Tax Season Is Upon Us – Give Your Tithe & Pay Your Taxes
Word-of-the-Day: ‘<God said through Samuel,> “<A King> will take a tenth of your grain and of your vintage and give it to his officials and attendants…He will take a tenth of your flocks, and you yourselves will become his slaves.”’ (1 Samuel 8:15,17)
The context of these two verses is when the Israelites asked, or more accurately demanded, to be ruled by a king. They were supposed to obey God and be ruled by Him, but they wanted a physical king like the other nations. This was after the period of Judges, where Levites and others of the priestly order were to provide leadership and God’s Word to the people. However, it seldom worked that way as the people strayed as did many of the priests.
Samuel did not stray and led Israel for many years as a prophet, sometime after Eli’s passing and the Ark of the Covenant was captured by the Philistines. As a leader and a priest, after the Ark was returned to Israel, Samuel traveled as the last of the Judges across Israel as the people had returned to the Lord. However, in the beginning of 1 Samuel 8, Samuel placed his two sons to take over his role as the primary ‘judge’ and leader of Israel. But his sons, Joel and Abijah, were not godly and were greedy, judging according to the bribe given and the amount of dishonest gain they could gather for themselves.
Thus, the people demanded from Samuel a king be appointed (and his sons ‘fired’ as judges and governance). Samuel, in 1 Samuel 8:10 through 19, gave the Israelites the warnings God provided about having a physical, human king over Him. But the people, rejecting God and His warnings, demanded a king, and so God handed them a king that they desired, Saul the Benjaminite.
One of the warnings God gave the Israelites was taxation by the king. God requested the ‘tithe’, or an offering of worship be given to Him, as Abraham offered Melchizedek, the High Priest of God and King of Salem (possibly the original name for Jerusalem), in Genesis 14:18-20. The tithe, or 10% given back from what God provides, was also part of God’s direction to the Israelites in Leviticus 27:30, to give back to the Lord as honor for His provisions.
But a tax was something imposed by a king or nation, not in tribute to God, but to the king himself, whether the king was benevolent or malevolent. Genesis 47:24 gives the example of Joseph imposing a 20% tax on crops on the people of Egypt to be given to the Pharaoh, in return for providing food and seed (after initially trading their savings and land holdings for food) from Egypt’s stockpile during the famine. But Egypt was not a nation ruled over by God; and Israel would now have a king who could also impose his tax on them, and they would also be tasked to tithe as well, so in essence they would see their tributes double, giving to both God and to the king.
As is the case in Egypt, the tax was proper; the 20% tax provided for the common good of the Egyptians by creating a stockpile of food. This stockpile helped in the trade of other nations, such as Canaan, as Joseph’s father Jacob, or Israel, and his brothers came to trade for food. Some taxes today are proper as well, as many things for the common good such as roads and infrastructure, police and fire departments, and schools are necessary for a functioning, prosperous nation. John the Baptist first told his disciples to baptize the tax collectors who came in Faith, but warned the newly-baptized collectors not to collect taxes beyond that which was legally owed (Luke 3:12-13).
In Matthew 17:24-27, Jesus did not protest taxes, even if they were unfair, such as the ‘temple tax’ imposed by the priests in Capernaum. Jesus sent Peter to catch a fish that had a ‘four drachma coin’ in its mouth to pay for the tax. For us, it is not in our power not to pay taxes, even if we believe they are unfair. We can, thankfully, use our freedoms to elect leaders and representatives to either lower our taxes or readjust the allocation of our tax dollars. When our elected officials choose not to, or add more taxes, it is incumbent for the people, especially those of us in Faith, to pay the taxes and then ensure we vote for those who will lead us Righteously.
But, had we (or the Israelites back in the day) listened to God’s Word, and placed God as our King and leader first, the issue of taxes may not have been so great of a burden as it is today. Nevertheless, do not substitute taxes for your tithe. Our obedience is first to God, then to our nation. This means the tithe is first, then the taxes should come second. If we ensure to honor God by returning a portion of what He provides us, He promises in Malachi 3:10 that if we honor the tithe and be obedient in it, His blessings will overflow our ‘storehouses’. If we remain ‘tithe first’ in our giving, then God will provide what we need to pay our taxes, whether the taxes are fair or not.
It is tax season coming up, as our Federal (and for some, state) income taxes will need filing before the 15 April deadline. Tax preparation, tax deferral, and tax avoidance (legally reducing your tax burden through the allowances and exemptions allowed by the government for you to take) are all good and acceptable. Tax refusal or tax cheating (taking allowances and exemptions that are not allowed to be taken by you) is not good and is sinful. Honor God through obedience in all His commands, including giving tithes, while submitting to earthly rulers, including the proper payment of your taxes.
