Maybe my translation is different than yours but Deut. 14 doesn’t say what you claim. It also doesn’t say what I thought either. I was under the impression that the tithes (1/10), first grain and newborns were given to the Levites. It states to eat with rejoicing your tithe at the place that is chosen in the presence of the Lord, you and your household, but not to neglect the Levites. Then every third year the Levites and the “poor” may eat the entire tithe to their full.
So according to this if the tithe is shared equally every year, the Levites would receive 5% continually. Then the poor would get the other 1/20 every third year. Is that 1.7% of your earnings to not the poor, but the foreigners, the widows and the fatherless? That doesn’t include the crackheads, fully capable men who are too lazy to work, multigenerational welfare recipients who have multiple children to get bigger handouts from the government and people who neglect nutrition and exercise so now they are “physically incapable” to work.
Apples to apples dude. We are not living in a monarchical society. We have no Caesar. We have a government that is supposed to be chosen by the citizens to serve the citizens. They are paid employees. They take our money and spread it to the poor, the crippled, the underprivileged, the old, the orphans, the minorities and addicted. Many churches have a couple full time employees and a majority are volunteers who most likely have jobs or provision. In that scenario, you may have a 1/50 Holy class dependant on the congregation not 1/12. New wine in new wine skins. We are not under Mosaic Law. We are under the Law of love. Sometimes it’s generous love giving a couple grand to a struggling student who can’t pay their rent, and sometimes tough love, letting a crackhead lose a toe because he spent all of his money on drugs and now he’s outside freezing in the cold. Choices!
