Reflections: Malachi, Part Two

The Exchanges Between God and the People

In chapter 1, God opens the first of these six episodes by making the simple statement, “I have loved you.” The people’s response is rude and disrespectful: “How have you loved us?” (v.2). In his reply, God goes back in history and holds out the example of the twin sons of Isaac and Rebekah; Jacob and Esau. God had graciously favored Jacob, choosing to love him and exalt the nation of Israel and fulfilled the covenant promises with Jacob’s descendants, as opposed to Esau and the nation descended from him (Edom), which came to a cataclysmic end portrayed in Genesis 25-27 and in the book of Obadiah.

I sometimes find the story of Jacob and Esau difficult. We have to admit that both of them are NOT candidates for the devoted son or steadfast brother award. Jacob stole Esau’s inheritance and blessing by fraud and deceit; Esau despised his father, and scorned God’s commands in marrying two Canaanite women. Neither of them deserved to be blessed. Each was as bad as the other, though in different ways. Yet, God covered Jacob with His mercy.

Why? Because Jacob was chosen by God; Esau was not. “Yet I have loved Jacob, but Esau I

have hated.” (Malachi 1:2-3).

Romans 9 addresses this. Starting in v. 11, Paul states:

“Yet, before the twins were born or had done anything good or bad—in order that God’s purpose in election might stand: 12 not by works but by him who calls—she was told, “The older will serve the younger.” 13 Just as it is written: “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.” 14 What then shall we say?

Is God unjust? Not at all! 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 It does not, therefore, depend on human desire or effort, but on God’s mercy.”

The people of Malachi’s time had forgotten that the ONLY reason God loved them was because he had chosen them. God didn’t love them because they were “better,” indeed, they would have related to the examples of Jacob and Esau because, like them, they were flawed. But the reason for God’s love is he DECIDED to show love to Jacob and his descendants.

The key here, and always, is God’s love is not based on our performance, but on his promise. God gets to choose whom he has mercy on. God loves us because He’s chosen us. Our feelings about it are irrelevant. As a child, I strove to earn my parent’s love by my own performance, sometimes feeling inadequate in light of my parents’ standards or a sibling’s achievement. But God isn’t like that. If God says He loves you, then its true. Something the people listening to Malachi seemed cynical about.

For me, it’s a downward spiral. When times are rough, when life’s frustrations get the better of me, I feel like God doesn’t seem to care for me as much as he once did. When I fail, or sin, or when I am stepping away from my relationship with God, I feel like I have moved to a place where God loves me less. But this shows how much I often misunderstand God’s love. As a believer, I am no longer under God’s wrath. I am now only subject to His love. My behavior or my thinking cannot alter that reality. God’s love is based on God, not me.

I find myself living in this deception that God loves me when I am doing well and hates me when I turn from him. Nothing could be further from the truth or is a bigger insult to God. As I continue to walk with God, I see more and more that things like regret, shame, guilt, or failure are not the story of my life, but rather, that Jesus chose to love me.

And it is this deception of doubting God’s love that appear to be at the root of the problems of the people who make up Malachi’s audience. It was a downward spiral for them as well, as we will see. Yet, it all seems to start with this concept of “forgetting” God’s love. The theme that repeats itself over and over in this book is God declares a truth to his people, and they respond with contradiction. It is the height of arrogance and deception to argue with God to justify sinful behavior. (Or to justify disappointment, for that matter.)The episodes that follow in the rest of the book all seems to relate back to this concept — the people are basically calling God a liar when he says, “I have loved you.” Doubting God’s love is corruption’s foundation. This first episode exposes a cautious, distrusting attitude in the people of God; despite God fulfilling his promise to restore them to their homeland, the people cannot bring themselves to trust in God’s love.

The second episode follows, in verse 6, where God accuses the people of not respecting or honoring him. God specifically focuses on the disrespect coming from the priests of the temple, saying they “show contempt for [his] name.” Again, the people give a cheeky response, like junior high schoolers caught misbehaving, “How have we shown contempt for your name?” God points out that the animals being brought to the temple for sacrifice are second rate — the people are offering blind and diseased animals to God, but keeping the first-rate ones for themselves, revealing that they do not respect or honor God. But God specifically gives greater condemnation for the temple priests who are complicit in these inferior offerings and tolerant of the corruption. It’s clear that God condemns the entirety of the system of worship in the temple as an embarrassment, also making it clear he considers the people faithless, dishonest, and hypocritical.

