When I was a young boy, our family was Catholic and we lived our lived according to the teachings of that faith. They believed in various sacraments throughout the journey of each member of the parish, such as baptism, communion, confirmation and more. And while they weren’t strict about tithing 10% of your income, it was encouraged. Later, in 1968, we joined a different church which observed the seventh day sabbath, and we embraced all the teachings of that church, including their insistence that we must tithe. Every member was required to tithe 10% of your gross earnings directly to the church. But there was more. Another 10%, called the Second Tithe, was money that we placed into our own personal account. This money did not go directly to the church. Instead, it was for members to use for expenses associated with various holy days. Often, the holy days required us to travel to another destination, sometimes by plane, and we could use the second tithe to pay for those necessary expenses such as hotels, restaurants, entertainment and yes–it could be used for an offering to the church. But that was our own choice, based on what our heart told us to do.

The ministry would often cite scripture to validate the importance of tithing and how the Bible gave many examples of how people were rewarded and blessed for their generous spirit of giving. We believed these messages and did our best to discipline ourselves to set aside both the first and second tithe each pay period.

Years later, I left that church and for years I began to study what I previously had been taught. To set the stage, I went back to the time of Moses, to whom Yahweh gave The Law, or what we know today as the first five books of the Old Testament. If tithing was practiced then, what form did it take? Did people give money to Moses? Did coins even exist back in the 13th and 14th century B.C.E.?

The short answer is no. Coins, as a form of exchange of value, didn’t yet exist. Transactions relied primarily of barter, supplemented by standardized weight-based systems using metals, grain and other commodities as measures of value. People directly exchanged goods and services such as grain for tools, livestock for labor or oil for clothing. Units of account like the deben in Egypt was a standard weight, typically of copper but also silver and gold. It served as a common denominator for valuing items but it was not a physical coin you carried. Silver and gold were weighed on scales for higher value transactions. The most common “currency” was grain, such as barley or wheat, used in everyday payments, wages and trade.

Coins did not become a method of exchange until around 600 B.C.E., many centuries later.

I began a word search in the Bible for tithe, tithes and tithing to identify what exactly was involved in those tithes. There are many verses that describe tithing but I noticed that each circumstance involved some sort of food, either plant or animal, not as a form of exchange for goods and services. Here are a few verses that reinforce the purpose of tithing.

Lev. 27:30–“And all the tithe of the land, whether of the seed of the land, or of the fruit of the tree, is Yahweh’s: it is holy unto Yahweh. ³¹ And if a man will at all redeem ought of his tithes, he shall add thereto the fifth part thereof. ³² And concerning the tithe of the herd, or of the flock, even of whatsoever passeth under the rod, the tenth shall be holy unto Yahweh. ³³ He shall not search whether it be good or bad, neither shall he change it: and if he change it at all, then both it and the change thereof shall be holy; it shall not be redeemed.”

This specifically includes seed, fruit and animals.

Num. 18:21–“And, behold, I have given the children of Levi all the tenth in Israel for an inheritance, for their service which they serve, even the service of the tabernacle of the congregation. ²² Neither must the children of Israel henceforth come nigh the tabernacle of the congregation, lest they bear sin, and die. ²³ But the Levites shall do the service of the tabernacle of the congregation, and they shall bear their iniquity: it shall be a statute for ever throughout your generations, that among the children of Israel they have no inheritance. ²⁴ But the tithes of the children of Israel, which they offer as an heave offering unto Yahweh, I have given to the Levites to inherit: therefore I have said unto them, Among the children of Israel they shall have no inheritance.”

Since the tribe of Levi had no inheritance (no money), they received the heave offering, consisting of produce and livestock.

