MALACHI

Malachi is the last prophet of the Old Testament. Nothing much is known about him other than the words he speaks and writes down in the book named after him. His name, Malachi, simply means ‘messenger’. It could be that this was his real name (most Jewish names have a meaning), or else that he chose this name as a description of his function. He uses the term ‘malak’ (Hebrew for ‘messenger’) another three times in his small book, once to describe the function of the priests (Mal 2:7) and twice to announce the coming of the one preparing the Messiah’s way (Mal 3:1).
Jews had returned from the Babylonian exile in three groups (536, 458 and 444 BC) with high hopes of God re-establishing his people in their own land and bringing about a Messianic kingdom as the earlier prophets had predicted.
But for all their hopes, obedience and sacrifice the returned Jews find themselves in a less than ideal situation: They are still under the over-lordship of the idolatrous Medo-Persian empire, they have to share the land with other peoples that had moved in during the exile, they have barely managed to rebuild temple and walls in Jerusalem and their economy is not exactly ‘flowing with milk and honey’. Their discouragement has lead to an increasingly casual attitude towards the temple, the sacrifices and God himself. They are saying “It is vain to serve God. What do we profit by keeping his command or by going about as mourners before the LORD of hosts?” (Mal 3:13) and ”Where is the God of justice?” (Mal 2:17).
Malachi addresses their halfheartedness and cold, bare-minimum religiosity. He convicts them that to do so it really to dishonor God, to not know or understand him and to misrepresent him to the surrounding nations. Malachi especially addresses the priests, who, though spiritual leaders, have lowered the standard by accepting lame or sick animals as sacrifices and the like. Malachi reminds them of their high calling by going back to how priests were called from the beginning: ”My covenant with him was a covenant of life and well-being… this called for reverence and he revered me and stood in we of my name. True instruction was in his mouth… he walked with me in integrity and uprightness, and he turned many from iniquity. For the lips of a priest should guard knowledge and people should seek instruction from his mouth” (Mal 2:4-7).
It was probably the corruption of the priesthood together with the people’s halfheartedness that resulted in people abandoning the giving of tithes. Malachi speaks God’s promise of blessing to those who are faithful to give and to do right.
The Jews have also started to divorce their wives and marry idolatrous women of the surrounding peoples, the very sin that had corrupted Israel from the days of the Judges. Malachi strongly denounces both the marrying of idolatrous women (Mal 2:11-12) and the practice of divorce as such (Mal 2:14-16), linking it with violence. To divorce means to cut apart what God himself made one (Gen 2:24). It is an act of violence and deeply destructive.
With searing words Malachi furthermore shows that their religious fervor (like weeping at the altar) will never be acceptable to God as long as they refuse to obey him in the practical matters of daily life (like not being faithless to the wife of their youth, Mal 2:13,15). The requirement of fairness to one’s neighbor (the essence of the Law), must not be neglected on the pretext of being busy with self-ordained religiosity. God doesn’t say divorce is never permissible and he doesn’t condemn suffering spouses to decades of torment. Rather he is putting the weight of a divorce on the marriage covenant breaker, the one breaking his wedding day promise of ensuring the spouse’s safety, provision and emotional support.
And finally Malachi reassures the Jews that the Messiah will indeed come, that the promises will fulfill. But the Messiah will not only challenge the evil, but also the halfhearted. He will refine them like silver in a furnace, scrub them clean like a powerful soap. He will be light and healing to those who fear him and He will restore all relationships. This hope is meant to carry them till that day.

The author

The author identifies himself as Malachi, with no other descriptions given, no father’s name, no prophet title, no genealogy, no reference to a king. Nothing is known about him other than the words he speaks and the book he writes. His name, Malachi, simply means ‘messenger’. It could be that this was his real name, as most Jewish names have a meaning. Or else he may have chosen to identify himself by his function only. The author uses the term ‘malak’ (H4401, ‘messenger’) four times in his small book:
Mal 1:1 1x referring to himself
Mal 2:7 1x referring to a priest’s role of being a messenger of God
Mal 3:1 2x referring to a predicted messenger preparing the way of the Lord, probably meaning John the Baptist, or likely also Jesus himself

Some scholars believe Ezra or Nehemiah to have written Malachi. Ezra and Nehemiah are roughly contemporaries of Malachi, but both clearly identify themselves in their own writings. Some have suggested Malachi was a Levite or a priest because a significant portion of his writing deals with priests and sacrifices, but none of this is sure.
Nothing else is known about Malachi’s life, other than that some people respond to his message (Mal 3:16).

