Are There Three Tithes?

I often receive the question about tithing. Most often the questions center around third tithes. Questions like, how do we know there are actually three tithes? How do we know that it's not just one tithe, and then God explains further, progressively, how to use that tithe. There's just one tenth taken out, and it's used for all of those different things. How do we know that there are third tithes? And then also the question comes up is, you know, tithing is, or giving a tenth of your income, or your increase, to be technical about it, your profit, to God was instituted by God in the first five books of the Bible. It was later endorsed by Jesus Christ and the apostles as a law that's still very much enforced today. But some people ask me, so why doesn't the United Church of God teach third tithes anymore? If you go onto the donation portion of our website, you'll see that there's a first tithe button. And that's actually the only tithe button there. Everything else is a voluntary donation. You can donate to charity, you can donate to a building fund, you can donate to assistance for widows. It's like third tithes, but it's an offering. It's not a tithe. It's strictly voluntary. And a lot of people ask, so why doesn't the United Church of God teach third tithes anymore? Some assume that UCG is watering down the tithing laws. That's actually not true at all. The answer is we still do teach. The third tithe is very much enforced to this day, and you are required to do it. Did you know that we still teach about tithing? Some people don't realize that. And that everybody is to pay third tithes. So that's what I want to do today, is I want to explain the teaching, the doctrine, of third tithes. But first, is it relevant for a Christian two tithes? Let's not trust our own opinion on this matter, because opinions can be very strong when it comes to money.

Let's look at what Jesus Christ and the apostles taught.

In Matthew chapter 23 and verse 23, Jesus was in one of his debates with the Pharisees.

And he said in Matthew 23, 23, Woe to you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! You pay tithes of Annas and Cumans, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law, justice, mercy, and faith. And we immediately think, aha, tithing is not such a big deal, because it's not a weightier matter of the law.

And that's true, it's not. It's actually a very small matter. It's a matter of the heart, nonetheless. But notice the very next statement. He says, these you ought to have done. He endorses tithing. You should tithe without leaving the others undone. So, while this is not one of the weightier matters of the law, Jesus Christ said, you ought to do it.

And in Luke chapter 20 and verse 25, Jesus Christ again endorsed tithing. When they were challenging Him, should He pay a tax at the temple. And He said, in Luke 20-25, He said to them, render therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's. Once again, He endorsed tithing. But with the death of Jesus Christ, a new covenant was put into place. A new priesthood was put into place.

Was tithing done away? We see in Hebrews chapter 7 and verse 12, it says, for the priesthood being changed, of necessity there's also a change of the law. Aha! And maybe that change means, I don't have to give my money to God anymore. Yes! No! That is not what it means. But I do hear that. I do get that a lot. So, it is understood that this tithe is to be received now and set aside by God for the ministry of Jesus Christ. The Levitical priesthood is no longer in place. Now Jesus Christ is the high priest. And tithes are paid to His servants.

The Apostle Paul, long after the death of Jesus Christ, long after the new covenant was put in place, long after Jesus Christ was appointed the new high priest, and this law that was changed was already changed, the Apostle Paul once again endorses tithing. And he says in 1 Timothy chapter 5 and verse 17, let the elders who rule be counted worthy of double honor. And that means double pay. And it doesn't mean that elders get double pay. They don't. In the United Church of God, the top pay for a field pastor is okay. It's a decent amount of income. But it is by no stretch of the imagination a coveted position for its salary.

So don't worry about that. A lot of people here are tithing and they think, oh, ministers are always asking for money, and that's really not what it's about at all. The ministry in the United Church of God does not really make a whopping salary. It's enough to get by, and that's about it. But Paul says, you know, they deserve more than just enough to get by. So he's talking about giving money to the ministry, having a paid ministry. A lot of people, why do we have a paid ministry? It just shall be volunteer. And we do have some volunteer ministers. I'm not going to talk about first tithe and second tithe today so much.

I just want to explain in context, you know what? This is still relevant for Christians today. This law is still very much in play. So much so that the Apostle Paul said that a minister who receives his salary actually deserves double. Let's continue on. Especially those who labor in the word and doctrine. For the Scriptures say, you shall not muzzle an ox while it treads out the grain, and a laborer is worthy of his wages. Interestingly enough, this is one of our proof texts that we know that the Apostles knew that they were writing Scripture.

