The oracle of the word of the Lord to Israel by Malachi.
The Lord's Love for Israel
2 “I have loved you,” says the Lord. But you say, “How have you loved us?” “Is not Esau Jacob's brother?” declares the Lord. “Yet I have loved Jacob 3 but Esau I have hated. I have laid waste his hill country and left his heritage to jackals of the desert.” 4 If Edom says, “We are shattered but we will rebuild the ruins,” the Lord of hosts says, “They may build, but I will tear down, and they will be called ‘the wicked country,’ and ‘the people with whom the Lord is angry forever.’” 5 Your own eyes shall see this, and you shall say, “Great is the Lord beyond the border of Israel!”
The Priests' Polluted Offerings
6 “A son honors his father, and a servant his master. If then I am a father, where is my honor? And if I am a master, where is my fear? says the Lord of hosts to you, O priests, who despise my name. But you say, ‘How have we despised your name?’ 7 By offering polluted food upon my altar. But you say, ‘How have we polluted you?’ By saying that the Lord's table may be despised. 8 When you offer blind animals in sacrifice, is that not evil? And when you offer those that are lame or sick, is that not evil? Present that to your governor; will he accept you or show you favor? says the Lord of hosts. 9 And now entreat the favor of God, that he may be gracious to us. With such a gift from your hand, will he show favor to any of you? says the Lord of hosts. 10 Oh that there were one among you who would shut the doors, that you might not kindle fire on my altar in vain! I have no pleasure in you, says the Lord of hosts, and I will not accept an offering from your hand. 11 For from the rising of the sun to its setting my name will be great among the nations, and in every place incense will be offered to my name, and a pure offering. For my name will be great among the nations, says the Lord of hosts. 12 But you profane it when you say that the Lord's table is polluted, and its fruit, that is, its food may be despised. 13 But you say, ‘What a weariness this is,’ and you snort at it, says the Lord of hosts. You bring what has been taken by violence or is lame or sick, and this you bring as your offering! Shall I accept that from your hand? says the Lord. 14 Cursed be the cheat who has a male in his flock, and vows it, and yet sacrifices to the Lord what is blemished. For I am a great King, says the Lord of hosts, and my name will be feared among the nations. Malachi 1 ESV
Malachi 1 Lord's Love for Israel
Malachi is difficult to date because there are no specific historical events or reigning kings mentioned. Most estimates place the writing between 445-420BC overlapping with the book of Nehemiah, and most scholars agree that Malachi is the last book written in the OT canon. The three post-exilic prophets are Zechariah, Haggai and Malachi. - Precept Austin
The oracle of the word of the Lord - Oracle means burden, these are weighty words given to Malachi to carry to Israel. These are most likely the last words spoken to Israel by a true prophet of God till after the intertestamental period, a period of about 400 years, which includes the time of the Maccabean Revolution. These writings are some 400 years before John the Baptist steps onto the scene, a voice crying from the wilderness declaring, prepare ye the way of the Lord.
I have loved Jacob, but Esau I have hated - These words have spawned many a debate, and have been spurned so much so by some, that they pass over these passages with only a surface glance. Others have rejected their meaning and implications so far as to make another gospel, even a universalism that insists that we all go to the same place regardless of our confession. Still others have come here thinking themselves righteous, and walked away believing in nothing, thinking that once the heart stops beating then that is it, so they take present solace in believing there is no God, no after life. Rather than see God's justice here, His grace, they think such a God is unfair, but may I remind you, that when things do not turn out like your limited mind insists they should, as you bust hell wide open, remember, you didn't want the God of Scripture, so you didn't get what you didn't want.
I am speaking the truth in Christ—I am not lying; my conscience bears me witness in the Holy Spirit— 2 that I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. 3 For I could wish that I myself were accursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers, my kinsmen according to the flesh. 4 They are Israelites, and to them belong the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship, and the promises. 5 To them belong the patriarchs, and from their race, according to the flesh, is the Christ, who is God over all, blessed forever. Amen.
6 But it is not as though the word of God has failed. For not all who are descended from Israel belong to Israel, 7 and not all are children of Abraham because they are his offspring, but “Through Isaac shall your offspring be named.” 8 This means that it is not the children of the flesh who are the children of God, but the children of the promise are counted as offspring. 9 For this is what the promise said: “About this time next year I will return, and Sarah shall have a son.” 10 And not only so, but also when Rebekah had conceived children by one man, our forefather Isaac, 11 though they were not yet born and had done nothing either good or bad—in order that God's purpose of election might continue, not because of works but because of him who calls— 12 she was told, “The older will serve the younger.” 13 As it is written, “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.”
