Quote:
Originally Posted by Ohio
That minister likes to speak of "equal sacrifice" provided by tithing. That may have been true in ancient Israel, when tithing was akin to national taxation, but today there is no "equal sacrifice" when one makes $250K and another only $25K. One lives well, and the other lives on credit.
|
Actually Brother Ohio, tithing was NOT a form of taxation in ancient Israel... and construing tithing in this way, as many in different ministries have, is not Biblical at all.
Leviticus 27:30-33,
"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 unto the Lord. And if a man will at all redeem ought 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 passes under the rod, the tenth shall be holy unto the Lord. He shall not search whether it be good or bad, neither shall he change it..."
What was tithed was tithed by those who worked the land - and not by fishermen, not by merchants, not by carpenters and not by cobblers nor by any other tradesmen. What was tithed was of the fruit and the seed of the land, or of the herd or the flock... but although coin was used in ancient Israel, money was never tithed.
Also, unlike what we hear about the first tenth being tithed, here we see it was actually the tenth tenth. If a farmer had only nine sheep, he tithed none. Further, unlike sacrificial animals, the animal tithed need not be unblemished nor spotless (he was not even to consider whether it was good or bad), it was only the tenth to pass under the rod.
...I should also say that the tithes that were paid were not paid to a government official, as a taxation would be. They were paid to the Levites.
Numbers 18:24-28,
"But the TITHES of the children of Israel, which they offer as an heave offering unto the Lord, I have given to the Levites to inherit: therefore I have said unto them, Among the children of Israel they shall have no inheritance."
The tithes were paid to Levitical Priests, because they had no other means of inheritance... and they were paid in food; not in cold hard cash, not in filthy lucre....
And Amen brother, you are absolutely right: There is not a single verse in the New Testament that tells us to tithe... Paul instructs the Believers and tells them that God honors a cheerful giver - but this isn't tithing. It seems odd that the apostle to the Gentiles - who surely knew nothing of Jewish traditions - would NOT be told to tithe, if they were required to. Giving 10% of everything you earn to the church is not something that would have come natural to any of them - or any of us, if we're honest - it's something that is taught... so why is it not taught in the New Testament, if it really is God's requirement? Not even the Judaizers, who tried to teach Gentile Believers to circumcise in the flesh, seem to have spoken about tithing. Seem odd, doesn't it?
....But any thoughts on that verse from Malachi, the tithers 'nail in the coffin'?