Reply to A-Mission-Driven-Life, Wes

http://missionsforum.wordpress.com/2012/03/16/biblical-giving-does-that-mean-tithing/

If anything, Abram’s tithe was in obedience to the pagan law of the land. The Bible does not tell us WHY he tithed, but it would not have qualified as a HOLY tithe under the law. There is no authority to say he tithed by faith.

While God did own everything the Old Covenant law-tithe was always only FOOD from inside God’s HOLY land which HE had increased. HOLY tithes could not come from what man increased, from Gentiles, or from outside Israel. Period.

Firstfruits were very small token offerings per Deut 26:1-4 and Neh 10:35-37. They were never tithes and tithes were never given first.

Neither were tithes the BEST; they were the tenth per Lev 27:30-34 whether the best or not. The people did NOT give the BEST. However, the Levites gave the best tenth of what they received to the priests per Num 18:25-28.

In exchange for receiving the tithe as their inheritance, tithe recipients were not allowed to own or inherit property inside God’s HOLY land. ALL OT tithing principles are ignored today.

Except for food producers living inside Israel. The tithe was not the ”tenth part, of all they owned”. Jesus, Peter, and Paul did not qualify as tithe-payers.

The whole first Levitical tithe supported the SERVANTS to the priests which would be equivalent to our ushers, deacons, choir, musicians and maintenance men. The OT priests only received one tenth of that tithe – something ignored today.

Anybody who studies Neh 10:37-38; 13:5; 1 Kings 6:6 and the Levitical cities and families will discover that Mal 3:10 only referred to dishonest priests. The ordinary people were commanded to bring their tithes to the cities where the Levites and priests lived.

When Jesus mentioned tithing it was a “matter of the law” before Calvary in Mt 23:23 and is not properly “New Testament.” It would have been sin for him to teach against tithing to the Levitical priesthood before Calvary.
The “necessary change in the law” of tithing (compare Heb 7:5 and 12) was its “abolishment” in 7:18.