GOD SAID HE DOES NOT WANT PHYSICAL SACRIFICES AND OFFERINGS
Just in case we missed the scriptures about not following the customs of religious nations, God has made it clear elsewhere that he does not want physical sacrifices and offerings in the following scriptures. The statements to be considered are not always easy to identify, so special care must be taken when reading to identify them.

Psalms 40:6-8 Sacrifice and offering thou dost not desire; but thou hast given me an open ear. Burnt offering and sin offering thou hast not required. 7 Then I said, “Lo, I come; in the roll of the book it is written of me; 8 I delight to do thy will, O my God; thy law is within my heart.”

COMMENTARY:There is no room for doubt in this scripture that God does not want literal sacrifices and offerings. And it is just as clear that obedience to God’s spiritual laws is what God really wants.

What is not so clear, however, is that what God wants is obedience to the law written on the heart — not to the terms of the literal law. The law written on the heart is a reference to the New Covenant. This is the spiritual meaning of the law. This differs greatly, of course, from the Law of Moses which is a vast collection of rules and regulations that must be observed through fleshly, physical activities that includes sacrifices and offerings, while obedience to the spirit of the law is a matter of the heart.

People who continue to offer material sacrifices and offerings (e.g. money, worship, etc.) are convinced that it is in their heart to do so. The truth is, however, that they do it because it is expected of them by the religious authorities of the religious institutions they attend.

There is an unwritten law in those institutions that says if you attend there and take advantage of the religious services provided there you should contribute something for the support of the institutions and religious leaders who deliver those services to you. It is technically not a fee for service or a tax because people are free to pay as much as they want when they want. But this does not dismiss the fact that there is an expectation that people must pay for the support of the institution and its leaders.

This expectation is the equivalent of an external law that commands making sacrifices and offerings. God does not want such offerings because the command originates from the religious institution — not with God. Passing the collection plate creates a not too subtle obligation to put something in it. In God’s view, that is a law that does not originate from him.

AUTHORS’ NOTE: Even people who have not studied much of Old/First Covenant scripture know that God has given clear directions about various types of sacrifices and offerings. With that knowledge in mind, Psalm 40:6-8 appears to contradict what God about bringing sacrifices and offerings to him. Knowing, however, that God does not change his mind, we should conclude that the problem is in our understanding and not with God. To gain a right interpretation of the scripture, therefore, we first need to understand that God uses symbolism and mystery to communicate his truth to us.

Psalms 50:8-23 I do not reprove you for your sacrifices; your burnt offerings are continually before me. 9 I will accept no bull from your house, nor he-goat from your folds. 10 For every beast of the forest is mine, the cattle on a thousand hills. 11 I know all the birds of the air, and all that moves in the field is mine. 12 “If I were hungry, I would not tell you; for the world and all that is in it is mine. 13 Do I eat the flesh of bulls, or drink the blood of goats? 14 Offer to God a sacrifice of thanksgiving, and pay your vows to the Most High; 15 and call upon me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you shall glorify me.” 16 But to the wicked God says: “What right have you to recite my statutes, or take my covenant on your lips? 17 For you hate discipline, and you cast my words behind you. 18 If you see a thief, you are a friend of his; and you keep company with adulterers. 19 “You give your mouth free rein for evil, and your tongue frames deceit. 20 You sit and speak against your brother; you slander your own mother’s son. 21 These things you have done and I have been silent; you thought that I was one like yourself. But now I rebuke you, and lay the charge before you. 22 “Mark this, then, you who forget God, lest I rend, and there be none to deliver! 23 He who brings thanksgiving as his sacrifice honors me; to him who orders his way aright I will show the salvation of God!”

When we read these scriptures, they seem to contradict what he has said in the Law of Moses about performing physical sacrifices. But there is no contradictions in God who does not change his mind. The problem is in the many wrong ways that humans read and interpret scripture.

