Bible Studies
Hebrew View of Malachi 3
Before we get into Malachi 3 let me give a brief overview of Church History on the topic of tithes and offerings.
In searching the early church fathers on tithes and offerings I could not find any mention of this short phrase from Malachi 3. In the thousands of pages of writings of early church fathers such as Justin Martyr, Irenaeus, Chrysostom, Cyprian, Origen, Ambrose, and the early church historian, Eusebius, I could not find mention of this often quoted piece of Old Testament scripture. There are mentions of tithes, there are mentions of offerings, but nothing quoting the use of both of them together like what you find in Malachi 3. Tithes and offerings.
It became much the language of writers in the later centuries to speak of the first-fruits, the tithes, the offerings. They also called their ministers priests. Most of the bible commentaries do state this fact; the early church depended on voluntary gifts to support their ministers.
I am not going to depend on church history to make the case for not calling the money given to churches, tithes. This case can be made sufficiently without the use of history. It does give us the assurance that the question has never been a cut and dry one. Others before have juggled these questions, looking for the right answers.
I do have a quote from the early church historian Eusebius who lived during the time of the great emperor Constantine.
"His actions and his teaching show who this new teacher is. This is he who taught the dissolution of marriage; who made laws for fasting; who named Pepuza and Tymion, small towns in Phrygia, Jerusalem, wishing to gather people to them from all directions; who appointed collectors of money; who contrived the receiving of gifts under the name of offerings; who provided salaries for those who preached his doctrine, that its teaching might prevail through gluttony."
This quote is written by a man who had a handle on every doctrine taught by the church up to that time. He gathered information on all the martyrs of the church, every kind of schism and heresy that plagued the church up to that time. Here he quotes another writer, without challenge, to the statement that calling the gifts given to the church ‘offerings’ was evil. He says that the teaching provided for the spreading of the gospel through the means of gluttony. The more gospel you spread, the more money you get. Not the most noble of motivations for spreading the gospel is what I gather from that statement.
The point I want to make before I give an overview of key portions of Malachi 3 is this. The translation is somewhat lacking in the King James and other versions. I wish to go through this chapter with a Hebrew lexicon. This will give us a view of the chapter that is closer to what the Hebrew speaking founders of the Christian church read. When they came across a certain word, they would have recognized its use in other places in their bible. Their bible was in large part a Hebrew Old Testament. This method may give us a clue as to why you cannot find the use of ‘tithes and offerings’ in early documents of church history.
“Will a man rob (qaba) God? Yet ye have robbed me. But ye say, Wherin have we robbed (qaba) thee? In tithes and offerings. “ Malachi 3:8
There is one other use of this Hebrew word in the bible.
“Rob not the poor, because he is poor: neither oppress the afflicted in the gate:
For the LORD will plead their cause, and spoil (qaba) the soul of those that spoiled (qaba) them.” Proverbs 22:22-23
“Ye are cursed with a curse (merah): for ye have robbed (qaba) me, even this whole nation.” Malachi 3:9
There are five other uses of this Hebrew word in the bible. This is the only use that pertains to giving or taking.
“He that giveth unto the poor shall not lack: but he that hideth his eyes shall have many a curse (merah).”
Proverbs 28:27
It is then that we read these words;
“Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house…..”
This is God’s answer to the extorting of money from the poor. I say money because of the later word used by those who complain that there is no “gain” in serving God. The great irony in this portion of scripture is that the son’s of Levi were robbing God and getting a curse to themselves because of their unjust taking from the poor. What other conclusion can we come to when we see God’s previous uses of these words. It is the poor that are being taken advantage of. It is after naming their fault that God brings relief to the poor by saying to the whole nation, bring your tithes to the storehouse that their may be meat in my house.
It is after God’s correction of this situation that He hears more complaints.
