Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house, and test me now in this,” says Yahweh of Armies, “if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there will not be room enough for.
Parallel Translations
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Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house, and test me now in this,” says Yahweh of Armies, “if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there will not be room enough for.
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Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the LORD of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it.
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Bring ye the whole tithe into the store-house, that there may be food in My house, and try Me now herewith, saith the LORD of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall be more than sufficiency.
Cross-references (24)
Passages linked to Malachi 3:10 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- 2 Corinthians 9:6-8 Remember this: he who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly. He who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. Let each man give according as he has determined in his heart, not grudgingly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to make all grace abound to you, that you, always having all sufficiency in everything, may abound to every good work.
- Matthew 6:33 But seek first God’s Kingdom, and his righteousness; and all these things will be given to you as well.
- Proverbs 3:9-10 Honor Yahweh with your substance, with the first fruits of all your increase: so your barns will be filled with plenty, and your vats will overflow with new wine.
- Psalms 37:3 Trust in Yahweh, and do good. Dwell in the land, and enjoy safe pasture.
- Deuteronomy 28:12 Yahweh will open to you his good treasure in the sky, to give the rain of your land in its season, and to bless all the work of your hand. You will lend to many nations, and you will not borrow.
- Leviticus 27:30 “ ‘All the tithe of the land, whether of the seed of the land or of the fruit of the trees, is Yahweh’s. It is holy to Yahweh.
- Nehemiah 13:10-13 I perceived that the portions of the Levites had not been given them; so that the Levites and the singers, who did the work, had each fled to his field. Then I contended with the rulers, and said, “Why is God’s house forsaken?” I gathered them together, and set them in their place. Then all Judah brought the tithe of the grain, the new wine, and the oil to the treasuries. I made treasurers over the treasuries, Shelemiah the priest, and Zadok the scribe, and of the Levites, Pedaiah: and next to them was Hanan the son of Zaccur, the son of Mattaniah; for they were counted faithful, and their business was to distribute to their brothers.
- Nehemiah 12:44 On that day, men were appointed over the rooms for the treasures, for the wave offerings, for the first fruits, and for the tithes, to gather into them, according to the fields of the cities, the portions appointed by the law for the priests and Levites; for Judah rejoiced for the priests and for the Levites who waited.
- 2 Chronicles 31:4-19 Moreover he commanded the people who lived in Jerusalem to give the portion of the priests and the Levites, that they might give themselves to Yahweh’s law. As soon as the commandment went out, the children of Israel gave in abundance the first fruits of grain, new wine, oil, honey, and of all the increase of the field; and they brought in the tithe of all things abundantly. The children of Israel and Judah, who lived in the cities of Judah, also brought in the tithe of cattle and sheep, and the tithe of dedicated things which were consecrated to Yahweh their God, and laid them in heaps. In the third month they began to lay the foundation of the heaps, and finished them in the seventh month. When Hezekiah and the princes came and saw the heaps, they blessed Yahweh and his people Israel. Then Hezekiah questioned the priests and the Levites about the heaps. Azariah the chief priest, of the house of Zadok, answered him and said, “Since people began to bring the offerings into Yahweh’s house, we have eaten and had enough, and have plenty left over, for Yahweh has blessed his people; and that which is left is this great store.” Then Hezekiah commanded them to prepare rooms in Yahweh’s house, and they prepared them. They brought in the offerings, the tithes, and the dedicated things faithfully. Conaniah the Levite was ruler over them, and Shimei his brother was second. Jehiel, Azaziah, Nahath, Asahel, Jerimoth, Jozabad, Eliel, Ismachiah, Mahath, and Benaiah were overseers under the hand of Conaniah and Shimei his brother, by the appointment of Hezekiah the king and Azariah the ruler of God’s house. Kore the son of Imnah the Levite, the gatekeeper at the east gate, was over the free will offerings of God, to distribute Yahweh’s offerings and the most holy things. Under him were Eden, Miniamin, Jeshua, Shemaiah, Amariah, and Shecaniah, in the cities of the priests, in their office of trust, to give to their brothers by divisions, to the great as well as to the small; in addition to those who were listed by genealogy of males, from three years old and upward, even everyone who entered into Yahweh’s house, as the duty of every day required, for their service in their offices according to their divisions; and those who were listed by genealogy of the priests by their fathers’ houses, and the Levites from twenty years old and upward, in their offices by their divisions; and those who were listed by genealogy of all their little ones, their wives, their sons, and their daughters, through all the congregation; for in their office of trust they sanctified themselves in holiness. Also for the sons of Aaron the priests, who were in the fields of the pasture lands of their cities, in every city, there were men who were mentioned by name, to give portions to all the males among the priests, and to all who were listed by genealogy among the Levites.
- Numbers 18:21 “To the children of Levi, behold, I have given all the tithe in Israel for an inheritance, in return for their service which they serve, even the service of the Tent of Meeting.
- Leviticus 26:10 You shall eat old supplies long kept, and you shall move out the old because of the new.
- Luke 12:16-17 He spoke a parable to them, saying, “The ground of a certain rich man produced abundantly. He reasoned within himself, saying, ‘What will I do, because I don’t have room to store my crops?’
- 2 Kings 7:2 Then the captain on whose hand the king leaned answered the man of God, and said, “Behold, if Yahweh made windows in heaven, could this thing be?” He said, “Behold, you will see it with your eyes, but will not eat of it.”
- Haggai 2:19 Is the seed yet in the barn? Yes, the vine, the fig tree, the pomegranate, and the olive tree haven’t produced. From today I will bless you.’ ”
- Genesis 7:11 In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, on the seventeenth day of the month, on that day all the fountains of the great deep burst open, and the sky’s windows opened.
- 1 Kings 17:13-16 Elijah said to her, “Don’t be afraid. Go and do as you have said; but make me a little cake from it first, and bring it out to me, and afterward make some for you and for your son. For Yahweh, the God of Israel says, ‘The jar of meal will not run out, and the jar of oil will not fail, until the day that Yahweh sends rain on the earth.’ ” She went and did according to the saying of Elijah; and she, and he, and her house, ate many days. The jar of meal didn’t run out, and the jar of oil didn’t fail, according to Yahweh’s word, which he spoke by Elijah.
- 2 Kings 7:19 and that captain answered the man of God, and said, “Now, behold, if Yahweh made windows in heaven, might such a thing be?” and he said, “Behold, you will see it with your eyes, but will not eat of it.”
- Nehemiah 10:33-39 for the show bread, for the continual meal offering, for the continual burnt offering, for the Sabbaths, for the new moons, for the set feasts, and for the holy things, and for the sin offerings to make atonement for Israel, and for all the work of the house of our God. We, the priests, the Levites, and the people, cast lots for the wood offering, to bring it into the house of our God, according to our fathers’ houses, at times appointed, year by year, to burn on Yahweh our God’s altar, as it is written in the law; and to bring the first fruits of our ground, and the first fruits of all fruit of all kinds of trees, year by year, to Yahweh’s house; also the firstborn of our sons, and of our livestock, as it is written in the law, and the firstborn of our herds and of our flocks, to bring to the house of our God, to the priests who minister in the house of our God; and that we should bring the first fruits of our dough, our wave offerings, the fruit of all kinds of trees, and the new wine and the oil, to the priests, to the rooms of the house of our God; and the tithes of our ground to the Levites; for they, the Levites, take the tithes in all the cities of our tillage. The priest the son of Aaron shall be with the Levites, when the Levites take tithes. The Levites shall bring up the tithe of the tithes to the house of our God, to the rooms, into the treasure house. For the children of Israel and the children of Levi shall bring the wave offering of the grain, of the new wine, and of the oil, to the rooms, where the vessels of the sanctuary are, and the priests who minister, with the gatekeepers and the singers. We will not forsake the house of our God.
- Nehemiah 13:5 had prepared for him a great room, where before they laid the meal offerings, the frankincense, the vessels, and the tithes of the grain, the new wine, and the oil, which were given by commandment to the Levites, the singers, and the gatekeepers; and the wave offerings for the priests.
- Ecclesiastes 11:3 If the clouds are full of rain, they empty themselves on the earth; and if a tree falls toward the south, or toward the north, in the place where the tree falls, there shall it be.
- Nehemiah 12:47 All Israel in the days of Zerubbabel, and in the days of Nehemiah, gave the portions of the singers and the gatekeepers, as every day required; and they set apart that which was for the Levites; and the Levites set apart that which was for the sons of Aaron.
- John 21:6-11 He said to them, “Cast the net on the right side of the boat, and you will find some.” They cast it therefore, and now they weren’t able to draw it in for the multitude of fish. That disciple therefore whom Jesus loved said to Peter, “It’s the Lord!” So when Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he wrapped his coat around himself (for he was naked), and threw himself into the sea. But the other disciples came in the little boat (for they were not far from the land, but about two hundred cubits away), dragging the net full of fish. So when they got out on the land, they saw a fire of coals there, with fish and bread laid on it. Jesus said to them, “Bring some of the fish which you have just caught.” Simon Peter went up, and drew the net to land, full of one hundred fifty-three great fish. Even though there were so many, the net wasn’t torn.
- Luke 5:6-7 When they had done this, they caught a great multitude of fish, and their net was breaking. They beckoned to their partners in the other boat, that they should come and help them. They came, and filled both boats, so that they began to sink.
- 1 Chronicles 26:20 Of the Levites, Ahijah was over the treasures of God’s house and over the treasures of the dedicated things.
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John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain He at length declares that they profited nothing by…
He at length declares that they profited nothing by contending with God, but that a better way was open to them, that is, to return into favor with him. After having then repelled their unjust accusations, he again points out the remedy which he had already referred to — that if they dealt faithfully with God, he would be bountiful to them, and that his blessing would be promptly extended to them. This is the sum of the passage. They had been sufficiently proved guilty of rapacity in withholding the tenths and the oblations; as then the sacrilege was well known, the Prophet now passes judgement, as they say, according to what is usually done when the criminal is condemned, and the cause is decided, so that he who has been defrauded recovers his right.
