Ye are cursed with a curse: for ye have robbed me, even this whole nation.
Withholding what belongs to God is robbing Him, and that unfaithfulness in tithes and offerings brings a curse upon the whole nation, which asked wherein it had robbed Him and was answered definitely that the robbery is in tithes and offerings. The tenth of all increase, income and possessions is sacred and reserved for Him just as the seventh day is set apart, with offerings including thank, freewill, trespass and pledged gifts to supply His house and support His ministers. Robbing Him includes diverting the tithe to other uses or personal judgment, using it for ordinary church expenses, paying debts with it, and withholding promised vows and gifts, as well as withholding time, service and the Sabbath for self-serving work. The curse is the withdrawal of His prospering hand with scattered wealth, empty treasury, hindered work and unwarned souls, and every robbery is recorded to be met when each is judged according to deeds. The remedy is to return by keeping His ordinances, confessing, repenting and making restitution of back tithes with willing offerings, and obedience is met with opened windows of heaven, rebuke of the devourer, preservation of crops and blessing without room to receive it.
Robbery, Curse, and Nation
Withholding what belongs to God in tithes and offerings is robbing Him, and this unfaithfulness brings a curse upon the whole nation. The curse of God will surely come upon those who rob Him in this way, even this whole nation, for money used to buy and sell and get gain becomes a curse when what is His is withheld. The wrong includes using resources entrusted by God for selfish purposes and indulgence instead of supporting the work of publishing salvation and advancing the cause of truth, and the charge is applied broadly to the whole world, whose people must give account before God when each receives judgment according to deeds. Its prophecy has a special application to the last days with more than ordinary importance, teaching God's people to give a proportion of their substance to the Lord as a freewill offering and to use entrusted means in sending the gospel to all parts of the world. The remedy is to confess sins of neglect and return to the Lord His own, and then He will impart His goods to the faithful so they may do still more for the advancement of His work.
Israel as a nation was under a curse because it had robbed God by withholding tithes and offerings, and the whole nation is held responsible for this failure to give what belongs to God. The people's neglect of what belongs to God has national consequences, for failing to meet these obligations brought a collective consequence upon them. The surrounding call is for the people to return to God by bringing the full tithe into His storehouse and by being honest with God in paying a faithful tithe and bringing offerings, so that resources are available for God's work. This giving acknowledges dependence on God and supports the work of carrying the gospel to the world, and identifies the failure to give what God required as the sin they needed to recognize and turn from.
The people were disobedient yet unconvicted of sin, asking wherein they had robbed God, and the Lord gives a definite answer that the robbery is in tithes and offerings and that this is why they are cursed. Robbing God in tithes and offerings is a special sin that brings a curse upon the whole nation. The tenth is sacred and reserved for God just as the seventh day is set apart for Him as the Sabbath, with God giving people nine-tenths and claiming one-tenth for sacred purposes. Bringing all the tithes into the storehouse brings God's blessing and provision for His work.
In ancient times honoring God with substance and firstfruits brought abundance and plenty, while withholding what was due deprived the people themselves, with prosperity or hardship and increase made proportionate to obedience. Withholding what God requires from His work is covetousness that brings a curse, and the curse fell on harvests and flocks in proportion to what was withheld, bringing poverty and want. Some who gave too little also suffered affliction in their families. Offerings were to be the best of the flock or field, without blemish, and freely given rather than stinted or defective, for God did not accept an offering that was lame or blemished, and such generous giving brought the Lord's blessing to rest on the family and possessions. God calls for generous returns in response to the blessings He has given.
Tithe and Offerings Defined
The robbery named in the verse is withholding the tithe, a tenth of all increase, income, possessions and all that a man receives, together with offerings that include thank offerings, freewill offerings, trespass offerings, gratitude and liberal offerings, firstfruits and pledged gifts. The tithe is the Lord's portion owed from all, following the pattern of Abraham who paid tithe of all, and every man is to bring tithes and offerings freely, willingly and gladly into the storehouse in order to receive blessing. Neglect of this systematic benevolence and tithing system leaves the treasury impoverished and the church backslidden, creating need for repeated urgent calls for means, while faithful giving by all, the wealthy as faithfully as the poorer classes, keeps the treasury constantly replenished so there is meat in God's house. The tenth is set apart as sacred for His work and is not left to personal choice or impulse, but is to be returned faithfully in proportion to what has been given.
All possessions, money, time, talents, abilities, intellect, capabilities and affections are lent in trust, for God is owner and great Proprietor and men connected with His appointed institutions must acknowledge Him with what He has entrusted. Human beings are the Lord's property by creation and redemption, under obligation to Him for life, food and protecting care, so He has absolute and unlimited right to them and their service, and what they withhold remains His property entrusted to them as stewards. Withholding from God what is His rightful portion is therefore robbery and treacherous dealing with the Maker, a definite and special breach of agreement after He has bestowed rich bounties in mercy, and those who will deal treacherously with Him will deal treacherously with fellow men. All must examine their business relations with their Creator, recognizing they do not own the money that passes through their hands but are merely stewards and almoners called to be co-laborers with Christ in its use, with a record of each person's conduct kept for the judgment calling for repentance and restitution.
God supplies all necessities from the earth as His storehouse, providing fruits, grains, vegetables, flourishing crops, sunlight and rain for good and evil alike, together with health, food, clothing and power to earn money. The blessings of the field and the fruits of the soil are His, not private property to be used for personal gain, and specified offerings are to help the poor and support His work. In return He asks grateful return through tithes and offerings to acknowledge dependence and ownership, for returning a portion of His gifts supports His work and acknowledges Him as giver of every blessing, a duty applying to believers in every age by willing obedience rather than compulsion. No one can withhold from God and live to self and be happy, for since all earthly blessings come through Jesus Christ it is only just to return the portion He claims, while withholding empties His treasury and hinders His work in saving souls.
