Who Was Robbing God According to Malachi?

The man who was "robbing God" was a Priest who was under orders to bring 1/10 of the tithe into the storehouse and was failing to do so; NOT NEW TESTAMENT CHRISTIANS. New Testament Christians have NO instructions to bring any tithe into any storehouse. Malachi 3:10 is not a command or promise to Christians. It is a command to dishonest Priests under the Law of Moses (see; Malachi 4:4).

"And now, O ye priests, this commandment is for you." Malachi 2:1; this verse sets the stage for who is to bring 1/10 of the tithe to the storehouse, and who was failing to do so, and who the God robbers were. Also, Malachi 2:1 is a major key in understanding the Book of Malachi relative to tithing, it leads to another chapter in the Bible that explains who was stealing the tithe from the storehouse.

1/10th of the tithe was to be brought to the Temple Storehouse...

"And the priest the son of Aaron shall be with the Levites, when the Levites take tithes: and the Levites shall bring up the tithe of the tithes [1/10th] unto the house of our God, to the chambers, into the treasure house." - Nehemiah 10:38

Also, in Malachi 3:10, there is NO command to pay tithes to anyone...NONE AT ALL; there is, however, a clear command to convey, to deliverer, to transport, to BRING (NOT "PAY," "BRING") 1/10 of the tithe already in the possession of the Levite and the Supervising Priest descended from Aaron, which said tithe had already been taken from the tither. THE PAYING OF TITHES WAS NOT THE PROBLEM Malachi was addressing, bringing what belonged in the Temple Storehouse [1/10th of the tithe paid] was the problem Malachi writes about.

This 1/10th of the tithe was to be transported to the Storehouse in the Temple at Jerusalem. The remaining 9/10th of the collected tithe was to be brought to the Levitical cities and stored for the use of the Levites...

"And that we should bring the firstfruits of our dough, and our offerings, and the fruit of all manner of trees, of wine and of oil, unto the priests, to the chambers of the house of our God; and the tithes of our ground unto the Levites, that the same Levites might have the tithes in all the cities of our tillage." - Nehemiah 10:37, And, the next verse says clearly...

"And the priest the son of Aaron shall be with the Levites, when the Levites take tithes: and the Levites shall bring up the tithe of the tithes [1/10th] unto the house of our God, to the chambers, into the treasure house."

In other words; 1/10th of the tithe was to be brought to the Temple Storehouse, 9/10th of the tithe was to be brought to the Lavitical cites.

The word in Malachi 3:10 translated "Bring" is from the Hebrew word "Bo" and does NOT mean to pay, surrender, or give ANYTHING TO ANYONE; it has nothing to do with paying a tithe debt at all! It's precise meaning is to convey, to deliverer, to carry, to transport, to BRING something you have in your possession to the place where it belongs. "Bo" is a word of transportation, NOT a word meaning "paying a debt."

Hebrew: בּוא
Transliteration: bô'
Pronunciation: bo
Definition: A primitive root; to go or come (in a wide variety of applications): - {abide} {apply} {attain} X {be} {befall} + {besiege} bring ({forth} {in} {into} to {pass}) {call} {carry} X {certainly} ({cause} {let} thing for) to come ({against} {in} {out} {upon} to {pass}) {depart} X doubtless {again} + {eat} + {employ} (cause to) enter ({in} {into} {-tering} {-trance} {-try}) be {fallen} {fetch} + {follow} {get} {give} go ({down} {in} to {war}) {grant} + {have} X {indeed} {[in-]vade} {lead} lift {[up]} {mention} pull {in} {put} {resort} run ({down}) {send} {set} X (well) stricken [in {age]} X {surely} take ({in}) way.
KJV Usage: come (1,435x), bring (487x), ... in (233x), enter (125x), go (123x), carry (17x), ...down (23x), pass (13x), ...out (12x), misc (109x).
Occurs: 2579
In verses: 2307

Where do you see ANY MENTION of paying anything to anyone in the Hebrew word "Bo?" Malachi 3:10 could accurately be translated as this...

"Convey ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house..." or

"Transport ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house..." or
"Deliver ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house..." or 

"Send ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house..."

The King James translators (and most others) in Malachi 3:10 employ the English word "BRING"...not "PAY." "Bo" has nothing to do with a debt to be paid. The debt had already been paid by the tither, and Malachi understood that and was not concerned with the paying of tithes, but rather where a portion of the tithe was ending up. Malachi is NOT instructing anyone to pay a tithe.

The concept, the command in Malachi 3:10, in proper context, was to the Priests who had the tithe under their control (it had already been collected, already paid), and were NOT bringing 1/10th of it to the storehouse as they should have been.; hence the "God robbers" were the Priests referred to in Malachi 2:1 - "And now, O ye priests, this commandment is for you." Malachi 2:1 is NOT referring to New Testament Christians.

New Testament Christians have NO instructions in God's Word to bring, convey or send ANY tithes to any storehouse. To claim so is to take scripture, Malachi 3:10, completely out of context. Text taken out of context is a pre-text to deceptive text.

>> Ninety percent of the tithe was retained by the Tribe of Levi and stored in the Levitcal cities ("the cities of our tillage," Nehemiah 10:37), ten percent of the tithe (a tenth of the tithe) was to be conveyed to the Storehouse by the Priest (Malachi 2:1, Malachi 3:10, Nehemiah 10:38).

"All the tithes" mentioned in Malachi 3:10 referred to what belonged in the Temple Storehouse that the Priests were responsible to bring there called the "tithe of the tithe." (Nehemiah 10:37-39).

We know "all the tithes" DID NOT MEAN everything that was collected by the Levites because Nehemiah 10:37 CLEARLY states that other than the "tithe of the tithe" that was brought to the Storehouse in Jerusalem, the remaining ninety percent of the tithe went to the Levitical cities, or as stated in Nehemiah 10:37, brought to "all the cities of our tillage" ..."that the same Levites might have the tithes in all the cities of our tillage."

The "tithe of the tithe" was the portion that was being stolen by corrupt Priests and is what Malachi was rebuking them for, calling out their thievery, and calling them God robbers. (See Nehemiah chapter 13 for the full story of the thievery that was happening and what Nehemiah did about it.)

Nehemiah was in Jerusalem at the same time Malachi was; Nehemiah writes what was happening, the thievery of the 1/10th of the tithe by the Priests, who was involved, and what he did about it. Malachi, in support of and addition to Nehemiah's writings, writes the indictment against the corrupt Priests who were robbing God.

Remember, Malachi makes it clear that he is addressing the Priests of his day and telling them; "And now, O ye priests, this commandment is for you." - Malachi 2:1. What commandment, and why does Malachi focus in on the Priests and tell them to bring the tithe into the Storehouse?

Answer; it was THE PRIESTS and ONLY THE PRIESTS, who were commanded to bring the tithes that belonged in the Temple Storehouse at Jerusalem; i.e.; tithe of the tithe. They were being commanded to do so without stealing the tithe of the tithe. NO ONE except the Priests supervising the Levites brought any tithe into the Storehouse directly.

The non Levite tither did not do so, the non Levite tither surrendered their tithe to the Levites, and under the supervision of the Priests descended from Aaron, the Levites brought the "tithe of the tithe" (1/10th of the tithe) to the Storehouse in Jerusalem. (Nehemiah 10:37-39)

NO ONE ELSE besides the Levites supervised by a Priest descended from Aaron had any authority to bring any part of the tithe to the Temple storehouse. See Nehemiah 10:38.

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