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Malachi 3:10.
open your bible there.
open your bible at Malachi
lets read from the first verse to understand the reasoning there?
lets see what Malachi is telling us there.
first verse, lets go
who is that Lord?.
whom ye...
whom were the people of Israel seeking?
(student) Jesus!
No, forget Jesus!
were seeking...God!
continue reading!
whom ye seek, the messenger of the covenant
see there
we have to be carefull with: who are those "ye"?
these "ye" has two classificatios
it can be the rich or the poor
whom ye seek.
who is living the wrong way...generally...generally, depends of each person
don´t want to seek God.
he lives the wrong way
but who lives in rightness
will seek God a bit more
it´s an theological reasoning....let´s continue reading
(female student) of the covenant, whom ye delight in; behold, he shall come, saith the LORD of hosts.
behold, he shall come, saith the LORD of hosts.
what was coming?
the covenant!
if there was coming a covenant then it meas that something wasn´t right!
continue reading.
(female student) But who may abide the day of his coming? and who shall stand when he appeareth? for he {is} like a refiner's fire.
Stop!
what does the refiner´s fire symbolize here?
purification!... look at the way he is going to generate this covenant
the people were not living in rightness....the messenger of the covenant would come....to bring correction!
continue reading.
(female student) and like fullers' soap.
Stop! Fuller´s soap....the soap for cleaning.
he is going to use two things for his covenant.
fire and soap!
I wonder if things were bad?
go on!
(female student) And he shall sit {as} a refiner and purifier of silver.
Stop!...there it is!...And he shall sit {as} a refiner and purifier of silver! Continue.
(female student) and he shall purify the sons of Levi.
Stop! Who needed a "covenant" here? (students) the sons of Levi.
and who were the sons of levi? Who...who?...The priests.
Now for whom was the covenant?
For the priests. Now let´s see what the priests where doing? Continue reading.
and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer unto the LORD an offering in righteousness.
Stop!...THEN....the priests after beeing purified could bring offerings to the Lord!
To that point, God was not accepting any offering from no priest! Continue.
(female student) Then shall the offering of Judah and Jerusalem.
Stop! Whoms offering? (students) Judah.
The offerings of Judah had no effect!
Every tribe was bringing their tithing to the priests....but God was not accepting them!
Because the priests were not following the covenant!
Now we are going to see what was going wrong there. Continue!
(female student) Then shall the offering of Judah and Jerusalem be pleasant unto the LORD, as in the days of old, and as in former years. And I will come near to you to judgment; and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers.
what existed within the priests?
Magic! Many were practising magic.
Go on! , and against the adulterers.
Stop! What were the priests doing? (student) adulterating (cheating their wifes).
Adulterating! Continue. (female student) and against false swearers.
Stop! What were the priests doing? (students) swearing false! Continue! (female student) and against those that oppress the hireling in {his} wages,
Stop! What were they doing? (students) defrauding!
Let´s see whom they were defrauding...let´s see whom...
Whom were they defrauding?
Defrauding the hireling! Continue!
(female student) the widow,
oppressing (or defraud) the rights of the widows!
The widows had the right by the jewish law to get money from the temple of Jerusalem!
and the priests were letting the poor widows starve!
Continue reading!
and the fatherless (orphan), and the orphan, and that turn aside the stranger, and the stranger.
(female student) and fear not me, and don´t fear me. The priests lost the respect of God!
saith the LORD of hosts. For I am the LORD, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob.
Stop!
Sons of Israel is one thing...sons of Jacob is another!
When the bible uses the term "sons of Israel" the text is dealing with the nation of Israel.
When the bible says "sons of Jacob" it is dealing with the heads of the tribes.
Each tribe of Israel had it´s representative....and he was the one who brought the offerings to the high priest...the people did not bring the offerings to the high priest by themselfs.
Let´s see in what kind of things the sons of Jacob where involved! Go on.
(female student) therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed. Go on. Even from the days of your fathers ye are gone away from mine ordinances.
Who went away from the ordinances?
No no no, the priests! Go on.
(female student) and have not kept {them}. Return unto me, and I will return unto you, saith the LORD of hosts. But ye said
"You" whom....? The priests! Wherein shall we return? Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed me.
Yet ye have robbed me....who robbed? (male student) the thieves.
The priests were robbing!
But ye say, Wherein have we robbed thee?
Stop! Then the priests asked God....Wherein have we robbed thee? With the tithes and offerings. Continue! Ye {are} cursed with a cursee: for ye have robbed me, {even} this whole nation.
Stop!
the whole nation
Here you read "the whole nation", why? The sons of Jacob where the representatives of the tribes and they were being influenced by the priests.
In other words, the people didn´t know that, the people were giving their offerings
The people were offering....but the priests
(female student) bunch of thieves! Bunch of thieves.
where diverting money for themselfs! Continue.
(female student) Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse. Stop!
Does it say all the "tithe" in singular or all the "tithes" in plural?
Then there is more than one kind of tithe?
Then it´s more than one....if it is in the plural!
Tithes....in plural!
Everything the earth produced...
If animal...was it animal
if plants....plants
if vegetable.....vegetable.
