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There are some who teach that the law of tithing is not
valid for the church today, however, that it
should be complied with "in principle", meaning that the believers should
give one tenth of their
income to their church, and accordingly be blessed or, if not in compliance,
be cursed. These
teachers don't explain whether the believers would be blessed or cursed "in
principle" only (since
they comply with the law in principle), or if it would be for real.
So far I have presented, so to speak, the letter of the
Law concerning tithing. As we can see, God
has instituted tithing, not as a burden to His people, but rather as a blessing:
"...that it may go well
with you and your children after you forever..." [Deu. 12:28]; "...that you
may learn to fear the
Lord your God always..." [Deu. 14:23]; "...that the Lord your God may bless
you in all the work
of your hand which you do." [Deu. 14:29]. However, there is one condition:
that we do it
according to His commandments, not according to some other definition.
Apart from the above promises of God to those who obey
His commandments, what else can we
see in the ordinances concerning tithing? What is the spirit of the Law of
tithing?
First of all, it is obedience to God: there is no need
to elaborate on this any further. The second
important point is that, through tithing, Israelites expressed their thankfulness
to God who
provided for them all those earthly goods that they needed to sustain their
lives. Tithe was a token
of that appreciation.
The third and important point is that tithing was a vehicle
of sharing. This sharing was
demonstrated at two levels. Firstly, sharing between the Israelites who received
their inheritance
from God (the life sustaining land) and those who did not posses such
inheritance, the Levites, the
strangers and the poor. If we examine the figures, the number of Israelites
versus the number of
Levites and the percentage that
the Israelites were to give to
the Levites (one third of 10%) we will
find that each would end up with an equal share. This is the principle that
was observed in the
distribution of manna: one who gathered much had nothing left over and the
one who gathered little
had no lack.
The second level of sharing was the community sharing,
where people would come together with
their families and neighbors and share in the atmosphere of joy and celebration
before the Lord.
It is worth observing that tithing was not a vehicle to
"build the kingdom" or to "save the souls" or
to support some other 'godly' project. And it was not a vehicle to show someone's
"commitment"
and help him be "called" into a leadership position. These are all gimmicks
that are being used
today by our beloved "teachers" who seem to be never satisfied, no matter
how much is collected
by the church or a ministry. Ever heard any of them say, "enough"?
Before I address the New Testament I'd like to briefly
mention an Old Testament passage very
often mentioned in connection with tithing. |
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