Come and Get It!

The responsibility to be generous was very important for the Jews of Jesus’ day. In an earlier article, I wrote that not all people were farmers, therefore, not all people tithed. Tithing was a gift of food to the Temple for the purposes of feeding everyone who came to the festivals in Jerusalem. Those who did not have farms did not tithe.

With more information, I should make it known that according to Ray Vander Laan; every family had a small farm that provided certain foods for the home. Jews did not farm to make a living, such as present day farmers. To make a living, they would work as brick masons, tanners, et cetera.

Leviticus 23:22 instructs Israel that they are not to reap the edges of their fields or pick up what they drop, but they are to leave that for the poor.

Every family had a small farm in which they grew crops on their home’s terrace. The first crop to be produced is barley. The first ripe barley heads are to be harvested in late March and presented at the Festival of First Fruits. When the fall harvest comes in late September/ early October, the people of God are to leave the corners of their farm and anything they drop while harvesting to be left for the poor. The poor were those whose farms were not successful on a particular harvesting year. This was a welfare system. However, there were no handouts. Those whose farms did not produce were responsible for going into their neighbor’s farms to harvest what they needed. Another point is that there was no dishonor in this because though a family was poor this year and would have to go to another family to harvest what they needed, it could very likely be that the roles are switched next year.

After the poor harvest what they need, the shepherds are then required to allow the sheep and goats into the farms to clean up whatever is left and to leave their droppings, which provide fertilizer for the next farming season. If a sheep or goat gets into the field before the “poor” are able to glean, the sheep or goat is to be killed. The shepherds live in the fields while waiting to send in their flocks. (Remember the Christmas story which tells us that there were “shepherds living in the fields.” This is a clue as to the time of year that Jesus was born. The Shepherds begin living in the fields two Sabbath’s after the harvest season-Late June until the rainy season, which begins around November 1.)

Why is this important for us today?

The generosity of God’s people is to be public. It was up to the one who was in charge of the family crops (blessings) to decide on how large the corners of the field would be. Everyone who walked by the family farms could see whether you were generous or stingy.

In His dust,

Johnny.

Writer: Capt. Jonathan Gainey was born in Jacksonville, FL in June, 1969. He has been married to Staci, the daughter of retired Salvation Army officers, for twenty years and they have four children ages 18, 16, 12, and 4. Jonathan was commissioned as an officer in June of 2002, and is currently serving in his third appointment in New Bern, NC, USA. He is working on a Masters of Divinity from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary and is the creator and manager of the Flocks Diner website, where his passion for learning and teaching is expressed and shared through writing and a weekly podcast.

3 Comments to Come and Get It!

1. It is exactly this kind of thinking, this jubilee economics, that inspires me.

   This is precisely what I was thinking about as I ended my posts on the purpose of work.
   http://therubicon.org/2009/11/the-purpose-of-work-work-redefined/
   http://therubicon.org/2009/11/the-purpose-of-work-work-redefined-2/

   I imagine a healthy community as being one where we share a portion of our work with those who can’t work competitively, and we would do it because it is good.

   Wayne R
Wayne on December 17th, 2009

2. Thanks for commenting, Wayne.

   With your permission, I’d like to post your article on my website, http://www.flocksdiner.com. I think the message is one that should be shared with as many as possible.

   Let me know if that is okay. You can email me at captain_gainey@yahoo.com.

   Blessings,
   Johnny
Johnny on December 18th, 2009

3. The First Yearly (Levitical) Tithe, Numbers 18: For Levitical Inheritance

   Num. 18:20 You shall have no inheritance in their land, neither shall you have any part among them; I am your part and your inheritance among the children of Israel.

   Num. 18:21 And, behold, I have given the children of Levi all the tenth in Israel for an inheritance, for their service. . . .

   This tithe has already been discussed in detail in previous chapters. Unlike the second and third tithes, it replaced land inheritance rights in Israel and provided basic sustenance for the Levite and the Aaronic priests of the tribe of Levi, as described in Numbers 18.

   The Second Yearly (Festival) Tithe: Deuteronomy 12:1-19 and 14:22-26

   Deut. 12:6 And there [later Jerusalem] you shall bring your burnt offerings, and your sacrifices, and your tithes, and heave offerings of your hand, and your vows, and your freewill offerings, and the first offspring of your herds and of your flocks:

   Deut. 12:7 And there you shall eat before the LORD your God, and you shall rejoice in all that you put your hand unto, you and your households, wherein the LORD your God has blessed you. ["Rejoice" is in verses 7, 12, and 18.]

