Chapter 32 of the apocryphal text entitled The Book of Jubilees contains a record of when Jacob and his family traveled to Bethel—the house of God—and there "Levi dreamed that they had ordained and made him the priest of the Most High God, him and his sons forever." And Jacob rose early in the morning, and "he gave a tithe of all that came with him, both of men and cattle, both of gold and every vessel and garment, yea, he gave tithes of all." Note, here, that Jacob’s tithe included a tithe of men. In this regard, the record continues:
. . . in those days Rachel became pregnant with her son Benjamin. And Jacob counted his sons from him upwards and Levi fell to the portion of the Lord, and his father clothed him in the garments of the priesthood and filled his hands and . . . gave him all the souls of the men.
In short, although Levi was the third-born of Jacob, counting backwards from his twelfth son, Benjamin, Levi was the tenth. Thus, the apocryphal record concludes:
Levi discharged the priestly office at Bethel before Jacob his father in preference to his ten brothers, and he was a priest there, and Jacob gave his vow: thus he tithed again the tithe to the Lord and sanctified it, and it became holy unto Him. And for this reason it is ordained on the heavenly tablets as a law for the tithing again the tithe to eat before the Lord from year to year, in the place where it is chosen that His name should dwell, and to this law there is no limit of days forever.
Notice again, in this account, how many times people are given to the Lord as a "tenth",
a word that is derived from the Hebrew primitive root "'ashar", which means "to be or become rich or wealthy" (see Strong's Exhaustive Concordance. Note further that the tithe given is tithed again and that this second tithe, or tithe of the tithe, is sanctified and made holy. This is fully outlined in Numbers 18, wherein, the Lord spoke to Aaron, saying:
And, behold, I have given the children of Levi all the tenth in Israel for an inheritance, for their service which they serve, even the service of the tabernacle of the congregation.
Thus speak unto the Levites, and say unto them, When ye take of the children of Israel the tithes which I have given you from them for your inheritance, then ye shall offer up an heave offering of it for the Lord, even a tenth part of the tithe.
Out of all your gifts ye shall offer every heave offering of the Lord, of all the best thereof, even the hallowed part thereof out of it. (Numbers 18:21, 26, 29)
Isaiah likewise identifies a tenth as people who return from the desolation that occurs in the last days; and he similarly notes that from this tenth shall come a remnant that is holy unto the Lord:
And he said: Go and tell this people—Hear ye indeed, but they understood not; and see ye indeed, but they perceived not.
Make the heart of this people fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes—lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and be converted and be healed.
Then said I: Lord, how long? And he said: Until the cities be wasted without inhabitant, and the houses without man, and the land be utterly desolate;
And the Lord have removed men far away, for there shall be a great forsaking in the midst of the land.
But yet there shall be a tenth, and they shall return, and shall be eaten, as a teil tree, and as an oak whose substance is in them when they cast their leaves; so the holy seed shall be the substance thereof (2 Nephi 16:9-13).
Thus, when, in Hebrews 7:8, the apostle Paul shifts his attention from writing about those Levites chosen to collect the temporal tithe to the tithes received "of whom it is witnessed that he liveth," he is clearly shifting from speaking of a tithe comprised of an individual's increase to one comprised of God's people. Explaining this shift from a collection of the temporal to the spiritual tithe, the apostle Paul notes in verse 12:For the priesthood being changed, there is made of necessity a change also of the law (Hebrews 7:12).
Within the gospel of Jesus Christ, there are two laws given— 1) the preparatory gospel, sometimes referred to as the Law of Moses, and 2) the law of Christ, also known as the Law of the Gospel. The preparatory gospel continued in Israel in consequence of slothfulness and rebellion. It is designed to be a guide to those who harden their hearts and need to be commanded in all things, and to those who neglect good works except they are compelled (see D&C 84:24-26). Obedience to this law justifies a person but, standing alone, it carries no assurance of eternal reward. The Law of Christ, however, is given for those who are "anxiously engaged in a good cause," who "do many things of their own free will," and exercise that will to "bring to pass much righteousness” (D&C 58:26-27). Of these two laws, John wrote:
The law was given through Moses, but life and truth came through Jesus Christ.
For the law was after a carnal commandment, to the administration of death; but the gospel was after the power of an endless life, through Jesus Christ . . .. (JST, John 1:17-18).
Thus, as members of Christ’s Church move from Aaronic to Melchizedek priesthood ordinances, there is, of necessity, a change also in the law of the tithe—from that which is dead to that which is LIFE.