Tithes and offerings are to supply meat in His house and keep the treasury constantly replenished, and are reserved to support His appointed ministers, evangelists, missionaries and gospel laborers who open Scripture and carry the light of salvation to people in spiritual darkness at home and abroad and throughout the world. They are entrusted means reserved for proclaiming the gospel and keeping His work from becoming barren, and using them for selfish purposes obstructs the spread of truth, leaves souls without the light provided for them, leaves the vineyard unworked and hinders the cause of truth. The whole nation is charged with this unfaithfulness because means reserved for the worldwide work were used for selfish purposes, and self-indulgent spending and conformity to worldly customs lead members to withhold what should be given.
The tithe is the Lord's own sacred, reserved fund, and this arrangement was made by Jesus Christ. God's claim takes priority over every other claim, and when that portion is returned the remainder is blessed, placing people under obligation and enabling them to bless others. The duty applies to everyone whether rich or poor, with each to return a tenth of income and possessions, large or small, much or little, according as He has prospered them in systematic benevolence, and those who withhold it cannot expect God's prospering hand. Faithful performance of this duty fulfills His promises, for with infinite resources He often in providence opens ways whereby what is given shall increase, so that he who follows His arrangement in little receives the same returns as he who bestows of his abundance.
Wider Ways of Robbing
Robbing God is not only withholding the tithe but turning it aside from the use He appointed to other lines of work, to secular purposes, or to whatever personal judgment prefers, even for a time or with intent to repay, and even when done by ministers, and this misuse empties His treasury and leaves gospel laborers without support. Consecrated money dedicated to Him is to remain devoted to His work and not be taken for personal ends, for taking what belongs to Him brings the curse upon the people because the whole nation has robbed Him. The tithe is His property placed in the Lord's treasury to sustain the ministry and encourage workers to enter it, and diverting it deprives laborers and hinders ministerial work unless there is repentance and restoration of heavenly treasure.
Using the tithe for ordinary church expenses is the same robbery, whether for upkeep of buildings, fuel, lights, meetinghouse costs, charity, schools, care of the poor and needy, temporal matters and conveniences, or educating students. Reducing the working force that bears the message to fit the tithe in the treasury is departing from the Lord's plan, for the tithe is His own sacred portion guarded by Him to be used only for the support of gospel ministers in new fields as well as in other places. Churches that work upon such a plan have God's blessing reduced, fall into great dearth of means, have His Spirit withdrawn, and leave ministers unsupported and workers discouraged from entering ministry, and their running expenses should instead be met through self-denial and reduced personal spending.
Debts owed to others give no right to pay them with what belongs to God, for His reserved portion for His work and ministry must be returned first and obeying Him brings the promised blessing. Paying fellow men with the Lord's portion makes a person doubly accountable, a double debtor to God, tying up His money with unfaithfulness written against the name in the books of heaven and an account to settle. Such misappropriation is a test revealing want of principle that will appear in all other business management, cultivates traits that bar entry into God's family and cut the robber off from admittance to the mansions of heaven.
Withholding promised gifts, solemn pledges and vows is robbing God and bringing the curse, for pledges to Him are solemn commitments and breaking them shows a heart not devoted to sacred work. The obligation is not canceled by reluctance, changed circumstances, or regret, and only utter inability to pay excuses failing to meet it promptly, so payment is to be made first to keep the channel of blessing open and support the gospel. Giving grudgingly, giving what is poor and deficient, keeping back part of what was vowed while pretending to fulfill it, postponing payment, and leaving little to His cause in wills while leaving most to uninterested relatives, must all be faced when each gives an account to God of how His gifts were used, and when light and privileges are persistently disregarded His forbearance ends and mercy becomes a curse.
Robbing God includes forsaking His ordinances by trampling His holy Sabbath, using His seventh-day time for self-serving work, treating a common working day as holy while dishonoring the day He sanctified, and failing to deal justly with the hireling, the widow, the fatherless, the stranger, and the poor. Such willful disregard steals reserved time, dishonors His name, treats His commands lightly, robs the keeper of rich blessing in holy communion and contemplation of His power and love in creation and redemption, and separates the transgressor from God the source of good. Instead of blessing there will be loss greater than the gain sought, God has a controversy with those who cannot be relied on to keep agreements with men, and accepting a spurious sabbath marks the world with the character of the man of sin and leaves the whole world guilty.
Robbery also reaches all that belongs to Him as Creator and Redeemer with absolute right to life, food, protecting care, and service, so refusing obedience in anything He enjoins incurs guilt and the curse pronounced upon the whole nation. It includes withholding time by neglecting prayer and assembling for worship to give more time to farms or business and putting temporal interests first, withholding property from spreading truth even by placing means beyond control in children's hands, withholding service, affection, self, and spirit, soul and body, following own way, will, pleasure and impulse, indolence, unwillingness to take responsibility, loving in word but not in deed, and handling His money as one's own. Those who do so lose spiritual advancement, knowledge of the divine will, perfect character, and God's measurement, are marked by Him for a curse rather than blessing, and are called instead to deny self, take up the cross, follow the path Christ traveled, bring a willing faithful tithe and offering in righteousness with no selfishness, and let His Word guide education to receive light and share it in good works.
The same charge falls on selfish spending for display, dress, luxuries, needless fashion, drink, tobacco, costly buildings, and unnecessary outlay, which should be economized to give to His work, help remove church debts, and send the gospel to unreached places. Spending more on tobacco than for the poor or gospel work, wasting on drink and fashion what could support missions and do good, spending freely on pleasure and display while neglecting gifts according to means for churches and missionaries, and using God-given means for costly buildings instead of destitute fields, misuses resources that are rightfully His. Hoarding wealth instead of dividing with brethren laboring with meager facilities, monopolizing means, grasping higher wages, and keeping back just wages of workers diverts means from saving souls, turns hoarded property into a curse God cannot preserve and bless, and brings rebuke and coming loss of all upon those who selfishly hold more than sufficient for immediate necessities in this emergency.
