The Mosaic Tithe

As we begin to try to decipher what tithing in Israel was all about after they left Egypt, keep James 2:10 in mind: "Whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet stumble in one point, he is guilty of all." The one who wants to put the Mosaic tithe on others will also have to stone their rebellious son or daughter. (Deuteronomy 21:18-21) This would eliminate quite a few second generation preachers. Preacher's children are notorious for entering into much rebellion in their teen years due to having to project the right image all the time.

Anyone who has eaten a rare steak, catfish, or shell fish, is excommunicated from the congregation and separated from the blessings of God. (Lev. 17:14; Lev. Chapters 11 and 12) I won't give all the references for some of the rest of these items tithe-keepers must also keep. Leviticus and Numbers are full of stuff most Christians would not like to place themselves under. Pork chops and bacon, of course, are definitely out. If ar brother dies without producing children, his surviving brother would have to give his dead brother’s widow children, whether he was already married or not. Those who practiced a traditional Christmas would surely be guilty of idolatry and put to death. The images in most “churches,” especially those that have pictures of Jesus in them, would also qualify the “pastors” for capital punishment.

I think you are beginning to get the point. Those who want to use the Mosaic tithing system to finance their churches and ministries are not willing to accept the rest of the package. It was, is, and always will be a package deal, all or none. If you don't believe this, see what Paul called the Ten Commandments in 2 Corinthians 3:5-7. "Our sufficiency is from God, who also made us sufficient as ministers of the new covenant, not of the letter, but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. But if the ministry of death, written and engraved on stones was glorious, so that the children of Israel could not look steadily at the face of Moses because of the glory of his countenance, which glory was passing away, how will the ministry of the Spirit not be more glorious." And what was the glory of the Old Covenant, whose glory was passing away, even as Paul was speaking? It was the ministry of condemnation! People who love to judge also love to condemn. They love to lift themselves up by putting others down. That is the ministry of the letter of the Law; the ministry of condemnation; the ministry of death! We wonder why there is so little life in the Church here in the West…

We cannot get into a long discussion about Mosaic Law versus Grace through Jesus Christ. (There is other material dealing with that subject.) Let us simply remember that Christ Jesus came to fulfill all the requirements of the Mosaic Law for us. The ultimate requirement of the Mosaic Law really boiled down to an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, a life for a life. The sentence of death was on every single descendant of Adam. In Adam all died. It took the death of an innocent man to set those in Adam free. Life for life. All descendants of Adam (which is all mankind) died because of Adam's transgression. "For if, by the trespass of one man, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive God's abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ. Consequently, just as the result of one trespass was condemnation for all men, so also the result of one act of righteousness was justification that brings life for all men." (Romans 5:17-19)

Let us assume this is wrong. Let's say Jesus didn't fulfill all the requirements of the Law, and therefore we are still under the Mosaic Law. Even if that were the case, the tithe modern-day ministers are demanding is still not found in Moses Law. A trip into a handful of Bible dictionaries should cure anyone of the simplistic idea that there is such a thing as 10 percent off the top to a priesthood. Harper's Bible Dictionary, under "tithe" on page 1078, tells us, "Reconstructing a clear picture of the nature and function of tithing in biblical times is extremely difficult due to the conflicting accounts and the problems in identifying the dates and provenance of the texts. Apparently, tithing was understood and practiced differently at different times and localities throughout the Biblical period. The above statement may come as a surprise to many people. This is very sad because it shows how little most of us know about the Bible. Many of those who teach tithing want it that way. A little study will reveal these tithe teachers are God-robbers. We will see this more clearly later on in this article.

Part 4 of The Tithe

Please feel free to send feedback concerning this article. Also, please include the title of this article in your feedback. Thank you for visiting Central Truth Ministries.