“Ye have said, It is vain to serve God: and what profit (betsa) is it that we have kept his ordinance, and that we have walked mournfully before the LORD of hosts? “ Malachi 3:14
This word is very closely used in relation to the tithe law that says you are to purchase strong drink with tithe money (Deut. 14:26)
“Yea, they are greedy dogs which can never have enough, and they are shepherds that cannot understand: they all look to their own way, every one for his gain (betsa), from his quarter.” Isaiah 56:11
Here God says to bring the tithe into the storehouse. This is the law of the tithe dealing with the fruit of the land. Food. Then there comes the complaint. There is no money (gain) in serving God. This is something of what Judas must have said to himself when he went out from the last supper. Just no money in eating before the Lord in the place He has chosen. What irony, the rebuke of tithe collectors could not be more damning here. Yet, this is the verse used most in taking tithes from one and all.
Now there is more complaint.
“And now we call the proud (zed) happy; yea, they that work wickedness are set up (banah); yea, they that tempt God are even delivered.” Malachi 3:15
“Keep back thy servant also from presumptuous (zed) sins; let them not have dominion over me: then shall I be upright, and I shall be innocent from the great transgression.” Psalms 19:13
“And Cain knew his wife; and she conceived, and bare Enoch: and he builded (banah) a city, and called the name of the city, after the name of his son, Enoch. “ Genesis 4:17
Those who are presumptuous are happy and are set up. They are organized with many buildings. A religious empire. All made possible by a presumption. “All this money comes in by making this presumption, tithes can be money. Forget the corn, oil, wine, stuff. We look like we are serving God, but we get lots of gain through presuming that God is not speaking plainly. He did not know what money was back then.” Depending on God’s forgetfulness or ignorance is building on a foundation of sand for sure.
I did read in one commentary on church history where the writer states that a need for more money came about for the upkeep of all the church properties at the end of the widespread persecutions. It was at that time that the tithe began to be taught to the people. Buildings and tithes came about at about the same time.
Let me remind you again, despising the gain (betsa) of oppressions (maashaqqah ) is the way of righteousness. Isaiah 33:15
Let me remind you again that under the old testament order of things, only land owners paid tithes. Hired workers did not pay. This is why God says again in Malachi 3 that He is against those who oppress the hireling in his wages. Malachi 3:5
The law of the half shekel payment for the upkeep of the temple was applied evenly to both rich and poor.
“The rich shall not give more, and the poor shall not give less than half a shekel, when they give an offering unto the LORD…” Exodus 30:15
The modern tithe teacher takes this law and applies it to the collecting of tithes from everyone. It was the Old Testament people who were under bondage to the law. They that pay tithes today are in even greater bondage than those of that era. We Christians are free from the law only to be put under greater bondage by the tithe teacher. All worried that our righteousness exceeds the righteousness of those under the old covenant. So how does that happen then? By giving more and more.
Those who are ‘set up’ are called wicked, vs. 15. I have found a common thread between those who get the unjust gain of tithe collecting.
“For, behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud (zed), yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the LORD of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch.” Malachi 4:1
“The sinners in Zion are afraid; fearfulness hath surprised the hypocrites. Who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire? who among us shall dwell with everlasting burnings?
He that walketh righteously, and speaketh uprightly; he that despiseth the gain of oppressions, that shaketh his hands from holding of bribes, that stoppeth his ears from hearing of blood, and shutteth his eyes from seeing evil;” Isaiah 33:15
“Let both grow together until the harvest: and in the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them: but gather the wheat into my barn.” Matthew 13:30
The common thread here is fire, burnings, fire. Jesus says that the wheat (tithes) shall be gathered into the barn (storehouse). Those that have the money bound to the hand (Deut 14:25) shall themselves be burned up.
This word study of this chapter in Malachi yields a much different picture than if you read the King James. The word ‘profit’ does not have the money connotations that ‘gain’ has. ‘Proud’ is somewhat different than ‘presumption’. ‘Set up’ does not build you a city. It helps to know that ‘robbing’ God can involve abusing the poor. You can be ‘cursed with a curse’ by hiding your eyes from the poor.
If you put together the words of the prophet Amos concerning the buying and selling of the poor for a shoe, with the other words about the poor before God says, bring the tithe to the storehouse. It sounds like a train wreck. Box cars all over the place. Box cars of rebuke.
The next installment on tithing will reveal more than any we have discussed so far.
Jacob’s tithe oath.
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