Tithing seems to be an issue with arguments for and against. As with all the simple doctrines, we humans tend to turn them into a giant issue, leaning to our own understanding. Some people are bitter about having paid tithes and not yet made it into God’s Kingdom. Perhaps they were trying to buy their way in. Some think that tithing is an Old Testament commandment and does not apply today. Let’s see what God thinks.

The Levitical Priesthood is to receive tithes of the brethren.

Heb 7:5  And indeed those who are of the sons of Levi, who receive the priesthood, have a commandment to receive tithes from the people according to the law, that is, from their brethren, though they have come from the loins of Abraham;

Christ said to pay tithes.

Mat 23:23  “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith. These you ought to have done, without leaving the others undone.

By not paying tithes, we are robbing God.

Mal 3:8  “Will a man rob God? Yet you have robbed Me! But you say, ‘In what way have we robbed You?’ In tithes and offerings.

Mal 3:9  You are cursed with a curse, For you have robbed Me, Even this whole nation.

Mal 3:10  Bring all the tithes into the storehouse, That there may be food in My house, And try Me now in this,” Says the LORD of hosts, “If I will not open for you the windows of heaven And pour out for you such blessing That there will not be room enough to receive it.

Mal 3:11  “And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, So that he will not destroy the fruit of your ground, Nor shall the vine fail to bear fruit for you in the field,” Says the LORD of hosts;

Mal 3:12  And all nations will call you blessed, For you will be a delightful land,” Says the LORD of hosts.

Num 18:24  For the tithes of the children of Israel, which they offer up as a heave offering to the LORD, I have given to the Levites as an inheritance; therefore I have said to them, ‘Among the children of Israel they shall have no inheritance.’ ”

The Levitical priesthood is still in vogue this very day.

Jer 33:20  “Thus says the LORD: ‘If you can break My covenant with the day and My covenant with the night, so that there will not be day and night in their season,

Jer 33:21  then My covenant may also be broken with David My servant, so that he shall not have a son to reign on his throne, and with the Levites, the priests, My ministers.

Jer 33:22  As the host of heaven cannot be numbered, nor the sand of the sea measured, so will I multiply the descendants of David My servant and the Levites who minister to Me.’ ”

Exo 40:13  You shall put the holy garments on Aaron, and anoint him and consecrate him, that he may minister to Me as priest.

Exo 40:14  And you shall bring his sons and clothe them with tunics.

Exo 40:15  You shall anoint them, as you anointed their father, that they may minister to Me as priests; for their anointing shall surely be an everlasting priesthood throughout their generations.”

There are three commanded times to give to the church, not seven.

Deu 16:16  “Three times a year all your males shall appear before the LORD your God in the place which He chooses: at the Feast of Unleavened Bread, at the Feast of Weeks, and at the Feast of Tabernacles; and they shall not appear before the LORD empty-handed.

It is a command of God that we give ‘as we are able’

Deu 16:17  Every man shall give as he is able, according to the blessing of the LORD your God which He has given you.

We must save our second tithe for the Feast.

Deu 14:22  “You shall truly tithe all the increase of your grain that the field produces year by year.

Deu 14:23  And you shall eat before the LORD your God, in the place where He chooses to make His name abide, the tithe of your grain and your new wine and your oil, of the firstborn of your herds and your flocks, that you may learn to fear the LORD your God always.

What about the third tithe? Read the following verse.

Deu 14:28  “At the end of every third year you shall bring out the tithe of your produce of that year and store it up within your gates.

Now read why:

Deu 14:27  You shall not forsake the Levite who is within your gates, for he has no part nor inheritance with you.

Deu 14:28  “At the end of every third year you shall bring out the tithe of your produce of that year and store it up within your gates.

Deu 14:29  And the Levite, because he has no portion nor inheritance with you, and the stranger and the fatherless and the widow who are within your gates, may come and eat and be satisfied, that the LORD your God may bless you in all the work of your hand which you do.

There are no Levites doing sacrifices and other Old Testament duties, except for the ministry. Pensioners are well looked after at this time, so third tithing is not necessary as long as the ministry are faring well. There may well be a time in the future when third tithe is required. We must ensure that pensioners, orphans, widows and the ministry are well looked after. Third tithe is instigated to help the poor, not make the giver poor.