Who is God Talking to In Malachi 3?
You only have to listen to one or two messages from any prosperity teacher to hear them quote Malachi 3:8-10 "Will a man rob God? Yet you have robbed me. But you say, Where have we robbed You? In tithes and offerings. You are cursed with a curse: for you have robbed Me, even this whole nation. Bring all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in My house, and prove me now, says the Lord of Hosts, if I will not open the windows of heaven, and pour out a blessings that there won't be enough room to receive it."
Recently I was listening to a pastor of a huge megachurch in the DFW area and I heard him use this verse, I also heard him say that "anyone that does not tithe has demons."
Something about that just didn't sit right. Where was the scripture for that? None was offered.
So last night I decided to see if he was one of those prosperity teachers mentioned on those watchdog sites that monitor and report on preachers with questionable teachings. Sure enough, he was there. But as I was reading something was said about the passage in Malachi ...so often used to teach people that they must pay tithe and if they don't then they are cursed. I read that this passage is actually addressing the priests, not the people.
Say what?
So, later when I got into bed, I grabbed my Bible and looked up Malachi 3. However, instead of going immediate to verse 8, I started at the beginning to see who the Lord was addressing.
There is was in verse 3: "And He shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver: and He shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer unto the Lord an offering in righteousness."
Sons of Levi are the priests...the preachers of that day.
Notice that God is saying He will refine and purify the priests and purge them so they may then present to the Lord an offering in righteousness. So evidently what they were offering was unrighteous, or their attitude was unrighteous.
Mal 3:4 Then shall the offering of Judah and Jerusalem be pleasant unto the LORD, as in the days of old, and as in former years.
So once the Lord sits in judgment against the priests and purifies them so their offering is once again righteous, then the offering of the nation and the city (the government and the citizens)
Why God Judges the Priests and Preachers
Mal 3:5 And I will come near to you to judgment; and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, and against the adulterers, and against false swearers, and against those that oppress the hireling in his wages, the widow, and the fatherless, and that turn aside the stranger from his right, and fear not me, saith the LORD of hosts.
Then He goes on to explain why He is going to judge the priests (preachers). He says He will be a swift witness (quickly testify) against the sorcerers (those that use witchcraft or practice magic), and against the adulterers (apostatize, woman that breaks wedlock), and against the false swearers (liars and oath breakers).
Practice Witchcraft
You don't have to look very far into the whole prosperity movement to find those that spin a web and control people through threats of curses and promises of blessings based on a lie...that God will withhold blessings on those who don't give.
Are Spiritual Adulterers
God also identifies these preachers as adulterers. While they might not cheat on their human spouses, God says they have broken the wedlock of the Bride of Christ to the Bridegroom. They apostatize by abandoning their faith to focus on their own love of money.
Are Oath Breakers
Then they are identified as "false swearers". Since many of these have taken an oath and a pledge when they were ordained in their particular denomination, giving them the recognized authority to speak the Word of the Lord, when they turn from the Truth, they break their oath and become nothing more than liars.
Oppressers
"... that oppress the hireling in his wages, the widow, and the fatherless, and that turn aside the stranger from his right,..."
God says they oppress (defraud) the hireling (someone who works for wages; a servant) in his wages (salary, maintenance, compensation).
There are too many stories about people so under the power of these prosperity preachers that they actually go into debt to give. So while the givers are getting poorer and more in debt, the preachers are living high on the hog, flaunting their big houses, expensive cars, jewels, planes and so much more. Of course, Jesus being their example owned nothing.
They also oppress (defraud) the widow (bereaved or discarded as a divorced person). While many of the churches appear to have programs for helping the poor, stories abound of pressuring those getting help to promise to "tithe" if they want to continue to get help.
However, there's also a spiritual widow. Someone who has been abandoned or hurt in another religion or denomination who comes to these preachers for help, only to get further oppression. They also do the same thing to the "fatherless" or the orphans, and again this has more of a spiritual significance in that God is our Father and for those that have no Father (the sinners) who come seeking freedom and a true Father, they end up oppressed and lied to as well.
They also turn aside (lead astray, pervert) the stranger (foreigner, sojourner). So when the unsaved come to these churches often they are turned away by the constant focusing on money. In fact, the whole prosperity gospel movement has brought contempt and derision on the Gospel as a whole.
Mal 3:6 For I am the LORD, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed.
Mal 3:7 Even from the days of your fathers ye are gone away from mine ordinances, and have not kept them. Return unto me, and I will return unto you, saith the LORD of hosts. But ye said, Wherein shall we return?
God is telling them that they have abandoned His laws and not kept them, so they must return. So, rather arrogantly they ask how do we return?
Mal 3:8 Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed me. But ye say, Wherein have we robbed thee? In tithes and offerings.
In tithes and offerings.
This is the favorite verse used by prosperity teachers. However, if you look in the Bible, the tithe is always directly mentioned as being agricultural and food-related. Since the Levites did not receive land as their portion of the Promised Land, but were instead supposed to serve in the temple. So the rest of the people who farmed were supposed to bring of the produce, the flocks, etc in order to provide food for the priests.
Of course, not everyone farmed and we do have examples of people giving money (as in the widow's mite), however, primarily the tithe was meant to sustain the priests so they could perform their duties without having to work the land or engage in commerce.
