Understanding Leviticus 27v30-32
“A tithe of everything from the land, whether grain from the soil or fruit from the trees, belongs to the Lord; it is holy to the Lord…
“Every tithe of the herd and flock—every tenth animal that passes under the shepherd’s rod—will be holy to the Lord”
Leviticus 27v30 and 32
It is quite disturbing that those who teach tithing use this verse to enforce the law or rather should I say the “Kingdom Principle” of giving ten percent of everything to God. This is the text that everyone who collect “tithes” use to buttress their assertions that a tithe of ‘everything' belongs to the Lord. Many go out of their way in trying to explain why Leviticus 27:30 doesn’t read the way most would want it to read. We are going to go over all of these explanations in line with the biblical and historical context of the given text.
“These are the commands the Lord gave Moses at Mount Sinai for the Israelites.”¹ Numbers 27v34
The first thing that we must all appreciate is that these commands were not written or given to the Church of Christ but rather, they were given specifically to the nation of Israel. Thus, if we are going to have an accurate understanding of this portion of scripture we must fully acquaint ourselves with the full context of the Old Testament Israel. How this command affected and impacted their lives. The actual meaning they attached to this command and how they went about fulfilling it. It is only after gaining a full insight into this background that we may accurately determine how this command may or may not affect us, the Church of Christ.
It would be naïve for a Gentile Christian who is living under the New Testament, post-Calvary to be under the impression that this command was given to the Church of Christ as such, they can just attach any meaning they want to this Command or choose how they may want to obey this command. With that being said, Leviticus 27:30-32 gives us insight into how God controlled the application or usage of the tithe in worship. In other words, this command regulated how the Israelites were to apply the tenth. It is the definitive How-to-guide on the application of the tithe. This verse is not a parable but a command that regulated tithing!
This command required “a tithe of everything from the land.” The command does not just require tithes or a tithe, but regulated the application of the tithe to the direct produce of the land. Then we have to ask ourselves which land exactly this command implied? Was this going to be just any land? What did this command also imply by saying land, did the land represent a source of income? However, the command went on to qualify what the first part of that command meant. The text goes on to say that “whether grain from the soil or fruit from trees." This qualification makes it certain that, indeed this command is talking about the physical land. Was this land, the one they were standing on in the wilderness? Again the answer to that question is a big NO, the texts from Deuteronomy chapter 12 make it clear and obvious that tithes were to come specifically from the land of Canaan. Land in this given command implied the physical Land of Canaan. As can be seen from the text below.
“You shall not at all do as we are doing here today— every man doing whatever is right in his own eyes— for as yet you have not come to the rest and the inheritance which the Lord your God is giving you. But you will cross the Jordan and settle in the land the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance.” Deuteronomy 12:8-11
Then the following texts also reveal that tithes were to come strictly from the direct produce of that [physical]land.
“Be sure to set aside a tenth of all that your fields produce” Deuteronomy 14v22
Vs 28 “At the end of three years bring all the tithes of that year's produce and store it in your towns”
“When you have finished setting aside of a tenth of all your produce in the third year of the tithe…” Deuteronomy 26v12
Thus, Leviticus 27:30 must be interpreted in harmony with the other scriptures or texts and never in isolation. All Commands that regulated tithing under the Law all but confirm the biblical reality that the tenth was strictly applied on the direct produce of the Land of Israel. As mentioned above, this command was given while they were still in the wilderness, hence “the land” in this command didn’t infer any other land. Otherwise the obligation to tithe would have arisen while in the wilderness. But by Land, God was very specific that the Holy tithes were to be taken from the Holy land of Israel and not just any land! No single Israelite was ever cursed or sinned against God for not tithing whilst in the wilderness. This shows that tithes were not just tied to God’s people, but to God’s land as well. Tithes and the tithing Laws were tied to the Land of Canaan.
