seekeroftruth
Well-Known Member
Malachi 3:1 “I will send my messenger, who will prepare the way before me. Then suddenly the Lord you are seeking will come to his temple; the messenger of the covenant, whom you desire, will come,” says the Lord Almighty.
2 But who can endure the day of his coming? Who can stand when he appears? For he will be like a refiner’s fire or a launderer’s soap. 3 He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver; he will purify the Levites and refine them like gold and silver. Then the Lord will have men who will bring offerings in righteousness, 4 and the offerings of Judah and Jerusalem will be acceptable to the Lord, as in days gone by, as in former years.
5 “So I will come to put you on trial. I will be quick to testify against sorcerers, adulterers and perjurers, against those who defraud laborers of their wages, who oppress the widows and the fatherless, and deprive the foreigners among you of justice, but do not fear me,” says the Lord Almighty.
6 “I the Lord do not change. So you, the descendants of Jacob, are not destroyed. 7 Ever since the time of your ancestors you have turned away from my decrees and have not kept them. Return to me, and I will return to you,” says the Lord Almighty.
“But you ask, ‘How are we to return?’
8 “Will a mere mortal rob God? Yet you rob me.
“But you ask, ‘How are we robbing you?’
“In tithes and offerings. 9 You are under a curse—your whole nation—because you are robbing me. 10 Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this,” says the Lord Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it. 11 I will prevent pests from devouring your crops, and the vines in your fields will not drop their fruit before it is ripe,” says the Lord Almighty. 12 “Then all the nations will call you blessed, for yours will be a delightful land,” says the Lord Almighty.
13 “You have spoken arrogantly against me,” says the Lord.
“Yet you ask, ‘What have we said against you?’
14 “You have said, ‘It is futile to serve God. What do we gain by carrying out his requirements and going about like mourners before the Lord Almighty? 15 But now we call the arrogant blessed. Certainly evildoers prosper, and even when they put God to the test, they get away with it.’”
16 Then those who feared the Lord talked with each other, and the Lord listened and heard. A scroll of remembrance was written in his presence concerning those who feared the Lord and honored his name.
17 “On the day when I act,” says the Lord Almighty, “they will be my treasured possession. I will spare them, just as a father has compassion and spares his son who serves him. 18 And you will again see the distinction between the righteous and the wicked, between those who serve God and those who do not
Every year it seems... there is a call for more money.... more tithes.... humans aren't getting paid more for their wages.... taxes keep going up... prices keep going up.... but the income is stagnant.... but the church wants more.... once a year.... "give me your tithes". I wonder.... who is more likely to pay their tithe with a smile? I bet it's not the rich guy..... he can pay his tithe but he feels cheated..... "why should I pay my tithe.... how will the church use my money better than I can. What makes the church so righteous that they think they can put my money to the best use? If people can't afford to live.... they shouldn't ahve been born." While the poor guy.... the old grey haired women..... the kids.... take their last penny to put it in the church coffers so the world can hear the good news. Those who can least afford to do so will refuse to go to a movie with friends so they can put the money in the food bank.This is from the easy English site.
But the Jews did not think that they had done anything wrong. So they asked, ‘How shall we return?’ Their question may mean ‘We will not return!’
This verse links with the name ‘Jacob’ in verse 6. The word ‘Jacob’ means ‘cheat’ in the Hebrew language. The *ews cheated God because they were robbing him. Their question ‘How do we rob you?’ may mean, ‘We are not robbing you!’ But they were robbing God when they did not give him their tithes. A tithe is a tenth part of something. They should have given to God a tenth part of their crops every year.
The rules were:
The Jews gave a tenth to the LORD (Leviticus 27:30).
The LORD let the Levites use this for themselves (Numbers 18:24).
The Levites gave a tithe to the priests (Numbers 18:28).
One of the proverbs says: ‘Someone that shares his possessions becomes rich. But he that does not share becomes poor.’ (See Proverbs 11:24.) This is the curse on the whole nation.
Here God says how he will bless his people. Pests (insects and diseases) will not destroy the crops. And grapes will not fall off the vines before they are ripe.
Ugh.... I don't like this chapter at all. This, however, is from bibletrack.org.So, Israel is back, but they're not really back - not with right attitude anyway. Their hearts didn't really seem to be into nation rebuilding. We saw in chapter 1 (see above) that their sacrifices were intentionally substandard - a clear violation of Mosaic law. Now we see that they did not want to contribute to the very centerpiece of their national pride - their temple. They obviously did not want to pay the price of national restoration. Malachi's admonition to them is simple, "Do right!"
It is necessary to point out that in 535 B.C. when the exiles first began returning to Israel, they were very excited about their national prospects. Now that they have been back in their homeland for a century or so, they have lapsed back into the same frame of mind that caused their fall to the Babylonians in the first place. They had lost their vision to recapture the spirit of the Old Israel. Nominal service was really all they gave God at this point. Malachi's words here are intended to fire the people back up as we see his very confrontational statement in verse 8, "Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed me. But ye say, Wherein have we robbed thee? In tithes and offerings." Then notice his words in verse 9, "Ye are cursed with a curse: for ye have robbed me, even this whole nation." Sometimes it just takes an in-your-face declaration to shake people up.
OK... back in the last chapter... the priests were sacrificing the seconds or the dregs of the flocks.... they were using the cheap cuts so the rich leaders could have the very best. The priests were doing that.... now... the priests were the ones who were responsible for teaching the masses. If the priest was cheating.... it stands to reason the rest of the nation was no better.
Back to the story.... a hundred years before Malachi said any of this..... a few descendants of Jacob [Israel] had been allowed to return to Jerusalem to rebuild the Temple. When they first arrived... they were all excited... the prophets talked about straight plumb lines and walls that were not quite as opulent as before.... but straight and true..... but then they started working on their own places to live instead of working on the Temple.... and now.... 100 years later.... they are selling the best of the flock and dumping the leftovers at the Temple.
That's what this chapter is about..... Oh sure... John the Baptist is in the chapter.... he will come... and he will live off the land and appreciate everything that God supplies for him.... he won't preach to the paycheck or the free housing.... he will do his job.... announce the coming of the Messiah. I think John is in this chapter to shame the priests, preachers, and teachers to stop writing the sermon or the Bible story lesson in ten minutes on Sunday morning. Stop selling the best to the richest and throwing the leftovers at God.
I think when this chapter talks about what God will give us.... it shouldn't be used to entice people to join the local feel good entitled..... it's a plea to get back on the path.... those coins received for that prime meat..... is not important.
I've been reading about an earthquake that is going to flatten existing mountains and build a new one that God will use to hold His Temple. After this quake..... what will be the value of a shiny bauble or a coin? It doesn't matter how many coins you have in your pocket when there is total obliteration of everything you once thought was normal.... right?
