Malachi 3:8 in context ... part 1
THE MYSTERY OF MALACHI REVEALED
by L Ray Smith - in his essay article "Tithing is Unscriptural Under the New Covenant [A Scriptural Exposition on the Fraudulent Fleecing of the Flock]"
It is the book of Malachi that today's clergy uses as their main authority for promulgating the doctrine of "Christian tithing." Christian tithing means that everyone must give 10% of their gross income (which is in the form of MONEY, 99%+ of the time), or they will be "cursed with a curse." It will be well worth your time to read the real meaning of Malachi's prophecy.
"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. Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat [bread] in Mine house, and prove Me now herewith, says the Lord of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that thee shall not be room enough to receive it." (Malachi 3:8-10).
Their interpretation of these proof texts are as follows: Rob God of His ten percent of your salary and be CURSED, or pay God ten percent of your salary and be BLESSED.
Before we go any further, just who is cursing whom in this Malachi prophecy? Does God, indeed, say, "You are CURSED with a curse" (Mal. 3:9)? This definitely sounds as if it is GOD Who is doing the cursing, doesn't it? But say, did you notice that the word "are" in your Bible is in italics? That means that the word was supplied by the translators and was not in the original manuscripts. Remove it, and the verse says: "You cursed" rather than "You are cursed"
Is it God, or Israel, who is doing the cursing in this verse?
To read the entire article, click HERE or go to http://www.bible-truths.com/tithing.html
The Sopherim (Jewish Scribes) understood this verse to say that it was Israel "cursing God" rather than "God cursing Israel." I have a few translations that make this correction:
"With the curse YOU are cursing [me], and me YOU are robbing !"the nation in its entirety."
And:
"With a curse you curse Me, and Me you are defrauding "the nation, all of it" (Mal. 3:9, Concordant Version of The Old Testament).
We must always keep in mind that when the Bible says "tithes" it means products from the land as grains and cattle. But when the Priests of Christendom say "tithes," it always means money. Because the clergy prefers to be paid in money, it therefore, became necessary to change the Biblical use of the word "tithes" to now include money. And if "money" can now be shown to be a tithable commodity, guess what? Abracadabra, hocus-pocus, open sesame"every believer, of every occupation in the whole world (not just the farmers as in the Law of Moses), now is required to pay ten percent of his income to the Church. They increased their base of productivity a hundred fold.
What then is the 21st Century application of this Malachi Prophecy? Are we now to tithe money? Let's read Malachi 3:10 very carefully:
1. WHAT were they robbing God of? "tithes AND offerings." Tithes of what? Products from the land "grains and cattle.
2. WHERE were they to bring the tithes? To the "storehouse" [Hebrew: garner-- a granary for grain].
3. WHY did God want these tithes of the land brought to the "storehouse" (the granary)? "That there may be meat [bread] in Mine house [God's house, Not the granary]."
If there is no spiritual application of these statements and we rather take them literally, there appears to be a contradiction here. Why should the people bring the tithes to the "storehouse" (a granary for storing grain) when what God wanted was "bread in His house," (the tabernacle/Temple, and not the "storehouse")? The only food in God's house the tabernacle, was a dozen loaves of bread. And that bread was for the Priests only, not for the tribe of Levi. Since there were only twelve loaves of bread in the Tabernacle/Temple of God, are we to believe that the whole nation of Israel did not bring enough grain to the storehouse to make even twelve loaves of bread?
God does not contradict Himself, there needs to be something other than a need for enough grain from the whole nation of Israel to make twelve loaves of bread! Just what does God mean, "that there may be meat [bread] in Mine house?" Is God really reprimanding Christians of the 21st Century through Malachi's prophecy to bring our checkbooks to church, "that there may be money in Mine house?" Yet this is the teaching of the Church regarding Malachi's message. What is the Truth?
Does God ask Israel to bring all the tithes and offerings into the storehouse, or treasury, or granary, so that there will be "tithes and offerings in Mine house?" No. God says so, "that there may be meat in Mine house?" We know that they did not bring the tithes and offerings into the holy place of the tabernacle. Only bread was kept in the holy place. The "bread" in the holy place was a type of something future, just as everything that happened to Israel and all of their offerings and ceremonies were a type of something future (I Cor. 10:11). He must indeed be spiritual blind who cannot see that the "bread" in the holy place foreshadows "The True Bread of Life"Jesus Christ."
If God wanted more money in His house, why did Jesus do what He did in the House of God?
"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 MONEY changers 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" (Matt. 21:12-13).