So also now God deals with the Jews. Bring, he says, to the repository (for this is the same as the house of the treasury, or of provisions) all the tenths, or the whole tenths. We hence learn that they had not withholden the whole of the tenths from the priests, but that they fraudulently brought the half, or retained as much as they could; for it was not without reason that he said, Bring all, or the whole. They then so paid the tenths as to supply the priests with a part only, and thus they trifled with God, according to what hypocrites do, who ever claim to themselves high honor, and try to perform their duty in such a way as not to discover their own perfidy, and yet they are not ashamed of the liberty they take to illude God; and of this we have here a remarkable example. We then see that it is no new or unusual thing for men to pretend to do the duties they owe to God, and at the same time to take away from him what is his own, and to transfer it to themselves, and that manifestly, so that their impiety is evident, though it be covered by the veil of dissimulation.
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He then adds, Let there be meat in my house. We have elsewhere explained this form of speaking, and in the last lecture the Prophet spoke also of the meat of God, not that God needs meat and drink, but that whatever he has given us ought to be deemed his. We have already stated, that it has been recorded for our sake, that the Jews offered bread, and victims, and things of this kind, and that they feasted at Jerusalem in the presence of God: for what is more desirable than that God should dwell in the midst of us? and this is often repeated in the law. But this could not have been set forth to us in a way so familiar, as when God is represented as in a manner sitting at table with us, as though he were our guest, eating of the same bread and of the other provisions: and hence it is said in the law, “Thou shalt feast and rejoice before thy God.” (Deuteronomy 2:18.) Now as God needs not meat and drink, as it has been said, and as men in their grossness are ever prone to superstitions, he substituted the priests and the poor in his own place, to prevent the Jews from entertaining earthly notions respecting him. And this kind of modification or correction deserves to be noticed: for the Lord on the one hand intended to draw men in a kind manner to himself; but, on the other hand, he proposed to raise their minds upward to heaven, lest they should ascribe to him anything unworthy of himself, as is wont to be done, and is very common.
But, at the same time, he again accuses them of sacrilege, for he complains that he was deprived of meat; Let there then be meat in my house; and prove me by this, saith Jehovah, if I wily not open, etc. He confirms what he said before, and yet proceeds with his promise, for by subjecting himself to a proof, he boldly repels their calumny in saying that they were without cause consumed with want, and that God had changed his nature, because he had not given a large supply of provisions. God then briefly shows, that wrong had been done to him, for he admits of a proof or a trial, as though he had said, “If you choose to contest the point, I will soon settle it, for if you bring to me the tenths and them entire, there will immediately come to you a great abundance of all provisions: it will hence be evident, that I am not the cause of barrenness, but that it is your wickedness, because ye have sacrilegiously defrauded me.”
Then he adds, If I will not open to you the windows of heaven. It is the first thing as to fertility that the heavens should water the earth, according to what Scripture declares: and hence God threatens in the law that the heaven would be iron and the earth brass, (Deuteronomy 28:23,) for there is a mutual connection between the heaven and the earth, and he says elsewhere by a Prophet,
“The heaven will hear the earth, and the earth will hear the corn and wine, and the corn and wine will hear men.” (Hosea 2:22.)
For when famine urges us, we cry for bread and wine, as our life seems in a manner to be dependent on these supplies. When there is no wine nor corn, we meet with a denial; but the wine and the corn cry to the earth, and why? because according to the order fixed by God, they seek as it were to break forth; for when the bowels of the earth are closed, neither the corn nor the vine can come forth, and then they in vain call on the earth. The sense is the case with the earth; for when it is dry and as it were famished, it calls on the heavens, but if rain be denied, the heavens seem to reject its prayer. Then God in this place shows that the earth could not produce a single ear of corn, except the heavens supplied moisture or rain. God indeed could from the beginning have watered the earth without rain, as Moses relates he did at first, for a vapor then supplied the want of rain. Though then rain descends naturally, we are yet reminded here that God sends it. This is the first thing.
But as rain itself would not suffice, he adds, I will unsheath, etc.; for רק, rek, means properly to unsheath; but as this metaphor seems unnatural, some have more correctly rendered it, “I will draw out” Unnatural also is this version, “I will empty out a blessing,” and it perverts the meaning. Let us then follow what I have stated as the first — that a blessing is drawn out from God when the earth discharges its office, and becomes fertile or fruitful. We hence see that God is not only in one way bountiful to us, but he also intends by various processes to render us sensible of his kindness: he rains from heaven to soften the earth, that it may in its bosom nourish the corn, and then send it forth from its bowels, as though it extended its breast to us; and further, God adds his blessing, so as to render the rain useful.
He subjoins the words עד-בלי-די, od-beli-di, which some render, “that there may not be a sufficiency,” that is, that granaries and cellars might not be capable of containing such abundance. They then elicit this meaning — that so great would be the fruitfulness of the earth, and so large would be its produce, that their repositories would not be sufficiently capacious. But others give this version, “Beyond the measure of sufficiency.” The word די, di, means properly sufficiency, or what is needful, as by inverting the letters it יד, id With regard to the general meaning there is but little difference. Suitable also is this version, “Beyond sufficiency;” that is, I will not regard what is needful for you, as though it were measured, but the abundance shall be overflowing. It follows —
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain Not having respect how much ye need, but I…
Not having respect how much ye need, but I will give you in all abundance: so that ye shall lack place to put my blessings in.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Mal 3:10 Bring ye all the tithes into the…
Mal 3:10 Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the LORD of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that [there shall] not [be room] enough [to receive it].
Ver. 10. Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse] All, whether pecuniary or personal, all, and of every kind.
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Into the storehouse] The standing place for tithes, as it is called, Neh 13:11-13, the tithe barn, as the Vulgate hath it.
That there may be meat in my house] Tereph from whence Pροφη, and the English, prey; that there may be maintenance for my ministers; enough not for themselves only, but for to be distributed to those that are about them ( Cibus qui discerpi, dividi, distribuique potest); that they may not eat their morsels alone, that they may not be slaves to others, servants to themselves; that they may not "bite with their teeth, and cry, peace," teach for hire, and divine for money, Mic 3:5; Mic 3:11, that is, be fain to maintain themselves with sordid and unworthy flatteries. Balaam, the false prophet, rode with his two men, Num 22:22. God’s Levite had one man, Jdg 19:11. Augustine lived neither like a lord, for he ate his meat in wooden and marble dishes; neither lived he like a beggar, for he used to eat with silver spoons. What pity was it that Luther was forced to cry out in his comment on Gen 47:1-31, Nisi superesset spolium Aegypti quod rapuimus Papae, omnibus ministris verbi fame pereundum esset. Quod si sustentandi essent die contributione populi misere profecto et duriter viverent. If it were not for the spoil of Egypt which we have snatched from the Pope, all the ministers of the word must have been famished. For if they should be put to live upon the free contribution of the people, they would certainly have a miserable hard living of it. Alimur ergo, &c. We are maintained then, as I said, of the spoils of Egypt; and yet that little that we have is preyed upon by the magistrates; for the parishes and schools are so spoiled and peeled, as if they meant to starve us all. Thus Luther. Melancthon comes after him and complains in the year 1550, Principes favebant Luthero: sed iam iterum videtis ingratitudinem mundi erga ministros, &c.: The princes did at first favour Luther; but now ye see again the unkindness of the world to the ministers of the word. Calvin was so ill dealt with at Geneva (together with other faithful ministers there), that he was forced once to say, Certe si hominibus servivissem, &c., Truly if I had served men in my ministry I had been very ill requited. But it is well that I have served him who never fails his own; but faithfully performeth with the better whatsoever he hath promised them. Our Doctor Stoughton observed, that the manner of very many in the city was to deal with their ministers as carriers do with their horses, viz., to lay heavy burdens upon them, and then to hang bells about their necks; they shall have hard work and great commendations, but easy commons; be applauded for excellent preachers, have good words, but slight wages (Serm. on 1Sa 2:30). Thus in the city; but what measure meet men within the country! Hear it from a country minister’s mouth. How many thousands in this land (saith he) stand obnoxious in a high degree to the judgments of God for this sin of sacrilege, which is the bane of our people and blemish of our Church! Some there are who rob God of his main tithes, yet are content to leave him still the lesser; they pluck our fleeces, and leave us the taglocks, {a} poor vicarage tithes, while themselves and children are kept warm in our wool, the parsonage. And others, yet more injurious, who think that too much; would the law but allow them a pair of shears, they would clip the very taglocks off. These (with the deceitful tailor) are not content to shrink the whole and fair broad cloth to a dozen of buttons, but they must likewise take part of them away, and hem the very shreds, which only we have left. After they have fully gorged themselves with the parsonage grains they can find means, either by unconscionable leases or compositions, to pick the vicarage bones, &c. Thus he, and much more to the like purpose. Our blessings (saith another eminent divine, Dr Sclatter) are more than those of old, our burden less. And yet how unwilling comes even a little to the most painfull minister! And those that, upon a kind of conscience, pay other duties, think all lost that goes to the maintenance of the ministry; and that with such repining, as if that were money of all other worst bestowed.
And prove me now herewith] Dignatio stupenda, A wonderful condescension, that God should call upon man to take experiment of him, to make but a trial, to put it to the proof whether he will not prosper the penitent. This is somewhat like that other passage, Psa 34:8 "O taste and see that the Lord is good," &c., or that, "Come, and let us reason together." Oh the never enough adored depth of God’s goodness, that he should stoop so low to us clay and dirt, dung and worms’ meat! He is so high, that he is said to humble himself to behold things done in heaven, Psa 113:6. If he look at all out of himself, to see but what the angels do, he doth therein abase himself. That he will deal so familiarly with us (who are no better than so many walking dunghills) as to bid us prove him what he will do for us, this deserves acknowledgment and admiration in the highest degree. Should he have used martial law with these malapert miscreants in the text that had robbed him of his rights, and not only have reproved them and cursed them with a curse of penury, but have (Draco-like) written his laws in blood upon them, he might have justified his proceedings. But thus to commune with them, and not only to prescribe them a remedy for removal of the curse, Bring ye all the tithes, &c., but thus to persuade with them, and to permit them to prove his bountifulness in giving, and his faithfulness in keeping promise with them, and that with an oath, as some conceive, Subest iurandi species (Figuier).