The date of Malachi’s writing

Malachi doesn’t date his prophecy by mentioning a king, leader or historic event. The term he uses for governor in Mal 1:8 (‘pehah’) is the normal title for a civil governor during the Medo-Persian empire (536-333 BC).
Malachi mentions an established priesthood and sacrificial system, the altar and the temple, so he must be speaking some time after 520 BC, when the second temple built by Zerubbabel has been inaugurated. Some of the issues Malachi addresses are the people’s shallow religiosity and a lax priesthood. There are significant parallels with problems that Nehemiah addresses during his governorship (444-432 BC) and upon returning from reporting to King Artaxerxes (Neh 13, after 432 BC):
corruption of priesthood Mal 1:6-2:9 Neh 13:7-9
marrying foreign wives Mal 2:11-15 Neh 13:23-27
social injustices Mal 3:5 Neh 5:1-13
neglecting paying tithe Mal 3:8-10 Neh 13:10-14
disregard of the Sabbath Mal 2:8-8, 4:4 Neh 13:15-22

It is therefore likely that Malachi and Nehemiah are roughly contemporary. Malachi has traditionally been held to be the last prophet of the Old Testament, speaking around 440-400 BC.

The historical setting

Malachi addresses the Jews that have returned from the Babylonian exile to Judah and Jerusalem (Ezr 5:1). When King Cyrus of Medo-Persia conquers the vast Babylonian empire in 539 BC, he reverses the forced re-settlement policies of the Babylonians. He issues an edict in 538 BC that the peoples exiled by Babylon are allowed to return to their ancestral lands and rebuild the temples of their gods (Ezr 1:2-4), thus fulfilling Jeremiah’s prophecy that the exile would only last seventy years (Jer 29:10).
Some forty-two thousand high-minded Jews respond to this historic turn of events and move back to the promised land in 536 BC under Zerubbabel’s leadership (Ezr 2:64), a second group returns in 458 BC under Ezra’s leadership (Ezr 7-8) and a third group returns in 444 BC under Nehemiah’s leadership (Neh 2). The Jews had actually fared better than expected in exile and to give up all they had built up in Babylon was a sacrifice. The returning Jews were therefore those who were obedient to God’s call, those who had high hopes of God restoring the fortunes of their people, giving them back their land and fulfilling the amazing promises spoken by earlier prophets like Isaiah, Micah or Amos.
But for all their hopes, obedience and sacrifice, the returned Jews find themselves in a less than ideal situation, nothing is quite like it was before the exile. At this ‘second exodus’ the Jews are a small group, maybe fifty thousand in total, in comparison with the roughly two million they were at the first exodus during Moses’s time (536 BC, Exo 12:37). They are only from the tribes of Judah and Benjamin (Ezr 1:5), all other tribes of Israel are lost. Though they have an own governor (Zerubbabel 536 BC onward, Nehemiah 444-432 BC), they are still under the over-lordship of the idolatrous Medo-Persian empire. They have to pay taxes and are struggling economically. On top of that, the Jews have to share the land with other idolatrous peoples that have moved in during the exile. Many cities still carry damage from the Babylonian invasion and afford no protection. They have managed to build the temple (516 BC, Ezr 6:16) and the walls of Jerusalem (444 BC, Neh 6:15), but there is continual opposition and hostility from the other peoples inhabiting the land (Ezr 4, Neh 4-6).
The high hopes of the returnees for a restored, godly and blessed Judah ruled by a Messianic king does not seem to materialize and discouragement has lead to an increasingly casual attitude towards the temple, the sacrifices and God himself: They are offering blemished sacrifices (Mal 1:6-14) and the priests accept them (Mal 2:1-9). They are compromising morally by marrying idolatrous women and divorcing their wives at will (Mal 2:10-16). They are saying “It is vain to serve God. What do we profit by keeping his command or by going about as mourners before the LORD of hosts?” (Mal 3:13) and ”Where is the God of justice?” (Mal 2:17).
Overall there is a sense of a mechanical obeying of requirements, but no heartfelt devotion or fear of God. Rather there is discouragement, tiredness and even resentment against a God who seems to ask so much and give so little.