For example, it is hard for our natural minds to avoid thinking about literal blood sacrifices of animals and money and grain when reading about sacrifices, tithes and offerings in the Bible. Hard as it may be, however, the natural mind must be retrained to think in spiritual, not natural terms. We find the necessity for this in the following scriptures:

Psalm 51:10-19: Create in me a clean heart, O God, and put a new and right spirit within me. 11 Cast me not away from thy presence, and take not thy holy Spirit from me. 12 Restore to me the joy of thy salvation, and uphold me with a willing spirit. 13 Then I will teach transgressors thy ways, and sinners will return to thee. 14 Deliver me from blood-guiltiness, O God, thou God of my salvation, and my tongue will sing aloud of thy deliverance. 15 O Lord, open thou my lips, and my mouth shall show forth thy praise. 16 For thou hast no delight in sacrifice; were I to give a burnt offering, thou wouldst not be pleased. 17 The sacrifice acceptable to God is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise. 18 Do good to Zion in thy good pleasure; rebuild the walls of Jerusalem, 19 then wilt thou delight in right sacrifices, in burnt offerings and whole burnt offerings; then bulls will be offered on thy altar.

COMMENTARY: The first verse in this series of verses creates the context for all verses that follow. The juxtaposition of heart with new and right spirit clearly say that the focus of these verses is the New Covenant which calls for laws written on the heart and a new spirit.

Verses 14-15 seem to say that verbal praise is appropriate for New Covenant disciples. Verse 16, however,  clearly indicates that fleshly sacrifices of any kind are not acceptable to God. We conclude, therefore, that references to lips and mouth in verses 14-15 are symbolic — not literal. They are included in the category of material sacrifices and burnt offerings that are not pleasing to God in verse 16.

Verse 17 says clearly that the only sacrifice acceptable to God is spiritual. That means it is expressed in the heart — not with the mouth and tongue. What pleases God is hearts and spirits that are broken and contrite over participation in the sin of religion.

Right sacrifices and whole burnt offerings in verse 19 are symbolic references to spiritual sacrifices. The actual sacrifice is made when religious people let go of the life of religion and all of its various benefits. In Biblical terms, these benefits are unclean foods delivered by religion to Old/First Covenant religionists who depend on religion to feel good about themselves because of the validation they receive from their religious friends. They have been deceived by religion which teaches that religion is necessary to having a good relationship with God.

The altar in verse 19 is a spiritual altar of earth — not a physical altar because earth is a symbolic reference to people. An altar of earth, therefore, is a person who sacrifices his body of fleshly, religious activity to God. In other words, the religious person rejects religion as sin and chooses not to practice it anymore.

Psalms 95 O come, let us sing to the LORD; let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation! 2 Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving; let us make a joyful noise to him with songs of praise! 3 For the LORD is a great God, and a great King above all gods. 4 In his hand are the depths of the earth; the heights of the mountains are his also. 5 The sea is his, for he made it; for his hands formed the dry land. 6 O come, let us worship and bow down, let us kneel before the LORD, our Maker! 7 For he is our God, and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand. O that today you would hearken to his voice! 8 Harden not your hearts, as at Mer’ibah, as on the day at Massah in the wilderness, 9 when your fathers tested me, and put me to the proof, though they had seen my work. 10 For forty years I loathed that generation and said, “They are a people who err in heart, and they do not regard my ways.” 11 Therefore I swore in my anger that they should not enter my rest.

Proverbs 21:1-8 1 The king’s heart is a stream of water in the hand of the LORD; he turns it wherever he will. 2 Every way of a man is right in his own eyes, but the LORD weighs the heart. 3 To do righteousness and justice is more acceptable to the LORD than sacrifice. 4 Haughty eyes and a proud heart, the lamp of the wicked, are sin. 5 The plans of the diligent lead surely to abundance, but every one who is hasty comes only to want. 6 The getting of treasures by a lying tongue is a fleeting vapor and a snare of death. 7 The violence of the wicked will sweep them away, because they refuse to do what is just. 8 The way of the guilty is crooked, but the conduct of the pure is right

Proverbs 15:8 8 The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the LORD, but the prayer of the upright is his delight.

