I've been mulling over some thoughts on tithing and offerings. What I am thinking is disturbing because if my hunch is right, much of contemporary teaching on the subject may be called into question. Anyway, here are my initial thoughts in very rough form. (I'm going to try to refine them and add to them later).
Given to Share
Do a study on the tithe, and you will probably discover that it is not what you thought it was. In the First Testament, the tithe was part of a larger system of sacrifice and food sharing. The tithe was a tenth, but this was not the only offering given, and it was most often given in grain, fruit, or livestock. If the tithe was to be bought back, it was to be bought back with 20% interest.
There was also a set of specific offerings. The system of offerings also included the offerings of grain, fruit, and/or livestock. Five different offerings (burnt, grain, fellowship, sin, and guilt) had different reasons behind them. Sin and guilt offerings were given to make atonement for sin. Burnt offerings and grain offerings were given in gratefulness to YHWH. Fellowship offerings were given, basically, to throw a big community party in thanks to God. These offerings were included in a further set of festivals, or feasts, and special days.
As you study these tithes and offerings, what emerges is a picture of God providing for the people, who then provide for those who cannot provide for themselves. The tithes and offerings of grain, fruit, and livestock were either burned up completely, or they were eaten by those who had no ‘inheritance,’ or land with which to raise crops or herd livestock. The storehouse, so well known from Malachi 3:10, was there to provide for the poor and the helpless in Israel.
So if we were to identify where things went, we would say: 1) up in smoke!, 2) providing for those who had no means for providing for themselves (the Levites—the priestly family—and the poor), and 3) throwing parties.
Incidentally, Solomon’s temple was not built with money from tithes and offerings, but with funds from heavy taxation (to pay for materials and craftsmen) and forced labor.
It is tempting to turn tithing into a kind of ‘holy flat tax,’ set by God at 10%. Churches can use tithing as a kind of ‘fund-raising’ to support its operating expenses. People can become imprisoned by guilt or use it as an excuse for greed (‘God gets his portion and I can do what I like with the rest’). Others, identifying as an ‘old covenant’ institution, see justification for ignoring it altogether. How are we to translate the ‘tithes and offerings’ of the First Testament into our practice today? What light do Jesus’ teachings and the practice of the early church shed on the issue?
Malachi’s comment (Malachi 3) that people were robbing God, arose from the neglect of the most poor and needy people among them—they weren’t sharing what God had given them. Jesus declared his ministry to be the start of the Jubilee—the forgiving of debts (not just sins!), return of property, and liberation of slaves and indentured servants. Several early disciples sold property and gave the proceeds to be distributed so that no one would be in need. Paul instructed the wealthy to be generous with their riches, providing for those who were in need. The consistent principle I see in all the scriptures concerning our use of resources (grain, fruit, goats, or money) is that it is given by God so that it can be shared with those in need—not stored up solely for my own use.
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