Genesis 14:18-24 And Melchizedek king of Salem brought forth bread and wine: and he was the priest of the most high God. (19) And he blessed him, and said, Blessed be Abram of the most high God, possessor of heaven and earth: (20) And blessed be the most high God, which hath delivered thine enemies into thy hand. And he gave him tithes of all. (21) And the king of Sodom said unto Abram, Give me the persons, and take the goods to thyself. (22) And Abram said to the king of Sodom, I have lift up mine hand unto the LORD, the most high God, the possessor of heaven and earth, (23) That I will not take from a thread even to a shoelatchet, and that I will not take any thing that is thine, lest thou shouldest say, I have made Abram rich: (24) Save only that which the young men have eaten, and the portion of the men which went with me, Aner, Eshcol, and Mamre; let them take their portion.
The tithe story usually begins here with Abraham giving tithes to Melchizedek. This is further elaborated upon by the apostle in his epistle to the Hebrews:
Hebrews 7:4-10 Now consider how great this man was, unto whom even the patriarch Abraham gave the tenth of the spoils. (5) And verily they that are of the sons of Levi, who receive the office of the priesthood, have a commandment to take tithes of the people according to the law, that is, of their brethren, though they come out of the loins of Abraham: (6) But he whose descent is not counted from them received tithes of Abraham, and blessed him that had the promises. (7) And without all contradiction the less is blessed of the better. (8) And here men that die receive tithes; but there he receiveth them, of whom it is witnessed that he liveth. (9) And as I may so say, Levi also, who receiveth tithes, payed tithes in Abraham. (10) For he was yet in the loins of his father, when Melchisedec met him.
It is clear that Abraham gave tithes (tenths) to Melchizedek, the priest of God. The tithes were apparently taken from the spoils rather than from the goods that were recovered. The spoils would have been the "extras" that Abraham acquired in defeating the kings of the east, above and beyond the goods that were recovered. Those recovered goods were given back to their original owners, leaving the excess (the "spoils") from which a tenth was given to Melchizedek. Since the word tithes is plural, it seems that the spoils were divided into categories, and a tenth from each category was given. Whether the spoils included gold and other non-agricultural products we do not know.
Much ado is made of this story, but I think there is something that people miss. We may ask "Why does Moses include this particular anecdote concerning Abraham in his history of the Patriarchs?" It may be that Moses was intending to demonstrate that tithes were appropriately given to the priest of God, thus lending Patriarchal precedent for the Sinaitic regulations concerning tithing to the Levites and to the priests. But there is something that is brought forward by the apostle in his exposition of the Genesis account that many seem to overlook. Let's look a bit closer:
Hebrews 7:9-10 And as I may so say, Levi also, who receiveth tithes, payed tithes in Abraham. (10) For he was yet in the loins of his father, when Melchisedec met him.
The apostle is saying that since Levi is descended from Abraham, and Abraham paid tithes, then Levi also (in a sense) paid tithes to Melchizedek. Now, Paul's purpose here of course is to show the superiority of the Melchizedek priesthood over that of the Levitical priesthood, and thus to show that Christ is a superior High Priest. But in doing so he reveals an idea, the idea that what a person does, his descendants do as well. It is the idea that there is a continuity between a person and their descendants, or between a person and his or her ancestors. This same concept is on display in Romans ch 5 where Paul speaks of Adam's relationship to mankind, and of Christ's relationship to mankind. "In Adam all die", expressing the idea that Adam's descendants somehow participated in Adam's disobedience. And "in Christ all shall be made alive", because by His act of obedience many are made righteous. In other words, what one does, the others do.
This of course does not mean that a person is "guilty" of some ancestor's sins, because Paul also says "for all have sinned". But this shows that by a person's act of sinning that person identifies with Adam and his sin, and participates in a sense with Adam. And thus, by having faith in Christ, we participate in a sense with Christ's act of obedience and thereby participate in the results of that obedience. This is also seen in Christ's condemnation of the scribes an Pharisees:
Matthew 23:29-32 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! because ye build the tombs of the prophets, and garnish the sepulchres of the righteous, (30) And say, If we had been in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets. (31) Wherefore ye be witnesses unto yourselves, that ye are the children of them which killed the prophets. (32) Fill ye up then the measure of your fathers.
Here, the Lord affirms that by their unbelief, the scribes and Pharisees participate in the unbelief and sin of their ancestors who killed the prophets. The point is, there is a definite connection between a person and their ancestor, ratified by that person's adoption or rejection of the ancestor's character, values, deeds, etc.
This is important for understanding where tithing comes from as a "law" for Israel.
(con't in next post)