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 Leviticus 27 Prove Tithe isn't on Income?

One of the foundations of the anti-tithing argument is that the bible gives very specific lists of those things which are to be tithed on and that these lists do not include (among many things) money earned for one's labor. While they are correct in asserting that the lists do not include monetary income, they are incorrect in assuming that these lists were ever intended to be an exhaustive guideline. In the interest of not having an excruciatingly long article on the subject, I've decided to do a series of posts dealing with each relevant passage. If you're just stumbling upon this tithing discussion, an overview and summary of the articles I've written on tithing can be found on the tithing page.

4 Keys to Understanding God's Law

The law of God, plainly spelled out throughout His Word, is intended to teach us about what God wants us to do and who He wants us to be. God frequently admonishes us to delight in His law and to meditate on it. I encourage everyone, firstly, to read God's Words - all of them. Furthermore, when you have read what God has said, you must do your best to seek understanding of it through God's Spirit living in you.

As you read and consider God's law, there are many things that seem antiquated in our time. Don't be deceived: God has written these laws for our understanding and spiritual growth! None of it is truly "done away" or "abolished" - it is simply fulfilled in a different way. The following are 4 keys that have helped me personally in unlocking the deep spiritual significance of some of God's laws, and it is my sincere hope that they will also guide you in your personal study.

#1 Marriage between men and women typifies the coming marriage of Christ to His Church.
Just like God designed the physical Temple to mirror the Temple that He has in heaven (Revelation 8:3-5), God also designed human marriage to mirror the relationship that we are going to have with Him. The laws concerning the rights of husbands in a human marriage depict the rights of God in our marriage to Him. Likewise, the responsibilities and duties of wives in a marriage are symbolic of our responsibilities to God. God did not create human marriage in order to oppress women; on the contrary, we must ALL submit to God in the way that a wife is supposed to submit to her husband. By extension, this fact indicates that husbands should strive to be like God by not oppressing their wives. Think about how God deals with you individually: that is how a husband should treat his wife! Check out this article for an example of how to apply this principle to illuminate the meaning of a seemingly useless Old Covenant marriage law.

#2 Redemption in the Old Covenant is symbolic of the fact that Christ redeems us from sin.
This one is sort of a no-brainer - Christ is even called our Redeemer many times throughout the Prophets (Isaiah 63)! But when you are reading through the law, it is often presented in very physical circumstances that make it easy to overlook the spiritual significance. First, we must learn the physical meaning of redemption so that we can then have a fuller spiritual understanding of redemption. God declared these laws in order to teach us two important lessons: firstly, that we must be redeemed from sin and, secondly, that Christ is the one who redeems us by His perfect sacrifice. An exposition of how this parallel can help us understand the redeeming of the firstborn of animals can be found here.


#3 Sacrifices are not all referring to Christ! While Christ is symbolized in all of the sacrifices, it's also a fact that all believers are called to give sacrificial offerings in our lives.
Many people assume that the sacrificial system has no value other than to teach us that we needed Christ to be a sacrifice for our sins - WRONG! Indeed, it does teach us that. If you study the sacrifices, every single one does teach you something about the character of Christ, although most people won't even study enough to gain that benefit. In actuality, if you read through the sacrifices in the first few chapters of Leviticus, less than half of the offerings described there are for forgiveness of sin! Furthermore, there are a number of New Testament passages that urge us to offer sacrifices through our actions and how we live our lives (Hebrews 13:16, Romans 12:1). To see how this can open your understanding, here is an article where I applied this reasoning to the grain offering (Leviticus 2) to gain a better perspective of its meaning for our lives today.

#4 The concept of ceremonial cleanliness is intended to show us the imperfection and corruption of our existence as human beings.
Under the Old Covenant, God actually lived among the people of Israel in the tabernacle and, later on, in the temple. Ceremonial cleanliness was required in order to approach God's presence, or else the person approaching would die. People could become ceremonially unclean by their direct actions, such as touching a dead body. Other ways of becoming unclean were completely unavoidable, such as women's periods and certain diseases, which a person had no control over. The New Testament teaches us that our bodies are "sown in corruption," that "flesh and blood cannot inherit the Kingdom of God," and that God will give us new bodies that are capable of inheriting eternal life (1 Corinthians 15:42-52). Just as there were ways that a person could make himself unclean by choice as well as ways that a person could become unclean by circumstances beyond their control, so also there are ways that we can consciously disqualify ourselves from God's presence as well as ways that we are inherently alienated from God because of the nature of our physical existence. I am in the process of writing a more detailed article about the significance of ceremonial cleanness, but, in the mean time, here's an article that touches on the related topic of holiness.

Hopefully these tools will help you in your own study. Also, please feel free to share any additional insights that you might have for understanding God's law!

If You Will Not Redeem Him

I tend to find that seemingly archaic and useless laws from the Old Covenant tend to have great depth of meaning if we will take the time to think about them and appreciate them. One such law was that the firstborn offspring of any livestock had to be either sacrificed to God or paid for by a sacrifice:

Exodus 34:19-20
All that open the womb are Mine, and every male firstborn among your livestock, whether ox or sheep.  But the firstborn of a donkey you shall redeem with a lamb. And if you will not redeem him, then you shall break his neck. All the firstborn of your sons you shall redeem. And none shall appear before Me empty-handed.

Why did the donkey have to be redeemed instead of sacrificed like the ox or sheep?