Results of the Curse
The curse is the withdrawal of God's blessing and prospering hand in this life from dishonest, covetous stewards who keep back tithes and offerings that should flow into the treasury. When men disregard His plain claims He permits them to follow their own way and reap the fruit of their doings, and withheld wealth may be scattered and lost both to its possessor and to His cause. His blessings are limited in proportion as His people limit their offerings, so they harm themselves as well as dishonor Him, and this principle holds for His people in every age. Whoever takes for himself the portion God has reserved proves an unfaithful steward who will lose not only what he withheld from God but also what was committed to him as his own.
By robbing God such stewards deprive themselves of the blessing promised on condition of faithful stewardship, keep themselves under condemnation, and prove unfit to be entrusted with larger responsibilities and more means. Even those with little must render the tenth of all increase without calculating how they are coming out, for exactness is required and no charity, gift, or offering of human devising can be substituted. No one withholding what is due, whether rich or poor and whether the tenth be large or small, can expect God's prospering hand to be with them. Success and divine wisdom cannot be expected while withholding what is God's own, and he who withholds the tithe, diverts it to another purpose, uses it for self in emergency, or applies it according to his own judgment even in what is regarded as the Lord's work, cannot stand with clean hands before the Lord. Unfaithful stewards working contrary to a Thus saith the Lord deprive themselves of facilities for obtaining more means, while faithful performance in little receives the same returns as bestowal from abundance because God with infinite resources opens ways whereby what is given shall increase.
Because of this unfaithfulness His work is held back, His treasury is left empty and impoverished, and neglect of systematic benevolence leaves the church backslidden and dependent on repeated urgent calls for means at large gatherings. Robbing Him means lavishing His goods on selfish indulgence while His treasury is poorly supplied, which dishonors Him, impoverishes His cause, and leaves too little to supply His laborers. The vineyard stays unworked, the world stays unwarned, wickedness increases, mission fields are left unsupported, and gifts that belong in His treasury to bring people to truth are kept back so sinners die unwarned in ignorance. The gospel is not preached to the poor, the needy, and the broken-hearted, and families who withhold are left unable to pray in faith and are guilty of the blood of souls allowed to die without the truth.
Covetousness and deceit that deprive His treasury bring spiritual darkness and poverty upon the withholders themselves and upon the church. Clinging to possessions and putting worldly pursuits between the soul and God brings selfishness and worldly attachment, so that a church that robs God cannot prosper and selfishness results in spiritual dearth. Those who withhold from Him are cursed with affliction in their families and decrease in their possessions just in proportion to their disposition to rob Him, with the curse falling on harvests and flocks in proportion to what was withheld. When people use God-given prosperity to cling to possessions and neglect His requirements and worship, His blessings become a curse to them, and fear of losing wealth that leads to withholding even under profession of serving God is joined with sickness and deaths. Offerings were to be the best, without blemish and freely given rather than stinted or defective.
Every such robbery of His treasury is marked and registered in the books of heaven, to be met when the books are opened and every person is judged and rewarded according to deeds done in the body. A record of each person's conduct is kept for the judgment because all possessions are lent in trust and a tenth is claimed as His own, calling for repentance and restitution. Departing from justice and the Lord's way to pursue a chosen course, including consenting to misuse of means consecrated for His work, brings accountability when each is judged according to his works and calls for serious self-examination. At judgment excuses will not undo the record or change the fixed destiny of those who have repeatedly withheld what belongs to God, for unfaithfulness violates the agreement between God and His people, separates them from Him, and keeps them from receiving His blessing.
Return and Promised Blessing
The way out of the curse is to return to God by keeping His ordinances, confessing the neglect of withholding what is His, and repenting and making restitution. Those who have withheld must figure up the back tithe for past years with accurate reckoning and pay it all as fast as possible, with promise of full honest tithe henceforth, no longer leaving the treasury empty. The call is to bring all, not one quarter or two thirds but all the tithes into the storehouse, adding willing thank and peace offerings, and there to prove the Lord. The naturally selfish and covetous must work in the opposite direction and give where they have withheld, for working on this principle laid down in the Word is the only way to obtain victory and finally inherit eternal life. When sins of neglect are confessed and the Lord is given His own, He will impart His goods to the faithful so they may do still more for the advancement of His work and the sending of the gospel to all parts of the world.
Obedience is met with the opened windows of heaven and blessing poured out without room to receive it. The devourer is rebuked and the fruits of the ground are preserved, with crops, herds, vines and fruits kept from harm and the land made delightsome so that all nations call them blessed. When the portion God claims is returned, the remainder is blessed and sanctified for personal use, and His claim comes before every other claim. Faithful performance in payment of the tithe fulfills His promises, for with infinite resources He often in providence opens ways whereby what is given shall increase, so that he who follows His arrangement in the little receives the same returns as he who bestows of his abundance. Grateful offerings must therefore be brought continually as an endless offering, and His claims answered at whatever cost or sacrifice to self.
God stands behind His promises with a Word that is positive and ample, Yea and Amen, leaving no room for mistake or limitation. He challenges all to prove the Lord God of hosts, inviting prayer and pledging Himself to answer from resources that cannot be exhausted, and if they do their part He will act in their behalf. He knows every heart and rewards everyone who freely gives back to Him, while those who rob Him are under the curse. His people acknowledge that possessions and blessings come from Him by faithfully paying tithe and giving willing offerings, and giving to save those for whom Christ died shows appreciation for His goodness. When they willingly honor Him with their substance, prosperity attends their labor in proportion to their obedience, but when they limit their offerings they also limit the blessings they receive, and His blessing cannot rest upon those who rob Him.
Dealing faithfully brings His promised financial blessing and spiritual blessing, and when all come into harmonious action in this truth they will see the salvation of God. Faithful payment of the tithe by all, rich or poor, in proportion as God has prospered them, keeps a constant stream flowing into the treasury to pay workers their honest wages and removes lack of funds. God calls not only for tithes but also for gifts and offerings, so that the work of preparing a people for His coming may be quickly finished. Such giving opens the way for the world to hear the message for this time, gives ample funds for home and foreign missions, multiplies resources, and opens a thousand doors of usefulness with invitations to enter. Coming from hearts filled with love for Christ and thoroughly imbued with self-sacrifice and earnestness, it hastens Christ's coming to earth and the saints' welcome into the City of God, whereas failure to carry out God's purpose in giving mercy to the world has delayed it.