Underscoring the present day of sacrifice and the selecting of those who shall abide His day, the Lord revealed the following nearly seven years before tithing was instituted as "a standing law" unto the Church forever (see D&C 119)—
Behold, now it is called today until the coming of the Son of Man, and verily it is a day of sacrifice, and a day for the tithing of my people; for he that is tithed shall not be burned at his coming (D&C 64:23).
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In pop culture, this verse has been rendered as an assurance that all who faithfully pay their tithes shall not be burned at the Lord’s coming. At times it is even referred to as “fire insurance” for all who comply. However true this assertion may be, such verses, like an onion, often contain concealed messages that are discovered only as the outer layers are peeled away. Elder Packer comments that "for His own reasons, the Lord provides answers to some questions, with pieces placed here and there throughout the scriptures. We are to find them; we are to earn them. In that way sacred things are hidden from the insincere." (Packer, Boyd K., The Mystery of Life, General Conference, October 1983). This verse, in particular, contains a subtle, yet most important, message that can only be discovered when we peel the onion and view it in light of this law as practiced by early Israel. In connection therewith, Leviticus 27 provides wonderful insight:And all the tithe of the land, whether of the seed of the land, or of the fruit of the tree, is the Lord’s: it is holy unto the Lord.
And concerning the tithe of the herd, or of the flock, even of whatsoever passeth under the rod, the tenth shall be holy unto the Lord. (Leviticus 27:32-33).
"Whatsoever passeth under the rod?" What does this phrase mean? In a discourse delivered in Logan, Utah in 1882, Elder Franklin D. Richards related the history of this passage as it has come down to the present day. He explained:
Following this exercise of identifying the "tithe of the flock," the animals thus marked were then given to the tribe of Levi for their inheritance and service in the tabernacle."Whatsoever passeth under the rod." Do you know what that means? I will relate the history as it has come down to us. When they came to pay their tithing the Lord told them it should not be the poorest neither would he ask the best; therefore they put their flock or herd in a pen having an outlet just large enough for one to pass out at a time, and as the animals passed in single-file, the owner stood by with a rod in his hand that had been dipped in some sort of coloring material, counting them as they came out, and touching every tenth animal with his colored rod. He would not go in among them and pick them lest his judgment might not be right, but the flock passed out according to their own inclination, and as they passed, the owner stood with the coloring rod and marked on the back of every tenth animal, and after all had passed out to an adjoining fold, those that were marked were then picked out from the flock. (F. D. Richards, Journal of Discourses, Volume 23, p. 316).
Throughout the Old and New Testaments, Israel is characteristically portrayed as sheep, with Christ as their Shepherd. Citing this ancient custom of causing the herd to "pass under the rod" as the precise manner in which the Lord would select and mark His flock in the latter days, the prophet Ezekiel wrote:
As I live, saith the Lord God, surely with a mighty hand and with a stretched-out arm, and with fury poured out, will I rule over you;
And I will bring you out from the people, and will gather you out of the countries wherein ye are scattered, with a mighty hand, and with a stretched-out arm (i.e., an arm wielding a sword), and with fury poured out.
And I will bring you into the wilderness of the people (i.e., spiritual Babylon
—see Micah 4:8-10; compare D&C 133:14), and there will I plead (by fire and by the sword—see Isaiah 66:15-16) with you face to face.
Like as I pleaded with your fathers in the wilderness of the land of Egypt, so will I plead with you, saith the Lord God.
And I will cause you to pass under the rod (i.e., the word of God—see 1 Nephi 15:23-24, also the prophet Joseph Smith—see Isaiah 11:1-5, 10; compare D&C 113:3-6), and I will bring you into the bond of the covenant (i.e., into the law of consecration);
And I will purge out from among you the rebels, and them that transgress against me; I will bring them forth out of the country where they sojourn, and they shall not enter into the land of Israel; (compare D&C 64:37-38) and ye shall know that I am the Lord. (Ezekiel 20:33-38; parenthetical comments added)
As noted, the manner in which the tithe of the flock was selected in antiquity presages the manner in which the Good Shepherd will select from among His flock the tenth, or riches, who shall abide the day of His coming. The God of our Fathers was never really interested in amassing storehouses filled with perishable goods—the tithe under the higher law and priesthood is about collecting eternal goods; goods that neither perish nor corrupt. The law of the tithe is now about collecting people for the Lord of the harvest and bringing them into His storehouse (see D&C 101:64-65; compare Alma 26:5-7). Importantly, the fulfillment of Ezekiel’s prophecy has commenced. In the wilderness of the people, the Lord is choosing His people and purging out from among them the rebels. Confirming the manner by which this marking of His people will occur, the prophet Jeremiah wrote:Thus saith the Lord of hosts; Again in this place, which is desolate without man and without beast (i.e., in the wilderness of the people), and in all the cities thereof, shall be a habitation of shepherds causing their flocks to lie down. In the cities of the mountains, in the cities of the vale, and in the cities of the south, and in the land of Benjamin, and in the places about Jerusalem, and in the cities of Judah, shall the flocks pass again under the hands of him that telleth (i.e., a teller is one who counts) them, saith the Lord. (Jeremiah 33:12-13)
Today—beginning with the Restoration and continuing until the coming of the Son of Man—is the day of the gathering of God’s people from the countries wherein they are scattered. Today is also the day of sacrifice wherein those gathered are metaphorically caused to pass under the rod that those who are "holy unto the Lord" might be found, marked, and counted as God’s tithe. Those thus tithed shall not be burned at His coming but, as foretold by Isaiah, will comprise the tenth that shall return following the utter destruction. The Lord confirmed to this dispensation that "they that remain, and are pure in heart, shall return, and come to their inheritances." Importantly, the Lord states that their children would be with them (see D&C 101:18). How merciful is our God!