This second episode also indicates that God will not tolerate “mediocre” or “half-hearted” Christianity. Offering second rate sacrifices while keeping the choice ones for ourselves is a mindset condemned in the severest ways throughout scripture. In Acts 5, Ananias and Sapphira sold property to support the 1st century fledgling church and presented the cash to Peter as if it were the entire amount but held back a portion for themselves. They were struck dead — not because they didn’t have a choice in what they gave, or how much they gave, but because they presented the gift as if it was everything, when it was not. Half-hearted devotion, mediocre commitment, wrapping sinful behavior in the “robes of righteousness” — Malachi condemns all this when he retorts that the people offering these “lame” sacrifices should try offering them to the governor (a foreigner appointed by the Persian Empire to oversee Israel) (Malachi 1:8). Of course, THAT would not be acceptable.

In the end, God makes it clear what he thinks of this practice, particularly regarding the priests who, with a nod and a wink, allow it to go on: “Oh, that one of you would shut the temple doors, so that you would not light useless fires on my altar! I am not pleased with you,” says the LORD Almighty, “and I will accept no offering from your hands.” (Malachi 1:10). God would rather have no offerings than these perfidious sacrifices. In a sense, God would rather just walk away. It is both sad and sobering. It is eerily reminiscent of the rebuke in Revelation 3:15-16: “I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth.”

In chapter 2, verse 10, God begins his third discussion, stating the men of Israel have been unfaithful to both God and their wives. God is angry that the men of Israel have desecrated the temple by marrying gentile women who worship idols. But the men are unaware of this desecration, and when God refuses to accept their sacrifices, the people angrily respond, “Why?”

But it’s not so much that the men have married pagan women, but because they have divorced their believing, covenant wives in order to do so! This was the situation Nehemiah was forced to deal with in chapter 13 of his book. The Israelite men were leaving their wives and children for foreign women, and they didn’t see anything wrong with it. But by bringing these women who worshipped pagan gods into their homes, they also invited the idolatry of these new wives into Israelite society. This served as a poisonous mixture of two kinds of evil that undermined the very foundations of the community —which was worse? The idolatry? The divorce? By today’s reckoning, these are the two most fundamental components of the life of any committed Christian — relationship to God, and relationship to family. Yet, the Israelite men seem gleeful to throw both of these away and then are dumbfounded when God calls them out for it.

But even though Malachi doesn’t discuss it, the motivating reason for this phenomenon wasn’t that these older men were attracted to younger women or the exotic idolatry these women brought with them — it was actually political. The prominent men of Jerusalem were marrying into the elite pagan families of the powerful nations that were ruling over Israel. To borrow a metaphor, this wasn’t about “sex, drugs, and rock ‘n roll,” but in order to find favor and move up in society. The were divorcing the “wives of their youth” for money! Talk about insulting! No wonder God said, “the man who hates and divorces his wife does violence to the one he should protect.” (Malachi 2:16).

I need to pause here for just a minute and recognize the reality of divorce in society today. I know a lot of people who have been through divorce both here at SOGF, and across my acquaintances. We even have a ministry group dedicated to helping people who are dealing with the pain of divorce. As we consider what Malachi is saying about divorce, we need to place the accusations in this third “argument” between God and the Israelites within the totality of Malachi’s message.

Within the context of Malachi’s message regarding divorce is God’s charge that his people are failing to accurately reflect his attributes in the world — this theme runs throughout this book. God declares His people should love him to show that He is loving (1:2-5). They should honor him to communicate that he is honorable (1:6–2:9). In the arguments that follow the idolatry/divorce discussion (which we haven’t gotten to yet), God says that His people need to pursue social justice, because he is a just God (2:17–3:5). They should give tithes and offerings to show the world that he is a giving God (3:6–12). They should serve him in humble trust because he is trustworthy (3:13–15). In other words, God’s people should be demonstrating truths about God by the way they behave.

(Considering the message of the Book of Jude, which immediately preceded Malachi in our reading schedule, where Jude emphasizes the way that the church can determine whether a teacher’s theology is correct by looking at how they live their lives, Malachi’s message is very much the same. In either case, the real truth comes out in the way people behave).