Present Duty and Warning
The warning belongs to the present time with more than ordinary importance, with special application to the last days, calling God's people to give a proportion of their substance to the Lord as a freewill offering. Money used to buy and sell and get gain becomes a curse when what is His is withheld, while means entrusted by the Lord are to be used in sending the gospel to all parts of the world. The remedy is to confess sins of neglect and return to the Lord His own with liberal gifts and offerings brought faithfully into His treasury, the storehouse, and then He will impart His goods to the faithful so they may do still more for the advancement of His work. Believers share in that work by supplying means for the sustenance of ministers, evangelists and missionaries who open the Scriptures and work from house to house as light-bearers, by denying self, cutting down unnecessary expense, and giving liberally, and all must unite in urging obedience to the law from Sinai and in presenting everywhere the necessity of paying a faithful tithe.
Because the Lord is soon to come there must be a refining, winnowing process in every church, with transformation of character and putting on the beautiful garments of the righteousness of Christ. That process will make plain who are vessels unto honor who receive the latter rain and who are wicked men who do not love the truth or honor God, with discernment between him that serves God and him that serves Him not. Then the day that burns as an oven will burn all the proud and all that do wickedly as stubble leaving neither root nor branch, while unto those that fear His name the Sun of Righteousness arises with healing in His wings. Every soul who in present light continues in sin will be blinded and accept delusions from Satan near the close of this earth's history.
Withholding tithes from God is robbery bringing a curse upon the people, and the whole nation is charged with this wrongdoing, so those responsible for spiritual instruction must instruct, warn, train and educate every church member to pay an honest tithe faithfully. The curse falls on individuals and churches who neglect this duty through selfishness, and its words are direct and explicit so that only selfishness of the human heart keeps men from seeing them. Ministers who preach must do personal labor to train and educate every member, rich and poor, new converts and established believers, never to commit this robbery, with all the tithes brought into the storehouse, because this is God's own plan for supplying the treasury with means to sustain the laborer and carry forward the Lord's work. This duty must be taught plainly, repeatedly and without delay, with faithful example set and the work overseen, and it is applied to church members who fail to support missionary work, since neglecting it leaves the treasury short of means needed to support laborers.
Dissatisfaction with how the work is managed does not justify withholding tithe or becoming unfaithful, and concerns should instead be raised openly and through proper channels. The duty to return tithes and offerings remains even when church leaders misuse the funds or believers disagree with how they are managed, and even when some ministers are unworthy; each person is responsible for doing their part and may seek to correct the misuse without withholding what belongs to God. That wrongdoing is the responsibility of those who commit it, not a reason for others to withhold what is God's, lest one commit the same wrong oneself. Withholding selfishly harms the giver's spiritual life.
The warning speaks to every church, every family, and every individual, and the curse rests on the whole nation and on anyone in any position, high or low, minister or layman, who sets aside this plain and decided requirement. Those who profess to serve God while diligently serving themselves, who say they see no duty to give a certain portion of income and feel no condemnation, are in the position condemned, and they will meet its words in the judgment, with a revelation of the good they might have done in acts of charity and in giving back to God all He claimed. Neglecting so plain a command opens the way to making light of God's other requirements and choosing to do as one pleases, yielding to Satan's temptation to make God's requirements of none effect, and leading the church to disregard tithing leads them in crooked paths and brings accountability for their neglect. The same obligation rests on those serving in sanitariums — physicians, managers, and nurses — to return cheerfully and faithfully what He claims as His own, tied to promised blessing and prosperity, and on church members bound by covenant to pay faithfully and live economically, with faithful systematic giving by all including children who can save small amounts to provide for the Lord's work, to advance the work in Washington and to supply men and means for constant calls from foreign fields, in Michigan, in the South and elsewhere, relieving the poor and supplying meat in the house of God.
Giving is a test that develops character and reveals the heart and its true condition, with continued covetousness bringing disfavor and possibly separating a person from His people. Giving from worldly goods entrusted to people tests allegiance and gratitude to meet the needs of perishing souls, and the decision to give much or little rests with each person, to be freely chosen and not forced by ministers, with each responsible for the amount given and the choice faithfully recorded. God does not compel payment but calls for willing obedience, just as He calls for willing observance of His Sabbath, requiring an honest tithe and also liberal gifts because He has entrusted means, food and clothing and made people His helping hand to maintain the gospel ministry instead of raining money from heaven into His empty treasury. Strict obedience in returning His own is required, and parents must impress its importance on children, teaching accountability in the use of means, denial of self and worldly pleasures, and bringing tithe and offerings however small to advance His work and practice self-denial for others, cutting out roots of selfishness so children become fruitful in good works to eternal life. When children see dishonesty in tithes and offerings and grow up careless and indifferent, they steel their hearts against obedience and guilt and loss extend through parental example to the third and fourth generation.
Withholding tithes and offerings from God is robbing Him, and the whole nation is under a curse because of this unfaithfulness, a truth stated plainly so those willing to be honest before God can understand their duty. The verse is plain and direct and must not be evaded, read through personal ideas, or blunted, but personal ideas and practices must be corrected and cut away by it. Its plain Thus saith the Lord must be read as written and obeyed, not read in the light of human ideas or evaded because brethren are imperfect, and no word or practice must encourage another soul in the robbery, especially one entrusted with large talents of means who must acknowledge all means as God's, keep integrity without flinching, return the portions claimed, and by wise use of capital build up Christ's kingdom, lest disobedience give excuse to others to follow the same course and bring the curse upon themselves. Robbery is a presumptuous sin declared in plain language with serious consequences leaving the disobedient without excuse, and God's professed people must give this warning weight, clearly perceive duty as written, and stop wasting the Lord's goods upon themselves or others. This is no speculative theory but truth of deepest interest and most weighty importance, to be carried with an It is written warning to all parts of the world so none will have excuse in the day of judgment, as part of the third chapter of Malachi to be carefully studied, personally obeyed, and taught to others so they may receive financial and spiritual blessing, with all coming into harmonious action to see the salvation of God.
