Why did biblical people give a tenth instead of a different portion?
Quick Answer
The speaker says he found no definitive biblical explanation for why the portion was one-tenth rather than another fraction.
Key Scriptures
Detailed Biblical Study
He asks why a fifth, quarter, or half was not used and deliberately leaves the question unresolved. The later group discussion offers a Hebrew-letter explanation, but he does not establish it as the Teaching’s conclusion. This entry summarizes the speaker’s explanation.
Related Teaching
Tithing – You Must Test What the Churches Have Taught You
This Teaching calls believers to test inherited church teachings about tithing against Scripture. Beginning with Abraham’s gift to Melchizedek and Jacob’s vow, the speaker traces the tenth before Sinai and then examines the defined agricultural and livestock tithe, its holiness to Yahovah, and its distribution to the Levites under the temple system. He describes covenant stewardship as sustaining worship, supporting those without a land inheritance, and helping vulnerable people. The Teaching distinguishes the mandatory, land- and Levitical-based tithe from voluntary gifts supporting gospel workers, reading Yeshua’s words and Paul’s letters against the backdrop of a functioning first-century temple. The speaker concludes that Christians cannot replicate the Torah’s prescribed tithe without the land, temple, and Levitical system, but still have a responsibility to give freely, support faithful ministry, meet needs, and handle what belongs to Yahovah honorably. The later Q&A revisits Malachi 3, ill-gotten donations, and the difference between covenant changes and the temple’s destruction.