By John Amoda

What remains to the Levites “when ye have heaved the  best thereof” is the reward of the Levites “for your service in the tabernacle of the congregation. That which they have tithed from “they shall eat in every place, ye and your households: for it is your reward” (Numbers 18:31) Here in the word of God is the fact that the portion of the tithes given by the children of Israel to the Levites that is left after they have tithed of their tithes is to be (1) eaten by the Levites (2) to be consumed “in every place, ye and your household”.

The Levites tithes are to be consumed not in the holy place “but in every place”. Thus the tithe to be brought into the holy place is not the Tithes of the children of Israel but the Tithes of the Tithes given to Aaron.

“Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house” (Malachi 3:10b). These tithes are the tithes of Aaron given to him by the Levites.

As it is with the Offerings, so it was with the Tithes of The Tithes; they are to be eaten “not in every place” but in the holy place by Aaron. It is these Tithes of the Tithes that have been withheld from Aaron. God had Aaron and his household in mind in Numbers 18, for both the offerings and the Tithes of the Tithes are the Lord’s and these He has given to Aaron.

In Malachi 3:8-10 God’s focus is thus exclusively on the Priest. The offerings were consumed in God’s holy place, God’s house. So were the Tithes of the Tithes; they were not consumed in every place like the Tithes of the Levites from the children of Israel; they are to be “brought into mine storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house”; there Aaron and his sons are to eat the same. Hebrews has Aaron’s tithes in view, that is the tithes of the tithes and it this tithes that is ultimately holy unto the Lord, among His most Holy Things.
 “And verily they that are of the sons of Levi, who receive the office of the priesthood, have a commandment to take tithes of the people according to the law, that is, of their brethren, though they come out of the loins of Abraham” (Hebrews 7:5). All in Israel therefore paid tithes—the 11 tribes to the Levites and the Levites to Aaron. 

Aaron alone in Israel is he that receives tithes and does not pay tithes
The commandment to pay tithes is thus God’s commandment to the children of Israel to give the tenth of the increase of their inheritance to Aaron, for only Aaron is truly the one who has no inheritance of among the children of Israel.

Numbers 18 is so detailed and so specific that it provides absolutely no warrant for the misreading of God’s word. But it is nevertheless only one of four tithes of the Law. All the four tithes are to be consumed, one of them by the recipient, the other three by the tithers.

Tithes of consumed by the tithers
The Deuteronomy 12 Tithes is a tithes of the Law consumed by the tithers and to be put into practice when Israel has been established in the land promised.

 “For ye are not as yet come to the rest and to the inheritance, which the LORD your God giveth you. But when ye go over Jordan and dwell in the land which the Lord your God giveth you rest from all your enemies round about, so that ye dwell in safety; Then there shall be a place which the LORD your God shall choose to cause his name to dwell there; thither shall ye bring all that I command you, your burnt offerings, and your sacrifices, your tithes, and heave offerings of your hand, and all your choice vows which ye vow unto the LORD.

And ye shall rejoice before the LORD your God, ye and your sons and your daughters, and your menservants and your maidservants, and the Levite that is within your gates, for as much as he hath no part nor inheritance with you.

 Take heed to thyself that thou offer not thy burnt offerings in every place that thou seest. But in the place which the Lord shall choose in one of thy tribes, there thou shalt offer thy burnt offerings and there thou shalt do all that I command thee… Thou mayest not eat within thy gates the tithe of thy corn, or of thy wine or of thy oil, or of the firstlings of thy hands or of thy flock, nor any of thy vows which thou vowest, nor thy freewill offerings or heave offerings of thine hand.

 But thou must eat them before the LORD thy God in the place which the LORD thy God shall choose, thou, and thy sons, and thy daughters, and thy menservants, and thy maidservants, and the Levite that is within thy gates, and thou shalt rejoice within thy gate, and thou shall rejoice before the LORD thy God in all that thou puttest thine hands unto…If the place which the LORD thy God hath chosen to put his name there be too far from thee, then thou shalt kill of thy herds and of thy flocks which the Lord hath given thee, as I  have commanded thee, and thou shalt eat in thy gates whatsoever thy soul lusteth after” (Deuteronomy 12:9-14; 17-18, 21).

This Tithe of the Law the Tither eats according to the Lord’s commandment in the place God chooses. The tither is enjoined to include the Levite that is within his gates in the merriment.

