AM Bible Study Group; June 29, 2011
Theme: In this chapter, God’s people are instructed to honor Him with the tithe of His blessings upon them.
In giving instructions to God’s people regarding the law, as they were about to enter the promised land, Moses also gives instructions regarding the tithe. Faithfulness in bringing in a tithe of what God blessed the people with was vital to experiencing further blessings from Him. The tithe was a matter of giving to God what was already His (Leviticus 27:30-33); and to withhold it was to rob God (Malachi 3:8-10). But no one ever need to fear giving the tithe; because God is able to bless abundantly in response (see Luke 6:38).
I. THE GENERAL COMMAND (21b-22).
A. The seemingly strange instruction regarding ‘not boiling a goat in its mother’s milk’ is thought by most scholars to be taken literally—as a prohibition against following a paganistic custom. But in the other cases in which the phrase is used (see Exodus 23:19; 34:26), it’s associated with the command to bring the first of the firstfruits of the land to the house of the LORD. Therefore, it seems best to see it as a figure of speech for not forfeiting God’s blessings at a later date out of a fear of giving to Him today— another way of saying, "Don’t sacrifice the future on the altar of the present".
B. This is expanded by the general command to "truly tithe all the increase of your grain that the field produces year by year" (v. 22). No one was to withhold God’s tithe out of a fear that He will not provide more later. To be faithful with God’s rich blessings in the present is to ensure His blessings for the future; so that "the LORD your God may bless you in all the work of your hands which you do" (v. 29).
II. THE SPECIFIC INSTRUCTIONS (vv. 23-28).
A. The command to eat the tithe in the place where the Lord chooses (v. 23). In Deuteronomy 12:5, the people were commanded to worship God only in the place which He chooses. Though that place had not been established at the time these words were spoken, it would be established later—after they had entered and conquered the land. The people were prohibited from eating their portion of the tithe in any place that they chose; but were required to eat where God chose. This was to include the tithe of "your grain and your new wine and your oil, of the firstborn of your herds and your flocks, that you may learn to fear the LORD your God always" (v. 23). To eat only where God commanded would prevent them from eating in the places where the pagan peoples worshiped their gods; and would thus ensure that they would keep a reverential fear of God before them always. A modern application of this may be that, when we tithe as believers, we should tithe to our church so that our support of the work of the kingdom takes priority; but then feel free to give anywhere else after our tithe to our church has been given.
B. The provision for when the place that the Lord chooses is too far away (vv. 24-26). In the cases in which the people were spread far away from the place in which God chose, and in which the carrying of the tithe to that place would have presented a particular burden, the people were allowed to sell their tithe in their place and take the money to purchase for themselves whatever they desired to eat in the place which God chose (vv. 24-25). They were free, then, to substitute, as it where, a tithe in the location of the place that God chose. This was so that they "shall eat there before the LORD your God, and you shall rejoice, you and your household." Note that, in the time of Jesus, this gracious provision was being abused for personal profit (John 2:13-16). God’s commands—including His command to tithe—are not oppressive; but faithfulness is, nevertheless, always required. We should be faithful to give God His portion even when we are—for whatever reason—far away.
C. The reminder not to forsake the Levite or the poor in their tithe (vv. 27-29). The Levite had no inheritance with the people. He was utterly reliant upon the faithfulness of the people to tithe. And so, God made a special provision for the Levite. Every third year, the tithe was to be set aside in the location in which the people lived for the meeting of the needs of the Levite. God would bless them for doing this (see Deuteronomy 26:12- 15). Note too that the Levite was also required to tithe—a tithe of the tithe (Numbers 18:25-32). This provision also met the needs of the resident alien, the orphan, and the widow within their midst. God’s blessings would be given for such faithfulness. In the tithe, we are not to forget those who are needy. God is not pleased with our tithes and offerings if, in the giving of them, we forget the greater issues of justice, mercy and faith (see Matthew 23:23; also Isaiah 1:12-17).