Deut. 14:22–“Thou shalt truly tithe all the increase of thy seed, that the field bringeth forth year by year. ²³ And thou shalt eat before Yahweh thy Elohim, in the place which he shall choose to place his name there, the tithe of thy corn, of thy wine, and of thine oil, and the firstlings of thy herds and of thy flocks; that thou mayest learn to fear Yahweh thy Elohim always. ²⁴ And if the way be too long for thee, so that thou art not able to carry it; or if the place be too far from thee, which Yahweh thy Elohim shall choose to set his name there, when Yahweh thy Elohim hath blessed thee: ²⁵ Then shalt thou turn it into money, and bind up the money in thine hand, and shalt go unto the place which Yahweh thy Elohim shall choose: ²⁶ And thou shalt bestow that money for whatsoever thy soul lusteth after, for oxen, or for sheep, or for wine, or for strong drink, or for whatsoever thy soul desireth: and thou shalt eat there before Yahweh thy Elohim, and thou shalt rejoice, thou, and thine household, ²⁷ And the Levite that is within thy gates; thou shalt not forsake him; for he hath no part nor inheritance with thee. ²⁸ At the end of three years thou shalt bring forth all the tithe of thine increase the same year, and shalt lay it up within thy gates: ²⁹ And the Levite, (because he hath no part nor inheritance with thee,) and the stranger, and the fatherless, and the widow, which are within thy gates, shall come, and shall eat and be satisfied; that Yahweh thy Elohim may bless thee in all the work of thine hand which thou doest.”

These tithes included all the yield of your seed and firstlings of herds and flocks. Again, it involved produce and animals. The only reference to money was for those who could not take produce or animals to a distant location. They could convert the value of those physical items to a method of money which was ONLY used for their own benefit.

The general rule from the inception of tithing is that it was used to offer items you grew to Yahweh, either plant or animal. Food was the normal expression of giving.

But in many congregations today, the word tithing has become synonymous with money, encouraging members to pay 10% to the church. When did this switch occur?

There was no sudden change of behavior, switching from agrarian to currency. It happened over many centuries. In the early church between the 1st and 5th centuries, the New Testament does NOT command us to tithe 10% of either income or produce. Yahshua referenced tithing in the context of Jewish law in Matt. 23:23, where he described herbs. Early believers emphasized voluntary, generous offerings to support the ministry. These were described as hospitality, freewill gifts and shared resources rather than a formal tithe system.

In the 6th century Medieval Period, around 567 A.D., the Councils of Tours encouraged or required tithing as an obligation. Non-payment could lead to excommunication in some cases. This was initially often still “in kind” such as produce, livestock and goods, but as economies evolved it shifted toward money or equivalents. With the introduction of Charlemagne in the 8th and 9th centuries, tithing became more institutionalized and sometimes enforced by laws across much of the western world. Churches, clergy and even the poor were subject to what functioned as a sort of tax. As economies grew, the idea of monetary tithing became more practical. Later in the 16th century, the Protestant Reformation retained tithing in many traditions but often made it less legally mandatory, emphasizing it as a voluntary principle or “minimum” for stewardship.

In the modern era, especially the 19th and 20th centuries, it became strongly promoted as 10% of income, to support church operations, missions and buildings. This aligns with cash-based economies where most people earn wages rather than farm. But this practice is more of a modern tradition than adherence to any Biblical instruction. Common pronouncements from the clergy will cite that giving 10% of your income should be lead be the Holy Spirit and should be proportionate with what you’re capable of giving.

In each case where tithing is encouraged or demanded, it is man’s interpretation scripture, not what scripture actually says. The words tithe, tithes and tithing appear a combined total of 40 times in scripture and in 100% of those cases it describes what can be grown, either plant or animal. And even though there was no form of currency when tithing was first mentioned, there was currency in the 1st century A.D. while Yahhsua conducted his ministry. If giving 10% of your money the church was a foundational principle, our Messiah would have made it clear.

The church I now attend discreetly places donation envelopes in the seat back in front of the row you sit in. At no time does anyone in the ministry speak about offerings or donations and yet their growth speaks volumes about the giving spirit within its members. This is much more aligned with how scripture describes giving. It should come from the heart.

Matt. 6:4–“That thine alms may be in secret: and thy Father which seeth in secret himself shall reward thee openly.”