Will A Man Rob God?

Malachi

It is absolutely inescapable that the entire book of Malachi was addressed to the priests. They robbed God in offerings by offering polluted bread and blemished animals on the altar. According to Nehemiah 13, they robbed God in tithes by stealing them from the Levites who ministered there. Thus, the (third-year) tithes were not coming into the storehouse because the priests were stealing them. There is no interruption in the second person of the book; therefore, the oft quoted portion of Malachi referencing tithing is still addressed to the priests.

It is abundantly clear that Malachi 3:8-10 is still addressing the priests for stealing the tithes from the Levites and poor by rerouting them from the public storehouse chambers. This passage was not addressed to the people for not "paying" their tithes. There is not one single shred of valid Scriptural support for the utterly false hermeneutic that would in any way, shape, or form apply this oft ill-quoted passage to Christians for not giving a mythical "tithe" of all net/gross/gross+benefits monetary income to a local church treaury. There is no Scriptural support whatsoever for such an obligation, and it certainly cannot be found in an honest contextual reading of this passage.

 

Is anything special planned in your church for Sunday, the tithe of next month? :wavey:

 

Has anyone mentioned that the "tithe" was the federal income tax for the Nation of Israel?

Also, gold, silver and jewelry were acceptable as some forms of tax (poll tax) and gift offerings (but not the tithe, except to throw a tithing part).

For example:
Exodus 30

12 When thou takest the sum of the children of Israel after their number, then shall they give every man a ransom for his soul unto the LORD, when thou numberest them; that there be no plague among them, when thou numberest them.
13 This they shall give, every one that passeth among them that are numbered, half a shekel after the shekel of the sanctuary: (a shekel is twenty gerahs an half shekel shall be the offering of the LORD.
14 Every one that passeth among them that are numbered, from twenty years old and above, shall give an offering unto the LORD.
15 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, to make an atonement for your souls.
16 And thou shalt take the atonement money of the children of Israel, and shalt appoint it for the service of the tabernacle of the congregation; that it may be a memorial unto the children of Israel before the LORD, to make an atonement for your souls.​

I agree with SFIC, also that the rebuke of the Book of Malachi was to the priests and Levites of Israel under the Law.

However:

2 Corinthians 9:6 But this I say, He which soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly; and he which soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully.​

HankD

 

I didn't say it was a tithe SFIC. In fact I made it a point to say that it was not a tithe.

The OT wage earner was free from the Law of the landowner and the harvest tithe.

My point was and is that that giving in the OT economy did NOT disallow money such as gold and silver.

But there is another good point to be made here SFIC.

If NT believers are obligated to pay a tithe on their earnings then we who are males and over 20 years old are also bound under the Law to annually pay the Exodus 30 poll tax of a 1/2 shekel.

This is, to say the least, problematic.

However and IMO the NT practice of giving 10% of one's income through the local Church is covered by the NT Scripture of "as he purposeth in his heart".

However it shouldn't be given with a grudge and it certainly shouldn't be coerced. All that we are and have is God's anyway.

HankD

 

True.

Of course not. Freewill offerings were usually money. Tithing and giving are two completely different things. They are not different means, amounts, or methods of performing essentially the same act. What some of us are trying to do is to explain to people what the Word of God actually says so that they understand some of this stuff and not just assume things out of presumption, logic, or tradition. The act of tithing in the Law and referenced in Malachi and Jesus is the seven year cyclical system of landowners giving the tenth part of their crops and livestock to the Levites and poor (and eaten by themselves in the annual feasts). Most of the references to tithing were not some kind of generic principle of giving one tenth of all of one's earned monetary income to some form of ministry.

Sounds about right.

I would like to see where in this NT this supposed practice is found. The practice is good, of course, but it should be understood that nowhere in Scripture is there any kind of suggestion/command/or obligation that would make a persistent 10% of one's monetary income to a local church some kind of tangible threshold. People should not try to preach that Christians have any kind of Scriptural pressure to this act by somehow linking it to the tithe passages in the Bible, because it is just not true.

