And he will take the tenth of your seed
When grown up and ripe, as their wheat and barley:
and of your vineyards;
the tenth of the grapes they should produce:
and give to his officers, and to his servants;
for the support and maintenance of them; and to pay this, besides
the tithes of the priests and Levites, would make it very
burdensome to them; and this was no other than what kings of
other nations usually had, the like to whom they were desirous of
having, and therefore must expect that they would insist upon the
privileges and revenues that others had. In Babylon, as Aristotle
F7 relates, there was an ancient law
which required the tenth of whatever was imported for the public
revenue, which was revived in the times of Alexander by Antimenes
the Rhodian. In Arabia Felix was an island abounding with
frankincense and myrrh, and various spices, the tenth of the
fruits of which the king always had, as Diodorus Siculus
F8 reports, as in the Apocrypha:
``And as for other things that belong unto us, of the tithes and customs pertaining unto us, as also the saltpits, and the crown taxes, which are due unto us, we discharge them of them all for their relief.'' (1 Maccabees 11:35)
F7 Oeconomic. l. 2. p. 283.
F8 Bibliothec. l. 5. p. 317.