‘The Law of Moses prescribed tithing in some detail. Leviticus 27v30-32 stated the tithe of the land to include the seed of the land and fruit from trees. In addition, the Hebrew people were required to set apart every tenth animal of their herds and flocks to the Lord… Nelson's Bible Dictionary12
‘In the Deuteronomic code, the tithe is limited to grain, wine, oil, honey, herd, and flock. These texts more or less equated the tithe with the other ritual offerings and sacrifices.’ Catholic Encyclopedia Vol. 141
The above quotes do confirm that the tithe was limited in scope to agricultural produce. Only to be applied to the increase of fields, vineyards, trees, flock, herd, and honey from beehives. As one can see, Tithing was not a blanket ten percent from any and every source of income. This means that under Israeli society, ten percent of everything didn’t belong to God, but rather it was only tithes of everything from the Land that belonged to God and was holy. Thus, according to God’s express command the tithe was a tenth of designated items from the Land of Israel.
“You shall not at all do as we are doing here today— every man doing whatever is right in his own eyes…”
The following expressions are quite revealing in as far as informing us of how God required strict obedience to his Laws. “You shall not at all do as we are doing here today— every man doing whatever is right in his own eyes..” and “Be sure to set aside a tenth of all that your fields produce”. The phrase “be sure..” appears to be a stern warning that tithes were to be taken strictly from the produce of the land, without fail. The Israelites were instructed to observe this command exactly in the manner in which it was given. They were not allowed by Law to add or subtract from God’s given commands.
““Do not add to what I command you and do not subtract from it, but keep the commands of the LORD your God that I give you.”” Deuteronomy 4:2
The subject of tithing or rather applying the tenth isn’t up to anyone to choose what is right for him or her. God put in place specific regulations for Israel to follow when tithing. So if one wishes to apply this Law or principle, they should do so, in a manner that God commanded, not the one that seems right in their own eyes! It is important to note that the given command is a regulation on how they were to apply the tithe. When you regulate something, it means you putting something under control. This is how God controlled tithing or usage of the tenth.
It must also be noted that a regulation puts in place the ambit within which one may operate, in order for one's conduct to be acceptable or lawful. If one happens to extend or go beyond that which the command does not expressly state, his or her conduct no matter how noble or sincere would be deemed unacceptable or unlawful. The only person who may alter or extend the ambit of the command is the one who gave the command.
As mentioned in the previous chapter, when people teach about the tithe, their emphasis is always on the technical definition of the tithe and then they totally disregard how the tithe was applied under Israelite society. This understanding is very fundamental because that’s where they derived the concept of tithing. Hence we must understand how the tithe was applied in that context. Yes, God commanded that Israel must tithe, but tithe what exactly? Is that part vague? Not at all. Did God not expressly communicate his mind on how they were to apply the tenth? Of course, He did!
It is therefore quite unfortunate that those who teach the tithe are of the mistaken belief that the ten percent principle is the ultimate Holy standard of giving to God for all of God’s people. They sincerely believe that the tenth part of everything that we get is sacrosanct because it belongs to God. This is because they loosely put together or reconstruct the wording of Leviticus 27:30-32 to come up with this conviction, while completely ignoring the intended meaning of the text. The wording of the text is either omitted or changed altogether. (Jews were forbidden by God to do this Deut.4:2) Here are a few examples;
“By now it should be obvious that tithes and offerings are two completely different things. The tithe is fixed at ten percent of your increase and the offering is a flexible amount regulated by your willingness to give to God." “Are tithes and offerings the same" ³
John Avanzini
“Please remember these aren’t my thoughts. God says if we do not tithe, we are committing a robbery. He says we owe Him the tithe. We pay tithes because God commands it. By faithfully bringing our tithes to Him, we establish our basic honesty and obedience…Leviticus 27v30-33 clearly says the tithe belongs to the Lord" John Avanzini “Keys to proper giving" 7
”Tithing is the biblical practice of returning ten percent of your income back to God after you have earned it(Leviticus 27v30)” ‘31 Reasons why people don’t receive their financial harvest' ⁴ Mike Murdock
“And here in Leviticus we are told that the tithe is Holy unto the Lord. That is to say one-tenth is not our property at all; it doesn’t belong to us in the slightest; we have no say about it whatsoever, it is set apart unto a holy use. It is the Lord’s and his alone.” Arthur W. Pink: Tithing 6
“Notice in the first verse(Leviticus27v30) we are told that the tithe belongs to the Lord. It isn’t yours or mine to do with it whatever we choose because it doesn’t belong to us. It belongs to God.” Dr. Creflo Dollar8
“Only God has the right to say how much of our income shall be set aside and set apart unto Him. And he has said so clearly, repeatedly in the Old Testament Scriptures..” 6
It is quite evident that all the different preachers cited above completely ignored the original meaning of the text in question. They conspicuously chose to emphasize the tenth part of the command and clearly disregarded how that tenth was applied in the given command. The way the tithe was regulated in the given text isn’t the same way they used or applied it in their teaching. They went out of their way to foster the belief that the tenth part of everything belongs to the Lord or is Holy to the Lord and also introduced the idea of tithing one’s income into this context. Sadly, the command in question doesn’t regulate this. Through eisegesis they make the Command from God say what they want it to say!
