Malachi 3:6-12, The Tithe

“Tithe” means a tenth. The Law required giving a tenth of one’s income to Yahweh (“A tithe of everything from the land, whether grain from the soil or fruit from the trees, belongs to Yahweh” (Leviticus 27:30). This tithe was given to the Levites because they were not given land to grow food but served in the Tabernacle/Temple and needed support (“I give to the Levites all the tithes in Israel as their inheritance in return for the work they do while serving at the tent of meeting” (Numbers 18:21). The people of Malachi’s day were not giving and supporting the Levites in this way.

⁶ “Because I Yahweh do not change, therefore you, O children of Jacob, are not consumed. ⁷ From the days of your fathers you have turned aside from my statutes and have not kept them. Return to me, and I will return to you, says Yahweh of hosts. But you say, ‘How will we return?’ ⁸ Will a man rob God? Yet you are robbing me. But you say, ‘How have we robbed you?’ In your tithes and contributions. ⁹ You are cursed with a curse, for you are robbing me, the whole nation of you. ¹⁰ Bring the full tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. And thereby put me to the test, says Yahweh of hosts, and see if I will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you a blessing until there is no more need. ¹¹ I will rebuke the devouring locust for you, so that it will not destroy the fruits of your soil, and your vine in the field will not miscarry, says Yahweh of hosts. ¹² Then all nations will call you blessed, for you will be a land of delight, says Yahweh of hosts.

Because God is immutable, unchangeable, He always keeps His promises. He had made a covenant with Abraham and would not break it. As He had said through Jeremiah,

“I am with you and will save you,” declares Yahweh. “Though I completely destroy all the nations among which I scatter you, I will not completely destroy you. I will discipline you but only in due measure; I will not let you go entirely unpunished” (Jeremiah 30:11).

He was judging Israel for her failure to pay the tithe, which He considered robbery.  “Stealing means not only taking what is not yours but keeping back for yourself what belongs to someone else.” (Expositor’s) All of what they had grown belonged to God, but He had only required a tithe or tenth of it as a tax, of sorts, to support the Levites.

They were not prospering in what they were growing. But if they paid the tithe, if they tested Yahweh at His command, if they would fill the Temple storehouse (2 Chronicles 31:11; Nehemiah 10:38), He would compensate them with great prosperity, so that they had no need. And this would be a testimony to the nations, the Gentiles, the non-Jews, as to how great Yahweh was in His provision.

Giving ten percent of our income is not a requirement that is made of the church. Giving is (2 Corinthians 8-9), but an exact percentage is never specified. Our giving should be generous. Everything we have is from God, it is all His, but we show our trust in God and our acknowledgement that He gave us everything, by giving to Him a portion (ten percent has been a principle since time immemorial, Genesis 14:20).