Did the Levites Work for Peanuts?

I've dedicated a lot of time and effort to the subject of tithing, so some of what I say here might require some legwork on the part of the reader. I've conveniently compiled my series on tithing as a reference. It explains about a particularly outspoken group of people who teach that tithing is not valid for Christians today. They challenge the premise of tithing from every angle, and so I've worked diligently to defend it from every angle. One of their claims is that the command to tithe was limited to agricultural products - the offspring of the herds and the yield of the crops - and that it was never paid by wage-earners such as Jesus, who was a carpenter. I've answered this argument before (you can read about it on the tithing page), and this post is just some more thoughts on the matter.

The tithes of Israel were allocated to the Levites as an inheritance and in exchange for their service in the temple:

Numbers 18:21
Behold, I have given the children of Levi all the tithes in Israel as an inheritance in return for the work which they perform, the work of the Tabernacle of Meeting.

The reasons for which the Levites received tithes play a role in the discussion of whether tithe was limited to agricultural products only. As the above scripture shows, they received tithe for two purposes: as an inheritance and in return for the work of the Tabernacle. If tithe was only required on food items as some claim, then this would mean that the Levites were both given an inheritance and paid for their work in food.

Does Numbers 18 Prove Tithing Isn't on Income?

After the discussion of tithes in Leviticus 27 in the context of redemption, tithing isn't discussed again until Numbers 18. Here, the main theme is that tithe was to be the wages and inheritance of the Levites.

Again, we find absolutely no instructions saying "you shall tithe on the following items." Rather, the only indication in this chapter that tithe was to be received in the form of food comes in verse 31:

Numbers 18:30-31
Therefore you shall say to them: ‘When you have lifted up the best of it, then the rest shall be accounted to the Levites as the produce of the threshing floor and as the produce of the winepress. You may eat it in any place, you and your households, for it is your reward for your work in the tabernacle of meeting.

Arguments Against Tithing Debunked - Part 3 - Was Tithe Given to the Levites Forever?

In the previous article in this series, I demonstrated that tithing was not abolished in Hebrews 7. Furthermore, I showed that none of God’s law could possibly be done away because of the words of Christ in Matthew 5:17-18. As a result, this means that God's law, and tithing in particular, is required for Christians today, and on this foundation I will continue to discuss precisely how tithing applies to Christians.

With this firmly established, the next relevant discussion to undertake is determining whether the ministry of the Church of God is qualified under God’s law to receive tithes. On the path to doing this, I will in this article debunk the following anti-tithing argument:

God never gave any pastor or church permission to receive his tithe because God commanded His tithe be taken to the Levites FOREVER in Numbers 18.

The case that is trying to be made here is that the Levites are the only qualified recipients of tithes because God gave the first tithe to them in Numbers 18 by a “perpetual ordinance,” and we will examine this in detail.