‘Many people have the mistaken belief that ten percent is the sacred standard in God's kingdom when it comes to giving, it is a Kingdom principle. They are under the impression that it was an unspoken command or principle that didn’t get recorded until the Law was given. But that conclusion is not proper, the Bible itself clearly contradicts it. If Abraham had been following a universal principle when he gave a tenth of the spoils to Melchisedek, then God would have told people in Numbers 31 to do the same thing with the spoils of war. But, he specifically gave them different instructions – proof that Abraham wasn’t following an eternal law and his tithe isn’t a pattern to follow today. Spoils were not included under the Law of Tithing!’ ²
As one can see, even a tenth of the plunder didn’t belong to the Lord under Israel society! That’s because God gave them a different set of commands that regulated the distribution of the spoils of war, even though this was a source of income or an increase!. In other words, they were not allowed to tithe the plunder. In fact no Israelite was even allowed to choose to tithe the spoils in following Abram’s example, or Jacob. They tithed because God commanded them through Moses, to do so. This clearly proves that ten percent of all we get does not belong to God because the tithe was not universally applied to everything. God did not claim or require a tenth part of the spoils!
God required tithes of the land because the Israelites were farmers and didn’t earn wages?
This appears to be an unshakeable truth and yet there is not even a single verse that expressly states this in the entire Bible. Did God ever say that because you are going to be farmers in Canaan or that the Land is going to be your main source of income, therefore I want tithes of the Land? Some even assert that the Israelites were peasant farmers, so they didn’t earn wages or salaries hence one could not expect God to command them to bring tithes from their wages! We must all realise that all these assertions seem to imply that God was near-sighted, he didn’t contemplate that the Israelites would live in cities or one day, earn wages for a living!
“Do not hold back the wages of a hired man overnight" Leviticus 19v13b
“Pay him his wages each day before sunset because he is poor and is counting on it…” Deuteronomy 24v14-15
However, it must be borne in mind that God had already fathomed that the Israelites would earn wages and also live in cities when they enter Canaan. This fact is even recognized under the Law for that matter! God gave commands that regulated the payment of wages to hired workers on time. He also indicated that the hired worker must be paid his dues since he would be in dire need of that wage. This wage would be his only source of income, so it must be paid on time. In Leviticus this command was given in Chapter 19 and yet when God gave the command to tithe in Chapter 27, wages were not included.
"'Do not defraud your neighbor or rob him. "'Do not hold back the wages of a hired man overnight. Leviticus 19:13
Ironically, wages are mentioned frequently in both Old and New Testament writings, proving that when God gave the command to tithe farm produce, he knew that the Israelites were going to earn wages when they enter and settle in Canaan.
