Overview
Tithing is the chief method of financial stewardship found in the Bible to which are attached many spiritual promises and blessings. Under the Old Covenant, when Israel was in the Promised Land under a Mosaic, Levitical Theocracy, the seven-year Shemittah Cycle was followed. There were three basic tithes:
- 1. The Ma'aser Rishon due to the ministers (Levites);
- 2. The Ma'aser Sheni consecrated for use at the Annual Festivals; and
- 3. The Ma'aser ani for distribution to the needy poor.
The Mosaic System of Tithing
The table below shows on which years tithes were due, there being no tithe due on the seventh or Sabbatical Year:
Ma'aser (Tithe) |
1st Year |
2nd Year |
3rd Year |
4th Year |
5th Year |
6th Year |
7th Year |
Levitical (Ma'aser rishon) |
10% of 100% |
10% of 100% |
10% of 100% |
10% of 100% |
10% of 100% |
10% of 100% |
None |
Festival (Ma'aser sheni) |
10% of 90% |
10% of 90% |
None |
10% of 90% |
10% of 90% |
None |
None |
Poor (Ma'aser ani) |
None |
None |
10% of 90% |
None |
None |
10% of 90% |
None |
Total Tithe % |
19% |
19% |
19% |
19% |
19% |
19% |
None |
As this was a theocratic ('God-ruling') society (where 'church' and 'state' were a single entity), the Priesthood was the government or 'state', so an Israelite would pay multiple 'tenths' or 'tithes' amounting to 19 per cent of his total increase each year except on the seventh year, which averages out to a total of about 16.3 per cent of his total income per year, the ancient equivalent of today's 'income tax'. This is considerably less than what we pay to governments in our own day, even at the lower end of the scale. On top of this would be voluntary contributions to, for example, the temple treasury (Mal.3:8; Lk.21:1-4).
No Centralised Theocracy in the Messianic Era
Under the New Covenant of Yah'shua the Messiah (Jesus Christ), Messianic Israel is in diaspora (dispersion) throughout the nations of the world (including the Israeli Republic, which is a secular state) and its members are required to pay state taxes to their respective 'Caesars' (Mt.22:21; Mk.12:17; Lk.20:25). How, if at all, are tithes to be administered today?
Tithing in the Patriarchal Period
Under the Patriarchal Melchizedek System, before the time of Moses and the Sinai Covenant, a round 10 per cent tithe on their increase was made by Abraham and those nomads after him until the establishment of the Law of Moses:
"For this Melchizedek, king of Salem, priest of El Elyon (the Most High God), who met Abraham returning from the slaughter of the kings and blessed him, to whom also Abraham gave a tenth part of all, first being translated 'king of righteousness,' and then also king of Salem (Shalom), meaning 'king of peace,' without father, without mother, without genealogy, having neither beginning of days nor end of life, but made like the Son of Elohim (God), remains a cohen (priest) continually. Now consider how great this man was, to whom even the patriarch Abraham gave a tenth of the spoils" (Heb.7:1-4, NKJV).
The Old Melchizedek Order
Melchizedek was the Priest-King of the Assembly of the Firstborn or Holy Order in the days of Abraham and was based in the City of Salem, that would eventually become the City of Yerushalayim or Jerusalem. This was the pre-Mosaic, theocratic city-state to which all true believers owed their allegiance and to which they paid their tithes.
The Levitical Inferior to the Melchizedek
The Levitical system was a temporary subset of the Melchizedek Order. Continuing:
"And indeed those who are of the sons of Levi, who receive the priesthood, have a mitzvah (commandment) to receive tithes from the people according to the Torah (Law), that is, from their brethren, though they have come from the loins of Abraham; but he whose genealogy is not derived from them received tithes from Abraham and blessed him who had the promises. Now beyond all contradiction the lesser (Levitical/Aaronic/Mosaic) is blessed by the better (Melchizedek). Here mortal men receive tithes, but there he receives them, of whom it is witnessed that he lives. Even Levi, who receives tithes, paid tithes through Abraham, so to speak, for he was still in the loins of his father when Melchizedek met him" (Heb.7:5-10, NKJV).
