When Melchizedek appeared and offered Abram bread and wine and blessed him in the name of [[God]], tithes were exchanged. Some scholars note that this tithe was possibly rooted in a ten percent tax common in Babylonian culture at the time. In any case, the Biblical practice of tithing is rooted in this exchange between the prophet and patriarch Abraham and the priest-king Melchizidek, who is often interpreted as a type of Christ.