Withholding what belongs to God is robbing Him, and that unfaithfulness in tithes and offerings brings a curse upon the whole nation, which asked wherein it had robbed Him and was answered definitely that the robbery is in tithes and offerings.
The tenth of all increase, income and possessions is sacred and reserved for Him just as the seventh day is set apart, with offerings including thank, freewill, trespass and pledged gifts to supply His house and support His ministers.
Robbing Him includes diverting the tithe to other uses or personal judgment, using it for ordinary church expenses, paying debts with it, and withholding promised vows and gifts, as well as withholding time, service and the Sabbath for self-serving work.
The curse is the withdrawal of His prospering hand with scattered wealth, empty treasury, hindered work and unwarned souls, and every robbery is recorded to be met when each is judged according to deeds.
The remedy is to return by keeping His ordinances, confessing, repenting and making restitution of back tithes with willing offerings, and obedience is met with opened windows of heaven, rebuke of the devourer, preservation of crops and blessing without room to receive it.
Robbery, Curse, and Nation
Withholding what belongs to God in tithes and offerings is robbing Him, and this unfaithfulness brings a curse upon the whole nation. The curse of God will surely come upon those who rob Him in this way, even this whole nation, for money used to buy and sell and get gain becomes a curse when what is His is withheld. The wrong includes using resources entrusted by God for selfish purposes and indulgence instead of supporting the work of publishing salvation and advancing the cause of truth, and the charge is applied broadly to the whole world, whose people must give account before God when each receives judgment according to deeds. Its prophecy has a special application to the last days with more than ordinary importance, teaching God's people to give a proportion of their substance to the Lord as a freewill offering and to use entrusted means in sending the gospel to all parts of the world. The remedy is to confess sins of neglect and return to the Lord His own, and then He will impart His goods to the faithful so they may do still more for the advancement of His work.
Israel as a nation was under a curse because it had robbed God by withholding tithes and offerings, and the whole nation is held responsible for this failure to give what belongs to God. The people's neglect of what belongs to God has national consequences, for failing to meet these obligations brought a collective consequence upon them. The surrounding call is for the people to return to God by bringing the full tithe into His storehouse and by being honest with God in paying a faithful tithe and bringing offerings, so that resources are available for God's work. This giving acknowledges dependence on God and supports the work of carrying the gospel to the world, and identifies the failure to give what God required as the sin they needed to recognize and turn from.
The people were disobedient yet unconvicted of sin, asking wherein they had robbed God, and the Lord gives a definite answer that the robbery is in tithes and offerings and that this is why they are cursed. Robbing God in tithes and offerings is a special sin that brings a curse upon the whole nation. The tenth is sacred and reserved for God just as the seventh day is set apart for Him as the Sabbath, with God giving people nine-tenths and claiming one-tenth for sacred purposes. Bringing all the tithes into the storehouse brings God's blessing and provision for His work.
In ancient times honoring God with substance and firstfruits brought abundance and plenty, while withholding what was due deprived the people themselves, with prosperity or hardship and increase made proportionate to obedience. Withholding what God requires from His work is covetousness that brings a curse, and the curse fell on harvests and flocks in proportion to what was withheld, bringing poverty and want. Some who gave too little also suffered affliction in their families. Offerings were to be the best of the flock or field, without blemish, and freely given rather than stinted or defective, for God did not accept an offering that was lame or blemished, and such generous giving brought the Lord's blessing to rest on the family and possessions. God calls for generous returns in response to the blessings He has given.
Tithe and Offerings Defined
The robbery named in the verse is withholding the tithe, a tenth of all increase, income, possessions and all that a man receives, together with offerings that include thank offerings, freewill offerings, trespass offerings, gratitude and liberal offerings, firstfruits and pledged gifts. The tithe is the Lord's portion owed from all, following the pattern of Abraham who paid tithe of all, and every man is to bring tithes and offerings freely, willingly and gladly into the storehouse in order to receive blessing. Neglect of this systematic benevolence and tithing system leaves the treasury impoverished and the church backslidden, creating need for repeated urgent calls for means, while faithful giving by all, the wealthy as faithfully as the poorer classes, keeps the treasury constantly replenished so there is meat in God's house. The tenth is set apart as sacred for His work and is not left to personal choice or impulse, but is to be returned faithfully in proportion to what has been given.
All possessions, money, time, talents, abilities, intellect, capabilities and affections are lent in trust, for God is owner and great Proprietor and men connected with His appointed institutions must acknowledge Him with what He has entrusted. Human beings are the Lord's property by creation and redemption, under obligation to Him for life, food and protecting care, so He has absolute and unlimited right to them and their service, and what they withhold remains His property entrusted to them as stewards. Withholding from God what is His rightful portion is therefore robbery and treacherous dealing with the Maker, a definite and special breach of agreement after He has bestowed rich bounties in mercy, and those who will deal treacherously with Him will deal treacherously with fellow men. All must examine their business relations with their Creator, recognizing they do not own the money that passes through their hands but are merely stewards and almoners called to be co-laborers with Christ in its use, with a record of each person's conduct kept for the judgment calling for repentance and restitution.
God supplies all necessities from the earth as His storehouse, providing fruits, grains, vegetables, flourishing crops, sunlight and rain for good and evil alike, together with health, food, clothing and power to earn money. The blessings of the field and the fruits of the soil are His, not private property to be used for personal gain, and specified offerings are to help the poor and support His work. In return He asks grateful return through tithes and offerings to acknowledge dependence and ownership, for returning a portion of His gifts supports His work and acknowledges Him as giver of every blessing, a duty applying to believers in every age by willing obedience rather than compulsion. No one can withhold from God and live to self and be happy, for since all earthly blessings come through Jesus Christ it is only just to return the portion He claims, while withholding empties His treasury and hinders His work in saving souls.
