Tithing in the Book of Malachi not a matter of the Law?

When presented with the fact that God's commanded tithing was a product of the Law of Moses (or "the law"), many tithing teachers will insist that the Book of Malachi (Malachi 3:10 being their flagship scripture often used to argue for Christian tithing) is not instructing tithing under the law because, as they claim, strictly speaking Malachi is not one of the books of law, not a part of the Torah or the "Pentateuch."

"Pentateuch" refers to the first five books of the Bible. These books are Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. The word Pentateuch comes from two Greek words that mean "five books" or "five scrolls."

Given that Christians are not under the law, it becomes imperative that tithing teachers attempt to separate the Book of Malachi from the law or lose the Book of Malachi as a tool to convince their listeners to tithe to them.

To begin with, it must be understood that Christians under the New Testament are not under the law...

"For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace." - Romans 6:14

"But now we are delivered from the law, that being dead wherein we were held; that we should serve in newness of spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter." - Romans 7:6

"Forasmuch as we have heard, that certain which went out from us have troubled you with words, subverting your souls, saying, Ye must be circumcised, and keep the law: to whom we gave no such commandment:" - Acts 15:24

Here are a list of reasons why you cannot separate the Book of Malachi, and the commandment to tithe, from the law;


>> The following is a list of reasons (there are many others) why such a claim of Malachi not being scripture based on the Law of Moses is in error...


1. Because of the development of themes in the book of Malachi, most scholars assign it to a position after Haggai and Zechariah, close to the time when Ezra and Nehemiah came to Jerusalem in 445 BC. At that time the Nation of Israel, to whom Malachi addresses his writing to, were under the law. Malachi opens his document with...

"The burden of the word of the LORD to Israel by Malachi." - Malachi 1:1

Malachi was not directly addressing Gentiles or any other nation, as he was to Israel...

"He sheweth his word unto Jacob, his statutes and his judgments unto Israel. He hath not dealt so with any nation: and as for his judgments, they have not known them. Praise ye the Lord." - Psalm 147:19-20


2. In Malachi 1:7-8, Malachi addresses the issue that the Priests were offering "polluted bread upon mine altar," and "ye offer the blind for sacrifice, is it not evil? and if ye offer the lame and sick, is it not evil?" 

In Malachi 1:12, Malachi states "But ye have profaned it, in that ye say, The table of the LORD is polluted; and the fruit thereof, even his meat, is contemptible."

These issues were matters of a violation of the law that Malachi rebuked them for in Malachi 1:12...

"No meat offering, which ye shall bring unto the LORD, shall be made with leaven: for ye shall burn no leaven, nor any honey, in any offering of the LORD made by fire." - Leviticus 2:11

"And if there be any blemish therein, as if it be lame, or blind, or have any ill blemish, thou shalt not sacrifice it unto the LORD thy God." - Deuteronomy 15:21


3. In Malachi 2:1, Malachi focuses on a commandment to the Priests relative to tithing. These Priests were of the Tribe of Levi, and their Priesthood was established under the law, they functioned under the authority and commandments of the law, they took tithes under the authority and commandments of the law...

"And now, O ye priests, this commandment is for you." - Malachi 2:1

"And verily they that are of the sons of Levi, who receive the office of the priesthood, have a commandment to take tithes of the people according to the law, that is, of their brethren, though they come out of the loins of Abraham:" - Hebrews 7:5

"Therefore, if perfection were through the Levitical priesthood (for under it the people received the law), what further need was there that another priest should rise according to the order of Melchizedek, and not be called according to the order of Aaron?" - Hebrews 7:11

"And take thou unto thee Aaron thy brother, and his sons with him, from among the children of Israel, that he may minister unto me in the priest's office, even Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar, Aaron's sons." - Exodus 28:1


4. In Malachi 2:4, Malachi speaks of a commandment that is directly related to the covenant God has with the Levites. That law, or commandment, gave the Levites the sole authority to bring tithes (the tithe of the tithe) to the Temple storehouse...

"Thus speak unto the Levites, and say unto them, When ye take of the children of Israel the tithes which I have given you from them for your inheritance, then ye shall offer up an heave offering of it for the LORD, even a tenth part of the tithe. And this your heave offering shall be reckoned unto you, as though it were the corn of the threshingfloor, and as the fulness of the winepress. Thus ye also shall offer an heave offering unto the LORD of all your tithes, which ye receive of the children of Israel; and ye shall give thereof the LORD'S heave offering to Aaron the priest." - Numbers 18:26-28

Referring to the law in Numbers 18:26-28, Nehemiah gives this instruction to the Priests being addressed in Malachi 2:1...

