READING TIME: 2-3 MINUTES
November 5, 2019
David, I have heard some televangelists teach from Malachi 3:8-10 that if Christians do not give 10% of their income to the church then they are “stealing from God.” What do you think of that?
I will answer this question in two parts. First of all, I will list some important points about the context of this passage.
• Malachi 3 was written to the Jewish nation who were still under the Mosaic covenant. The majority of Malachi was to the priesthood (see Malachi 2:1). The focus of Malachi 1:6-14 was on the pollution of the priesthood and Judah.
• Tithing was a Mosaic law given to Aaron as the head of the Levitical priesthood. The tithes were given to support the Levites “as their inheritance in return for the work they [did] while serving at the tent of meeting” (Numbers 18: 21; cf. Deuteronomy 14:22-29). When tithes were unpaid, the priests were deprived and had to discontinue their ministry and to begin farming. The nation’s religious life was negatively impacted and the poor and strangers suffered (cf. Nehemiah 13:10-11).
• Required tithe offerings in the OT (after the Mosaic Law was given) included: a tenth of the produce of the land (Leviticus 27: 30-33; Deuteronomy 12:6, 11, 17); the tenth of the tithe required of the priests and Levites (Numbers 18:21-32); and the third-year tithe (to be dispensed in the person’s hometown to be consumed by the local landless inhabitants) given to the socially disadvantaged in Israel, like the foreign residents, widows, and orphans (Deuteronomy 14: 28-29; 26:12-15). Therefore, in the OT, the Jewish people were required to give a total of 23 1/3 %, not 10%.
• The “tithes and contributions” (actually very similar to a “tax”) in Malachi 3:8 were probably those which were used to support the Levites (see Numbers 18:8, 11, 19, 21-24).
• Malachi 3:10 mentions “food in my house.” Food and other goods received as tithes and offerings were stockpiled in the treasury rooms (“storehouse”) of the temple (1 Kings 7:51; 2 Chronicles 31:11-12; Nehemiah 10:38-39; 12:44; 13:12). The sacrificial gifts were literally “food” for the priests and Levites, whom the gifts supported (cf. Numbers 18:8-21; Deuteronomy 18:1-4). So, the “storehouse” in Malachi 3:10, does not refer to the church, but it refers to a kind of temple warehouse as a place for storing grain, frankincense, temple vessels, wine, and oil.
• In Malachi 3:10, the reason why Malachi encouraged the people to bring the whole tithe into the storehouse was so that the priests would have adequate food.
• The context indicates Malachi has the blessings of the Mosaic covenant in mind (see Deuteronomy 28:12). These blessings are national, or corporate, in character, rather than individually centered.
• “Test me” in Malachi 3:10. In the context of Mal 3:10, the prophet Malachi offered the priests and the people an opportunity to prove Yahweh’s covenant-faithfulness (to the nation of Israel living in the OT who were still under the Mosaic Law) by personal experience through obedience to God’s commands.
• The phrase “throw open the floodgates of heaven” in Malachi 3:10 again applies to the OT Jewish nation. Abundant rainfall would yield bumper crops (cf. Deuteronomy 28:12), overturning the drought and poor harvests that Haggai reports (Haggai 1:6; 2:16, 19). The NT church is not under the OT Mosaic Law and we are not promised material blessings if we obey and the opposite if we disobey, as we see in Leviticus 26 and Deuteronomy 28.
SUMMARY OF UNDERSTANDING THE CONTEXT OF MALACHI 3
• It is vital to make a distinction between Israel’s temple and the Christian church. Dr. Tom Constable is correct when he says that “Israel’s temple was a depository for the gifts that the Israelites brought to sustain the servants and work of the Lord throughout their nation. The Christian church, however, is different in that we have no central sanctuary, as Israel did, nor does the church have a national homeland. Christians live and serve throughout the world, in contrast to the Israelites, who were to fulfill their mission by serving God within their land.”