In the Old Testament it was the people's job to give alms to the poor every three years.
A tenth of a tithe was meant to go to the Levites and then the Levites were supposed to tithe to the Lord. Very interesting how this worked. They were supposed to be so prosperous that even though the Levites would give 10% they would still have enough. But the Israelites screwed that up by disobeying God. World can't learn from its mistakes.
