Malachi 3:7-12

SECTION V

The People are rebuked for withholding the legal Tithes and Offerings

3:7–12

7Even 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? 8Will a man rob5 [defraud] God? Yet [ that, Köhler, Keil, Pressel], ye have robbed me. But ye say, Wherein have we robbed thee? In tithes and offerings.6 [In tithe and heave offering.] 9Ye are cursed with a curse: for [yet] ye have robbed me, even this whole nation. 10Bring ye all the tithes7 [tithe] into the storehouse8 [treasury], that there may be meat [food, Vulgate cibus] in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the Lord of Hosts, if I will not9 open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing that there shall not be room enough to receive it10 [to superabundance]. 11And I will rebuke11 the devourer for your sakes,12 and he shall not destroy the fruits of your ground;13 neither shall your vine cast her fruit14 before the time in the field, saith the Lord of Hosts. 12And all nations shall call15 you blessed: for ye shall be a delightsome land, saith the Lord of Hosts.

EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL

Malachi 3:7. Return unto me, and I will return unto you, saith the Lord of Hosts. After Jehovah had announced the coming judgment for the long-continued transgressions of the people, He adds a gracious promise, as in Zechariah 1:3 : “Turn ye unto me, saith the Lord, and I will return unto you.” In self-righteous delusion, supposing that they lack nothing, and need no repentance, they inquire, Wherein, in what particular, shall we return? The prophet thereupon shows them their sin. They do what no man should attempt. They try to defraud God in the tithe and heave-offering, either by not paying them at all, or not paying them as they should. The word קָבַע, which occurs besides only in Proverbs 22:3, where it is translated, spoil, means here, as the connection shows, defraud, overreach, cheat.

Malachi 3:8. Will a man rob (or defraud) God? The Prophet appeals to their conscience for a decision as to the baseness of their conduct. But ye have robbed, or defrauded, me, or, That ye have robbed me. This is a reason of the previous question, since you have defrauded me.

In tithe and offering. This is a specification of the manner in which they had robbed God. In Nehemiah 13:10 we find a striking coincidence with this verse. “I perceived, that the portions of the Levites had not been given them. Then brought all Judah the tithe of the corn, wine, and oil.”

The tithe, according to Leviticus 27:30, and Deuteronomy 14:22, was of the corn, wine, and oil, and of the firstlings of the flock and herd, for the maintenance of the Levites. The heave-offering—for that is here referred to—was the portion of the priests. “Ye shall give the heave-offering to the priests.” It was partly a free-will offering, and partly prescribed by the law. They withheld tithes, notwithstanding that God had already visited them with severe punishment, which aggravated their guilt. They had been cursed, as we learn from the following verses, with failure of the harvest and famine. This curse corresponded to their sin. As they had refused to give God his due withholding the tithes and offerings, so had He withheld from them the products of the field.

Malachi 3:9. Ye are cursed with a curse. The position of the noun before the verb is here highly emphatic. Yet me ye defraud. It is not necessary to regard the ו as causal.

Malachi 3:10. Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse. The prophet now enlarges upon the mode of recovering the divine favor. Israel should not, as before, keep back a part of the tithes, but should pay the whole without defrauding Jehovah, that there might be food for the priests and Levites. Notwithstanding Jehovah was angry with the priests, yet He cannot suffer the people to withhold the tithe.

Storehouse. This same word is translated, Nehemiah 13:12, treasuries. We find in 2 Chronicles 31:11, mention of chambers in the Temple, into which they were to bring the tithes. In Nehemiah 10:38, the Levites were to bring the tithe to the chambers, into the treasure-house.

Prove me now herewith. The object of the proof of Jehovah was not, whether He would be faithful to his promise, for this was not the subject under discussion, but whether He was a holy and righteous God, for this had been called in question by them. They were now to put Him to the test, and learn by the result of the experiment, in what relation He stood to them, and also learn, that as He had manifested Himself as a holy God in his severity, so He would also do so in his goodness, and the abundance of the blessings conferred upon those who keep his commandments.

If I will not open the windows of heaven. This is to be regarded as an indirect question, whether I will not. Open the windows. We read of the windows of heaven in Genesis 7:11, 2 Kings 7:2. The copious blessing is here compared to rain coming down from heaven.

And pour out upon you a blessing till there is not sufficiency of room. The word דָי means, sufficiency, and room is to be understood, as in Zechariah 10:10 : “and place shall not be found for them,” where place is to be supplied, as here room. בְּלִי negatives the idea of the noun as in Isaiah 5:14. The interpretation, forever, adopted by Wordsworth: “Till there be not enough, till my abundance is exhausted; and since this can never be, therefore it means, forever,” is strained and unnatural. The Septuagint has translated it: “Until there should be enough.”

