A tithe is one-tenth of one's income or increase, given to God as an acknowledgment that He is the ultimate owner of all things and the source of all provision. Under Mosaic law, Israel gave multiple tithes: one to support the Levites (Num 18:21), one for feasts and worship (Deut 14:22–26), and one every third year for the poor (Deut 14:28–29). The principle behind the tithe is not taxation but theology — the first tenth is given back to God as recognition that everything came from Him. Malachi 3:10 frames the tithe in covenant terms: withholding it is "robbing God." The New Testament does not abolish the principle but transcends it — under grace, Paul establishes the pattern of proportional, cheerful, Spirit-led generosity (2 Cor 9:6–8), of which the tithe is the floor, not the ceiling.
TITHE, n. The tenth part of anything; but appropriately, the tenth part of the increase arising from the profits of land and stock, allotted to the clergy for their support. Tithes are of three kinds, predial, as of grain, grass, hops, wood; mixed, as of wool, milk, pigs; and personal, as of manual occupations, trades, fisheries. In Scripture, tithes were the tenth part of all produce, paid by the Israelites for the support of the Levites and priests. TITHE, v.t. To levy a tenth part of; to tax to a tenth.
Two errors dominate: the prosperity gospel weaponizes the tithe as a financial investment — "give to get" — promising hundredfold returns as if God were a mutual fund. This converts worship into transaction and destroys the heart of generosity. On the other side, antinomian Christianity dismisses the tithe entirely as an Old Covenant obligation with no bearing on the New Testament believer, producing churches chronically underfunded and Christians with no systematic giving discipline at all. Neither grasps the point: the tithe is not a law to be kept or broken — it is a posture of the heart that says "I am not the owner; I am a steward." In a culture that demands more and more of everything, the tithe is an act of prophetic resistance against greed.
• Genesis 14:20 — "And Abram gave him a tenth of everything." (Pre-Mosaic tithe to Melchizedek — a type of Christ.)
• Leviticus 27:30 — "A tithe of everything from the land…belongs to the LORD; it is holy to the LORD."
• Malachi 3:10 — "Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse…Test me in this…and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven."
• Matthew 23:23 — "Woe to you…you give a tenth of your spices — mint, dill and cumin. But you have neglected the weightier matters of the law."
• 2 Corinthians 9:7 — "Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver."
H4643 — ma'aser (מַעֲשֵׂר): a tenth, a tithe; used throughout the Pentateuch for the prescribed tenth given to God.
G586 — apodekatoō (ἀποδεκατόω): to tithe; used in Matthew 23:23 and Luke 11:42 where Jesus affirms tithing while condemning hypocrisy; in Hebrews 7 of Abraham's tithe to Melchizedek.
• "Abraham tithed to Melchizedek 400 years before the Law was given. The tithe is not Mosaic legislation — it is an expression of who God is and how His people relate to Him."
• "The tithe is the minimum. Grace does not give you permission to give less than the Law required; it gives you the heart to go beyond it."
• "Malachi 3:10 is the only place God says 'test me.' It is not a prosperity formula — it is a covenant dare: 'Stop robbing me, and watch what I do.'"