Lesson 5: Robbing God

Scripture to Read: Malachi 3:715

From the future promise of Israel’s restoration, God again entered into judgment with His people. The question-and-answer style of Malachi is used in this section with devastating force, as God accused the people of robbing Him of what He deserved in terms of their tithes and offerings. This does not mean the people were stealing money from the Temple treasury—but they were committing the equally grievous offense of withholding what belonged to God. The question, “Will a man rob God?” is so startling that the people responded incredulously, whether they knew the answer or not. The answer came in no uncertain terms: the Israelites were guilty of failing to bring to the Temple the tithes, offerings, and levies prescribed in the Law of Moses.

The people should have known something was wrong when the pests continued to devour their crops. The Jewish sages identified these pests as the shearing and the finishing locusts, who together left nothing but barren fields. Yet instead of questioning themselves for the hardships they were experiencing, the people pointed the finger of blame at God and accused Him of failing to honor His promises. Thus they returned to the charge they had made at the end of chapter 2, that God was being either neglectful at best, or unfair at worst. But these “harsh things” said against God did nothing to exonerate the people or repair the damage they were doing to themselves by their faithless practices. But God reminded them that if they would be faithful to Him, they would see an outpouring of blessing they could not contain.

Study Questions

• According to verse 7, who had moved away in terms of the broken relationship between God and the people of Israel?
• How were the people robbing God?
• Why does the Lord say “test me in this” in verse 10?
• Why did the people of Judah see serving God as futile?

Something to Think About

Many times we do not understand God’s ways. But all we truly need to know is that God will be faithful to us if we are faithful to Him. Let us examine ourselves and see if we are “robbing God” in failing to return to Him a portion of that with which He has blessed us. The way to true blessing has never changed.