Dennis Tuuri

We’ll be reading from Numbers 18. Numbers the 18th chapter. All the chapter. Our talk today is on the Levitical tithe.

Numbers 18. So the Lord said to Aaron, “You and your sons and your father’s household with you shall bear the guilt in connection with the sanctuary, and you and your sons with you shall bear the guilt in connection with your priesthood. But bring with you also your brothers, the tribe of Levi, the tribe of your father, that they may be joined with you and serve you, while you and your sons with you are before the tent of the testimony.

And they shall thus attend to your obligation, and the obligation of all the tent, but they shall not come near to the furnishings of the sanctuary and the altar, lest both they and you die. And they shall be joined with you and attend to the obligations of the tent of meeting for all the service of the tent. But an outsider may not come near you. So you shall attend to the obligations of the sanctuary and the obligations of the altar that there may no longer be wrath on the sons of Israel.

And behold, I myself have taken your fellow Levites from among the sons of Israel. They are a gift to you dedicated to the Lord to perform the service for the tent of meeting. But you and your sons with you shall attend to your priesthood for everything concerning the altar and inside the veil. And you are to perform service. I am giving you the priesthood as a bestowed service. But the outsider who comes near shall be put to death.

Then the Lord spoke to Aaron. Now behold, I myself have given you charge of my offerings. Even all the holy gifts of the sons of Israel. I have given them to you as a portion and to your sons as a perpetual allotment. Thus shall be yours from the most holy gifts reserved from the fire. Every offering of theirs, even every grain offering, and every sin offering, and every guilt offering which they shall render to me shall be most holy for you and for your sons.

As the most holy gifts, you shall eat it. Every male shall eat it, it shall be holy to you. This also is yours, the offering of their gift, even all the wave offerings of the sons of Israel. I have given them to you and to your sons and daughters with you as a perpetual allotment. Every one of your household who is clean may eat it. All the best of the fresh oil and all the best of the fresh wine and of the grain.

The first fruits of those which they give to the Lord, I give them to you. The first ripe fruits of all that is in their land which they bring to the Lord shall be yours. Every one of your household who is clean may eat it. Every devoted thing in Israel shall be yours. Every first issue of the womb of all flesh, whether man or animal, which they offer to the Lord, shall be yours. Nevertheless, the firstborn of man, you shall surely redeem.

And the firstborn of unclean animals, you shall redeem. And as to their redemption price, from a month old, you shall redeem them by your valuation. Five shekels in silver according to the shekel of the sanctuary, which is 20 gerahs. But the firstborn of an ox or the firstborn of a sheep or the firstborn of a goat, you shall not redeem. They are holy. You shall sprinkle their blood on the altar and shall offer up their fat in smoke as an offering by fire for a soothing aroma to the Lord.

And their meat shall be yours. It shall be yours like the breast of a wave offering and like the right thigh. All the offerings of the holy gifts which the sons of Israel offered to the Lord, I have given to you and your sons and your daughters with you as a perpetual allotment. It is an everlasting covenant of salt before the Lord to you and your descendants with you. Then the Lord said to Aaron, “You shall have no inheritance in their land, nor own any portion among them.

I am your portion and your inheritance among the sons of Israel. And to the sons of Levi, behold, I have given all the tithe in Israel for an inheritance in return for their service which they perform the service of the tent of meeting. And the sons of Israel shall not come near the tent of meeting again, lest they bear sin and die. Only the Levites shall perform the service of the tent of meeting, and they shall bear their iniquity.

It shall be a perpetual statute throughout your generations, and among the sons of Israel they shall have no inheritance. For the tithe of the sons of Israel, which they offer as an offering to the Lord, I have given to the Levites for an inheritance. Therefore, I have said concerning them, they shall have no inheritance among the sons of Israel. Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, “Moreover, you shall speak to the Levites and say to them, when you take from the sons of Israel the tithe which I have given you from them for your inheritance, then you shall present an offering from it to the Lord, a tithe of the tithe, and your offering shall be reckoned to you as the grain from the threshing floor or the full produce from the wine vat.

So you shall also present an offering to the Lord from your tithes which you receive from the sons of Israel. And from it you shall give the Lord’s offering to Aaron the priest. Out of all your gifts you shall present every offering due to the Lord from all the best of them, the sacred part from them. And you shall say to them, when you have offered from it the best of it, then the rest shall be reckoned to the Levites as the product of the threshing floor and as the product of the wine vat.