At the heart of this discussion about divorce, Malachi’s emphasis is on unity. This is highlighted by the uncommon use of a Hebrew term that combines the attributes of “one Father/God,” which is then also used two times each in 2:10 and 2:15 (the double attributes are therefore doubled in a double fashion!) This is the only place in all of the Old Testament that this phrase occurs. By using this unusual term, God is stressing to his people how important it is for them to be unified—to be one, just as he is one. His people, however, are demonstrating just the opposite.

Malachi is picking up on how the disunity of the people is most strikingly obvious in the relationship that should exemplify unity most clearly—marriage. Husbands are unfaithful to their wives, the very ones they should be most careful to protect. This is why God’s final condemnation of these men seems particularly harsh — these men, who purported to be faithful to God’s law, failed to protect their wives by divorcing them (and let’s be clear, the motivation was to marry another woman). Husbands were doing violence to the persons they were primarily relationally and covenantally responsible; their wives (vv. 14–16). The “godly offspring” God desires (v. 15) are not necessarily blood descendants, but those who reflect His own attributes, giving evidence that they are His spiritual children. This type of divorce among his people did not reflect the truth about God’s own unity and was therefore one of the many behaviors condemned by Malachi.

Then, in chapter 2, verse 17, Malachi transitions to his second group of three episodes. It’s hard for me to tell who exactly fires the opening shot of this new argument/discussion. During the discussion on divorce in vv. 10-16 of chapter 2, Malachi, as a narrator, is doing most of the talking, conveying God’s displeasure over the issue in the third person, rather than directly quoting what the Lord is saying. In v. 16, it is Malachi who is warning the people to “be on your guard,” and “not be unfaithful,” and then finishing off his thoughts in v. 17, saying “you have wearied the Lord with your words.“

Therefore, it appears that the 4th episode begins with an apparently angry response to this last statement which the people aim at Malachi, “How have we wearied Him?” Malachi responds with the accusing words of the people themselves, and in the closing sentences of v.17, notes how the Israelites have openly and bitterly accused God of neglecting them by allowing injustice and evil to flourish, while God ignores it all. The people are trying to turn the tables on God, saying it’s God who has broken the covenant by allowing this injustice.

God’s immediate response is simple and direct — “I will send my messenger, who will prepare the way before me. Then suddenly the Lord you are seeking will come to his temple; the messenger of the covenant, whom you desire, will come,” says the LORD Almighty” (Malachi 3:1).

The Hebrew word for “messenger” in 3:1 is the exact same word used in 1:1 — the word is “mal’aki,” which is also the author’s name. Other than the name of this book, there is no one named Malachi anywhere in the Bible. In the Old Testament, the term is used as a title usually connected with a priest or a prophet. Of course, this prophecy of a “messenger” would be fulfilled in the person of John the Baptist. This messenger will precede “the Lord you are seeking,” who will “suddenly . . . Come to his temple.” Malachi’s audience would have seen this as the fulfillment of the promise of the Messiah.

But wait! The “Lord” who will follow after the messenger is coming to purify (v. 3) and to judge (v. 5). God will mercifully send the messenger first to prepare his people — this will be the the voice calling in the wilderness predicted in Isaiah 40:3. Then the “messenger of the covenant” will come — this is now a second messenger — the Messiah! The prophecy defines the people’s anticipation as “the Lord you are seeking,” and the one “whom you desire.”

Chapter 3:2 then references the “day of his coming.” If you’ve been following along throughout the Old Testament reading, we’ve done so far, this concept of “the day of the Lord” has been a constant theme. The last time I had the opportunity to share my comments about the daily scripture passages with the church, we were reading through the book of Isaiah. In Isaiah 2:11-12, it says:

“The eyes of the arrogant man will be humbled
and the pride of men brought low;
the LORD alone will be exalted in that day.
The LORD Almighty has a day in store
for all the proud and lofty,
for all that is exalted
(and they will be humbled).”