If I will not open the windows of heaven] Then never believe me more. What a wonderful goodness was this! Surely we may well say of it, as Chrysostom doth of the happiness of heaven, Sermo non valet exprimere: experimento opus est; we can never sufficiently praise it, but must take the counsel he gives us, and prove it, "Prove me," &c. There is an unlawful and damnable proving or rather provoking of God, when men separate the means from the end, holiness from happiness, will needs live as they list, and yet presume they shall be saved by the unknown mercies of God. Such were those that "tempted and provoked the most high God, and kept not his testimonies," Psa 78:56, like as before they had lusted exceedingly in the wilderness, and tempted God in the desert, Psa 106:14; while, bearing themselves overly bold upon their external privileges, they refused to observe his statutes and keep his laws. This sin, in the New Testament, is called "tempting the Spirit of the Lord," Act 5:9. Ananias and Sapphire did so, when by a cunning contrivance they would needs prove and make trial whether God could discover and would punish their hypocrisy; so did Judas the traitor, when he boldly demanded, "Is it I, Lord?" So do all gross hypocrites that present unto God a carcase of holiness, like Ham, or that cursed deceiver, Mal 1:14. Such also as refuse Christ’s offers of grace; and when he bids them, as here, prove him, if upon their obedience in the laws of his kingdom he will not open the windows of heaven and rain down righteousness upon them, even mercies without measure; and (for confirmation) wills them, as once he did wicked Ahaz, "Ask thee a sign of the Lord thy God, ask it either in the depth or height above"; they churlishly answer him in effect as he did, "I will not ask, neither will I try the Lord." Whereupon the prophet that made the motion, in a holy indignation, "Hear ye now," saith he, "ye house of David, Is it a small thing for you to weary men, but will ye weary my God also?" Isa 7:12-13.
If I will not often you the windows of heaven] Vulgate: the cataracts, or floodgates, or spouts of heaven; meaning the clouds, those bottles of rain, which God here promiseth to shower down abundantly, tanta copia, impetu, et fragore, ut ruere potius quam fluere videatur (Corn. a Lapide). A phrase noting great plenty, 2Ki 7:2, for in those hot countries drought ever made a dearth. Hence the proud Egyptians, whose land is watered and made fruitful by the overflow of the river Nile, were wont in mockery to tell the neighbouring nations, that if God should forget to rain they might chance to starve for it. They thought the rain was of God, but not the river. God therefore threateneth to dry it up, Eze 29:9 Isa 19:5-6, and so he did (Ovid.):
“ Creditur Aegyptus caruisse iuvantibus arva
Imbribus, atque annis sicca fuisse novem. ”
To teach both them and us, that both plenty and scarcity, drought and rain, are his work; he carries the keys of the grave, of the heart, and of the windows of heaven, the clouds, under his own belt. Vessels they are as thin as the liquor which is contained in them. There they hang and move, though weighty with their burden. How they are upheld, and why they fall here and now, we know not, but wonder at it, as God’s handiwork. In the island of St Thomas, on the backside of Africa, in the midst of it is a hill, and over that a continual cloud, wherewith the whole island is watered. In the middle region of the air, God hath made darkness his secret place: his pavilion round about him is dark waters and thick clouds of the sky, Psa 18:11. These he weighs by measure, so that not a drop falls in vain nor in a wrong place, Job 28:15 "When he uttereth his voice there is a multitude (or noise) of waters in the heavens, and he causeth the vapours to ascend from the ends of the earth: he maketh lightnings with rain," &c., Jer 10:13. A wonderful thing surely, that out of the midst of water God fetcheth fire, and hard stones out of the midst of thin vapours. This is the Lord’s own doing, and it is (worthily) marvellous in our eyes. "Are there any among the vanities of the Gentiles that can give rain? or can the heavens give showers?" (so the naturalists will needs have it; but what saith the prophet?) "Art not thou he, O Lord our God? therefore we will wait upon thee: for thou hast made all these things," Jer 14:22. A pious resolution surely, and that which the Lord here would have this people to take up; viz. in the way of his judgments to wait upon him, Isa 26:8, and walk before him, to honour him with their substance, and with the firstfruits of all their increase. So should their barns be filled with plenty, and their presses burst out with new wine, Pro 3:9-10 "The liberal soul shall be made fat: and he that watereth shall be watered also himself," Pro 11:25.
God will pour him out a blessing] Because he is a soul of blessing, as the Hebrew hath it in that place of the Proverbs last cited, and he shall have rain enough, Ipse pluvia erit, as Kimchi rendereth the last words there. He shall be a sweet and seasonable shower to himself and others. "Therefore they shall come and sing in the height of Zion, and shall flow together to the goodness of the Lord, for wheat, and for wine, and for oil, and for the young of the flock, and of the herd: and their soul shall be as a watered garden, and they shall not sorrow any more at all," Jer 31:12. O precious promise, every syllable whereof drops myrrh and mercy! Abraham, that father of tithe paying (so we may call him, as the Hebrews call Jacob the father of vows, because he is the first we read of in Scripture that vowed a vow unto the Lord), had this promise of abundance plentifully performed unto him. So had Constantine, the first Christian emperor, the Church’s great benefactor. Bonus Deus, saith Augustine, Constantinum Magnum tantis terrenis implevit muneribus quanta optare nullus auderet: The good Lord filled Constantine the Great with so many temporal blessings as never any man dared wish for (De Civ. Dei, l. v. c. 25.).
There shall not be room enough to receive it] Ita ut dicatis satis est, so that you shall say, It is enough: thus the Chaldee rendereth it. Rabbi Abraham, you shall have more than enough, as the Sareptan had, 2Ki 4:4, the cruse never ceased running till there was no room. Borrow of thy neighbours, saith the prophet, but shut the doors upon thee. It was time to shut the doors, saith one, when many greater vessels must be supplied from one little one. She had a prophet’s reward with a witness, Non tantum quod sufficiat, sed etiam quod supersit. Rab. David. Ultra sufficiens (Montan.). And so had the Shunamite. Her table and bed and stool was well bestowed: that candlestick repaid her the light of her future life and condition; that table the means of maintenance; that stool a seat of safe abode; that bed a quiet rest from the common calamities of her nation. So liberal a pay master is God: his rewards are more than bountiful; he will not be overcome by his creature in liberality, Jas 1:5. They shall be sure to have their own again with usury, either in money or money’s worth. What they want in temporals (a sufficiency whereof they shall be sure of, if not a superfluity) he will make up in spirituals, joy and peace through believing, as much or more than heart can hold. Some holy men have so over abounded exceedingly with joy, that they have been forced to cry out, Hold, Lord, stay thine hand, &c, their spirits were even ready to expire with an exuberance of spiritual ravishment; as the Church in the Canticles was sick of love, and therefore calls to the ministers, Son 2:5, to stay her from sinking and swooning, to bolster her up, being surprised with a love qualm; as the Queen of Sheba, rapt with admiration, had no more spirit in her; as Jacob’s heart fainted when he heard the good news of Joseph alive. Bernard, for a certain time after his conversion, remained, as it were, deprived of his senses, by the excessive consolations he had from God. Cyprian and Austin testify the like of themselves.
{a} A matted lock of sheep’s wool, esp. one of those about the hinder parts; ŒD
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain Bring ye: if these persons spoken of be the…
Bring ye: if these persons spoken of be the priests, then they are required not to detain the tithes in their own hands, but, as was their duty, to bring them into the public storehouse. If the people are the persons, ye, people, it requires them to make g punctual and full payment of all tithes of corn, wine, oil, &c.: about this did Nehemiah contend with the rulers, and made them honester, and all Judah obeyed and did the like, Neh 13:10-13.
The storehouse; which was one or more large rooms built on purpose for this use, to lay up the tithes, and to keep them for holy uses. It was some large and stately chamber, for we find that Eliashib had befriended Tobiah, letting him have it for an apartment to dwell in, Neh 13:5-7, &c.
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That there may be meat in mine house, for the priests and Levites to live upon; that they flee not, as many had done, from the service of God in the temple, to take care of their country affairs, and by their industry provide maintenance for themselves and theirs, Neh 13:10.
Prove me now herewith; make the experiment. The prophet doth in the name of God offer to put it to a short trial: By doing your duty try whether I will not make good my promise, and give you a blessing instead of a curse.
Open the windows of heaven: this form of speech is used Gen 7:11, when those mighty rains that helped to drown the world were poured forth; and now here plentiful and fruitful rains are promised in the same phrase, in a kind of proverbial speech, to express great abundance of the thing intended.
Pour you out a blessing; first of rain, to water the earth, and to make it fruitful; next a blessing of corn, wine, and oil, and all other products of the earth, for the use of man and beast.
That there shall not be room enough; your barns and storehouses shall not be large enough to receive it all. Your
fats shall overflow, Joe 2:23,24. Or, as it is Amo 9:13, you shall have harvest work, and vintage work, and sowing work, as much, or more, than your labourers can well finish in their seasons.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse,.... Or…
Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse,.... Or "treasury" (e); for there were places in the temple where the tithe was put, and from thence distributed to the priests and Levites, for the support of their families, as they wanted. There were the tithe or tenth part of all eatable things paid to the Levites, and out of this another tithe was paid by the Levites to the priests; and there was another tithe, which some years the owners ate themselves at Jerusalem, and in others gave them to the poor; and these were called the first tithe, the tithe out of the tithe, the second tithe, and the poor's tithe; though they are commonly reduced to three, and are called first, and second, and third, as they are by Maimonides; who says (f),
"after they have separated the first tithe every year, they separate the second tithe, as it is said "thou shalt truly tithe all the increase of thy seed", &c. Deu 14:22 and in the third year, and in the sixth, they separate the poor's tithe, instead of the second tithe.''
