Introduction: The Chapter that Concludes Prophecy
Malachi chapter 3 is the chapter that concludes the book, concludes Trei Asar (the Twelve Minor Prophets), and effectively seals all of prophecy. This chapter comes as a response to the complaints seen at the end of the previous chapter: "You have wearied Hashem with your words; yet you say, 'Wherewith have we wearied Him?' In that you say, 'Everyone who does evil is good in the sight of Hashem, and He delights in them,' or, 'Where is the God of justice?'" People harbored grievances against Hashem's governance: Why does the Holy One, blessed be He, not punish the wicked? After all, we see the wicked prospering, unharmed and untouched - as if Hashem desires this! And if not, where is the God of justice?
To this comes the response: You demand that the God of justice reveal Himself and immediately punish the wicked person for the sin he committed, and immediately reward the righteous person for the good deed he performed. But in this world, such a thing is impossible, because we still exist in a world of free choice and testing. If every evildoer were punished immediately and every righteous person rewarded instantly - where would free choice be? Where would the test be? The world would not be divided into righteous and wicked, but rather into the wise and the foolish. Only a fool would turn on a light on Shabbat knowing that immediately afterward his hand would be paralyzed for two weeks! Once punishment is instantaneous, or conversely, once reward is immediate, free will is eliminated. Therefore, such an order has no place in this world.
Verse 1: My Messenger and the Angel of the Covenant
הִנְנִי שֹׁלֵחַ מַלְאָכִי וּפִנָּה דֶרֶךְ לְפָנָי, וּפִתְאֹם יָבוֹא אֶל הֵיכָלוֹ הָאָדוֹן אֲשֶׁר אַתֶּם מְבַקְשִׁים וּמַלְאַךְ הַבְּרִית אֲשֶׁר אַתֶּם חֲפֵצִים הִנֵּה בָא, אָמַר ה' צְבָאוֹת. - "Behold, I send My messenger, and he shall clear a way before Me; and suddenly the Master whom you seek shall come to His temple, and the angel of the covenant whom you desire, behold, he comes, says Hashem of Hosts."
The prophet says: This path lies in the future. "Malachi" means "My messenger" - a prophet of Hashem who will arrive first and clear every obstacle from the path. That is to say, he will rectify the world and bring the entire world to repentance. When the world is rectified and the way is paved, then "suddenly the Master whom you seek shall come to His temple" - the Holy One, blessed be He, will come and reveal Himself in His world, dwell within His sanctuary in the Beit HaMikdash, and walk among us.
And who is "the angel of the covenant whom you desire"? This is the messenger who will arrive prior to the coming of Hashem, Lord of Hosts, and he will bring the entire world into the covenant of the Torah, into the covenant of faith, into a bond between ourselves and Hashem. Our Sages teach: Eliyahu is the angel of the covenant. He will arrive beforehand, "and he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers," bringing the people to repentance; only then can the Master enter His sanctuary. Thus, what you are asking for - an open revelation, where Hashem exacts retribution from the wicked and grants righteous reward to the upright - its time has not yet arrived. Presently, this is a world of free choice, and in such a reality, it is impossible for Hashem to come in open revelation.
The Radak asks: What is the meaning of "and suddenly... shall come to His temple"? He answers: The time of the end (ketz) has not been revealed, as we see in Sefer Daniel where he was told to close up and seal the words, that they are shut up and sealed until the time of the end. It follows that the redemption will happen suddenly - unexpected and unforeseen. The Gemara states that one of the things that comes when least expected (hesach hada'at) is Mashiach. It is not something where one prepares and then it arrives; rather, people will be occupied with entirely different matters, and suddenly we will be told that Mashiach has arrived.
The Radak explains that "the Master whom you seek" is the King Mashiach, and he is himself the angel of the covenant. That is one interpretation. The second possibility, as we explained, is that the angel of the covenant is Eliyahu. Why is he called by this title? Here the Radak cites the well-known aggadah, which is not found in our extant Midrashim but was transmitted by early authorities, the Radak among them: Eliyahu displayed zealousness regarding brit milah, which the Kingdom of Ephraim had suppressed - since they had ceased circumcising their sons - and exclaimed, "I have been very zealous for Hashem, the God of Israel, for the Children of Israel have forsaken Your covenant." The Holy One, blessed be He, said to him: You were zealous at Shittim, and here too you are zealous concerning milah - by your life, Israel will never perform a brit milah without you witnessing it with your own eyes! At every brit that Israel performs, you must be present, standing and seeing for yourself that your words were inaccurate, and that Israel indeed circumcises their children. From this arose the custom to prepare an honored seat for Eliyahu, who is designated "the angel of the covenant," and concerning him it says, "whom you desire, behold, he comes, says Hashem of Hosts."