Tithes and offerings are to supply meat in His house and keep the treasury constantly replenished, and are reserved to support His appointed ministers, evangelists, missionaries and gospel laborers who open Scripture and carry the light of salvation to people in spiritual darkness at home and abroad and throughout the world. They are entrusted means reserved for proclaiming the gospel and keeping His work from becoming barren, and using them for selfish purposes obstructs the spread of truth, leaves souls without the light provided for them, leaves the vineyard unworked and hinders the cause of truth. The whole nation is charged with this unfaithfulness because means reserved for the worldwide work were used for selfish purposes, and self-indulgent spending and conformity to worldly customs lead members to withhold what should be given.
The tithe is the Lord's own sacred, reserved fund, and this arrangement was made by Jesus Christ. God's claim takes priority over every other claim, and when that portion is returned the remainder is blessed, placing people under obligation and enabling them to bless others. The duty applies to everyone whether rich or poor, with each to return a tenth of income and possessions, large or small, much or little, according as He has prospered them in systematic benevolence, and those who withhold it cannot expect God's prospering hand. Faithful performance of this duty fulfills His promises, for with infinite resources He often in providence opens ways whereby what is given shall increase, so that he who follows His arrangement in little receives the same returns as he who bestows of his abundance.
Wider Ways of Robbing
Robbing God is not only withholding the tithe but turning it aside from the use He appointed to other lines of work, to secular purposes, or to whatever personal judgment prefers, even for a time or with intent to repay, and even when done by ministers, and this misuse empties His treasury and leaves gospel laborers without support. Consecrated money dedicated to Him is to remain devoted to His work and not be taken for personal ends, for taking what belongs to Him brings the curse upon the people because the whole nation has robbed Him. The tithe is His property placed in the Lord's treasury to sustain the ministry and encourage workers to enter it, and diverting it deprives laborers and hinders ministerial work unless there is repentance and restoration of heavenly treasure.
Using the tithe for ordinary church expenses is the same robbery, whether for upkeep of buildings, fuel, lights, meetinghouse costs, charity, schools, care of the poor and needy, temporal matters and conveniences, or educating students. Reducing the working force that bears the message to fit the tithe in the treasury is departing from the Lord's plan, for the tithe is His own sacred portion guarded by Him to be used only for the support of gospel ministers in new fields as well as in other places. Churches that work upon such a plan have God's blessing reduced, fall into great dearth of means, have His Spirit withdrawn, and leave ministers unsupported and workers discouraged from entering ministry, and their running expenses should instead be met through self-denial and reduced personal spending.
Debts owed to others give no right to pay them with what belongs to God, for His reserved portion for His work and ministry must be returned first and obeying Him brings the promised blessing. Paying fellow men with the Lord's portion makes a person doubly accountable, a double debtor to God, tying up His money with unfaithfulness written against the name in the books of heaven and an account to settle. Such misappropriation is a test revealing want of principle that will appear in all other business management, cultivates traits that bar entry into God's family and cut the robber off from admittance to the mansions of heaven.
Withholding promised gifts, solemn pledges and vows is robbing God and bringing the curse, for pledges to Him are solemn commitments and breaking them shows a heart not devoted to sacred work. The obligation is not canceled by reluctance, changed circumstances, or regret, and only utter inability to pay excuses failing to meet it promptly, so payment is to be made first to keep the channel of blessing open and support the gospel. Giving grudgingly, giving what is poor and deficient, keeping back part of what was vowed while pretending to fulfill it, postponing payment, and leaving little to His cause in wills while leaving most to uninterested relatives, must all be faced when each gives an account to God of how His gifts were used, and when light and privileges are persistently disregarded His forbearance ends and mercy becomes a curse.
Robbing God includes forsaking His ordinances by trampling His holy Sabbath, using His seventh-day time for self-serving work, treating a common working day as holy while dishonoring the day He sanctified, and failing to deal justly with the hireling, the widow, the fatherless, the stranger, and the poor. Such willful disregard steals reserved time, dishonors His name, treats His commands lightly, robs the keeper of rich blessing in holy communion and contemplation of His power and love in creation and redemption, and separates the transgressor from God the source of good. Instead of blessing there will be loss greater than the gain sought, God has a controversy with those who cannot be relied on to keep agreements with men, and accepting a spurious sabbath marks the world with the character of the man of sin and leaves the whole world guilty.
Robbery also reaches all that belongs to Him as Creator and Redeemer with absolute right to life, food, protecting care, and service, so refusing obedience in anything He enjoins incurs guilt and the curse pronounced upon the whole nation. It includes withholding time by neglecting prayer and assembling for worship to give more time to farms or business and putting temporal interests first, withholding property from spreading truth even by placing means beyond control in children's hands, withholding service, affection, self, and spirit, soul and body, following own way, will, pleasure and impulse, indolence, unwillingness to take responsibility, loving in word but not in deed, and handling His money as one's own. Those who do so lose spiritual advancement, knowledge of the divine will, perfect character, and God's measurement, are marked by Him for a curse rather than blessing, and are called instead to deny self, take up the cross, follow the path Christ traveled, bring a willing faithful tithe and offering in righteousness with no selfishness, and let His Word guide education to receive light and share it in good works.
The same charge falls on selfish spending for display, dress, luxuries, needless fashion, drink, tobacco, costly buildings, and unnecessary outlay, which should be economized to give to His work, help remove church debts, and send the gospel to unreached places. Spending more on tobacco than for the poor or gospel work, wasting on drink and fashion what could support missions and do good, spending freely on pleasure and display while neglecting gifts according to means for churches and missionaries, and using God-given means for costly buildings instead of destitute fields, misuses resources that are rightfully His. Hoarding wealth instead of dividing with brethren laboring with meager facilities, monopolizing means, grasping higher wages, and keeping back just wages of workers diverts means from saving souls, turns hoarded property into a curse God cannot preserve and bless, and brings rebuke and coming loss of all upon those who selfishly hold more than sufficient for immediate necessities in this emergency.
Results of the Curse
The curse is the withdrawal of God's blessing and prospering hand in this life from dishonest, covetous stewards who keep back tithes and offerings that should flow into the treasury. When men disregard His plain claims He permits them to follow their own way and reap the fruit of their doings, and withheld wealth may be scattered and lost both to its possessor and to His cause. His blessings are limited in proportion as His people limit their offerings, so they harm themselves as well as dishonor Him, and this principle holds for His people in every age. Whoever takes for himself the portion God has reserved proves an unfaithful steward who will lose not only what he withheld from God but also what was committed to him as his own.