Malachi 3:11. And I will rebuke the devourer. This verse describes in detail what blessings Jehovah’s coming will bring with it. Jehovah will take away everything which would injure the fruits. The devourer, that is, the locust, shall no more ravage the land. The corn and wine shall flourish. The grapes shall not fall before they ripen.

Malachi 3:12. And all nations shall call you blessed. The consequence of Jehovah’s blessing will be, that the land will be an object of pleasure to every one. We find similar language in Zechariah 8:13 : “As ye were a curse among the heathen, so shall ye he a blessing.”

DOCTRINAL AND PRACTICAL

From Matt. Henry: On Return unto me (Malachi 3:7). What a gracious invitation God gives them to return and repent! Return unto me, and to your duty, return to your service, return to your allegiance, return as a traveller that has missed his way, as a soldier that has run from his colors, as a treacherous wife that has gone away from her husband; return, thou backsliding Israel, return to me; and then I will return unto you, and be, reconciled, will remove the judgments you are under and prevent those you fear. What a peevish answer they return to this gracious invitation! Wherein shall we return. Note: God takes notice what returns our hearts make to the calls of his Word, what we say, and what we think when we have heard a sermon; what answer we give to the message sent us. When God calls us to return we should answer, as they did (Jeremiah 3:22): Behold, we come, but not as these here, Wherein shall we return? They take it as an affront to be told of their faults, and called upon to amend them; they are ready to say, What ado do these prophets make about returning and repenting. They are so ignorant of themselves, and of the strictness, extent, and spiritual nature of the divine law, that they see nothing in themselves to be repented of; they are pure in their own eyes, and think they need no repentance. Many ruin their souls by baffling the calls to repentance.

HOMILETICAL

Pressel: On Malachi 3:10. Prove me now herewith. The condescending goodness of God gives not only to the godly, but sometimes even to the ungodly, opportunity and even a challenge to prove his truth and almightiness; and it is the duty of a minister of God now, as it was then of the Prophet Malachi, not only to point both classes to it, but even to offer to them this proving of God, confident as Elijah was against Ahab, and as Isaiah was against Ahaz, that God will not forsake his servants, but will by the event put to shame all unbelief.

On Malachi 3:13. We are very apt to complain of God’s providences, when extraordinary afflictions and troubles put men out of patience, or when we read or hear of extraordinary accidents, but where a heart stands firm in the fear and love of God, what the Apostle John says: “His, seed remaineth in him, and he cannot sin,” is true of it.

On Malachi 3:10-12. How much depends upon our giving ourselves wholly as an offering to the Lord ! The offerings which the Lord now requires are our own hearts, and all that comes from them. But if the Lord was so strict in tithes, how much more so is He with our hearts ! Dost thou wish the full blessing of God, then be exact in whatever is thy duty. What is our duty? Whatever God requires of us, whether great or little, whether his service or an every-day life. How can he who is not strict in his duty hope, or even pray for the full blessing of God?

On Malachi 3:14-15. The vain service of God, He serves God in vain who serves Him only outwardly. He who serves Him from the heart has never served Him in vain. God is not man. It sometimes is the case with men that an outward service only receives an unmerited reward, or that he who serves another from the heart does not receive his due reward, for men can be deceived; but this can never be the case with God, for He is omniscient and faithful. All things are under God’s providence. The contrary seems to be the case in the history of the world and in daily experience, and men without conscience lose thereby their faith; but this is only so in appearance, for the inward testimony of the heart and eternity will make plain the most difficult and frowning providences, and sometimes in this world, God’s holy and righteous government is clearly manifested.

Footnotes:

Malachi 3:8; Malachi 3:8.—קָבַע, found only in Proverbs 22:3 : to cheat, defraud. The Fut. is used here in the sense of: dare a man rob God.

Malachi 3:8; Malachi 3:8.—תְּרוּמָה. The heave-offering.

Malachi 3:10; Malachi 3:10.—The whole tithe.

Malachi 3:10; Malachi 3:10.—אוֹצָר, storehouse, or treasury; Nehemiah 13:12.

Malachi 3:10; Malachi 3:10.—אִמ־לֹא, not an oath, whether not.

Malachi 3:10; Malachi 3:10.—דִי means need, lack.

Malachi 3:10; Malachi 3:10.—בּלִ negatives the idea—beyond sufficiency.

Malachi 3:11; Malachi 3:11.—גָעַר, to rebuke. In Malachi 2:3, it is translated, corrupt. לָבֶם, dative of use, profit.

Malachi 3:11; Malachi 3:11.—The LXX. read, אשְׁחִית, I will destory.

Malachi 3:11; Malachi 3:11.—תְּשַׁכֵּל, miscarry, applied to the vine.

Malachi 3:11; Malachi 3:11.—יַשְׁחִת. The future is here used contingently, to denote a probable future occurrence. See Nordbeimer, 933, 1.