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2) That if the offerer wished to retain this tenth of seed or fruit, he might do so by paying
its value, and adding to it one-fifth.

3) That every tenth calf and lamb also (that is, increase of the herd or flock) was to be set
apart for YEHOVAH.

4) That this form of animal tithe might not be redeemed, nor the animals exchanged: but
if an owner, notwithstanding, presumed to change a tithe animal, then both the tithe
animal and that for which it was exchanged, were to be forfeited, and set apart for
YEHOVAH. The manner of tithing, as described by Maimonides, was this: "He (the
owner) gathers all the lambs and all the calves into a field, and makes a little door to it, so
that two cannot go at once; and he places their dams without, and they bleat, so that the
lambs hear their voice, and go out of the fold to meet them, as it is said, whatsoever
passeth under the rod: for it must pass of itself, and not be brought out by his hand; and
when they go out of the fold, one after another, he begins and counts them with the rod:
one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, and the tenth that goes out, whether
male or female, whether perfect or blemished, he marks it with a red mark, and says,
'This is the tithe'" (Hilchet Becorot, c. 6, sect 1; from Gills Exposition, on Leviticus
27:32)

From Numbers 18:21-24 we learn that the tithe just mentioned, though claimed by
YEHOVAH Himself, was given by Him to the Levites. Thus:

"And unto the children of Levi, behold, I have given all the tithe in Israel for an
inheritance, in return for their service which they serve, even the service of the
tent of meeting. And henceforth the children of Israel shall not come nigh the tent
of meeting, lest they bear sin, and die. But the Levites shall do the service of the
tent of meeting, and they shall bear their iniquity: it shall be a statute forever
throughout your generations, and among the children of Israel they shall have no
inheritance. For the tithe of the children of Israel, which they offer as a heave
offering unto the Lord, I have given to the Levites for an inheritance."

Therefore this FIRST, or Lords tithe, is known also as the Levites tithe, and has
the following stipulations --

1) That from this tithing no produce of land, or increase of herd or flock, is expected.

2) That the offerer has no voice in its disposal.

3) That though it was called a heave offering, the offerer did not receive any of it back
again.

4) That this tithe was not an amount that might be diminished, or an alms that the owner
might render or not as he pleased, but a divine claim, the withholding of which was
regarded by YEHOVAH as dishonesty, (Malachi 3:8).