God and his people disputing – the Structure of Malachi

Most of Malachi’s prophecy is a disputation between God and the people. God makes a statement or objection, the people react with a critical questions and God answers again. Six such a circles can be found:

First dispute Mal 1:2-5
God: “I have loved you”
People: “How have you loved us?”
God: “I have loved Jacob but I have hated Esau, I have made his country desolate”
Second dispute Mal 1:6-2:9
God: “Where is the honor due me? You despise my name.”
People: “How have we despised your name?”
God: “by offering polluted food on my altar.”
People: “How have we polluted it?”
God “By offering blind, lame or sick animals.”
Third dispute Mal 2:10-16
God: “You have profaned my sanctuary, you married the daughter of foreign gods.”
People: “Why does he not accept our offerings and crying out to him?”
God: “Because you are unfaithful to the wife of your youth.”
Fourth dispute Mal 2:17-3:5
God: “You have wearied me.”
People: “How have we wearied you?”
God: “By saying “all who do evil are good in God’s sight” and “Where is the God of justice?”
God: “I will send my messenger, a purifying fire… I will bring judgment to evildoers.”
Fifth dispute Mal 3:6-12
God: “Turn back to me”
People “How shall we return?”
God: “You rob me.”
People: “How are we robbing you?”
God: “Start offering the tithe again.”
Sixth dispute Mal 3:13-18
God: “You have spoken harsh words against me.”
People: “It is vain to serve God. What do we profit by keeping his command?… we count the arrogant happy, evildoers will prosper.”
God: Short story: Scroll of remembrance of those who revere God.

In these disputes Israel’s callousness and resentment is revealed. They have no idea of God’s heart for them nor of the goodness of what he commands. They find God wearisome and demanding. God’s frustration and bleeding heart over his people is also revealed. God’s very jealousy for their allegiance is really a statement of his humility. Rather than just throwing them off, he goes through the tedious and humbling task of trying to teach them who he really is and what he really wants.

First dispute Mal 1:2-5 God’s love for Israel

The Jews are still carrying a residual resentment against God for letting them be defeated, for sending them to the exile and for letting other nations (like Edom / Esau) triumph over them for a time. God assures them that he will judge all who do evil against them (and evil doers in general) and that he has set his love on them, the willing, humble and obedient Jews. In spite of their current callousness and in spite of the far from glorious situation they find themselves in, they are the carriers of God’s promises and it is through them that God will bring forward his plan for a Messianic kingdom (Mal 3:1, 4:1-5).
The sentence “I have have hated Esau” is difficult and upsetting to many bible readers, also when Paul quotes it in Rom 9:13 to underscore God’s sovereignty and mercy. It is a figure of speech called ‘litote’, where an overstatement is made to make a point. The point is to convince the Jews that God still loves them. God does not hate any humans, and he definitely does not hate based on something unchangeable as race. Esau (or Edom) by Malachi’s day has come to stand for proud, unwilling, unredeemable humans.

