"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 you will not have room enough for it."
-Malachi 3:10
-Malachi 3:10
My husband had a young lady call him this week to share a "win" in her life. She had been "arguing with God" about the issue of tithing in her life. We recently had someone share an awesome sermon on the topic at our church and she said she was struggling with what to do. She made the decision to be obedient and tithe last Sunday. The following Monday, God answered a financial need that she had in an awesome way! God is so faithful to His promises when we allow Him to be!!! I have NEVER heard someone who tithes complain that God did not meet their needs. The exact opposite is true. Most people who tithe regularly have amazing stories to share about God's provision in their lives!
I love when people share stories like this with us! God is at work in the lives of the people at Willow Community Church!!!
I have so much to learn!!!
3 comments:
Malachi 3:10 Has Been Misinterpreted
The “whole” tithe never was supposed to go to the Temple! According to Dr. Russell Earl Kelly in his book, Should the Church Teach Tithing?, the usual interpretation of Malachi 3:10’s “Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse” is wrong for four reasons.
First, the Levitical cities must be included. God never told ordinary Israelites to bring the whole tithe to the Temple in Jerusalem. According to Nehemiah 10:38, that duty belonged to the Levites and priests. The Levites lived on borrowed land surrounding 48 cities. After the exile they lived in the 13 priestly cities in Judah such as Jericho and Hebron. Nehemiah 10:37b makes it clear that the people were to bring the tithes to those cities. Numb 18:21-24; 35 all; Josh 20, 21; 1st Chron 6:48-80; 2nd Chron 11:13, 14; 31:15-19; Neh 12:27-29; 13:10 and Mal 1:14.
Second, the correct interpretation of Malachi 3:10 must include the 24 courses of the Levites and priests. Only the older males ate tithes at the Temple and then normally only one week out of 24 weeks! Do the math! That is only 4% of the total work force! And with the wives and younger children staying at home it is only 2% of the total work force who needed to eat tithes in the Temple! 1 Chronicles, chapters 23-26; 28:13, 21; 2 Chron. 8:14; 23:8; 31:2, 15-19; 35:4, 5, 10; Ezra 6:18; Neh. 11:19, 30; 12:24; 13:9, 10; Luke 1:5.
Third, the word “you” of Malachi is referring to the dishonest priests and not the people: “Even this whole nation of you --priests.” In Nehemiah 13:5-10 the priests had clearly stolen the Levites’ portion of the tithe. Also, in Malachi 1:14 the priests had stolen that portion of the tithed animals which they had vowed to God from their herds. Read all of Malachi. God’s anger towards the priests and His curses on them are ignored by most interpreters (1:14; 2:2 and 3:2-4).
Fourth, the blessings and curses of tithing are identical to those of the entire Mosaic Law and cannot legitimately be separated from them. Read all of Deuteronomy 27 and 28, especially 28:12 “The LORD shall open unto thee his good treasure, the heaven to give the rain unto thy land in his season, and to bless all the work of your hand” and 28:23-24 “And thy heaven that is over thy head shall be brass, and the earth that is under thee shall be iron. The LORD shall make the rain of thy land powder and dust: from heaven shall it come down upon thee, until thou be destroyed.” Compare this with Galatians 3:10 quoting 28:26 “For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse: for it is written, Cursed is every one that continues not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them.” Trying to earn God’s blessings through tithing only brings curses for failure to keep all of the law. These were agreed to by Malachi’s audience in Nehemiah 10:29.
When the Levitical cities, the 24 courses, the nature of the blessings and curses and God’s anger towards the priests for stealing are considered, then Malachi 3:10 only makes sense when it only refers to priests who had stolen from God.
It makes no sense to tell the people to bring 100% of the tithe to the Temple when 98% of those who needed it for food were still in the Levitical cities.
It is strange that the 3:10 of Malachi is so important It is while the 3:10 of Galatians and 2nd Corinthians are ignored. Perhaps those wanting to enforce the 3:10 of Malachi should also enforce the 3:10 of Numbers. Wow! Now that would lose members.
