Your original premise on the tithe was accurate; the command to tithe was part of the Old Testament and not a New Testament command. However, rather unfortunately much of today’s church love to revive aspects of the law when it suits them.

The mindset that the church you attend is the storehouse being referred to in the book of Malachi and thus one’s tithe has to be paid there is very, very unscriptural. And the tithes collected in the Old Testament benefitted everyone in ancient Israel including the giver.

Without properly examining every instance of tithing in scripture, one’s conclusion is bound to be faulty and very unscriptural. For starters the bible never calls the tithe 10% but the tenth part of agricultural produce and livestock. And this simply means that the Old Testament tithe was determined by grouping agricultural produce into 10 equal parts and the tenth part separated as the tithe. For animals every tenth animal was separated as the tithe. If one did not have up to 10 animals one could not tithe.

And this was not because money was not available; on the contrary, money was available. As you could buy back your tithe by paying its value plus 20%. This will make no sense if you can tithe money. One could also convert one’s tithes into money if the place for the tithing banquet was too far and spend every single cent on anything one liked.

The Old Testament tithes were never used for temple maintenance instead it was used to feed the Levites, strangers, orphans, widows and it was used to fund the national feasts. Everyone in ancient Israel benefitted from it, including the giver.

Lastly, tithing and giving are not the same thing. the Old Testament tithe was the system of taxation for ancient Israel and this is akin to the taxes we pay to our respective government. When it comes to giving, God does not stipulate the New Testament church give a 10% minimum. Instead are encouraged to give anything we can afford.

God bless.