“But He answered ’You give them something to eat' They said to him, “That would take more than half a year's wages! Are we to go spend that much on bread and give them to eat?” Mark 6v37
“Some of those present were saying indignantly to one another, why this waste of perfume? It could have been sold for a year's wages and the money given to the poor” Mark 14v4-5
“For the Kingdom of God is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire workers for his vineyard. He agreed to pay them a denarius for the day and sent them into his vineyard” Matthew 20v1-2
As one can see, the term wages is just as archaic as tithe, but God never required Israel to give a tithe of their wages for Holy use! Evidently, God had the time to give commands to employers to pay wages on time but when he regulated the application of the tithe, wages of any nature or form were not included. These texts essentially reveals that God knew that the Israelites were going to earn wages, or that the Israelites earned wages but he didn’t command them to apply the tithe on wages.
God contemplated both village and city life in Canaan
"'If a man sells a house in a walled city, he retains the right of redemption a full year after its sale. During that time he may redeem “ Leviticus 25:29
“But houses in villages without walls around them are to be considered as open country. They can be redeemed, and they are to be returned in the Jubilee.” Leviticus 25:31
These two scriptures reveal that when God gave the Law, he knew that some Israelites would live in cities and some in villages. That is why he gave two separate commands that regulated what could be done on property that is owned in a City and property owned in the village, in as far as the Jubilee was concerned. However, God didn’t give two separate commands that regulated what people who lived in Cities or villages would do in so far as tithing was concerned. Whether one lived in the City or in the village God still required tithes of the land, there is no exception or substitution that was allowed in this regard.
The Israelites had many sources of income when the command to tithe was given!
Again, most people are persuaded to believe that God required tithes of everything from the land because the Land was their only source of income! Since to them, the Land represented a source of income, this then implies that tithes from every source of income belongs to the Lord and is holy! Unfortunately, there isn’t a single verse that even remotely suggests that the Land represented a source of income. The scriptures do reveal that the Israelites already had many other sources of income before they had even entered Canaan. So, this understanding that the land represented a source of income doesn’t come from the Scriptures, it is purely of a human construct. In other words the Scriptures don’t say all this.
First, Exodus Chapter 35-36 bares it all. When God wanted the Israelites to construct the Tabernacle he instructed Moses to collect a freewill offering for all the material that was needed. The major give away is that, those who had the skill to make any of the materials were to make them and bring the items as a freewill offering to the Lord. The following verses are quite revealing;
"All who are skilled among you are to come and make everything the LORD has commanded” Exodus 35:10
“Every skilled woman spun with her hands and brought what she had spun--blue, purple or scarlet yarn or fine linen. And all the women who were willing and had the skill spun the goat hair.” Exodus 35:25-26
“Then Moses gave an order and they sent this word throughout the camp: "No man or woman is to make anything else as an offering for the sanctuary." And so the people were restrained from bringing more,” Exodus 36:6
“All the skilled men among the workmen made the tabernacle with ten curtains of finely twisted linen and blue, purple and scarlet yarn, with cherubim worked into them by a skilled craftsman.” Exodus 36:8
Fascinating! These texts reveal two things. All the Israelites who had various skills in craft, used what ever skill they had to make the items that God had required. Then second, the workman who then constructed the Tabernacle also had the skill to do so. All this just reveals just how industrious Israelite Society was, and this was even before they had entered the Land of Canaan. This all happened in the wilderness, so that explains why God then said;
“The LORD your God has blessed you in all the work of your hands. He has watched over your journey through this vast desert. These forty years the LORD your God has been with you, and you have not lacked anything.” Deuteronomy 2:7
Secondly, Moses revealed that God had indeed blessed the Israelites in all the work of their hands while they were still in the desert. In all this, God acknowledged that the Israelites had other sources of income and also blessed those sources. Yet he didn’t require that they should first tithe, for him to bless these sources of income. He also didn’t include all these sources when he regulated the application of the tithe! Here is what Dr. Russell Earl Kelly and other authors also had to say on the subject matter. Dr. Kelly went so far as to enumerate the various sources of income that were available for an ordinary Israelite under the ancient biblical Society;
‘Biblical society included the following occupations, bakers, builders, candles makers, carpenters, clothing makers, hired farmworkers, hired house servant, jewelry craftsmen, masons, metal craftsmen, merchants, perfume makers, spice makers, physicians, sculptors, soldiers, tanners, teachers, and tentmakers. Yet none of these professions or products from these professions aren’t included In my list of tithes or tithing.' Dr. Russell Earl Kelly 10
“The wide variety of other business activities and sources of financial gain that were part of the economy, such as labor, skilled trades, professional services, commercial enterprise, rents and inheritance were not included. If God wanted to include them He would have named them specifically or representatively or he would have clearly said that every source is included. When God means any, every or all he simply says so. The Law allowed for freewill offerings from other sources but they were not called the Tithe”. Matthew E. Narramore 2
“Indeed even during the era of the Mosaic Law, the tithe was not a ten percent tax on all forms of income. Unlike some Ancient Near Eastern state tithes, Israel’s tithe did not encompass every area of life. Rather it was limited in scope to agricultural products whether animal, grain or vegetable.” Iain M. Duguid 9
In light of the above references and textual biblical evidence of the historical context of the Ancient Bible society, It is rather naïve if not myopic for one to believe that Ancient Israel was a strictly agro-based economy so that’s why God required tithes of the land.
