Deuteronomy 26 The third year tithe

seekeroftruth

Well-Known Member
Deuteronomy 26:12 When you have finished setting aside a tenth of all your produce in the third year, the year of the tithe, you shall give it to the Levite, the foreigner, the fatherless and the widow, so that they may eat in your towns and be satisfied. 13 Then say to the Lord your God: “I have removed from my house the sacred portion and have given it to the Levite, the foreigner, the fatherless and the widow, according to all you commanded. I have not turned aside from your commands nor have I forgotten any of them. 14 I have not eaten any of the sacred portion while I was in mourning, nor have I removed any of it while I was unclean, nor have I offered any of it to the dead. I have obeyed the Lord my God; I have done everything you commanded me. 15 Look down from heaven, your holy dwelling place, and bless your people Israel and the land you have given us as you promised on oath to our ancestors, a land flowing with milk and honey.”​

This is from the bibletrack.org site.

This all took place back at the location of the tabernacle. Every third year the tithe was taken and given for the provision of the poor and Levites - probably not taken to the central location of the tabernacle, but to a place designated by each tribe. There was a ritual saying that went with this offering as well which offered a commitment to God and expressed thankfulness for his provisions. Again, notice that this was a mandatory tithe which, in effect, was how the government provided for the needs of their government servants and poor.

For more on this every-third-year tithe, see the notes on Deuteronomy 14:22-29.

This is from the easy English site.

Every third year, they kept a 10th of their crops in the villages. That was to help the poor people. It would help the Levites who did not own any land. The men in Israel had to declare that they had obeyed God’s law about the tithe. They had to take every part of it out of their house. They had to give it to the people who needed it. They would not use it as a part of an offering to dead people. That was a custom of the people in Canaan. Each Israelite man had to obey God. Then he could pray that God would bless his nation and his country. He would declare that he depended on God for everything.

So, I had a hard time figuring out what this "offering to dead people" means. I found this at Biblehub.com.

The reference is obscure; either the custom of contributing to a mourning feast (2 Samuel 3:35, Jeremiah 16:7, Ezekiel 24:17); or that of offering food at the grave as if for consumption by the dead ; or of sacrificing to the spirits of the dead, as is annually done by the Arabs, minshan el mawât, ‘for the sake of the dead,’ as the chief of the ‘Adwan once explained to the present writer.​

Apparently the Canaanites use to feed the dead. I found this information at the Penn Museum site.

Death, and the proper treatment of the dead, were important issues for both Canaanites and Israelites. Appropriate arrangements included activities perpetuating the name of the deceased, offerings of food and other gifts, and the proper stewardship of family land. Upon death, males, at least, seem to have joined the ranks of their ancestors. Ideas regarding the nature of life after death are not well developed in either the Hebrew Bible or in ancient Near Eastern texts. Death was clearly frightening, and the dead were associated with the underworld, but the implications of these connections were not spelled out clearly.​

The most common burials in the Bronze and Iron Age are in family tombs located in natural caves or hewn chambers, approached by a shaft or passageway and closed with a single stone or pile of rubble. These tombs were used as burial vaults for the family over several generations. As each new body was placed in the tomb, previous burials were displaced, creating a jumble of intermixed bones and old offerings on the periphery. Funeral offerings typically included jars containing grain, wine and oil, items of personal apparel and occasionally beds, tables, gameboards and other items of everyday life. These varied offerings point to a belief in the afterlife.​

Now the last passages from the Penn Museum site seem to show them taking some of their food and sharing it with the dead in Canaan.

In our verses today.... Moses is talking to the troops. He is discussing gratitude. He is discussing giving to the poor, widows, orphans and Levites [who owned no land so they could not farm]. Isn't it better to give to those who are living than to lay out food for the dead, who clearly aren't going to come to the dinner table and discuss their day?

:coffee:
 
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