Genesis 28:21

Then shall the Lord be my God.

The Speaker's Commentary renders the whole passage: "If God will be with me and keep me in the way that. go, and will give me bread to eat, and raiment to put on, and. come again in peace to my father's house, and if the LORD will be my God, then shall this stone, which. have set up for. pillar, be the house of God, and of all that thou givest me the tenth will. give surely unto thee." Adam Clarke holds that Jacob made this covenant for himself and his posterity, and that he binds his posterity to build and maintain the house of God and give. tenth of all they received for its support. God had not demanded any such pledge, but it comes from the promptings of. grateful heart. Abraham, before this, had paid tithes to Melchizedek. After him, Jacob is the first of whom we have record who solemnly devoted one-tenth of his income to the service of the Lord. We have in these two examples. proof that the duty of paying tenths was recognized before the Mosaic law was established.