Malachi 3:8

8 Will a human [dare to] rob God? Yet you [are] robbing me! And you say, 'How have we robbed you?' In the tithes and the contributions!

Malachi 3:8 Meaning and Commentary

Malachi 3:8

Will a man rob God?
&c.] Or "the gods"; the false gods, the idols of the Gentiles; the Heathens will not do that, accounting sacrilege a great sin, and yet this the Jews were guilty of: or "the judges" ^F3, as the Targum; civil magistrates; will any dare to defraud them of their due? see ( Malachi 1:8 ) . Yet ye have robbed me;
keeping back from the priests and Levites, his ministers, what was due to them; and which, being no other than a spoiling or robbing of them, might be interpreted a robbing of God: But ye say, wherein have we robbed thee?
as not being conscious of any such evil; or, however, impudently standing in it, that they were not guilty: to which is returned the answer, In tithes and offerings;
that is, they robbed God in not giving the tithes, and not offering sacrifices, according as the law required: but it may be objected, that the Jews in Christ's time did pay tithes, even of all things; yea, of more than the law required, ( Matthew 23:23 ) ( Luke 18:12 ) to which it may be replied, that though they gave tithes, yet it was (her Nyeb) , "with an evil eye", as Aben Ezra says; grudgingly, and not cheerfully, and with an evil intention; not to show their gratitude to God, and their acknowledgment of him as their Lord, from whom they had their all, but in order to merit at his hands; besides, our Lord suggests that they did not give to God the things that were God's, ( Matthew 22:21 ) and the apostle charges them with being guilty of sacrilege, ( Romans 2:22 ) and, moreover, the priests might not give it to the Levites, as they ought; and which is what they are charged with in ( Nehemiah 13:10 ) and Grotius says that they were guilty of this before the destruction by Vespasian, as appears by Josephus.

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FOOTNOTES:

F3 (Myhla) "deos, vel judices", Calvin, Drusius, Grotius.

Malachi 3:8 In-Context

6 "For I, Yahweh, have not changed, and you, O children of Jacob, have not perished.

7 From the days of your ancestors you have turned aside from my rules, and have not kept [them]! Return to me and I will return to you," says Yahweh of hosts, "but you say, 'How shall we return?'

8 Will a human [dare to] rob God? Yet you [are] robbing me! And you say, 'How have we robbed you?' In the tithes and the contributions!

9 You [are] being cursed with [a] curse, for you [are] robbing me, the whole nation [of you]!

10 Bring the whole tithe to {the storehouse}, so that there will be food in my house, and test me please in this," says Yahweh of hosts, "if I will not open for you the windows of heaven, and pour forth for you {an overflowing blessing}.