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So Tobit says; Tobit 1:7
"the first tithe I gave to the Levites, who stand before the Lord to minister to him, and to bless in his name the inhabitants of Jerusalem; the second tithe I sold (as he might, according to the law in Deu 14:24), and took the money, and went up to Jerusalem, and bought with it what I pleased; and the third tithe I gave to the repair of the temple;''
so Fagius reads: but according to Munster's edition it is, the second and third tithes I gave to the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow; see Deu 26:12. It appears from hence that the sin of the people was, that they did not bring in "all" their tithes; they kept back a part of them: wherefore they are called upon to bring in the whole, and which they did in Nehemiah's time; see Neh 10:38 where mention is made of the treasuries for the tithe, which were certain chambers adjoining to the temple; and besides those that were built by Solomon, there were other chambers prepared by Hezekiah in his times, when the tithes were brought in, in such plenty, that there was not room enough for them, Ch2 31:11 and besides those in the second temple, that were in the court of the priests, there were others in the court of the people, as L'Empereur thinks (g), where what the others could not contain might be put; and into which court the priests might come; and there were also receptacles underground, as well as upper rooms, where much might be laid up; add to all this, that Dr. Lightfoot (h) suggests, that these tithes were treasured up in the chambers by the gates of the temple, and were at least a part of the treasuries of the house of God, which the porters at the gates had the care of, Ch1 9:26 and particularly that the house of Asuppim, at which were four porters, was a large piece of building, containing divers rooms for the treasuring up things for the use of the temple; in the Apocrypha:
" And are resolved to spend the firstfruits of the the tenths of wine and oil, which they had sanctified, and reserved for the priests that serve in Jerusalem before the face of our God; the which things it is not lawful for any of the people so much as to touch with their hands.'' Judith 11:13
that there may be food in mine house; in the temple, for the sustenance of the priests and Levites: so the Targum,
"the prophet said, bring all the tithes into the treasury, that there may be food for them that minister in the house of my sanctuary:''
and prove me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts; by bringing in all their tithes; when they would find, by making this experiment or trial, that the curse would be removed from them, and blessings be largely and liberally bestowed upon them by him, who is the Lord of hosts, and so able to perform any promise he makes; and here one is implied, and is as follows:
if I will not open you the windows of heaven; which had been shut and stopped up, and let down no rain upon their land, which brought a scarcity of provisions among them; but now, upon a change in their conduct it is suggested that these windows or floodgates should be opened, and rain let down plentifully upon them, which only could be done by the Lord himself; for the key of rain is one of the three keys, the Jews say (i), which God has reserved for himself, and never puts into the hands of a minister:
and pour you out a blessing: give abundance of rain to make the earth fruitful, and bring forth its increase in great plenty, which is a blessing; and not destroy the earth, and the fruits of it, as in the times of Noah, when the windows of heaven were opened, and a curse was poured out upon the earth:
that there shall not be room enough to receive it; and so Kimchi says his father interpreted this clause, that there would not be a sufficiency of vessels (k) and storehouses. Some render the words, as Junius, "so that ye shall not be sufficient"; either to gather in the increase, or to consume it. The Targum is,
"until ye say it is enough;''
and so the Syriac version. The phrase, which is very concise in the original text, and may be literally rendered, "unto not enough" (l), denotes great abundance and fulness of good things, so that there should be enough and to spare; and yet, as Gussetius observes, not enough to answer and express the abundance of mercy and goodness in the heart of God.
(e) "thesaurum", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator; "vel in domum thesauri", Pagninus, Montanus, Cocceius, Burkius. (f) Hilchot Maaser Sheni, c. 1. sect. 1. (g) Not. in Misn. Middot, c. 2. sect. 6. No. 14. (h) Prospect of the Temple, c. 5. p. 1058. c. 19. p. 1097. (i) T. Bab. Taanith, fol. 2. 1. Sanhedrin, fol. 113. 1. (k) "adeo ut non sint vobis sufficientia vasa", Pagninus, Vatablus. So Burkius. (l) Eousque ut nunquam sit satis, nempe a parte datoris, Gussetius. So De Dieu.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain Bring ye - Make a punctual and full payment…
Bring ye - Make a punctual and full payment of all tithes; about this did Nehemiah contend with the rulers, and made them comply, and then all Judah obeyed and did the like, Nehem xiii, 10-13. To the store-house - This was one or more large rooms, built on purpose for this use. That there may be meat - For the priests and Levites to live upon. Prove me - Make the experiment. The windows of heaven - A kind of proverbial speech, to express great abundance. A blessing - First of rain to water the earth, next a blessing of corn, wine and oil, and all other products of the earth.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 10. Bring ye all the tithes] They had…
Verse 10. Bring ye all the tithes] They had so withheld these that the priests had not food enough to support life, and the sacred service was interrupted. See Ne 13:10.
And prove me now herewith] What ye give to God shall never lessen your store. Give as ye should, and see whether I will not so increase your store by opening the windows of heaven-giving you rain and fruitful seasons-that your barns and granaries shall not be able to contain the abundance of your harvests and vintage.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain Mal 3:10-12. Bring ye all the tithes — Make…
Mal 3:10-12. Bring ye all the tithes — Make a punctual and full payment of all tithes: and in this instance make good your solemn engagement with Nehemiah, mentioned Neh 10:29. Into the storehouse — This was one or more large rooms built on purpose for this use; that there may be meat — That there may be provision for the daily sacrifices, and for the maintenance of my ministers, the priests and Levites, who attend upon the service of my temple. And prove me now herewith — Make the experiment in this particular. If I will not open you the windows of heaven, &c. — There is now a scarcity of the fruits of the earth, and a dearth, but take the advice which I give you, and try whether your plenty will not be in proportion to the free-will wherewith you bring in your tithes and offerings; and whether I will not immediately send you plentiful showers of rain, whereby the earth shall bring forth its fruit in great abundance. The dearth here spoken of is mentioned Neh 5:3 : compare 2Ch 31:10. To open the windows of heaven is a proverbial speech, expressing God’s showering down plenty, or giving great abundance of the fruits of the earth; (see 2Ki 7:2;) as shutting up heaven denotes scarcity, Deu 11:17; Hag 1:10-11. And pour out a blessing — First of rain to water the earth, next a blessing of corn, wine, and oil, and all other products of the earth. That there shall not be room, &c. — Or, till there be enough; or, till you shall say, There is enough. And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes — All kinds of devourers, the locusts, the canker-worms, the caterpillars, and all other destructive insects, which, though they may be in incredible multitudes, yet, by a rebuke from God, they will be checked all at once, as if they were but one insect. Neither shall your vine cast her fruit — Neither shall your vines, or other fruit-trees, be blasted by blighting winds, so as to make their fruit fall off before it comes to maturity, but they shall carry it till it be fully ripe. And all nations — All that are near you; shall call you blessed — Shall style you a happy people. For ye shall be a delightsome land — Your country shall be again known by the name of the pleasant land, as it was formerly called. The revival of religion in a land will make it delightsome both to God and all good men.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain Bring the whole tithes - , not a part…
Bring the whole tithes - , not a part only, keeping back more or less, and, as he had said, defrauding God, offering, like Ananias, apart, as if it had been the whole; into the treasury, where they were collected in the time of Hezekiah and again, at this time, by the direction of Nehemiah, “so that there shall be food,” not superfluity, in My house “for those who minister in the house of My sanctuary.” Neh 13:10-23. “The Levites and singers had, before the reformation, fled every one to his field, because the portion of the Levites had not been given them.” On Nehemiah’s remonstrance, aided by Malachi, “the tithe of corn and the wine and the new oil were brought into the treasuries.”
Bring the whole tithes - o “Thou knowest that all things which come to thee are God’s, and dost not thou give of His own to the Creator of all? The Lord God needeth not: He asketh not a reward, but reverence: He asketh not anything of thine, to restore to Him. He asketh of thee “first-fruits and tithes.” Niggard, what wouldest thou do, if He took nine parts to Himself, and left thee the tenth? What if He said to thee; ‘Man, thou art Mine, Who made thee; Mine is the land which thou tillest; Mine are the seeds, which thou sowest; Mine are the animals, which thou weariest; Mine are the showers, Mine the winds, Mine the sun’s heat; and since Mine are all the elements, whereby thou livest, thou who givest only the labor of thine hands, deservest only the tithes.’ But since Almighty God lovingly feeds us, He gives most ample reward to us who labor little: claiming to Himself the tithes only, He has condoned us all the rest.”
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And prove Me now herewith, in or by this thing - God pledges Himself to His creatures, in a way in which they themselves can verify. “If you will obey, I will supply all your needs; if not, I will continue your dearth.” By whatever laws God orders the material creation, He gave them a test, of the completion of which they themselves could judge, of which they themselves must have judged. They had been afflicted with years of want. God promises them years of plenty, on a condition which He names. What would men think now, if anyone had, in God’s name, promised that such or such a disease, which injured our crops or our cattle, should come at once to an end, if any one of God’s laws should be kept? We should have been held as finatics, and rightly, for we had no commission of God. God authenticates those by whom He speaks; He promises, who alone can perform.
“There are three keys which God hath reserved in His own hands, and hath not delivered to any to minister or substitute, the keys of life, of rain, and of the resurrection. In the ordering of the rain they look on His great power, no less than in giving life at first, or afterward raising the dead to it; as Paul saith Act 14:17, “God left not Himself without witness, in that He did good and gave rain, from heaven and fruitful seasons.”
