“’I, the Lord, do not change. So you, the descendants of Jacob, are not destroyed. Ever since the time of your ancestors you have turned away from my decrees and have not kept them. Return to me, and I will return to you,’ says the Lord Almighty.
But you ask, ‘How are we to return?’
Will a mere mortal rob God? Yet you rob me.
But you ask, ‘How are we robbing you?’
In tithes and offerings.”
Malachi 3:6-8
Last time we saw the LORD declare mishpat and be swift to witness in protest to anything that dishonors God or people, grateful He came in the flesh and tabernacled with us. Today we see some details of His faithfulness and His people’s responsibility.
Frankly, we begin with the best news first:
Aren’t you so grateful?
Change here is shanah – to repeat, speak again, strike again, alter, double, be given to change, disguise, be diverse, pervert; to fold, i.e. Duplicate (literally or figuratively); by implication, to transmute (transitive or intransitive).
Did a little grammar googling, in case you’re like me and forgot what transitive means. It’s a verb that requires a direct object; intransitive verbs do not. So you can say, “I run,” and it’s a full sentence. But you cannot say, “I want,” on its own. You have to name what you want – it’s transitive verb. And transmute means “to change or alter in form, appearance, or nature and especially to a higher form.”
So when Yahweh says He does not change, and the verb implies to change in nature, He is describing His otherness. He cannot be duplicated, has no alter ego, and cannot change into a higher form because He is the highest form. The Alpha and the Omega, no other outside Him, the same yesterday, today, and forever.
And He not only doesn’t change form or character, He simply does not alter in existing – He is the great I Am. Always has been, always will be.
(And shall we not dissect the glorious trinity in this? I believe we will lose that argument. They were all there in the Beginning.)
Isn’t it just such a breath of fresh air? In this world of fickleness, reacting versus responding, making decisions on a whim or according to feelings, He. does. not. change. And when you’re dealing with perfection to start with, that is very good news indeed. But it also implies another glorious Truth…
“…therefore you sons of Jacob are not consumed…”
Consumed is kalah – to be complete, at an end, finished, spent, annihilate, ceased, completely gone, demolish, devoured, ended, terminate, waste away, consume away, destroy utterly, wholly reap, make clean riddance; to end, whether intransitive (to cease, be finished, perish) or transitive (to complete, prepare, consume).
Goodness with this transitive/intransitive business. His people will neither have their lives and generational line completely spent nor will they be utterly consumed. And why? Because even when they (we) are faithless, He is faithful. And He cannot be Anyone other than Who He is. We aren’t wholly reaping what we sow or being devoured by evil because He does not change.
“Yet from the days of your fathers, you have gone away from my ordinances…”
“Gone away” is sur – to turn aside, abolished, avoid, departed, escape, left, put away, removed, swerve, turn aside, wanderer, withdrawn, eschew; decline, grievous, pluck away, put down, rebel, revolt, be sour.
And ordinances is choq – something prescribed or owed, a statute, allotment, boundaries, conditions, due, portion, appointed, bound, commandment, convenient, custom, decreed, law; From chaqaq – to cut in, inscribe, decree; carve, lawgiver, ruler’s staff, scepter; to hack, i.e. engrave or inscribe; by implication, to enact (laws being cut in stone or metal tablets…); hence, an appointment (of time, space, quantity, labor or usage) — set time, statute, task.
I will write My commandments on their hearts
I will circumcise their hearts and the hearts of their descendants
And “have not kept them” is shamar – keep, watch, preserve; attend, being careful, bodyguard, give heed, keeper, perform, preserve, protect, regard, secured, take care, take heed, waits, watch, look narrowly, observe.
From the days of your fathers, you have turned aside, swerved and grievously withdrawn from my conditions and boundaries, My appointment for you as My people. You have not carefully body guarded my decrees, but have revolted, rebelled sourly, and become wanderers.
Fortunately, there is a remedy:
“Return to Me and I will return to you,” says Jehovah-saboath.
This, when taken down to their roots, is “shub el, shub el.”