By robbing God such stewards deprive themselves of the blessing promised on condition of faithful stewardship, keep themselves under condemnation, and prove unfit to be entrusted with larger responsibilities and more means. Even those with little must render the tenth of all increase without calculating how they are coming out, for exactness is required and no charity, gift, or offering of human devising can be substituted. No one withholding what is due, whether rich or poor and whether the tenth be large or small, can expect God's prospering hand to be with them. Success and divine wisdom cannot be expected while withholding what is God's own, and he who withholds the tithe, diverts it to another purpose, uses it for self in emergency, or applies it according to his own judgment even in what is regarded as the Lord's work, cannot stand with clean hands before the Lord. Unfaithful stewards working contrary to a Thus saith the Lord deprive themselves of facilities for obtaining more means, while faithful performance in little receives the same returns as bestowal from abundance because God with infinite resources opens ways whereby what is given shall increase.
Because of this unfaithfulness His work is held back, His treasury is left empty and impoverished, and neglect of systematic benevolence leaves the church backslidden and dependent on repeated urgent calls for means at large gatherings. Robbing Him means lavishing His goods on selfish indulgence while His treasury is poorly supplied, which dishonors Him, impoverishes His cause, and leaves too little to supply His laborers. The vineyard stays unworked, the world stays unwarned, wickedness increases, mission fields are left unsupported, and gifts that belong in His treasury to bring people to truth are kept back so sinners die unwarned in ignorance. The gospel is not preached to the poor, the needy, and the broken-hearted, and families who withhold are left unable to pray in faith and are guilty of the blood of souls allowed to die without the truth.
Covetousness and deceit that deprive His treasury bring spiritual darkness and poverty upon the withholders themselves and upon the church. Clinging to possessions and putting worldly pursuits between the soul and God brings selfishness and worldly attachment, so that a church that robs God cannot prosper and selfishness results in spiritual dearth. Those who withhold from Him are cursed with affliction in their families and decrease in their possessions just in proportion to their disposition to rob Him, with the curse falling on harvests and flocks in proportion to what was withheld. When people use God-given prosperity to cling to possessions and neglect His requirements and worship, His blessings become a curse to them, and fear of losing wealth that leads to withholding even under profession of serving God is joined with sickness and deaths. Offerings were to be the best, without blemish and freely given rather than stinted or defective.
Every such robbery of His treasury is marked and registered in the books of heaven, to be met when the books are opened and every person is judged and rewarded according to deeds done in the body. A record of each person's conduct is kept for the judgment because all possessions are lent in trust and a tenth is claimed as His own, calling for repentance and restitution. Departing from justice and the Lord's way to pursue a chosen course, including consenting to misuse of means consecrated for His work, brings accountability when each is judged according to his works and calls for serious self-examination. At judgment excuses will not undo the record or change the fixed destiny of those who have repeatedly withheld what belongs to God, for unfaithfulness violates the agreement between God and His people, separates them from Him, and keeps them from receiving His blessing.
Return and Promised Blessing
The way out of the curse is to return to God by keeping His ordinances, confessing the neglect of withholding what is His, and repenting and making restitution. Those who have withheld must figure up the back tithe for past years with accurate reckoning and pay it all as fast as possible, with promise of full honest tithe henceforth, no longer leaving the treasury empty. The call is to bring all, not one quarter or two thirds but all the tithes into the storehouse, adding willing thank and peace offerings, and there to prove the Lord. The naturally selfish and covetous must work in the opposite direction and give where they have withheld, for working on this principle laid down in the Word is the only way to obtain victory and finally inherit eternal life. When sins of neglect are confessed and the Lord is given His own, He will impart His goods to the faithful so they may do still more for the advancement of His work and the sending of the gospel to all parts of the world.
Obedience is met with the opened windows of heaven and blessing poured out without room to receive it. The devourer is rebuked and the fruits of the ground are preserved, with crops, herds, vines and fruits kept from harm and the land made delightsome so that all nations call them blessed. When the portion God claims is returned, the remainder is blessed and sanctified for personal use, and His claim comes before every other claim. Faithful performance in payment of the tithe fulfills His promises, for with infinite resources He often in providence opens ways whereby what is given shall increase, so that he who follows His arrangement in the little receives the same returns as he who bestows of his abundance. Grateful offerings must therefore be brought continually as an endless offering, and His claims answered at whatever cost or sacrifice to self.
God stands behind His promises with a Word that is positive and ample, Yea and Amen, leaving no room for mistake or limitation. He challenges all to prove the Lord God of hosts, inviting prayer and pledging Himself to answer from resources that cannot be exhausted, and if they do their part He will act in their behalf. He knows every heart and rewards everyone who freely gives back to Him, while those who rob Him are under the curse. His people acknowledge that possessions and blessings come from Him by faithfully paying tithe and giving willing offerings, and giving to save those for whom Christ died shows appreciation for His goodness. When they willingly honor Him with their substance, prosperity attends their labor in proportion to their obedience, but when they limit their offerings they also limit the blessings they receive, and His blessing cannot rest upon those who rob Him.
Dealing faithfully brings His promised financial blessing and spiritual blessing, and when all come into harmonious action in this truth they will see the salvation of God. Faithful payment of the tithe by all, rich or poor, in proportion as God has prospered them, keeps a constant stream flowing into the treasury to pay workers their honest wages and removes lack of funds. God calls not only for tithes but also for gifts and offerings, so that the work of preparing a people for His coming may be quickly finished. Such giving opens the way for the world to hear the message for this time, gives ample funds for home and foreign missions, multiplies resources, and opens a thousand doors of usefulness with invitations to enter. Coming from hearts filled with love for Christ and thoroughly imbued with self-sacrifice and earnestness, it hastens Christ's coming to earth and the saints' welcome into the City of God, whereas failure to carry out God's purpose in giving mercy to the world has delayed it.
