MALACHI 3:8-12
8 Will a man rob God?
Yet ye have robbed me. But ye say, Wherein have we robbed
thee? In tithes and offerings. 9 Ye
are cursed with a curse: for ye have robbed me, even this
whole nation. 10 Bring ye all the tithes into the
storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith,
saith the LORD of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour
you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to
receive it. 11 And I will rebuke
the devourer for your sakes, and he shall not destroy the fruits of your
ground; neither shall your vine cast her fruit before the time in the
field, saith the LORD of hosts. 12 And
all nations shall call you blessed: for ye shall be a delightsome land,
saith the LORD of hosts.
In this essay I shall endeavor to
show that the central scripture many use to justify Christians’ tithing today,
Malachi 3:8-12, is not a message to the Christian church redeemed by the blood
of Jesus Christ. I shall be showing that this scripture is an extension of the
Mosaic Laws, laws that Christians are not obligated to keep in a dispensation
of grace, and that anyone who tries to tithe as instructed in Malachi 3 is
bringing himself under the curse of the law and if he does not keep all the law
in the process, he has broken the law and is cursed rather than blessed. I will
conclude by showing that those really robbing God are people who teach a
concept of “monetary” tithing, saying that Christians must give a tenth of
their income to churches – a doctrine that is no where taught in the whole
bible.
Deuteronomy 26
Malachi 3 is not the first time God
will be speaking about tithes in the Old Testament. Indeed when God gave the
laws to Moses He gave clear cut instructions as to what the tithe was to be and
whom it was to be given to in the books of Moses. One passage that is very
similar to the Malachi 3: 8-12 passage is Deuteronomy 26:12-15:
12 When thou hast made an end
of tithing all the tithes of thine increase the third year, which is the
year of tithing, and hast given it unto the Levite, the stranger, the
fatherless, and the widow, that they may eat within thy gates, and be
filled; 13 Then thou shalt say before the
LORD thy God, I have brought away the hallowed things out of mine house,
and also have given them unto the Levite, and unto the stranger, to the
fatherless, and to the widow, according to all thy commandments which thou hast
commanded me: I have not transgressed thy commandments, neither have I
forgotten them: 14 I have not eaten
thereof in my mourning, neither have I taken away ought thereof for any
unclean use, nor given ought thereof for the dead: but
I have hearkened to the voice of the LORD my God, and have done
according to all that thou hast commanded me. 15 Look
down from thy holy habitation, from heaven, and bless thy people Israel, and
the land which thou hast given us, as thou swarest unto our fathers, a land
that floweth with milk and honey.
Two things can be seen from this
passage: 1. The fact that the tithe was an hallowed thing. 2. The fact that in
giving it the people could ask and trust God for a blessing. These two points
run parallel with the issues God spoke of in Malachi 3 when he said that the
people had robbed Him and that if they gave the tithes they will experience a
blessing. The Deuteronomy 26 passage shows us that the commandment to tithe is
under the Law of Moses. God had spoken of the tithe being His (Leviticus 27:30).
So if anyone kept the tithe and not give it, he was keeping a hallowed thing
that belonged to God in his house and thereby robbing God. If however he gave
these tithes, he would be giving away God’s property and will be blessed in
doing this.
Why then are Christians not obligated
to do this? Because of what the tithe consisted of, whom the tithe was to be
given to and where the tithe was to be taken to. In Leviticus 27:30-33, still
under Moses’ laws, God spoke about the tithe for the first time. And in the
process he told Israel what the tithe was to consist of. The tithe was to be
“seed of the land”, “fruit of the tree” and the tenth of the herd. He went on
in Numbers 18:21 to tell us whom the tithe was to be given to: it was to be
given to the Levites who had no inheritance in Israel. The Lord was their
inheritance and he had given them His tithe to inherit. When the Levites
received the tithes, they in turn gave a tithe of the tithe to the Priests
(Numbers 18:26). So when the Levites and Priests have been provided for with
food, they would not have to go to their farms but would rather focus on
performing their religious duties so that the worship of Jehovah in Israel will
not suffer. One other point about the true tithe was that it was to be taken to
the temple in Israel where the Levites and Priests operated. It is clear from
all these that the tithes were agricultural product or “food” or “meat” as God
Himself mentioned in Malachi 3, and not money. It is also clear that the tithe
was to be given to Levites and not Pastors. And lastly it is clear that the
tithe was to be taken to the temple and not churches.