If I will not open the windows of heaven - o In the time of the flood, they were, as it were, opened, to man’s destruction: now, God would rain abundantly for you, for their sakes. “And pour you out, literally empty out to you,” give to them fully, holding back nothing. So in the Gospel it is said, that the love of God is “shed abroad poured out and forth in our hearts by the Holy Spirit which is given to us.”
“That there is not room enough to receive it; literally until there is no sufficiency.” (In Psa 72:7 (quoted by Ges. Ros. etc.) “there shall be abundance of peace ירח בלי עד, literally, “until there be no moon,” has a literal meaning, that the peace should last until the end of our creation, without saying anything of what lies beyond.) The text does not express what should not suffice, whether it be on God’s part or on man’s. Yet it were too great irony, if understood of God. His superabundance, “above all which we can ask or think,” is a first principle in the conception of God, as the Infinite Source of all being. But to say of God. that He would pour out His blessing, until man could not contain it, is one bliss of eternity, that God’s gifts will overflow the capacity of His creatures to receive them. The pot of oil poured forth the oil, until, on the prophets saying 2Ki 4:6, “Bring me yet a vessel,” the widows son said, There is not a vessel more. And the oil stayed.” God’s gifts are limited only by our capacity to receive them.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain Heaven; copious showers. --- Blessing; fertility.
Heaven; copious showers. --- Blessing; fertility.
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain (Pro 3:9-10).
(Pro 3:9-10).
storehouse-- (Ch2 31:11, Margin; compare Ch1 26:20; Neh 10:38; Neh 13:5, Neh 13:12).
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prove me . . . herewith--with this; by doing so. Test Me whether I will keep My promise of blessing you, on condition of your doing your part (Ch2 31:10).
pour . . . out--literally, "empty out": image from a vessel completely emptied of its contents: no blessing being kept back.
windows of heaven-- (Kg2 2:7).
that . . . not . . . room enough, &c.--literally, "even to not . . . sufficiency," that is, either, as English Version. Or, even so as that there should be "not merely" "sufficiency" but superabundance [JEROME, MAURER]. GESENIUS not so well translates, "Even to a failure of sufficiency," which in the case of God could never arise, and therefore means for ever, perpetually: so Psa 72:5, "as long as the sun and moon endure"; literally, "until a failure of the sun and moon," which is never to be; and therefore means, for ever.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 10. all the tithes] More exactly, the whole tithe,…
10. all the tithes] More exactly, the whole tithe, R. V. Cf. Deu_26:12.
the storehouse] This may have been the “great chamber”, or “lean to”, surrounding the second Temple on three sides, and consisting of three stories, each containing several rooms, which had been perverted from its original purpose as a receptacle of the tithes and offerings, and assigned by the High-priest to Tobiah, but which Nehemiah had restored to its proper use again (Neh_10:38; Neh_13:5-9; Neh_13:12-13). It is not improbable that the “chambers”, which abutted to the height of three stories on the walls of Solomon’s Temple, were intended in like manner for storehouses (1Ki_6:5-6). In the great Reformation under Hezekiah such chambers were “prepared”, either built or restored, in some part of the Temple area, to receive the enormous influx of tithes and offerings (2Ch_31:11-12).
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meat] The Hebrew word properly means “prey”, or “booty”. It has, however, the same meaning of “food” as here in Pro_31:15 (comp. Pro_30:8 for the verb in the same sense), and in Psa_111:5.
the windows of heaven] Comp. Gen_7:11; Gen_8:2; 2Ki_7:2; 2Ki_7:19.
that there shall not be room enough to receive it] Heb. till not enough. The ellipsis has been supplied in various ways: “till there be not (barely) enough, but much more than enough, i.e. abundance”; or “till there be no longer sufficiency with Me, or, as that can never be, in boundless measure”. The rendering, however, of A.V. and R.V., is the simplest and most satisfactory.
The history of the Jews in the time of Hezekiah had already afforded an example of the reward of faithful obedience, in the matter of tithes and offerings, in overflowing abundance bestowed upon them by God. 2Ch_31:10.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (10) The emphasis is on the word “all.”
(10) The emphasis is on the word “all.”
Storehouse.—From the time of Hezekiah (2Ch_31:11) there were at the Sanctuary special storehouses built for this purpose; so, too, in the second Temple (Neh_10:38-39; Neh_12:44; Neh_13:12-13).
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Meat—i.e., food for the priests and Levites.
Open you . . .—According to the promise of Deu_11:13-15, &c. For a practical commentary on this verse, see 2Ch_31:10. “And Azariah, the chief priest of the house of Zadok, answered Hezekiah and said, Since the people began to bring the offerings into the house of the Lord, we have had enough to eat, and have left plenty; for the Lord hath blessed his people; and that which is left is this great store.”
That.—Better, until.
There shall not be room enough . . .—This rendering gives the correct meaning of the words (Compare an expression of similar import in Zec_10:10.) We cannot agree with the rendering of Gesenius, “until my abundance be exhausted,” as equivalent to “for ever.”
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain All the tithes; the whole tithe not merely a…
All the tithes; the whole tithe not merely a portion of it. God is not served with partial service. The storehouse. The tithes were brought to the temple, and laid up in the chambers built to receive them. (Neh_10:38, 39 13:5, 12, 13 2Ch_31:11, 2Ch_31:12) That there may be meat in mine house. That they who minister about holy things may live of the things of the temple. (1Co_9:13 Num_18:21) Prove me now herewith. Do your part, perform your duties, and then see if I will not reward your obedience. Open you the windows of heaven. The expression implies net only the removal of drought by copious showers of rain, but the diffusion of heavenly blessing in large abundance. That there shall not be room enough to receive it; or, unto superabundance; Vulgate, usque ad abundantiam; Septuagint, ewv tou ikanwyhnai , "until it suffice;" Syriac, "until ye say, It is enough." The Authorized Version retains the negation in the sentence, and perhaps comes nearest to the meaning of the original. (comp. Luk_12:17, Luk_12:18)
Recognition of practical penitence.
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"Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse" All must include those which ought to have been brought and had not. It was the paying up of old debts which would show the practical and sincere character of the penitence. Sin brings its own punishment. God will treat us relatively to our treatment of him. He recompensed this restored nation of Israel according to their doings. He blighted their fields and blemished their flocks, so that the]and groaned beneath the curse. The only way to remove the evil was for the people to turn from the evil of their way. The sign of such return would be an earnest effort to fulfil their religious obligations. Of such fulfilment the offering of tithes might be a representative instance.
I THE MORAL HELPLESSNESS OF SENTIMENTAL PENITENCE. Remorse is the caricature of penitence on the one side, and sentimentality on the other. And sentimentality may be the more subtle evil. A man may be distressed about the consequences of sin, who has no estimate of the evil of the sin. A man may be carried away by a surrounding excitement of penitence without having any real humiliation of heart. This may be illustrated from the excitement produced by Savonarola"s preaching at Florence, and by the bad sides of modern revivals and missions. Convictions which reach no further than a man"s sentiments are not merely helpless to influence conduct, but they are morally mischievous, because they delude, persuading the man that he is right, when his motive and heart are untouched. Some men who persist in living in sin nevertheless have seasons of gushing penitence; but it is only surface feeling, they have no root in themselves. The test of repentance is found in this question What does it make the man do?
II THE MORAL VALUE OF PRACTICAL PENITENCE. The Apostle Paul calls it "godly sorrow," and reminds of its practical working. "Ye sorrowed after a godly sort, what carefulness it wrought in you, yea, what clearing of yourselves, yea, what indignation, yea, what fear, yea, what vehement desire, yea, what zeal, yea, what revenge!" If a man steals from another, all his protestations of sorrow are without moral value unless he restores what he has stolen. God looks for moral value in everything relating to his people; and finds it only when they bring in the tithes which they had been withholding. Restoring, dealing resolutely with cherished sins, "cutting off right hands, and plucking out right eyes," are the revelation of sincerity, depth, and moral value, in all professions of penitence. It is only when God can approve of and accept the penitence thus revealed that he can respond by opening the windows of heaven to pour out blessing. R.T.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse.
Mal_3:10
Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse.
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Gods storehouse
The contents of this book show that, in the time of Malachi, religion was in a very low condition. The people robbed God by keeping back the tithes and offerings, and the priests polluted Gods altar. They offered to God what they dared not to have offered to a human governor, and what a human governor would not have accepted at their hands. And yet they seemed unconscious of the evil of their conduct. Sin so blinds the eyes and blunts the conscience that men often do wrong, and scarcely know that they are doing it. But sin brings its own punishment. God blighted their fields and blemished their flocks, so that the land groaned beneath the curse. And the only way to remove the evil was to turn from the evil of their ways.
I. The origin and meaning of tithes. It was the tenth part of the produce of the soft, and the increase of the flock, or the income of the individual. It was not simply a Mosaic institution. See Jacobs vow at Bethel. Abraham paid tithes to Melchizedek. God seems to have instituted this claim, to be a constant acknowledgment on our part of our dependence upon Him for all that we possess. God claims an absolute ownership of the soil and all its produce, and He claimed this constant acknowledgment of His ownership at the hands of men. Tithes were used at first to maintain the ordinances of religion, and to supply the wants of the poor, the fatherless, and the widow, who have ever been the objects of Gods care. In addition to these tithes, there were also freewill offerings. Many of their own free will, gave far beyond the minimum stipulated. Perhaps it was never intended, even under the Jewish economy, that the tithe should be exacted by force. It is evident that it was often withholden. The tithe is certainly not to be exacted by law under the present economy. Yet surely less cannot be expected of us than of the Jews. The earth is still the Lords, and He demands the same acknowledgment from us that He did from them. It is God that sends sunshine and shower, and causes the seed to germinate and spring up. Is God amply repaid, as the owner of the land, and for His toil, when you give Him the tenth, and that, perhaps, grudgingly? But it is not simply your substance, but yourself, also, that belongs to God. You are not your own. Then surely there ought to be an acknowledgment of His ownership. Have you even tithed yourself for God? Where is the storehouse into which these tithes are to be brought? Where is Gods storehouse? The storehouse is just where the tithes are needed. You need to tithe your time and thought for the culture of your own heart and life, if they are to be as a well-kept garden, beautiful unto God. You need to tithe your time for the good of your family, if your house is to be well ordered, and your children trained up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. You need to tithe your time, and thought, and affection, to meet the claims of society--the ignorant and degraded around you loudly call for help. The storehouse for your substance may be found in the homes of the widow, and the orphan, and the poor, and the destitute.
