Jacob and His Tithe Vow

The next mention of a tithe in the Bible comes at Genesis 28:13-22:

13 And, behold, the Lord stood above it, and said, I am the Lord God of Abraham thy father, and the God of Isaac: the land whereon thou liest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed; 14 And thy seed shall be as the dust of the earth, and thou shalt spread abroad to the west, and to the east, and to the north, and to the south: and in thee and in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed. 15 And, behold, I am with thee, and will keep thee in all places whither thou goest, and will bring thee again into this land; for I will not leave thee, until I have done that which I have spoken to thee of. 16 And Jacob awaked out of his sleep, and he said, Surely the Lord is in this place; and I knew it not. 17 And he was afraid, and said, How dreadful is this place! this is none other but the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven. 18 And Jacob rose up early in the morning, and took the stone that he had put for his pillows, and set it up for a pillar, and poured oil upon the top of it. 19 And he called the name of that place Bethel: but the name of that city was called Luz at the first. 20 And Jacob vowed a vow, saying, If God will be with me, and will keep me in this way that I go, and will give me bread to eat, and raiment to put on, 21 So that I come again to my father's house in peace; then shall the Lord be my God: 22 And this stone, which I have set for a pillar, shall be God's house: and of all that thou shalt give me I will surely give the tenth unto thee.

The first thing I take away from this comes in the last three verses, 20-22, and how Jacob did not trust God to fulfill the promises that He made to him in verses 13-15. God, in verses 13-15 of Genesis chapter 28 made six very clear promises to Jacob. He promised Jacob that He would:

1). Give to Jacob the land upon which he had lain,
2). That his seed would be great in number,
3). That all the families on the earth would be blessed through his seed,
4). That He would remain with Jacob,
5). That in all his journeys God would keep Jacob safe, and
6). That Jacob would return to this land where he had lain.

Great promises from a great God. How did Jacob respond? What was his reply? Well in verses 17-19 we see that he responded in fear and erected a pillar and called the name of that place Bethel.

Jacob then goes and makes a conditional vow with God in verses 20-21. the "ifs" in these passages help us to see and understand that Jacob did not believe the promises of God and that his vow to tithe upon the fulfillment of these conditions was not a pre-existent form of the tithe given under the Mosaic law.

Let's look at Jacobs four "ifs":

1). IF God will stay with Jacob,
2). IF God will keep him safe on his current journey,
3). IF God will provide him with food and clothes, and
4). IF Jacobs returns to his fathers house in peace.

Notice, in verses 13-15 how God had promised and how Jacob responded. God says what He is going to do, and Jacob, in his fear and lack of trust responds with conditional "ifs."

After the "ifs" Jacob included a "then" part to his vow. IF God did the four things we saw above, THEN:

1). The Lord shall be his God,
2). the pillar would be God's house, and
3). Jacob will give a tenth back to God of all that shall give him.

In other words, and contrary to what we here about tithing today, Jacob was not going to tithe UNTIL God FIRST had met his conditions, the very promises that God made to Jacob in a dream.

Looking at all the above, I have concluded that Jacobs vow to tithe referred to a one time gift to God from Jacob based upon God first meeting conditions to provide for Jacob and is not a promise of perpetual action.

I do have some questions from this passage.

1). Did Jacob vow to tithe on everything he had gathered in his lifetime, or just from the land that God had promised him and his descendants?

2). Where do see that Jacob honored his vow?

3) Did Jacob ever receive this promised land?

4). If he did tithe, to whom did Jacob give these tithes?

5). Should we follow Jacob's example and only tithe after God has met our conditions?