2 Cor 3:10 For indeed what had glory, in this case has no glory because of the glory that surpasses it. NASU [Old vs. New Covenant glory]
Since every believer is a NT priest and since the NT Temple is the body of every believer, the purpose of OT tithing has disappeared. The Christian is never told to tithe. Many should give more than 10% but many of the poor cannot and God still accepts their freewill gift from the heart.
I don't know what your motivation is in sharing all of this with me. Is this something that you cut and pasted from a previously written article? I do not claim to be a theologian. I am a Pastor's wife with a B.A. in Language Arts, not a Masters of Divinity. I cannot argue the Bible with you in the way that you seem to want to. The only thing that I know is what I have experienced. I have seen countless numbers of believers learn about the provision of our God because of their faithfulness in giving. How is this wrong? God is using this area in people's lives to teach them more about Himself. You can say what you want. I'm going to keep on giving my tithe because God has laid that on my heart. If that is not a conviction for you, that is between you and God. We do not guilt our congregation into giving, but we do rejoice with them when they see God do amazing things in their lives in this area!
Hey Kimy! You rock! It is so good to see and hear how God is meeting the needs of our people because of their faithfulness to Him!!! You don't need to be a scholar or a theologian to understand that.
Now for russkellyphd...
This is a reply sent out by a computer. It appears that whenever Malachi 3:10 is stated in any blog a report is sent to russkellyphd and then a reply is sent to the offending blogger. TAG, YOU'RE IT!
If there were a real person who read your blog, they would have seen that nothing you said actually contradicts anything mentioned in the long, drawn out, over complicated and unnecessary reply to your innocent and loving blog. If there was a real person attached to this reply, I would have to remind them of what 1 Peter 3:15 says, "... Always be prepared to give and answer to ANY WHO ASKS YOU to give a reason for the JOY that you have. But do this with GENTLENESS AND RESPECT." They would have to retract their comments because you never asked them for anything, you just gave an answer to the Joy that you felt. You never invited or asked anyone to explain Old Testament Levitical Law. Oh, and I didn't sense much gentleness and respect in those comments either. The argument that is laid before you is one for people with more time arguing semantics and showing off their biblical knowledge and to intimidate other Christians into submission of accepting their view (that's why "phd" is included in the blogger tag) instead of spending any time or energy reaching the loss the world.
It is also interesting to note that who ever wrote the original article is quoting everything from the KJV only, when you used the NIV. If a real person would have responded they would first have to explain why they chose to argue with you from a different version of the bible instead of looking at the the version you used for verse by verse comparison. Also, consider the argument about the 13 cities. Those are the cities where the storehouses were located, so I'm not sure what the point is in number 1. Point number 2 is just plain out of context. God commanded the people to bring the tithe to the cities, but all of the verses that are used to back up this point are in reference to what should be done with the tithe AFTER it's given to the priest (I have no idea why Luke 1:5 is even considered in this point???). Now look at Point 3. Maybe I have missed something in my understanding of the Christians role as the people chosen by God to carry on the work that was originally intended for the Jews. If there were a real person, I would ask if they had ever read 1 Peter 2:9&10 which states in the KJV, "But ye [are] a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous light: Which in time past [were] not a people, but [are] now the people of God: which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy." It doesn't take too much straining to see that Christians are now the priesthood and are responsible for carrying out all of the principles of the spirit of the law not in letter (that's a discussion for a later time!). Point number 4 just makes me frustrated! If I could talk to real person I would have to ask them what, if anything, was the Law for? It was the way God used to show the people how to please Him. Yes, they were cursed if they didn't obey the whole law, but that is the whole point of Jesus coming to earth! He is the way to please God now because the letter of the law was impossible to keep. But loving Jesus is easy! In loving Jesus, we keep in line with what pleases God. The author pulled out Galatians 3:10 as a proof text to this point, I don't see how tithe fits. Jesus said He came to fulfill the law, not to abolish it (Matthew 5:17-18). He also acknowledged the tithe in Matthew 23:23 and Hebrews 10:1-10 refer back to the passage in Malachi that started this debate in the first place. I realize that the Hebrews passage is in regard to Jesus having superiority over Levitical priest, but tithe is a key component in making that argument. As the writer of this argument said, "read the whole thing..."
I know I have totally bored you with this, but I have had this come up on several occasions and this seemed as good a time as any to get my thoughts out in writing.
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