At the end of every three years, bring all the tithes of that year’s produce and store it in your towns, so that the Levites (who have no allotment or inheritance of their own) and the foreigners, the fatherless and the widows who live in your towns may come and eat and be satisfied, and so that the LORD your God may bless you in all the work of your hands.
Deuteronomy 14:28-29 NIV
Ancient Israel was an agrarian society. A person’s wealth was in the land he owned and what he could produce from it. Many of the laws in the Torah dealt with land ownership and property rights.
However, people who did not own property often depended on others for survival. That included the four groups of people listed in this passage. Provision is made in the Torah for the support of the Levites. Their work was centered around the worship practices of Israel. And they were to be compensated for that from the annual tithes collected from those who owned land.
The other three groups, the foreigner, the orphan, and the widow, had no such provision. Not all foreigners, orphans, and widows were destitute. But many of them were, and they were dependent on the generosity of others. And God demonstrated his care and concern for the needy by instructing those with land to set aside a third of the tithe of the harvest to care for their needs.
The foreigner, the orphan, and the widow, at least in many parts of the world, have opportunities today that did not exist in ancient Israel. But there are still those within every society who, through no fault of their own, are dependent on other people for their survival. God still cares for the needy. And it is still good for us to share what we have with them. It is an act of love that will not be forgotten by our Father above.
