Malachi 3:7-18
Return
Robbing
Although God gave Israel the land as their inheritance, he made it clear that it was actually a stewardship: “The land is mine and you are but aliens and my tenants” (Lev 25:23). One reason for this was the sinful human tendency to disconnect the gift from the giver (Deut 6:10–12). W. Brueggemann pointed out that “the land, source of life, has within it seductive power. It invites Israel to enter life apart from covenant.… Israel does not have many resources with which to resist the temptation. The chief one is memory.” So if they should be tempted pridefully to say, “My power and the strength of my hands have produced this wealth for me,” they were to remember that it was Yahweh their God “who gives you the ability to produce wealth, and so confirms his covenant, which he swore to your forefathers, as it is today” (Deut 8:17–18). How they regarded and treated the land would demonstrate whether they acknowledged his lordship over them, their dependence on him, and their gratitude toward him. This acknowledgment was to be expressed in Israel’s festivals, especially Firstfruits, Weeks, and Tabernacles (Lev 23:9–22, 33–43), in the weekly Sabbath observance of rest (Exod 20:8–11; Deut 5:12–15), in the observance of a Sabbath year (Exod 23:10–11; Lev 25:1–7, 18–22) and of the year of Jubilee (Lev 25:8–17, 23–55), and in their sacrifices and offerings, especially the consecration of the firstborn (Exod 13:11–16; 34:19–20; Num 18:15–17), and in the tithe. These were not only acknowledgments, however, but also reminders that God had been faithful to his promises. Moses told Israel, “Eat the tithe of your grain, new wine and oil, and the firstborn of your herds and flocks in the presence of the LORD your God at the place he will choose as a dwelling for his Name, so that you may learn to revere the LORD your God always” (Deut 14:23). We should understand God’s material blessings as intended to glorify him and to enrich not individuals but the entirety of God’s people.