Joshua 7:1-12 1 But the people of Israel broke faith in regard to the devoted things; for Achan the son of Carmi, son of Zabdi, son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, took some of the devoted things; and the anger of the LORD burned against the people of Israel. 2 Joshua sent men from Jericho to Ai, which is near Beth-a’ven, east of Bethel, and said to them, “Go up and spy out the land.” And the men went up and spied out Ai. 3 And they returned to Joshua, and said to him, “Let not all the people go up, but let about two or three thousand men go up and attack Ai; do not make the whole people toil up there, for they are but few.” 4 So about three thousand went up there from the people; and they fled before the men of Ai, 5 and the men of Ai killed about thirty-six men of them, and chased them before the gate as far as Sheb’arim, and slew them at the descent. And the hearts of the people melted, and became as water. 6 Then Joshua rent his clothes, and fell to the earth upon his face before the ark of the LORD until the evening, he and the elders of Israel; and they put dust upon their heads. 7 And Joshua said, “Alas, O Lord GOD, why hast thou brought this people over the Jordan at all, to give us into the hands of the Amorites, to destroy us? Would that we had been content to dwell beyond the Jordan! 8 O Lord, what can I say, when Israel has turned their backs before their enemies! 9 For the Canaanites and all the inhabitants of the land will hear of it, and will surround us, and cut off our name from the earth; and what wilt thou do for thy great name?” 10 The LORD said to Joshua, “Arise, why have you thus fallen upon your face? 11 Israel has sinned; they have transgressed my covenant which I commanded them; they have taken some of the devoted things; they have stolen, and lied, and put them among their own stuff. 12 Therefore the people of Israel cannot stand before their enemies; they turn their backs before their enemies, because they have become a thing for destruction. I will be with you no more, unless you destroy the devoted things from among you.

COMMENTARY: Serving God is symbolically equated with war. We first saw this with Abraham, then with Moses and now with Joshua. When Abraham was successful in war, the spoils of war were people and his kinsmen. Immediately after the war, Abraham gave the tithe to Melchizadek, king of Salem. Melchizadek is a type of God. Thus, in giving the tithe to Melchizadek, Abraham gave the people and the kinsmen he had rescued to God. He did not consider that the people were his to keep even though he had won them in battle. He refused to give up the people to the King of Sodom because keeping the people was the fulfillment of God’s promise to Adam that he would be the father of many nations.

1-Samuel 2:12-17 12 Now the sons of Eli were worthless men; they had no regard for the LORD. 13 The custom of the priests with the people was that when any man offered sacrifice, the priest’s servant would come, while the meat was boiling, with a three-pronged fork in his hand, 14 and he would thrust it into the pan, or kettle, or caldron, or pot; all that the fork brought up the priest would take for himself. So they did at Shiloh to all the Israelites who came there. 15 Moreover, before the fat was burned, the priest’s servant would come and say to the man who was sacrificing, “Give meat for the priest to roast; for he will not accept boiled meat from you, but raw.” 16 And if the man said to him, “Let them burn the fat first, and then take as much as you wish,” he would say, “No, you must give it now; and if not, I will take it by force.” 17 Thus the sin of the young men was very great in the sight of the LORD; for the men treated the offering of the LORD with contempt.

1 Samuel 3:1-14The boy Samuel ministered before the LORD under Eli. In those days the word of the LORD was rare; there were not many visions. 2 One night Eli, whose eyes were becoming so weak that he could barely see, was lying down in his usual place. 3 The lamp of God had not yet gone out, and Samuel was lying down in the temple of the LORD, where the ark of God was. 4 Then the LORD called Samuel. Samuel answered, “Here I am.” 5 And he ran to Eli and said, “Here I am; you called me.” But Eli said, “I did not call; go back and lie down.” So he went and lay down. 6 Again the LORD called, “Samuel!” And Samuel got up and went to Eli and said, “Here I am; you called me.” “My son,” Eli said, “I did not call; go back and lie down.” 7 Now Samuel did not yet know the LORD: The word of the LORD had not yet been revealed to him. 8 The LORD called Samuel a third time, and Samuel got up and went to Eli and said, “Here I am; you called me.” Then Eli realized that the LORD was calling the boy. 9 So Eli told Samuel, “Go and lie down, and if he calls you, say, ‘Speak, LORD, for your servant is listening.’ ” So Samuel went and lay down in his place. 10 The LORD came and stood there, calling as at the other times, “Samuel! Samuel!” Then Samuel said, “Speak, for your servant is listening.” 11 And the LORD said to Samuel: “See, I am about to do something in Israel that will make the ears of everyone who hears of it tingle. 12 At that time I will carry out against Eli everything I spoke against his family–from beginning to end. 13 For I told him that I would judge his family forever because of the sin he knew about; his sons made themselves contemptible, and he failed to restrain them. 14 Therefore, I swore to the house of Eli, ‘The guilt of Eli’s house will never be atoned for by sacrifice or offering.'”

1-Samuel 15:17-27 And Samuel said, “Though you are little in your own eyes, are you not the head of the tribes of Israel? The LORD anointed you king over Israel. 18 And the LORD sent you on a mission, and said, ‘Go, utterly destroy the sinners, the Amal’ekites, and fight against them until they are consumed.’ 19 Why then did you not obey the voice of the LORD? Why did you swoop on the spoil, and do what was evil in the sight of the LORD?” 20 And Saul said to Samuel, “I have obeyed the voice of the LORD, I have gone on the mission on which the LORD sent me, I have brought Agag the king of Am’alek, and I have utterly destroyed the Amal’ekites. 21 But the people took of the spoil, sheep and oxen, the best of the things devoted to destruction, to sacrifice to the LORD your God in Gilgal.” 22 And Samuel said, “Has the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams. 23 For rebellion is as the sin of divination, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the LORD, he has also rejected you from being king.” 24 And Saul said to Samuel, “I have sinned; for I have transgressed the commandment of the LORD and your words, because I feared the people and obeyed their voice. 25 Now therefore, I pray, pardon my sin, and return with me, that I may worship the LORD.” 26 And Samuel said to Saul, “I will not return with you; for you have rejected the word of the LORD, and the LORD has rejected you from being king over Israel.” 27 As Samuel turned to go away, Saul laid hold upon the skirt of his robe, and it tore.

COMMENTARY:

Jeremiah 6:9-21 9 Thus says the LORD of hosts: “Glean thoroughly as a vine the remnant of Israel; like a grape-gatherer pass your hand again over its branches.” 10 To whom shall I speak and give warning, that they may hear? Behold, their ears are closed, they cannot listen; behold, the word of the LORD is to them an object of scorn, they take no pleasure in it. 11 Therefore I am full of the wrath of the LORD; I am weary of holding it in. “Pour it out upon the children in the street, and upon the gatherings of young men, also; both husband and wife shall be taken, the old folk and the very aged. 12 Their houses shall be turned over to others, their fields and wives together; for I will stretch out my hand against the inhabitants of the land,” says the LORD. 13 “For from the least to the greatest of them, every one is greedy for unjust gain; and from prophet to priest, every one deals falsely. 14 They have healed the wound of my people lightly, saying, ‘Peace, peace,’ when there is no peace. 15 Were they ashamed when they committed abomination? No, they were not at all ashamed; they did not know how to blush. Therefore they shall fall among those who fall; at the time that I punish them, they shall be overthrown,” says the LORD. 16 Thus says the LORD: “Stand by the roads, and look, and ask for the ancient paths, where the good way is; and walk in it, and find rest for your souls. But they said, ‘We will not walk in it.’ 17 I set watchmen over you, saying, ‘Give heed to the sound of the trumpet!’ But they said, ‘We will not give heed.’ 18 Therefore hear, O nations, and know, O congregation, what will happen to them. 19 Hear, O earth; behold, I am bringing evil upon this people, the fruit of their devices, because they have not given heed to my words; and as for my law, they have rejected it. 20 To what purpose does frankincense come to me from Sheba, or sweet cane from a distant land? Your burnt offerings are not acceptable, nor your sacrifices pleasing to me. 21 Therefore thus says the LORD: ‘Behold, I will lay before this people stumbling blocks against which they shall stumble; fathers and sons together, neighbor and friend shall perish.'”

Jeremiah 14:7-17 7 “Though our iniquities testify against us, act, O LORD, for thy name’s sake; for our backslidings are many, we have sinned against thee. 8 O thou hope of Israel, its savior in time of trouble, why shouldst thou be like a stranger in the land, like a wayfarer who turns aside to tarry for a night? 9 Why shouldst thou be like a man confused, like a mighty man who cannot save? Yet thou, O LORD, art in the midst of us, and we are called by thy name; leave us not.” 10 Thus says the LORD concerning this people: “They have loved to wander thus, they have not restrained their feet; therefore the LORD does not accept them, now he will remember their iniquity and punish their sins.” 11 The LORD said to me: “Do not pray for the welfare of this people. 12 Though they fast, I will not hear their cry, and though they offer burnt offering and cereal offering, I will not accept them; but I will consume them by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence.” 13 Then I said: “Ah, Lord GOD, behold, the prophets say to them, ‘You shall not see the sword, nor shall you have famine, but I will give you assured peace in this place.'” 14 And the LORD said to me: “The prophets are prophesying lies in my name; I did not send them, nor did I command them or speak to them. They are prophesying to you a lying vision, worthless divination, and the deceit of their own minds. 15 Therefore thus says the LORD concerning the prophets who prophesy in my name although I did not send them, and who say, ‘Sword and famine shall not come on this land’: By sword and famine those prophets shall be consumed. 16 And the people to whom they prophesy shall be cast out in the streets of Jerusalem, victims of famine and sword, with none to bury them–them, their wives, their sons, and their daughters. For I will pour out their wickedness upon them. 17 “You shall say to them this word: ‘Let my eyes run down with tears night and day, and let them not cease, for the virgin daughter of my people is smitten with a great wound, with a very grievous blow.