You know, when we write a booklet, we say it's not Scripture. We're simply explaining Scripture. We're trying to write a document that helps you better understand the Scripture because we know we're not writing Scripture, but the Apostles knew that they were. Because in this quote, the Apostle Paul quotes both Deuteronomy and Matthew.

So he equates Matthew, the Gospel of Matthew, with the book of Deuteronomy. Now, that's just a side point. I went off the freeway there. We need to come back on because we're talking about tithing. But I just wanted to make that detour to let you know you might want to mark that 1 Timothy 5 and verse 18. That's one of the proofs that the Apostles knew that they were writing Scripture because Paul equates Deuteronomy with Matthew.

Okay, moving on. A lot of people have the assumption that they only use the Old Testament as Scripture. There's another place, the very last section of 2 Peter. The Apostle Peter ascribes the writings of Paul as Scripture as well. So if you like references, you can go look that up and jot that down in the 1 Timothy 5. But there's also a place in 2 Peter. At the very end of 2 Peter, the Apostle Peter calls Paul's writings Scripture.

So the point here, though, let's get back on topic, get off the detour, is that tithing is still in place. But are there multiple tithes? I've actually had this debate before, where some people think there's really just one tithe, and it's used in different ways. And it's not. And we're going to go through that today. Before we explain third tithes, let's explain that there actually is a third tithe. The Old Testament doesn't call it first and second third tithes. So we have to look at how it's used, how each tithe is used, and when each tithe is supposed to be given, in order to delineate which tithe it is. Those two things. How the tithe is used, and when the tithe was to be given. And that delineates whether or not we have more than one tithe, or just one tithe at all.

First tithe was to be given exclusively to the Levites. And the book of Hebrews explains that that was shifted to Jesus Christ. So first tithe has an exclusive use. And in Numbers 18 and verse 21, Numbers 18 and 21, we see, Moses said, Behold, I have given the children of Levi all the tithes in Israel as an inheritance in return for the work that they performed, the work of the tabernacle of meeting. The Levites were to be given, as a salary, a tenth of all the increase of Israel. Everything that Israel got off of their land, remember, this was an agrarian society, an agricultural society. And that's important when we get to third tithes. So just keep that in mind. So everything that their farms produced, they had to give 10% to God. Why? So that the Levites would have income. And what were the Levites doing? They were taking care of the tabernacle of God, which was the center of teaching the Word of God to Israel. So God made sure that His Word and the teaching of His Word would be funded. Quite a significant amount, too. 10% of all the increase of that agrarian society was to go into the support of teaching His Word. It means His Word was important. The first tithe was considered holy unto the Lord. That's an important distinction. The second tithe wasn't. The second tithe was actually used by the people that tithed. Not the first tithe. This is why it's distinct from other tithes. It was considered holy to the Lord. Leviticus 27, verse 30. Leviticus 27, verse 30. And all tithes of the land, whether the seed of the land or the fruit of the tree, is the Lord's. It's holy to the Lord. Now, if it's the Lord's, it's not yours. You don't get to use it. It's the Lord's. And He says how it gets to be used. We'll get to the next tithe, another tithe, which was actually consumed by us, which means it wasn't the Lord's. It was ours. It's commanded. We have to give it, but it's a different tithe altogether. So this tithe, this first tithe, was given every year. Every year there was increase from the agrarian society. The tithe was given. But there was another tithe that was to be consumed. And this is one of the reasons why we know there was a second tithe. You can't give something away to the Levites and then turn around and eat it. But some people have that logic. They say, well, there aren't really multiple tithes. We're misunderstanding. We don't understand the Hebrew Scriptures. And they sort of pat the ministry on the head like, oh, you simple minister, you just don't understand the Bible. If you understood Hebrew Scriptures, you would know there's really only one tithe, and we use it in multiple ways. Look, you can't have your cake and eat it, too. If you eat it, you don't have it. If you have it, you haven't eaten it. Okay? Simple logic. If you give your tithes to the Levite, you don't have it, and you can't eat what you don't have. So there's obviously a second tithe. Deuteronomy 12, verse 6. A tithe, meaning a tenth, and it's not a tenth of everything that you make. It's a tenth of the increase, what we would call similar to profit. In other words, if you spend ten dollars and you make thirty dollars, you don't tithe on the thirty dollars. You subtract the ten dollars that you spent. You only tithe on the increase, the twenty dollars that was above what you spent. When you increase, you tithe. Deuteronomy 12, verse 6, this tenth. It's a different tenth. Therefore you shall take your burnt offerings, your sacrifices, and your tithes. Notice it's plural. Notice it's not one tithe, but it is plural. There are multiple tithes. The heave offerings of your hand that you vowed, your vowed offerings, your free will offerings, and the firstborn of the herds of your flocks, all of which were required to give to God.

