Myth or Truth? The Tithe was Never Income

This is a great topic that has been said by many before. So I write this with thankfulness and kindness. There are many people who do not believe in the 10% tithe, and they say things like,

“Giving 10% has nothing to do with your income and never did—that it was only for the farmers in agriculture, and not for everyone.”

For me I would like to respond with this question:

What percentage of people in the Old Testament were farmers or involved in agriculture?

According to the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History, in the 1860s, 50% of people were in agriculture.

Additionally, according to the USDA, “The history of collecting data on U.S. agriculture dates back at least as far as President George Washington, who kept meticulous statistical records describing his own and other farms. The 1790 census counted some 4 million Americans, 9 out of 10 of whom lived on farms.” if this is how it was during the 1700s how much more was it during biblical times? 

In 2022, 10.4% of the U.S. workforce was employed in agriculture and related industries, according to the USDA Economic Research Service. So we are now leaving in a completely opposite world.. 

Why didn’t God tell them to give money? It was easier for them to give a tenth of their animals/food. Think about what they had to do: they had to go out, round up the animals, and then sell them. Afterward, they would take the money and give it to the priest and the Levites. God skipped the middleman. That’s why, later in scripture, we see that the priest was allowed to take the animals and sell them for money.

Just think about the difficulty of the life that those who lived in a agricultural world faced. They had no smart phones, they had no Wi-Fi, they had no electricity bill. They had no water bill. Yeah today we complain that we cannot give 10%.. I wonder how those in the agricultural world will hear our sympathies. Is giving 10% manipulation… If it is manipulation, then God was a manipulator and a con artist in the Old Covenant.

We are under the law or command to give 10% of our income to the local church. If you want to give 10% you give it in your heart because you feel led to do that. I made of all the evil things that people do in this world, I don’t believe that we’re going to get to heaven and be like oops I gave 10% when I really didn’t have to… My encouragement to you is this, give something to your local church every paycheck freely and give sacrificially.