Amos 4:1-9 1 “Hear this word, you cows of Bashan, who are in the mountain of Sama’ria, who oppress the poor, who crush the needy, who say to their husbands, ‘Bring, that we may drink!’ 2 The Lord GOD has sworn by his holiness that, behold, the days are coming upon you, when they shall take you away with hooks, even the last of you with fishhooks. 3 And you shall go out through the breaches, every one straight before her; and you shall be cast forth into Harmon,” says the LORD. 4 “Come to Bethel, and transgress; to Gilgal, and multiply transgression; bring your sacrifices every morning, your tithes every three days; 5 offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving of that which is leavened, and proclaim freewill offerings, publish them; for so you love to do, O people of Israel!” says the Lord GOD. 6 “I gave you cleanness of teeth in all your cities, and lack of bread in all your places, yet you did not return to me,” says the LORD. 7 “And I also withheld the rain from you when there were yet three months to the harvest; I would send rain upon one city, and send no rain upon another city; one field would be rained upon, and the field on which it did not rain withered; 8 so two or three cities wandered to one city to drink water, and were not satisfied; yet you did not return to me,” says the LORD. 9 “I smote you with blight and mildew; I laid waste your gardens and your vineyards; your fig trees and your olive trees the locust devoured; yet you did not return to me,” says the LORD.

Amos 5:12-27 12 For I know how many are your transgressions, and how great are your sins–you who afflict the righteous, who take a bribe, and turn aside the needy in the gate. 13 Therefore he who is prudent will keep silent in such a time; for it is an evil time. 14 Seek good, and not evil, that you may live; and so the LORD, the God of hosts, will be with you, as you have said. 15 Hate evil, and love good, and establish justice in the gate; it may be that the LORD, the God of hosts, will be gracious to the remnant of Joseph. 16 Therefore thus says the LORD, the God of hosts, the Lord: “In all the squares there shall be wailing; and in all the streets they shall say, ‘Alas! alas!’ They shall call the farmers to mourning and to wailing those who are skilled in lamentation, 17 and in all vineyards there shall be wailing, for I will pass through the midst of you,” says the LORD. 18 Woe to you who desire the day of the LORD! Why would you have the day of the LORD? It is darkness, and not light; 19 as if a man fled from a lion, and a bear met him; or went into the house and leaned with his hand against the wall, and a serpent bit him. 20 Is not the day of the LORD darkness, and not light, and gloom with no brightness in it? 21 “I hate, I despise your feasts, and I take no delight in your solemn assemblies. 22 Even though you offer me your burnt offerings and cereal offerings, I will not accept them, and the peace offerings of your fatted beasts I will not look upon. 23 Take away from me the noise of your songs; to the melody of your harps I will not listen. 24 But let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream. 25 “Did you bring to me sacrifices and offerings the forty years in the wilderness, O house of Israel? 26 You shall take up Sakkuth your king, and Kaiwan your star-god, your images, which you made for yourselves; 27 therefore I will take you into exile beyond Damascus,” says the LORD, whose name is the God of hosts.

Hosea 6:1-10 1 “Come, let us return to the LORD; for he has torn, that he may heal us; he has stricken, and he will bind us up. 2 After two days he will revive us; on the third day he will raise us up, that we may live before him. 3 Let us know, let us press on to know the LORD; his going forth is sure as the dawn; he will come to us as the showers, as the spring rains that water the earth.” 4 What shall I do with you, O E’phraim? What shall I do with you, O Judah? Your love is like a morning cloud, like the dew that goes early away. 5 Therefore I have hewn them by the prophets, I have slain them by the words of my mouth, and my judgment goes forth as the light. 6 For I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice, the knowledge of God, rather than burnt offerings. 7 But at Adam they transgressed the covenant; there they dealt faithlessly with me. 8 Gilead is a city of evildoers, tracked with blood. 9 As robbers lie in wait for a man, so the priests are banded together; they murder on the way to Shechem, yea, they commit villainy. 10 In the house of Israel I have seen a horrible thing; E’phraim’s harlotry is there, Israel is defiled.