And you may eat it anywhere, you and your households. For it is your compensation in return for your service in the tent of meeting. And you shall bear no sin by reason of it when you have offered the best of it. But you shall not profane the sacred gifts of the sons of Israel, lest you die.”

Let’s pray. Almighty God, we thank you for yourself. We thank you for your instruction in the scriptures. Help us, Father, to understand the Levitical tithe this morning and its application to us today and what you intend to mean by it. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.

This morning’s subject is the Levitical tithe. As I mentioned a couple of weeks ago, we began a study of the tithe two weeks ago today for the primary purpose of getting to that portion of the tithe which is designated as a poor tithe or for the poor, the needy in the land. But I thought before we talked about that specifically it would be good just to go over some very basics of the tithe, the use of the tithe, the Levitical tithe, the rejoicing tithe before we get to the use of the poor tithe.

For that reason, today we’re going to talk about the application of the Levitical tithe. Now remember when we started two weeks ago in the tithe, we made basically three points. One, that the tithe is for today. We talked about the fact that in terms of the Levitical tithe, for instance, it was both preceded and followed by a tithe. The Levitical tithe was not the beginning of the tithing system. And so the ceremonial system which was brought to fruition in Jesus Christ is not to be seen as an abolishment of the tithe itself because it preceded it. And in Hebrews we’re told that it also follows it.

Secondly, the tithe is for today because our basic hermeneutical principle as we approach the scriptures is that if God has issued a standing order in the Old Testament and has not terminated it specifically in the New Testament, it’s still binding on us today. And so because the tithe was instituted and was not terminated in the New Testament, it is still binding on us. I mentioned that because, as you know, many churches hold to a principle that if the Old Testament laws are not repeated in the New Testament, they’re not binding.

I think that’s a denial of the continuity of the scriptures, which is based, of course, upon the continuity of the person of God himself. The second point we made in relationship to the tithe is that the tithe is a covenantal obligation. The tithe is to be seen in the context of covenant making. We talked about the Abrahamic covenant and the tithe in connection with Melchizedek. We talked about Jacob’s covenant where God reinstitutes the covenant with Jacob and how Jacob responded by saying, “I’ll give a tenth of everything I have to God since he’s going to be my covenant God.” And also particularly we talked about the book of Deuteronomy and how the declaration on the part of the believer who was to come forth in the third year, the year of tithing, and say “I’ve offered all my tithes” was in the context of a covenant affirmation.

The book of Deuteronomy is a covenant book, and at that particular point, after following all the stipulations of the covenant, there is an affirmation on the part of the vassal, or the weaker part of the covenant arrangement, that he has indeed kept all the obligations of the covenant. So the tithe is a covenantal obligation and it’s very specifically tied to the covenant and in a way it symbolizes the entire covenant.

And we also talked about the book of Malachi and how there are blessings and cursings in relationship to the tithe and that again is a covenant fact. Walk in obedience to the covenant stipulations by tithing, results in blessing. Walk in disobedience results in cursing.

The third point we made that Sunday was that the tithe belongs to God. And again, in the book of Malachi, God doesn’t say, “You’ve robbed the Levites, you’ve robbed my house.” He says, “You’ve robbed me if you refuse to tithe.” And we talked about the implications of that in terms of sacrilege.

So the tithe is binding upon us today. It’s a covenantal obligation and it’s holy to God. Now, last week we took a break from the study of the tithe for a week and talked about the priesthood of all believers. And it’s interesting to me that at first my plan saw no continuity, and yet there is continuity in these whole series of messages including the one last week at the coast, and many of you weren’t at the coast. So I’ll go over briefly the points we made there in terms of the priesthood of all believers.

We made the basic point number one: the priesthood of all believers is not exclusively a New Testament doctrine. In fact the reference in 1 Peter where he talks about the priesthood of all believers is a direct quotation from the book of Exodus the 19th chapter. So the Old Testament church also was called a priesthood. It was also called a nation, a holy nation of priests, and so the priesthood of all believers is also an Old Testament truth.

The second point we made is that the priesthood of all believers is part of a single calling we have which sees its workings out in three ways: that we’re prophets, priests and kings before God. When we’re priests, so we’re talking about the priesthood of all believers, but we’re also not to isolate that fact. The fact that we are prophets, priests and kings is also before God. It’s one calling as it’s manifested in three different ways.

The idea of prophet of God is one who understands the word of God and applies it to every situation. A priest of God is one who consecrates all things to God and sees them in terms of his ownership and his uses. And the kingship of God speaks of our activity with the rest of creation in terms of exercising those other two callings. So it’s a single calling really manifested in three different offices.

