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Minor Prophets, Part 3: Persian Period and Restoration

  1. Lesson One
    Obadiah
    17 Activities
    |
    2 Assessments
  2. Lesson Two
    Haggai
    17 Activities
    |
    2 Assessments
  3. Lesson Three
    Zechariah
    20 Activities
    |
    2 Assessments
  4. Lesson Four
    Malachi
    18 Activities
    |
    2 Assessments
  5. Lesson Five
    OT Wrap-Up (Psalm 119)
    15 Activities
    |
    5 Assessments
  6. Course Wrap-Up
    Course Completion
    1 Activity
    |
    1 Assessment

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Will man rob God? Yet you are robbing me. But you say, “How have we robbed you?” In your tithes and contributions. You are cursed with a curse, for you are robbing me, the whole nation of you. Bring the full tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. 
Malachi 3:8-10 ESV

Israel’s inclination to cheat God goes well beyond offering sacrifices of blemished animals. The people were bringing in insufficient tithes, and what they did bring in was stolen and hoarded by the corrupt priestly course. This violated Moses’ command regarding tithes in the book of Numbers:

Moreover, you shall speak and say to the Levites, “When you take from the people of Israel the tithe that I have given you from them for your inheritance, then you shall present a contribution from it to the LORD, a tithe of the tithe.”
Numbers 18:26 ESV

In the days of Malachi, these tithes weren’t getting through. Israel was treating these covenantal gifts as one more part of a corrupt national economy—a form of taxation that was sidestepped and skimmed when convenient. The ritual system, established as a way for the people to honor God, became a sign of open disrespect.