Chapter 17: Myth—Giving 10% Is A Tithe

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Myth—Giving 10% Is A Tithe

Levites Provided Society’s Services!

P259— “Now look at what [the tithe] meant for the people of Israel. While the ordinary Israelite gave his tithe every third and sixth year to the Levites (and the destitute), notice the

services he got besides the management of the temple. Israel got [Levite] teachers for their children, physicians for their ills, scribes, musicians, singers, judges and law enforcement officers. A part of the tithe paid by the Israelites even went to

support a type of social security service every third and sixth year of a sabbatical period for taking care of the destitute. This shows that the one tithe, which was distributed evenly over a seven-year period, was not simply intended for religious

purposes (as is the case with most Christian churches today). The tithe was something similar to our taxes that support our educational institutions, our government hospitals, our law enforcement agencies, our cultural societies, etc. When one

sees the true picture of the tithing system, the early Israelites didn’t get too bad of a deal in their giving of tithe.”

Malachi 3:10 Applied To Palestine Jews!

P2610— [Who does Malachi refer to?] “The answer is plain. It was the ancient Jewish nation that existed in the time of Malachi. This is what the context shows. Verse 8: ‘Will a man

rob God? Yet ye have robbed me, but ye say, wherein have we robbed thee? In tithes and offerings.’ And who were these ‘robbers?’ They were the people of Judah who lived in Palestine. They were not giving their tithe or proper animal

sacrifices. For their lapse they were being ‘cursed with a curse: for ye have robbed me, even this whole nation’ (verse 9). Malachi was scolding the Jews who lived around Jerusalem in the early part of the fourth century before Christ. He was not

talking about the modern United States. … [Malachi’s] was a message solely and exclusively to the nation of Judah in the fourth century B.C. That is what the Bible says.”