The third point we made is that the office—the single calling of being prophet, priest and king—is in Christ. Jesus Christ is the true prophet, the true priest, and the true king. Everything that we do in terms of those three offices flows out of his office. And so we don’t stand before God on our own merits. We stand before God in and through Jesus Christ, the true prophet, priest and king.

The fourth point we made is that all believers participate in those offices of Christ. Now, a very important point that we need to make is that this does not negate special office. Just because all believers are priests does not mean that there are not special offices of elder and deacon in the church. In fact, special office establishes the priesthood of all believers. It doesn’t negate it.

This is important to understand. The reason is this: God establishes order in the church. He establishes a particular people, set apart as a special office—elders and deacons—and through their teaching and their leadership they establish the priesthood of all believers throughout the congregation. In other words, if there isn’t a special office of elder and deacon, you won’t have a very healthy priesthood of all believers.

Let me illustrate this in terms of our own families. All of us should be prophets in our own families. We should understand God’s word and apply it to our family life. We should be priests in our families, we should consecrate our families to God and all that we do in our families to God. We should be kings in our families in terms of exercising dominion as Christ would have us exercise it in our families.

But all three of those functions, those three offices of prophet, priest and king, are to be seen in the context of the vocational calling. Our vocational calling—that is, our day-to-day work, whether we’re a doctor or a teacher or a mechanic or a farmer or whatever—that vocational calling is the arena in which we’re to exercise the callings of being prophet, priest and king. Let me explain that in terms of being a priest.

We’re priests in our vocational calling in the sense that everything we do in our vocational calling is to be done for the glory of God. We’re to be, as it were, setting apart, dedicating everything that we do to God. In that way, a mechanic who fixes a car might do it unto the glory of God. A doctor who tends to a patient does it unto the glory of God. A teacher who teaches children does it unto the glory of God. An engineer who designs a bridge does it unto the glory of God.

And I remember at the Oregon Graduate Center when we built our first building at the Science Park, there was a dedication to the building and I don’t remember what they dedicated it for—scientific purposes or something. And that’s okay. But I talked to Dr. Carlson, the president of the Science Park about that afterwards and I said it’d be great when this country gets to the point where we’ll be dedicating buildings again for the purpose of God.

And I think he understood that. I’m not sure, but I think he understood that. But anyway, that’s what should be. So we’re priests in terms of our vocational calling. We’re also kings in terms of our vocational calling. We’re to see how that vocational calling results in the exercise of dominion of the King of Kings, Jesus Christ, over every area of life. So all those three functions of the one calling should be exercised in our vocational calling as well as in all of our lives.

The second point of application meant that the idea that the priesthood of all believers is not a denial of special office means that we should recognize the functions we have, for instance in our families, or again in our workplace. But for instance, in terms of our family, we the heads of households have a particular function or a calling in the family. That doesn’t mean that calling or function is the denial of the priesthood of the wife or the children or anything else.

It means there’s a specialization of function going on. And so as heads of household, the men have much greater responsibility to exercise that calling in obedience to God’s word and that specialized calling, or specialized function. And so men should help their children understand again these three areas. The word of God and how it applies to their life. As priests, they should help their children understand the consecration of life to God and as kings, they should help their children to understand the dominion calling of Jesus Christ.

The third point we made is that there is maturation in office throughout the Old to New Testament. In other words, because we’re all declared priests now does not mean that there’s not a maturation process whereby we become better priests, better prophets, and better kings. That’s to be seen as normative. Our children grow up in the faith. They grow up to the point where they’ll exercise special office in their households as being a mother and father, head of the household, and teaching their children those things also.

And so it is that men, for instance in this church, have a responsibility in terms of maturation in the faith to reach for the special office of elder. All men should aspire to that office, or aspire to the qualities of that office, particularly. So maturation in office is normative. That’s an important point because in some denominations there are restrictions placed upon eldership that are really not necessarily biblical in origin.

They’re more having to do with credentials as opposed to the ability to function in the office, and that can tend to set up a class distinction between the eldership and the laity, as it were, that is unbiblical and can breed a lot of discontent. So this should be seen as a maturation toward special office.

The fourth point we made is that the cornerstone of the doctrine of the priesthood of all believers is in Jesus Christ and his law. That’s the only way we can understand the consecration of all things to God is as he reveals it in his law.