When they did this, they lacked nothing, as it said in the psalm that we heard sung today, that the children of God, the faithful of God, do not beg bread. When they did this, they were cared for greatly. So they were to bring all of these things that were commanded, and verse 7, and there you shall eat before the Lord your God. They were to eat it. And if they were to eat it, it meant they still had it. And if they still had it, it means they didn't give it to the Levite. So they either had to break the law, if there was only one tithe, kept some of it to eat, or they actually did give a tenth to the Levite, and they set another tenth apart to keep the annual festivals. So, God requires us to take money and invest that money into learning about Him, to pay for a ministry, number one, and to pay to go to festivals, where we get great synergy, as it was talked about in the sermonette today about the Sabbath, and we get even more when we travel to the Feast of Tabernacles, for example, and learn for seven days straight. So, again, Deuteronomy 12, we're in verse 7, and there you shall eat before the Lord your God, and you shall rejoice in all which you have put your hand, you, your household. So it's not just you. You're supposed to bring the kids. You're not supposed to leave anybody out. Everybody is supposed to go and enjoy this second tithe, this investment in learning the way of God, in which the Lord your God has blessed you. God gives further instructions that another tithe, singular, was to be eaten by the individual, but not at home. This was to be set aside and consumed at festival worship locations exclusively during annual festivals. So let's drop down. We're still in Deuteronomy 12 to verse 17. You may not eat within your gates the tithe of your grain or the new wine or your oil of the firstborn of your herd of the flock or of any offerings which you vow. Because a lot of the offerings, they got to actually eat a portion of it, which was pretty awesome. Your free will offerings, your heave offerings of your hand. The individual was given the right to eat the tithe, being specified as a part of a joyous festival observance. So this is definitely a distinct and separate tithe or tense from the first tithe, which was holy to the Lord and be set aside as an inheritance, therefore a salary of the Levite, which later we saw was changed to the ministry of Jesus Christ.

Verse 18, But you must eat them before the Lord. It's not an option. This isn't voluntary. This is the worship system that God put in place. Verse 19, You and your sons and your daughters, your male servants, your female servants, the Levite goes within your gates. You shall rejoice before the Lord your God, and all which he put into your hand. So money was actually set aside to fear God.

Continuing on, let's go to chapter 14 now and drop down to verse 22. Deuteronomy 14 and verse 22. What's the purpose of this tithe? To fear God.

You truly shall tithe all the increase of your grain in the field it produces year by year. So this is an annual tithe as well. And the reason I'm going through this is to get to third tithe, which is not an annual tithe. You shall eat it before the Lord your God in the place where he chooses to make his name abide, and the tithe of your grain and the new wine of your oil and the first point of your hers and your flocks, that you may learn to fear the Lord your God always. But if the journey is too long for you, that you're not able to carry the tithe, and if the place where the Lord your God chooses to put his name is too far from you, when the Lord your God has blessed you, then you will exchange it for money. Take the money in your hand and go to the place where the Lord your God so chooses. That's what we do today. We set aside tithes of our money, and we go to the feast. We use it also for the Holy Days when we have a Holy Day service. We'll you know get together and go out to eat. Well, it's appropriate to use tithe when we do that. Go to a nicer restaurant. Have a nicer experience than we normally do, and enhance the feast experience. Verse 26, and you shall spend that money for whatever your heart desires. You can't spend the money for whatever your heart desires if it's set aside as holy to the Lord and given to the Levite. This is a distinct and separate tithe.

For often for sheep, for wine, or similar drink, or whatever your heart desires, you shall eat it. Therefore, before the Lord your God, and you shall rejoice, you and your household. So today, the members of the United Church of God save a tenth of their annual increase, and we're able to attend the feast. This is the second tithe. But there is another tithe. And a lot of people, a lot of people, question, why doesn't the United Church of God teach third tithes anymore? We do, and we always have. And that's what I want to spend the balance of this sermon on. That tithe has not been done away with. Our responsibility to take care of the needy has not been done away with. Not even slightly. It's not watered down one little bit. So why isn't there a third tithe button in the donation section of our website? Let's go through that.

