Small tidbits and Sparks of wisdom

Testing Gd by Giving Away
Main source: Malachi 3:9–10
Verse 9
“You are cursed with a curse, yet you [continue to] steal from Me — the entire nation.”
What the theft is (not metaphorical)
Rashi:
The theft is concrete: withholding ma‘aser and terumah owed to the Kohanim and Levites.
Result: a curse on human effort — work continues, output collapses.
Radak:
This curse is not isolated. It compounds earlier moral failures (blemished offerings, foreign marriages).
Refusing tithes adds weight to an already unstable structure.
Why “the entire nation” matters
Radak:
Earlier sins were committed by individuals or groups.
Withholding tithes was universal — systemic failure triggers systemic punishment.
Halachic fallout (Avodah Zarah 36b):
A rabbinic enactment binds only when the community accepts it.
Here, the whole nation rejected the obligation — hence the collective curse.
Economic result
Radak / Metzudos:
Rain withholds. Land produces poorly.
Same labor, worse outcome. Effort is no longer proportional to reward.
Verse 10
“Bring all the tithes into the storehouse… Test Me with this… if I do not open for you the windows of heaven and pour blessing without end.”
This verse is the reversal clause.
“Bring all the tithes”
Metzudos / Radak:
Because everyone failed, everyone must now comply fully.
Centralized storehouse ensures continuous support for Kohanim and Levites.
Abarbanel:
Not grudging compliance — wholehearted giving is the condition.
“Test Me” — the exception
Taanis 9a (explicitly cited):
Testing God is normally forbidden (Deut. 6:16).
Tithes are the sole exception.
Sefer HaChinuch (Mitzvah 424):
The verse itself invites the test — not faith-blindness, but measurable outcome.
This is not spiritual language.
It is cause-and-effect.
“Blessing without end” (עַד־בְּלִי־דָי)
Radak / Metzudos:
Yield exceeds storage capacity. Logistics fail before blessing does.
Taanis 9a (Rav):
“Bli” read as “wear out” — lips wear out from saying ‘enough’.
Malbim:
This blessing bypasses natural law.
Anything governed by nature has limits; this does not.
Legal authority of the promise
Makkos 23b:
The enactment “Bring all the tithes” was:
Initiated by an earthly beit din
Ratified by the heavenly beit din
Rivan:
Originated with King Hezekiah.
Malachi’s prophecy confirms divine endorsement.
Bottom Line (No Soft Language)
Verse 9 establishes financial collapse as punishment, not misfortune.
Verse 10 establishes measurable financial protection and expansion, not symbolism.
This is the only mitzvah with a written divine guarantee.
The Torah frames tithing as:
Ownership test
Trust verification
Trigger for supernatural abundance
Failure breaks the system.
Compliance reopens it.

Bottom Line (with Minchat Chinuch 424 added)
Verse 9 establishes financial collapse as punishment, not misfortune. Verse 10 establishes measurable financial protection and expansion, not symbolism. This is the only mitzvah in the Torah with a written divine guarantee, and it is not framed as a miracle but as a predictable outcome of proper alignment.
The Minchat Chinuch (מצוה תכ״ד) makes this explicit: the command to “test Me” here is not a forbidden test of God, because it is not a demand for a sign or miracle, but a lawful expectation that one who fulfills the mitzvah will be blessed through natural channels:
שֶׁמִּצְוָה זוֹ לֹא נִתְּנָה לְנַסּוֹת בָּהּ אֶת הַנָּבִיא… וְעִנְיַן הַנִּסָּיוֹן כָּאן אֵינוֹ בְּמַעֲשֵׂה מוֹפֵת וְנֵס כְּלָל, רַק אָדָם מִצְוָה עָשֵׂה שֶׁיִּתְבָּרֵךְ…
In other words: this is not faith theater. It is cause and effect built into creation itself. One who gives ma‘aser is not gambling on heaven; he is demonstrating trusteeship, and once that is proven, the system responds. The Torah therefore treats tithing as an ownership test, a trust verification, and a trigger for protection and increase — not because God is persuaded, but because the person has aligned himself with the way blessing is designed to flow.

Full language of the Chinuch 424:

שֶׁמִּצְוָה זוֹ לֹא נִתְּנָה לְנַסּוֹת יוֹתֵר מִדַּי אֶת הַנָּבִיא
וְעַיֵּן נֶאֱמַר לֹא תְנַסּוּ אֶת ה׳ וְכוּ׳. מְבֹאָר בָּרַמְבַּ״ם בְּסוֹף פּ״ו
מֵהִלְכוֹת יְסוֹדֵי הַתּוֹרָה וְעַיֵּן בַּכֶּסֶף מִשְׁנֶה שֶׁכָּתַב דְּאַחֲרֵי זֶה
שְׁנֵי חִלּוּקִים בֵּין הָרַמְבַּ״ם וְהַסְּמַ״ג דְּרַ״ם חָשַׁב לְלָאו נִסָּיוֹן הַנָּבִיא
וְהַסְּמַ״ג כָּתַב דְּאַחֲרֵי זֶה שֶׁלֹּא יַעֲשֶׂה אָדָם מִצְוָה עַל מְנָת שֶׁיִּתְבָּרֵךְ
וְהָרַב הַמְחַבֵּר כָּל שָׁנִים בְּאַחֲרֵי זֶה. וְהָרַמְבַּ״ם אֵינוֹ מֵבִיא זֶה
כְּבַמִּשְׁנֶה תּוֹרָה. וְעַיֵּן בַּסֵּפֶר יְד יְהוּדָה סי׳ רמ״א מְבוֹאָר דְּבַכָּאן
צְדָקָה מוּתָּר לְנַסּוֹת. וְעַיֵּן בָּרַמָ״א בְּסִי׳ תּנ״ז בְּסִי׳ י״ז.

Another view from a different source.

No man is ever impoverished from giving alms, nor is evil or harm ever caused by it; as it is written, “And the work of righteousness shall be peace.”⁴Isaiah 32:17. A play on the word Tsedakah meaning “righteousness” and also “charity.”

רמזו [ז] ואמרו חכמים בכל דבר אסור לנסות וכו׳. כתב בית יוסף ועיין
מתוך פסקי תקנות למעשר וקבל על עצמו לכך ע״כ. והוא מטעם
שכתב הרמ״א שהבחינה בפרנסה ולענין הכסף דומה לנסות הקב״ה
ח״ו. ולפ״ז יש לחלק בין מעשר כספים למעשר מן התבואה, דבמעשר
התבואה הוי מעשר מפורש בתורה, ולכן הותר לנסות, וכן במעשר
כספים יש לדון או חומש הוי דין מעשר כמעשר תבואה ורקבון
ושניהם ניתנו ממקור אחד, ולכך הוי מעשר כספים בכלל מעשר
התבואה. וכתב הדרישה בסעיף קטן ג׳ בשם האחרונים דמעשר
כספים מן הרווחים הוי בכלל מעשר, דהכל יוצא ממקור אחד.
ואף דיש חולקים בזה, מ״מ רוב האחרונים מסכימים דמעשר
כספים ומעשר תבואה דין אחד להם, ומותר לנסות בזה.