Now, these last two Sundays talking about the tithe and then talking about the priesthood of all believers and its implications are sort of combined this week in what we’re going to talk about in terms of the Levitical tithe. We’ll get more into that a little bit later. But basically, I suppose at this point, if you’re at this point you have become convinced of the necessity to tithe, it’s almost as if you’ve been living in a house owned by a stranger and all of a sudden you realize it’s owned by somebody else and he’s wanted to collect rent all this time and he knows that you haven’t been paying him rent and he’ll, you know, curse you for not paying it. So you must be wanting, I’m sure, at this point to say, “What do I do with my tithe? What do I do? How do I get rid of this 10% that belongs to God?”

And so we’re going to talk a little bit about the Levitical function today. So we’ll talk three basic points. First, that God’s tithe was normatively in the Old Testament to be used for the support of Levites and priests. The second point is that God’s tithe normatively in the New Testament is to be used to support the elders of the church. And the third point has to do with an application of the doctrine of the tithe and the Levitical and elder position in terms of piety.

First point: God’s tithe is normally to be used for the support of Levites and priests. That’s of course what we read about this morning in Numbers chapter 18. We read in Numbers 18 the institution of the ceremonial tithe. I’ll call it the ceremonial tithe because it has to do with the ceremonial function of the Levites and the priests and that whole order. The institution of the ceremonial tithe gave it to the Levites. And that’s what, as I say, we just read that this morning in Numbers.

Now, it’s important to recognize the flow of what’s going on in the teaching of the tithe. Two weeks ago, I made reference to a whole bunch of chapters in the Bible—maybe five, ten or twelve of them—that have to do with the tithe. And if you study all those chapters out, you’re reading just about everything there is in the scriptures about the tithe using the term “tithe” specifically. And several of those are in the book of Deuteronomy.

And we’re going to talk about some of those passages next week. And then three weeks after that, in between those two messages on the rejoicing tithe and poor tithe, there will be two other pastors visiting with us who’ll be preaching in the morning service, one of them being Ray Sutton. But in any event, the tithe instructions in the book of Deuteronomy in the 12th and 14th chapters follow the institution of the tithe in the book of Numbers.

The institution of the tithe in the passage we read in Numbers this morning gives the basic operating principle of what the tithes be used for in the nation of Israel. Okay. In Deuteronomy, there’s a development of that as they’re about to enter the promised land and they’re going to go from being a nation all compressed together with a tabernacle into a land where they’ll be dispersed and yet still have a central temple.

And so when you read Deuteronomy 12:14, as you study those passages relating to the tithe out in your family devotional time or in your own private study, look for that flow, as it were. We won’t see in Deuteronomy a basic change of what’s occurring in Numbers. What we see in Deuteronomy is instructions regarding the specific distribution of the tithe in the particular setting of being in a land and having a dispersed population and yet having a central temple.

Okay, so Numbers underlies Deuteronomy in the historical flow of the Pentateuch. So Numbers clearly establishes that the tithe belongs to the Levites. Now this is interesting to me as I was thinking through this because the Levites are in a sense a tithe of the nation of Israel. The Levites in Numbers 3 we’ll read about the institution of the Levites themselves and their special office. In Numbers 3, verses 11 through 13, we read the following:

“Again, the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ‘Now behold, I have taken the Levites from among the sons of Israel instead of every firstborn, the first issue of the womb among the sons of Israel. So the Levites shall be mine, for all the firstborn are mine. On the day that I struck down all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, I sanctified to myself all the firstborn in Israel from man to beast. They shall be mine. I am the Lord.’”

The Levites were the firstborn, or substituted for the firstborn of the nation of Israel. And we talked two weeks ago with the relationship of the tithe to first fruits. And so there is a relationship there. And so the Levites are to be seen as the first fruits, as it were, a tithe, the symbolic tithe of the whole nation of Israel. They’re set aside to God. What are they set aside to do? Well, first of all, let’s look at how that actually worked itself out.

It’s rather interesting. In verses 45 and 46, the Lord speaks to Moses saying, “Take the Levites instead of all the firstborn among the sons of Israel and the cattle of the Levites, and the Levites shall be mine. I am the Lord. And for the ransom of the 273 of the firstborn of the sons of Israel, who are in excess beyond the Levites, you shall take five shekels a piece per head you shall take them in terms of the shekel of the sanctuary. The shekel is 20 gerahs.”

