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Vayyiqra (Leviticus) 27:30-34
30 And all the tithe of the land, whether of the seed of the land, or of the fruit of the tree, is YHWH's; it is set-apart to YHWH.
31 And if a man will redeem any of his tithe, he shall add to it the fifth part thereof.
32 And all the tithe of the herd or the flock, whatsoever passes under the rod, the tenth shall be set-apart to YHWH.
33 He shall not search whether it be good or bad, neither shall he change it; and if he change it at all, then both it and that for which it is changed shall be set-apart; it shall not be redeemed.
34 These are the commandments, which YHWH commanded Moshe for the children of Israel in Mount Sinai.
There are three types of tithe spoken of in Torah. There are some who teach that there are three different tithes: a first tithe, a second tithe, and a third tithe. This means a person would be giving between 27% and 30%, depending upon how it would be figured. As we progress through this study, one will see that such a teaching is in error. While there are not three tithes, there are three types of tithe. Two of them are mentioned in the verses above. There is the tithe of the land. The tithe of the land includes the seed of the land and the fruit of the tree. By inference, this would also include the tithe of the vine. Then there is also the tithe of the flock. This includes all the animals one owns. Later in this study we will discover in another passage just exactly how this is done.
Before we get into the mechanics of what is commanded to be tithed and how to do it, let us consider the words of Mashiach Yeshua.
Matithyah (Matthew) 23:23
"Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for you tithe mint and anise and cummin and have left undone the weightier matters of the Torah, justice, and mercy, and faith; but these you ought to have done, and not to have left the other undone."
There are those who wrongly teach that tithing is not commanded in the Brit Chadasha (New Testament). However, as one can see in the above passage, Yeshua does, indeed, command us to tithe. He states that we need to do the weightier matters of Torah, that is, justice, mercy, and faith; but while doing these, we are not to leave undone the other things like giving of the tithe, which is the subject and context of this passage. He effectively commands us to tithe with these words.