The first tithe is exclusively for the Levite, which is now the ministry. The second tithe is for your consumption at a holy day. So who takes care of the needy? Third tithe, remember the poor. Let's start with the principle of remembering the poor. Let's go to John 12 and verse 8. John 12 and verse 8. A simple statement of fact. It's neither a condemnation nor is it an endorsement. It's simply a fact of this evil world that we live in. John 12 and verse 8. The poor you have with you always. The poor you have with you always. This is an evil world.

And we will always have poor with us. When will there be a time when there is not somebody in need? Never. Ever. There will always be a need. Acts chapter 20 and verse 35.

Acts 20 verse 35. Christians are to take care of the poor. Acts 20 and 35. I have shown you in every way, by laboring like this, that you must, must support the weak. And remember the words of the Lord Jesus when He said it's more blessed to give than to receive. There is a responsibility on the Christians to take care of those who are in need, and it is a must. A responsibility. Galatians chapter 2 and verse 10.

Galatians 2.10. They desired only that we should remember the poor, the very thing which I was also eager to do. Where did Paul get that from? From the tithing commandments in the Bible, in the scriptures that Paul was so adept so skilled at.

Twice in scriptures, in Deuteronomy 14.28 and in Deuteronomy 26, does God instruct regarding a tithe that is saved and to be distributed every third year. So let's go through those. Deuteronomy chapter 14 and verse 28. Deuteronomy 14.28. At the end of every third year, you will bring your tithe of produce of that year and store it up within your gates.

You know, it's important to note that this tithe was not given to the Levites. It is a distinct tithe. It was not donated nationally to the temple or the tabernacle. It was stored locally in the town or city in which you lived. It was a local government issue at the time. This was not the big tithe, the first tithe, that went to the Levites. This was not the second tithe that was used and consumed at a feast day for you and your family, only to be eaten at a place where God chose. This tithe was consumed right in your local town, and it was collected locally. And it was only collected once every three years. But remember, this was an agrarian society, and God had some very specific agricultural rules that were in place. I'll get to that in just a second. So, this is a separate tithe now. It's not collected every year. It's not given to the Levites. It's stored locally, and it's given out and consumed locally, not at the place where God chooses, but rather when somebody's in need. They can eat it right there. This is a completely different tithe.

Deuteronomy 26 and verse 12, When you have finished laying aside all the tithes of your increase in the third year, the year of tithing, and have given it to the Levite, the stranger, the fatherless, the widow, so they may eat where? Within your gates and be filled. So, we see with those two scriptures that there is now a third tithe once every three years. You might think, it's overwhelming. That's too much! And it actually can be with our current taxation system.

But before we get into our tax system and why the United Church of God doesn't have a third tithe button on our website, and we do that for good reason, I want to explain that this every three years is three every third year out of a seven year time cycle. And that's confusing to some people. How did we come up with that? And actually, we didn't come up with it. Okay, we actually learned this from ancient Israel and their practices. Seven year time cycle. Where did that come from? So, in other words, we're supposed to pay the third tithe in the third and the sixth year of a seven year time cycle. And then that time cycle starts all over again. So, the third, third tithe year is actually four years after the second third tithe year. Don't worry. If you didn't get that, your salvation is not on the line. It's important to note that there is a seven year time cycle in place. Because it was an agrarian society, and God had a seven year agrarian financial plan in place. That they were to farm the land six years. And in the seventh year, no farming was to be done. And everybody, everybody, kept a land Sabbath at the same time. Now, this wouldn't be an issue if everybody could choose their own third tithe year, right? And then we would stagger it, and then there would always be somebody to give a time a tithe at some time. The problem is, is that if everybody is on a seven year time cycle, and there's a land Sabbath once every seven years. So, God promises to give double produce in year six. And that harvest will last two years!