Thus if Malachi 3:8-12 must be read
in its true context it would be understood that that passage was a message to
the Jewish church. A people who had just returned from captivity and after an
initial time of revival under Ezra and Nehemiah, these people were becoming
backslidden in their commitment to their religion, which was Judaism. Because
the tithe, or food, was not coming into the temple as it should, the Levites
and Priests were abandoning their duty posts and the religious life of the
nation was suffering. God was calling them to bring the tithes and offerings to
the temple so that religious life could be revived again. It was a clear word
of instruction to the Jewish church and not an instruction to the Christian
church. It is a part of the bible and Christians can learn the spiritual lessons
of ensuring that they give to support Christian works wherever they can and
that if they do not do so, such works will suffer; just as apostle Paul
instructed us to do in 1 Corinthians 9. But to literally interpret Malachi 3:
8-10 as an instruction to Christians to pay 10% of their income to Churches and
Pastors is to do injustice to scriptures as it is clear that there are hundreds
of other old testament scripture that cannot be interpreted literally in this
manner (we shall be looking at an example in Haggai later in the essay).
2 Chronicles 31
In the light of discussing Malachi 3,
it is pertinent that we study this passage. This period is the time King
Hezekiah ruled Judah. Israel and Judah had, prior to this time, backslidden. When
Hezekiah came to the throne, he introduced religious reforms and encouraged
Judah to serve God. He even went beyond his borders to call Israel, a nation
not directly under his jurisdiction, but that was also in covenant with God, to
return to the God of their fathers. The chapter opens with the people of Israel
destroying all forms of idolatry in their country. Hezekiah then restores
temple worship and encourages the Levites and Priests to return to their duty
posts. To ensure they had sustenance, Hezekiah did this: “4 Moreover
he commanded the people that dwelt in Jerusalem to give the portion of the
priests and the Levites, that they might be encouraged in the law of the LORD.”
The result was dramatic: the people responded immediately. They brought
in offerings, first fruits and tithes. This went on from the third month until
the seventh month. By the end of it all, a heap of food had piled up on the
streets of Jerusalem; it was awesome. To ensure that the heap of food do not
rot away on the streets, the King instructed that chambers were built in the
temple to store these food items away. This is the origin of the “storehouse”
God was speaking about in Malachi 3. It was first built under the reign of
Hezekiah to store food items that the people brought as their tithes and
offerings.
This shows the exact opposite of what
was happening in Malachi 3. In 2 Chronicles 31, religious reforms were taking
place and the result was that people obeyed the mosaic injunctions that
commanded them to give tithes and offerings. In Malachi 3 the people had
backslidden and the result was that the people did not bring tithes and
offerings. What can be gleaned from all of this is the thesis I have been
pursuing from the beginning of this essay which is that the commandment to give
tithes in the bible is from the Mosaic laws and this is what Malachi 3 was
reiterating. It is clear from the New Testament that Christians are not
obligated to keep Moses’ laws (Hebrew 8:13; Romans 10:4). The next thing we
must see from this passage is that tithes were never money but rather food
items – “meat”. There is more than enough evidence to show that the Old
Testament folks used money for various transaction but tithes were never given
as money. The next thing we must see here is that tithing was a religious
ordinance was inseparable from the temple and those who worked in it – the
priests and Levites. The fact that Christians are the temple of the living God
and the New Testament does not recognize church buildings as temples of worship
points to another reason why we should not be tithing. It is abundantly clear
that gentile Pastors are not Levites and Christians are not under any such
obligation to give to churches or Pastors.
Nehemiah 10
In this passage of scripture Israel
had just returned from captivity and religious life was being revived again.
This is a period that is just preceding the period in which Malachi
prophesied. The following events will
help us understand the true biblical tithe:
32 Also we made ordinances for
us, to charge ourselves yearly with the third part of a shekel for the service
of the house of our God; 33 For the
showbread, and for the continual meat offering, and for the continual burnt
offering, of the sabbaths, of the new moons, for the set feasts, and for the holy
things, and for the sin offerings to make an atonement for Israel, and for
all the work of the house of our God. 34 And
we cast the lots among the priests, the Levites, and the people, for the wood
offering, to bring it into the house of our God, after the houses of our
fathers, at times appointed year by year, to burn upon the altar of the LORD
our God, as it is written in the law: 35 And
to bring the firstfruits of our ground, and the firstfruits of all fruit of all
trees, year by year, unto the house of the LORD: 36 Also
the firstborn of our sons, and of our cattle, as it is written in the
law, and the firstlings of our herds and of our flocks, to bring to the house
of our God, unto the priests that minister in the house of our God: 37 And that we should bring the firstfruits of
our dough, and our offerings, and the fruit of all manner of trees, of wine and
of oil, unto the priests, to the chambers of the house of our God; and
the tithes of our ground unto the Levites, that the same Levites might have the
tithes in all the cities of our tillage. 38 And
the priest the son of Aaron shall be with the Levites, when the Levites take
tithes: and the Levites shall bring up the tithe of the tithes unto the
house of our God, to the chambers, into the treasure house.
