Tithes

(Deuteronomy 14:22 - 14:29)
“Each year you must set aside as a tithe a tenth of the crops you harvest.  So that you may learn to always revere Jehovah your god, bring your tithes, the grain, new wine, and olive oil, and the first born of your flocks and herds, to the place designated by Jehovah your god as the habitation where his name is honored and eat there before the altar of Jehovah your god.  When you are blessed with a good harvest, but the designated place of worship is too far away for you to bring your tithe, then you may exchange your crops and livestock for silver, and carry the silver with you to place of worship that has been chosen by Jehovah your god.  There you may exchange the silver for whatever food and drink you may desire, beef or mutton, wine or liquor.  You and your household should eat and drink before the altar of Jehovah your god and rejoice.  (And don't neglect the Levites that live in your towns, for they have no allotment of land among you.)

"Every third year bring all of your produce constituting your tithe for that year to the nearest town where it can be stored, so that the Levites (who have no land or inheritance of their own), resident aliens, orphans and widows who live in the towns may eat their fill  -- for which Jehovah your god will bless you in all you may undertake."

Notes
1. The tithe, the one-tenth of produce, is not a tax to support the "church" as is the modern tithe. The tithe, though, is Jehovah's share, but his worshipers are the ones who consume it.  The impression here is that of people bringing food to the place of Jehovan worship and having a picnic.  It would seem, though, that one tenth of one's produce would furnish far more than a good family meal.  What happens to the rest of the tithe?  Every third year the tithe goes to the local Levites and to the poor, widows and orphans -- who every three years can have a good meal!

2. If one lives too far away from the nearest place of worship to transport the produce meant for the tithe, it can be exchanged for silver and the silver brought to the place of worship to buy food there.  One gets the impression the authors are speaking about silver coins used as currency.  This is highly anachronistic.  Coins would not be invented for more than a half a millennium after Moses and were only commonly used by the 6th Century BC, about the time when most of the Bible was actually written. Moses/Jehovah is way ahead of his time.