Second dispute Mal 1:6-2:9 Dishonoring sacrifices

Malachi addresses their halfheartedness and cold, bare-minimum religiosity: they offer blind, lame, sick or deformed animals. The sentence “Try presenting that to your governor; will he be pleased with you or show you favor?” (Mal 1:8) hits home: There is tremendous disrespect in what they do. “What weariness this is, you say, and you sniff at me” (Mal 1:13). Their attitude of unwilling fulfillment of what they think are God’s excessive demands is highly dishonoring to God. They neither know nor understand God – and also misrepresent him to the surrounding nations. God would rather have no sacrifice than a sacrifice with such an attitude: “Oh that someone among you would shut the temple doors so that you would not kindle fire on my altar in vain!“ (Mal 1:16). God has to defend his honor: “for I am a great King, says the LORD of hosts, and my name is reverenced among the nations” (Mal 1:14). To have to say that to those who should have been the glad announcers of this message is already a humiliation.
Malachi then especially addresses the priests, who, though spiritual leaders, have lowered the standard, by accepting lame or sick animals as sacrifices. Malachi reminds them of their high calling by going back to how priests were called from the beginning: ”I have sent this command to you, that my covenant with Levi may hold… My covenant with him was a covenant of life and well-being… this called for reverence and he revered me and stood in we of my name. True instruction was in his mouth… he walked with me in integrity and uprightness, and he turned many from iniquity. For the lips of a priest should guard knowledge and people should seek instruction from his mouth, for he is the messenger of the LORD of hosts” (Mal 2:4-7). He also shows the priests the devastating impact they have if they fail in their role: “But you have turned aside from the way; you have caused many to stumble by your instruction; you have corrupted the covenant of Levi”. In retribution God will make them despised (Mal 2:8-9).

Third dispute Mal 2:10-16 Idolatry and divorce

The Jews have also started to divorce their wives, partially in order to marry idolatrous women of the surrounding peoples. This is the very sin that had brought Israel down from the days of Judges. Malachi strongly denounces the marrying of idolatrous women (Mal 2:11-12) calling it an abomination and a profaning of his sanctuary. It leads to compromise, children being taught idolatrous ways and the breakdown of families.
He comes down equally hard on the practice of divorce as such (Mal 2:14-16), linking it with violence. To divorce means to cut apart what God himself made one, a likely reference to Gen 2:24. It is an act of violence and deeply destructive. With searing words Malachi also shows the Jews that all their religious effort will never be acceptable to God as long as they refuse to obey God in the practical matters of daily life: religious fervor like weeping at the altar will do nothing if they keep being faithless to the wife of their youth (Mal 2:13,15). The requirement of basic fairness to one’s neighbor – the essence of the Law – must not be neglected on the pretext of being busy with self-ordained religiosity. This passage doesn’t say that divorce is never permissible and it doesn’t condemn suffering spouses to decades of torment. God in this passage is not putting the blame or the weight of a divorce on the suffering spouse, but rather on the marriage covenant breaker, the one unfaithful, the one breaking his wedding day promise of ensuring the spouse’s safety, provision and emotional support.

Fourth dispute Mal 2:17-3:5 Purification and judgment

When faced with difficulties and frustration, the people have been secretly or openly doubting the justice of God. They say “all who do evil are good in God’s sight of the LORD, and he delights in them” and “Where is the God of justice?” Behind these words are probably a frustration at God who doesn’t seem to vindicate his people or doesn’t seem to fulfill his promises of a kingdom of God to come.
God answers by assuring them that he indeed will bring judgment on evildoers and that he will indeed bring his messenger (Mal 3:1), but the messenger will be more than they bargained for: a purifier by fire, a launderer by caustic soap who will start with God’s very own people (Mal 3:2-4).
They themselves will be the first ones needing change, and then yes, he will also judge all evildoers as they are crying for (Mal 3:5). Mark quotes Mal 3:1 and identifies John the Baptist as the messenger preparing the way before the Lord (Mrk 1:2). Most likely the messenger in Mal 3:2-4 also refers to Jesus himself.

