The prophets cry out all along the line against the greed and selfishness of the people. The captivity even did not burn out this root of evil, and Nehemiah is called upon to right the neglect of the command, “Honor the Lord with thy substance.” (Prov. 3:9.) He joins with the people in a determination to bring the first-fruits and the tithes unto the priests and Levites, that (Neh. 10:37, 38, 39) the “Levites might have the tithes in all the cities of our tillage.” “And the Levites shall bring up the tithe of the tithes unto the house of our God.” “And we will not forsake the house of our God.” But fickle Jewry was soon denying the charge of robbery at the mouth of Malachi who says: “Ye have robbed God in tithes and offerings and are cursed with a curse.” (Mal. 3:10.) “Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse,” that blessings, spiritual, temporal and national, may be poured out upon you. What Malachi denounced, Nehemiah rectified by one bold stroke. He gathered the Levites and singers from the fields, whither they had gone to earn a livelihood, and set them in their places. Once more the old order was restored, and it was true that all Judah (Neh. 13:12) “brought the tithe of the corn and the new wine and the oil unto the treasuries.” When the New Testament opens its pages of history we find the tithe principle very scrupulously observed by the “rigidly righteous,” and perhaps by a majority of the Jewish people. The 7th chapter of Hebrews makes use of the word tithe to show that the priesthood of Christ, who is after the order of Melchizedek, is superior to the priesthood of the Levites, because they in the loins of their father Abraham paid tithes to Melchizedek. Barring this chapter there are just six other places where the tenth, or tithe, occurs. Three of these (John 1:39; Rev. 11:13; 21:23) are simple numerals. Of the remaining three, two refer to the same incident as recorded in Matt. 23:23, and Luke 11:42. The well-known words of Matthew, who gives the fullest statement, are these: “Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye tithe mint and anise and cummin, and have left undone the weightier matters of the law, judgment, and mercy, and faith: but these ye ought to have done, and not to have left the other undone.” The other reference is equally well-known and occurs in the prayer of the Pharisee, who said, (Luke 18:12.) “I give tithes of all that I get.” The Revised Version is used in giving these quotations because it more correctly translates the verb in the first references which should also be translated “tithe” in the last reference, for the Greek verb is the same in all three. SECOND: The Extra-Biblical records have frequent references to the tithe, the number and extent of which can only be hinted at in the brief selections given.