THE LEVITES

Levite - A descendant of the tribe of Levi.

The Levitical order consisted of all the descendants of Levi's three sons, and Aaron and
his decendents constituted the priestly order.
Numbers 3:11-13 (NIV):
11 The LORD also said to Moses,
12 "I have taken the Levites from among the Israelites in place of the first male offspring
of every Israelite woman. The Levites are mine,
13 for all the firstborn are mine. When I struck down all the firstborn in Egypt, I set apart
for myself every firstborn in Israel, whether man or animal. They are to be mine. I am the
LORD."
Numbers 4:46-49 (NIV):
46 So Moses, Aaron and the leaders of Israel counted all the Levites by their clans and
families.
47 All the men from thirty to fifty years of age who came to do the work of serving and
carrying the Tent of Meeting
48 numbered 8,580.
49 At the LORD'S command through Moses, each was assigned his work and told what to
carry. Thus they were counted, as the LORD commanded Moses.
Numbers 8:5-8 (NIV):
5 The LORD said to Moses:
6 "Take the Levites from among the other Israelites and make them ceremonially clean.
7 To purify them, do this: Sprinkle the water of cleansing on them; then have them shave
their whole bodies and wash their clothes, and so purify themselves.
Numbers 8:23-26 (NIV):
23 The LORD said to Moses,
24 "This applies to the Levites: Men twenty-five years old or more shall come to take part
in the work at the Tent of Meeting,
25 but at the age of fifty, they must retire from their regular service and work no longer.
26 They may assist their brothers in performing their duties at the Tent of Meeting, but
they themselves must not do the work. This, then, is how you are to assign the
responsibilities of the Levites."
Some say that today's ministers or church workers have taken the place of the Levites
and therefore can receive the tithe. But the scriptures are clear. The Word of God says
that only male Levites could work in the temple, only after they had gone through a
cleansing ritual, and only after they reach the age of 25, and not after they reach the age
of 50.

Numbers 18:1-19 is where The Lord gives to Aaron and his sons and daughters all the
offerings.
Numbers 18:20 (NIV):
20 The LORD said to Aaron, "You will have no inheritance in their land, nor will you have
any share among them; I am your share and your inheritance among the Israelites.

THE LEVITICAL TITHE - ADVANCED

How many times have you heard a preacher say you are required to tithe on the first
tenth of your income? Or, the "firstfruits"? Or that you tithe the best? This is not correct.
Let's review Leviticus 27:30, 32, 33 (NIV):
30 "'A tithe of everything from the land, whether grain from the soil or fruit from the trees,
belongs to the LORD; it is holy to the LORD.
Notice in verse 30 it says a tithe of everything from the land. It doesn't say the first tenth.
A tithe is a tenth. Any tenth.
32 The

entire tithe of the herd and flock-every tenth animal that passes under the
shepherd's rod-will be holy to the LORD.
Notice that verse 32 is specific in that the tithe is the tenth animal, not the first.
33 He

must not pick out the good from the bad or make any substitution.

And notice in verse 33 that you give the tenth whether it be good or bad.
The tithe was the tenth, not the first. The tithe was the tenth whether it be good or bad.
The scriptures are clear. God's tithe was on crops and animals which are assets, not
income, and which came from God's labor, not man's labor. Yet preachers all over the
world are teaching that you tithe on income (not assets), from man's labor (not God's
labor). The scriptures say the tithe is Holy to the Lord. Man's labor (wages) are not Holy
to the Lord.
Again, in God's Word, the biblical tithe was always on the miracles of God, or from the
labor of God, or from God's increase, never from what man had made or earned from his
own labor.
True biblical tithes were always on only crops and animals, only from farms and herds
and flocks, of only Israelites, who only lived in God's Holy land, the boundary of Israel,

only under Old Covenant terms, and the increase could only be gathered from what God
miraculously increased. This definition is fundamental to understanding the doctrine of
tithing in the Word of God.
Let me say it again. The biblical tithe was NEVER on anything that man made or earned
from his own labor. God NEVER required man to give back to Him anything that man,
himself, worked for. The biblical tithe was ALWAYS on items from God's own labor - the
fruits and vegetables and new born animals; miracles, or gifts from God, from God's
labor, NOT man's labor. You'll never understand the concept of God's tithe unless you
fully understand that God was asking for a tenth back of something He gave to man, NOT
something that man made or earned with the help of God. God NEVER asked or required
man to go out and work, and then give to God a tenth of what man made or earned.
Man has taken the scriptures and reversed the concepts. The scriptures say you tithe on
crops and animals which are ASSETS that come from GOD'S LABOR. Man teaches you
tithe on INCOME, which comes from MAN'S LABOR. You will find in the History section
that man changed this basic principle during the second half of the 1800's.
Numbers 18:21 (NIV):
21 I give to the Levites all the tithes in Israel as their inheritance in return for the work
they do while serving at the Tent of Meeting.
The biblical principle here is that the tithe belongs to God, and He gave it to the Levites,
who served at the temple.
The tithing teacher says you pay the first tenth of your gross income to The Lord, and
you bring it to the church. The scripture says you pay a tenth of your crops and every
tenth animal to The Lord, and you take it to the Levites.
Levitical tithes were received by the Levites who were only servants to the priests. And
the Levites in turn gave only one tenth of the tenth they received, to the priests. We read
this in Numbers 18:26, 28. Therefore, the scripture clearly says that the Levites, the
servants to the priests, had the tithe, and they only gave to the priests a tenth of the tithe.
We see this also found in Nehemiah 10:38 (NIV):
38 A priest descended from Aaron is to accompany the Levites when they receive the
tithes, and the Levites are to bring a tenth of the tithes up to the house of our God, to the
storerooms of the treasury.
Nehemiah 10:37 (KJV) reads as follows:
37 And that we should bring the firstfruits of our dough, and our offerings, and the fruit of
all manner of trees, of wine and of oil, unto the priests, to the chambers of the house of
our God; and the tithes of our ground unto the Levites..

In Nehemiah 10:37 we learn that the first-fruits were to be taken to the temple, and the
tithes were to be taken to the Levites. The first-fruits have nothing to do with the tithe.