   Deut. 14:23 And you shall eat before the LORD your God, in the place which he shall choose to place his name there [later Jerusalem], the tithe of your grain, of your wine, and of your oil, and the first offspring of your herds and of your flocks; that you may learn to fear the LORD your God always. ["Rejoice" is in verse 26.]

   Whereas the first tithe was brought to the Levitical cities ["... the tithe of our ground to the Levites, for the Levites are they who receive the tithes in all the rural towns. Neh. 10:37b, NASU], the second yearly tithe was brought to Jerusalem for the festivals which accompanied the numerous gatherings. Also, unlike the first tithe, along with the Levite, the other Israelites, their family members, and servants, ALL ATE portions of this tithe. Also, unlike the first tithe, this tithe was an integral part of REJOICING and celebration in the presence of the LORD. It is distinctly different from the first tithe.

   The Third Year (Poor) Tithe: Deuteronomy 14:28-29 and 26:12-13

   Deut. 14:28 At the end of three years you shall bring forth all the tithe of your increase the same year, and shall lay it up within your gates.

   Deut. 14:29 And the Levite, (because he has no part nor inheritance with you), and the stranger, and the fatherless, and the widow, which are within your gates, shall come, and shall eat and be satisfied; that the LORD your God may bless you in all the work of your hand which you do.

   Deut 26:12 When you have made an end of tithing all the tithes of your increase the third year, which is the year of tithing, and have given it to the Levite, the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow, that they may eat within your gates, and be filled,

   Deut. 26:13 Then you shall say before the LORD your God, I have brought away the hallowed things out of my house, and also have given them to the Levite, and to the stranger, to the fatherless, and to the widow, according to all your commandments which you have commanded me; I have not transgressed your commandments, neither have I forgotten them.

   Unlike the first tithe, the third-year tithe (in the year of tithing) was specifically for all of the needy–including the non-Israelite stranger! Its recipients included the Levites, widows, orphans, fatherless, and Gentile strangers. Also, unlike the second tithe which went to Jerusalem, the third tithe was to stay in the towns, “within your gates,” at home. This could not possibly be the same as the first, or second, tithe.

   Consequences of Two or Three Tithes

   These texts, Deuteronomy 12:6-7; 14:22-29; and 26:12-13 present a real dilemma for those who teach New Covenant tithing. First, if these verses are only a later amended part of the original tithe ordinance found in Numbers 18, then Deuteronomy should have priority over Leviticus and Numbers. This would mean that tithers should be allowed to feast off the tithes they bring to church! [How does one eat money?] Failure to do so would be failure to follow the final biblical tithing revelation. Second, if the church admits that the feast tithe was indeed a second tithe, then it must also teach a minimum of twenty percent as an expectation of the church. This is a lose-lose situation!

   Matthew Henry is among those who think that twenty percent tithes should be taught for the New Covenant Christian. Actually, he adds the king’s tithe and totals three tithes of at least thirty (30) percent! “You think the tenths, the double tenths, which the law of God has appointed for the support of the church, grievous enough, and grudge the payment of them; but, if you have a king, there must issue another tenth out of your estates, which will be levied with more rigor, for the support of the royal dignity”. Yet modern taxation is much more than thirty percent.

   In Jesus’s day, taxation would look like this:

   10% EMPIRE: food spoils-of-war tax to Rome; 20% of fruits; Gen. 14:20

   10%+ PROVINCE: King Herod’s tax: 1 Sam. 8:14-17

   10%: RELIGIOUS: food tithes; Numbers. 18:20-26

   10%: FESTIVALS: food tithe, Deut. 12:6-7; 14:22-23

   [? 3 1/3%: POOR TITHE (10% every third year): Welfare, Deut. 14:28-29; 26:12-13

   PLUS: road taxes; bridge taxes; temple shekel; free-will offerings;

   and many other religious and royal taxes

   TOTAL: 40% BARE MINIMUM TOTAL TAXATION

   Russell Earl Kelly
Russell Earl Kelly on December 18th, 2009

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