Verse 2: Who Can Endure the Day of His Coming?
וּמִי מְכַלְכֵּל אֶת יוֹם בּוֹאוֹ, וּמִי הָעֹמֵד בְּהֵרָאוֹתוֹ, כִּי הוּא כְּאֵשׁ מְצָרֵף וּכְבֹרִית מְכַבְּסִים. - "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."
"Who can endure" - who can bear the day of his coming? For even before the Master Himself is revealed, on that day alone no one will be able to endure out of immense dread, and all the more so when the Master Himself, the Holy One, blessed be He, is revealed, at which point no creature will be able to stand. Why? Because to stand before Hashem, one must be, as it were, fashioned from a material capable of withstanding extreme temperatures; one must possess a very high degree of spiritual refinement.
"For He is like a refiner's fire" - Hashem is like a fire that removes all the dross, like a silversmith who refines metals, placing them into a furnace in order to purify and clarify them. "And like fullers' soap" - borit is soap, and with this soap even a small stain on a garment is removed, cleansing it completely. The wicked are like dross, the slag of silver, and the fire will remove them. But the righteous - the fire does not remove them, for they are not dross, yet their garments still bear slight stains. Therefore, soap is required: the soap is for the righteous, to remove every stain from them until they are like a clean, pure, and whitened garment. Thus, when the Master arrives, the Divine revelation will bring about profound purification.
Regarding the word borit: Rashi explains that it is something that polishes and cleanses, related to the expression barei leivav - pure of heart, as well as "according to the cleanness (kevor) of my hands He will recompense me." The root bor or bar signifies purity and cleanliness, and here too, the function of borit is to clean. (In several places in the Talmud, Rashi translates it into Old French as savon, soap.)
Verse 3: Refining After Refining
וְיָשַׁב מְצָרֵף וּמְטַהֵר כֶּסֶף, וְטִהַר אֶת בְּנֵי לֵוִי וְזִקַּק אֹתָם כַּזָּהָב וְכַכָּסֶף, וְהָיוּ לַה' מַגִּישֵׁי מִנְחָה בִּצְדָקָה. - And He shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and He shall purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, and they shall be offering an offering to Hashem in righteousness.
After He refines and removes the dross, who are the wicked, immediately upon His revelation - "and He shall sit." The term sitting (yeshivah), explains the Malbim, denotes permanence: He will, as it were, sit permanently and continuously refine and purify the silver itself as well. That is, after the dross has been removed, we are left with the silver - the good people, not the tin and lead that were extracted. Yet even the good people who remain after the separation of the dross require further refining, repeated purification and iterative smelting. This was how silver was refined in antiquity: first they removed the metals that were outright impurities, and then they subjected it to further purification to bring it to a high degree of purity, beneath which the silver would still have remained mixed with traces. This is the meaning of "silver refined in an earthen crucible, purified sevenfold" - not a single refining, but seven.
And for whom is this refining intended? For the worthy individuals - the sons of Levi, who are fit to serve in the Beit HaMikdash. "And refine them like gold and silver" - the Malbim explains: within the tribe of Levi are the Kohanim, who occupy a higher spiritual level, and therefore the descendants of Aharon will be purified and cleansed even more than the rest, being compared to gold, which is of a higher caliber. And the purpose of this refining: "and they shall be offering an offering to Hashem in righteousness," meriting to present offerings before Him and to stand and minister before Hashem.
