Ye are cursed with a curse; and me ye rob, [even] this whole nation.
Here God charges a whole nation with theft against Himself, and tells them they are under a curse. Two questions follow: how can anyone rob God, and why does the curse fall on the whole nation?
The charge sounds impossible at first hearing. The answer lies in who the tithes and offerings actually belonged to.
Doesn't it sound like an extraordinary thing to say — robbing God? It certainly does. Yet it was true. The Jews had taken for their own use the tithes and offerings that belonged to the Lord by right. The portions the law set aside for the priests and Levites (Num. 18:8-24) never came in. It was a serious failure on the part of the Jews. Worse, they were cheating God on purpose. The priests and Levites were the ones who suffered directly, but the Lord counted it an offence against Himself.
Israel could argue about how serious the matter was, but not about what God had asked.
They could not escape the truth of such a charge. Through Moses the Lord had laid down the most detailed directions about tithes and offerings, and they could not help knowing whether they had obeyed them... So they knew exactly what God asked of them, and they had no excuse for their disobedience. They might have told themselves it was a matter of no importance, but their thoughts were not the thoughts of God.
The curse fell under God's government of His people. It followed a plain cause: His portion had gone somewhere else.
They had to be told that they had held back "tithes and offerings", so that what should have gone to God had been spent on themselves. This is what brought a curse on them under God's government... Their practice was to give first place to their own things, and then give God whatever was left over.
The nation was not poor when it stopped giving. It was doing well — and that was the problem.
The Jews had become absorbed in building up their own assets and were neglecting the things of God. They had not had it so good for a long time!... This sudden prosperity was what led them to rob God. They denied Him His right to their possessions. The truth was that the Levites who did the work of God depended upon support from the rest of the people... And as then, when the giving of tithes and offerings dropped, the Lord's servants felt it and His work was held back.
The lost blessing came from one specific wrong, and one commentator looks ahead to the day it is put right.
The tithes and offerings were God's, though the portion of the priests. Defrauding the priests of their just due, they robbed God, and lost the blessing. When they are at last restored to their country, with the law written on their hearts, they will bring all the appointed offerings. The priests will then be provided for, and they will cause the blessing to rest in their houses.
One commentator reads the promised abundance as still future for Israel, pointing to the words about being a land of delight:
They will humble themselves; they will trust Him; and all nations shall call them blessed. "For you shall be a delightsome land" — which they have never been since this was written.
Commentators differ here. One says this verse has no claim on believers at all.
It is strange that even people who know the truth well... fall back on this verse and claim that it still binds believers and should be practised among them... True Christian giving must come not by law but through grace, under the direction of the Holy Spirit. The same is true of everything else in the life and service of a true believer. Nowhere in the New Testament is there anything said about tithing.
Another agrees that law is not the rule, yet still turns the verse back on the reader.
We are not under law but under grace, so we have no set rules about what we are to give to the Lord. But may there not be some very valuable instruction for us in these solemn words?... Let us not be afraid even of figures, asking ourselves, if need be, "How much have we given of our income for the Lord's use?"... would not many of us have to own that the Lord might also have a controversy with us?
- Robbery. Keeping back what God has assigned to His servants is not thrift. He counts it theft against Himself, though the priests and Levites felt the loss.
- No excuse. The law spelled out what God asked, so no one could plead confusion.
- Whole nation. The neglect ran through the whole nation, so the curse did too. It fell under God's government of His people.
- Cause. Sudden prosperity, not hardship, dried up their giving. They put their own things first and gave God what was left.
- Cure. Give God back His portion, and the blessing returns. Commentators differ on whether the tithe binds believers today.
Bring the whole tithe into the treasure-house, that there may be food in my house, and prove me now herewith, saith Jehovah of hosts, if I open not to you the windows of the heavens, and pour you out a blessing, till there be no place for it.
Malachi's last chapters find the people back in their land but careless with God. His charge against them is blunt. They have robbed Him in tithes and offerings. Then comes an invitation to put God to the test, with a promise of blessing so large there is no room for it.
The people could not dispute the charge behind this invitation. God had spelled out the rules about tithes in detail long before.
They could not escape the truth of such a charge. Through Moses the Lord had given the most detailed directions about tithes and offerings. They knew exactly what God asked of them, and they had no excuse for their disobedience. They might have told themselves it did not matter. But their thoughts were not God's thoughts. He tells them, "You are cursed with a curse, for you are robbing me, the whole nation of you."
God could have started with their hearts. He starts with their money.
In taking up the question of money and tithes, the Lord takes them on the lowest possible ground.
The command names a purpose, and the purpose points to people.
Their part was to "bring the full tithe into the storehouse." God's part was to "open the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you a blessing until there is no more need." Why should they do this? "That there may be food in My house." God did not need this food for Himself. It was for the priests and the Levites — those who did His service.
God invites them to put Him to the test. But notice what He asks them to test Him with — an action, not a prayer.
The Lord stoops to say, "Put me to the test in this, and I for My part will pour out abundant blessing on you." Notice, He does not say, "PRAY, and I will open the windows of heaven." He says, "Bring the full tithe into the storehouse." It would be good to read and explain this passage at prayer meetings sometimes. It could remind us what really blocks blessing. Prayer is always good. But prayer while we hold back from God, with no honest look at ourselves, is useless.
The picture of heaven's windows opening appears earlier in the Bible. The two scenes could hardly be further apart.
In Genesis 7:11 we read, "the windows of the heavens were opened." There heaven poured out its wrath on a world of violence and corruption. In Malachi 3:10 we read of God's desire and promise to "open the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you a blessing until there is no more need." One flood was judgment, called for by the holy character of God. The other is a flood of blessing, expressing the love of God's heart.
Commentators handle the promise on two levels. First, it belongs to Israel. Under that arrangement, blessing followed obedience. The full answer is still ahead.
These promises follow a principle that runs through the whole Old Testament: blessing on the condition of obedience. That was in fact the very essence of the arrangement given through Moses. Keeping the land, freedom from disease, every kind of earthly blessing — all of it depended on their walking by the rules and laws God had given them.
Kelly reads the closing words of the passage the same way. He points out that Israel will be "a land of delight," which they have never been since this was written. The nations will call Israel blessed when the people humble themselves and trust Him.
Second, the principle underneath the tithe reaches beyond Israel. It is about who owns what we hold.
The tithe was the owning of the sovereign rights of God over all their possessions. … Let us remember that even now there is an application of this, which is not confined to Israel.
That application is not a fixed percentage.
We are not under law, but under grace, and so we have no such prescriptions about what we are to give to the Lord. But may there not be some very valuable instruction for us in these solemn words? Is it not true that everything we are and have belongs to Him who has redeemed us through His precious blood?
No one ever loses by giving to the Lord! How important it is to see this. God largely gives to His own in the proportion in which they give to Him. Note, it is not the actual amount that is taken into account, but the proportion which He notes.
- Robbery — Withholding the tithe was not a small oversight. God calls it robbery. The people had clear instructions, so they had no excuse.
- Provision — The tithe fed God's house — the priests and Levites who served Him. God did not need the food Himself.
- Test — God invites His people to test Him, but the test is bringing, not asking. Prayer offered while we withhold does not open heaven.
- Flood — The same windows once poured judgment on a violent world. Here God opens them to pour out blessing from His heart.
- Proportion — Under grace there is no fixed rule. All we have already belongs to our Redeemer. God measures the share, not the sum, and no one loses by giving to Him.