Central Sanctuary or Local Settlement? The Location of the Triennial Tithe Declaration (Dtn 26,13–15)

Abstract

This reading of the text argues for the eventual presence of the Israelite farmer at the central sanctuary in connection with the triennial tithe. It derives from two curious and largely unremarked features of the pericope: first, the Israelite's declaration that he has »not eaten of the tithe while [he] was mourning« (Dtn 26,14) – meaningful if he has partaken of the tithe, but pointless if he had indeed set aside the whole of it for the poor, and secondly, his designation of what he has given away as the »sacred portion«, i.e. rather than the »tithe« (v. 13). These features can be understood on the basis of the implied direct object pronoun in v. 12 (»I have given to the Levite etc.«). Such an omission is fairly common in Biblical Hebrew, the identity of the missing object generally being inferred from the preceding context. Here, modern translations assume that the whole tithe is intended. There are cases, however, involving an uncountable noun, where the omitted object refers not to the whole of such an antecedent, but only to part. This syntactical feature of Biblical Hebrew thus allows the possibility that, while setting aside most (the »sacred portion«) of the tithe for the disadvantaged, the Israelite farmer retained some for his own consumption. The latter was not allowed in his home town (or while he was mourning), but, according to Dtn 12,17, must have taken place at the central sanctuary.