And who are these? Only those who were devoted to Hashem in righteousness, who possessed good deeds. "Righteousness" (tzedakah), explains the Malbim, here refers to matters between man and God - the status of a tzaddik, a servant of Hashem in complete wholeness, rather than monetary charity given to the poor. In the future, only the Kohanim of the sons of Tzadok will be worthy of offering sacrifices in the Beit HaMikdash. The reason for this: we have seen throughout the book that among the Kohanim themselves were idolaters, and there were those who offered blemished animals - "the lame and the blind, you say, 'It is no evil'... Offer it, please, to your governor! Will he be pleased with you or accept your favor?" The Kohanim themselves were deeply compromised, and therefore those individuals will not merit to minister in the Beit HaMikdash. Just as we know that a Kohen who served idols may never offer sacrifices, and a Kohen who killed a person, even unintentionally, may not offer sacrifices nor lift his hands in Birkat Kohanim - so too, the other Kohanim who did not stand in their righteousness will not approach the altar to offer sacrifices to Hashem.
And should you ask: if so, will we not lack enough people to offer sacrifices? The answer is that the priesthood is destined to return to the firstborn, and the firstborn will also serve as Kohanim. Thus, we will have plenty of Kohanim; even though some of the Kohanim were disqualified, the firstborn will be fit for the service. This is particularly significant for anyone concerned about a shortage of manpower when the Mikdash is rebuilt, especially in light of what the holy Ari teaches: that when the Beit HaMikdash is rebuilt, we will all need to bring sacrifices for everything that has accumulated over thousands of years - every person who faltered and incurred an obligation for a sin offering (chatat) or a guilt offering (asham) will bring his offerings for those misdeeds.
Verse 4: The Haftarah of Shabbat HaGadol
From verse 4 begins the Haftarah of Shabbat HaGadol in most communities. In the Baladi Yemenite tradition, the regular weekly Haftarah is read, but in most communities, this upcoming section is read as the Haftarah.
וְעָרְבָה לַה' מִנְחַת יְהוּדָה וִירוּשָׁלִָם כִּימֵי עוֹלָם וּכְשָׁנִים קַדְמֹנִיּוֹת. - Then the offering of Judah and Jerusalem shall be pleasing to Hashem, as in the days of old and as in ancient years.
The Malbim explains that the word arevah ("pleasing") denotes something that suits a person and brings him pleasure. And what is meant by "as in the days of old"? Chazal offer one explanation: "as in the days of old" refers to the days of Moshe, while "as in ancient years" refers to the days of Shlomo, when fire descended from Heaven and consumed the burnt offering. So too it will be in the future: just as what was offered in the time of Moshe Rabbeinu and in the time of Shlomo was pleasing to Him, blessed be He, so too will our offerings be pleasing before Him when the Beit HaMikdash is rebuilt.
In another explanation, Chazal say: "As in the days of old" - like the days of Noach; "and as in ancient years" - like the days of Hevel. And what was unique about those days? That there was no idolatry in their times. The very fact that the world was pure and refined and free of idolatry - even though the Torah had not yet been given - is what makes the offering pleasing to Hashem. When is it pleasing? When the world is refined. And so it will be in the future to come as well, says the Malbim, for "And Hashem will be King over all the earth; on that day Hashem will be one and His Name one," and the idols will be utterly cut off, and consequently, through this, the offering of Yehudah and Yerushalayim will be pleasing to Hashem as in the days of old and as in ancient years.
Pasuk 5: "And I will draw near to you for judgment"
וְקָרַבְתִּי אֲלֵיכֶם לַמִּשְׁפָּט, וְהָיִיתִי עֵד מְמַהֵר בַּמְכַשְּׁפִים וּבַמְנָאֲפִים וּבַנִּשְׁבָּעִים לַשָּׁקֶר, וּבְעֹשְׁקֵי שְׂכַר שָׂכִיר אַלְמָנָה וְיָתוֹם וּמַטֵּי גֵר וְלֹא יְרֵאוּנִי, אָמַר ה' צְבָאוֹת. - "And I will draw near to you for judgment, and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, against the adulterers, against those who swear falsely, against those who oppress the wage earner in his wages, the widow and the orphan, and who turn aside the stranger and do not fear Me, said Hashem, Master of Legions."
