Truth about Tithing (pt.1)

Truth about Tithing (pt.1)
Welcome to the channel. I’m Danny, and I was a Latter-day Saint for 60 years.
The title for today’s video is – Truth about Tithing (pt.1). Because I want to be thorough in my coverage of this topic – I decided to video it in two parts. However, I will release them back-to-back at the same time for a complete teaching. Here is part one.
Tithing is a huge issue in circles of Christianity and Mormonism. I believe it is vitally important to understand where the principle of tithing initially came from, how it was applied, and its eventual demise. I want to dispel misconceptions about it – by accurately explaining its intended purpose. I hope to show that by its religious abuse – unsuspecting people have been kept in bondage by church leaders and put in sin for living it.
Mormon prophet, Brigham Young said in Journal of Discourses, Vol. 16, p.46 “Take up the Bible, compare the religion of the Latter-day Saints with it, and see if it will stand the test.” That is exactly what we will do.
To get a correct understanding about tithes, we need to start in the Old Testament with a story that is the initial example used by Christian religions to promote the teaching. We begin with the account of Abraham rescuing his nephew, Lot, from the enemy armies who had kidnapped him. Upon his return from victory over Lot’s captures – with the booty from the conquered kings – Abraham meets up with the mysterious priest of Salem – Melchizedek. Melchizedek blessed Abraham, and Abraham gave a tenth to Melchizedek. It says in Genesis 14:20 “And blessed be the most high God, which hath delivered thine enemies into thy hand. And he gave him tithes of all.” Here is where uninformed people mistakenly jump to the conclusion that this was the beginning of God instituting tithing.
But what does it really mean that Abraham “gave him tithes of all?” All of what? It is clarified in the New Testament, where it states in Hebrews 7:4 “Now consider how great this man was, unto whom even the patriarch Abraham gave the tenth of the spoils.” Here, scripture interprets scripture. That is what we should always do in our study of the Bible.
Abraham gave Melchizedek a tenth of everything he had taken as “spoils” of war. This tenth or tithe was a portion of what Abraham had obtained from his invasion – not a portion of everything he owned as personal possessions, or an increase in his wealth. This wasn’t a religious obligation – it was a political gesture.
There is no scriptural evidence that this tenth-giving was a normal part of Abraham’s life. It was a one-time event. And what about the other ninety percent of the spoils? The Bible doesn’t tell us, but Abraham probably returned it to the king of Sodom, who were the people originally plundered.
Abraham’s gift to Melchizedek is not an example of how people in his day should, tithe. If anything, it is an example of how to give freely from the heart. Melchizedek didn’t require or command Abraham to give tithes to him. Abraham willingly honored Melchizedek in the fashion of conquering enemies by sharing a portion of the spoils. That was the custom – the politically correct thing to do. Abraham was free to give anything he wanted, and he decided to give a tenth.
Then we come to a story about Abraham’s grandson Jacob who in desperation wanted to make a vow with God after he built a stone altar – that he will give God a tenth, if God will bless him. He was in essence, trying to negotiate with God. It reads in Genesis 28:22 “And this stone, which I have set for a pillar, shall be God’s house: and of all that thou shalt give me I will surely give the tenth unto thee.” Again, this wasn’t a law that Jacob was promising to follow – it was a vow or offer to God as a bargaining agreement.
Now, fast forward centuries later to the time of Moses. God called Moses to lead the children of Israel out of Egyptian bondage. After crossing the Red Sea into the desert wilderness, they camped at the base of Mount Sinai. Moses went up to the top of the mountain and received the law and commandments. Then God instructed Moses to build a portable tabernacle, where the sacrifice of animals would be performed and whose blood would temporarily cover the sins of the people. Of the twelve tribes of Israel, the tribe of Levi was selected to be priests to serve in the temple ordinances.
At the beginning of the Mosaic Law, the inheritance of the tribes of Israel was laid out in Deuteronomy 14, 18, Leviticus 27. We read that once the children of Israel entered the Promise Land, each tribe would be given a portion of land to inherit. Every tribe but the tribe of Levi – who would be supported by the offerings and tithes from the other tribes to free them up for priesthood service in the tabernacle and then the temple. Keep in mind that all Aaronic Priests were Levites, but not all Levites were priests. Therefore, while the Levites were recipients of the main tithe, they also had the specific responsibility to give a portion of those tithes to the Aaronic priests.
The tribes of Israel had to pay at least ten percent of their crops, produce, and stock – to the Levite priest’s storehouse at the temple. It didn’t involve money. As a matter of fact, there were multiple tithes required from the children of Israel. One for the Levites; one for the use of the temple and the great feasts; and one for the poor of the land. These demands would have pushed the total to more than 23%.
