Sean wrote:Damon should be able to answer this one for me.
Oh, gee, go ahead and put me on the spot. ;-p
Seriously, though, tithing is not normally a subject I'm interested in, but I
have studied into it in the past. I'll share with you what I've come up with thus far.
There have been many studies on tithing, some reasonably good and some pretty sketchy and sparse on facts. They tend to fall all over the spectrum on whether Christians should or should not tithe, how much, is it an obligatory thing, etc. So let me try to be as complete as I can with the facts, and bear with me for being a little verbose.
As most know, the first recorded instance of tithing is found in Genesis 14, where Abram gives a "tenth" - the literal meaning of the Hebrew word "tithe" - to Melchizedek. Now, we have no recorded legal context for this act. There's no law that we can look to to say that Abram was simply obeying God's command. Contrariwise, we
can say that what Abram did honored God, and that it certainly didn't go against His will.
The tithing commands are found in the Mosaic Law, pertaining to Israel. Their stated purpose was threefold:
1. To provide for the physical needs of the priests whose duty it was to provide for the spiritual needs of the people.
2. To provide for keeping the Feast of Tabernacles, a harvest festival which took place in the fall.
3. To provide for the needs of the poor in the land.
Doing the numbers (which I won't do here), one can easily see that three tithes - 30% of one's income (be it in the form of sheep, grain, or something else) - would result in a huge Feast of Tabernacles offering, part of which it was the responsibility of the person and his family to eat during this eight-day feast. There just ain't no way.
For this, as well as for other technical reasons which I'd prefer not to go into here (since I'm at work and my reference books are at home), there never were three separate tithes, originally. There was only a single tithe with three distinct uses.
However, this began to change during the Intertestamental period, which lasted from the time of the last Old Testament prophets who returned from the Babylonian Exile until the time of Jesus. We begin to see in the Jewish literature a calling for three separate tithes as opposed to one tithe. (By the way, that's one of the factors which allows us to date books like Tobit, which is found in the Catholic canon of biblical books, to the Intertestamental period, since this book mentions three separate tithes.)
By the time of Christ, the issue of tithing had become quite a contentious one, especially because the priesthood in power often abused the money that they were given in tithes.
There was also a contentious issue with paying taxes to Caesar. The Romans considered paying taxes to Caesar to be a form of worship, which would put it on a par with tithing. So there were two extremist groups at the time which took opposing positions on this issue. There were the Herodians who believed in paying taxes to Caesar and looked down on those who consciensciously refused to do so. And, there were some of the Pharisees who refused to pay taxes to Caesar because to them, it was a form of idolatry.
Jesus' simple response was, "Give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar [e.g., taxes] and give to God what belongs to God [e.g., worship]." (Mat. 22:15-22) In other words,
Jesus didn't take an extremist position on this issue. That becomes very important in addressing the issue of tithing.
The book of Malachi shows that even immediately after the return from Babylonian exile, there were issues with the abuse of tithes. Then the people - who were carnal themselves as well - decided to hell with it, and stopped paying their tithes. In Malachi 3:8-12, God wasn't just angry with the people who weren't paying their tithes, but
also with the priests who were abusing the tithes and causing the people to stumble in the first place. So, ministers who use this verse as a guilt trip to get the laity to tithe to them should be seriously examining themselves as well.
To begin wrapping up, your question was how should we view tithing today? Well, let's go back to the first use of tithes, as commanded in the Mosaic Law:
1. To provide for the physical needs of the priests whose duty it was to provide for the spiritual needs of the people.
Paul makes a very compelling statement that the laity were not only responsible, but obligated by God to provide for the physical needs of those who ministered spiritually to them. (1 Cor. 9:11 in the context of the whole chapter.) Furthermore, this theme of providing for the physical needs of the ministry was referred to as doing "according to the commandment" - that is, of tithing - in the early church. This is recorded in the Didache, a first century historical account of the early church and how it functioned:
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Chapter 13
But every true prophet who is willing to dwell among you is worthy of his food [that is, his physical needs]. Likewise, a true teacher is himself worthy of his food, even as is a workman. Therefore, take the firstfruits [the first and best] of every produce of the wine-press and threshing-floor, of oxen and sheep, and give it to the prophets, since they are your chief priests. But if [the local congregation] doesn't have a prophet, give it to the poor.
If you make a feast, give the firstfruits of it according to the commandment. In the same manner, when you open a jar of wine or of oil, take the firstfruits and give it to the prophets. Also take the firstfruits of money, of clothes, and of every possession, as it seems reasonable to you, and give it according to the commandment.
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Most of the local congregations were led by prophets in the first century, and that's what this chapter of the Didache is referring to.
Anyway, I hope that answers your questions about tithing. Let me know if you still have questions, though.
Damon