John Calvin Commentary Deuteronomy 14

You shall truly tithe. He repeats in general terms the law previously enacted, by which he claims for God the tithe of all the fruit. He does not, however, immediately declare to whom they are to be paid, but inserts some provisions respecting other offerings, which I have elsewhere explained. But when, soon afterwards, in verse 27, he recommends the Levites to them, he shows what is the proper use to which they are to be applied. He signifies that it would be cruel to defraud the Levites of them,²¹⁷ and that they would be wicked and unjust if they were grudgingly to pay them the tithes, which were theirs by hereditary right, since their tribe possessed no inheritance in land.

And thou shalt eat before the Lord. He again commands the victims to be brought into the place of the sanctuary. Although by the place which God shall choose he designates Jerusalem, as has been said in the commentary on chapter 12 above, for the Ark of the Covenant had no settled resting-place until the time of David but was received, as it were, in temporary lodgings.

Moses, therefore, now commands that when God shall have so greatly honored a particular place and shall have chosen a perpetual rest in which His name shall dwell, the offerings are to be brought there. But we know that this place was Jerusalem, and all the oblations were restricted to this one place, lest any corruption should creep in to destroy the unity of the faith. For all strange inventions, as has already been sufficiently seen, are so many profanations of God’s worship.

But, whereas in chapter 12 Moses had promiscuously joined the tithes with the firstlings and had made the same appointment with respect to both, he now relaxes the stringency of that law by adding an exception, namely, that if the way should be too long, a commutation might be made, and money might be paid instead of grain. He does not, indeed, speak only of the tithes but unites with them the vows and free-gifts; in fact, he refers properly to these alone.

But, since regarding the latter there is no question, let us only consider whether it was consistent that the tithes should be paid in one place alone. They were given to the Levites for their maintenance, who, as is well known, were dispersed throughout the whole land; either their residence must then have been fixed at Jerusalem, or they must not have been deprived of their subsistence, wherever they might dwell.

The command, therefore, appears absurd: that all the tithes of the whole land should be brought to Jerusalem, for that would have amounted to nothing less than destroying the poor Levites by famine.

This absurdity has compelled commentators to fabricate a doubtful conjecture, namely, that the people voluntarily set apart certain tithes, which they might carry to Jerusalem at the festivals. But it is not probable that so heavy a burden was imposed upon them¹¹⁰ that they should only keep at home what remained of the fifth part.

But a nearer approach to probability would be that the tithes of the neighboring country, as convenience offered, were carried to Jerusalem, while those collected in more distant places were set aside there. However, they were accounted for at Jerusalem, so that upon a calculation of the number of their families, an equal distribution might be made to the Levites.

Certainly, it is by no means probable that the respective tillers of the soil carried up to Jerusalem what the Levites, having received it there, were compelled to take back again for the maintenance of their families. For what would have been the advantage of all this expense and trouble of carrying them backwards and forwards?

Besides, it would have been useless to command the Levites—and that with the addition of severe threats—to pay the priests faithfully if the tithes had been first deposited with the priests themselves, who could easily have provided against all deception since they had the whole quantity of grain in their own hands.

I have, therefore, no doubt that the Levites collected the tithes each in their own neighborhood, but that another tithing, of which mention will be made shortly, was carried up to the sanctuary as a sacred offering and a profession of service to God.

For we have recently seen that after that part had been withdrawn, the nine parts which remained were assigned to the Levites as if they had been grown on their own ground.

But because it was a subject that might cause complaints—that the first-fruits and other tithes should be collected into one place—God would anticipate this by showing its advantage to the whole people, in that there might be food enough for all who should come to the celebration of the festivals. For this is the meaning of the words, thou shalt eat before the Lord thy God; as if it had been said that the place should be sacred to God, to which the worshippers of God might come from the whole land.

Yet He commands, in the meanwhile, the pure observation of His worship, lest a diversity of places might draw away the people in various directions to false superstitions.

At the end of three years. In my opinion, those who think that another kind of tithe is referred to here are mistaken.

It is, rather, a correction or interpretation of the Law, designed to prevent the priests and Levites alone from consuming all the tithes without applying a part to the relief of the poor, strangers, and widows.

To make this clearer, we must first observe that not every third year is prescribed here,²¹⁸ but rather that the years are counted from the Sabbatical year. We will see elsewhere that on every seventh year the land was to rest, so there was no sowing or reaping.

Therefore, after two harvests, the tithes of the third year were not the entire property of the Levites but were also shared by the poor, orphans, widows, and strangers. This can easily be seen by calculating the years, because otherwise the third year would often have fallen on the Sabbatical year, when all agriculture was at a standstill.

Now, this was a most equitable arrangement: the priests and Levites, having been well provided for during two years, were to admit their poor brethren and strangers to a share. Some part was thus withdrawn from their abundance to prevent them from giving themselves up to luxurious habits. Consequently, it was brought about that not more than a twelfth portion every year would remain to them.

In summary, there was one particular year in every seven in which the Levites did not receive the tithes for their own use alone but shared them with the orphans, widows, strangers, and the rest of the poor.

They shall eat (He says) and be satisfied—those who would otherwise have to suffer hunger—that the LORD may bless thee (verse 29), by which promise He encourages them to be liberal.