14 What shall we say then? Is there injustice on God's part? By no means! 15 For he says to Moses, “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.” 16 So then it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God, who has mercy. 17 For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, “For this very purpose I have raised you up, that I might show my power in you, and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.” 18 So then he has mercy on whomever he wills, and he hardens whomever he wills. Romans 9: 1-18
John Piper explains that God showed Jacob...
free, sovereign, unconditional, electing love; that is how I have loved you. My love for you is electing love because I chose you for myself above your brother Esau. My love for you is unconditional love because I chose you before you had done anything good or evil—before you had met any conditions—while you were still in your mother's womb (Genesis 25:24). My love for you is sovereign love because I was under no constraint to love you; I was not forced or coerced; I was totally in charge when I set my love upon you. And my love for you is free because it's the overflow of my infinite grace that can never be bought.
Now I ask you, if you are a Christian here today, and if you say to God, "How have you loved me?" can you answer the way God answered the Israelites? Do you look at your sister or brother living in sin and tremble that you have been chosen? And that your election is not because of anything in you? And that your faith and hope are owing wholly to God? Do you look at that childhood friend or college roommate who took a turn away from God when you stayed on the path, and tremble at the awesome thought that God chose you? (Ibid) - Precept Austin
If Edom says - Edom is the territory founded by Esau. Edom mocked Jerusalem in her day of distress, rejoiced when Babylon destroyed her.
1This is the vision of Obadiah: This is what the Lord GOD says about Edom—We have heard a message from the LORD; an envoy has been sent among the nations to say, “Rise up, and let us go to battle against her!”— 2“Behold, I will make you small among the nations; you will be deeply despised. 3The pride of your heart has deceived you, O dwellers in the clefts of the rocks whose habitation is the heights, who say in your heart, ‘Who can bring me down to the ground?’… Obadiah 1: 1-3
…11On the day you stood aloof while strangers carried off his wealth and foreigners entered his gate and cast lots for Jerusalem, you were just like one of them. 12But you should not gloat in that day, your brother’s day of misfortune, nor rejoice over the people of Judah in the day of their destruction, nor boast proudly in the day of their distress. 13You should not enter the gate of My people in the day of their disaster, nor gloat over their affliction in the day of their disaster, nor loot their wealth in the day of their disaster.… Obadiah 1: 11-13
6-14 Where is my honor - God gave this command, honor your father and your mother that it may be well with thee, and that your days may be long on this earth. If God has called us to honor our parents, who are imperfect, then He should be honored above all. I don't ask my kids to pretend that I do well when I don't, and I even invite them to let me know when my words don't match my actions, or if they think something I am doing would dishonor God. Yet, I demand that they respect me, because God has loaned me His name, Father, and so upon both of us is a great demand, that I teach them in the ways of God, and that they respect me as their parent. When children disobey their parents it is not the social embarrassment that we should fear, but God, Who has instituted these roles. Now how much more honor does God deserve above anything that He has created.
Where is My fear - People fear those that have rule over them, for they know about power, about hunger, about a beating, but how is it that they do not fear God Who speaks the universe into it's place from nothing, forms matter with words? You are scared of temporary situations, but show know regard for His eternal position.
…21Were you a slave when you were called? Do not let it concern you—but if you can gain your freedom, take the opportunity. 22For he who was a slave when he was called by the Lord is the Lord’s freedman. Conversely, he who was a free man when he was called is Christ’s slave. 23You were bought at a price; do not become slaves of men.… 1 Corinthians 7: 21-23
Is that not evil - The priests knew the law concerning sacrifice, and that was offered was to be without blemish. And you might say, "what does this matter to the God Who owns the cattle on a thousand hills, Who does not need of anything?" Read again above about fear and honor, and then think, what does the sacrifice represent, the lamb without blemish? He did not give the sacrifice because it was favored, He instituted it because it spoke of what He would have to give in order to pay for you to be set free. No matter how many bulls, rams, goats that they sacrificed, millions, God's was a matchless gift. Those who forsook the law according to the sacrifice, only paid outward homage to a ritual, and they did not worship God in their hearts. They made light of the most precious thing to Him, His Son.