Present Duty and Warning
The warning belongs to the present time with more than ordinary importance, with special application to the last days, calling God's people to give a proportion of their substance to the Lord as a freewill offering. Money used to buy and sell and get gain becomes a curse when what is His is withheld, while means entrusted by the Lord are to be used in sending the gospel to all parts of the world. The remedy is to confess sins of neglect and return to the Lord His own with liberal gifts and offerings brought faithfully into His treasury, the storehouse, and then He will impart His goods to the faithful so they may do still more for the advancement of His work. Believers share in that work by supplying means for the sustenance of ministers, evangelists and missionaries who open the Scriptures and work from house to house as light-bearers, by denying self, cutting down unnecessary expense, and giving liberally, and all must unite in urging obedience to the law from Sinai and in presenting everywhere the necessity of paying a faithful tithe.
Because the Lord is soon to come there must be a refining, winnowing process in every church, with transformation of character and putting on the beautiful garments of the righteousness of Christ. That process will make plain who are vessels unto honor who receive the latter rain and who are wicked men who do not love the truth or honor God, with discernment between him that serves God and him that serves Him not. Then the day that burns as an oven will burn all the proud and all that do wickedly as stubble leaving neither root nor branch, while unto those that fear His name the Sun of Righteousness arises with healing in His wings. Every soul who in present light continues in sin will be blinded and accept delusions from Satan near the close of this earth's history.
Withholding tithes from God is robbery bringing a curse upon the people, and the whole nation is charged with this wrongdoing, so those responsible for spiritual instruction must instruct, warn, train and educate every church member to pay an honest tithe faithfully. The curse falls on individuals and churches who neglect this duty through selfishness, and its words are direct and explicit so that only selfishness of the human heart keeps men from seeing them. Ministers who preach must do personal labor to train and educate every member, rich and poor, new converts and established believers, never to commit this robbery, with all the tithes brought into the storehouse, because this is God's own plan for supplying the treasury with means to sustain the laborer and carry forward the Lord's work. This duty must be taught plainly, repeatedly and without delay, with faithful example set and the work overseen, and it is applied to church members who fail to support missionary work, since neglecting it leaves the treasury short of means needed to support laborers.
Dissatisfaction with how the work is managed does not justify withholding tithe or becoming unfaithful, and concerns should instead be raised openly and through proper channels. The duty to return tithes and offerings remains even when church leaders misuse the funds or believers disagree with how they are managed, and even when some ministers are unworthy; each person is responsible for doing their part and may seek to correct the misuse without withholding what belongs to God. That wrongdoing is the responsibility of those who commit it, not a reason for others to withhold what is God's, lest one commit the same wrong oneself. Withholding selfishly harms the giver's spiritual life.
The warning speaks to every church, every family, and every individual, and the curse rests on the whole nation and on anyone in any position, high or low, minister or layman, who sets aside this plain and decided requirement. Those who profess to serve God while diligently serving themselves, who say they see no duty to give a certain portion of income and feel no condemnation, are in the position condemned, and they will meet its words in the judgment, with a revelation of the good they might have done in acts of charity and in giving back to God all He claimed. Neglecting so plain a command opens the way to making light of God's other requirements and choosing to do as one pleases, yielding to Satan's temptation to make God's requirements of none effect, and leading the church to disregard tithing leads them in crooked paths and brings accountability for their neglect. The same obligation rests on those serving in sanitariums — physicians, managers, and nurses — to return cheerfully and faithfully what He claims as His own, tied to promised blessing and prosperity, and on church members bound by covenant to pay faithfully and live economically, with faithful systematic giving by all including children who can save small amounts to provide for the Lord's work, to advance the work in Washington and to supply men and means for constant calls from foreign fields, in Michigan, in the South and elsewhere, relieving the poor and supplying meat in the house of God.
Giving is a test that develops character and reveals the heart and its true condition, with continued covetousness bringing disfavor and possibly separating a person from His people. Giving from worldly goods entrusted to people tests allegiance and gratitude to meet the needs of perishing souls, and the decision to give much or little rests with each person, to be freely chosen and not forced by ministers, with each responsible for the amount given and the choice faithfully recorded. God does not compel payment but calls for willing obedience, just as He calls for willing observance of His Sabbath, requiring an honest tithe and also liberal gifts because He has entrusted means, food and clothing and made people His helping hand to maintain the gospel ministry instead of raining money from heaven into His empty treasury. Strict obedience in returning His own is required, and parents must impress its importance on children, teaching accountability in the use of means, denial of self and worldly pleasures, and bringing tithe and offerings however small to advance His work and practice self-denial for others, cutting out roots of selfishness so children become fruitful in good works to eternal life. When children see dishonesty in tithes and offerings and grow up careless and indifferent, they steel their hearts against obedience and guilt and loss extend through parental example to the third and fourth generation.
Withholding tithes and offerings from God is robbing Him, and the whole nation is under a curse because of this unfaithfulness, a truth stated plainly so those willing to be honest before God can understand their duty. The verse is plain and direct and must not be evaded, read through personal ideas, or blunted, but personal ideas and practices must be corrected and cut away by it. Its plain Thus saith the Lord must be read as written and obeyed, not read in the light of human ideas or evaded because brethren are imperfect, and no word or practice must encourage another soul in the robbery, especially one entrusted with large talents of means who must acknowledge all means as God's, keep integrity without flinching, return the portions claimed, and by wise use of capital build up Christ's kingdom, lest disobedience give excuse to others to follow the same course and bring the curse upon themselves. Robbery is a presumptuous sin declared in plain language with serious consequences leaving the disobedient without excuse, and God's professed people must give this warning weight, clearly perceive duty as written, and stop wasting the Lord's goods upon themselves or others. This is no speculative theory but truth of deepest interest and most weighty importance, to be carried with an It is written warning to all parts of the world so none will have excuse in the day of judgment, as part of the third chapter of Malachi to be carefully studied, personally obeyed, and taught to others so they may receive financial and spiritual blessing, with all coming into harmonious action to see the salvation of God.