Fifth dispute Mal 3:6-12 Tithes

In powerful words God holds the Jews guilty for robbing him by not giving their tithes (Mal 3:8-10). The corruption of the priesthood and the people’s disappointment with God were probably the chief reasons that people stopped giving their tithes. God promises that tangible blessing will come to those who are faithful to tithe and give priority to God and God even invites them to test him on this matter (Mal 3:10). Reminding them that their current economic hardship is a consequence of their disobedience so far (a covenant curse according to Lev 26 and Deu 28), he also tells them that all this can be changed immediately by a change in their attitude (Mal 3:10-11). They can be again the happy and prosperous country God meant them to be, the “land of delight” (Mal 3:12).
He to do right by God and to do right.
And finally Malachi reassures the Jews that the Messiah will indeed come, that the promises will fulfill. But when the Messiah comes he will not only challenge the evil, but also the halfhearted. He will refine them like silver in a furnace, scrub them clean like a powerful soap (Mal 3:2-3). He will be light and healing to those who fear him (Mal 4:2) and He will restore all relationships (Mal 4:5-6). This hope is meant to carry them till that day.

Sixth dispute Mal 3:13-18 Honoring God

God again accuses the Jews of having spoken harsh words against him: “It is vain to serve God. What do we profit by keeping his command?… we count the arrogant happy, evildoers do not only prosper, but when they put God to the test they escape” (Mal 3:13-14). The issue is very similar to fourth dispute: They feel stupid for having obeyed God, feel cheated by God who didn’t come through. God’s answer is similar: announcing the coming day of the Lord.

But before that is an insert. Some people show fear of God. They respond to Malachi’s message and as a group write a “book of remembrance” (Mal 3:16). It is not totally clear whether this refers to Malachi’s message only, or whether they remind themselves of Scriptures in general, but their effort to take God’s word seriously is immediately picked up by God: “They shall be mine, says the LORD of hosts, my special possession on the day when I act, and I will spare them as parents spare their children who serve them. Then once more you shall see the difference between the righteous and the wicked, between one who serves God and one who does not serve him” (Mal 3:17-18). This is exactly what the people have been demanding to see in dispute four and six. God promises that they will see it, but challenges them as to which group they will be part of.

Prediction of justice, judgment, the day of the Lord and the Messiah

As already started in Mal 3:1-7, Malachi ends his book with a prediction that all they are asking for will indeed happen: Justice will be served, judgment of the evil will come on the day of the Lord (Mal 4:1,3), the Messiah will bring about the kingdom, which will be joy and healing to the faithful (Mal 4:2). But he will also be the great purifier of sin – and purification they need (Mal 3:2-4).

Just as Moses held out before Israel obedience and disobedience, life and death (Deu 30:15-20), so Malachi does so again with his generation. Will they humble themselves, repent of their resentment and halfheartedness and have faith in God’s promise? Will they let go of their anger and turn to God the Father with a child’s heart of trust? Malachi ends by predicting a future figure, John the Baptist (Luk 7:27), who will do exactly that for his generation, reconciling parent and child (Mal 4:5-6), but the choice whether they want to be reconciled is theirs. God is willing.

Color Coding Suggestions

• Who persons, priests, the people, nations, parents, children, …
• Where, When
• Contrasts, Comparison, Connectives, Conditional Statements
• Emotions, Emphatic statements
• Questions, Quotes

Repeated Themes

• God’s house, temple, altar, sacrifice, offering, tithe, …
• honor, respect, awe, fear of God <=> dishonor, disrespect, annoyance at God
• accept, give favor, be pleased <=> not accept, not regard, not be pleased
• obedience, godliness, wholeheartedness <=> sin, faithlessness, carelessness
• blessing, fruitfulness, abundance <=> curse, barrenness, lack, …
• Descriptions of God and his actions

Meditation Passages

• Mal 1:10-13  shut temple doors, no pleasure, my name great among the nations, you sniff at me
• Mal 2:4-8     my covenant with Levi, he revered me, true instruction in his mouth, walked with integrity
• Mal 2:13-16  no longer regards offerings, unfaithful to wife of youth, God’s hates divorce, to not be faithless
• Mal 3:2-4     who can endure his coming? refiner’s fire, fuller’s soap, he will purify
• Mal 3:4-5     remember Moses, prophet Elijah, who will turn hearts of parents to children, strike land with a curse

