooms of God’s house for the high priest. The rest of their portion they could eat wherever they desired.

Numbers 18:26 CSB "Speak to the Levites and tell them: When you receive from the Israelites the tenth that I have given you as your inheritance, you are to present part of it as an offering to the LORD -- a tenth of the tenth.  

Nehemiah 10:35-39 NKJV And [we made ordinances] to bring the firstfruits of our ground and the firstfruits of all fruit of all trees, year by year, to the house of the LORD; 

36 to bring the firstborn of our sons and our cattle, as [it is] written in the Law, and the firstborn of our herds and our flocks, to the house of our God, to the priests who minister in the house of our God; 

37 to bring the firstfruits of our dough, our offerings, the fruit from all kinds of trees, [the] new wine and oil, to the priests, to the storerooms of the house of our God; and to bring the tithes of our land to the Levites, for the Levites should receive the tithes in all our farming communities. 38 And the priest, the descendant of Aaron, shall be with the Levites when the Levites receive tithes; and the Levites shall bring up a tenth of the tithes to the house of our God, to the rooms of the storehouse. 

39 For the children of Israel and the children of Levi shall bring the offering of the grain, of the new wine and the oil, to the storerooms where the articles of the sanctuary [are], [where] the priests who minister and the gatekeepers and the singers [are]; and we will not neglect the house of our God.

Of particular interest is that it was the priests' and Levites' responsibility to bring their portion of the tithe into the Lord's storehouse. The rest of Israel did not bring their tithes to the temple. The Levites collected the third-year tithe in each city, where it was stored up within the city's gates. The Levites then tithed on their portion to the Lord’s house, that is, the High Priest. This comes up again in the book of Malachi, which seems in the central part to be a rebuke of the priesthood, though it was also a rebuke of Israel.

Malachi 3:8-10 NKJV "Will a man rob God? Yet you have robbed Me! But you say, 'In what way have we robbed You?' In tithes and offerings. 

9 You are cursed with a curse, For you have robbed Me, [Even] this whole nation. 

10 Bring all the tithes into the storehouse, That there may be food in My house, And try Me now in this," Says the LORD of hosts, "If I will not open for you the windows of heaven And pour out for you [such] blessing That [there will] not [be room] enough [to receive it].

The Levites, it seems, were not tithing on what they received, but taking that a little further, it is likely that the Israelites were not laying up the third-year tithe in each of their cities either. Thus, the whole nation was complicit in not bringing tithes into the Lord’s house. The tithes were an essential thing for them to be doing, but they were not. The whole priesthood, not to mention the entire nation, had fallen away from God. The priests were held to a higher standard because they were supposed to be the teachers, the examples, and the guardians of God's law. They failed miserably. This was far from the first time that the priests had failed to honor God either. A notable occurrence happened in 1st Samuel with the sons of Eli. 

1 Samuel 2:12-17 CSB Eli's sons were wicked men; they did not respect the LORD 

13 or the priests' share of the sacrifices from the people. When anyone offered a sacrifice, the priest's servant would come with a three-pronged meat fork while the meat was boiling 

14 and plunge it into the container, kettle, cauldron, or cooking pot. The priest would claim for himself whatever the meat fork brought up. This is the way they treated all the Israelites who came there to Shiloh. 

15 Even before the fat was burned, the priest's servant would come and say to the one who was sacrificing, "Give the priest some meat to roast, because he won't accept boiled meat from you -- only raw." 

16 If that person said to him, "The fat must be burned first; then you can take whatever you want for yourself," the servant would reply, "No, I insist that you hand it over right now. If you don't, I'll take it by force! " 

17 So the servants' sin was very severe in the presence of the LORD, because the men treated the LORD's offering with contempt. 

The priests had a certain portion that they were to be getting, but they were greedy men and took far more than their portion of the holy offering, and as God had warned them not to, they treated the Israelites' holy offerings with contempt. God later punished Eli and his family severely for it and even cut off his family line completely. 