Shub means to turn back, return, bring back, draw, draw back, give an answer, pass away, pay back in full, refresh, refund, repent, restore, make restitution, revoke, turn away, turn back, withdraw.
Return toward Me, I will return toward you.
Such intimacy, no? The God of the Universe – the One Who never changes in form or Being – desires our return, our relationship.
I’m in Lamentations in my morning reading, but also doing a devotional given to me by sweet friends. Lamentations details God’s people being taken into captivity, of reaping all they’d sown. But in the devotional, the Psalm today was 148, and this section in particular struck me:
“And he has raised up for his people a horn,
the praise of all his faithful servants,
of Israel, the people close to his heart.”
Psalm 148:14
To juxtapose one author detailing the destruction of their city and people with how those people were close to His heart made me think of how our actions and relationship affect Him. That always causes me to pause – our actions, heart, decisions, thoughts, and the way He responds affecting Him. So Other, so much higher than us, yet so intimately involved. Thank You, Jesus.
Unfortunately, God anticipates their pushback:
But you say, “How (mah – what? how? ) shall we return (shub again)?”
Will a man rob God? Yet you have robbed Me.
Rob is qaba – rob, take, spoil; to cover, defraud
This definition seems to imply not only taking what’s not yours, but spoiling and defrauding what is someone else’s. And when it says, “rob God,” the Hebrew word for God is Elohim – the Most High Creator. As in, everything belongs to Him.
But, when we’ve experienced His salvation, tasted forgiveness, watched Him move in our lives and relationships, and know experientially we and other believers belong to Him, that is a different level of “what’s His.” We are His people. We should not be spoiling or defrauding each other.
But our verses today point specifically to how His people are robbing Him…
But you say, “In what way have we robbed You?”
In tithes and offerings.
Pretty straight forward. Tithes here is maaser – tenth part, tithe. And offerings is terumah – contribution for sacred uses, heave offering, shoulder, lifted up; from rum – to be high or exalted; a present (as offered up), especially in sacrifice or as tribute — gift, heave offering (shoulder).
That heave offering, amiright?
From JewishEncyclopedia.com:
“[The heave offering is a] present made to the Tabernacle or Temple for the use of the priests…
The heave-offering of the tithe (“terumat ha-ma’aser”): the tithe of their tithe which the Levites surrendered to the priests (Num. xviii. 26)…
The heave-offering for the priests (“terumat ha-kohanim”): taxes paid to the priests from the yield of the fields, olive-groves, and vine-yards…
Tithe and heave-offering are occasionally mentioned together (II Chron. xxxi. 10-14; Neh. x. 39; Mal. iii. 5). In such cases that portion of the agricultural produce reserved for the priest is so designated, and this was permitted to be eaten only by priests in a state of Levitical purity, or by members of their family.“
So, the tithe is giving a tenth to God by giving it to the Temple and Levites. The heave offering was the portion specifically for the priests. Those who stand between God and the people, offering sacrifices and intercession on their behalf. And did you notice it was to be eaten in a state of Levitical purity? Privileges and responsibilities combined.
So when God says they are spoiling, robbing, defrauding Him, this is what He points to that they have neglected: giving a tenth of what they earn, and making sure the priests are provided the heave offering.
Financial giving has always been interesting to me, as God has no need for our money. But it clearly affected His work among His people – Temple upkeep, sacrificial duties, payment for those whose lives were committed to Yahweh’s service.
But it seems to always be more than that, doesn’t it? It matters because giving is directly tied to our hearts. Where our treasure is, there our heart will be also. And God is saying there is no way to return to Him, to make Him first in their inmost being, without getting this right first. It speaks to lordship, obedience, and trust in His provision – that He is Jehovah-Jireh, our Provider, and the Good Shepherd. That He will actually take care of us.
Next time we can see Yahweh speak to their anxieties. For now, can we lean in on this New Years Eve to what it would look like to not defraud God and others in 2023?
There is only joy to be found in taking Him at His Word.