When thou hast made an end of tithing all the tithes of thy produce in the third year, the year of tithing, thou shalt give it to the Levite, to the stranger, to the fatherless, and to the widow, that they may eat in thy gates, and be filled;
Worship in this chapter does not stop at the sanctuary. Every third year the tenth stayed at home and went to people who owned nothing. Which tithe is this? And why does God attach spoken words to an act of giving?
Deuteronomy does not repeat the rules of the earlier books. It describes a different use of the tenth. One writer sorts the three kinds out and puts this verse in the last group.
There were three sets of tithes. The first is in Numbers 18. It was not given straight to the priests. It was the increase of the people's fields and so on, given to the Levites. The Levites then gave a tenth of these tithes to the priests. These were the regular tithes. But in Deuteronomy 12 and 14 you get nothing of that. The people take the tithes, their peace offerings, and so on, and they go up to one place... The third tithes came every third year. They ate these tithes in their house, and did not go up to Jerusalem.
So this tenth stayed where the people lived. At the end of that year the giver also had to make a formal statement. A reference work describes it:
At the end of the "year of tithing," the offerer had to make a solemn declaration before the Lord. He had to say that he had carried out the Lord's commandment in full, and had kept back none of the tithe for his own use.
The list is not random. Each one names a different kind of emptiness, and God tells the giver to keep all four in view.
The spiritual Israelite is not only to rejoice in every good thing which the Lord his God has given him. He is also to remember the Levite, the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow. That is, the one who has no portion on earth and gives himself wholly to the Lord's work; the one who has no home; the one who has no natural protector; and the one who has no support on earth.
The four were to "eat within your towns and be filled." One writer notes that the household shared this food with them, and sees a picture of Christ in it.
So it fits perfectly that every third year we find this tithe eaten at home, shared with the Levite, the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow. Not simply given to them, but shared with them — a deeper thing. Christ does not just give us something to carry away from Him. He shares. This is fellowship.
Praise to God and kindness to people belong together. One writer says they come in a set order.
Nothing can be more beautiful than the moral order of these things. It is exactly like what we have in Hebrews 13. "Through him then let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that acknowledge his name." Here is the worship. "Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God." Here is the active kindness. Put both together, and we have what we may call the upper and the lower side of the Christian's character. It is praising God and doing good to people. ... Show us a man whose heart is full of praise to God, and we will show you one whose heart is open to every form of human need.
The giver had to say out loud what he had done. So the tithe searched the heart as much as it counted the crop.
The heart does not only consider what God has done for it. It also comes to regard those who are friendless in the world as the special object of our care. Are we learning such a duty before our God, and caring for them out of what His bounty has given us? ... So God called the Israelite to more than words of praise. He was to confess, with an exercised conscience, how he used the place of blessing God had brought him into. He was to say how far he spread the sense of that blessing around him.
Only then does the giver ask God to look down and bless. The order matters:
If the offerer could speak honestly like this, he had a true right to ask. He could ask the Lord to look down from heaven, bless His people Israel, and bless their land too. The Lord encourages those who obey Him to pray for His blessing. But it is hypocrisy to ask for His blessing while living in disobedience.
- Received. The tenth came out of an increase the Lord had first given. The giver was to rejoice in every good thing from His hand.
- Rejoiced in. Praise comes first — the upper side of a believer's character. Doing good to people is the lower side, and the two go together.
- Shared. The household ate the food with its guests instead of just handing it over. The Levite, the foreigner, the fatherless and the widow each lacked what that home had.
- Reported. The giver had to say aloud before God what he had done, which turned a duty into a test of an exercised conscience.
- Requested. Only then could the giver ask God to bless His people and their land. Asking for blessing while disobeying is hypocrisy.
and thou shalt say before Jehovah thy God, I have brought away the hallowed things out of the house, and also have given them to the Levite, and to the stranger, to the fatherless, and to the widow, according to all thy commandment which thou hast commanded me; I have not transgressed nor forgotten [any] of thy commandments
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.
I have not eaten thereof in my mourning, neither have I brought away thereof in uncleanness, nor given thereof for a dead person; I have hearkened to the voice of Jehovah my God; I have done according to all that thou hast commanded me.
The words here are the closing lines of a speech the Israelite recited out loud after handing over the tithe of the third year. Most of the sentence lists what he had not done with the holy portion, which raises a question: why did God want worshippers to say what they had avoided?
This confession belongs to a specific act of giving. Every third year the tenth of the harvest went out of the house to others.
We have read before of the tithe of the third year (Deuteronomy 14:28-29), a tenth of what the land produced, given to the Levite, the stranger, the fatherless and the widow. On the negative side, he could say that he had not eaten this tithe himself, even in mourning, nor used it for anything unclean, nor given any of it for the dead (v. 14). For people might be inclined to make exceptions about the use of the tithe.
The first clause is not about grief being sinful. It is about what a man did to himself by eating the holy portion at such a time — and about what he asked for next.
To eat in his mourning was profaning himself. And then follows not "bless me," but "bless your people Israel and the ground that you have given us."
The three refusals — mourning, unclean use, the dead — come to one thing. The worshipper kept clear of anything that did not fit the place God had brought him into. One writer draws the same shape for the Christian life.
Here we have personal holiness, practical sanctification, and complete separation from everything that does not fit the holy place and relationship God had brought them into by His own grace and mercy. There must be no mourning, no uncleanness, no dead works. We have no room and no time for such things. They have no place in the blessed sphere where we now have the privilege to live and move and have our being. We have just three things to do; we look up to God, and offer the sacrifice of praise. We look around at a needy world, and do good. We look in upon the circle of our own being — our inner life, and seek, by grace, to keep ourselves unspotted.
