the curse they were cursed with; rain was withheld
from them for their sins, and the earth did not bring
forth its usual increase; wherefore there was want of
food in all their land; their blessings were cursed, as
in ch. ii. 2. for the following reason, for ye have robbed
me; because of this their iniquity, in not bringing
their offerings to the Lord, and the tithes to the priests
and Levites, their land was stricken with barrenness,
and God gave them cleanr, ess of teeth, and want of
bread in all places: or, but ye have robbed rued; not-
withstanding they were thus chastised of the Lord, yet
were not refbrmed, but went on in withholding from
God and the priests, what belonged to them: even
this whole nation; the sin was become general, and
therefore a general judgment was inflicted on them:
Grotius thinks, that the people seeing the priests with-
hold the tithes from the Levites, they refused to 'pay
them to them, and so the sin became tmiversal. Kim-
chi observes, that in other sins charged upon the na-
tion, the people were not all alike guilty, but in this
which respected the tithes and offerings they were.
Vet. 10. Bring .ye all the tithes .into the storehouse,
&c.] Or treasury {}; for there were places in the
temple where the tithe was put, and fi'om thence dis-
tributed to the priests and Levites, for the support of
their families, as they wanted. ']"here were the tithe
or tenth part of all eatable things paid to the Levites,
and out of this another tithe was paid by the Levites
to the priests; and there was another tithe, which
some years the owners ate themselves at Jerusalem,
and in others gave them to the poor; and these were
called the first tithe, the tithe out of the tithe, the
second tithe, and the poor's tithe; though they are
commonly reduced to three, and are called first, and
second, and third, as they are by Maimonides; who
says f," after they have separated the first tithe every
"year, they separate the second tithe, as it is said
"thou shalt' truly tithe all the increase of thy seed, &c.
"Dent. xiv. 22, c2.3. and in the third year, and in the
"sixth, they separate the poor's tithe, instead of the
"second tithe? So Tobit says; oh. i. 7." the first
"tithe I gave to the Levites, who stand before the
"Lord to minister to him, and to bless in his name
"the inhabitants of Jerusalem; the second tithe I sold
"(as he might, according to the law in Dent. xiv.
"24, 25, c26}, and took the money, and went up to
"Jerusalem, and bought with it what I pleased; and
"the third tithe I gave to the repair of the temple ;"
so Fagins reads: but according to Munster's edition it
is, the second and third tithes I gave to the stran
the fatherless, and the widow; see Dent. xxvi. 12, 13.
It appears fi'om hence that the sin of the people was,
that they did not bring in all their tithes; they kept
back a part of them: wheref9re they are called upon
to bring in the whole, and .which they did. in Nehe-
miah's time; see Neh. x./"38."and xiii. 11, 13. where
mention is made of the treasuries for the tithe, which
were certain chambers adjoining to the temple; and
besides those that were built bv Solomon, there were
other chambers prepared by Hezekiah in his times,
when the tithes were brought in in such plenty, that
there was not room enoughfor.them, e Cbron. xxxi.
I1, 12. and besides those in the second temple, that were
in the court of the priests, there were others in the
court of the people, as L'Empereur thinks {g}, where
what the others could not contain might be put; and
into which court the priests might come; and there
were also receptacles under ground, as well as upper
rooms, where much might be laid up; add to all this,
that Dr. Lightfoot h suggests, that these ti.thes were
treasured up in the cbambers by the gates of the
temple, and were at least a part of the treasuries of
the house of God, which the porters at the gates had
the care of, 1 Chron. ix. 26. and xxvi. 20. and par-
ticularly that the house of Asuppim, at which were
four porters, was a large piece of building, containing
divers rooms for the treasuring np things for the use of
the temple; see Judithxi. 13. That there may be meat in
my. house; in the temple, for the sustenance of the
priests and Levites: so the Targum, "the prophet
"said, bring all the tithes into the treasury, that there
"may be food for them that minister in the house of
"my sanctuary :" and prove me now herewith, saith the
Lord of hosts; by-bringing in all their tithes; when
they would find, by making this experiment or trial,
that the curse would be removed from them, and
blessings be largely' and liberally bestowed upon them
by him, who is the Lord of hosts, and so able to per-
form any promise he makes; and here one is implied,
and is as follows: if I will not open you the windows of
heaven; which had been shut and stopped up, and let
down no rain upon their land, which brought a scarcity
of provisions among them; but now, upon a change
in their conduct it is suggested that these windows
or flood-gates should be opened, and rain let down
plentifully upon them, which only could. be done by
the Lord himself; for the key of rain is one of the
three keys, the Jews say t, which God has reserved for
himself, and never puts into the hands of a minister:
and pour you -out a blessing: give abundance of rain to
make the earth fruitful, and bring forth its increase irt
great plenty, which is a blessing; and not destroy the
earth, and the fruits of it, as in the times of Noah,
when thewindows of heaven 'were opened, and acurse-
was poured out upon the earth: that there shall n0tbe
room enough to receive it; and so Kimchi says his
father interpreted this clause, that there would not be
a sufficiency of vessels {k} and storehouse.s. Some render,
the words, as Junius, so that ?/e shall not be sufficient ;
either to gather in the increase, or to consume it. The
Targum is, "until ye say it is enough ;" and so the
Syriac version. The phrase, which is very concise in
the original text, and may be literally rendered,. unto
not er, ough {}, denotes great abundnnce and fulness of
good things, so that there should be enough an(l to
spare; and yet, as Gussetius observeS, not enough to

{d} \^Myebq Mta ytaw\^ et tamen diripitis me, De Dieu.
{e} \^ruwah tyb la\^ thesaurum, Junius & Tremellius, Piscator; vel in
domum thesauri, Pagninus, Montanus, Cocceius, Burkius.
{f} Hilchot Maaser Sheni, c. 1. sect. 1.
{g} Not. in Misn. Middot, c. 2. sect. 6. No. 14.
{h} Prospect of the Temple, c. 5. p. 1058. c. 19. p. 1097.
{i} T. Bab. Taanith, fol. 2. 1. Sanhedrin, fol. 113. 1.
{k} \^yk ylb de\^ adeo ut non sint vobis sufficientia vasa, Pagninus, Vata-
blus.  So Burkius.
{l} Eousque ut nunquam sit satis, nempe a parte datoris, Gussetius.
So De Dieu.