Here the prophet returns to the answer he began with. You asked that Hashem be with us to judge the righteous and the wicked, and you wondered at a reality that appears to lack divine providence - why does everyone not receive their retribution immediately? The answer: this is impossible until the time of rectification arrives. In the meantime, we exist in a world of free choice. At the time of rectification, not even a trace of dross will remain, not even a minor sin, for "by fire will He enter into judgment" and refine everything; but in the present time, in this world of free choice, vicissitude, and trial, it is unfitting to act with immediate retribution against the wicked and immediate reward for the righteous. Therefore, there are wicked nations that prosper, until the Holy One, Blessed be He, will judge the nations in the future, as it is written: "And saviors shall ascend Mount Tzion to judge the mountain of Esav."
However, Hashem says: toward you, I begin judgment already now - "And I will draw near to you for judgment." I judge your case much sooner, and you do not need to wait for the time when I will judge the nations. This seems puzzling at first: "You are children to Hashem your G-d," yet instead of privilege, we receive an early judgment? The Malbim explains: on the contrary, this is for our own good. For with the nations, Hashem waits until their measure of guilt is full, just as the Holy One, Blessed be He, said to Avraham that he could not yet inherit the land "for the iniquity of the Emori is not yet complete" - and once the iniquity of the Emori was complete, they were utterly eradicated. But with the Jewish people, the Holy One, Blessed be He, never lets them reach such a state where their measure overflows to the point of total destruction. And how is this prevented? By exacting retribution from them little by little, bit by bit over time.
Note carefully: the judgment spoken of here is not the future judgment. The future judgment is "And He shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and He shall purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver" - there He will remove every bit of dross and scrutinize even the lightest of the light. But currently, the judgment is on the severe sins: against the sorcerers, against the adulterers, against those who swear falsely, against those who oppress the wage earner in his wages, the widow and the orphan, and who turn aside the stranger and do not fear Me. Concerning these severe transgressions, Hashem says: regarding them, I will be a swift witness even before that future time of complete refinement, because it is impossible to wait, lest Heaven forbid your measure of sin should become full.
Pasuk 6: "For I am Hashem, I have not changed"
כִּי אֲנִי ה' לֹא שָׁנִיתִי, וְאַתֶּם בְּנֵי יַעֲקֹב לֹא כְלִיתֶם. - "For I am Hashem, I have not changed; and you, the sons of Yaakov, are not consumed."
The Malbim explains: the Holy One, Blessed be He, says, I must act this way and exact retribution from you now, because I am Hashem and I have never changed My words or My promise. I promised the Avot that you would never be consumed, and I promised in the Torah that Israel would endure forever - "Yet even then, when they are in the land of their enemies, I did not reject them nor did I abhor them to destroy them, to break My covenant with them, for I am Hashem their G-d." Hashem forged a covenant with Avraham, an eternal covenant between his descendants and the Holy One, Blessed be He, that the Jewish people would endure forever. And since I have not changed My promise - "and you, the sons of Yaakov, are not consumed," you have an eternal existence.
From this stems the necessity: when a gentile nation magnifies its iniquity, they are left alone, and when they reach the point of destruction, the Holy One, Blessed be He, pulls the plug and it is over. But with Israel this cannot be, for there is a covenant with the Avot that they will endure forever. Therefore, the Holy One, Blessed be He, must strike several blows before they reach the final line, before they are on the brink of the abyss, in order to set them straight so that they do not reach total destruction. Even before the measure is full, Hashem says: I must be a swift witness against the sorcerers, against the adulterers, and so on, so that you do not come to the calamity of ultimate annihilation. And this is what Chazal meant when they said that the Holy One, Blessed be He, exacts retribution from Israel little by little, bit by bit, citing this verse as proof.
The Gemara expounds the verse in a fascinating way: "I have not repeated [shiniti]" - I have never struck a nation and repeated the strike against it. When I strike a nation, it is one strike and it is over: the Emorites were expelled and vanished, as were other nations throughout history that have left no name or memory. But "and you, the sons of Yaakov, are not consumed" - Israel Hashem strikes and repeats, strikes and repeats, because each time He delivers small blows, another small blow and another small blow, so that we straighten ourselves out and become truly worthy of redemption. With the nations, one strike annihilates, while with us, they are measured blows aimed at rectification.
Rashi interprets the verse differently: even though I am patient, My mindset has not changed from the beginning so that I would love evil and hate good. You say: behold, Hashem does not punish the wicked, He is patient with them, and He does not reward the righteous. Hashem responds: do not think that a change has occurred in Me, as though I have now decided that whoever does evil will receive good and whoever is righteous will receive bad. "I am Hashem, I have not changed" - I have not changed My rules.
