Should we tithe anything if we are unemployed?

[zijincheng]

I'm preparing a Bible study on tithing, and one of the questions I would like answered is whether or not we should tithe if we currently are unemployed and have zero income from any source, and have tithed 10% of all previous income.

Are there any biblical references as to whether we have to or not?

 

[sdowney717]

Typically a tithe is a tenth of the increase, of what is coming into your household.
Then there are the free will offerings.

Exodus 35:29New King James Version (NKJV)

29 The children of Israel brought a freewill offering to the Lord, all the men and women whose hearts were willing to bring material for all kinds of work which the Lord, by the hand of Moses, had commanded to be done.

Deuteronomy 14:22 [ Tithing Principles ]

“You shall truly tithe all the increase of your grain that the field produces year by year.

Genesis 14:20

And blessed be God Most High, Who has delivered your enemies into your hand.” And he gave him a tithe of all.

This is part of the law, so don't get legalistic about tithes.

 

[sdowney717]

Here is another good one showing the 'tithe of your increase'

If you have no increase, then don't be concerned about tithing, otherwise you performing a decimation, loosing a tenth. But if you feel led to give something, then do so as a free will offering. It is all the Lord's regardless. Tithing was a response to being blessed with an increase. I have given my time to helping others save them money and I like to think that is acceptable as a good work.
You can still be a blessing to someone else, if you dont have money to give, share with them what you have.

Deuteronomy 26:12

“When you have finished laying aside all the tithe of your increase in the third year—the year of tithing—and have given it to the Levite, the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow, so that they may eat within your gates and be filled,