Some feel that tithing was part of the Old Testament law and that it has been done away with by Jesus.To answer this we need to note of FOUR FACTS about tithing:
FACT 1: Abraham tithed to Melchizedek [an Old Testament type and picture of Jesus, our High Priest] some 430 years before the Law of Moses was introduced.
Genesis 14:18-20 “Then Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine; he was the priest of God Most High. And he blessed him and said: “Blessed be Abram of God Most High, Possessor of heaven and earth; and blessed be God Most High, Who has delivered your enemies into your hand.” And he [Abraham] gave him a tithe of all.”
FACT 2: Jacob also lived according to this principle of tithing.
This he did some 270 years before the Law of Moses was introduced.
Genesis 28:22 “And this stone which I [Jacob] have set as a pillar shall be God’s house, and of all that You give me I will surely give a tenth to You.”
FACT 3: Jesus Himself confirmed the practice of tithing in the New Testament.
Matthew 23:23 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For YOU PAY TITHE of mint and anise and cumin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith. THESE YOU OUGHT TO HAVE DONE, without leaving the others undone.”
> These words are repeated in Luke 11:42.
FACT 4: Tithing is connected to the Eternal Priesthood of Melchizedek
Thus indicating that tithing is an fundamental and eternal principle of God’s Word.
Hebrews 7:1-8 For this Melchizedek, king of Salem, priest of the Most High God, who met Abraham returning from the slaughter of the kings and blessed him, to whom also Abraham gave a tenth part of all, first being translated “king of righteousness,” and then also king of Salem, meaning “king of peace,” Without father, without mother, without genealogy, having neither beginning of days nor end of life, but made like the Son of God, remains a priest continually. Now consider how great this man was, to whom even the patriarch Abraham gave a tenth of the spoils. And indeed those who are of the sons of Levi, who receive the priesthood, have a commandment to receive tithes from the people according to the law, that is, from their brethren, though they have come from the loins of Abraham; But he whose genealogy is not derived from them received tithes from Abraham and blessed him who had the promises. Now beyond all contradiction the lesser is blessed by the better. Here mortal men receive tithes, but there he receives them, of whom it is witnessed that he lives.”
Verse 8 implies that Melchizedek was not a mortal man – He must have been an appearance of someone eternal. Many believe that He was an Old Testament appearance of Jesus. Every other being or creature had a beginning; was created at some time. Jesus alone is eternal.
In other words tithes were paid long before the Law of Moses was given, and this has never been changed by God. It is an eternal and fundamental principle of God’s Word.
LET’S SUMMARISE IT THIS WAY!
The Bible teaches that tithing was instituted before the Law and was then later incorporated into the Law of Moses.[Leviticus 27:30-32; Numbers 18:21-32; Deuteronomy 12:5-7, 11-12, 17-18; Deuteronomy 26:12-15; 2 Chronicles 31:6] Thereafter, it was carried over into the New Testament. In other words, it is a fundamental and eternal principle of God’s Word.
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