Similarly, on the words "and you, the sons of Jacob, are not consumed," Rashi explains: Even though you die in your wickedness, you are not annihilated from before Me - I have prepared the souls to exact My judgment from them in Gehennom. You point to a wicked person who dies peacefully in his bed without trouble and without disaster, and everything was fine with him. The Holy One, blessed be He, says: Who rushes to collect payment? One who will have no time to collect later. But One Who has time to collect later as well - does not rush. You wish to see the judgment of the wicked person here? I am in no rush; I wait for him above, and there he will receive what he deserves. "Died" is not "annihilated": after he dies, his soul will still come before Me, and then I will judge him and exact retribution from him. And if you think to say that My judgment has lapsed and there is no longer any retribution to collect from him - you are mistaken; know that I will exact retribution from him after his death.
The Parable of the Mirror - From the Book "Petach HaSha'ar"
In the book Petach HaSha'ar, this matter is explained with a parable: A man walked into a shop to buy a mirror. In those days, there was no advanced technology, and not every mirror reflected accurately; sometimes it was warped, so one had to search for a suitable mirror. This man examined mirror after mirror, and none of them pleased him. The shopkeeper said to him: "This is an advanced Swiss mirror, what are you talking about?" He answered him: "I do not know; I look and see something that is not what I expected - suddenly I see stubble, the hat is crooked, the hair... bring me another mirror." The shopkeeper said to him: "Perhaps you ought to go comb your hair and shave before you look for problems in the mirror."
So too, explains the author of Petach HaSha'ar, the Jewish people come, as it were, with a complaint: Why does the Holy One, blessed be He, not bestow abundance and goodness upon us? The Holy One, blessed be He, says to them: If you walk in the upright path, a smiling face will look back at you from the mirror; but when you look like this, do not complain about the mirror, which does nothing more than show your own reflection. And this is the meaning of "For I, Hashem, have not changed" - the change does not come from Me; "and you, the sons of Jacob, are not consumed [lo khelitem]," in the sense that you did not complete [lo khilitam] your duty, you did not do what was incumbent upon you. Had you fulfilled your obligation, you would have received good. The change does not stem from Him but from you, and the mirror merely reflects your image, so you have only yourself to blame. And this is "Hashem is your shadow upon your right hand" - when a person raises his hand, the shadow raises its hand, and he has no reason to complain about the shadow. Every person must realize that through his own conduct, he draws upon himself corresponding conduct from the Holy One, blessed be He.
Verse 7: "Return to Me, and I Will Return to You"
לְמִימֵי אֲבֹתֵיכֶם סַרְתֶּם מֵחֻקַּי וְלֹא שְׁמַרְתֶּם, שׁוּבוּ אֵלַי וְאָשׁוּבָה אֲלֵיכֶם אָמַר ה' צְבָאוֹת, וַאֲמַרְתֶּם בַּמֶּה נָשׁוּב. - From the days of your fathers you have turned away from My statutes and have not kept them; return to Me, and I will return to you, said Hashem of Hosts; and you said, "With what shall we return?"
Here the prophet begins to rebuke them for not setting aside terumot and ma'asrot (tithes): Already from the days of your fathers, you were not careful in this. And I warn you - return to Me, and I will return to you. For on account of the sin of tithes and gifts that are not set aside properly, rains are withheld. People who owned fields were required to separate tithes and priestly gifts from them, which were the sustenance of the Kohanim and the Levi'im, and without them they had nothing to eat. The laws of heaven depend on these laws: when you turned away from the laws of tithes and priestly gifts, the Holy One, blessed be He, naturally withheld the rain and the produce. And if you return to Me - I will once again shower you with rain, blessing, and produce. Yet you ask, "With what shall we return?"
Verse 8: "Will a Man Rob God?"
הֲיִקְבַּע אָדָם אֱלֹהִים, כִּי אַתֶּם קֹבְעִים אֹתִי, וַאֲמַרְתֶּם בַּמֶּה קְבַעֲנוּךָ, הַמַּעֲשֵׂר וְהַתְּרוּמָה. - Will a man rob God? For you are robbing Me! And you said, "How have we robbed You?" In tithes and in the priestly gift.
