Bob Prichard

Topic(s): Blessings, Old Testament, Priorities

Malachi, the last of the writing prophets of the Old Testament, prophesied to a nation filled with cynicism and disobedience to God. Malachi’s people were guilty of offering unworthy, blemished sacrifices and following idolatry. Even the priests were disobedient to God. In dialogue fashion, Malachi condemned his people. He asked: “Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed me. But ye say, Wherein have we robbed thee? In tithes and offerings. Ye are cursed with a curse: for ye have robbed me, even this whole nation” (Malachi 3:8-9). His people had robbed God of tithes and offerings, and thus the whole nation was under God’s curse. God promised them that he would reward them, though, if they would turn back to Him. “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. . . . And all nations shall call you blessed: for ye shall be a delightsome land, saith the LORD of hosts” (Malachi 3:10-12).

Here we see a general principle with a specific application. The general principle is that God will bless those who serve and obey Him, and reject those who reject Him through disobedience. The specific application is to the giving of tithes and offerings into the storehouse. The tithe, meaning “one tenth,” was somewhat of a religious tax that all were to give to the Levites from their produce. “All the tithe of the land, whether of the seed of the land, or of the fruit of the tree, is the LORD'S: it is holy unto the LORD” (Leviticus 27:30). “Behold, I have given the children of Levi all the tenth in Israel for an inheritance, for their service which they serve, even the service of the tabernacle of the congregation” (Numbers 18:21).

The general principle, that we must give generously to God’s work continues in the New Testament era. “Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom. For with the same measure that ye mete withal it shall be measured to you again” (Luke 6:38). “Every man according as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give; not grudgingly, or of necessity: for God loveth a cheerful giver” (2 Corinthians 9:7).

The specific application of Malachi, however, concerning the tithe, does not apply to the church today. The tithe was paid specifically for the support of the tribe of Levi, which provided all the priests, temple musicians, temple guards, and other temple workers. There is no tribe of Levites today to accept a tithe. Instead, the New Testament emphasizes the priesthood of all believers. “Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ” (1 Peter 2:5). The important thing today is that “every man according as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give; not grudgingly, or of necessity.”