The law on tithe started with Abraham paying a tenth to Melchizedek in Genesis 14:29, 28:20-22. This was even before the birth of Levi. Under the Levitical priesthood, God charged Israel to be giving a tenth to the tribe of Levi because, they had no inheritance of land, where they can farm.
The idea behind this law was to have Levites devote their time to running the temple than going into farming. However, the Bible recorded in Nehemiah 13:5-12, that the people of Israel were not faithful in bringing tithe to the Levite’s and they had to abandon their work in the temple to go into farming.
In Numbers 18:21, ” The Lord said ” I have given the Levite’s every tithe that the people of Israel present to me. This is payment for their service of taking care of the tent of my presence”. Nehemiah rebuked the people for their unfaithfulness in bringing this tithe and Makachai 3:6-10, captured it as the people robbing God. The Levite’s were also charged to present a tenth of the tithe to Aaron the priest.
In Numbers 18:25-32,” the Lord commanded Moses to say to the Levite’s, ” when you receive from the Israelites the tithe that the lord gives you as your possession, you must present a tenth of it to a special contribution to the lord…. you are to give this special contribution to Aaron. Give it from the best that you receive. When you have presented the best part, you may keep the rest, just as farmers keep what is left after he has made his offerings.
You and your families may eat the rest anywhere, because it is your wages for your services in the tent. You will not guilty when you eat it, as long as you have presented the best of it to the lord.” It is interesting to note that when tithe was instructed to be brought to the temple, so that there will be food in the storehouse of the Lord, Deuteronomy 26:12 says that the food is meant for Levite’s , the foreigners. the orphans, and the widows, so that in every community they will have all they need to eat”.
In his ministry, Jesus did not have any problem with tithe given by the Pharisee, but was more concerned with “justice and mercy and honesty “. Paul digested and laid to rest the issue if tithe in Hebrews 7&8. In Hebrews 7: 4-5, ” you see, then how great he was, Abraham. Our famous ancestor, gave Melchizedek a tenth of what he got in battle. And those descendants of Levi who are priests are commanded by law to collect a tenth from people of Israel, that is, from their own people, even though they are also descendants of Abraham.
Melchizedek was not descendant of Levi, but he collected a tenth from Abraham and blessed him.” In verse 11, “it was on the basis of this Levitical priesthood that the law was given to the people of Israel. Now, if the work if the Levitical priests had been perfect, there would have been no need for a different kind of priest to appear, one which is in priestly order of Melchizedek, not of Aaron. For when the priesthood is changed, there is also to be a change in the law. And our lord, of whom these things are said belonged to a different tribe, and no member of his tribe ever served as priest.
It us well known that he was born a member of the tribe of Judah, and Moses did not mention this tribe when he spoke of priests.” Let us note further from verse 15, ” The matter becomes more plainer; a different priest has appeared, who is like Melchizedek. He was made a priest, not by human rules and regulations, but through the power of life which has no end. For the scripture says ” you will be a priest forever, in the priestly order if Melchizedek. The old rule is set aside, because it is weak and useless. For the law of Moses could not make anything perfect. And now a better hope has been provided through which we can come near to God”.
From the foregoing, Paul stated clearly in Hebrew 6:17 that the rule on tithe has been set aside, ” because it was weak and useless “.(Goodnews Edition).” for the law of Moses could not make anything perfect “. In vs 12, he said that the priesthood had changed and the necessity to change the law. Paul has told us in Hebrews 8, that we are operating in a new covenant. That, ” if there had been nothing wrong with the first covenant, there would have been no need for a second one. But God finds fault with his people when he says ” the days are coming says the lord, when the people of Israel and, with the people of Judah, it will not be like the covenant that I made with your ancestors on the day I took them out if Egypt.
“ .. I will put my laws in their minds and write then in their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. None if them will have teach their fellow citizens “know the Lord” for they will all know me, from the least to the greatest. I will forgive their suns and will no longer remember their wrongs. “
Finally, in verse 13, Paul said: ” by speaking of a new covenant, God has made the first one old; and anything that becomes old and worn out will soon disappear”.