The actual phrase “day of the Lord” occurs 23 times in the Bible, and variants of the concept occurs all over the scriptures. In the broadest sense, this idea alludes to a time in history when God’s specific will and purpose for the world and mankind is fulfilled. A popular view of this in the culture of modern Christianity has been to take the concept of the word “day” literally, and interpret as an instantaneous event, such as the rapture, or when Christ returns to earth, or the final judgment. Bible scholars generally don’t find this unreasonable, but most conclude because the majority of the references to this concept are in the Old Testament, and tie into prophecies involving Messianic fulfillment (like the one here in Malachi 3), it is a better view to consider this more generally, as a period when the Messiah/Christ will reign throughout the world before He cleanses heaven and earth in preparation for the eternal state of all mankind.

As in the example I just quoted from Isaiah 2, the “day of the Lord” is most often portrayed as a time of judgment against sin, corruption, and opposition to God. It’s portrayed as a time of calamity, with “end of the world” implications. For example, “Wail, for the day of the Lord is near!” (Isaiah 13:6); “For the day is near, the day of the LORD is near— a day of clouds, a time of doom for the nations.” (Ezekiel 30:3); “Alas for that day! For the day of the Lord is near; it will come like destruction from the Almighty.” (Joel 1:15); “The sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to blood. before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord.” (Joel 2:31); “On the day of the LORD's sacrifice, I will punish the princes and the king's sons and all those clad in foreign clothes.” (Zephaniah 1:8); “They are demonic spirits that perform signs, and they go out to the kings of the whole world, to gather them for the battle on the great day of God Almighty” (Revelation 16:4). In certain instances, the “day of the Lord” is connected to a positive view of God’s restoration, as in Joel 2:28-30, where God promises to pour out his spirit “in that day.” Some Old Testament passages that refer to the” day of the Lord” describe historical judgments that have already been fulfilled in some sense (Isaiah 13:6–22; Ezekiel 30:2–19; Joel 1:15, 3:14; Amos 5:18–20; Zephaniah 1:14–18), while others refers to divine judgments that will take place toward the end of the age (Joel 2:30–32; Zechariah 14:1; Malachi 4:1, 5).

But there is another element to the general concept of the day of the Lord, a concept invoked here in Malachi chapter 3, that connects the “day of the Lord” with the coming of the Messiah, and the nature of what the Messiah was going to do. We see this become plain in the Gospel of John, where Jesus repeatedly says that “a time is coming,” where he is referring not just to the fact that the Messiah has come in the person of Jesus, but also to the “time” of his death, which is the ultimate fulfillment of the Messiah’s mission. When you consider the reality of the nature of Christ’s death and what was happening when he was dying on the cross, we see how Jesus’s sacrificial death is the fulfillment of a lot of these Old Testament prophecies about the “day of the Lord.” Recall that as Jesus was dying, “darkness came over the whole land . . . The sun stopped shining.” (Luke 23:44-45). At the moment Jesus died, “the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth shook and the rocks split. The tombs broke open and the bodies of many holy people who had died were raised to life.” (Matthew 27:51-52). The Old Testament imagery connected with the ‘day of the Lord” is filled with images of darkness, shaking, earthquakes, and similar cataclysms (See Joel 2:31, Amos 8:9, Zephaniah 1:15.). God made it clear to the world that his son’s death was certainly a “day of judgment,” but it’s not the end of the world. It’s the judgment day before judgment day. The Messiah himself fulfilled these prophecies and therefore fulfilled God’s judgment. Though we deserve all the horrible judgment that comes with the “day of the Lord,” instead, the Father rained down all the horrible darkness and judgment on Jesus he died on the cross. God’s justice as embodied in the “day of Lord” requires the demolition and destruction of sin and evil. But instead of eradicating you and me in that judgment, God eradicated his one and only son. This is the ultimate fulfillment of the promise of the “messenger” here in Malachi 3, and its allusions to the coming of the Messiah.

But on the surface, this is not what the people perceive. Malachi presents the “day of Lord” as something that will be difficult to endure (3:2). The question that follows, “Who can stand when he appears” connects back to Psalms 24:3-4, where a similar question is both asked and answered: “Who may ascend the hill of the LORD? Who may stand in his holy place? He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who does not lift up his soul to an idol or swear by what is false.” (Of course, this concept can only truly be fulfilled in the unconditional cleansing from we receive through Christ’s sacrifice). In Malachi 3:6, God promises “to put you on trial. I will be quick to testify against sorcerers, adulterers and perjurers, against those who defraud laborers of their wages, who oppress the widows and the fatherless, and deprive the foreigners among you of justice, but do not fear me,” says the LORD Almighty.” (Note that besides idolatry, sexual immorality, and falsehood, God is aiming his ire at those who would take advantage of and scapegoat defenseless people. Again, we can’t get away from how important social justice is to God). The inference here is God’s messenger will be like a fire, purifying the people, uprooting and destroying all sinfulness. It would seem that only a faithful remnant will be left. Fortunately, for the sake of understanding this message, God will have more to say about the “day of the Lord” through Malachi’s prophecies at the end of the book.