Micah 6:1-8 1 Hear what the LORD says: Arise, plead your case before the mountains, and let the hills hear your voice. 2 Hear, you mountains, the controversy of the LORD, and you enduring foundations of the earth; for the LORD has a controversy with his people, and he will contend with Israel. 3 “O my people, what have I done to you? In what have I wearied you? Answer me! 4 For I brought you up from the land of Egypt, and redeemed you from the house of bondage; and I sent before you Moses, Aaron, and Miriam. 5 O my people, remember what Balak king of Moab devised, and what Balaam the son of Be’or answered him, and what happened from Shittim to Gilgal, that you may know the saving acts of the LORD.”

COMMENTARY: The controversy is about the kinds of offerings that people bring to God. He only wanted them to bring spiritual offerings that should not have been difficult for them.

God reminds them of Israel’s experience with Balaam as reported in Numbers 22-25. In that story, Balaam taught Balak how to entice Israel to worship with physical offerings. Israel did learn to worship that way and suffered a plague for doing so. The broad lesson in this story is that God does not accept any kind of physical offering or worship. It also makes the point about not following the customs of other religions.

6 “With what shall I come before the LORD, and bow myself before God on high? Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old? 7 Will the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams, with ten thousands of rivers of oil? Shall I give my first-born for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?”

COMMENTARY: God is using burnt offerings of animals, oil and first-born children as examples of physical sacrifices and offerings that are not acceptable to him. We conclude from this that he does not accept any kind of physical offering.

8 He has showed you, O man, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?

COMMENTARY: Justice, kindness and humility are spiritual offerings that cannot be seen, touched, packaged or manipulated in any way. They are the stuff of Pure Religion.

See Religion is Injustice, Slavery, Oppression and Affliction for what it means to do justice. See Pride, Arrogance, Boasting, Power and Humility for more about humility.

In God’s way of thinking, physical offerings of any kind are blemished, polluted offerings that are the substance of Defiled Religion. They are the stuff of flesh — not of the spirit.

Malachi 1:6-14 “A son honors his father, and a servant his master. If then I am a father, where is my honor? And if I am a master, where is my fear? says the LORD of hosts to you, O priests, who despise my name. You say, ‘How have we despised thy name?’ 7 By offering polluted food upon my altar.

COMMENTARY: God is dishonored when his people offer religious sacrifices to him instead of spiritual sacrifices. Only the whole tithe is acceptable food for God. Therefore, disobedience in the form of material sacrifices and offerings are equated with polluted, indigestible food.

And you say, ‘How have we polluted it?’ By thinking that the LORD’s table may be despised. 8 When you offer blind animals in sacrifice, is that no evil? And when you offer those that are lame or sick, is that no evil? Present that to your governor; will he be pleased with you or show you favor? says the LORD of hosts. 9 And now entreat the favor of God, that he may be gracious to us. With such a gift from your hand, will he show favor to any of you? says the LORD of hosts.

COMMENTARY: Blind, sick and lame animals are symbolic references to Old/First Covenant religionists who do not know the difference between the Old/First Covenant and the New Covenant. And being ignorant of the fact that God wants spiritual tithes, offerings and sacrifices, they continue to offer only material tithes, offerings and sacrifices.

10 Oh, that there were one among you who would shut the doors, that you might not kindle fire upon my altar in vain! I have no pleasure in you, says the LORD of hosts, and I will not accept an offering from your hand.

COMMENTARY: The term “kindle a fire on my altar” is poetic language for making God angry. In this case, God is angry with the religious offerings and sacrifices Israel has made and will not accept them.

It is important to note that one of the prohibitions for the Sabbath is that God’s people should not kindle a fire in their dwellings. Jews who interpret this law literally, think that they have satisfied God by avoiding lighting fires or flipping a light switch. Thus, by making the flipping of light switches a religious law, they have kindled God’s anger.

11 For from the rising of the sun to its setting my name is great among the nations, and in every place incense is offered to my name, and a pure offering; for my name is great among the nations, says the LORD of hosts.

COMMENTARY: When the Bible refers to God’s name, or the name of anyone else, it is actually referring to character, not the literal name by which someone is known. Because natural places and objects cannot represent God’s spiritual character, it is a silly notion to believe that they are the places where God wants people to pray (i.e. offer incense) or make an physical/material offering.

