I have often heard sermons preached and emphasis made on the need for Christians to be faithful in paying their tithes. As a matter of fact, sometimes a nexus is drawn between paying tithe and getting God’s blessings. This piece is set to carefully examine the law of tithe. When was tithe first mentioned in scriptures, when did it become a law, who was the law meant for, how was tithe given and is the law of tithe binding on Christians?

Tithe refers to a tenth part of what belongs to the lineages of the eleven children of Jacob otherwise called the children of Israel with the exception of the Levi’s lineage who were to be the recipient of the tithe for their own use. Numbers 18:24-28 states, "But the TITHES of the children of Israel, which they offer as an heave offering unto the Lord, I have given to the Levites to inherit: therefore I have said unto them, Among the children of Israel they shall have no inheritance.”

We will now go through all the Scriptural references in the Bible on tithe, tithes, and tithing:

Genesis 14:20, "And blessed be the most high God, which hath delivered thine enemies into thy hand. And he [Abram] gave him [Melchizedek king of Salem, the priest of the most high God] TITHES of all [all the goods of war, Ver. 16]." We read again of this same event in the book of Hebrews: Hebrews 7:1-10, "For this Melchizedek, king of Salem, priest of God Most High, who meets with Abraham returning from the combat with the kings and blesses him, to whom Abraham parts a TITHE also, from all... Now, behold how eminent this one is to whom the patriarch Abraham gives a TITHE also of the best of the booty. And, indeed, those of the sons of Levi who obtain the priestly office have a direction to take TITHES from the people according to the law... And here, indeed, dying men are obtaining TITHES... And so, to say, through Abraham, Levi also, who is obtaining the TITHES, has been TITHED, for he was still in the loins of his father when Melchizedek meets with him."

There are a number of things we can learn concerning tithing from this section of Scriptures. In this, the first mention of tithing in the Bible, Abram gives to Melchizedek (a priest of God who was also the king of the city of Salem) a tithe of the best of the booty taken in war. Notice that this was not wheat, corn, wine, oil, or cattle from Abram’s personal possessions, but rather booty taken from conquered nations.

There is nothing stated here that would cause us to conclude that Abram ever tithed on a regular basis on his own personal possessions. Although Abraham gave Melchizedek a tithe of the booty of war, he told the king of Sodom that he would take none of it for himself.

In this same account recorded in the seventh chapter of Hebrews, we learn that the priests of Levi, from the family of Aaron (although far inferior to the priestly order of Melchizedek) also receive tithes from the people according to the law. This tells us little more about the actual tithes other than they received tithes.

Some may argue that Abraham’s tithing of the spoils of war predated the Law of Moses, and therefore even if the Law of Moses is done away with (Gal 3:23-25; Rom 10:4; Col 2:14; Ephesians 2:14; Heb 8:6-13), tithing is still binding on Christians because Abraham predated the Law of Moses. Is this true? Far from it!

It should be noted here that Abraham went to war on behalf of Sodom, to rescue his nephew, Lot. He then gave 10% of these spoils of war to Melchizedek, and allowed Sodom to keep 90%, while he himself kept NOTHING!

I am constrained at this point to ask this question: Is there any knowledgeable Bible teacher alive anywhere on earth that can explain to how this one single unparalleled and never-again-to-be-duplicated event, is Scriptural proof that Christians should give 10% of their annual salaries (not the spoils of war, but their money, their salaries), not once, but year after year, not to Melchizedek, but to clergymen who claim to be ministers of Jesus Christ?

Let me quickly draw attention to the fact that, God’s dealing with mankind has been categorized under three distinct dispensations of Bible history, namely,

The patriarchal age-a period covering between Adam to the deliverance of the Jews from Egyptian bondage under the able leadership of Moses, in other words to the giving of the law.

The Mosaic or Jewish dispensation, this spans between the giving of the law to the Jews and ends at the cross of Christ.

The Christian age, this began after the resurrection of Christ, hence the establishment of the church and will last till Christ’s second coming.

By implication, what Abraham did could rightly be said to have taken place under the patriarchal dispensation.

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