God actually had him count, or take the census of, all the firstborn and then he had them count the Levites and the Levites were 273 short. There were not quite enough of them. And so the other 273 had to be redeemed through the payment of this redemption tax here, the shekels. And so even what I’m saying is God is a God of details. It’s important to understand the relationship of the Levites to the firstborn.

It wasn’t just sort of a metaphorical symbol. It was actual to the extent that if there weren’t enough Levites, then we had to have a payment or redemption of the rest of the firstborn and some other mechanism. 273, not too many out of a nation of 600,000 families at that time. So the Levites are sort of a tithe, as it were, of the nation of Israel itself. And so when they, when God sets up the Levitical order and the Aaronic priesthood and the tabernacle, there’s provision for the tabernacle. He says, “The people that I’ve set apart for myself, those firstborn, as it were, are going to receive the tithe of your produce, the first part of your produce of your ground.”

So there’s a correlation there between there being set apart for a holy work to God and then also the first part symbolizing all the produce of the people is set apart for those people that symbolize all the people. There’s a relationship there. And as we said, the practice of Deuteronomy will do nothing to alter the basic pattern established in this passage in Numbers that we read this morning.

Numbers 18 refers rather to the instrument of distribution. Not only do we have the clear instruction in the book of Numbers and then its application in Deuteronomy to show that the tithe belongs to the Levitical order, we also have the historical record demonstrating the Levitical use of the tithe. And I’ll just mention three briefly—three periods of restoration in the Old Testament that are talked about in the Old Testament.

The first period is the time of Hezekiah. That’s found in 2 Chronicles 29. And Hezekiah was of course a very good king. He wanted to do what was right in the sight of God. And we had a reconstruction period, as it were, with King Hezekiah. And Hezekiah establishes—the first thing he does in the first year is he gathers the Levites and the priests together to him in the first month of the first year of Hezekiah’s reign. He says, “It is good in my sight to make a covenant again and recommit ourselves to God the same way that Nehemiah did.”

Remember, so he gathers the Levites and the priests. It’s important here to say that the way he begins to reconstruct the nation is by reinstituting an understanding of Levitical and priesthood, the priesthood order. So the Levites are very important here. He then reestablishes worship. In chapter 30, he has a tremendous Passover feast that’s kept. And then in chapter 31, verse 4, there’s a very interesting verse. In 2 Chronicles 31:4, he reinstitutes the tithe for the Levites.

Hezekiah says, or it says about Hezekiah in 2 Chronicles 31:4, “Also he commanded the people who lived in Jerusalem to give the portion due to the priests and the Levites that they might devote themselves to the law of the Lord.”

So the historical record here in terms of Hezekiah was he reinstituted the importance of giving the what they were due—the tithe in the case of the Levites, the first fruits in the case of the priests—to reinstitute the tithes that the Levites may devote themselves to the word of God. Now there’s not mentioned there in that particular use of the tithe, for instance, about either rejoicing or about the poor. The important thing about the tithe at that point is to reinstitute the Levitical order again.

In the time of Josiah in 2 Chronicles 35 we see the same basic thing occurring. We talked about Josiah several times in the last couple years in this church. I think a lot of us have found ourselves in the position of Josiah—when during the reign of Josiah the book of the law is found again and Josiah reads the book of the law and weeps and realizes that God’s wrath’s going to come upon the nation because they hadn’t been following the law of God.

And that’s I think what a lot of us have gone through in terms of our understanding of the importance of God’s scripture and God’s law and its application today. Well, anyway, one of the things specifically that Josiah does—again in chapter 35 of 2 Chronicles, verse 3—says that Josiah also said to the Levites who taught all Israel and who were holy to the Lord, “Put the holy ark in the house which Solomon, the son of David, king of Israel, built. It will be a burden on your shoulders no longer. Now serve the Lord your God and his people Israel.”

So he references specifically that the Levitical structure was a group of people that were to teach all Israel and they were holy to the Lord. So again, the Levitical order’s primary function—Josiah points out—is this teaching function. And Josiah also rebuilt the temple. The temple was one of the first things he did in his reign, and that was how the book of the law was found as they were clearing away some of the rubble.

So in terms of the historical use of the important historical importance of the Levitical structure and reconstruction in the days of Josiah, also it is extremely important as in the days of Hezekiah. And then of course in Nehemiah 10, which we’ve read several times in the last few weeks, we see the same thing going on in the reconstruction of the time of Nehemiah, the retaking of the covenant. In chapter 10, verses 37-39, we see “we will also bring the first of our dough, our contributions, the fruit of every tree, the new wine and the oil to the priests at the chambers of the house of our God and the tithe of our ground to the Levites.

