Increase” or “Income by G. B. THOMPSON

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Washington, D. C. · Nov 2, 1905

“Increase” or “Income”

By G. B. THOMPSON

THE study of the Sabbath-school lessons on the subject of tithes and offerings has done much to awaken an interest in this important duty. Some have written concerning the position taken in the lessons, that we should pay a tithe on our income, and cited us to Deut. 14:22, where it is stated that we should tithe the “increase of the seed.” It is possible that this same question may be in other minds, and may be used as an excuse for robbing God. A few thoughts concerning this matter may therefore be timely.

The claim that the tithe should be paid upon our increase turns upon the technical interpretation of a word used in one text, and leads to wrong conclusions. If we are to pay tithe only upon what we may have at the end of the year, known as “increase,” many will be entirely free from rendering to the Lord anything. But the tithing question is obligatory upon all.

The Standard Dictionary defines the word “income” as follows: “The amount of money coming to a person or corporation within a specified time or regularly (when unqualified, annually), whether as payment for services, interest, or profit from investment; revenue.”

“Increase” is defined thus: “To become greater, as in bulk, quantity, or number; grow or advance in value, power, or force; be added to or aggravated; multiply; wax; . . . that which is added; that by which anything is augmented.”

A man’s “increase” is understood to mean the amount he has this year more than last year. It is a surplus, what is left after his necessary expenditures for the year have been deducted. All can readily see that this may differ very materially from his income. “Income” is a person’s salary, or what “comes in.” A man may have a very liberal salary, and yet have no increase of wealth. This is true of many. Two persons may have an equal amount of income, and at the end of the year one may have saved from his earnings an increase, while the other has no increase. The one may have no increase because of large necessary expenses or through extravagance, while the other has an increase because his necessary expenses have been small, or he has been economical. According to the logic of those who hold to tithing on the increase, the extravagant liver would be free from paying tithes altogether, whereas the one who, because of his frugality, has a little left, must give the Lord a tenth of his savings. This is not a just nor a Scriptural conclusion.

But, says one, does not the text say the tithe is on the increase? Let us read it: “Thou shalt truly tithe all the increase of thy seed, that the field bringeth forth year by year.” Deut. 14:22. Notice what the text says. It does not say that we are to tithe our increase. It is the seed’s increase that is to be tithed. We are to tithe what is produced from the seed we sow. To illustrate: A farmer sows twenty bushels of wheat in his field, and at the end of the year reaps two hundred bushels. This two hundred bushels is the “increase” of the seed, and should be tithed, after deducting, of course, certain necessary expenses which may have been incurred in either planting or harvesting the crop, of which we can not now speak particularly. A man plants a bushel of potatoes, and digs ten, twenty, or more bushels. The seed has increased to this amount, and he should tithe it. The Lord’s portion comes first, and we are to live, buy clothing, pay tuition for our children’s schooling, and the like, from what is left. We must not confound the increase, or production of the seed we sow, with what we have left at the end of the year. A man might have a bountiful crop, an abundant increase from the seed sown, and have no surplus at the end of the year.

The word here translated “increase” is the Hebrew word “tebuah,” and is defined by Dr. Young in his Analytical Concordance as “fruit,” making the text read, “Thou shalt surely tithe all the fruit of thy seed.” The Jewish Translation, by Rabbi Leeser, renders the text thus: “Thou shalt surely tithe all the produce of thy seed, which the field bringeth forth year by year.” The German renders it: “Thou shalt tithe all the income of thy seed.” The French rendering is “produce,” and the Italian is “all the returns of thy seed.”

This text, rightly understood, therefore, in no way contradicts Lev. 27:28-29; 2 Chron. 31:4-6; Num. 18:21, and others, which call for a tithe of all the seed, fruit, herd, and flock. The Saviour said that the Pharisees, who were so strict in tithing that they did not overlook the mint, anise, and cummin, did right in the matter. And surely if a proud, bigoted, hypocritical Pharisee should pay his tithe, those who believe that the end of all earthly things is at hand should do so. The Lord did not institute the tithing system because he was in need of money, for he could make the stones by the roadside nuggets of gold; but knowing the nature of the deceitful, covetous heart of man, he commanded it to help us. In the faithful performance of this duty there is a great blessing.

G. B. THOMPSON.