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The Third Tithe

We now come to a THIRD TITHE, (Deuteronomy 14:28-29),

"At the end of every three years thou shalt bring forth all the tithe of thine
increase in the same year, and shalt lay it up within thy gates; and the Levite,
because he hath no portion nor inheritance with thee, and the stranger, and the
fatherless, and the widow, which are within thy gates, shall come, and shall eat
and be satisfied; that the Lord thy God may bless thee in all the work of thine
hand which thou doest."

This teaches that:

1) A tenth of every third year's increase was to be laid up at home.

2) This tenth was to be shared by the local Levite, the stranger, the fatherless, and the
widow.

3) The object of this tithe was, that YEHOVAH might bless the work of the tithe-payer's
hands.

Some think this was not a third tithe, but a triennial substitute for the second tithe,
so that in the third, and again the sixth, years (as well as the seventh year, when the land
was not to be cultivated), the Israelite would not take the second, or festival, tithe to the
sanctuary, but would dispose of it among the poor at home.

Perhaps this view may have been in part suggested by the Septuagint, which
varies the punctuation, and reads: "After three years thou shalt bring forth all the tithe of
thine increase. In that year thou shalt lay it up in thy cities," (Deuteronomy 14:27). In
support of this opinion may be quoted the words of Maimonides: "On the third and sixth
years from the sabbatical year, after they have separated the first tithe, they separate from
what remains another tithe, and give it to the poor, and it is called the poor's tithe; and not
on those two years is the second tithe, but the poor's tithe." -- Gill on Deuteronomy
14:28; Maimonides, Hilchot Mattanot Anayim, c. 6, sect. 4. See also Speaker's
Commentary on Deuteronomy 14:28-29, and McClintock and Strong's Cyclopaedia,
vol. 10. p. 433.

Selden and Michaelis also argue in the same direction, saying that a THIRD
TITHE should be an excessive demand upon the income of a man who had already
expended two-tenths of his increase (McClintock and Strongs Cyclopaedia, vol. 10, p.
434). Peake likewise says: "It may be urged that it is not probable that a double tribute
should be exacted from the crops." And again: "Nor is it probable that a tax of nearly
one-fifth of the whole produce should be imposed on the farmers." (Article "Tithe," in
Hastings Dictionary of the Bible, I, p. 780.)

On the other hand, in opposition to these conjectures, it may be observed: