The Windows of Heaven

"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." (Malachi 3:10)

The phrase "windows of heaven" from this Old Testament verse had always confused me over the years. This may seem like a superficial hang-up, but I could never quite wrap my mind around Malachi’s side-by-side referencing of “windows” and “heaven”. The spatial incompatibility was what threw me off. After all, aren’t windows horizontal elements built into side walls, and isn’t heaven traditionally referenced as vertically being above us?

Ruins from pre-Christian Era dwellings in Sikait, Egypt
which demonstrate examples of "khalonot" (side windows)

Going to the original language of the Old Testament helped me resolve this seeming incongruity. I learned that there are actually two main Biblical Hebrew words that were translated as “window” in the English translation of the Old Testament. And it turns out they have very different meanings. What we would traditionally call a window is signified by the Hebrew word חַלוֹן (khah-LOHN). It’s the side opening in a structure that, in ancient biblical times, would have been typically covered by wood or some other material rather than glass. This is the “window” that’s referenced in 2 Kings 9:30.

"And when Jehu was come to Jezreel, Jezebel heard of it; and she painted her face, and tired her head, and looked out at a window (חַלוֹן)."

A reconstructed circa 1000 B.C. home in the ancient
town of Catal Huyuk (located in modern day 
Turkey), showing an "aruba" opening above the oven

The other Old Testament Hebrew word that was translated as “window”, אֲרוּבָּה (ah-roo-BAH), carries a separate meaning. It signifies an overhead opening in a building or tent, so it can also be translated into English as “chimney” or “smoke and air vent”. In ancient times, the ah-roo-BAH was located at the center of a tent’s apex to allow for general ventilation, allowing smoke from the heating or cooking fire to exit the dwelling space while letting light enter. In permanent structures it took the form of a removable ceiling tile which would have typically been located in a corner of the house or along a side wall. (See the example in the side photo.)

It’s this second kind of window or chimney, an ah-roo-BAH and not a khah-LOHN, that Malachi references in 3:10. As a result, his metaphorical reference to “the windows of heaven” places them above us, instead of to the side. This is the same word we find in Genesis 7:11, the first Biblical reference to “the windows of heaven.” It’s used to describe the rains that came down from above during the Great Flood of Noah’s time.

“…the same day were all the fountains of the great deep broken up, and the windows of heaven (השָׁמַיִם וַאֲרֻבֹּת vah ah-roo-BOHT hah shah-mah-YEEM) were opened.”

An example of a smoke vent "aruba"
at the apex of a portable tent

So in Malachi 3:10, the prophet is referencing the metaphorical overhead windows through which the Lord pours out the blessings of heaven upon people who are tithed. The light that would come directly through the opening of the tent or roof alluded to in this verse might also symbolize these various blessings, including spiritual knowledge and truth since light is associated with both.

But it gets even better. It turns out there's another level of meaning in this verse. Malachi uses a word play on two Biblical Hebrew homophones (words that are spelled differently but pronounced the same – sew, so, and sow, for example) in order to teach a key doctrinal lesson about obedience and God’s covenant relationship with those who keep His commandments. This second noun עֲרוּבָּה, also pronounced ah-roo-BAH, makes up the second word in Malachi's word play. It's spelled the same as the term for “chimney” or “vent” in Hebrew(אֲרוּבָּה)  except that in the first consonant place ע (ayin) is substituted for א (alef). Although the two terms are pronounced identically, the second word means a “promise”, “pledge”, or “guarantee”. It appears in a modified (constructive) form in Genesis 38:20.

"And Judah sent the kid of the goats by the hand of his friend the Adullamite, to receive the pledge (hah eh-rah-VOHN הָעֵרָבוֹן) from the woman's hand; but he found her not."

Based on this creative word play, the central promise found in Malachi 3:10 can alternatively be read:

“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 ‘guarantees, promises, pledges’ of heaven (ah-roo-BOHT hah-shah-MAYEEM אֲרֻבּוֹת הַשָּׁמַיִם), and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it.”