…20Each year you and your household are to eat it before the LORD your God in the place the LORD will choose. 21But if an animal has a defect, is lame or blind, or has any serious flaw, you must not sacrifice it to the LORD your God. 22Eat it within your gates; both the ceremonially unclean and clean may eat it as they would a gazelle or a deer.… Deuteronomy 15: 20-22
…4because it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins. 5Therefore, when Christ came into the world, He said: “Sacrifice and offering You did not desire, but a body You prepared for Me. 6In burnt offerings and sin offerings You took no delight.… Hebrews 10: 4-6
Present that to your governor - Oh no, not happening, you would be embarrassed to; he might kick you out of the country club. One of the most telling and powerful tools against us is the desire to be liked, to fit in. It is truly an act of self denial to let that go and seek God's honor above all else.
…9As we have said before, so now I say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be under a curse! 10Am I now seeking the approval of men, or of God? Or am I striving to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a servant of Christ. 11For I certify to you, brothers, that the gospel I preached was not devised by man.… Galatians 1: 9-11
42Nevertheless, many of the leaders believed in Him; but because of the Pharisees they did not confess Him, for fear that they would be put out of the synagogue. 43For they loved praise from men more than praise from God. 44Then Jesus cried out, “Whoever believes in Me does not believe in Me alone, but in the One who sent Me.… John 12: 42-44
Who would shut the doors - This is a heart breaking thing, and I see many a church going away, but certainly this has often been the cause, those there for the ritual, those there to go through the motions, those there to be entertained. It would have been better for the priests to shut the doors until the hearts were right, to preach to and pray for this people against such pretending.
Wiersbe writes...
Malachi told these disobedience priests that it would be better to close the doors of the temple and stop the sacrifices altogether than to continue practicing such hypocrisy. Better there were no religion at all than a religion that fails to give God the very best. If our concept of God is so low that we think He’s pleased with cheap halfhearted worship, then we don’t know the God of the Bible. In fact, a God who encourages us to do less than our best is a God who isn’t worthy of worship. - Precept Austin
For My name will be great among the nations - Those that were called His children brought Him no honor, those that were His servants in the temple showed no fear. And it is a crazy thing, because those that fear God at first will often come to fear His displeasure even more, it crushes them to think that they have misspoken or offended so great a name. That is the child that truly loves their parent, the one that hates to disappoint, the one that is torn over their disobedience. Israel was called to be a light to the nations, to be the glorious gem upon the finger of God, and Jerusalem that city set high on a hill, the lamp unto the whole world.
John MacArthur comments on rising of the sun...setting explaining that this...
phrase is a way of referring to the whole earth (cf. Ps 50:1; 103:12; Is 45:6; 59:19; Zec 8:7), as the subsequent phrase, “In every place,” indicates. Although no indication is given as to the time when such worship of God will fill the earth, this cannot be a reference to any historic Jewish worship outside the borders of Israel. Malachi’s zeal for Israel’s sacrifices, coupled with his negative attitude toward foreigners and their gods (Mic 1:2-5; 2:11), points to the millennial era, when they will worship in the rebuilt temple and incense plus offerings will be present. At that time, and not until that time, the Lord will receive pure worship throughout the world and His name will be honored everywhere. (MacArthur, J.: The MacArthur Study Bible Nashville: Word) (Bolding added)
But you profane it - His great name.
G Campbell Morgan...
What is profanity? The root meaning of the word is “away from the temple” (pro, from; fanum, temple), and it has come to be used with reference to things not sacred, but commonplace. These people were guilty of profanity in the worst possible way, in that they took the names of God, and claimed the relationship that those names imply: Father, “honor”; Master, “fear”; and yet they did not fear Him; they accorded Him no honor save in their words, and their creeds, and their outward doings. Thus they degraded the sacred things of God to the common level of mediocrity, and in effect made the statement, “The table is contemptible.”
There is no profanity which is so awful as that of
orthodox expression and heterodox heart.
Gifts presented to God by hands that are impure, are themselves impure, for God only receives the gift according as He has received the giver. The offering that we bring to God is the true expression of the value at which we appraise the altar. If a man says, “I honor the altar of God,” and then puts upon it something that his own life has contaminated, his true estimate of the value of the altar is not the statement he vouchsafes, but his contaminated gift. Such a consideration should make us exceedingly careful how we give to God, and save us from that heresy of heresies, of imagining that we can purchase our acceptance by our gifts.
God receives or rejects all the gifts of man in proportion
as He has received or rejected the giver.
If that be a true statement, how many gifts are not received by God which have been placed upon His altar? And is not this profanity within Christendom to-day more terribly profane and far-reaching in its evil influence than all the profanity of the slum? - Precept Austin
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