Malachi
the prophet recorded the words of “the LORD of hosts”
against the nation of Israel who were robbing Him in their tithes and
offerings. Although they acted as though they knew nothing of the
sort, the fact that they were “cursed with a curse”
verified that they did. The Lord instructed them to “bring all
the tithes into the storehouse” and “prove” Him as
to whether He would “open you the windows of heaven, and pour
you out a blessing, that there shall not be
room enough to receive it.” In
Malachi chapter three and verse eleven, the Lord adds to the blessing
that would be afforded them if they obeyed His command to tithe. We
read:
And I will rebuke the
devourer for your sakes, and he shall not destroy the fruits of your
ground; neither shall your vine cast her fruit before the time in the
field, says the LORD of hosts.
The
verse begins, “And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes,
and he shall not destroy the fruits of your ground;” The word
“and” indicates a continuance of the blessings promised
from the verse before, and the Lord promises “I will rebuke”
which means “to reprove or restrain as with a loud commanding voice
or to entreat with groans” “the devourer” which is “to
eat up, burn up or consume” “for your sakes” or “for
their benefit”. If we use our imaginations we can visualize the
Lord standing and rebuking the “devourer” with a loud
voice on behalf of the nation of Israel simply because they obeyed
Him and tithed.
The
verse goes on to say, “neither shall your vine cast her
fruit before the time in the field, says the LORD of hosts.” “The
LORD of hosts” adds “neither
shall your vine” which
literally means “twig” and refers to “a plant which has twigs
such as a cucumber vine” “cast her fruit”
or “to be bereaved, make childless, or miscarry” “before
the time in the field” which refers to “the full length of
time until the harvest of the field in which they are planted”. In
other words, the nation of Israel rather than having the fruit of
their fields drop off too early for harvesting would see that their
fruit would come to full term, and there would be an abundance of
food among them.
As we ponder these two
additional benefits to the nation of Israel tithing, we may wonder
why they would ever desire to attempt to “hide” their tithes from
the Lord at all. The Lord's promise is to withstand the “devourer”
and abundantly bless the fruit of their fields. When we apply this to
our lives we too should see the benefit of bringing all “tithes
into the storehouse”, and this same God who promised these
things to the nation of Israel will bring blessing in our lives as
well. May we be obedient unto Him, and may we see the benefits for
complying with His will with our tithes.
Next
time we see the reaction of surrounding nations to Israel because
they tithe,
so read ahead, and we shall join together then.
Until
tomorrow...there is more...
Look
for the daily devotional book “Equipped for Battle – From
Generation to Generation”, the marriage book “So, You Want to Be
Married”, and the new devotional “One Year in the Sermon on the
Mount” in all major bookstore sites, www.amazon.com ;
www.barnesandnobles.com ; download to e-books, and find it locally at
www.mrzlc.com/bookstore.
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