10 and now, behold, I have brought the firstfruits of the land which you, O Lord, have given me.’ “Then you shall set it before the Lord your God, and worship before the Lord your God.
11 So ayou shall rejoice in every good thing which the Lord your God has given to you and your house, you and the Levite and the stranger who is among you.
12 “When you have finished laying aside all the atithe of your increase in the third year—bthe year of tithing—and have given it to the Levite, the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow, so that they may eat within your gates and be filled,
13 then you shall say before the Lord your God: ‘I have removed the1 holy tithe from my house, and also have given them to the Levite, the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow, according to all Your commandments which You have commanded me; I have not transgressed Your commandments, anor have I forgotten them.
14aI have not eaten any of it when in mourning, nor have I removed any of it2 for an unclean use, nor given any of it for the dead. I have obeyed the voice of the Lord my God, and have done according to all that You have commanded me.
15aLook down from Your holy habitation, from heaven, and bless Your people Israel and the land which You have given us, just as You swore to our fathers, b“a land flowing with milk and honey.” ’
A Special People of God
16 “This day the Lord your God commands you to observe these statutes and judgments; therefore you shall be careful to observe them with all your heart and with all your soul.
17 Today you have aproclaimed the Lord to be your God, and that you will walk in His ways and keep His statutes, His commandments, and His judgments, and that you will bobey His voice.
In ancient Israel, God instructed His people to set aside a special tithe to assist those in need: orphans, widows, strangers, and Levites. Today, God's church meets its Christian duty toward its needy brethren similarly, through a third tithe fund. God's apostles teach that Christians have an obligation to help others who are truly in need. The commandments of God concerning the responsibility of those more blessed to help those truly in need continue into the New Testament era.
The third tithe is an additional tithe, entirely separate from the first tithe that supports God's work of preaching the gospel and the second tithe that enables church members to attend the feasts. Like first tithe, second tithe is paid yearly. Just as the law of canceling debts is based on a cycle of seven years, the third tithe is paid only on the increase earned during the third and sixth years of a seven-year cycle. Since Christians are not spiritual Israelites (Galatians 3:29; 6:16) until converted and baptized, they do not save this third tithe until the third year after their baptism. Most members of the church count their third-tithe years from either the Passover or the Feast of Tabernacles closer to the date of their baptism.