So, what were the Israelites supposed to do with tithing? We can see what they were supposed to do in what they actually did. We have a few notable examples given in the Bible that show us exactly what it was that they did. The first one given is Hezekiah. He reinstituted tithing in Israel, and it seems to have been in the sixth year that he did so. His fifteenth year was a sabbath year based on the evidence contained. The one we will spend the most time on today is Nehemiah, but to get started, we will take a brief look at Hezekiah.

2 Chronicles 31:2-7 NKJV And Hezekiah appointed the divisions of the priests and the Levites according to their divisions, each man according to his service, the priests and Levites for burnt offerings and peace offerings, to serve, to give thanks, and to praise in the gates of the camp of the LORD.

3 The king also [appointed] a portion of his possessions for the burnt offerings: for the morning and evening burnt offerings, the burnt offerings for the Sabbaths and the New Moons and the set feasts, as [it is] written in the Law of the LORD.

4 Moreover he commanded the people who dwelt in Jerusalem to contribute support for the priests and the Levites, that they might devote themselves to the Law of the LORD.

5 As soon as the commandment was circulated, the children of Israel brought in abundance the firstfruits of grain and wine, oil and honey, and of all the produce of the field; and they brought in abundantly the tithe of everything.

6 And the children of Israel and Judah, who dwelt in the cities of Judah, brought the tithe of oxen and sheep; also the tithe of holy things which were consecrated to the LORD their God they laid in heaps.

7 In the third month they began laying them in heaps, and they finished in the seventh month.

 

They started laying up the third-year tithe (the sixth-year tithe in this case) about the time of Pentecost and finished about the time of Atonement when the next year would have been declared a Sabbath year. The Levites would have brought the tithe into Jerusalem from the other cities, that is, the tenth that they contributed from their portion. 

Nehemiah provides a little more detail and requires a bit more reading to pin down exactly when they were bringing their tithes in, but as with Hezekiah, the Levites collected the tithe in the sixth year—AKA, the third-year tithe. 

Nehemiah 8:2 NKJV — So Ezra the priest brought the Law before the assembly of men and women and all who could hear with understanding on the first day of the seventh month.

Here, we find the Israelites gathered on the Feast of Trumpets to listen to the law being read. In just a few verses we will learn that they read the law every day of the Feast, something that was only supposed to be done every seven years in the year of release. Sabbath years were reckoned according to the agricultural calendar and began in the Seventh month. The year of Jubilee began by being declared on the Day of Atonement, and likely so did the Sabbath years.

Nehemiah 8:18 NKJV — Also day by day, from the first day until the last day, he read from the Book of the Law of God. And they kept the feast seven days; and on the eighth day there was a sacred assembly, according to the prescribed manner.

Everything they did here was according to the prescribed manner. The manner set forth in the Law of God. They did not deviate in the slightest, so we get some rather important information from this. This was the beginning of a Sabbath year. Throughout the rest of the book, Nehemiah will give instructions for the order of the Levites, for the offerings, and for tithes to be taken up. 

Nehemiah 10:28-38 NKJV Now the rest of the people--the priests, the Levites, the gatekeepers, the singers, the Nethinim, and all those who had separated themselves from the peoples of the lands to the Law of God, their wives, their sons, and their daughters, everyone who had knowledge and understanding--

29 these joined with their brethren, their nobles, and entered into a curse and an oath to walk in God's Law, which was given by Moses the servant of God, and to observe and do all the commandments of the LORD our Lord, and His ordinances and His statutes:

30 We would not give our daughters as wives to the peoples of the land, nor take their daughters for our sons;

31 [if] the peoples of the land brought wares or any grain to sell on the Sabbath day, we would not buy it from them on the Sabbath, or on a holy day; and we would forego the seventh year's [produce] and the exacting of every debt.

32 Also we made ordinances for ourselves, to exact from ourselves yearly one-third of a shekel for the service of the house of our God:

33 for the showbread, for the regular grain offering, for the regular burnt offering of the Sabbaths, the New Moons, and the set feasts; for the holy things, for the sin offerings to make atonement for Israel, and all the work of the house of our God.

