What it Wasn’t

In the minds of many Christians, God’s welfare system was that we are to pay a tithe (10% of our income) to the Church and/or charities who pass along a portion to the poor. Some reckon that since the income tax is used heavily for taking care of the poor, the Church needs less than 10% and Church revenues suffer accordingly (at least for some denominations).

This model does not match what was in God’s original model society, ancient Israel. For starters, there were three different tithes.

1. The first was an annual tithe which was to be given to the Levites – the priests. It was not charity. It was tax (or rent) paid to God in return for the bounty of the world. The Levites (priests) were acting as agents for collecting this tribute. [Leviticus 27:30-33; Numbers 18:25- 32]
2. The second tithe was also an annual tithe, but you were to spend it on yourself for travel money to get to three annual feasts, Passover, Pentecost and Tabernacles, and for celebration expenses while there. [Deuteronomy 12:5-18; 14:22-29] (A modern analog would be the large amount that people now spend on celebrating Christmas. But note that Christmas is not called for in the Bible. The origin of Christmas was an attempt by the early Church to Christianize old pagan celebrations for the benefit of the partially converted. Whether fully converted Christians should continue to celebrate this and other recycled pagan festivals is debatable [see Deuteronomy 12:29-31].)
3. The third tithe was not every year. It was either every third year, or more likely, the third year of the seven year cycle. (There was a Sabbath year at the end of a seven year cycle just as there is a Sabbath day at the end of a seven day cycle, as I will discuss later.) This tithe was indeed for the poor, as well as the Levite. [Deuteronomy 14:28-29, 26:12-15]

A 10% tax to help the poor every seven years is not much! That’s less than 1½%! Very Republican, indeed!

Yet, the New Testament talks so much about helping the poor. And there are passages in the New Testament that indicate that money for God can be diverted to the poor. For this and other reasons many people associate the New Testament with the Left and the Old Testament with the Right.

But they would be wrong. There is much provision for the poor in the Old Testament, of which the third tithe is a minor portion.

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Copyright 2004, Carl S. Milsted, Jr. All rights reserved.