Many things can be learnt from this
passage. One of them is the fact the tithe is the product of the laws of Moses.
The other thing is the fact that tithes and firstfruits were different items
but were both food items (first fruits could also be first off strings of man and animals that were dedicated to God). We see here that the tithes were to be given to the Levites
and the Levites in turn gave a tithe of the tithes they received to the Priest.
We see here that the tithes received by the Priests were what are stored in the
chambers or treasure house or storehouse (as Malachi called it). From this
passage, some have come to the conclusion that if there was no food in the
storehouse, it was because the Levites and Priests were not remitting the
tithes they were receiving. This is true in a sense but looking at it strictly,
we realize that the items in the storehouse were not tithes alone. There were
offerings, firstfruits and dedicated things in the storehouse. So Malachi 3
should be seen in a general context of God rebuking the whole nation for
backsliding and not keeping the laws of Moses that required people to give to
temple. Everyone was guilty.
However, this does not subtract from
the point I am trying to make here which is that the injunction in Malachi 3
was a message to the Jewish church and not to the Christian church, as many of
the practices mentioned here, if related to other Old Testament scriptures, are
practices under the Mosaic laws – laws that Christians are not obligated to
keep.
Incidentally, by the end of the book
of Nehemiah, Israel was again reneging on its obligation to give tithes and
offerings and the Priest and Levites had to return to the field to fend for
themselves:
10 And I perceived that the
portions of the Levites had not been given them: for the Levites
and the singers, that did the work, were fled every one to his
field. 11 Then contended I with the
rulers, and said, Why is the house of God forsaken? And I gathered them
together, and set them in their place. 12 Then
brought all Judah the tithe of the corn and the new wine and the oil unto the
treasuries – Nehemiah 13.
Thankfully, Nehemiah saw that this
error or anomaly was corrected in his time. It is not difficult then to reason
that following Nehemiah’s governance, the nation of Israel would again have
reneged in their duty to give the tithes and offerings, and the Levites and
Priest must have returned to the fields. So that God would have to speak
through Malachi that the tithes and offerings be brought to the temple.
All of these lend credence to our
earlier theses that the passage in Malachi 3 is a message to the Jewish church
under the Mosaic law and not a message to the Christian church.
Haggai 1
It is interesting to note that in the
days in which Malachi prophesied there was another prophet of God who was
speaking to the nation of Israel. Let us refer to this passage in Haggai 1:
3 Then came the word of the
LORD by Haggai the prophet, saying, 4 Is it
time for you, O ye, to dwell in your ceiled houses, and this house lie
waste? 5 Now therefore thus saith the LORD
of hosts; Consider your ways. 6 Ye
have sown much, and bring in little; ye eat, but ye have not
enough; ye drink, but ye are not filled with drink; ye clothe you,
but there is none warm; and he that earneth wages earneth wages to put
it into a bag with holes. 7 Thus
saith the LORD of hosts; Consider your ways. 8 Go up to the mountain, and bring wood, and build the
house; and I will take pleasure in it, and I will be glorified, saith the
LORD. 9 Ye looked for much, and, lo, it
came to little; and when ye brought it home, I did blow upon
it. Why? saith the LORD of hosts. Because of mine
house that is waste, and ye run every man unto his own
house. 10 Therefore the heaven over
you is stayed from dew, and the earth is stayed from her
fruit. 11 And I called for a drought
upon the land, and upon the mountains, and upon the corn, and upon the new
wine, and upon the oil, and upon that which the ground bringeth forth,
and upon men, and upon cattle, and upon all the labour of the hands.
Here God is speaking to the nation of
Israel trough Haggai. His grouse with them is not tithes and offerings but the
building of the temple. The people understood that the temple was their
national figure and unlike David who was earnest about erecting this temple,
the people of Haggai’s days were not enthusiastic at all. They had returned
from captivity and everyone was building his own house. God comes to them and
instructs them to build the temple. He shows them that it is because they have
refused to build the temple that they had not experienced His blessings. In the
following chapter, we see that the people heeded Haggai words, built the temple
and God was pleased with them and promised to bless them.