34 We cast lots among the priests, the Levites, and the people, for bringing the wood offering into the house of our God, according to our fathers' houses, at the appointed times year by year, to burn on the altar of the LORD our God as [it is] written in the Law.

35 And [we made ordinances] to bring the firstfruits of our ground and the firstfruits of all fruit of all trees, year by year, to the house of the LORD;

36 to bring the firstborn of our sons and our cattle, as [it is] written in the Law, and the firstborn of our herds and our flocks, to the house of our God, to the priests who minister in the house of our God;

37 to bring the firstfruits of our dough, our offerings, the fruit from all kinds of trees, [the] new wine and oil, to the priests, to the storerooms of the house of our God; and to bring the tithes of our land to the Levites, for the Levites should receive the tithes in all our farming communities.

38 And the priest, the descendant of Aaron, shall be with the Levites when the Levites receive tithes; and the Levites shall bring up a tenth of the tithes to the house of our God, to the rooms of the storehouse.

The leaders of Israel make a covenant here to follow God and keep His law. They promise to bring the prescribed offerings every year as it is written in the law. They are very diligent to do exactly as God commanded them! They then promise to bring the tithes to the Levites in each of their cities, and then those Levites will bring a tenth of the tithe they receive to the Temple, exactly as we have seen written in the Law. With as diligent as they are, we could assume that this is the tithe of the third year as written in the Law. Notice here that though instructions are given, they do not actually start collecting the tithes here.

Nehemiah 13:1-3 NKJV — On that day they read from the Book of Moses in the hearing of the people, and in it was found written that no Ammonite or Moabite should ever come into the assembly of God, because they had not met the children of Israel with bread and water, but hired Balaam against them to curse them. However, our God turned the curse into a blessing. So it was, when they had heard the Law, that they separated all the mixed multitude from Israel.

Once again, it is the Feast ending the sixth year and beginning the seventh. The law is being read as prescribed, and the multitude is taking it to heart. We find out why in the next verse.

Nehemiah 13:4 NKJV — Now before this, Eliashib the priest, having authority over the storerooms of the house of our God, was allied with Tobiah.

The first three verses take place after the rest of the chapter. Nehemiah had left for about two and a half years and just returned to find everything in chaos. The people had left the proper way of doing things and had even married into the nations around them. Nehemiah cleans house and restores the tithe in the middle of the sixth year at some point leading up to the Feast of Tabernacles.

Nehemiah 13:6-12 NKJV But during all this I was not in Jerusalem, for in the thirty-second year of Artaxerxes king of Babylon I had returned to the king. Then after certain days I obtained leave from the king,

7 and I came to Jerusalem and discovered the evil that Eliashib had done for Tobiah, in preparing a room for him in the courts of the house of God.

8 And it grieved me bitterly; therefore I threw all the household goods of Tobiah out of the room.

9 Then I commanded them to cleanse the rooms; and I brought back into them the articles of the house of God, with the grain offering and the frankincense.

10 I also realized that the portions for the Levites had not been given [them]; for each of the Levites and the singers who did the work had gone back to his field.

11 So I contended with the rulers, and said, "Why is the house of God forsaken?" And I gathered them together and set them in their place.

12 Then all Judah brought the tithe of the grain and the new wine and the oil to the storehouse.

Here, once again, we have the tithe being collected in the third year. The Levites collected the portion that they should have been given earlier in the year, but Israel had neglected them and the Temple. Not only with the tithes, but the other offerings as well.

What were the Israelites supposed to do with tithing? Israel was supposed to give a portion of every offering to the Levites. This would appear to include the tithe for the Feast as well. How much? The point was not supposed to be the amount; the point was that the Israelites were supposed to share. They invited the Levites to eat with them at the Feast of Tabernacles and shared a meal with them. In every aspect, this was a genius move on the part of our Creator because it would keep the Levites and priests from becoming a class above the rest of the people since it would force them to rely on the people for their food and to eat with the regular person at the Feast.    

This now begs the question: Was the third-year tithe also the tithe that they were supposed to bring to the Feast every year? Were they one and the same? The ramifications of this would mean that in the third and sixth years, the general Israelite would not have food set aside to eat at the Feasts, which is a pretty serious matter. 