For the Levites are they who received the tithes in all the rural towns.” And then he goes on to talk about what the Levites do with that. At that time there was still a central sanctuary and the Levites would take that tithe back and deposit it in the temple. We’ll talk more about the distribution of the tithe by the Levites next week in terms of the rejoicing tithe. But it’s important to note here that as part of the retaking of the covenant that occurs in Nehemiah is a renewed emphasis upon the tithe and the proper use of the tithe to support the Levitical order.

And so in Nehemiah 12:44, we see this being worked out: “On that day, men were also appointed over the chambers for the stores, the contributions, the first fruits, and the tithes to gather into them from the fields of the cities the portions required by the law for the priests and Levites. For Judah rejoiced for the priests and Levites who served.”

And then in Nehemiah 13:10-14, this didn’t occur right away. “I also discovered when Nehemiah comes back to the land now after being gone for a while, I also discovered that the portions of the Levites had not been given them. So that the Levites and the singers who performed the service had gone away, each to his own field. So I reprimanded the officials and said, ‘Why is the house of God forsaken?’ Then I gathered them together and restored them to their posts. All Judah then brought the tithes of the grain, wine, and oil into the storehouses.

And in charge of the storehouses, I appointed Shelemiah the priest, and Zadok the scribe, and Pedaiah of the Levites. And in addition to them was Hanan, the son of Zaccur, the son of Mattaniah, for they were considered reliable and their task was to distribute to their kinsmen. Then Nehemiah says, ‘Remember me, O Lord, for what I’ve done.’”

So here we have a specific example also in the time of the reconstruction during Nehemiah’s time. One of the important things they did upon retaking the covenant with God was to establish again the house of the Lord, to establish the tithe again and encourage the people and exhort the people to tithe for the purpose that the Levites might perform their function, the priests might perform their function, and again the Levitical function is seen to be teaching them.

So in all three of these historical examples we see the Levites were the prime recipients of the tithe for the purpose of setting them apart to do their work which God had called them to do—which was to devote themselves to the word of God, to study it and then teach it to all of Israel.

It’s interesting in this regard, by the way, before we leave these three historical occurrences that in all three historical occurrences we’re talking about—Hezekiah, Josiah, and Nehemiah—there’s a retaking of the covenant. Hezekiah says it is right, I see it is right in our eyes to establish this covenant with God again. And Josiah has the people retake a covenant, go through a formalized process. Nehemiah, the covenant is reestablished, and there’s a signing of a covenant document between the people and God again.

And the Levites there, by the way, sign as representative of all the people as well as do the leaders and the priests. Three groups signed the covenant in Nehemiah. The point I’m trying to stress is that a renewed understanding of the necessity to reconstruct in their day and age, to repent from the sins of their past, to move toward a position of being prophets, priests, and kings under God again—that’s accompanied by a retaking of the covenant and by an actual covenantal arrangement between the people and their God.

It’s important to follow that through in our day. And that’s one reason why we name our church Reformation Covenant Church. The doctrine of the covenant has to be restored in our land before we can have true reconstruction. And that’s why we also urge people eventually to—we think it is proper that as people approach God again in terms of reconstruction, that they covenant themselves into a church body somewhere that’s teaching the word of God.

Retaking the covenant is a vital part of the reconstruction that occurred in those historical occurrences. And so today for ourselves as well.

So under the ceremonial system, the tithe was specifically designated in Numbers for the Levites. The tithe in Deuteronomy is not to be seen as detracting from the use of it for the Levites particularly. It has to do with distribution method. We’ll talk about that more in the next couple of talks on the tithe.

And third, the historical record shows the Levites were to receive the tithe for the purpose of setting them apart so that they might devote themselves to the word of God and to teaching the word of God to all of Israel.

First point. Second point: God’s tithe normally today is to be used to support the elders of the church. We can see this first that the institution of New Testament eldership carries with it the concept of a supported office. In 1 Timothy 5, verse 17, a passage probably familiar to most of us: “Let the elders who rule well be considered worthy of double honor, especially those who work hard at teaching and preaching.”

And the word “honor” there specifically refers to money. That’s what he’s talking about. He said that the guy who labors hard in teaching and preaching and ruling well should get double money. Well, this isn’t the idea that some elders are supported, some aren’t, because 2 times 0 is still zero. So all elders from this institution of the office of elder in the New Testament are seen to be a supported office. They all receive some sort of compensation for their work.