The 5th episode starts in Malachi 3:6, with God making it plain to his people that despite their turning away from him, he remains faithful to them and urges them to “turn back to me.” The people retort “How can we turn back?” God then specifically confronts them for “robbing” from Him. Again, the people are incredulous; “How are we robbing you?” God proceeds to call the people out for a special brand of selfishness. The people have ceased from the custom of offering “tithes” from out of their income in order to support the work of the temple.

Of course, “tithe” literally means “one-tenth,” and this was the amount God had commanded his people to donate out of their annual income and produce to support the work of the temple and its priests (see Leviticus 27:30). Both here, and in the book of Nehemiah, the neglect of this responsibility has resulted in the very temple itself falling into disrepair.

The reason for the failure of the people to give to God’s work is not specifically address, but the economic climate in Malachi’s time could not have been good. Times must have been tough — we’ve already seen the willingness of the Israelites to offer substandard sacrifices in order to keep that which was more valuable for their own use. I am sure the people were astonished that God expected them to give of themselves when they had little or nothing to give.

But that misses the entire point. Malachi 3:9 indicates that the stinginess of the people (defined as “robbing God”) has placed them under a curse (which should not have been a surprise either, as explained in Deuteronomy 11:26-28). Verse 10 offers the way out of this dilemma: “Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house.” (“Storehouse” here means the treasure rooms of the temple). This would seem counterintuitive. God is commanding me to give the “whole tithe” (10% of my intake) to maintain the temple and feed the priests, while the entire populace is struggling? The implication of the response is, “Hey, God! Bless me, and then I’ll give to support the temple. I need to support myself and my family!”

God, however, offers an incentive. Verses 10 through 12 say, “Test me in this,” says the LORD Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it. I will prevent pests from devouring your crops, and the vines in your fields will not drop their fruit before it is ripe,” says the LORD Almighty. “Then all the nations will call you blessed, for yours will be a delightful land,” says the LORD Almighty.”

God makes it clear he wants to abundantly bless his people, but he expects a measure of faithfulness on their part. This is a relational concept. God wants us to partner with him. This principle is sometimes abused by those who would have us believe that when we give to God, then God is obligated to bless us in a manner that leads to opulent wealth, or boundless prosperity. That concept is not present here. It is simply a promise of provision — to give us what we need and more, not because we deserve it, but because he loves us.

Finally, in the 6th episode/exchange (3:13-18), God asserts that the people “have spoken arrogantly against” Him. The answer is as before, the people claim that this is news to them: “What have we said against you?”

In vv. 14-15, God tells them what they have said, as if he is playing a recording of their accusations: “You have said, ‘It is futile to serve God. What do we gain by carrying out his requirements and going about like mourners before the LORD Almighty? But now we call the arrogant blessed. Certainly, evildoers prosper, and even when they put God to the test, they get away with it.”

The people have seen enough injustice through their own eyes and from their own perspectives, that they have become totally cynical. What’s the point in serving God, when all we get is pain and sadness, while wicked, prideful people are the ones who come out ahead? In their minds, God doesn’t even care.

God responds to this 6th and final conversation, but not directly. This time, there is no direct rebuke. God takes a much softer, gentler approach. It’s hard to tell if God is describing an actual, historical event, or whether he is offering his people a parable in the fashion of Jesus in the New Testament.

But God narrates a brief scene, where the faithful remnant of Israel’s people who truly fear the Lord, get together to fellowship and to share about God’s love, implying a collective experience of worship and service to God. In God’s presence, a “scroll of remembrance” is written, telling this story, prepared in memory of these faithful few, so in the future, others can read about it, and remember God’s character — his faithfulness and his promises. Malachi is offering us a reflection on the very purpose of scripture — how the Word of God points to the past to remind us of what God has done to inspire faithfulness in the here and now, and hope for the future.