Notice the order in the chapter. First comes the basket of first fruits. Then comes the sharing with the needy. Then comes this statement of a clean walk. One writer ties that walk directly to worship.
He worships in the land, and he presents to the Lord only the fruits of the land. Canaan is a picture of heaven, and we can only worship God when we are there in spirit, and with the growth of that happy land. Love, joy, holiness, praise, adoration and thanksgiving grow in plenty in our heavenly Canaan. The redeemed Israelite also shared his joy in the land with others. And this was not all. He kept up a walk of practical holiness, and without that there can be no worship.
One writer was asked whether this call to holiness has its parallel for Christians. His answer turns on who does the separating.
Yes, in principle there is. The Lord had separated that people, just as He separates us. God separates us to Himself; but since I have the new man and the Holy Spirit, I also separate myself to Him. We see that in Romans 6. They had been slaves and are now set free. That is God's work. And to whom, then, are you going to give yourselves? Is it to sin, or is it to God?
The verse does not end on denials. It ends with a claim of obedience, and that obedience is what gives the worshipper ground for what he asks next in verse 15.
If the offerer could say all this honestly, then he had a real right to ask the Lord to look down from heaven and bless His people Israel, and to bless their land as well (v. 15). The Lord encourages those who obey Him to pray for His blessing, but it is hypocrisy to ask for His blessing while living in disobedience.
- Given, not kept. The tithe of the third year left the house — for the Levite, the stranger, the fatherless and the widow. Verse 14 shuts the door on quiet exceptions.
- Kept clean. The man who ate the holy portion while mourning profaned himself. The three denials add up to one thing: separation from all that does not fit the place God has given.
- Clean, then worshipping. A walk of practical holiness is not an extra alongside worship — without it there is no worship.
- Separation becomes personal. God separated Israel to Himself. The believer, set free from slavery, now gives himself to God and not to sin.
- Then ask. An honest confession gives real standing to pray. And the prayer that follows asks blessing for God's people and their land, not for self.
Look down from thy holy habitation, from the heavens, and bless thy people Israel, and the land that thou hast given us as thou didst swear unto our fathers, a land flowing with milk and honey!
The chapter's worship service ends with a prayer put into the worshipper's own mouth. He has brought his firstfruits and shared with those in need, and now he asks for blessing — not on himself, but on the whole nation and the land.
God has blessed this man, and God has used him to bless others. Even so, the chapter ends with him asking.
Last of all is a prayer. God may bless us greatly, and He may be pleased to make us a means of blessing to others. Both of these are clearly the points we have had. But there is this further consideration: we are not taken out of the place of dependence. Worship does not weaken prayer. "Look down from Your holy habitation, from heaven, and bless Your people Israel and the ground that You have given us." Now we want a blessing for the people of God, a blessing that fits the place of grace we stand in. This makes us feel the need of God moment by moment.
The man has just said he did not eat while mourning. Notice whose name the prayer then carries.
To eat in his mourning was profaning himself. And then follows not "bless me," but "bless Your people Israel and the ground that You have given us."
His prayer takes in the land as well, and the land itself is evidence.
So the worshipper asked God, who cared for all His people, to bless not only himself, but all Israel, and the land as well. That land was the proof of God's faithfulness and of the riches of His goodness.
The prayer comes last, not first. Before he asks, the man must be able to speak honestly about his own obedience.
If the offerer could speak honestly like this, he would have true title to ask. He could ask the Lord to look down from heaven, to bless His people Israel, and to bless their land also (v.15). The Lord encourages those who obey Him to pray for His blessing. But it is hypocrisy to ask for His blessing while disobeying Him.
The verse before this one says what the worshipper did not do: no mourning, no unclean use, nothing given for the dead. Those denials add up to something positive.
Here we have personal holiness and practical sanctification. In His sovereign grace and mercy, God had brought them into a holy place and relationship. They were to stay completely separate from everything that did not fit it. There must be no mourning, no uncleanness, no dead works. We have no room and no time for such things. They do not belong to that blessed sphere where we have the privilege to live and move and have our being. We have just three things to do. We look up to God, and offer the sacrifice of praise. We look around at a needy world, and do good. We look in upon the circle of our own being — our inner life — and seek, by grace, to keep ourselves unspotted.
The man praying has not forgotten the misery God brought him out of.
But the redeemed Israelite in the land shared his joy with others. He did not forget how miserable he once was in Egypt, though God had now redeemed him out of it… In his new joy he invites the Levite, the stranger, the fatherless and the widow to share his abundance. But this was not all. He also walked in practical holiness, and without that there can be no worship… And now, with his heart enlarged, he takes in all Israel.
The chapter moves in a clear order, and this prayer is its last step.
First they possess the land and offer its firstfruits to Jehovah. Then comes rejoicing in all the good Jehovah gave. Then, every third year, comes fellowship in grace with all in need. With this goes a declaration of purity of ways, thoroughness in doing it, and obedience. And on that ground they look for a blessing. It is a picture of the true state of the people with Jehovah.
- Given — Israel never earned the land. They hold it as a gift, and it proves God's faithfulness and the riches of His goodness.
- Guarded — Before the prayer comes a clean account: nothing profaned, nothing withheld. Obedience gives real title to ask. Asking while disobeying is hypocrisy.
- Given away — The man who received shares with the Levite, the stranger, the fatherless and the widow. He has not forgotten his own past misery.
- Enlarged — The request is not "bless me" but "bless Your people." A man God has blessed, and who has blessed others, ends by praying for the whole nation.
- Dependent — Worship does not replace prayer. However much God blesses us or uses us, we never leave the place of needing Him moment by moment.