The instruction on tithing is found in several places in the Torah, which I will attempt to consolidate. In Deut. 14:22-29 we are instructed to tithe (or “tenth”) our increase when we go “up” to celebrate the Feasts “where YHWH shall choose to put His name.”  We could bring up either the actual produce of the land, or we could sell a tenth and bring up the proceeds, and purchase anything that our “soul lusteth after” to enjoy the celebration, which could include meat, wine, and strong drink.  In verse 27 we are told to not forget the Levite, whose lot in life is to serve in the Temple and instruct people in the Torah, and who is forbidden from amassing property (Num. 18:23).  

Every third year we were to take care of the Levites, the widows, the orphans, and the strangers living among us by giving our tithe at the gate of our own individual cities, as stipulated in verses 28 and 29.  Thus we would take care of those who lacked within our own community while no doubt enjoying the festivities in Jerusalem with friends and family who are taking their tenth up to the feast that year to enjoy the celebration.  It does not make sense that everyone would be on the same 3-year schedule.

Although the scripture does not detail how the giving was regulated, we can assume that widows and orphans were not forced to wait 3 years to receive support from their community. In Numbers 19:20-32 it stipulates that the priests and Levites are to receive a tenth part of the tithe out of all the tithes and offerings.  

Malachi 3:10 gives an instruction concerning tithes that has been grossly distorted by the translators and maleficently used to manipulate the masses in Churchianity.  Some modern-day religionists strip this verse from its context in order to garner all the tithes and offerings into their own denominational coffers.  They build edifices to the glory of man while neglecting the poor, widows, orphans, and the modern-day Levites who are truly ministering the Gospel.   

The first three chapters of Malachi chide the Israelites for bringing maimed, disfigured, and otherwise unacceptable sacrifices to the Temple.  In 3:10 it continues the theme, as properly rendered from the Hebrew, “You bring all these unacceptable tithes into the storehouse and there is treif in my house!” The Hebrew usage of treif does not indicate unclean flesh, but the meat of a clean animal that is in some way polluted and unacceptable for consumption.  The prophet Malachi tells us that our tithes and offerings need to be appropriate according to the blessing that we have received from our Heavenly Father, but nowhere indicates that the instructions of the Torah for the disposition for our tithe has in any way been altered.  

The instructions from Yahshua, which are reiterated throughout the Epistles, teach us to be “givers” and to be diligent to take care of those in need and those who are ministers of the Gospel of the Kingdom.  Matthew 25:31-46 illustrates the attitude of the King toward those who neglect the needy. and in Matthew 6:19-34 the Messiah instructs his followers that giving is an act of righteousness that will be eternally rewarded.  

It is the love of money which is the root of all evil, because what you love, you can never get enough. But if we love the Kingdom and His righteousness, we will spend our lives giving and welcoming others into the Kingdom.