I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Deuteronomy 14-17.

When he commanded the Israelites to give a tenth of their produce to God, he told them that, if they lived too far from the central place of worship to transport their tithe there, they could sell their tithe and take the money there.  When they got to the central place of worship they could buy whatever food or drink they wished and celebrate their offering with that.  However, the part which stood out to me was that every three years they were to store their tithe in the nearest town and give it to the Levites, the foreigners living among them, orphans, and widows.  Basically, every third year they were to use their tithe to support those who had no other means of support.

Another interesting practice laid out here was debt forgiveness.  They were to forgive the debts of those to whom they had loaned money every seven years.  In addition, they were to help those among them who had fallen on hard times.  Moses instructed the Israelites to give generously to the poor among them.  I want to make note that there was no suggestion that this giving should be managed by the government.  It was something which each individual Israelite was obligated to do.  Related to that was how they were to treat their slaves.  Every seven years they were to set free any of their fellow Israelites who had become their slaves.  And they were not just to set them free, but to provide them with the means to support themselves.