I think it's also important to look at Malachi at this point since some are accusing others of robbing God.
It is written,
" 7Even 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?
8Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed me. But ye say, Wherein have we robbed thee? In tithes and offerings.
9Ye are cursed with a curse: for ye have robbed me, even this whole nation.
10Bring 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. " -
Malachi 3:7-10
It's important to determine who God was speaking to in this passage. God was speaking to the priesthood here. God says that they (the priesthood) had robbed him...even the whole nation. So God includes two groups of robbers here. The priesthood and the people. Why? Verse 10 explains that they were not bringing the tithe into the storehouse. This is important. There were three tithes in the OT. There was the Levitical tithe to sustain the priests. There was the temple tithe to sustain the needs of the Temple. And then there was the poor tithe gathered every third year that was to be stored in the storehouse and then distributed to the widows and the needy. Notice that verse 10 mentions the storehouse. You see the priesthood and the people were refusing to collect and stock the storehouse for the poor. Oh, the priests were fat and happy...so also were the people. Yet the widow, the needy, the orphan, and the stranger were neglected in that the priests and the people had neglected the ordinance of God that commanded their care. IN THIS they had robbed God. This is in perfect harmony with the words of Jesus when he said,
"41Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels:
42For I was an hungred, and ye gave me no meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me no drink:
43I was a stranger, and ye took me not in: naked, and ye clothed me not: sick, and in prison, and ye visited me not.
44Then shall they also answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, or athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto thee?
45Then shall he answer them, saying, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me.
46And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal." -
Matthew 25:41-46
Many fail to see the co-relation here, but in truth it is related. Those in Malachi (priest and congregation of Israel) neglected the poor tithe that stocked the storehouse and provided meat for the poor and needy. In doing this they robbed the widow and the needy...in robbing the widow and the needy...they had robbed God.
God's focus wasn't on "things" or even a priestly system...God was defending those who were in need. People. God put people over "things". This is something the Priest and the Pharisee will never be able to comprehend with all their religiosity.