For God, prayer and offerings are spiritual activities that originate in the spirit of New Covenant disciples and have no observable, physical expression. These are pure offerings because they are spiritual. They are what God elsewhere calls worship in spirit an truth.

For religious people, prayers and offerings are executed with physical bodies and material objects (e.g. money, etc.) in physical places (e.g. churches, synagogues, etc.). They are impure offerings because they involve the physical body, physical locations and material/physical offerings.

12 But you profane it when you say that the LORD’s table is polluted, and the food for it may be despised. 13 ‘What a weariness this is,’ you say, and you sniff at me, says the LORD of hosts. You bring what has been taken by violence or is lame or sick, and this you bring as your offering! Shall I accept that from your hand? says the LORD.

COMMENTARY: An offering taken by violence symbolically refers to religious offerings. In Bible times, it was a violent act to physically kill an animal. This symbolizes the death that occurs when religious leaders mislead their followers into believing that religious activity of any kind is acceptable to God. Similarly, lame or sick offerings are physical offerings that God does not accept.

Healthy offerings that God does accept are spiritual because they originate in the heart which only God knows.

14 Cursed be the cheat who has a male in his flock, and vows it, and yet sacrifices to the Lord what is blemished; for I am a great King, says the LORD of hosts, and my name is feared among the nations.

COMMENTARY: Blemished sacrifices are physical, material sacrifices of all kinds. An unblemished sacrifice is a spiritual sacrifice that is made in the heart of a New Covenant disciple who has repented for practicing the sin of religion.

Malachi 2:10-14: Have we not all one father? Has not one God created us? Why then are we faithless to one another, profaning the covenant of our fathers? 11 Judah has been faithless, and abomination has been committed in Israel and in Jerusalem; for Judah has profaned the sanctuary of the LORD, which he loves, and has married the daughter of a foreign god. 12 May the LORD cut off from the tents of Jacob, for the man who does this, any to witness or answer, or to bring an offering to the LORD of hosts! 13 And this again you do. You cover the LORD’s altar with tears, with weeping and groaning because he no longer regards the offering or accepts it with favor at your hand. 14 You ask, “Why does he not?” Because the LORD was witness to the covenant between you and the wife of your youth, to whom you have been faithless, though she is your companion and your wife by covenant.

COMMENTARY: God is not impressed by tears and emotions during worship because these are expressions of the flesh/body — not of the heart. What happens in the heart are matters of faith that cannot be seen by anyone except God.

Malachi 3 “Behold, I send my messenger to prepare the way before me, and the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple; the messenger of the covenant in whom you delight, behold, he is coming, says the LORD of hosts. 2 But who can endure the day of his coming, and who can stand when he appears? “For he is like a refiner’s fire and like fullers’ soap; 3 he will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and he will purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, till they present right offerings to the LORD. 4 Then the offering of Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasing to the LORD as in the days of old and as in former years.

COMMENTARY: The only offerings and worship that are pleasing to God are spiritual and inspired by faith which cannot be seen. These are the offerings that New Covenant disciples offer when they worship in spirit and truth.

5 “Then I will draw near to you for judgment; I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, against the adulterers, against those who swear falsely, against those who oppress the hireling in his wages, the widow and the orphan, against those who thrust aside the sojourner, and do not fear me, says the LORD of hosts. 6 “For I the LORD do not change; therefore you, O sons of Jacob, are not consumed.

COMMENTARY: The list of people who God will judge are symbolic terms for religious leaders.

7 From the days of your fathers you have turned aside from my statutes and have not kept them. Return to me, and I will return to you, says the LORD of hosts. But you say, ‘How shall we return?’

COMMENTARY: Israel had turned aside from keeping    God’s spiritual laws when it chose to observe religious laws based on the literal interpretations of the Law of Moses instead.

Christians interpret the statement “Return to me, and I will return to you” in terms of money — not in spiritual terms of repentance for practicing religion and returning to obedience to God’s spiritual laws.

8 Will man rob God? Yet you are robbing me. But you say, ‘How are we robbing thee?’ In your tithes and offerings.

COMMENTARY: The common interpretation of this is that failure to pay tithes and offerings to a religious institution from which someone receives religious services (e.g. teaching, sacraments, music, weddings, funerals, etc.) is the equivalent of robbing God. Religious leaders will shamelessly use this scripture to guilt people into increasing their tithes and offerings.