II. THE BLESSING HERE PROMISED. Opening the windows has, no doubt, reference to sunshine and showers, which produce the harvest. But every good gift is from above, and, therefore, this expression may symbolise the way in which every blessing is bestowed upon us. How easy it would be for God thus to pour down His blessing upon us till there be not room enough to receive it. This is true of temporal blessing. It is equally true in relation to the spiritual blessing. If we were to comply with the conditions God has here named, how easy it would be for Him to fill this house. This is especially true in relation to personal blessing. In Him are all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. You see then the way in which Gods blessing can be obtained. You shut heaven or you open it, by the attitude you assume in relation to God. He will ultimately be to you what you persist in being to Him. You may, too, in many ways, prevent or procure blessings for others. (A. Clark.)
Bringing in the tithes
1. It is objected, that we are not Jews, and that the command is, therefore, obsolete. But the occasion of tithing, like that of the Lords day, is found in permanent, unchanging facts, the glory of God and the needs of man. The occasion for tithing is even more urgent to-day than of old, as the work of religion is to be extended throughout the globe.
2. It is objected, that this law of tithing, like the laws concerning sacrifice and circumcision, has been repealed. But this is not true. There is not a syllable in the New Testament which, either directly or indirectly, repeals the law of the tithe.
3. It is objected, that every man is to give as he purposeth in his heart, and as the Lord hath prospered him, and this is a virtual repeal of the tithe. On the contrary, it really confirms the principle of tithing. We are to give by purpose; that is, deliberately, systematically--not according to whim or accident.
4. It may be said, I am not limited to a tenth, but, like Zaccheus, I may give half, or, like the apostles, all. So much the better. There is no objection to the rule. Thank-offerings were always commended.
5. The worst objection is, I cannot afford it. There is the real obstacle--selfishness. But I want to save for old age. Yes, and for eternity, too. Do not save for your children by robbing God. What shall it profit a man if he gain the tithes, and lose his soul? (M.V. Crouse.)
Prove Me now herewith.
God put to the proof
Far higher than the heavens are above the earth is our God above men; and yet He speaks to men, not merely after the manner of men, so far as that manner is good, but often with a tenderness, a gentleness, and a freedom of which many men are utterly incapable. Here, to assist Nehemiah in the restoration of the worship of God, Malachi is directed to say to the people, Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse . . . and prove Me now herewith, etc. The consecration of a tenth of the produce of property and of toil is of earlier date than the establishment of the Mosaic economy. The custom was adopted by Divine direction in the Levitical dispensation, and was enforced by Divine commandments. God here complains of neglect with respect to this said ordinance, which indicated a careless, undevout, and irreligious spirit among the people; and on account of this, God had withheld His blessing and smitten Israel with a curse. Gods requirements are, in principle and spirit, very similar in all ages, and the omissions, and defects, and faults of the people of God are, in times even far distant from each other, not unlike.
1. God has ever connected the enjoyment and use of certain blessings with the observance of His ordinances, and with obedience to His requirements. We may trace the connection of obedience with our salvation. The obedience of the children of Israel had nothing whatever to do with their election. In like manner our obedience has nothing whatever to do with the provision made for our redemption. I am born again, not because I have obeyed, but that I may obey. I am pardoned and justified, not because I have obeyed, but that I may be in a position to be trained for obedience. What has the obedience of a child to do with his relation to his father? This obedience does not earn or procure, or in any sense purchase and obtain our salvation, but it is the working out of that salvation, so far as our experience and our inward consciousness and enjoyment of that salvation are concerned. Let us therefore distinctly understand this at starting. But look further, and look at certain institutions and ordinances. Just as there is a close connection between the enjoyment of pardon,--the deliverance of our souls from the dominion of sin, and the confession of our sins to God, so there is a close connection between peace of mind, freedom from care, and obedience evidenced in earnest, importunate, and continued supplication.
2. Although God has thus connected blessedness with obedience, and with the observance of His ordinances, the people of God have often neglected them--neglected institutions founded for their benefit, and neglected Divine precepts and prohibitions: and this neglect is traceable to various sources. Sometimes neglect arises from ignorance. How can a man know the mind of God concerning him, who does not search his Bible? But a man may read the Bible, and still be ignorant. Hearing you may not understand, and seeking you may not find. Neglect arises from thoughtlessness and carelessness, and from indolence.
3. Such neglect often brings spiritual adversity, and sometimes exposes to sore affliction. If we have not all the spiritual blessings which God has promised, why are they not in our possession? The connection which God has ordained between obedience and blessedness cannot be severed. Our spiritual adversity, therefore, cannot be traceable to God. The cause can only be in ourselves; and it will be often found in some neglect,--not in the commission of something wrong, but in the omission of duties that we Christians think lightly of. We have restrained prayer, therefore our anxiety and our unrest. We have not acknowledged our sins, therefore our sense of guilt and our fear. We have neglected the Scriptures, or forsaken the assembling of ourselves together.
4. Our awaking to the knowledge that we have not all that God has promised, should be immediately followed by searchings of heart. Here again the cause must be in ourselves.
5. Now say that neglect is discovered, it should be instantly followed by supplying the omission. Prove me--my love, my hand, my faithfulness. All these omissions, by Gods grace, and the grace of the Spirit, may be supplied. (Samuel Martin.)
Heavens windows
Belief in a heaven has been universal Material good descends from the material heaven. The visible heavens are the type of the spiritual.
I. Windows are for light. Heaven is filled with unsullied light. Its light falls upon the earth. It ever gleams upon men in their benighted wanderings.
II. Windows are for health. The atmosphere of heaven is pure. The inhabitants never say, I am sick. Mans moral health on earth is from the heavenly influences that descend upon him.
III. Windows are for the interchange of sentiment, observation, and the glances of affection. The inhabitants of heaven are interested in men. Men are penitent, angels rejoice. Men look up to God, and He regards them from His lofty dwelling-place. He manifests His love to their hearts.
IV. Windows are for the exclusion of noxious vapours and reptiles. Earths evils cannot enter heaven. Men may enter, but not their sins. Whatever may defile other worlds in Gods universe, nothing can defile this one.
V. Windows are for beauty. Whether of glass or of lattice work, they ornament earths palaces and temples. Heaven is full of beauty. The incomplete descriptions that are given sometimes ravish us. (W. Osborne Lilley.)
An overflowing blessing
Not room enough in our hearts! They are limitless in their sense of need.
1. Sense of poverty. Gods title-deed expresses limitless ownership.
2. Sense of bereavement. God fills this with assurance of immortal reunions.
3. Sense of ignorance. God promises the Spirit to lead you into all truth.
4. Sense of sin. If sin abound, grace doth much more abound.
5. Sense of uselessness in purpose. Lifes energies drained into self, as the Jordan into the Dead Sea, instead of the desires flowing out to bless man kind.
6. Sense of little service with the best intentions. God makes a Christian useful beyond his ability, his planning, and his knowledge. (Homiletic Monthly.)
Giving as an expression el gratitude
I was once staying with a woman whose husband was sick and out of employment when she received a letter from C. H. Spurgeon containing a five-pound note and these few cheery words, A little something just to keep the pot boiling. I changed the note for her into gold, and taking one half-sovereign up, she said, This must go into the green purse, and straightway produced from an underneath pocket, a faded green purse into which the small yellow coin was dropped. I asked her why she separated her money in that way, and she answered, This is Gods purse, we always put aside a tenth. But, said I, God does not require this from you in your present circumstances. No, was her answer, and a beautiful light came upon her face, He may not, but it is our joy to do it. See how good He has been! I never asked Mr. Spurgeon to help us, nor did I even tell him that we were in a corner. It would be selfish to spend all this on ourselves; where would be our gratitude if we did? (Charlotte Skinner.)
Blessing comes by giving
In the olden days, when spring-time came, the Grand Duke of Venice, with attendant nobles and innumerable priests, used to go to the last point of land, and there, standing on the shores of the Adriatic, throw a gold jewelled ring into the ocean. It was called Marrying Venice to the Sea. In the same days when the Nile was at its height, the dam was broken connecting the river with the canals, and as the water rushed into its new channels, a living woman was thrown into the mad stream to become the bride of the Nile. In each ceremony there was the idea that blessing came by giving; the ring made Venice the queen of the seas--the woman brought fertility to a whole nation. (Charlotte Skinner.)
Proportionate giving
When Mr. Marshall the publisher was a young man of eighteen, he heard a sermon by the late Rev. Baldwin Brown, which dealt chiefly with the stewardship of wealth. He left the church determined that henceforth whatever money he had got, whether it was much or little, he would always put aside one-tenth for the Lord before he devoted any of it to his own use. This he continued to do for some years. After a time he found himself giving away more money than many of his friends who had much greater incomes. Some of them expostulated with him, and, as his wont was, he took the question to the Lord in prayer. Here, said he, I have given away, believing it to be my duty, for purposes which I regard as yours, one-tenth of my income. Am I doing what is right? Will you give me a sign? In the year 1852 he devised the first illustrated programme for a public funeral that had ever appeared in London--that of the Duke of Wellington. Now he prayed to God. I am publishing this programme; it may succeed, it may fail. May I ask that, in connection with the publication of this programme, you will give me a sign that will give me clearly to understand whether I am to go on giving, to curtail my subscriptions, or what I shall do? Well, it turned out that the programme was a great success. And then comes the most remarkable thing. When the balance-sheet came to be made up for that programme, Mr. Marshall found to his astonishment that the net profits that he had realised amounted, to the very penny, to the sum which he had given away since his eighteenth year! When he compared the figures, and found that they exactly corresponded, he felt that his prayer had been answered; and, as he put it in his own quaint way, I saw that the Lord was determined never to be in debt with me, so I went ahead. Afterwards, as his wealth multiplied, he increased the proportion.
