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1) That the Hebrew text nowhere says explicitly that the THIRD TITHE should be
substituted for the SECOND.

The injunction is several times repeated that every male should go up to the
festivals yearly -- but neither the third, sixth, seventh, or any other year is excepted. Some
(and Professor Driver, International Critical Commentary, Deuteronomy, p. 168, among
them) have supposed that, as the land was not to be sown in the seventh year, no tithe
would be paid (McClintock and Strong, vol. 10, p. 435). But if so, how were the Levites
during that year to live, unless a double or triple tithe was to be paid in the sixth year?
And this the law had already provided for. "If ye shall say, What shall we eat the seventh
year? Behold we shall not sow, nor gather in our increase. Then will I command My
blessing upon you in the sixth year, and it shall bring forth fruit for three years," etc.,
(Leviticus 25:20-22).

Besides, not going up to the festivals on the third, sixth, and seventh years would
be attended with a further and practical difficulty: for if a man had sinned after returning,
say, from the last feast of the fifth year, he would, under normal circumstances, be
deprived of the opportunity of offering a sacrifice of expiation at the sanctuary until after
an interval of two years.

Moreover, we have at least three witnesses of prominent rank for the THIRD
TITHE being an addition to, and not a substitute for, the second tithe. The author of
Tobit, for instance, when stating how he walked in the ways of truth and righteousness,
notwithstanding the falling away of his father's family from YEHOVAH's command to
sacrifice at Jerusalem, makes his subject say:

"I alone went often to Jerusalem at the feasts, as it hath been ordained unto all
Israel by an everlasting decree, having the first fruits and the tenths of mine
increase, and that which was first shorn; and I gave them at the altar to the priests,
the sons of Aaron. The tenth part of all mine increase I gave to the sons of Levi,
who ministered at Jerusalem: and the second tenth part I sold away, and went; and
spent it each year at Jerusalem: and the third I gave unto them for whom it was
meet, as Deborah my father's mother had commanded me," (Tobit 1:6-8).

The above quotation is the revised English version from theVatican Codex; but
the reading of the Sinaitic Codex is still more noteworthy. I translate this passage as
follows: "Having the first fruits, and the firstborn and the tithes of cattle, and the first
shearing of the sheep, I proceeded to Jerusalem, and I gave them to the priests, the sons
of Aaron, at the altar; and the tenth of the wine, and of the corn, and of olive, and
pomegranate, and the other fruit trees to the sons of Levi ministering in Jerusalem. And
the second tithe I sold away for money during six years, and I used to go every year and
spend it in Jerusalem. And I gave them (i.e. the tithes) to the orphans, and to the widows,
and to the strangers living among the children of Israel. I brought in and I gave (the
tithes) to them in the third year, and we ate them according to the ordinance ordained
concerning them in the law of Moses and according to the commandments which
Deborah, the mother of Ananeel our father, commanded."