Which is the second point: that the function of the eldership in the New Testament church involves work and hence should be supported and also parallels the Levitical structure and hence should be supported from the application of Levitical tithe.

First, in relationship to the office of elder being worked and therefore being compensable—I guess is a good word for that—in 1 Corinthians 9:9, that’s exactly what Paul makes in relationship to himself and to those who labor in the word of God. Paul makes this very point. “It is written in the law of Moses, ‘You shall not muzzle the ox while he is threshing.’ God is not concerned about oxen, is he? Or is he speaking altogether for our sake? Yes, for our sake it was written.

Because the plowman ought to plow in hope and the thresher to thresh in hope of sharing the crops. If he sowed spiritual things in you, is it too much if we should reap material things from you?”

And so Paul is saying those who labor in the word and there’s an implication here that laboring in the word will produce more productive lives on the part of those people that you’re ministering to should share the increase of productivity that those people experience as a result of understanding the law of God and applying it in their lives.

You see what I’m saying there? The Levite in the Old Testament, the elder of the New Testament are responsible to teach the word of God to people. The word of God in obedience to it should result in prosperity. The elder here, or the one who labors in the word that Paul’s talking about in 1 Corinthians 9, has a privilege of sharing in that material increase that will occur to those people who understand the word of God better and apply it to their lives.

Now, this is not—this also is not a New Testament truth exclusively. Last week, we read Isaiah 61 about the establishment of the priesthood of all believers in both the Old and New Testaments. And in Isaiah 61, verse 6, it says, “But you will be called the priests of the Lord. You will be spoken of as ministers of our God. You will eat the wealth of nations and in their riches you will boast.”

Now, some people interpret this passage as sort of a class distinction—that we’re going to rule over the pagans and we’re going to take all their stuff, and that’s that. That’s not what’s being talked about here. What’s being talked about here is the millennial reign of Jesus Christ through his church. And what he’s saying is that the church will grow up and there will be people in the church who will minister in terms of spiritual things the way Paul was doing. And you will reap then material things and reward for the spiritual things that you’ve sowed in the lives of those people.

You see that? That’s the same principle that Paul’s talking about here. If you minister, as it were, to people and teach them the word of God and the necessity for obeying it, then you will reap from their blessings as well. I think that’s the proper interpretation of that passage.

Our Lord himself in Matthew 10:10 makes the same basic point in terms of work having its resultant compensation. Matthew 10:10—when Christ is sending out the 12 disciples he says, “Don’t take a bag for your journey or even two tunics or sandals or a staff for the worker is worthy of his support.”

So I’m going to send you out as workers and those who work in the ministry of the proclamation of the word of God, its application to all of life. He says those workers are worthy of support. And so the fact that you work hard as an elder—to the extent that you work hard—means that there should be reward for it.

Now that also carries with the implication of course that if the elder doesn’t work, he’s not worthy of support. For somebody doesn’t want to work, he doesn’t eat. It’s true of elders as well. So the elder, the eldership normally would receive the tithe because he’s compensated for his work and specifically he’s compensated from the tithe because his function parallels that Levitical order.

We talked a little bit about Hezekiah and what the Levites were doing and everything in terms of by historical application. But in Deuteronomy 33 there’s a clear teaching in what the Levites were to do. Deuteronomy 33—the blessing of Moses, the man of God, upon the sons of Israel. He says this concerning the Levites:

“And of Levi, he said, ‘Let your Thummim and your Urim belong to your godly man, whom you did prove at Massah, with whom you did contend at the waters of Meribah, who said of his father and his mother, “I did not consider them,” and he did not acknowledge his brothers, nor did he regard his own sons, for they observed your word and kept your covenant. They shall teach your ordinances to Jacob and your law to Israel. They shall put incense before you, and whole burnt offerings on your altar. O Lord, bless his substance and accept the work of his hands. Shatter the loins of those who rise up against him and those who hate him so that they may not rise again.’”

So he says here, in the blessing of Moses, that the nation of Levi, the Levites themselves will specifically carry out the function of teaching the ordinances of God to Jacob and teaching his law to Israel. That is the function of the Levites in the Old Testament.

I think an excellent description of that office of Levite in the Old Testament is found in “Tithing and Dominion,” which is an important book for all of us to have and read. In “Tithing and Dominion,” Mr. Rushdoony says the following: “Every man has a common law based upon a common faith in the God of scripture. Thus, the various elements of society are brought together into a harmony of interest through obedience to the law or word of God. Every member of society has a common purpose and goal since every member of society has a common law and faith. This latter condition was the function of the Levites. This tribe was to be the agency by which this one law and one faith could be impressed upon the many tribes of the theocracy. This is why they had no inheritance in the land. Their inheritance and their part was God. Which means, of course, that their inheritance was the law or word of God.