Proportionate giving
1. That faithful and proportionate giving will be rewarded with superabundant spiritual blessing. The statement does not require proof, since experience has stamped it already as an axiom. Other things being equal, that Christian who opens the broadest outlet for charity will find the widest inlet for the Spirit. The health of a human body depends upon its exhalations as well as upon its inhalations. It is reported that a boy who was to personate a shining cherub in a play, on being covered over with a coating of gold-leaf, which entirely closed the pores of the skin, died in consequence, before relief could be afforded. Woe to the Christian who gets so gold-leafed over with his wealth, that the pores of his sympathy are shut, and the outgoings of his charity restrained! He is thenceforth dead spiritually, though he may have a name to live.
2. That faithful and proportionate giving will be rewarded with abundant temporal prosperity. Honour the Lord with thy substance and with the first-fruits of all thine increase: so shall thy barns be filled with plenty, and thy presses shall burst out with new wine (Pro_3:9-10). This is but one specimen of many from the Old Testament. Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom (Luk_6:38). Let us now throw light upon this subject from a few inserted leaves from a pastors notebook. One says, I knew a widow of limited means who was remarkable for her liberality to benevolent objects. But a sad change came into her by an unexpected legacy which made her wealthy, and then her contributions began to fall below the amount of her straitened finances. Once she volunteered: now she only gives when importuned, and then it is as meagre as if the fountains of gratitude had dried up. Once when asked by her pastor to help a cause dear to her heart in her comparative poverty, and to which she gave five dollars then, now she proffers twenty-five cents. Her pastor called her attention to the surprising and ominous change. Ah, she said, when day by day I looked to God for my bread, I had enough to spare; now I have to look to my ample income, and I am all the time haunted with the fear of losing it, and coming to want. I had the guinea heart when I had the shilling means, now I have the guinea means and the shilling heart. It is a fearful risk to heart and soul to become suddenly rich. This is one of the reasons why God lets many of His best children acquire wealth so slowly, so that it may not be a snare to them, may not chill their benevolence; that when wealth comes, the fever of ambitious grasping may be cooled, and that benevolence may overtake avarice. Now the only way to avoid this peril is to cultivate two habits, and let them grow side by side,--the habit of economy and the habit of charity. If ones economy grows steadily and alone, it will tend to dry up his charity; if ones charity grows steadily, it will dry up his means, unless balanced by the other virtue of economy. Therefore, let both grow together, then our giving will increase just in proportion to our getting. (J. A. Gordon, D. D.)
Money and the blessing
We have brought the gifts into the storehouse; now look out for the opening of the heavens. The first blessing that will come will be one of prayer. The spirit of prayer poured out will be continuous. Prayer is the chalice in which we fetch the water from the rock. It is the ladder on which we climb up to pick the grapes hanging over the wall of heaven. It is the fire that warms the frigid soul. Prayer is the lever. The Divine promise is the fulcrum. Earnest prayer is always answered. Another blessing will be a spirit of work. Not a Christian here but will be anxious about somebody else. The Church was never in such a fair way for a blessing as now. (T. De Witt Talmage, D. D.)
Prove Me now
1. With regard to the pardon of our sin for Christs sake.
2. With regard to the purifying influence of the Gospel.
3. With regard to our guidance in the investigation of religious truth.
4. With regard to the supply of our temporal wants.
5. With regard to the happiness of personal religion.
6. With regard to answers to prayer. (G. Brooks.)
Conditional blessing
The Hon. C. Rhodes, in a recent meeting, told his audience that the extension of British power in Africa had been the one object of his life for years. For this he had lived and laboured. To him would come the purpose of his life, if in South Africa he might see the British flag waving over a free and united empire. A noble ambition, truly, for a patriotic heart, and worthy of the great efforts made for its accomplishment. The prophet Malachi was engaged in a nobler mission still. Far more worthy, in conception and results, was the work of winning an apostate nation back to God. It was no easy task. The work of the reformer never is. Divine love and courage made Malachi a patriotic saint, and led him boldly to attack the evils of the sinful nation in which he lived. It is to one of his most courageous messages that we would direct attention.
I. The grave accusation made by God against this people--Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed Me. This accusation was a startling one. Whoever would have thought that men would rob God? They might rob their fellows, but surely they would never rob the Lord. As Malachi uttered these words they made a great sensation. I imagine all Jerusalem was in an uproar over his utterance. The merchants forgot their merchandise as they discussed it in the bazaars. Priests gathered with scribes in solemn council, and agreed that the man who had made such a statement was mad. Yet this message was absolutely true. They were committing the awful sin of robbing God: and when the excitement and anger had died down they were forced to admit its truth. Men are robbing God in like manner to-day. God says, Ye are not your own: ye are bought with a price, and yet they withhold themselves from Him. Is not that robbery? The Holy Ghost speaks, Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost? Yet instead of permitting Him to dwell there, its rooms are filled with sinful guests. Is not that robbery also? You say these are strong, stout words. True! but Gods messages are never vague or uncertain. Great evils demand powerful remedies. Hence God calls robbery, robbery, and sin, sin. He puts His finger upon the plague spot, and says, That is where you are wrong. The cupboard of your life may be shut to others, and looks like some fair adornment on the wall. He knows the secret spring, and reveals the skeleton of thy sin which lies hidden within. Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed Me.
II. The sad result of such a sinful course--Ye are cursed with a curse, etc. In the south of Scotland there stands the ruin of a famous abbey. Its broken columns and arched windows, its trellised doorways and roofless aisles, its damp chapels and deserted altar, all speak sadly of a former glory and a departed greatness. The curse of man has fallen upon it. Methinks, that as Malachi looked upon the life of his countrymen he saw only a ruin which shadowed forth its former beauty and greatness. Decay was stamped upon it. Its worship had become an abomination. Ye offer, said Jehovah, polluted bread upon Mine altar. The table of the Lord is contemptible (Mal_1:7). Gods covenant was despised (Mal_1:6). Justice and judgment were perverted. The sorcerer, the adulterer, the false-swearer, and the oppressor fattened upon the woes of others (Mal_3:5). Israel was a moral ruin and a spiritual desolation. She was despised by men and cursed by God. It is an awful thing to fall beneath Gods curse; and yet every soul which robs God has that curse upon him. History tells us that wherever the axe of Richard the Lion-hearted swung, the stoutest mail was splintered like matchwood, and the bravest men went down. God is a man of war: the Lord of Hosts is His name. He taketh up the isles as a very little thing. His strong arm can make the choicest defences a ruined heap. He shall utterly destroy His foes. Men shall look for them, and they shall not be found. Hast thou wondered why thy soul hath not prospered? Is Gods curse resting upon thee? How can it prosper when it is robbing God?
III. The just demand which God makes--Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in Mine house. In the preceding verse you will notice that God complains of robbery from two sources, i.e., tithes and offerings. The tithing God requires: the offerings were freewill gifts over and above the tithes. Hence in this demand God speaks of tithes only. Under the Jewish economy everything connected with life and worship was built up upon one great principle, i.e., ownership by God. Whilst they remained true it never failed. The land was His, and so its first-fruits, whether of corn, fruit, or cattle, had to be redeemed by an offering to Him. The firstborn of children were His, and they, too, had to be redeemed. The same principle ran through their worship. Whenever they appeared before Him they brought an offering. If they were too poor to give a bullock, they gave a lamb; if too poor for this, they brought pigeons or turtle doves. If to the tithes there are added these offerings, then a very modest calculation shows that every pious Jew must have given about one-seventh of his entire income to the Lord. It was only when their spiritual life grew dim that these offerings and tithings ceased. But, says some one, God does not demand such things to-day; we are not under law, but under grace. True; but as Christ is better than Moses, and grace is laden with richer blessings than the law, our generosity ought to flow out in yet larger abundance; for the greater the blessing the greater the gratitude, and the greater the gratitude the greater the gifts. However much conditions change, principles remain. Tithes meant at least three things.
1. They meant money. The produce of the field was the Jews money. It might be corn, fruit, oxen, sheep, or asses; but it was in these that his wealth consisted, and of these he gave his tenth to the Lord. To-day the coin of the realm is the medium of circulating wealth, but the principle of devoting some portion of it to the Lord is the same.
2. Tithes meant time. If the produce represented money, the cultivation of it represented time. The ploughing, harrowing, sowing, etc., which the successful farmer had to do, made great demands upon his time. If you would bring all the tithes, your time will not be exempted. Let me put this truth in another form. Suppose it took five minutes to pay a visit to a home. Then if fifty Christians gave this one-tenth of time per day to visitation, they could pay no less than 900 visits daily.
3. Tithes meant talent. The man who would succeed in cultivation must use his talents in mastering and applying the principles of agriculture. God asks the produce and the time, but He demands the talents also. Have you the talent of speech? God wants it. Of song? He requires it. Of organisation? He asks it. Of literary ability? He will use it. Of humbler working power? He seeks it, and if you withhold it you are robbing God. Bring ye all the tithes--not one, but all.
IV. The abundant blessing which god promises to those who obey him--A blessing that there shall not be room enough to receive it. The figure is that of a great flood. Just as the banks of a river are unable to hold the waters in flood-time, so will God bless the person who obeys Him. He will fill to overflowing such an one with Divine gifts. The seraphic Fletcher had to cry out, Lord, stay Thy hand. This blessing means--
1. Prosperity. And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, and he shall not destroy the fruits of your ground; neither shall your vine cast her fruit before the time in the field, saith the Lord of hosts (Mal_3:11).