The first Tithe of Deuteronomy 14
“Thou shalt truly tithe all the increase of thy seed, that the field bringeth forth year by year. And thou shalt eat before the Lord thy God, in the place which the Lord thy God shall choose to place His name there, the tithe of thy corn, of thy wine and of thine oil and the firstlings of thy herds and of thy flocks; that thou mayest learn to fear the Lord thy God always. For if the place be too far from thee, which the Lord thy God shall choose to set his name there, when the Lord thy God hath blessed thee,

Then shalt thou turn it into money and bind up the money in thine hand, and shalt go unto the place which the Lord thy God shall choose. And thou shalt bestow that money for whatsoever thy soul lusteth after, for oxen or for sheep or for wine, or for strong drink, or for whatsoever thy soul desire: and thou shalt eat there before the Lord thy God, and thou shalt rejoice thou and thine household. And the Levite that is within thy gates; thou shalt not forsake him for he hath no part nor inheritance with thee” (Deuteronomy 14:22-27).
 This tithes like the Deuteronomy 12 Tithe is to be eaten by the Tither where the Lord God stipulates. The eating is a feast of rejoicing before the Lord, only that the Tither must take heed to include the Levite “for he hath no part nor inheritance with thee”. (verse 27)

The second Tithe of Deuteronomy 14
“At the end of the three years thou shalt bring forth all the tithe of thine increase the same year, and shalt lay it up within thy gates; And the Levite, (because he hath no part nor inheritance with thee) and the stranger, and the fatherless, and the widow which are within thy gate, shall come and shall eat and be satisfied, that the LORD thy God may bless thee in all the work of thine hand which thou doest” (Deuteronomy 14:28).

 This tithe at the end of three years is mainly for the enjoyment and satisfaction of the stranger, the fatherless, the widow and the Levite and it is to be consumed within the gates of the Tither. And there is a blessing attached to this generosity—“that the LORD thy God may bless thee in all the work of thine hand which thou doest”. (verse 29). This survey of God’s commandments on Tithing shows that it is important not to be selective in the teaching of tithing. It is important to teach what the LORD God commanded.

This is the foundation. It is equally important to recognize whom the LORD commanded to keep His Law. The tithes of the law, all four of them were to be kept by the children of Israel, in Israel and in the place God chose among the 12 Tribes to place His name there.

It is just not true that God commanded Gentiles to keep the Law. To drive this point home, we quote what the Scripture declares in the following: “Wherefore remember, that ye being in time past Gentiles in the flesh, who are called Uncircumcision by that which is called the Circumcision in the flesh made by hands; that at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world: But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ.

 For he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us; Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace; And that he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby”. (Ephesians 2:11-16)

The Tithes of the law are for Israel to keep. This the scripture states loudly and clearly. It is also true that Israel did reject God’s surprising and surpassing mercifulness. To God’s offer “bring all your tithes and prove me with your obedience, Israel responded with disdain. “Ye have said, it is vain to serve God: and what profit is it that we have kept his ordinance” (Malachi 3:14). By the time of our Lord’s incarnation the whole world was dead in trespasses and sin (Ephesians 2:1) “As it is written, there is none righteous, no, not one. There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God…There is no fear of God before their eyes. For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God”. (Romans 3:10-11, 23)

Scripture declares the truth: We are justified by faith in Christ Jesus
“For there is one God, one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time” (I Timothy 2:5-6). Every man is worth the same to God, for all are the redeemed of the Lord, for Jesus gave Himself a ransom not for one, nor for a few but for all. God declares that on the basis of this redeeming Act, He has “redeemed those that were under the law, that they might receive the adoption of sons. And because (we) are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into (our) heart, crying Abba, Father.

Wherefore (we are) no more a servant, but a son, and if a son then heir of God through Christ” (Galatians 4:5-7). God has fulfilled His covenant with Aaron through Christ Jesus. God’s redeemed are now legally His sons and therefore His Heirs. “What shall we then say to these things, if God be for us, who can be against us? He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?” (Romans 8:31-32) Whom God has blessed with all spiritual blessings and adopted as His children, who can bring such under the curse of the law?

“Who shall lay anything to the charge of God’s elect? It is God that justifieth! Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather that is risen again who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession  for us” (Romans 8:33-34). None can curse the Redeemed of the Lord. None can undo the adoption act of God. As it is written of Abraham so it is with Abraham’s Seed, which seed we are: “And if ye be Christ’s then are ye Abraham’s seed and heirs according to the promise” (Galatians 3:29). Enough therefore of this Malachian intimidation of believing children of God! Enough!

*Prof. Amoda, an author and newspaper columnist, pastors a church in Lagos.