The Tithes That Bind

Abstract

This chapter explores the grammatical problem caused by the exchange of goods, commonly interpreted as a tithe, in Gen. 14:20. The chapter argues that the unstated direction of the exchange should actually be from Melchizedek to Abram (contra traditional Jewish and Christian interpretation) and that the exchange should not be viewed in a cultic setting as a tithe but as a part of the negotiation of the exchange of goods and people that immediately follows between Abram and the king of Sodom. This chapter argues that one motivation for understanding the exchange of goods as a tithe and of the reversal of direction of the exchange to one from Abram to Melchizedek was to establish a biblical precedent of tithing to Jerusalem priests by none other than Abram himself.