"Hayikba" means: Will he rob? A person who withholds charity and tithes, explains the Malbim, is described by the expression "yikba." Is it fitting that a man rob God and not give Hashem, blessed be He, what is due Him? And when you asked, "How have we robbed You?" - surely the tithe and the terumah are Hashem's portion, so why are you not giving them? The term "kove'a" denotes robbery, as in "and He will rob the soul of those who rob them" (Mishlei 22:23) - robbing the soul of those who rob them.
From here, some explain homiletically the rabbinic injunction, "Keva itim laTorah" (set fixed times for Torah): that one should rob a bit of his private time to engage in Torah study, and devote any spare moment he has to Torah. The plain meaning, of course, is from the language of fixedness (establishing set times), but as a homiletic allusion (remez), it is explained this way.
Verse 9: "You Are Cursed with a Curse"
בַּמְּאֵרָה אַתֶּם נֵאָרִים וְאֹתִי אַתֶּם קֹבְעִים, הַגּוֹי כֻּלּוֹ. - You are cursed with a curse, yet you rob Me, the entire nation.
The prophet adds: especially since you gain nothing from this. When a person steals to make a profit, even though it is forbidden, one can at least understand the motive. But here, what is the motive? "You are cursed with a curse" - you are stricken with a curse, as it were, cursed. When you withhold the tithes, you only cause a loss to yourself.
And here, the famous parable of the Dubno Maggid (and some say the Chofetz Chaim) is fitting: A man worked all year in his field and went to sell his grain in the marketplace. The custom back then was that grain was transferred in buckets from the seller's cart to the buyer's cart, and payment was made according to the number of buckets. The seller said to the buyer: "How will we know we counted correctly? We might get confused." The buyer replied: "Let us do this: suppose each bucket is worth one hundred shekels; for every bucket I take from you, I will place a shekel in your pocket, and at the end we will count the shekels and know. Ten shekels, you are owed a thousand. The shekels will serve merely as a counter." They agreed and began. Bucket after bucket was transferred, and the seller received one shekel after another, feeling his pocket growing full. Without the buyer noticing, each time the buyer turned to fill another bucket, the seller took a few shekels from that pocket and transferred them into his other pocket. And he did this several times. Finally they said, "Let us count the shekels." The seller pulled out what was in his pocket, and only a few shekels were found. Surprised, the buyer said, "It seemed to me there were more, but if that is what you say, here you are," and paid one hundred shekels for each shekel. The seller walked away pleased and proud of himself for managing to cheat the buyer. What a fool! You merely moved money from one of your pockets to another; it would have been better for you to slip extra shekels into the first pocket, since every shekel there was worth a hundred! You only cheated yourself.
So too here: "You are cursed with a curse." You are afflicted with a curse because you sought to scrimp on the portion of the Holy One, blessed is He - and such "savings" bring only a curse. This is just like the man stealing shekels from his own pocket: those shekels were your profit, every shekel was worth a hundred, yet you stole and thought you gained - and through this you are cursed. "Yet you rob Me" - you are robbing Me in this, and not just isolated individuals, but "the entire nation" - everyone participated in this sin.
In summary:
Chapter 3 opens with a response to the claim, "Where is the God of justice?": in a world of free will, immediate retribution is impossible, but in the future, Hashem will send His messenger - Eliyahu, the angel of the covenant - who will clear the way and bring the world to repentance, and then the Master will suddenly come to His sanctuary. On that day no one will be able to stand, for He is like a refiner's fire that removes the dross (the wicked) and like fuller's soap that cleanses even the slightest blemish from the righteous; and He will purify the sons of Levi, and only those worthy in righteousness will offer an offering, and then the offering of Yehudah and Yerushalayim will be pleasing to Hashem as in days of old, as in the days when there was no idolatry in the world. In the meantime, out of love and by virtue of the unchanging covenant, Hashem brings forward the judgment of Israel and exacts payment from them little by little, so that their measure of guilt does not become full and lead to utter destruction - "For I am Hashem, I have not changed, and you, the children of Yaakov, have not been consumed." From here, the prophet turns to the practical rebuke: withholding the terumot and tithes holds back the rains and brings a curse, and the one who robs robs only himself. "Return to Me, and I will return to you."