The priests were then supposed to tithe on the tithe by taking it into the treasure house. But evidently they were not doing this. It's possible they were even turning around and reselling the agricultural tithe to make money.
This excerpt from www.tithing-russkelly.com explains it better than I can:
Mal 3:9 Ye are cursed with a curse: for ye have robbed me, even this whole nation.
A tenth of the first tithe was, in turn, given by the Levites to the priests who ministered at the altar.
So in Malachi 3, God is addressing the Levites who were NOT tithing on their tithe to support those serving in the temple.
Mal 3:10 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.
Mal 3:11 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.
Notice again the tithe in verse 10 speaks of a food, supporting the fact that the tithe was to be in the form of edibles. Even verse 11, the promise is that by being obedient in tithing on those things you raised on your land, that God would rebuke the devourer. By tithing then the "fruit of the ground" would not be destroyed, and the vine would produce abundantly.
This is just a short look at how scriptures are twisted to support a system that is keeping Believers in bondage to legalism.
I wonder if I should bring in a dozen eggs and put them in the offering box? Of course, at the rate my chickens are laying, that would be a tithe of about 20%. Wonder how that would go over at church?
Am I saying don't tithe? No. I'm saying you need to know why you're tithing and to whom you are tithing.
They Defraud the Defenseless
They also oppress (defraud) the widow (bereaved or discarded as a divorced person). While many of the churches appear to have programs for helping the poor, stories abound of pressuring those getting help to promise to "tithe" if they want to continue to get help.
However, there's also a spiritual widow. Someone who has been abandoned or hurt in another religion or denomination who comes to these preachers for help, only to get further oppression. They also do the same thing to the "fatherless" or the orphans, and again this has more of a spiritual significance in that God is our Father and for those that have no Father (the sinners) who come seeking freedom and a true Father, they end up oppressed and lied to as well.
Lead Astray Sinners
They also turn aside (lead astray, pervert) the stranger (foreigner, sojourner). So when the unsaved come to these churches often they are turned away by the constant focusing on money. In fact, the whole prosperity gospel movement has brought contempt and derision on the Gospel as a whole.
What's God Want
Mal 3:6 For I am the LORD, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed.
Mal 3:7 Even from the days of your fathers ye are gone away from mine ordinances, and have not kept them. Return unto me, and I will return unto you, saith the LORD of hosts. But ye said, Wherein shall we return?
God is telling them that they have abandoned His laws and not kept them, so they must return. So, rather arrogantly they ask how do we return?
Mal 3:8 Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed me. But ye say, Wherein have we robbed thee? In tithes and offerings.
In tithes and offerings.
This is the favorite verse used by prosperity teachers. However, if you look in the Bible, the tithe is always directly mentioned as being agricultural and food-related. Since the Levites did not receive land as their portion of the Promised Land, but were instead supposed to serve in the temple. So the rest of the people who farmed were supposed to bring of the produce, the flocks, etc in order to provide food for the priests.
Of course, not everyone farmed and we do have examples of people giving money (as in the widow's mite), however, primarily the tithe was meant to sustain the priests so they could perform their duties without having to work the land or engage in commerce.
The priests were then supposed to tithe on the tithe by taking it into the treasure house. But evidently they were not doing this. It's possible they were even turning around and reselling the agricultural tithe to make money.
This excerpt from www.tithing-russkelly.com explains it better than I can:
The Tithe as an Old Covenant Ordinance for Israel
The
fourth definition of “tithe” is the
precise and narrow Scriptural definition as given in the Mosaic Law in
the
Old Covenant. The biblical tithe was
an ordinance of the Mosaic Law for the use and benefit of national Israel under the Old Covenant. The full tithe was given to the tribe of Levi, first,
in exchange for his loss of land inheritance in Israel and, second, because
of his servant service to his brothers in the Levitical house of Aaron who alone served as priests. A tenth of the first
tithe was, in turn, given by the Levites to the priests who ministered at the altar.
The
basic tithe was not to be used for
building houses of worship. Since pagan dust defiled, the original tithe
consisted solely
of the increase of land produce from
God’s sanctified land
of Israel and from the increase of animals herded on the land of Israel. Although the tithe could be exchanged for its monetary value,
the tithe itself never consisted of money! A second (and third) tithe was also given to provide food for festival occasions,
and to provide welfare food for widows, fatherless, orphans and needy strangers in Israel.
Mal 3:9 Ye are cursed with a curse: for ye have robbed me, even this whole nation.
A tenth of the first tithe was, in turn, given by the Levites to the priests who ministered at the altar.
So in Malachi 3, God is addressing the Levites who were NOT tithing on their tithe to support those serving in the temple.
Mal 3:10 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.
Mal 3:11 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.
Notice again the tithe in verse 10 speaks of a food, supporting the fact that the tithe was to be in the form of edibles. Even verse 11, the promise is that by being obedient in tithing on those things you raised on your land, that God would rebuke the devourer. By tithing then the "fruit of the ground" would not be destroyed, and the vine would produce abundantly.
This is just a short look at how scriptures are twisted to support a system that is keeping Believers in bondage to legalism.
I wonder if I should bring in a dozen eggs and put them in the offering box? Of course, at the rate my chickens are laying, that would be a tithe of about 20%. Wonder how that would go over at church?
Am I saying don't tithe? No. I'm saying you need to know why you're tithing and to whom you are tithing.