The New Melchizedek Order in Diaspora
Yah'shua the Messiah (Jesus Christ) is the perpetual Cohen Gadol or High Priest of the restored, but now transformed New Covenant, Melchizedek Order, but there has never been a city-state like that of ancient Salem to which tithes are due because our 'Melchizedek' is in Heaven whose return to earth we await at the beginning of the Millennium. Therefore until His return, the administration of tithing falls on a local, congregational level, and/or group of associated congregations. In this particular New Covenant Æon or Age, tithes and offerings are still due but the tithe or 'tenth' is still to be divided three ways to the ministry (the first third-of-a-tenth), the administration of the annual moedim (appointments or festivals) (the second third-of-a-tenth) and to the poor, first, in the Messianic Community (Church) (the third third-of-a-tenth), and elsewhere. The third-of-a-tenth for the ministry is not for the minister (who should be self-supporting - there are no salaried ministers in the true Assemblies of Yahweh) but for the ministry, to enable the hiring or upkeep of meeting places (if required - house fellowships should be the norm wherever possible) and to support locally-sponsored evangelists and missionaries.
Catholic and Protestant Systems of Tithing
With the rapid apostacy of Christendom in the earliest years, this pattern was rarely followed. The Catholic Counsils of Tours (AD 567) and the Third Council of Mâcon (AD 585) made tithing compulsory upon pain of excommunication. Historically, the clergy in the very earliest proto-Catholic times received one quarter of the offerings of the laity (there was no Clergy/Laity division in the New Testament period or immediately afterwards). The remaining three-quarters went to the upkeep of the farbric of the 'church', the relief of the poor, and to the bishop. This system was superceded by 'tithes', a payment of a tenth part of the produce of the land. As the parochial system developed in Catholic Europe, the tithes of each parish were allotted to its own 'parson' (minister) and this allocation became a general law, enforced in England in AD 900.
These 'tithes' came to be divided into the 'great tithes', those of the main crops (wheat, oats, etc.), and 'small tithes', those of minor produce (lambs, chickens, etc.). An incumbent (a person holding an ecclesiastical office) entitled to the whole tithes of a parish was termed a 'rector'. The tithes of some of these parishes came to be appropriated (permanently annexed) to monasteries or impropriated to lay proprietors or corporations, who were then bound to provide and endow a clergyman to reside in the parish and perform the ecclesiastical duties. The endowment of such a clergyman, called the 'vicar', usually took the form of part of the 'glebe' (the land devoted to the maintenance of the incumbert of the parish), together with the small tithes, which were difficult to collect.
The Ten-Percent-to-the-Ministry Error
Many Protestants, but more especially evangelicals, along with Mormons, Adventists and others, incorrectly interpret tithing as giving 10 percent of their income to their home church, with contributions to charities and 'offerings' being above and beyond what they give their church. Western Churches and denominations tithe, variously, weekly, monthly or yearly, usually during the 'offertory' in the older, more traditional churches, on a collection plate, in a bag, or in a basket passed around the congregants. Tithing is a belief shared by 86 percent of Baptist, Pentecostal and Non-denominational evangelical churches.
The Messianic Evangelical System
Messianic Evangelicals believe that it is responsibility of the local assembly to handle the First Tithe to the Ministry. Each family is responsible for administering their Second Tithe to make sure they can provide for the festivals, for transport to, and accomodation at, venues where the festivals are being observed (and to, for example, freely contribute to any local collection to help those unable to travel). And the Third Tithe is likewise the responsibility of each family to support the poor as they are led by the Ruach (Spirit) and/or if they wish, to contribute to a local congregational corporate or other fund. Thus the maximum tithing obligation to the local ministry is a third of a tenth, or $10 out of every $30 set aside for tithing. Tithing in NCAY is mandatory of all Priesthood officers and is a condition of their holding office, to set an example to the unordained.
Beyond the mandatory Tenth or Tithe, the qodeshim (saints, set-apart ones) are free to make contributions, donations and offerings, or not, as they please, as moved by the Ruach haQodesh (Holy Spirit).
The Millennium
When Messiah returns to rule the earth, a Melchizedek Theocratic System will be established combining elements of the previous orders before it, depending whether the tithes are paid in the Holy Land or the nations of the world.
For a more in-depth study of this subject, see the articles in the register below.
(29 August 2021)
|