Whether or not one is tithed of the Lord does not center upon the payment of a full tithe, although such cannot be left undone. Rather, the marking of a person as "holy unto the Lord" turns upon a more fundamental trait—whether that person’s heart is broken and spirit is contrite. This conclusion is supported by the fact that the orientation to "a day of sacrifice" in D&C 64:23 is bounded by two verses that isolate the heart and mind as the required sacrifice, for the Lord will not spare any who remain in Babylon—the wilderness of the people (see D&C 64:22, 24). This sacrifice, which the Lord assuredly requires, has not changed from the beginning—it was the sacrifice required of Adam and, of increased meaning to those whose privilege it is to greet the Lord at His coming, it is the sacrifice required while it is called today. If the Lord has one’s heart and mind, it should be little more for Him to ask for a tenth of his increase, or even all that he possesses.
The question occupying every prophet who has written concerning the day of the Lord is "who shall abide it?" I do not think this question is rhetorical. One must genuinely wonder who shall escape the fire so intense that even the elements shall melt with fervent heat? Considering that "element is the tabernacle of God" (D&C 93:35), that "man is the tabernacle of God" (D&C 93:35), that "wickedness burns as a fire" (Isaiah 9:18-19), and that the "fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is" (1 Corinthians 3:9-16) suggests that few, indeed few, shall escape (see Isaiah 10:16-19, compare Isaiah 24:6). "Who shall abide the day?" is a most appropriate question. In reply, Joel cites the fast, or the afflicting of the soul, as the hallmark of all who shall abide the day:
Therefore also now, saith the LORD, turn ye even to me with all your heart, and with fasting, and with weeping, and with mourning:
And rend your heart, and not your garments, and turn unto the LORD your God: for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repenteth him of the evil.
And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be delivered. (Joel 2:13, 32)
Taken together, all the foregoing thoughts—1) a day of sacrifice, 2) a day of vengeance, 3) a day of fasting, 4) a day for the tithing of His people, and 5) the afflicting of the soul,—are elements of the authentic Day of Atonement. Regarding this day, the following scene is unfolded in a liturgical piece entitled UnetannehTokef ascribed to R. Amnon of Mayence. Passing under the rod is the central theme of this day:
God, seated on His throne to judge the world, at the same time Judge, Pleader, Expert, and Witness, openeth the Book of Records; it is read, every man's signature being found therein. The great trumpet is sounded; a still, small voice is heard; the angels shudder, saying, this is the day of judgment: for His very ministers are not pure before God. As a shepherd mustereth his flock, causing them to pass under his rod, so doth God cause every living soul to pass before Him to fix the limit of every creature's life and to foreordain its destiny. On New-Year’s Day (i.e., on the Feast of Trumpets, Rosh Hashanah) the decree is written; on the Day of Atonement it is sealed who shall live and who are to die, etc. But penitence, prayer, and charity may avert the evil decree. (see Jewish Encyclopedia, Day of Atonement).
Based on the foregoing, the unqualified declaration that "he that is tithed shall not be burned at his coming" should provide little "insurance" to the tithe-payer involved in sex-play or the one teeming with pride, for such would not possess the requisite heart and hands and would not, therefore, be marked as "holy unto the Lord." These, Ezekiel said, "shall not enter into the land of Israel." These rebels, the Lord affirmed in the latter-days, "shall be cut off out of the land of Zion, and shall be sent away, and shall not inherit the land. For, verily I say that the rebellious are not of the blood of Ephraim, wherefore they shall be plucked out." (D&C 64:37-38)
To be continue . . .
To be continue . . .