2. Honour. And all nations shall call you blessed (Mal_3:12).
3. Happiness. And ye shall be a delightsome land, saith the Lord of hosts (Mal_3:12). How attractive would such a people be. To such would men cry, We will go with you, for God is with you. Too long has Gods Israel been satisfied with leanness, barrenness, dearth, and death. Worldliness, rationalism, and formalism are eating out her life. As it is with the Church, so it is with every individual. The Churchs life is the exact counterpart of the individuals who compose it. Recently I heard it stated that means were being invented to stop the rain from falling in certain districts. Whether such a thing is possible I cannot say. But this I know, that unless you bring all the tithes into the storehouse you will shut up Gods heaven of blessing, and there will be famine in your soul. God wants to bless. (F. Inwood.)
Tithes brought into the storehouse
In this part of the Divine Word we have first a duty prescribed, and secondly a promise containing high encouragement to its performance. The prescription of duty is expressed in these words, Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in Mine house, and prove Me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, and the promise follows, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and, pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it. Gods ancient people had, in the days of Malachi, greatly failed in doing this duty, and here God charges them with robbery of no ordinary kind. Tithes were only a part of the contributions of their worldly substance which the Israelites were required to devote to the service of God; and as a leading part, they seem to be employed in the text as a part for the whole. There was very much required of them besides the tithes. They were to bring the first fruits, the male firstlings of all clean beasts, and the redemption price of such as were unclean. It does not appear, however, that coercive measures were employed to enforce the furnishing of the various kinds of offerings, except by exclusion from participating in spiritual privileges, which in many cases followed as a necessary consequence of failure in this duty. The kings and rulers in Israel are not reproved for not employing power and authority to enforce the payment of tithes or other offerings. This seems to have been left between God and the consciences of individuals.
I. Let us advert to the law of proportion in this matter. Here it may be remarked--
1. That our offerings should bear a proportion to our resources. This was the law under the Old Testament, and it is so under the New. Hence the apostolic injunction, Upon the first day of the week let every one of you lay by him in store, as God hath prospered him (1Co_16:2). This truth is also taught in these words--If there be first a willing mind, it is accepted according to that a man hath, and not according to that he hath not (2Co_8:12).
2. Remark that our offerings are to bear a proportion to the exigencies of the public cause of God. These axe different at different times. When the tabernacle was constructed in the wilderness, which by Gods special appointment was to be formed in many of its parts of costly materials, a very large demand was made on the resources of the Israelites, which was met by an unwonted measure of liberality, even till there was more than sufficient for the work.
3. There is also to be a proportion between what is contributed to the treasury of the Lord and expended on other objects. It is in this respect that there is a very general failure in this duty. God had to complain of His ancient people, by the prophet Haggai, that they dwelt in their ceiled houses while His house lay waste. And perhaps there is nothing in which true Christians fail more than in the disproportion between what they give freely for other objects--not always necessary objects--and what they devote to God as His portion, and for the promotion of His cause.
4. There is to be a proportion of its kind between the offering and the glory and claims of that God to whom it is presented.
II. Of the spirit in which offerings should be presented to the Lord.
1. This will manifest itself in giving God the first share of our worldly increase. This is no doubt one thing taught in the prescription of the first fruits. This is expressly taught in these words, Honour the Lord with thy substance, and with the first fruits of all thine increase (Pro_3:9).
2. It is to be rendered willingly (2Co_9:7).
3. We are to esteem it an honour and a privilege to be called and enabled to make offerings of our temporal substance to the Lord, David felt deeply how great an honour and privilege it was to have the heart and the ability to perform this duty, when he and his people contributed liberally to the building of the Temple (1Ch_29:13-14).
4. This should be rendered as an expression, though small, very small, of our gratitude to God (2Co_8:9). What blessedness would they have in the performance of this duty; first, in the purposes of their heart regarding it, and then in fulfilling them, having fellowship with God in all. Though the immediate and special subject of the text plainly is literal tithes and other external offerings, these offerings, however costly, behoved to be accompanied with such offerings are are spiritual, in order to acceptance with God. With out the spiritual the literal could not be offered in a right spirit. This kind of tithes must also be brought into the storehouse. Here there are the offerings of prayer and of praise, of Bible reading and spiritual meditation; the offerings of worship to God in the closet, in the family, and in the public assembly, as well as those of Sabbath sanctification, self-examination, and fasting; the observance of the Lords Supper, and personal and social vowing. From this subject learn--
1. One thing which has a special influence in drawing down an abundant temporal blessing on individuals and a people is a due rendering of literal offerings to the promotion of the cause of God.
2. One thing which has special influence in drawing down the curse of God on the worldly interests of individuals or a people is the withholding of a due measure of literal offerings from God. (Original Secession Magazine.)
Systematic giving
I. The first proposition that lies at the basis of this challenge is: there is a close connection between religion and prosperity. I do not mean spiritual prosperity, but prosperity in the material things of life. There is a close and intimate relationship between the righteousness which is enjoined upon us of the Lord and the prosperity which is promised to follow. The Old Testament makes no secret about it; it does not mince matters. Irrespective of all appeals to motives of selfishness, and the fact that it lays itself open to reproach from critical and cynical people, it boldly and plainly declares that if the children of Israel will be obedient to the covenant and keep the commands God has enjoined upon them, they shall he rewarded in return with plenty, with prosperity, with an abundance of happiness and peace. All the history of all the nations of the earth confirms that declaration, at any rate from national standpoints. The nations that rise to pre-eminence rise in virtue of their righteousness. No nation has ever fallen through external forces. It has fist of all been honeycombed and undermined with inward deterioration, and then when the first breath came from without, it was sufficient to bring about its overthrow and ruin. And England will never fall if England is true to the tradition of godliness and of honour. When it comes to personal matters, the same principle must apply. But immediately difficulties appear. We recall at once the Book of Job. We remember the 37th Psalm. These have their explanation in the Providence of God. But notwithstanding these, the general rule holds good that religion tends to prosperity. I remember when the only son of a distinguished mayor of one of the largest cities in the North of England got converted. His father was not troubled with too much seriousness in matters of religion. He was one of the keenest of business men, and one of the most level-headed fellows in the country. He shook hands with me as I sat in the private room, and said: Mr. Chadwick, what has happened to my lad to-night is worth more than you think. I would have given £100,000 for it. I thought he was not serious until I looked up and saw the tears in his eyes. He repeated it. The commercial value to the lad is worth more than £100,000, he said. I found out he was not far wrong. I have met with more than one father who would have given more than £100,000 if he could have guaranteed his sons conversion, and it would have been cheap at the price. Godliness is profitable to the life that now is, as well as to that which is to come. I am not going to contend that every man who becomes a Christian will become a millionaire; I am not convinced that being a millionaire is a sure indication of prosperity. Barney Barnato was a millionaire, and at last he jumped into the sea to cool his brain! If a man to make millions sacrifices his soul his millions are bought at too big a price. Neither am I going to contend that all Christian men will be equally prosperous. If a man is born with only ninepence to the smiling, that is threepence short. Christ can never make up the threepence short, and he will always be short, converted or not converted. My contention is that God can do more with ninepence than the devil can do with half a crown; and that there is nothing in this world so calculated to make the best of a man as the religion of the Lord Jesus Christ, intelligently grasped and enthusiastically lived. Of course, you will ask me, what about the good men who do not get on? Well, there are lots of them, and they are problems. But I have never known a good man fail to get on because of his religion. A great many people go on the assumption that religion can enable them to dispense with the common principles of success. That can never be. If a man brings cattle to the market when the fair is over he will not succeed, and he must blame himself that he did not get up sooner in the morning. His religion should be manifested by promptitude, and not, by pious expressions. Religion never makes up for laziness. Religion never makes up for bad workmanship and lack of punctuality I would not give much for the religion which does not make a man a better worker and a more punctual workman. It is not brain that is wanted, but things coupled with character. That which commands the highest price in the market to-day is efficiency and trustworthiness. It is the greatest insult to this generation to say it is impossible for a man to maintain his integrity and get on. He may not get on very fast, but he will have a peaceful life and be prosperous if there is a God in heaven and truth in the Book.
II. There is a close conection between what a man gives and what he gets. Some men will never lose less until they give more. God calls for the whole tithe, not for a tithe. I believe people who give much lose much of the blessing of it, because they give contrary to the principles laid down in the Bible. They often give as the result of impulse or rivalry and competition. God has never let go His right to the things material. Everything a man gets God snips a bit out of it, to remind the man that he did not get it by his own skill and wit. God gave it to him, and man is not the proprietor but the steward. And the principle laid down is this--that a man has got to settle between himself and his God what the proportion ought to be which he should give to God. I think a tithe is a generous maximum for the poor and a mean minimum for the rich. Unless a man cultivates a habit of systematic giving when he has not much to give, he will give little when he is rich. (S. Chadwick.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 General Information:
General Information:
Yahweh continues to speak to the people of Israel.
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the full tithe
"all the tithes"
my house
Here "house" stands for the temple. AT: "my temple" (See: Metaphor)
and test me now in this ... if I do not open to you the windows of heaven
Here the command "test me" stands for something that the people can do and should do: "if you test me." This can be divided into two sentences also. AT: "And if you test me ... I will open up the windows of heaven" or "And you should test me ... If you do, I will open up the windows of heaven" (See: Metaphor)
All the nations will call you blessed
Here to be called blessed stands for being blessed. AT: "All the nations will know that you have been blessed" (See: Metaphor)
All the nations
This expression stands for the people in all the nations. AT: "The people in all the nations" (See: Metonymy)
a land of delight
Here "delight" stands for the condition in which the inhabitants of a land take delight in their land. (See: Abstract Nouns)
translationWords
tenth
house
test
Yahweh of hosts
heaven
bless
rebuke
devour
harvest
vine
fruit
nation
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 3:10 Put me to the test! The divine invitation…
3:10 Put me to the test! The divine invitation to test the Lord offers the restoration community an opportunity to prove his faithfulness to his covenant promises.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.