- Gen 28:22, Offering a tithe to the Lord?
- and of all that you shall give me I will surely give the tenth to you.
- When we receive more than common mercy from God, we should abound in gratitude to him. The tenth is a fit proportion to be devoted to God (Matthew Henry). The case of Jacob affords another proof that the practice of voluntary tithing was known and observed antecedent to the tune of Moses (Pulpit).
- The institution of tithe-giving to temples and the royal court is well attested throughout the ancient Near East. Abraham had earlier paid a tithe of the spoils of war to Mel-chizedek, the priest-king of Salem (Gen 14:20). Thus, Israelite offering tithe was believed to go back to pre-Mosaic times (Levi 27:30-33; Cambridge).
- Jacob, now empty-handed, vows to pay a tithe to God of all his future possessions on his return. Normally one offers the tithe only to a king or to a sanctuary with an established clergy (Sarna).
- Jesus does not blame the Pharisees’ exactness in tithing mint, anise, rue, cummin, and all manner of herbs; but their neglecting the weightier matters of the law, faith and love to God, judgment and mercy. The Levites having no inheritance: God ordained tithes for their maintenance; of which also the poor were to have a share (Levi 27:30 Num 18:24. Christ acknowledges that the Pharisees were exact in their paying tithes; but he blames them. For they neglect the weightier things of the law: faith in God, and sincere and honest dealings with men.