The rule for Christian charity is this:

The rule is that the more you give, the more you are blessed. There is no minimal or maximum threshold to the principle, and attempting to link the tithe passages in the Bible to the Christian in the topic of charitable giving to make an obligation of any form or to any degree is simply bad hermeneutics.

 

I believe You are wrong brother and would cause some to doubt and rob them of their joy of giving a tithe besides going contrary to this Scripture which says that a man can give "as he puposeth in his heart".

Therefore, if it is my purpose to give 1%,5% 10%, 50% or $1, $5, $10 or $100 or whatever measure I purpose in my heart to give per whatever time cycle, I am free to do as long as I can do it without a grudge and I'm not doing it out of obligation because this Scripture does not say (except it be for a tithe because thou art not under the law).

I would agree that NT believers be careful to not make it an obligation.

OK I have already said this in a previous post and again here in a different way.

No one is "obligated" to give 1 cent. However, to not be a giving person would go against the nature we received when born from above.

Also there is no way to escape linking the "tithe" of the OT to NT giving.
They are both by nature acts of "giving" for the purpose of the witness of the visible manifestation of the kingdom of God on earth.

The difference: The one is of obligation, the other is of free will and that is the distinction and not that they are not linked.

However, I have no doubt that the OT believer gave his tithe with joy as do NT saints with their free-will giving.


HankD

 

You saying God mimicked a pagan custom? He took their practice, changed the name and made it His?

What about Cane and Abel, why were they giving?

 

What do the burnt offerings, symbolic of the Lamb of God, have to do with tithing? It is not mentioned anywhere in the Bible that Cain and Abel's burnt offerings were tithes.

 

Doesn't say that they wasn't tithe's either...

What is the difference between a tithe and an offering?

 

That's just silly. Proving a negative is a logical fallacy. Let's just go by what the Bible says: they were required by God to perform burnt blood sacrifices on a regular basis (or just this one time).

In the context of passages that deal with the subject, most occurrences of offering had to do with a burnt sacrifice on an altar. Most occurrences of tithe had to do with the seven-year annual cycle in the Law where landowners yeilded a tenth of their crops and livestock for festivals in Jerusalem, or for the Levites and poor. Some of the livestock that the Levites and priests received from tithes were used as burnt offerings in the temple for the various types of offerings for different occasions, such as sin offerings.

Hermeneutically, neither of them have to do with methods or amounts of money given to a local church placed in a "tithes and offerings" envelope. The correct terms (NT) for this are "gifts," "charity," "liberality," etc.

The idea that tithes are the first tenth of one's income given to the church and offerings are additional monetary amounts in excess of this (and can only be counted after the "tithes" have already been given) is found nowhere in Scripture. It is a complete misapplication of what the Scripture actually says in context where these terms are found.

 

Also, a tithe would eventually be comsumed by some person. An offering was burned and literally went up in smoke.

 

Ohoh, we can't win for losing...

We are either in bondage to a tithe or in bondage to make sure we don't tithe.

If at the end of the year, I happen to have given 10% of my income I'm in trouble?




HankD

 

Exactly. I don't see anywhere where any of us has said that there is anything wrong with giving a persistent 10% of one's monetary income to a local church. It is, of course, a good thing. What we are trying to get across is the following:
1. Christians are not required to tithe.
2. Giving a persistent 10% of one's net/gross/gross+benefits monetary income to a local church is NOT the tithe expressed in the Bible; and performing this act is NOT obeying or in any way fulfilling Malachi 3:8-10 or any other tithe passage found in the Bible. This passage and its context does not expressly apply to Christians and their relationship to the church.
3. Any method of giving (including a persistent calculated 10% of one's net/gross/gross+benefits monetary income) to the church or elsewhere is good, provided that the giving is done cheerfully and needs are not being neglected.
4. The text and context of the Bible is important, Christians should endeavor to study and understand it, and what it actually says must trump tradition, logic, and emotion.

 

Amen to both SFIC and AresMan.

HankD