BACKGROUND INFORMATION

Who wrote

• Mal 1:1       “An oracle. The word of the LORD to Israel by Malachi” … probably written by Malachi himself
• Mal 1:1,2:7,3:1 Malachi’s name (H4401 ma’lakiy) means “my messenger”, linked to the word malak, (H4397 ma’lak, Mal 2:7, 3:1). So the almost identical word appears 4x in the book: once referring to himself (Mal 1:1), once to a priest’s role (Mal 2:7), twice to a preparer of the way (Mal 3:1, referring to John the Baptist).
  • Own name? “Malachi” could be an own name (Hebrew names mostly have meaning, and this is not a far out one).
  • Title? “Malachi” could also be a title. No father’s name is given, which could support this. Maybe the writer doesn’t want to draw attention to himself.
• Other author? Some people have attributed it to Nehemiah or Ezra (Targum of Jonathan, Jerome and Rashi, 1040-1105 AD, Calvin), though both clearly state their names in their respective books). Talmud:
• He was one of the man of the great synagogue like Haggai and Zechariah. Some church fathers say: He was a Levite of the tribe of Zebulun of Supha. He definitely shows great interest in the temple, priesthood and sacrificial system (Mal 1:6-13, 2:1-4, 2:8-9, 3:3-4, 3:6-11) yet he speaks about it as one observing it from the outside (Mal 1:6, 2:1-2).
• Nothing else of his actions is known, other than that some people respond to his message (Mal 3:16).

When written

• No dating is given relative to kings or governors or other events.
• Mal 1:8 … the word for “governor” is “pehah”, which was the title of a civil governor in the Persian empire > therefore the book seems to be post-exilic, under the rule of Medo-Persia > 536-333 BC
• Malachi shows an established temple, temple worship, priesthood and sacrifices > so after 516 BC
• Malachi reveals a laxness or casualness of the priesthood and the people towards sacrifices > sounds like the book is a bit later, not in the first zeal of the returnees, though we know from Haggai that zeal waned quickly.

Link to Ezra and Nehemiah:

• Issues addressed in Malachi: Israel’s special status, sacrifices with blemish, mixed marriages, divorce, tithes not paid
• Issues addressed in Nehemiah: priesthood accommodating relatives, Levites unpaid, sabbath trade, mixed marriages
  • corruption of priesthood       Mal 1:6-2:9          Neh 13:7-9
  • marrying foreign wives          Mal 2:11-15          Neh 13:23-27
  • social injustices                       Mal 3:5                 Neh 5:1-13
  • neglecting paying tithe          Mal 3:8-10           Neh 13:10-14
  • disregard of the Sabbath       Mal 2:8-8, 4:4     Neh 13:15-22
• So quite a bit of parallelity, especially similar to the time Nehemiah returns from reporting to Artaxerxes 432 BC (Neh 13).
• Malachi mentions neither Ezra nor Nehemiah … therefore later than them (?) … this would make it past 432 BC
• Mal 2:11 suggests mixed marriages are not yet taken care of, therefore earlier than Nehemiah (?) > before 444 BC
• or possibly during his absence (?) … which would make it 432 BC … or the problem recurred (?) … around 400 BC

Written to whom

• To the returned Jews in Judah, both current and future generations
• especially addressing priests in Mal 2:1 and the Levites in Mal 2:4, but also general people

Where from

• probably Jerusalem (where the temple, priests and Levites are). Malachi is well acquainted with what is going on

Historical political situation

• generally post-exilic, probably parallel or slightly later than Nehemiah.
• Jews are a semi-self-governed province of the Medo-Persian empire
• Small waves of returnees, altar and temple are built, but they are few in number, Jerusalem is weak. They are beset by opposition, surviving but not really thriving
• 539 BC    Medo-Persia defeats and replaces Babylon Cyrus
• 538 BC    decree of Cyrus to return and build the temple
• 536 BC    first group of returnees under Zerubabbel, altar, temple started
• 534 BC    temple stopped due to opposition
• 520 BC    Haggai and Zechariah > temple re-started, work led by Governor Zerubbabel and High priest Joshua
• 516 BC    temple completed
• 478 BC    Esther becomes queen Xerxes = Ahasueros
• 473 BC    Jews delivered, Purim feast
• 458 BC    2nd return under Ezra, law taught Artaxerxes
• 444 BC    3rd return under Nehemiah, walls of Jerusalem built Artaxerxes
• 432 BC    Nehemiah goes back to Babylon > moral and spiritual decay
• 430 BC   (?) Nehemiah returns and reforms