You run into a problem in the 21st year. You know what that problem is? No third tithe is stored up. Every 21 years. If you just tithed third tithe every three years, but they're on a seven year agricultural cycle. In the third seven years, nobody in any city, anywhere, would have third tithes, and the poor would just be on the street for that year. Or, taking from people above and beyond their third tithes. So, it was understood that third tithes came from a seven year agricultural time cycle. Let's look at that in Leviticus chapter 25. Leviticus chapter 25 verses 1 through 22. Let's look at the seven year, essentially, financial cycle of ancient Israel. This was the context of the third tithe system. Leviticus 25 verse 1, and the Lord spoke to Moses at Mount Sinai, saying, Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them, When you come into the land which I give you, then the land shall keep a Sabbath to the Lord. Six years shall you sow your field, and six years you shall prune your vineyards and gather fruit. But in the seventh year it shall be a Sabbath of solemn rest for the land, a Sabbath to the Lord. You shall neither sow your field nor prune your vineyard. What grows of its own accord of your harvest you shall not reap, nor gather the grapes of your untended vine, for it is a year of rest for the land. The Sabbath produce of the land shall be food for you, for your male servants, for your hired men, your strangers who dwells in the land, for your livestock, your beast of all your land, and all its produce shall be for food. Then you shall count seven Sabbaths, and it goes into the Jubilee year. We don't have to read that for the third tithes, although it does, it is applicable, we just don't have time.

Verse 18, so you shall observe my statutes and keep my judgments and perform them, if you dwell in the land, and you will dwell in the land in safety. So God promised to take care of them, if they would just follow this financial plan. Then the land will yield its fruit, and you will eat your fill. It was a promise, and dwell there in safety. And if you say, what shall I eat in the seventh year, since we have not sown to gather a produce, then I will command my blessing on you in the sixth year, and it will bring forth produce enough for three years. Why three years? I mistakenly said two before, it's actually three. You know why it's three? So you plant, you harvest in the sixth year, and you're going to eat it that year too. So you're eating that food, so that's one year. And then the seventh year, you don't plant anything, so you don't have any food. So that's the second year. So the third year, you're going to plant something so you can have food. The only problem is, when you put a seed in the ground, food doesn't just instantly pop up. It takes a long time to grow. So God actually planned it out, so that they would actually, in the sixth year, have enough food for three years. Verse 22, And you shall sow in the eighth year, and eat the old produce, until the ninth year, until its produce comes in, you shall eat of the old harvest. So that if there was no increase every seventh year, as God promised to provide his faithful people, enough bounty in the sixth year that they could eat for the rest of the seventh year and into the eighth year, actually, as they were working the land again. We can conclude then that this tie that was set aside every third year was set aside every third year and sixth year in a seven-year time cycle. It's a bit technical, I know, but it's important to know.

So the flow of Deuteronomy chapter 14 verses 28 through 29, dealing with the special ties for the poor is immediately followed by the instructions for dealing with nature every seventh year in Deuteronomy chapter 15. And the reason that's important is that is our connector from the Bible, not just Jewish tradition, which we also lean on, by the way, which I'll get into in just a minute. But our connection between this seven-year time cycle and the third tie comes from Deuteronomy. At the end of chapter 14, it talks about third ties. The very next thing Moses talked about in chapter 15 was the land Sabbath, connecting those two things together as though they're related so that third tie actually ends up as the third and the sixth year in a seven-year time cycle. And I say that for those who like to say, well, you're just making an assumption. No, actually we're not. We're pretty firm on that. So why don't we have a third tie button on our website? Well, the Council of Elders... Let me read from a study paper on third ties. And I remember when this came out. It was right after United Forum. It was a year or two after. And the naysayers were like, ah, you see, United is watering down doctrine already. And this was way back in the late 90s, maybe, I don't know, 97, 96. And later this was revised in 2003 to state this, The Council of Elders has resolved that where governments provide programs, the intent and purpose of which is to provide for the needs of those that the biblical third ties was designed to assist, that there were such programs where such programs are funded by an annual rate of taxation greater than the biblical third ties, members are not obligated to pay what amounts to an additional third tie to the church. Let me stop there and just explain what that means. You're supposed to pay one-tenth of your increase of your profit, not of your gross income, but of your net income. Ten percent of that every third and sixth year, that works out to be less than three percent of your income annually. Less than three percent of your income, or right around three percent of your income annually, is set aside for the poor. If you want to divide it out and average it out. And the reason I'm doing that is because that is how we are taxed. Back in ancient Israel, that tide was collected locally by a local government. Now, in many modern countries, including the United States, there are social programs in place where we are taxed, not locally but nationally. And you will notice that your paycheck will have a gross and a net amount. And you will see that money was taken out of your pay. What was that money? Well, a lot of it's used for bridges and roads and police force and all that. That's not third tide. That is not your third tide. But some is taken out, for example, for Social Security. Social Security does qualify for third tide because it pays widows. Now, the promise is that when you retire, it will pay you back. Okay. Maybe. Maybe. But that still qualifies as third tide because you will not be able to work and you will be in need. So even if you do receive the Social Security from the children paying it in, that is still an active third tide system. That, in and of itself, qualifies as your third tide. Oh, but there's more. Oh, yes. Because the government is not conservative when it comes to taking out money from your paycheck.

