The account of Abraham tithing is found in Genesis 14 and Hebrews 7. Read the entire chapters to get the full account. Here are just the specific verses that mention Abraham tithing:

Genesis 14:18-20 (NKJV)

“Then Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine; he was the priest of God Most High… And he (Abram) gave him a tithe of all.”

Hebrews 7:1-3 (NKJV)

“For this Melchizedek, king of Salem, priest of the Most High God, who met Abraham returning from the slaughter of the kings and blessed him, to whom also Abraham gave a tenth part of all.” (Also read from verse 4-10).

8 Reasons why we can’t dismiss Abraham’s tithe.

1) People try to dismiss Abraham’s tithe in so many ways but we can never get away from the fact that the Bible says that Abraham tithed. This shows us that tithing existed before the Law. It was a very different kind of tithing to the Law but the Bible calls it a tithe. We can try to dismiss Abraham’s tithe as much as we want but we can’t deny the fact that Abraham indeed tithed.

2) People try to say that it wasn’t Abraham’s money that he tithed. Let me ask the question, “Is it okay to just give away money that isn’t yours?” No, you only give away money that belongs to you. If that wasn’t Abraham’s money then he had no right to give it away. When you read around Genesis 14 you see that the money used to belong to some kings but it was taken from them in battle and therefore they no longer owned it. Then Abraham went in battle and got it for himself. It now belonged to him to do whatever he wanted with it.

3) People try to say that Abraham gave the other 90% back to the kings so that means if we follow that sort of tithing then we must give our other 90% away. Well you can do whatever you want with the rest of your money just like Abraham did whatever he wanted. Just because he decided to give it away doesn’t dismiss the fact that he tithed. The reason he gave it away is because he trusted God’s ability to make him wealthy and not man’s. This is actually a picture of New Covenant giving. We give without fear because we know that our source is not man but God.

4) People try to say that Abraham was under God’s laws and so his tithing was under Law. However the Bible is clear in Galatians 3:17 that Abraham lived 430 years before the Law came so his tithing could not have been under the Law.

5) People try to say that it wasn’t really tithing, Abraham was just paying the usual king’s tax of 10%, that was customary after war, to Melchizedek instead of the 5 kings of Genesis 14. Yet Hebrews 7:9-10 says that ‘Levi paid tithes to Melchizedek’ through Abraham since he was figuratively in the loins of his forefather. This shows that what both Abraham and Levi were doing was not king’s tax but tithing. It just so happens that Jesus is the King of kings and the only one truly worthy of the tithe.

6) Some say that God also commanded Abraham to kill his son Isaac, and to circumcise his children and to offer sacrifices so if we are to follow Abraham’s example of tithing we must also do these other things. Their logic is that these were all specific things only for Abraham and not for us and if God doesn’t require us to follow them then He also doesn’t require us to follow Abraham’s tithing. The reality is that God didn’t command or require Abraham to tithe. He tithed out of his own decision and this tithing had no relation to any of the instructions God gave him later.

7) Some people say that Abraham’s tithe was just a once off event so how can that apply to us continually tithing from everything we earn today? Firstly, it says that Abraham gave a tithe “of all”. Who is to say that Abraham never continued to tithe? Secondly, Abraham’s grandson Jacob also decided out of his own free will that whatever God gives him he would continue to give to God a tithe of all (Genesis 28:20-22). Jacob wasn’t commanded to do this, he did it after encountering God just like his grandfather. Was it a random figure that Jacob plucked out the air? I doubt it. He either learnt it from Abraham or instinctively knew the tithe belongs to God after his encounter.

8) Finally, some people say that we can’t tithe today because we can’t give to Melchizedek or to the Levitical priests anymore. The reality is we are giving it to Christ when we give it to His Body, the Church. In 1 Corinthians 9:13-14 Paul speaks about ministers of the Gospel and equates them to the priests of the temple. Then Paul says that God has ordained that those who minister the Gospel should live from the Gospel, and from the context he is clearly speaking about financial provision. Now how is it that God has ordained that ministers of the Gospel should be taken care of financially? The same way Israel took care of the Levites, through the tithe!

I believe these eight reasons are sufficient to show us that we cannot just dismiss and ignore Abraham’s tithe. We need to consider it serious, especially since Abraham is called “the father of our faith” and that God preached the Gospel in advance to Abraham (Galatians 3).

By Ryan Rufus.

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Tithing Series:

#1: Tithing shouldn’t divide us!
#2: What I don’t believe about tithing.
#3: Why we can’t dismiss Abraham’s tithe.
#4: Six pictures of New Covenant tithing from Abraham.
#5: New Covenant scriptures on tithing.

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