Tithing - Malachi 2

2:1 And now, O ye priests, this commandment is for you.

2:2 If ye will not hear, and if ye will not lay it to heart, to give glory unto my name, saith the LORD of hosts, I will even send a curse upon you, and I will curse your blessings: yea, I have cursed them already, because ye do not lay it to heart.

2:3 Behold, I will corrupt your seed, and spread dung upon your faces, even the dung of your solemn feasts; and one shall take you away with it.

2:4 And ye shall know that I have sent this commandment unto you, that my covenant might be with Levi, saith the LORD of hosts.

2:5 My covenant was with him of life and peace; and I gave them to him for the fear wherewith he feared me,
and was afraid before my name.

2:6 The law of truth was in his mouth, and iniquity was not found in his lips: he walked with me in peace and equity, and did turn many away from iniquity.

2:7 For the priest's lips should keep knowledge, and they should seek the law at his mouth: for he is the messenger of the LORD of hosts.

2:8 But ye are departed out of the way; ye have caused many to stumble at the law; ye have corrupted the covenant of Levi, saith the LORD of hosts.

2:9 Therefore have I also made you contemptible and base before all the people, according as ye have not kept my ways, but have been partial in the law.

2:10 Have we not all one father? hath not one God created us? why do we deal treacherously every man against his brother, by profaning the covenant of our fathers?

2:11 Judah hath dealt treacherously, and an abomination is committed in Israel and in Jerusalem; for Judah hath profaned the holiness of the LORD which he loved, and hath married the daughter of a strange god.

2:12 The LORD will cut off the man that doeth this, the master and the scholar, out of the tabernacles of Jacob, and him that offereth an offering unto the LORD of hosts.

2:13 And this have ye done again, covering the altar of the LORD with tears, with weeping, and with crying out, insomuch that he regardeth not the offering any more, or receiveth it with good will at your hand

2:14 Yet ye say, Wherefore? Because the LORD hath been witness between thee and the wife of thy youth, against whom thou hast dealt treacherously: yet is she thy companion, and the wife of thy covenant.

2:15 And did not he make one? Yet had he the residue of the spirit. And wherefore one? That he might seek a godly seed. Therefore take heed to your spirit, and let none deal treacherously against the wife of his youth.

2:16 For the LORD, the God of Israel, saith that he hateth putting away: for one covereth violence with his garment, saith the LORD of hosts: therefore take heed to your spirit, that ye deal not treacherously.

2:17 Ye have wearied the LORD with your words. Yet ye say, Wherein have we wearied him? When ye say, Every one that doeth evil is good in the sight of the LORD, and he delighteth in them; or, Where is the God of judgment?

Malachi does not change his focus from Chapter 1. The audience does, however, become more specific. Priests are now singled out from the nation of Israel. Priests are not pastors. A priest was always someone who offered sacrifices – note the Roman Catholic use of the term. (The Catholic priest still offers a sacrifice, which is the body and blood of Christ at mass during the Eucharist according to tradition). When Christ offered His own body as the sacrifice, all further sacrifices were finished. When Christ conquered sin, death, and Hell, He then took up his rightful position as our Priest according to Hebrews 4 and 7. Now, we have no need of any other priest, and for a Pastor to assume that he is that priest is in no way Biblical. Regardless, let’s look more closely at the passage

In the opening verses, God pronounces a curse upon the priests because they do not honor and worship properly, that is according to the Law established centuries earlier.

God then mentions a Levitical Covenant. His promise was to take care of the Levites, and that the Levitical inheritance was God Himself, no land or anything else that was promised to Israel’s other 11 tribes. The Tithe was absolutely part of God’s provision for the Levite, as was already illustrated in previous chapters. Again, would it be proper to correlate Levite with Pastor? Absolutely not. There are no commands that the New Testament pastors should uphold any portion of the Levitical priesthood. Nor did any pastor deign to try. The Levite did not maintain proper teaching or practice of the Law, which resulted in the curses that God was pronouncing. The reader knows that the Levites and priests were failing in this important command, Nehemiah was written only 100 years before Malachi, and the commands were not being upheld even then. What happened when Nehemiah was no longer on the scene, and no one followed his leadership? The Temple was again forsaken, the Levites did not follow God’s commands, and then a new invasion occurred under Alexander the Great in the 330’s BC. Alexander wanted to be deemed the Son of God, and the Jews did not stand in his way. It would be a further 140 years until the Maccabees famously revolted against Greek tyranny. During that time period Josephus informs that the priesthood was a revolving system of intrigue, certainly neither a godly institution nor one following God's Law.

Offerings were still being given, but God ceased accepting them. Tears are even seen, but not tears of repentance, because the priests continued in their own
way, not God’s. God even cut off these faulty offerings, and placed a curse upon them.

Beginning with Verse 14, God introduces a common theme seen in Old Testament prophecy, that of marriage. He is no doubt speaking literally, but also symbolically. (Cross reference Hosea for more detail). God is telling the Jews that they have put away Him, and He’s using the marriage picture to illustrate the seriousness of the situation. The response is “wherefore”, that is they are not taking responsibility, but making an excuse, and disagreeing with God’s assessment. This wearies God, and He then sets up the next prophecy, the one where the remedy is offered. The prophecy of all prophecies, that the Messiah is coming, and He will straighten the crooked. Now, the reader should be ready for Malachi 3 in proper context.

By this point, the tithing challenger is barely standing, and  about to be knocked out.

Nota Bene –  I realize that I have glossed over so much material that is in this prophecy, but my purpose is not prophecy, but the tithe.