A very large portion of your regular income tax that goes to the IRS. I'm not talking about your Social Security or FICA tax. I'm talking about your income tax goes into welfare. How do you think welfare is funded? Your paycheck. You pay to a government. Now it's not local, it's national. That creates problems. But it does go to pay the needy.

In the United States, you can go down and get food stamps if you're in need. You can have housing, you can have medical care, a single mom can get medical care, and for herself and her children. Where does that money come from? That money comes right out of your paycheck, exactly like it did in ancient Israel. Although they paid it locally, and when they saw somebody in need, they could give that person in need. You know, unfortunately, these social programs, if you will, in the United States specifically, they don't quite follow the rules that God put in place for taking care of the needy. And that's the rub. We pay third tithes through our tax. We pay more than third tithes through our tax. But that does not release us of the responsibility to take care of the needy. You know what? And even if the government is taking out more money than God originally required for third tithes, you and I are not relieved of the responsibility to take care of the needy. For example, not everybody qualifies for Social Security. So not every widow can go claim Social Security. But she's still a widow, and she's still in need. And you can't say, well, but I paid my Social Security. I paid my tithes. Unfortunately, we live in an ungodly world that doesn't follow God's rules, and some people fall through the cracks. Some people don't get their needs taken care of. So while the United Church of God does teach that third tithes is still very much in force, the issue is you already pay it. You literally already pay it, and then some. So why do we even have an assistance button on our donation site? Because we recognize that the programs that are in place, welfare, food stamps, housing, Medicaid, Medicare, Social Security, disability, you know what? Some people can be disabled and unable to work and get denied Social Security disability. Then what do you do? We still have a responsibility to take care of them, even though the government had let them down. So we have a voluntary assistance fund that you are not required to give any set amount to. It's just a matter of we recognize as Christians that we have a responsibility to take care of those who are in need. Reading on from the study paper, the Council of Elders further resolves that since there will always be members of the church whose needs will not be adequately provided by the national government social programs, and since the clear example in the Scripture is that the church care for its members in need. And they cite these Scriptures, and I won't go through them for time's sake. You can write them down. Leviticus 19, verses 9 through 10. Leviticus 19, 9 through 10. Isaiah chapter 58 and verse 7. Isaiah 58 and verse 7. Matthew 25, verses 35 through 40.

Matthew 25, verses 35 through 40. And Galatians 2, verses 9 and 10. Galatians 2, 9 and 10. Continuing on in the article. That those members of the church who are able are encouraged to contribute to the church assistance fund. It's only if you're able. You meet the requirement of third tithes just by getting a paycheck, because taxes are taken out, and they're taking out at a much higher level than God ever required in the Old Testament. God's way is so much more efficient. You actually paid less of your money, and people got more in return. So, those members of the church who are able are encouraged to contribute to the church assistance fund, so the biblical injunction to care for the needy within the church can be fulfilled. The church does still teach tithing, and we still do teach that you are required, as a Christian, to pay third tithes. The issue is, you already do. Guess what? If you pay taxes, you're paying third tithes. In biblical times, it was collected locally in the town where you live, and it was so efficient that if you were hungry, you would be filled. And that's not a guarantee with our social programs. Today, it's collected by the federal government, and we're charged annually now, not every third year, in a seven-year time cycle, and that actually ends up making us pay more than what God instructed us through the writings of Moses to the children of Israel. But, that still doesn't release us from this responsibility to take care of the needy. So, always remember the principle when we're thinking about tithing. It's better to give than receive, and to whom much is given, much will be required.