9 You are cursed with a curse, for you are robbing me; the whole nation of you. 10 Bring the full tithes into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house; and thereby put me to the test, says the LORD of hosts, if I will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you an overflowing blessing.

COMMENTARY: The common interpretation of the storehouse is the religious building in which religious services are offered. The implication is that failure to pay a full ten-percent tithe is the equivalent of robbing and testing God.

This interpretation takes the concept of a spiritual storehouse for spiritual food and converts it to a physical building and institution. It is impossible to understand the concept of a spiritual storehouse for spiritual food without first understanding spiritual food that proceeds from the mouth of God.

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11 I will rebuke the devourer for you, so that it will not destroy the fruits of your soil; and your vine in the field shall not fail to bear, says the LORD of hosts. 12 Then all nations will call you blessed, for you will be a land of delight, says the LORD of hosts. 13 “Your words have been stout against me, says the LORD. Yet you say, ‘How have we spoken against thee?’ 14 You have said, ‘It is vain to serve God. What is the good of our keeping his charge or of walking as in mourning before the LORD of hosts? 15 Henceforth we deem the arrogant blessed; evildoers not only prosper but when they put God to the test they escape.'” 16 Then those who feared the LORD spoke with one another; the LORD heeded and heard them, and a book of remembrance was written before him of those who feared the LORD and thought on his name. 17″They shall be mine, says the LORD of hosts, my special possession on the day when I act, and I will spare them as a man spares his son who serves him. 18 Then once more you shall distinguish between the righteous and the wicked, between one who serves God and one who does not serve him.

COMMENTARY: This scripture is often quoted to justify the giving of tithes to churches and other religious organizations. The problem with using this scripture for this purpose is that verses 8-10 which mention tithes are unique in the larger context of Malachi 3 which is about judgment. The challenge, therefore, is to understand how failure to tithe fits into that judgment.

To help understanding, it is useful to first look at verse seven which talks first about turning aside (disobedience) from God’s statutes, and then about “returning” to God. To begin, it is important to know that the Hebrew word translated as “return” in English in the RSV is “shuwb” which essentially means to repent. With that fact in mind, it becomes easier to reject the traditional interpretation of this scripture (i.e. return money to God), and see that Malachi 3 is about judgment for disobedience to God’s spiritual laws and not about money or other religious laws.

God is making his point about obedience symbolically by saying that Israel’s failure to be faithful to its New Covenant responsibilities (i.e. his spiritual laws) is the equivalent of “robbing” God. Israel made an agreement (i.e. covenant) to obey God’s spiritual laws, and now it has reneged on its part of the deal. It has done its best to follow Old/First Covenant religious laws, but they are not acceptable to God. Therefore, this scripture is not about robbing God of money which should be returned to him, but it is about disobedience for which Israel must repent and return to obedience to God’s spiritual laws. The scripture is further explained by God’s return to Israel after turning away from them and punishing them which is what he does in the face of disobedience. This is fully consistent with what God said regarding his behaviors toward Israel if it is not faithful to obey his laws.

MORE COMMENTARY: While the above commentary establishes that Malachi 3 is not about tithing money, it does not clarify what the tithe really is. Looking back at Malachi 1, we see that God’s complaint is about blemished, polluted sacrifices made in obedience to religious, not spiritual, laws.

MORE COMMENTARY: It is instructive to review God’s warnings to Israel when Israel said it wanted a king. Among other warnings, God said a king would take a tenth of Israel’s seed and flocks. In other words, a king  will take their religious tithes.

Micah 6:9-16 9 The voice of the LORD cries to the city–and it is sound wisdom to fear thy name: “Hear, O tribe and assembly of the city! 10 Can I forget the treasures of wickedness in the house of the wicked, and the scant measure that is accursed? 11 Shall I acquit the man with wicked scales and with a bag of deceitful weights? 12 Your rich men are full of violence; your inhabitants speak lies, and their tongue is deceitful in their mouth. 13 Therefore I have begun to smite you, making you desolate because of your sins. 14 You shall eat, but not be satisfied, and there shall be hunger in your inward parts; you shall put away, but not save, and what you save I will give to the sword. 15 You shall sow, but not reap; you shall tread olives, but not anoint yourselves with oil; you shall tread grapes, but not drink wine. 16 For you have kept the statutes of Omri, and all the works of the house of Ahab; and you have walked in their counsels; that I may make you a desolation, and your inhabitants a hissing; so you shall bear the scorn of the peoples.”