Deuteronomy 14

The chapter today covers two subjects. The first was a simple recap of what was and was not okay for the Israelites to eat; nothing new there. The second paragraph talked about the practice of tithing, as the Israelites knew it, and it seems to have been quite different from what we do today. It appears, if I understand things correctly, that they were to actually partake in consuming their tithe - whereas today it is a gift we give to the Lord's work. At the same time, it also looks like every three years they were to give it to those among them who had no other source of food; I wonder if they did that with the parts of the normal yearly tithe which they couldn't eat by themselves (I can't imagine any farmer - even with his family - eating a full ten percent of his crops each year in one sitting).