Historical religious situation

• Restored altar, temple, temple worship and priesthood
• But God never visibly filled the 2nd temple (like Moses’ tabernacle, Solomon’s first temple)
• Probably the Jews are a struggling and discouraged group. Probably disappointed by high sounding restoration promises and mind blowing Messiah hopes which do not seem to be materializing
• leading to a more casual, mechanical, maybe even cynical exercising of the rituals
  • compromising in rituals (blemished sacrifices, Mal 1:6-14)
  • compromising in morals (mixed marriages, divorce Mal 2:10-16)
  • compromising in doctrine (false instruction, Mal 2:8)
• not thriving in their relationship with God, rather a mechanical obeying of the requirements

Contemporary kings

• Medo-Persian King      522 BC  Darius II         486 BC Xerxes      464-423 BC Artaxerxes
• Governor Nehemiah    444-432 BC, 430 BC ? again (depends on dating)

Contemporary prophets

• none, speaks probably after Haggai and Zechariah

Literary category

• entirely prose > literal interpretation

Structure

• Prophecy

Composition

• Question-Answer Dialogue or disputation format with 6 cycles Mal 1:6, 2:1, 2:13, 2:17, 3:6, 3:11

Main Ideas

• priests disobedience: sacrifices not honoring God not fearing God not instructing truly
• people’s disobedience: sacrifices mixed marriages wrong words divorce not tithing
• repent of casual, mechanical religion … come back to a true relationship, fear, honor, obedience to God
• Messiah is coming but as a refiner’s fire, a fuller’s soap, judge … and as a Savior, Rewarder of the faithful
• punishment, curse on disobedience, evil reward, blessing on obedience restating law

Main Reasons

• challenging and calling priests and people to wholehearted repentance and coming back to relationship with God
• changed behavior < changed attitudes < changed beliefs about God
• to encourage the God-fearing: they are right, and will be justified, saved, rewarded
• to challenge / modify Messiah concepts

MALACHI – INTERPRETATION OF THE TEXT

• Dialogue or Disputation – The Structure of Malachi

• Similar technique of dialogue (Questions & answers) is found in Isa 28:23-29, 40:27-31, Jer 2:23-15, Eze 12:21-28.
• Israel questions God’s statements, his claims, demands, explanations or proofs.
• Israel’s false conclusions and rationalizations are overcome by God’s irrefutable and convicting arguments.
• God uses Malachi as spokesman to give specific answers and to expose their inner resentment and wrong attitudes Mal 1:2-5 “How have you loved us?”
• Many object to Mal 1:3 “I have hated Esau” > injustice? > favoritism? > predestination?
• Context: disappointed, discouraged, disillusioned Jews … they responded sacrificially to a high hope (restoration! back to Jerusalem! Messiah now!) which now turned out much less glorious thing than hoped
• They are asking? Why did we ever come? Is God still doing history with Israel? Are we no longer chosen? where did all the promises go? Why does everybody around seem to do better than us? Why are the obedient in such bad shape? Does God not love us?
• Rom 9:13 Paul quotes this to show God’s sovereignty and mercy
• Edom seems to be unlike the Jews: self-reliant, resilient, stubborn … not easily subdued or discouraged. BUT it’s not human will that will bring about the future, but God’s will
• God makes Edom a show piece … a ‘watch this fulfill in future generations’ … and then acknowledge that God does what he says. Fulfillment? 120 BC Edom is conquered by Maccabees. Later Nabateans take it over. Later Rome defeats them > some Edomites move into Negeb, resulting in NT Idumea
• God doesn’t hate Esau, it’s a figure of speech called ‘hyperbole’ (exaggeration), the stark contrast is to make the main point, which is: I have loved you. A similar speaking style is picked up by Jesus in Luk 14:26 “Whoever does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and even life itself, cannot be my disciple.” Again: Jesus doesn’t contradict the 5th commandment.
• God’s message is: ‘I really love you, I have not forgotten you, I have chosen you, I have written history with you, I have protected you, I am not done with you, your calling stands, every promise stands … you will see it with your own eyess’
• God’s encouragement to us is the same. We are discourage, we are inwardly cold, turn casual, or even bitter, but God’s attitude to us has not changed: He does love us.

