A Closer Look At Tithing, page 3

The Sabbath Year
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To further accentuate how modern churches have deviated from biblical tithing, let's now take note of the following passages:

Exodus 23: 10-11: "For six years you are to sow your fields and harves t the crops, but during the seventh year let the land lie unplowed and unused. Then the poor among your people may get food from it, and the wild animals may eat what they leave. Do the same with your vineyard and your olive grove." (NIV)

Leviticus 25: 2-7: "Speak to the Israelites and say to them: 'When you enter the land I am going to give you, the land itself must observe a sab bath to the Lord. For six years sow your fields, and for six years prune your vineyards and gather their crops. But in the seventh year the land is to have a sabbath of rest, a sabbath to the Lord. Do not sow your fields or prune your vineyards. Do not reap what grows of itself or harvest the grapes of your untended vines. The land is to have a year of rest. Whatever the land yield s during the sabbath year will be food for you --- for yourself, your manservant and maidservant, and for the hired worker and temporary resident who live among you, as well as for your livestock and the wild animals in your land. Whatever the land produce s may be eaten.'"(NIV)

Leviticus 25: 20-22: You may ask, "What will we eat in the seventh year if we do not plant or harvest our crops?" I will send you such a blessing in the sixth year that the land will yield enough for three years. While you plant during the eighth year, you will eat from the old crop and will continue to eat from it until the harvest of the ninth year comes in. (NIV)

The preceding passages indicate that the entire harvest tithe remains in the ownership of the Israelites since God does not require it during the seventh year of each tithing cycle. The land could be toiled for the first six years, but during the seventh year, the Lord commanded that the land observe a sabbath. The Israelites were prohibited from planting or harvesting anything that grew of itself. Thus, tithes from produce were cancelled during the Sabbath year. The flock and herd, however, do not observe the Sabbath year law.

"The tribe of Levi, having been excluded from participating in the division of land, obtained as compensation a share in its produce (Num. 18:24). As the tribe included two elements, priests and Levites, the compensation was given in two forms: "terumah" (heave-offering) and "ma'aser" (tithe) for the Levites; and the latter gave the tenth part of the tithe to the priests as "terumat ma'aser" (heave offering). In addition, a second tithe had to be separated from the produce in the first, second, fourth, and fifth years of the year. This tithe had to be taken to Jerusalem and consumed there, in accordance with certain regulations; while in the third and sixth years it was given to the poor. In the former case it was called "ma'aser sheni" (second tithe); in the latter "ma'aser 'ani" (the tithe for the poor). The produce of the seventh year was free from all these dues."

--Jewish Encyclopedia Contributors: Solomon Schechter, M.A., Litt.D., President of the Faculty of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America, New York City / Michael Friedlander, Ph.D., Principal, Jews' College, London, England

Based on the cycle of working six out of seven days, Israel was to work for six years and then rest during the seventh year, the Sabbatical, when no fields were to be sown and no full scale reaping was to occur. Both people and animals were to eat of what grew in the fields. Everyone was to rest, Israelites and their servants as well as their livestock.

-- Baker Commentary on the Bible, (The Sabbath Year and Jubliee, p.82 [Walter A. Elwell, Editor])

In order to prevent a deficiency of food during the seventh ye ar, every sixth year God enabled the land to produce a miraculous quantity of sustenance that would be adequate for three continuous years. What the land yielded on its own during the Sabbath year supplied food for the Israelites, their servants, hired workers, the poor, wild animals, and temporary guests who resided with them. Full scale tithing resumed during the eighth year, but was paid from the old crops of the sixth year. In the ninth year the people of
Israel recommenced tithing from the new crops that were harvested. Since church leaders allege that Christians are required to tithe money, the following questions must be asked:

1) What portion of one's monetary salary is exempt from tithing every seven years?

2) Are Christians required to refrain fr om working every seven years?

3) Is God blessing all Christians with an enormous quantity of money every six years to
offset any shortage of funds during each seventh and eighth year?

4) If tithing money is applicable to Christians, are they not breaking the law for full scale
tithing during the seventh year?

5) If tithing money is not applicable to Christians, are not church le aders breaking God's
law by adding to His word? (Proverbs 30:6)

The answer to these questions should further indicate that today's version of monetary tithing lacks conformity to the mandated order of harvest tithing under the Mosaic Law.