It is clear to any unprejudiced mind
to see that this chapter of scripture was directed at a people in a particular
period of time in their national life. The temple needed to be built for their
religious life to resume; no temple, no worship. The point I am trying to make
here is that when the Christian church reads this passage, it can see clearly
that this message was not a message for the church. God never breathes down any
one’s neck today to go and build a church; and church building is not a
perquisite for blessings. Why do we not take Haggai 1, which has almost the
same tenure as with Malachi 3, as a message to the church? The answer is simple:
it is easy to see the context in which Haggai 1 was written. The next question
then is: why do we not try to see Malachi 3 in the same context when we realize
that these were two different messages sent to the same people by the same God?
Could it be that our pursuit of pecuniary gain has made us blind to Malachi 3
while we see Haggai 1 clearly in its true context?
It is clear from these two passages
of scriptures that biblical interpretation must be seen first in its true
context. Who was the message originally meant for? What were the circumstances
around them at that time? Is it a message that can equally be relayed to the
Christian church or it is a message that is unique to Israel alone? Only when
we can answer these questions adequately, can we truly make correct biblical
interpretations. It is clear that just as it was in Haggai 1, so also was it in
Malachi 3. It is clear from Malachi 3 and Haggai 1, that the message from these
prophets were to Israel and not the church. The circumstance around those times
shows a people under the law and who had just returned from captivity; they
were backslidden and God was calling them back to true religious worship. It is
therefore clear that the messages here are not instructions to the Christian
church but messages to the Jewish church.
Colosians 2:16
16 Let no man therefore judge
you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or
of the sabbath days: 17 Which are a
shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ. 18 Let no man beguile you of your reward in a voluntary
humility and worshipping of angels, intruding into those things which he hath
not seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind, 19 And
not holding the Head, from which all the body by joints and bands having
nourishment ministered, and knit together, increaseth with the increase of
God. 20 Wherefore if ye be dead with
Christ from the rudiments of the world, why, as though living in the world, are
ye subject to ordinances, 21 (Touch not;
taste not; handle not; 22 Which all
are to perish with the using;) after the commandments and doctrines of
men? 23 Which things have indeed a show of
wisdom in will worship, and humility, and neglecting of the body; not in
any honour to the satisfying of the flesh.
Colosians 2:16 commands us not to
allow anyone to judge us in regards to meat, drink, holy days, new moons, Sabbaths,
etc. These things were a shadow but we have the reality in Christ. While “meat” refers to what we eat,
especially the Jewish injunction that they should not eat some animals, we
realize that it was “meat” God mentioned in Malachi 3 and requested to be made
available in the temple. It is safe to conclude that the “meat” mentioned in
Colosians 2:16 must be all encompassing: thus including, meat sacrifices, meat
eaten, meat given – which is tithes. In Nehemiah 10:33, the very list of items
Paul is showing us in Colosians 2:16 are shadows of a reality in Christ, are
the things the Jews were enumerating as their means of worshipping God:
32 Also we made ordinances for
us, to charge ourselves yearly with the third part of a shekel for the service
of the house of our God; 33 For the showbread, and for the continual meat
offering, and for the continual burnt offering, of the sabbaths, of the new
moons, for the set feasts, and for the holy things, and for the sin
offerings to make an atonement for Israel, and for all the work of the
house of our God. - Nehemiah 10
It was in this passage the Jews
mentioned tithes to be given to the Levites. It is very clear that if these
other items are shadow of the reality in Christ, so also is the tithe. How the
giving of tithes is singled out of a list of other Jewish practices that
included the keeping of Sabbath, new moon, giving of first fruits, burnt
offering, animal sacrifices, etc, can only be explained by modern day tithe merchants.
Right after Jesus’ resurrection, the
apostles began to come to grasp with the fact that there has been a
dispensational change of events in God’s dealing with all of humanity. It is
the same God but who is using different means to bring about his purposes.
