05/05/2026
Here are the 10 commandments of TITHE in one post.
1. God commanded Israel to tithe ONLY once a year. Deut. 14:22
2. God commanded Israel to take the tithe which was only food to Jerusalem at the temple and EAT IT. Deut. 14:23
3. God commanded Israel that if they lived to far from Jerusalem to carry the food, they could turn it into money (market value of the food), take the money to Jerusalem, BUY FOOD THERE, and as before EAT THE FOOD at the temple. Deut. 14:24-26.
4. Because the Levites had no land inheritance to bring food on their own to eat, God commanded Israel to give the Levites 10% of the tithe to eat. It was called a heave offering. So, Israel Ate 90% and Levites had 10% of the tithe. Deut. 14:27, Numbers 18: 20-27
5. Once Levites collected 10% of the tithe from each tribe, God commanded Levites to take 10% of that tithe and give it to the high priest, because again he was a Levite without land inheritance. And then God told them all to EAT IT. Numbers 18:28-31.
6. God commanded Israel that if they wanted to purchase (redeem) the tithe, they had to add a fifth or 20% of the amount. Lev. 27:30-31.
7. God commanded Israel to have the animals walk under a rod and the TENTH animal was the tithe. Not every tenth. God said THE TENTH. Lev. 27:32.
8. God commanded Israel that if they tried to switch the tenth animal, then both the tenth animal and the one they tried to switch it with will become holy. Both will be eaten. Lev. 27:33-34.
9. God commanded Israel that every three years to leave or bring all the tithes to the gates of the city for 4 groups of people to take and eat. Israel could not take the food and eat it at the temple like the two previous years. That year the tithe/food was only for the widows, fatherless, strangers, and Levites. Deut. 14:28-29, Deut. 26:12.
10. God commanded Israel that if they obeyed these commandments of tithe, that they could command Him to open the windows of heaven and bless the land so that more food will grow abundantly. Deut. 26:13-19.
Bottom line, just as the prophet Malachi said, Israel had to obey THESE COMMANDMENTS/ORDINANCES OF TITHE to receive the promise of Malachi 3:10. He rebuke them because they were disobeying commandment number 9. They were eating the tithe at the temple and it was the third year. The words in Malachi 3:10, “bring all the tithes” are found in Deut. 14:28-29 and Deut. 26:12. He was quoting scriptures. Nobody today has obeyed any of these commandments which means nobody today have receive the promise that is mentioned in Malachi 3:10. Moses said that Israel was cursed if they didn’t do all that is commanded in the law of Moses. There is not even one of these commandments of tithe that you can do today.
That is why people like to use the word “principle” when talking about tithe. They try to ignore the commandments of tithe. They want to talk about the "reason" behind the commandments. Some don't even know the actual commandments of tithe. But the promise of Malachi 3:10 was not based on any “principle”. It was based on the commandments/ordinances Malachi 3:7. Israel ATE 90% OF THE TITHE AT JERUSALEM. It had to be in Jerusalem at the temple. What principle are you trying to teach from that? But these are the actual commandments in the law of Moses.
This is the reason none of the Apostle taught tithe or even mention Malachi 3:10. They knew the ORDINANCES. There were no "principle of giving" here. The MAIN FOCUS of the ordinances of tithe was eating food in Jerusalem at the temple. They did it the first two years. Eating food in Jerusalem has nothing to do with giving money.
