COMMON RELIGIOUS PRACTICES
The fact that tithing was common in other cultures and religions before and during the time when the Mosaic Law about tithing was given poses a problem for anyone who desires to be Biblical in their religious practices. On the one hand we have God’s many commands to tithe, and on the other hand we have his warnings that Israel should not follow the abominable practices of those other religions.

How to reconcile these commands is the problem. Even though it appears from the literal reading of the Bible that God commanded Israel to tithe, he could not have intended for them to tithe material things (e.g crops, money, etc.) in the same way that other religions tithed such commodities. If that is what he meant, he would have contradicted what he said about not following the customs of other religions. In analyzing the problem we must first acknowledge that God was not inconsistent in his commands, nor did he later change his mind because God does not change his mind. In other words, there must be another way to understand God’s many commands regarding tithing.

The only way to reconcile this puzzle is to accept that God used the literal language regarding tithing to represent a spiritual truth. It is another example of the “first the natural and then the spiritual” principle that we find throughout the Bible. Thus we conclude that God did not really want Israel, or Christians, to give material tithes. What he wants is that they give spiritual tithes.

The nature of those spiritual tithes, however, is difficult to discern. But, as he always does, God gives us clues elsewhere in the Bible to help us discover what he means by tithes.

Hint: It is all about God’s voice and hearts.