Malachi 3:8

Will a man rob God? among the many deviations from God's law (which they do not, because they will not, see) the prophet chargeth them with this kind of sacrilegious theft; they had detained his tithes, shortened him in that portion which he had reserved to himself and for his service, which is, as our version expresseth it, a robbing of God. And as the words lie in the original, they do, by arguing from the less to the greater, aggravate this sin; as they may be read, Will a man rob a great man, or, a judge ? for the word used will bear these notions. Or, Will a man rob the gods ? i.e. do not heathens abhor the foulness of such a fault, and fear the punishment of sacrilege, and therefore would not rob their idols? as another prophet asked once the question, Have any of the nations changed their gods, which yet are no gods? Jeremiah 2:11; so now, Have the nations robbed their gods? Yet ye have robbed me; but blush, ye shameless priests and Jews, you have robbed not a great man, but the great God; not judges, but the Judge of judges; not an idol, but the living God! How great is your crime! Wherein have we robbed thee? a question just like those Zechariah 1:7, Zechariah 2:17 3:7, which see. In tithes: the people robbed God not paying the full tenth, which God appointed should be paid to him. The priests robbed God in tithes, while they took too much, or it may be all, for their own particular and family use, and did not distribute them to all that by God's law had a right to a proportion of them. And offerings; either first-fruits, or other oblations and gifts, which were appointed to be brought to the temple for the service of God; in all which the people and priests had given him less than his due. Will a man rob God? among the many deviations from God's law (which they do not, because they will not, see) the prophet chargeth them with this kind of sacrilegious theft; they had detained his tithes, shortened him in that portion which he had reserved to himself and for his service, which is, as our version expresseth it, a robbing of God. And as the words lie in the original, they do, by arguing from the less to the greater, aggravate this sin; as they may be read, Will a man rob a great man, or, a judge ? for the word used will bear these notions. Or, Will a man rob the gods ? i.e. do not heathens abhor the foulness of such a fault, and fear the punishment of sacrilege, and therefore would not rob their idols? as another prophet asked once the question, Have any of the nations changed their gods, which yet are no gods? Jeremiah 2:11; so now, Have the nations robbed their gods? Yet ye have robbed me; but blush, ye shameless priests and Jews, you have robbed not a great man, but the great God; not judges, but the Judge of judges; not an idol, but the living God! How great is your crime! Wherein have we robbed thee? a question just like those Zechariah 1:7, Zechariah 2:17 3:7, which see. In tithes: the people robbed God not paying the full tenth, which God appointed should be paid to him. The priests robbed God in tithes, while they took too much, or it may be all, for their own particular and family use, and did not distribute them to all that by God's law had a right to a proportion of them. And offerings; either first-fruits, or other oblations and gifts, which were appointed to be brought to the temple for the service of God; in all which the people and priests had given him less than his due. Will a man rob God? among the many deviations from God's law (which they do not, because they will not, see) the prophet chargeth them with this kind of sacrilegious theft; they had detained his tithes, shortened him in that portion which he had reserved to himself and for his service, which is, as our version expresseth it, a robbing of God. And as the words lie in the original, they do, by arguing from the less to the greater, aggravate this sin; as they may be read, Will a man rob a great man, or, a judge ? for the word used will bear these notions. Or, Will a man rob the gods ? i.e. do not heathens abhor the foulness of such a fault, and fear the punishment of sacrilege, and therefore would not rob their idols? as another prophet asked once the question, Have any of the nations changed their gods, which yet are no gods? Jeremiah 2:11; so now, Have the nations robbed their gods? Yet ye have robbed me; but blush, ye shameless priests and Jews, you have robbed not a great man, but the great God; not judges, but the Judge of judges; not an idol, but the living God! How great is your crime! Wherein have we robbed thee? a question just like those Zechariah 1:7, Zechariah 2:17 3:7, which see. In tithes: the people robbed God not paying the full tenth, which God appointed should be paid to him. The priests robbed God in tithes, while they took too much, or it may be all, for their own particular and family use, and did not distribute them to all that by God's law had a right to a proportion of them. And offerings; either first-fruits, or other oblations and gifts, which were appointed to be brought to the temple for the service of God; in all which the people and priests had given him less than his due.