That´s why it´s in plural! Continue!
(female student) 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,
Stop! What are the "windows of heaven" there?
Blessings? No! Look at the text!
No....rain!
because they depended from the agriculture
and there was drought!
the curse was that God was holding back the rain!
Ye {are} cursed with a cursee!
Then, "open the windows of heaven and pour you out"....a blessing, RIGHT
That there shall not be room enough to receive it. Continue!
And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes.
Stop! Who is the devourer here guys?
Many say that it has something to do with demons, but it has nothing to do with demons there....
devourer here....is the LOCUST, everything that destroys the plantations that is the devourer. Continue!
and he shall not destroy,
there!...."for not destroy" what? The fruits of your ground,
the fruits of your ground! Continue!
neither shall your vine
the vine from the field etc.
You see?
What am I telling you.....
read carefully the text!
Is the interpretation clear now?
Yeah but people starts to create a bunch of thing that are not written in there!
Then they say that it is about demons....and this and that....
Now pay attention and hold youself on your chair....
That´s what I said!
I will use the bible
and it will mess with culture of churches and more
First... was the tithing....
established (or instituted) ....
before....the temple...
or...after the temple?
the law of the tithing came before the temple or after the temple?
Did Abraham give the tithing? (Students) he gave!
Did the temple already exist? (Students) no!
Why did he give the tithing then?
It was normal to that time
The time of the Mesopotamian and Barbarians etc.
give the tithing form the war loot and their victories.
This was common for kings.
So was it common for Abraham
to give to the king
What king was it?
What was his name? (Male student) Melchizedek (Malki Tzedek)
Who was king of....? Salem.
This was something common
Melchizedek was king of Salem
He worshiped the same God as? Abraham.
If he was a king he had what?
No!
If he was a king he had a...?
Temple!
where he shared this tithing with the people of his kingdom!
That´s why Abraham gave the tithing to him!
Why didn´t Abraham keep the tithing for himself?
No, he gave the tithing
to the king!
Then the tithing come BEFORE the temple
But when the temple of Jerusalem came....
and the tribe of Levi did not obtaine any inheritance
territorial inheritance ....
like the other 12 tribes....
the priests
were maintained by the other tribes
they had to maintain the tribe of Levi
beside the priesthood
they had to maintain their wifes (from the sons of Levi)
the priests....
the priests sons
the whole family from the tribe of Levi
this ....while the temple existed!
But the priests realized that it is good to be in the temple
then they began to steal!
When they began to steal....
and got into practicing magic, prostitution etc
Then you will understand in the history....
why God allowed the destruction of the place where his representation stood.
The representation of God
that was the temple of Jerusalem!
What was inside the temple of Jerusalem?
the arc....
of the covenant! That symbolized God´s presence!
Then God... allowed that his temple was destroyed!
Why?
What began to exist?
Corruption....
sorcery....
prostitution
and the true meaning of the first temple
ended!
And when the temple was destroyed
the tithings ended.....
the offerings ended...
Then the priests had to work to maintain their families....
Then... what did the people do?
Let´s seek God again!
They went to the babylonian captivity....
Beeing in captivity,
they began to remember everything
Then God started using the prophets....
a "remaining" stayed in Jerusalem
At this point Jeremiah wrote his lamentations
The abomitations committed by the priests....
Untill the coming of Zerubbabel son of Salathiel and Joshua son of Jozadak
and God inspires their hearts to restart the rebuilding (of the temple)
before this, who came into the scene, who goes to the town (Jerusalem) and begins to mourn and cry? Jeremiah!
no, someone else.
who gets the letter from the king and went there
Neemiah
Neemiah sees the horrible stade
of the temple...
everything destroyed....
then God begins to move their hearts....
then Haggai came
the people didn´t want anymore and Haggai said:
Is it time for you, O ye, to dwell in your cieled houses, and this house lie waste?
And God starts to question....
then what happened?
the money began to appear
for the reconstruction of the temple!
That´s when Malachi comes....in that time!
Instead to take the money and rebuilt it....
what did they do?
Steal it!
Imagine... the scene
to those times!
A bunch of widows....
many orphans
their fathers dying, without someone to care for them....
they had the money....
the people investing....(what Haggai writes)
and Malachi informs that the priests were STEALING!
Until...
the time comes when the temple is reconstructed.
Jesus enters the temple and begins to expel a bunch of changers...
gets a whip and whips everyone out
and says, you made my father's house a den of thieves.
That´s why Jesus prophesies about the second destruction of the temple!
There shall not be left here one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down!
More valuable was the samaritan woman...
when she spoke with Jesus about the worshiping at the temple.
Jesus said....
Woman...
not in Jerusalem....
not even in Samaria you shall worship God
You have to worship God in spirit and in truth
Why?
Because unfortunately the temples corrupt people till these days!
Till these days!
That´s why the temple of Jerusalem....
will not be reconstructed!
because if they rebuild it
belive it....
the robbing will increase much more!
now...the tithing
the tithing....was destroyed.....
The temple was destroyed at 70 a.C.
by general Titus
After that year
no one gave any tithing!
What they do today?
Giving offerings
Voluntarily
AMEM? Are your questions answered?