The Antiquity and Generality of Tithing

THE ANTIOUITY AND GENERALITY OF TITHING By E. Cecil McGavin Tithing is one of the most ancient laws given to the human race. Its application is as universal as any other law that has been revealed to man. Instances are mentioned in history of some nations who did not offer sacrifices; but in the annals of all time few if any are found who did not pay tithing. Let us consider its universality and antiquity outside of Christen- dom. One of the very striking proofs of the spread of the law of tith- ing, all over the ancient world, is found in this, that it has struck into the very roots of the languages of mankind. In the Latin we find decumanus, "of or belonging to the tenth part; meaning also the "tax consisting of one tenth." The feminine form, decumana, "the wife of a tithe payer." One of the gates of the Roman military camp was called the Eecwnan, or Tithe Gate. If we carry our inquiry over in- to the Greek, we find the verb dekato, "to take a tenth of a person," dekate, "the tenth part." Likewise we have the word dekateuo, "to exact the tenth or tithe; to take the tenth part as an offering to the gods." Further we encounter the Greek word dekateuterion, "the tenth's office, custom house." In the Hebrew language we have the word maaser, "tithing;" and the verb asar, "to give a tenth." Thus we may say that so deeply was the notion of the sacred tenth ingrained in the ancient mind that the law of the ancient tithe has left its traces on all of the great languages. Selden, in his work on Tithes, says that the Arabians, by law, required every merchant to offer a tenth of his frankincense to the priests for their God; ,and that the Phoenicians, following the ex- ample of Abraham, devoted a tenth of the spoils of war to holy uses. He says furthermore, that "the Carthaginians brought this custom from Tyre, to which city they sent their tithes regularly." Some historians say that the Carthaginians for a time, owing to the neglect of the tithe, felt the sting of continued misfortune, whereupon they remitted the tenth and were given deliverance and prosperity. Heathenism knew, as did the Hebrews, that the way to have the horn of plenty poured out was to pay regular tithes. It was also customary for the Greeks to consecrate the tithe of their gains to the gods. Xenophon built a temple from tithe money, and continued to consecrate a tenth part of his gains to Apollo and Diana. Clement of Alexandria says that before the making of images

3 72 IMPROVEMENT ERA was invented, there were at Delphi holy pillars on which the tithes offered by worshipers were hung. Cimon, the Athenian general, five hundred years before Christ when he had defeated the Persians in battle, took one tenth of the spoils and dedicated them to his god. Demosthenes, is his public address upon one occasion, used all the power of the silver tongue of a world orator of the ages to de- nounce as sacrilege the withholding from the gods of the tithes due them. It is said that, being punished by a barren year for the neglect of the tithe, they removed the judgment by vowing one tenth of their profits to the gods. In Egypt a tenth part of the cattle, slaves, and precious metals, was set apart for the service of the gods. In The Dawn of Civilization, Maspero says, "The gods of the side which is victorious in war shared with it in the triumph and re- ceived a tithe of the spoil as a price of their help." This is said of a period fifteen hundred years before Moses. China accepted the law of the tithe before the time of Moses. In the book, Li Ki, it is said, "A tenth of the year's expenditures was for sacrifice." Sayce says that the Babylonians paid tithes on the produce of their land, and that tablets and documents have been found which register the payment of their tithes back to Sargon's time, or B. C, 3800. In India, before the time of Enoch, a tithe was collected from the merchants and consecrated to the gods. The law of tithing remains, today, one of the most sacred, as well as one of the most ancient, laws of God. Provo, Utah Often Tell Thy Love Ever so tenderly oft let thy voice retell thy love! Tell it in the silence of evening solitude; In the vibrant, awakening light of morning; In the busy, throbbing, resonat noon-day; And again in the evening twilight hour, When the heart in the hush of coming night Hungers for love and for tones beloved, That shall be sweeter than the wind-harp's lingering melody, Dearer than jewels, greater than mansions; For joy is ever exultant In noble requited love! Joseph Longking Townsend.