Everything seemed to be working as God designed until Jerusalem was seized by the Babylonians in 597 BC. Solomon’s temple was destroyed, and the Israelites were taken into captivity. Upon their release forty years later, the Jews returned to Jerusalem to rebuild what is known as the Second temple. But things have changed and deteriorated. The Levite priests began corrupting the covenant they made with God at Mount Sinai.
The prophet Malachi detailed the priesthood’s corruption in Mal. 1:6—2:9. Basically, the priests defamed God’s sacred name by showing contempt for it and not giving Him honor or glory. The priests demeaned the temple by their despicable actions and attitudes. Over time, the priesthood grew corrupt, and priests often abused their calling and position. They corrupted the covenant by offering blemished sacrifices, misleading the people with false teaching, and showing partiality in matters of the law, which went against their divinely appointed duties to guide the people in righteousness and uphold God’s holiness. As a result, they caused the people to stumble in their faith, and the priests lost the respect they once commanded.
In the last book of the Old Testament – God is NOT speaking to modern-day Christians – God is chastising the Levitical priests. We read in Malachi 3:8-10 “Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed me. But ye say, Wherein have we robbed thee? In tithes and offerings. Ye are cursed with a curse: for ye have robbed me, even this whole nation. Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it.” To Christians and Latter-day Saints – does that passage sound familiar? Of course it does, because this is the very scripture that is cherry-picked as a proof-text to teach the need to live the law of tithing today.
Even after accusing the priests of robbing Him, God gives them a chance to repent. What a gracious God! But they never changed their ways. So that by the time of Yeshua’s mortal ministry, the temple and the priesthood had become entirely corrupt. It is recorded in Matthew 21:12-13 “And Jesus went into the temple of God, and cast out all them that sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the moneychangers, and the seats of them that sold doves, And said unto them, It is written, My house shall be called the house of prayer; but ye have made it a den of thieves.”
In terms of being an obligation upon believers – a commandment to tithe is found nowhere in the New Testament. The word “tithes” is in only a few places that I will point out. In Matthew 23:23, Yeshua told the scribes and Pharisees they were hypocrites for the way they paid tithes. In Luke 18:10-14, a Pharisee, in the temple was professing how good he was because he tithed. And Hebrews 7:5-9 is addressing the fact that tithes had been paid to the Levitical priests under the Law of Moses. All those references were still active under the old covenant.
None of those limited passages taught that tithes ought to continue under the New Covenant. If it was so important for the law of tithing to continue – certainly Jesus and His disciples would have taught and written something about it. But they did not! If you a reader of the Bible, you will have already realize that.
So, what about the promises to the Israelite priests in the book of Malachi – like God pouring out blessings through the “windows of heaven?” Those promises were under the Old Covenant – part of the Law of Moses – that was completely fulfilled and done away with in Christ. Yeshua stated in Matthew 5:17 “Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil.”
We are told in Hebrews 7:11-12 “If therefore perfection were by the Levitical priesthood, (for under it the people received the law,) what further need was there that another priest (Yeshua) should rise after the order of Melchisedec, and not be called after the order of Aaron? For the priesthood being changed, there is made of necessity a change also of the law.” 22 “By so much was Jesus made a surety of a better testament. A better testament is a covenant of grace – not of laws, including tithing. Hebrews 8:13 “In that he saith, A new covenant, he hath made the first old. Now that which decayeth and waxeth old is ready to vanish away.” The old covenant, including tithing, was decaying and vanishing away.
Yeshua paid the price to ensure that those who put their trust in Him alone, will be saved at the day of judgment. No works, including the payment of tithes are required – only faith in Him who redeemed us. If we look at Malachi 3:9, God says to THOSE Levite priests “Ye are cursed with a curse: for ye have robbed me, even this whole nation.” Then Paul later declares in Galatians 3:13 “Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us.” He is talking about all the laws that were put on the nation of Israel to obey – until Christ’s arrival on earth, which includes tithes. If God has redeemed us from the law – how can we be cursed? If he has fulfilled the law – how can we be required to keep what he has already completed? To insist on tithing as a requirement is to deny the power of the cross. It is to say, what Yeshua did is not enough. It is to put back up the temple veil which Christ tore down. Sound familiar?
Okay, that was an outline to the law of tithing in the Old Testament which was lived under the old covenant. I tried to put into context – why the law of tithing was implemented and how it was fulfilled by Christ and done away with. In an accompanying video which is titled – Truth about Tithing (pt.2) – I will demonstrate how tithing has crept back into the modern-day churches. I will particularly explain how Mormonism has twisted this old covenant law into being a vital requirement for eternal salvation. So be sure to watch part two.
Thanks for listening and God Bless!