“Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, so that there may be food in My house, and test Me now in this,” says the Lord of hosts, “if I will not open for you the windows of heaven and pour out for you a blessing until it overflows” (Malachi 3:10).
The test was a simple one: “If each Israelite gave God what He asked for—ten per cent of their income for the work of the Levites, priests and temple services—He would bless everyone in Israel with more than they would ever need. If they did not, Israel would continue to suffer in want.”
When contemplating Malachi 3:10 I have wondered, all the while realising that it is a parable, if this verse might have been read at the funeral of “The Rich Fool” (of Luke 12). You could hear his sons speak of the heavenly abundance that God had bestowed upon their father. Blessings that he did not get to enjoy because his life was tragically cut short by death.
Like the “Rich man” of Jesus’ Parable of the “Rich man and Lazarus” (of Luke 16), we could hear our “Rich Fool” demanding Abraham to send someone back from the dead to warn his family also.
It would have been a sight to behold to see a messenger from Hade’s gate crash the funeral. The children would have been incredulous to hear the messenger warn that their dad’s tithe, although “opening for him the windows of heaven and pouring out for him a blessing until it overflowed,” was cancelled out by his selfish greed.
Those blessings that pour forth from heaven’s window must always be seen as reminders of He who sent them.
“So is the man who stores up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God” (Lk.12:21).
John Staiger
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