The Bible draws our attention to yet another form of stealing. From the time of Abraham onwards, the Bible shows examples of how God's faithful servants formally acknowledged the one who ultimately owns everything - God. They faithfully gave Him a tithe. In the covenant God made with ancient Israel, a tenth of the people's increase was set aside to finance the priests' spiritual provision. Sadly, this practice never became very popular, probably because it required putting total faith in God.
Roughly a century later, a group of Jews returned to Jerusalem and rebuilt the city and the temple. But their loyalty to God soon began to weaken, as it had before their captivity. Through the prophet Malachi, God reprimanded them for ignoring the teaching of His laws (Malachi 2:7-9)
Meanwhile, he confronted those who kept His tithe for themselves. "Will a man rob God? Yet you have robbed Me! But you say, 'In what way have we robbed You? In tithes and offerings. You are cursed with a curse, for you have robbed Me, even this whole nation" (Malachi 3:8-9)
The leaders of the Jews at that time reversed the nation's obedience and put in place regulations to force everyone to comply with the law. Later Jesus condemned the misguided priorities of the Jewish religious leaders. He supported the Jew's continued observance of the physical aspects of the law and their faithful tithing. But he criticised their failure to recognise the spiritual virtues of justice, mercy, faith and love.
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