However, there seems to be a difference between the two tithes, and the third-year tithe was something separate from the regular tithe. For one thing, the instructions for eating the tithes were very different. For the festival tithe, they could only eat it at the Feast in the place where YHWH had set HIs name. In contrast, the tithe of the third year could be eaten by the Levites wherever they desired as it was considered their portion.  

Numbers 18:25-30, 32 NKJV 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, a tenth of the tithe. 

27 'And your heave offering shall be reckoned to you as though [it were] the grain of the threshing 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.' "

The only offering that the Levites collected and stored in the city gates was the third year's tithe. We distinguish between the festival tithe and the third-year tithe here. The Levites tithed on the portion that they collected from the cities where they dwelt and carried a tenth to the temple. 

This brings us to our final stop for today, and that is the purpose of tithing. Why did God make the Israelites tithe in the first place? What was the purpose of tithing? Preparation, preparation for the highlight of the year. All year long, they prepared and set aside food and animals to take the feast to rejoice and celebrate before God. Then, they would travel to where God had set His name and celebrate before Him with the bounty they had provided. They would share their meals with the priesthood, and thus, they would be exposed to the teachers of the law and spend time with those who were supposed to be the examples of God's way. With this preparation for and observation of the feast of Tabernacles, they were learning something crucial. They were learning to fear God.  

Deuteronomy 14:23 NKJV "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.

To finish up, one tithe was made every year, and from that tithe, the Israelites rejoiced before the Lord every year. The pattern laid out in scripture is that every three years, the Israelites would lay up a tithe in each of their cities. The Levites would collect and take a tenth of that tithe to the temple for the High priest. Every three years, they gave a tithe to the Levites and the fatherless in their own area to eat. 

Tithes were a prescribed amount that they gave to the Levites every three years, but in between that time, they gave the first fruits and the free-will offerings. The latter were offerings where you could decide how much you gave, and when it talks about being generous because the Lord will bless you, that is what it is talking about. You can't be generous if it is a set amount.

The Levites and the priests were well taken care of, but they were dependent upon the generosity of the people of God. Every three years, they had a prescribed amount, but between that time, they lived off the other offerings. When the people turned wicked, the care of the temple flagged. How well the priests and Levites ate was a pretty good metric for the spiritual state of Israel. As we saw in Nehemiah, when the people turned from God and ceased their offerings, the priests would leave to find their own food. The worship of God was neglected, and famines would soon set in upon the land as they fell further and further from the one true God.

God blessed His people when they were generous and when they followed the tithing commands. They had no excuse to reject Him and turn away from their offerings, yet they consistently did. They saw firsthand how much God would bless them monetarily for following Him; even so, they would forget and walk away, not only from giving offerings but also from His Feast days and God Himself.

God provided for the Israelites out of what belonged to Him and gave them no excuse to avoid rejoicing before Him at His harvest festivals. They had all the food they needed to eat, drink, and be merry. Still, they turned their backs on God and went their own ways, each doing what was right in his own eyes. Not much has changed in four thousand years. 

As far as I can tell, this is how they handled tithing in the Old Testament. I would love to hear your thoughts and comments! 

Leviticus 10:12-15 NKJV — And Moses spoke to Aaron, and to Eleazar and Ithamar, his sons who were left: “Take the grain offering that remains of the offerings made by fire to the LORD, and eat it without leaven beside the altar; for it is most holy. “You shall eat it in a holy place, because it is your due and your sons’ due, of the sacrifices made by fire to the LORD; for so I have been commanded. “The breast of the wave offering and the thigh of the heave offering you shall eat in a clean place, you, your sons, and your daughters with you; for they are your due and your sons’ due, which are given from the sacrifices of peace offerings of the children of Israel. “The thigh of the heave offering and the breast of the wave offering they shall bring with the offerings of fat made by fire, to offer as a wave offering before the LORD. And it shall be yours and your sons’ with you, by a statute forever, as the LORD has commanded.”