Does Tithing Only Apply to Crops?

Do a quick Google search, and you’ll find that more and more people are saying that tithing is obsolete today because the command was originally tied to crops and animals.

Is this true, or are people skirting God’s commands by making the focus of tithing so narrow that it can no longer apply today? Let’s look at what God says about tithing and see if it’s really limited to agricultural produce.

Tithing in Leviticus: Only Crops?

This idea that we’re only required to tithe on crops comes from Leviticus 27:30-31:

“Every tithe of the land, whether of the seed of the land or of the fruit of the trees, is the Lord’s; it is holy to the Lord. If a man wishes to redeem some of his tithe, he shall add a fifth to it.”

This foundational scripture says that our first and best should be set apart for the Lord as holy. It refers to giving God the first 10% of the harvest because that was essentially the Israelites’ income. But because the verse specifically mentions crops and produce, people are out there saying tithing is irrelevant today. Don’t get me started on how biblically illiterate the church has become!

Focus on verse 31: “If a man wishes to redeem some of his tithe, he shall add a fifth to it.” Believers are challenging tithing because they haven’t read this verse. It says that a man can redeem his tithe by paying it in cash instead of crops. So we see that God made a way for the Israelities to pay their tithes in currency like silver and gold if they wished. They just had to pay a fee to do so, which was 20% of the 10%.

This option makes sense because even 2,000 years ago, not everyone was a farmer or herder. What would the stone workers, fishermen, and carpenters give God? That’s right—they gave currency which they exchanged for their labor.

God’s Laws Are for Our Good

But if you search “tithing” on YouTube, the world serves up the hot take that you shouldn’t tithe. Isn’t it wild how we trust everything on the internet? Most of what’s on there is from the world where most people are lost. They don’t want anything to do with God.

It’s also human nature to always take the path of least resistance, the path with the least amount of suffering. But if you claim to be a believer, you follow and should model your life after a suffering servant.

1 Peter 2:21 says, “Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps.” This means life isn’t going to be easy. Obedience to God will cost you. It’s uncomfortable. But in the end, it will be the most fulfilling thing you ever do.

God created commands like tithing for our good. We didn’t come up with tithing. This wasn’t man’s idea. We never would have! God did. He made us, and he knew that money would be one of the greatest strongholds and temptations in our life. So he commanded us to give him 10% percent—and then to be sacrificially generous beyond that—to loosen our death grip on money. That’s why we can no longer treat the tithe as something to be given, or not given, at our discretion.

Grocery Store Challenge

If you still truly believe tithing only applies to produce, then put your money where your mouth is! Start giving away 10% of all the food you buy and grow every month.

When you go grocery shopping, take 10% of what’s in your cart and donate it to a food pantry or soup kitchen.

I’d love to see this because giving is contagious. What a way to honor God by giving to the needy out of what you have! But what I’ve found is that the anti-tithers are saying it’s all about crops to avoid tithing completely. By claiming tithing only applies to produce and animals, they’re hoping to be exempt altogether.

Summary

It’s clear in the Bible that the command to tithe goes above and beyond crops, as it applies to us today. Bringing the tithe is an act of obedience and submission to God as not just Lord of your life, but Lord of your finances.

A.W. Tozer said, “The church will be at the height of its heresy when it calls obedience legalism.” Tithing shows that it’s Christ you truly worship, not money.