Return to Me (3:6-12): The fifth speech returns to the present with an appeal for repentance demonstrated in a concrete act of obedience, tithing. This obligation contributes to proper worship at the temple and to feeding even the poorest of the people. The Lord, who loves Israel, offers them reconciliation and promises blessing.

3:6–7a  The opening statement of this address is a stunning non sequitur, “I the LORD do not change. So you, O descendants of Jacob, are not destroyed.” The Lord has remained the same God known to Israel since the time of their ancestor Jacob. This is the same God whose will had been known through the law (torah), who abhors violence, judges evildoers, and commands reverence. In the preceding verse one reads the promise of God’s coming day of judgment (3:5). God’s …