God required tithes of grain because the Israelites didn’t use money?
Of all the justifications on why Christians must pay tithes in money today, this one is just somewhere up there. I am equally embarrassed at myself for actually believing and accepting this assertion as a biblical truth. This just shows how powerful belief can be. It can cloud your judgement that you fail to see even the obvious. We believe in this, yet there isn’t a single verse that says all this. The baffling thing about all this, is that money is mentioned in the 27th Chapter of Leviticus!
'The Lord said to Moses, “Speak to the Israelites and say to them: ‘If anyone makes a special vow to dedicate a person to the Lord by giving the equivalent value, set the value of a male between the ages of twenty and sixty at fifty shekels of silver, according to the sanctuary shekel' Leviticus 27:1-3
Silver is the earliest from of money, so whenever you come across the phrase ‘shekel of silver’ or just 'silver' in the Old Testament scriptures, understand that this would be money. The bible does mention that silver was money, to all those who might be asking, 'How do we know that silver was actually Money?'
“As they were emptying their sacks, there in each man's sack was his pouch of silver! When they and their father saw the money pouches, they were frightened.” Genesis 42:35
This text is from Genesis, when the sons of Jacob had returned from Egypt. The context of this text also mentions that they had gone to Egypt to buy grain. The text expressly stated that silver was money. I will have you know that the term money appears about nine times in Genesis alone. One more fascinating aspect of Genesis in as far as use of money was concerned, here's what God commanded Abram in the 17th Chapter of Genesis.
'Whether born in your household or bought with your money, they must be circumcised. My covenant in your flesh is to be an everlasting covenant.' Genesis 17:13
'On that very day Abraham took his son Ishmael and all those born in his household or bought with his money, every male in his household, and circumcised them, as God told him.' Genesis 17:23
Notice that this is a direct commandment coming from God. So, why would God command Abraham and all future generations to circumcise every male servant bought with money if they didn’t use money? As one can see, money was a medium of exchange as far back as Abraham's time. God also mentioned usage of money in this command, yet when he gave the command to tithe to the Israelites, he required tithes of grain. Remember Joseph? Yes, even he was sold for twenty shekels of silver by his brothers.
God commanded the Israelites to give MONEY to Priests!
“To redeem the 273 firstborn Israelites who exceed the number of the Levites, collect five shekels for each one, according to the sanctuary shekels. Give the money for the redemption of the additional Israelites to Aaron and his sons" Numbers 3:46-48
“From the firstborn of the Israelites he collected silver weighing 1,365 shekels, according to the sanctuary shekel. Moses gave the redemption money to Aaron and his sons, as he was commanded by the word of the Lord.” Numbers 3:50-51
"The first offspring of every womb, both human and animal, that is offered to the Lord is yours(priests). But you must redeem every firstborn son... When they are a month old, you must redeem them at the red