For the Levites, the law of God was their capital and inheritance, just as the land was the capital and inheritance of other tribes. Just as the other tribes were to develop their lands, so were the Levites to further the word of God. Their purpose then was to expound the law of God in every area of life and throughout all Israel to teach it and its thought. By so doing, they would establish a common law and faith among all members and all elements of society.”

That was the function of the Levites. I provided that and I talked about it before in terms of a social glue—the glue that binds society together being the word of God, teaching the application of the word of God throughout the nation of Israel. That was the function of the Levitical order. And so in 2 Chronicles, Hezekiah said to reestablish the tithe, give the Levites their portion that they might devote themselves to the law of God.

It wasn’t for the purpose of understanding the law of God and then applying it themselves personally. It was for the purpose of understanding the law of God, applying it personally, but teaching the rest of Israel how to apply it to themselves as well.

We see the same thing to be true then of the eldership, beginning with the apostles in the New Testament. In Acts 6, verses 1-4: “Now at this time while the disciples were increasing in number a complaint arose on the part of the Hellenistic Jews against the native Hebrews because their widows were being overlooked in the daily serving of food. And the 12 summoned the congregation of the disciples and said, ‘It is not desirable for us to neglect the word of God in order to serve tables. But select from among you brethren seven men of good reputation, full of the spirit and of wisdom whom we may put in charge of this task. But we will devote ourselves to prayers and to the ministry of the word.’”

Here you have a special office of deacon being established that the elders, or the apostles at this time, could devote themselves again to the word of God. It was the function of the eldership in the New Testament and it’s the function of the eldership today to devote themselves to the study of God’s scriptures and to the teaching of those scriptures throughout the congregation of Israel, or throughout the congregation of the new church, the new Israel.

So that is the function of the eldership in the New Testament. And so because of that also, their function paralleling the Levitical function, they should be recipients of the tithe—the primary recipients of the tithe. That is the purpose of the tithe: to support that class who would study the word of God, be devoted to it and apply it.

Now, this is really pretty elementary stuff. But if we stopped at this point with saying that the tithe is for today, the tithe supported Levites in the Old Testament, the tithe supports elders in the New Testament—if we stop there, if we stop with that use of the tithe and that use of the Levites, it would be wrong because it’s limited.

As I was thinking through this talk and the last couple of talks, I recognized how last week’s message fit in very well because we talked last week about the priesthood of all believers. And as I said earlier, that special office does not mitigate against the priesthood of all believers. Rather, it establishes it.

God establishes the priesthood of all believers by taking a particular people, holy to himself—Levites in the Old Testament—having them teach the children of Israel that they might be holy in everything that they do. Okay? They become priests. They are priests before God because they understand the word of God and the necessity to consecrate everything in light of the word of God. They understand those things because they have a special office in the land to teach them the law of God that they might do that. Okay?

So special office signifies, as it were, the entire congregation. Now, this is not new or novel either, because after all, the tithe itself is not a simple declaration that God owns 10% of what we have. The tithe is a declaration that God owns everything that we have. And so we give 10% of it to him as a teaching device from God that he owns everything and as an affirmation on our part that everything that we have and are belongs to him.

That’s what the tithe is. It’s not to be seen as “you’ve done your obligation by giving 10% and the rest is yours.” All belongs to God. He says, “I own the cattle on a thousand hills. I give everything necessary to provide well and so it’s all mine.”

Now, it’s funny because I was thinking of the relationship of these three things and also the Sabbath as well. We talked this—we read this morning out of Isaiah about proper use of the Sabbath. The Sabbath is the same thing. The Sabbath is a sign or a teaching device by God that he owns all the calendar. All of our time is God’s. And so he says, “One day out of seven consecrated to me, make it holy, that you understand the rest of the week also is holy or consecrated to me.” Okay.

So I was thinking they were in relationship with these things. And I was also reading “Tithing and Dominion.” And there was a good quote in here of exactly the opposite of what’s true. And sometimes it’s good to see a negative example before you can understand the positive example. Rushdoony quotes in this from a guy named Peter Verhove, writing in an article on tithing in a hermeneutical consideration. Anyway, [transcript ends]