8. If we tithe, we will be blessed; if we don’t, we will be under a curse. T /
Malachi 3 (verses 7-12) says this, doesn’t it? Actually it doesn’t – it says to the Old Covenant believers that if they didn’t bring tithes and offerings they were cursed. Here offerings doesn’t refer to voluntary, freewill offerings (like it means today) – it means additional offerings for sacrifices which were compulsory.
Do we really want to apply Malachi 3 to ourselves today? Under the Old Covenant Law, tithing was most likely more than 10%. Many people believe there were two (or more) tithes – the ‘Levitical tithe” (from Q1 above) and the ‘Festival/Charity tithe(s) (from Q2 above). This would make the total amount of tithes required (from farmers) range from 20%–30% per annum, not counting the compulsory offerings. (This means the amount that the Old Testament Israelites had to pay was pretty similar to our own levels of taxation in the West today.) That means for the Israelites to have avoided a curse on the land, all the farmers needed to be regularly giving 20-30% or more of their produce, not just 10%!
But I have good news for you! Christ took that curse for us (Gal 3:13-14). We are already blessed! Jesus has already opened the windows of heaven for us, 2,000 years ago (Eph 1:3)! Now we are blessed not because of our giving – but according to His riches in glory that we freely have access to now! (Phil 4:19) The Biblical order is not freely give, then you can freely receive. It is – freely you have received, so freely give (Matt 10:8). We don’t need to be worried we will be cursed if we don’t give, nor do we need to make sure we keep giving in order for God to keep on providing for us or protecting us.