	*Year 1*	*Year 2*	*Year 3*	*Year 4*	*Year 5*	*Year 6*	*Year 7*
Levitical Tithe	10%	10%	0%	10%	10%	0%	0%FG 10%HF **
Festival Tithe	10%	10%	0%	10%	10%	0%	0%FG 10%HF **
Poor Tithe	0%	0%	10%	0%	0%	10%	0%
Total Percentage Implemented	20%	20%	10%	20%	20%	10%	0%FG 20%HF **
Percentage Paid *	10%	10%	10%	10%	10%	10%	0%FG 10%HF **

Firstfruits and Tithes
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Many of those behind the pulpit, whose calling should be suspect, will employ coding tactics to various scriptures to secure an incessant cash flow. Another aspect of their monetary control agenda involves the interchangeable use of firstfr uits and tithes. They attempt to form a link between the two terms in order to extricate the first 10% of one's financial income. Their beloved verse is as follows:

Proverbs 3:9: Honor the Lord with your wealth, with the firstfruits of all your crops. (NIV)

The contorted and manipulative version is read as:

Proverbs 3:9: Honor the Lord with your money, with the first 10% of your paycheck.

While it is true that money can be classified as wealth, the meaning of "wealth" from a biblical perspective can be defined as "all possessions of value." In addition to paying tithes from herds, flocks and produce as required by law, the anc ient Israelites honored God by giving him an array of various offerings. Thus, honoring the Lord with one's possessions are separate deeds apart from tithing laws. Similarly, the statutes regarding firstfruits are distinct from the legislations of Mosaic tithing:

1) In ancient Israel, firstfruits were some of the choicest first ripened crops and fruits offered to God. There were no specific percentages attached to the giving of firstfruits. (Deut. 16:10, 26:2)

2) Tithes and firstfruits were not given concurrently during each year. For example, firstfruits were offered on the 16th day of the first month (Nisan) and the sixth day of the third month (Sivan) of the Jewish calendar year. In contrast, the year for the tithing of livestock commenced the first day of the sixth month (Elul); while harvest tithing initiated on the 15th day of the 11th month (Shevat). The specific
tithes were due one year from the date preceded. (Sources: " The Book of Our Heritage", By: Rabbi Eliyahu Kitov / The MacArthur Study Bible, p.185, [NKJV], By: John MacArthur)

3) Tithes were paid to Levites, whereas firstfruits were paid to the priests. Unlike tithes, firstfruits were not paid to the Levites who we re not assigned to temple ministries. The Levites who received tithes paid a tithe (tithe of the tithe) to the Levitical Priests. Bear in mind that all priests were Levites, but not all Levites
were priests. The only similarity between firstfruits and tithes is that they are both food substances.
Likened to the tithe, nowhere does the Bible state or illustrate that money was paid in the form of firstfruits. Let's examine the following passages:

Deuteronomy 26:1-4: When you have entered the land the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance and have taken possession of it and settled in it, take some of the firstfruits of all that you produce from the soil of the land your God is giving you and put them in a basket. Then go to the place the Lord your God will choose as a dwelling for his Name and say to the priest in office at the time, "I declare today to the Lord your God th at I have come to the land the Lord swore to our forefathers to give us." The priest shall take the basket from your hands and set it down in front of the alter of the Lord your God. (NIV)

Nehemiah 10:37: "Moreover, we will bring to the storerooms of the house of our God, to the priests, the first of our ground meal, of our grain offerings, of the fruit of all our trees and of our new wine and oil." (NIV)

Nehemiah 12:44: At the time men were appointed to be in charge of the storerooms for the contributions, firstfruits and tithes. From the fields around the towns they were to bring into the storerooms the portions required by the Law for the priests and the Levites, for Judah was pleased with the ministering priests and Levites. (NIV)

Ezekiel 44:30: The best of all the firstfruits and of all your special gifts will belong to the priests. You are to give them the first portion of your ground meal so that a blessing may rest on your household. (NIV)

Take note that Deuteronomy 26:2 says "some" rather than "a tithe" or "a tenth". Furthermore, notice that Nehemiah 12:44 makes a distinction between tithes and firstfruits. If firstfruits were already synonymic with tithes, there would be no need to allude to tithes in this verse. Appropriately, the Israelites we re to bring their firstfruits to the priests, whereas, their tithes were payable to the Levites. Subsequently, as previously
mentioned, the Levites were required to pay a tithe (the tithe of the tithe) to the priests. Thus, according to Numbers 18:29, it was the tithe given to the priests by the Levites that was considered the "best" of the tithe. In this case, the "best" of the tithe was not referred to as firstfruits.

To summarize:
1) Levites received tithes from the Israelites.
2) Priests received firstfruits from the Israelites and tithes from the Levites.
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