Malachi: A commandment and prophecy

Two scriptures in the book of Malachi are often cited when discussing the Spirit of Elijah (temple work/sealing ordinance) & the law of the tithe (paying 10% of one's increase to the Lord), but I don't recall ever hearing the two linked together. I think they may have more in common than we realize:

The commandment
Tithing

Malachi 3:10 Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it.

The prophecy
Spirit of Elijah

Malachi 4:5 ¶Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord:
4:6 And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse.

Connecting the two

So what does tithing have to do with families, or vice versa? I argue that the two are almost inseparably linked. If it wasn't for the law of tithing being faithfully practiced in the church, it would be nearly impossible for the great work of the temple to take place.

Okay, you say, sure, but the odds of Malachi linking the two intentionally is a reach. Well, hear me out because I think there is good evidence it was very much intentional.

Many Latter-day Saints would say that the work linking families across generations, carried out in temples, is the core tenet of our faith, so it is no surprise that Joseph Smith in his canonized history relates the prophecies of Malachi as given to him from his first meeting with an heavenly messenger:

Joseph Smith – History 1:36 After telling me these things, he commenced quoting the prophecies of the Old Testament.

[note that so far, the angel's remarks have been fairly limited. These are the first scriptures cited]

36 He first quoted part of the third chapter of Malachi;

[we don't know which part is quoted, but probably the first verse which describes a messenger preparing for the Second Coming of the Savior --- which Malachi follows by saying the Lord will come to his temple!]

36 and he quoted also the fourth or last chapter of the same prophecy, though with a little variation from the way it reads in our Bibles. Instead of quoting the first verse as it reads in our books, he quoted it thus:

37 For behold, the day cometh that shall burn as an oven, and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly shall burn as stubble; for they that come shall burn them, saith the Lord of Hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch.

38 And again, he quoted the fifth verse thus: Behold, I will reveal unto you the Priesthood, by the hand of Elijah the prophet, before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord.

39 He also quoted the next verse differently: And he shall plant in the hearts of the children the promises made to the fathers, and the hearts of the children shall turn to their fathers. If it were not so, the whole earth would be utterly wasted at his coming.

So the first scriptures quoted by the messenger in this ushering in of the new and last Gospel dispensation, are those directly citing the need for temples. Where does Malachi make the connection to tithing? I believe it is made in the verse preceding the tithing verse:

Malachi 3:7 ¶Even from the days of your fathers ye are gone away from mine ordinances, and have not kept them. Return unto me, and I will return unto you, saith the Lord of hosts. But ye said, Wherein shall we return?
8 ¶Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed me. But ye say, Wherein have we robbed thee? In tithes and offerings.

The Lord is saying how we can return to him, and he makes clear it is through ordinances. Tithing is not considered an ordinance. The Old and New Testaments speak of ordinances as different from laws or statutes. The way to return to the ordinances is through the law of tithing, for it is tithing that will provide the means to build a House of the Lord, a temple, wherein the work of Elijah can go forward and we can return to the Lord, so He can "return unto [us.]."

Changes to scriptures.lds.org

I haven't spent too much time on the new scriptures section on lds.org, but the few things I've found so far can enrich my study of the Gospel. And if used well, these study tools could even prove to be a blessing to me later in life.

First, the basics:

Chapter
When I clicked on a book of scripture in the old version, a page would appear showing chapter numbers with hyperlinks. The current version instead shows chapter summaries of each book, all on one page. Skimming for the right story/verse is now easier.

The old version didn't include any social media options. This version allows you to not only share the scripture by email but also on twitter, facebook, and even del.icio.us. Most everyone these days has a facebook account - fewer have twitter, and I think far fewer are familiar with del.icio.us, which acts as a social bookmarking service. For those who haven't utilized del.icio.us, they can not only create a new personalized bookmarking tool but it could become a great way to share scriptures with friends (and the world).

The old lds.org had mp3 versions of the scriptures, but you had to access through a dedicated audio page. Now the entire chapter can be downloaded by mp3.

Verse
Not only can you accomplish all of the same tasks as above in the new version when you are within a chapter, you can also listen on the spot, print, and the most interesting option is the one that allows you to hide footnotes. In my paper scriptures, footnotes aren't as distracting as they are when reading online, when the black and blue color contrast can get in the way of the text flow.

How could these things enrich my study of the Gospel? They are simple changes that actually change the way I read. Unless I'm preparing a lesson, most of my reading/study is personal. Either I am reading a section of scripture or focusing on a certain topic. With the new web 2.0 adds I am now semi-consciously reading in a more social way. The ease of posting to facebook/twitter/del.icio.us requires a click or two and I've just made my study a social experience versus a private one.

If those were the only changes it would still not drastically increase the time I spend reading scriptures online. I probably read online scriptures an average of 15 minutes a week versus several hours a week spent reading in print, and most of the time viewing the online addition is through my phone to look up a quick verse or topic. The main benefit of reading online is I can read a lot more in one sitting. The columns in print breakup the flow whereas there is much more text in a line on the web. The ease of jumping from footnote to footnote makes it more efficient as well. All that being said, I continue to prefer studying the paper version over the electronic, however all that may be about to change based on a new feature added to the scripture site.

Study Notebook (must have a login ID to access)
This is a very cool new addition to the lds study page for someone like me who has notebooks all around the house filled with random Gospel thoughts collected over the years. They are unorganized. I also have four different quads spanning the last 20 years with underlined text and notes scribbled in the margins. I've tried to use google docs in my personal study but that hasn't helped as well as it has for preparing a lesson or talk.

The new study notebook could prove to be the boon of my study to help consolidate my thoughts in one central place. How convenient that it is on the lds website! The notebook is available to collect thoughts on scriptures, conference talks, manuals, etc. What I need to figure out is how I will organize it, but even that can wait as I begin the "journal entries" and "bookmarks" that are available on the page. The two ways to organize are through "collections" and "tags." Collections act as folders to store your journal entries, and the tags can allow you to identify entries that span over multiple folders.

In another great feature called "bookmarks," I can now write whatever I want in the new electronic "margins" of each chapter of scripture or the various manuals or conference talks (it's somewhat limited to those areas but I can see it expanding).

I see this as just the beginning of cloud-based church study offerings. Hopefully enough people will use it so they devote more resources to making improvements. Anyone who uses it can send in suggestions and feedback to the church's tech department.