First, Apostle Peter had a strange encounter with animals in a vision in Acts
10. God instructs Peter to kill and eat animals that naturally would have been
forbidden under Moses’ laws. Peter replies he could not do it. Eventually he
came to understand that the gospel had been sent to the gentiles and not to
Jews alone. The man who would herald this gospel to the gentile, the Apostle
Paul himself, helps us to comprehend this dispensational change in his numerous
epistles written in the New Testament. The theme of one of them, Galatians, was
Justification by Faith and not justification by the law. Hear Paul:
1 O foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you, that ye should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been evidently set forth, crucified among you? 2 This only would I learn of you, Received ye the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith? 3 Are ye so foolish? having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh? 4 Have ye suffered so many things in vain? if it be yet in vain. 5 He therefore that ministereth to you the Spirit, and worketh miracles among you, doeth he it by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith? 6 Even as Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness. 7 Know ye therefore that they which are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham. 8 And the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all nations be blessed. 9 So then they which be of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham. 10 For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse: for it is written, Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them. 11 But that no man is justified by the law in the sight of God, it is evident: for, The just shall live by faith. 12 And the law is not of faith: but, The man that doeth them shall live in them. 13 Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree: 14 That the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ; that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith. 15 Brethren, I speak after the manner of men; Though it be but a man's covenant, yet if it be confirmed, no man disannulleth, or addeth thereto. 16 Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ. 17 And this I say, that the covenant, that was confirmed before of God in Christ, the law, which was four hundred and thirty years after, cannot disannul, that it should make the promise of none effect. 18 For if the inheritance be of the law, it is no more of promise: but God gave it to Abraham by promise. 19 Wherefore then serveth the law? It was added because of transgressions, till the seed should come to whom the promise was made; and it was ordained by angels in the hand of a mediator – Galatians 3
Paul’s challenge with the men of his
time was bringing them to understand that there has been a dispensational
change in God’s dealing with men. God gave the law to Moses and in practicing
it, the Jews had Judaism. But grace and truth
came with Jesus Christ and the implication of his death and resurrection was a
life of faith that cannot be practiced using Judaism – we are now Christians.
So Paul took great pain to distinguish between Christianity and Judaism. While
Judaism required the keeping of the law, Christianity commanded us to walk in
faith, a faith that works through love. So Christians are not obligated to keep
Jewish rituals that will include tithing.
But the biggest blow to the subject
of tithing came a little while after Paul had written his epistles. It came in
AD 70. Even in the days Jesus walked the earth, the Jews had resented the
Romans ruling them. Rome ruled most of the ancient world in those days. The
Jews had rejected Jesus partly because he did not fit into the picture of one
who would deliver them from the Romans’ oppression. They continued to forbear
under the Romans until they had had enough. There was an insurrection and Roman
soldiers were killed. Caesar then sent General Titus to deal with these
recalcitrant Jews. After days of laying siege to Jerusalem, he eventually
gained access and the Jews were massacred. The temple was destroyed and the very
few Jews that survived were dispersed into Europe. So from AD 70 until AD 1948,
there was no temple for the Jews to send their tithes and offerings to. In
God’s providential dealing with the Jews, he destroyed the temple He Himself
had instructed them to build and bring tithes and offerings to. The reason was
that the physical temple at Jerusalem was obsolete now that Jesus, the very
temple of God, was alive and well, functioning as God’s true High Priest in
heaven. From these events in AD 70, God himself was saying that Malachi 3:8-12
is defunct and obsolete. The injunction in that scripture was to bring tithes
and offering to the temple’s storehouse; when there is no temple, there cannot
be a storehouse; and certainly tithes and offering will not be offered in that
place.
Matthew 21:13
Who then is robbing God today? The men robbing God today are those
who teach that Christians are obligated to bring tithes and offerings to
church. Those who preach that the tithe is money and Christians are obligated
to pay a tenth of their income are robbing God’s people of their resources and
in extension robbing God. Many of them are robbing God out of ignorance, not
knowing the scriptures; others know the truth but the love of money will not
permit them to obey it. God spoke of a certain type of robbers under the Law of
Moses in Malachi 3. In Matthew 21:13, Jesus speaks of a new type of robbers:
12 And Jesus went into the
temple of God, and cast out all them that sold and bought in the temple, and
overthrew the tables of the moneychangers, and the seats of them that sold
doves, 13 And said unto them, It is written, My
house shall be called the house of prayer; but ye have made it a den of
thieves. 14 And the blind and the
lame came to him in the temple; and he healed them.
There are robbers in the church of
Jesus Christ today in the same manner as He found robbers in the temple in His
time on earth. They specialize in collecting money in the name of religion.
They preach money. They live money. They ask people to bring money in exchange
of blessings. They are thieves and robbers in the church and they are the ones
who have changed the holy tithes of the living God that was to be given to
Levites to monetary tithes that should be given to Pastors. Unlike Christ who healed
the blind and the lame, and ensured that the weak and poor were catered for,
these men take from the poor asking them to sow “dangerously” so they may reap
a reward. These men are thieves and robbers in God’s house, and their judgment
lingers not.
In conclusion, I wish to reiterate
that Christians are not obligated to give a tenth of their income in the name
of tithing to a church. Tithing is a Jewish religious practice that is defunct
and obsolete following the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Christ has
redeemed us from the curse of the law. Christians may give as they feel led by
God to – what can be appropriately called free will giving.
I trust God to give us all increased
understanding of what true Christian giving consists of.
(In subsequent papers on this subject of tithing I shall be discussing giving
in the church and how it must be done).
