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THIS is the portion of the tithes that is actually GIVEN AWAY by the Israelites - one tenth of their income of every THIRD year, not of every year - and this portion is not taken to the place of worship, but to one of the storehouses within the tribal land. Deu 26:13-14 "...then you shall say before the Lord your God: 'I have removed the holy tithes from my house, and have given them to the Levite, the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow, ACCORDING TO ALL YOUR COMMANDMENTS which You have commanded me... nor have I removed any of it for an unclean use... I have obeyed the voice of the Lord my God, and have done ACCORDING TO ALL THAT YOU HAVE COMMANDED ME." 1.5. Alternative Interpretations There is a teaching which claims that God instituted three tithes: a) 10% every year for the believers themselves, b) 10% every third year for the Levites and the poor, and c) a full 10% every year for the Levites. This is a plain lie, or at least, a gross error: there is NO SUCH COMMANDMENT in the Bible which requires that Israelites give away 10%of their income of every year to the Levites. The text that could possibly be wrongly interpreted as the "third tithe" is found in: Numbers 18:21 (God speaking to Aaron) "Behold, I have given the children of Levi all the tithes in Israel..." The above is clearly not a commandment. It is just a statement by God to Aaron, which is often presented as God's commandment by those desperate to "prove" that tithing is giving of 10% of our annual income to the church. God's way of giving commandments in the OT was through Moses and He normally made it clear that it was a commandment. Besides, when you read those verses in Deuteronomy, it is clear that a portion of tithes is consumed by the Israelites themselves, and some, by those in need, therefore, ALL tithes are not given to the Levites. The word translated as "all" in the above verse is a Hebrew word that sounds like "kol" and may mean "of all", as in the passage where God commanded Israelites what to eat and what not to eat when He said something like "... you shall eat all [kol] the fish...", (e.g.. Lev. 11:9) meaning "...you shall eat OF ALL the fish...". So, what "of all" the tithes may mean? If we look at Lev. 27 from verse 30 on, we will find that God talks about tithes of the land (grain and fruit) and tithes of herd and flock. "Of all the tithes", therefore means, the Levites were to receive their portion from every kind of Israelites' income. I must say it again: God NEVER issued a commandment that directs the Israelites to give 10% of their income of every year to the Levites, therefore, there is no equivalent "principle" for the believers today to give 10% of their income to the church. Another false interpretation is that the tithes which Israelites were supposed to use for the feast, are actually given to the Levites at the place of worship, except that only a small portion is consumed by the Israelites as a token in response to God's commandment. This is clearly a wrong interpretation. Firstly, there is not a single word in the Bible that might even suggest this. Secondly, it does not make sense: if the Levites were to get this portion, they would have to travel to the place of worship (most probably together with their Israelite neighbors who are carrying the tithes), only to take the tithes over from the Israelites, and to carry them back to near from where they originally came.
The Truth About Tithing, Tenth Edition	Page 4 of 16