"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 unto the house of our God, to the chambers, into the treasure house." - Nehemiah 10:38

5. In Malachi chapter three there are several verses that are taken directly from the law; "mine ordinances" in Malachi 3:7 are a direct reference to the law... 

From Malachi...

"Even from the days of your fathers ye are gone away from mine ordinances, and have not kept them. Return unto me, and I will return unto you, saith the LORD of hosts. But ye said, Wherein shall we return?" - Malachi 3:7

From the law...

"But if from thence thou shalt seek the LORD thy God, thou shalt find him, if thou seek him with all thy heart and with all thy soul. When thou art in tribulation, and all these things are come upon thee, even in the latter days, if thou turn to the LORD thy God, and shalt be obedient unto his voice; (For the LORD thy God is a merciful God;) he will not forsake thee, neither destroy thee, nor forget the covenant of thy fathers which he sware unto them." - Deuteronomy 4:29-31

"Remember, and forget not, how thou provokedst the LORD thy God to wrath in the wilderness: from the day that thou didst depart out of the land of Egypt, until ye came unto this place, ye have been rebellious against the LORD." Deuteronomy 9:7-21

"For when I shall have brought them into the land which I sware unto their fathers, that floweth with milk and honey; and they shall have eaten and filled themselves, and waxen fat; then will they turn unto other gods, and serve them, and provoke me, and break my covenant." - Deuteronomy 31:20

Moses speaking; "For I know thy rebellion, and thy stiff neck: behold, while I am yet alive with you this day, ye have been rebellious against the LORD; and how much more after my death?" - Deuteronomy 31:27-29

And, Malachi 3:10, the flagship scripture verse tithing teachers use to deceive and coerce people into tithing...

"Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the LORD of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it." - Malachi 3:10

...which is taken from the law...

"And, behold, I have given the children of Levi all the tenth in Israel for an inheritance, for their service which they serve, even the service of the tabernacle of the congregation." - Numbers 18:21

"But the tithes of the children of Israel, which they offer as an heave offering unto the LORD, I have given to the Levites to inherit: therefore I have said unto them, Among the children of Israel they shall have no inheritance." - Numbers 18:24

Also picked up by Nehemiah who was referring to the law, and elaborated on in Nehemiah chapter ten...

"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.

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 unto the house of our God, to the chambers, into the treasure house." - Nehemiah 10:37-38


6. In the fourth chapter of Malachi, we find Malachi 4:4, which makes what is perhaps the most concise and clear statement that the Book of Malachi is without a doubt based on the Law of Moses...

"Remember ye the law of Moses my servant, which I commanded unto him in Horeb for all Israel, with the statutes and judgments." - Malachi 4:4

Malachi was clearly writing to people, the Nation of Israel (Malachi 1:1), who were under the law, and bases his book on the law.


CONCLUSION; verse after verse, statement after statement from Malachi has their foundation in the law, indeed the entire Book of Malachi has it's foundation in the law.

To declare that Malachi was not based on the law (including Malachi 3:10) is an absurd and false claim, one that is ignoring solid scriptural proof that it was.

If Malachi was not based on the law, one might ask the tithing teacher; what then was it based on? Malachi 4:4 is as clear as it can be; the Book of Malachi was based on the Law of Moses, of which law we are not under as Christians and have NO commandant to tithe anything to anyone...

"Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified." - Galatians 2:16

"For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth." - Romans 10:4

"But before faith came, we were kept in custody under the law, being shut up to the faith which was later to be revealed," - Galatians. 3:23

"Therefore, my brethren, you also were made to die to the Law through the body of Christ, that you might be joined to another, to Him who was raised from the dead, that we might bear fruit for God," - Romans 7:4 


This is not to say that Christians are to be lawless as is claimed in a false doctrine called antinomianism (antinomianism comes from two Greek words, anti, meaning "against"; and nomos, meaning "law."). Rather, it means that we are free from the Mosaic Law which Malachi was based on, and instead we are under the law of Christ...


"Bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ." - Galatians 6:2...love God with all of our being and to love our neighbors as we love ourselves.

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