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Commentaries and Other Bible Study Helps - Prayer Tents - Prayer Tents
3:6-12 Fifth Disputation: Israel's Begrudging Offerings Condemned. The prophet returns to Israel's begrudging offerings, a subject treated in the parallel second disputation (1:6-2:9). There the emphasis was on the priests' failure, but here Malachi's concern expands to include the whole nation (3:9). Perhaps the reference to Jacob serves as a reminder of Jacob's return from exile in Paddan Aram; upon coming back both to the Promised Land and to the Lord, he built an altar at Bethel and offered a tithe according to his vow in Gen. 28:20-22 (cf. Gen. 35:1-7). Similarly, when Jacob's descendants returned from their exile, they rebuilt the altar at Jerusalem, but they were grossly negligent in offering their tithes (cf. Neh. 13:10-13). This negligence may have seemed justified because of crop failure, drought, and pestilence (Mal. 3:10-11). The Lord reveals, however, that these natural disasters were not the cause of the nation's disobedience, but the cursed result (3:8; cf. Hag. 1:6, 9-11; 2:16-19).
3:6 I the Lord do not change implies that God's character and eternal purposes do not change, which gives a solid foundation for his people's faith and hope. However, unchangeableness in character does not mean that the Lord is unchanging in his actions, for the very next verse, "Return to me and I will return to you" (v. 7), shows that God acts differently in response to different situations. Therefore implies that God's purpose to bring blessing to the world through Abraham's descendants and through a Davidic Messiah will not be defeated, and thus the children of Jacob are not consumed: their existence as the restored community is evidence of God's faithfulness.
3:8 you are robbing me. When the people did not give the "tithe" (see note on vv. 10-12), they were keeping wealth that rightly belonged to God.
3:10-12 As an evidence of wholehearted repentance (v. 7), God promises that if his people become faithful in presenting their full tithe (the Hb. word means "a tenth"), then the desperately needed rain will come (v. 10), pestilence and crop failure will cease (v. 11), and the Abrahamic promise that all nations will call you blessed (v. 12; Ps. 72:17) will be fulfilled. The tithes were given to support the priests and Levites (see Neh. 10:38; 12:44), whose ministry was essential if Israel was to be faithful to its calling. By saying, "put me to the test," God is challenging the people to give the tithe that they owed him and then watch to see if he would be faithful to his promise. God promises to meet all their needs, but not necessarily all their "greeds," and to pour down for you a blessing until there is no more need.
