Social justice in the Old Testament rules for tithing

[This is an exerpt from a book I'm writing on social justice in the Old Testament.]

The Book of Genesis records Abraham giving to Melchizedek, the king of Jerusalem, a tenth of all the plunder he captured from Kedorlaomer, a Mesopotamian king.[1] The author of the Book of Hebrews tells us Melchizedek was a type of Jesus, pointing out the meaning of his titles in Hebrew: “King of Righteousness” and “King of Peace.” In giving to Melchizedek, Abraham understood that he was offering to God worship and a token of acknowledgement that God enabled him to defeat Kedorlaomer’s coalition of kings, and rescue his nephew Lot, with little more than 300 men. This is the earliest biblical recording of a tithe given to God, although an annual tribute from a vassal to a sovereign was commonly practiced in ancient culture.

Several hundred years after Abraham, Moses formally instated the tithe as a lasting ordinance. Each year, the Israelites were to set aside a tenth of all their harvest, as well as the firstborn lambs, cattle, and other livestock as an offering to God at the temple in Jerusalem. There, they ate a portion of it in a feast of thanksgiving for God’s provision with the rest going to the Levites whom God had set apart for religious service.

Be sure to set aside a tenth of all that your fields produce each year. Eat the tithe of your grain, new wine and oil, and the firstborn of your herds and flocks in the presence of the LORD your God at the place he will choose as a dwelling for his Name, so that you may learn to revere the LORD your God always.[2]

Moses said the purpose of the annual tithe was to remind the Israelites of their special relationship with God. He had chosen them out of all nations, not because they were powerful or numerous, but because of His promise to their forefather Abraham. He saved them from slavery in Egypt and provided for them while they wandered in the desert, teaching them to revere and rely on Him. The Israelites’ tithe, therefore, was given in the same spirit as that of Abraham’s tithe paid to Melchizedek—it was given as recognition of divine providence from first to last.

The Israelites’ special relationship with God and their reverence to Him implied coordinated social action on behalf of the needy in the land. As recipients of His mercy, they were obligated to extend mercy to those in need. Moses instructed the Israelites to set aside the tithe every third year and to store it in the nearest town as a sort of food pantry for poor immigrants, orphans, and widows, in addition to the Levites.

At the end of every three years, bring all the tithes of that year’s produce and store it in your towns, so that the Levites (who have no allotment or inheritance of their own) and the aliens, the fatherless and the widows who live in your towns may come and eat and be satisfied, and so that the LORD you God may bless you in all the work of your hands.[3]

The purpose of this third-year tithe was twofold. The first purpose is obvious: that the hungry would eat and be satisfied. Moses asked the Israelites to set aside what amounted to roughly three percent of national gross domestic product, amortized over three years, to provide for the most vulnerable groups in society. Just as God provided food for all the Israelites in the desert, He would now provide for the poor and needy in the established nation of Israel through the third-year tithe. The second purpose was to fulfill the moral requirements of the covenant. As their sovereign and king, God commanded the people to provide for the needy. To God, giving the third-year tithe was not a matter of charity, but a matter of justice. As the Israelites obeyed God by seeing justice done, God would fulfill His promise to bless them.

[This post is an excerpt of my work-in-progress book on social justice in the Old Testament. Feedback is welcome! More on Learning to Do Right.] 

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[1] Genesis 14:18-20

[2] Deuteronomy 14:22-23

[3] Deuteronomy 14:28-29