What does it mean to eat the tithes? is a question asked by so many Christians who are not aware of the fact that the bible has clearly instructed us how we should pay our tithes and one of those ways is to eat it by ourselves.
“It is so unfortunate to discover that so many modern-day Christians think that tithing means giving money, and for that reason, they often get confused about trying to understand how eating relates to tithing.
The worst part of it is that modern-day preachers will never preach this part about tithing to their congregation, because if they do, they will instantly stop paying their tithes to them.
Of course, tithing is one of the ways these preachers are making so much wealth in God’s kingdom.
However, I am going to help you understand what it means to eat the tithes but before we do so, let me outline the Bible passage that will help us to understand this sermon properly.
Be sure to set aside a tenth of all that your fields produce each year. Eat the tithe of your grain, new wine and olive oil, and the firstborn of your herds and flocks in the presence of the Lord your God at the place he will choose as a dwelling for his Name, so that you may learn to revere the Lord your God always.
But if that place is too distant and you have been blessed by the Lord your God and cannot carry your tithe (because the place where the Lord will choose to put his Name is so far away), then exchange your tithe for silver, and take the silver with you and go to the place the Lord your God will choose. Use the silver to buy whatever you like: cattle, sheep, wine or other fermented drinks, or anything you wish.
Then you and your household shall eat there in the presence of the Lord your God and rejoice. And do not neglect the Levites living in your towns, for they have no allotment or inheritance of their own.
At the end of every three years, bring all the tithes of that year’s produce and store it in your towns, so that the Levites (who have no allotment or inheritance of their own) and the foreigners, the fatherless and the widows who live in your towns may come and eat and be satisfied, and so that the Lord your God may bless you in all the work of your hands. Deuteronomy 14:22-29.
What it means to eat the tithes.
According to Deuteronomy 14:22 “Eat the tithes” means that tithes are ten percent of what your farmland or animals are able to produce. And the worshippers of God are instructed by God to take these produce in the form of grain, new wine, and olive oil, and the firstborn of herds and flocks to the temple where they will eat it in the presence of the Lord.
It is actually the first principle of tithing in the Bible.
It continues by saying that if the place of worship is too distant and the worshippers have been blessed by the Lord their God so much that they cannot carry their tithe (because the place where the Lord will choose to put his Name is so far away), then they should exchange their tithe for silver, and take the silver with them and go to the place the Lord their God will choose.
And when they get there they should use the silver to buy whatever they like: cattle, sheep, wine or other fermented drinks, or anything they wish. Then they and their household shall eat there in the presence of the Lord their God and rejoice.
Where do you eat your tithe?
According to the Bible, you are required to eat your tithe at the place God will choose as a dwelling for his Name. In the Jewish era, it was the temple or Synagogue and in this Christian era, it is the church of God.
What happens when you eat your tithe?
When you eat your tithe, what happens is that you have acknowledged the fact that God is the One who made your crops in your farm to grow and yield good harvest and it is not as a result of your hard work or knowledge about farming.
Now let us move on to immediately see the rules of tithing that are recorded in the scriptures.
Other Bible verses about eating tithes.
“Say to the Levites: ‘When you present the best part, it will be reckoned to you as the product of the threshing floor or the winepress. You and your households may eat the rest of it anywhere, for it is your wages for your work at the tent of meeting.
By presenting the best part of it you will not be guilty in this matter; then you will not defile the holy offerings of the Israelites, and you will not die.’” Numbers 18:30-32.
All Judah brought the tithes of grain, new wine and olive oil into the storerooms. Nehemiah 13:12.
Moreover he commanded the people who dwelt in Jerusalem to contribute support for the priests and the Levites, that they might devote themselves to the Law of the Lord.
As soon as the commandment was circulated, the children of Israel brought in abundance the firstfruits of grain and wine, oil and honey, and of all the produce of the field; and they brought in abundantly the tithe of everything.
And the children of Israel and Judah, who dwelt in the cities of Judah, brought the tithe of oxen and sheep; also the tithe of holy things which were consecrated to the Lord their God they laid in heaps. 2 Chronicles 31:4-6.
Bring all the tithes into the storehouse, That there may be food in My house, And try Me now in this,” Says the Lord of hosts, “If I will not open for you the windows of heaven And pour out for you such blessing That there will not be room enough to receive it. Malachi 3:10.
Conclusion.
As we can finally see with scriptural proofs, tithes simply mean a tenth of everything we can eat.
That is why the bible says that we should eat the tithes.
And we can safely draw a final conclusion that the purpose of tithes is to provide whatever human beings can eat.
