2. The priestly tithe, also called tithe of the tithe O'^.'-i/T^ "'b?.^; "'b>:2n I"? "'bS'P, Numb, xviii, 26); the heave-offering of the tithe C^bi'O r''3^~Pl), cnrap- ■)(>)Q ciTTapxi] (Philo, De Nom. Mut.), or StvTspn^eicarai (Jerome, on Ezek. xlv'). This tithe had to be sepa- rated by the Levite from the tenth he had received from the Israelite. It had to be given to the priests in Jerusalem (Neh. x, 38) before the Levite could use the rate paid to him. It had, inoreover, to be a tenth part of the very tithe which the Levites received, and was therefore subject to the same laws and regulations to which the Levitical tithe was subject. After the Bab- ylonian captivity, when the Levitical tithe was divid- ed (see below), this so-called tithe of tithes necessarily ceased. Hence the priests, instead of receiving a tenth of the Levitical tithe as heretofore, took their share di- rectly from the people (Heb. vii. 5). See Scribe.
3. The second tithe ("^ib "itZ3J;"2, SevripoSdcdri]). This festival tithe could not be sold, nor given or re- ceived as a pledge, nor used as weight, nor exchanged.
TITHE
435
TITHE
but might be given away as a present (]\Tishna, Mauser Sheni,i, 1). 11' the distance to the national sanctuary was so great as to preclude the possibility of convej'ing it in kind, it might be converted into specie, and the money could only be expended in the metropolis in or- dinary articles of food, drink, and ointment for the fes- tival meals or festival sacritices which were eaten at these social repasts (D"'72'Pir "^n^T, /to/, i, 7; iii,2; Cha- fjigah, i, 3). There were storehouses (n'iDTI,"?, ni^JIN) in one part of the Temple, under the superintendence of priests and Levites, in which the tithe was kept (2 Chron. xxxi, 11-14; Neh. x, 38, 39; xii, 44; xiii, 12; Josephus, Ant. xx, 8, 8).
4. The triennial, or 2wor, tithe (*^5i^ "il^"^, tttw^o^e- Karai), also called the third tithe {'^'C'O'O "Xp"^, i) rpi- Ti] ctKari], Tobit i, 7 ; Joseph us, .1 nt. i v, 8, 22), aiul the sec- ond tithe {StvTtpov iTTiSi-KaTov, Sept., Deut. xxvi, 12), because it was properly the second titlie converted into the poor tithe, to be given to and consinned by the poor at home, instead of conveying it to the metropolis to be eaten by the owner. As every seventh year was a fal- low year not yielding a regular harvest, it was enacted that the second tithe should be eaten in Jerusalem by the owner tliereof and bis guests in the first, second, fourth, and fifth years of the septennial cycle, and be given to the poor in the third and seventh years. It will thus be seen that the whole series of taxes reached its completion at the end of every tliird and seventh year, or on the eve of Passover of the fourth and sev- enth years. Hence it is that the third j'ear is denomi- nated the year of tithe ("ib"^n ~yii) — i. e. when all the tithes had taken their rounds (Ueut. xxvi, 12), and not because, as some critics will have it, the annual tithe of the earlier legislator was afterwards changed by the Deuteronomist into a triennial tithe. Hence, too, the spiritual heads of the Jewish people in and be- fore the time of Christ constituted and denominated the Preparation Day of Passover of the fourth and seventh years a day of searching and removal ("i1"3) in accord- ance with Deut. xxvi, 12 (jMishna, Maaser Sheni, v, 6), when every Israelite had to separate all the tithes which he ought to have paid in the course of the three years, but wliich, either through negligence or through some untoward circumstances, he had failed to tlo. At the evening sacrifice on the last day of Passover, every pilgrim, before prejiaring to return home, had to oifer a prayer of confession, in accordance with ver. 13. As this confession ("^m) is an expansion and tradition- al exposition of ver. 13-1.5, which accounts for the Chal- dee and other versions of the passage in question, we give it entire: "I have removed the hallowed things from the house" (i.e. the second tithe and the quadren- nial fruit [Lev. xix, 23. etc.])*. ''have given it to the hevite" (i. e. tiie Levitical tithe); "and also given it" (i. e. the priestly offering and the priestly tithe) " to the stranger, to the fatherless, and to the widow" (i. e. the poor tithe). . . "from the house" (i. e. from the dough [comp. Numb, xv, 17, etc.]) " according to all thy com- mandments which thou hast commanded me" (i. e. not given tiie second tithe before the first). "I have not transgressed thy commandments" (i. e. not paid one kind for the otlier, the cut for the standing, the stand- ing for the cut, the new for the old, nor the old for the new). " I have not forgotten" (i. e. to thank thee and to remember thy name thereby). " I have not eaten thereof in my mourning ... I have not given thereof to the dead" (i. e. for coffins, shrouds, or mourners). " I have hearkened to the voice of the Lord my (iod" (i. e. have taken it to the chosen sanctuary). " I have done all that thou hast commanded me" (i. e. have rejoiced and caused others to rejoice therewith), etc. (Mishna, Afaaser Sheni, v, 10-13). In the two years of the sep- tennial cycle, when the second tithe was converted into the poor tithe, there was no additional second tithe, in-