Mal 1:6-14      How despised your name? polluted your food? Where is the honor due me?

• blind, lame, sick animals offered … people offer it, priests accept it
• Mal 1:8 “try presenting that to your governor, will he be pleased with you and show you favor?” … if the governor wouldn’t be impressed either, why should God? Fearing man more than God. Or playing politics.
• What is the problem? > attitude What attitude is behind this?
  • not giving value, importance, honor and respect to God
  • something a bit less will do
  • feel the demands are too high (in comparison with what I get out of it?)
  • bargaining … God should be happy with this
• Mal 1:13 “What a weariness this is … you sniff at me.” God is a burden, one more thing we have to do, can’t escape it because he is God.
  • Who wearies whom? Isa 46:1 idols are burdens loaded unto weary animals. God as an idol you got to support
  • Isa 43:24b “You have burdened me with your sins, you have wearied me with your iniquities …”
• wrong attitudes are linked to wrong God-concepts, which is why God addresses them. Who can from their heart love a self-serving petty God? .. which is why revelation of God is so needed.
• Mal 1:16 “Oh that someone among you would shut the temple doors so that you would not kindle fire on my altar in vain! God is wearied … a cry like in Amos: ‘I hate, I despise your festivals.”
• Mal 1:14 “Cursed be the cheat who has a male, vows to give it, yet sacrifices what is blemished’ … breach of vow, sounding grand, taking spiritual credit for what they are not doing, and replacing with a blemished one.”
• Curse is a repeated theme in Malachi … a bit more on that in a minute
• Mal 1:11 “For from the rising of the sun to its setting my name is great among the nations, and in every place incense is offered to my name, and a pure offering; for my name is great among the nations”
• Mal 1:14 “for I am a great King, says the LORD of hosts, and my name is reverenced among the nations.”
• How is this true? fulfilled? … note it’s present tense, not future … Nebuchadnezzar getting revelation though Daniel? The witness of the Jews dispersed among the nations? The Jews outside Judah as contrasted to the Jews in Judah? or God accepting God-fearers from different nations? Or a reminder of their calling to be a light?
• half-heartedness, bargaining, weary obedience, ‘well I guess I’ll have to’, is all deeply dishonoring to God, because it means we don’t understand who he is. Only wholehearted obedience, – knowing who he is and how well he means and how right he is, – is fully pleasing.
• Also a positive view of God-fearers ‘out there’, a wideness in God’s mercy. There are people outside who will be counted worshipers of God.

Mal 2:1-9        My covenant with Levi

• Mal 2:1 specifically addressing the priests (continuation from before, but now to them especially): “If you will not listen, lay it to heart, give glory to my name … I will curse your blessings / spread dung on your face / cut you out of my presence” … Classic OT covenant if > then statement
• Mal 2:4-5 Remembering history, remembering how it was, how it was meant to be, what you have fallen from: “a covenant to life, well-being … called for reverence, and he revered me and stood in awe of my name. True instruction in his mouth, no wrong on his lips … walked with me in integrity … turned many from iniquity.” ‘He’ is Levi. This is figurative for the priesthood, starting with Aaron. Is this positive view of earlier times even true? Yes, mostly, in the beginning, though later the priesthood starts failing (Eli’s sons, …), good again standing against Saul, later through the kings increasingly corrupted.
  Priest’s job? > fear God, true instruction, walk himself with integrity > in this way: turn many from iniquity.
• Mal 2:7 For the lips of a priest should guard knowledge, and a people should seek instruction from his mouth, for he is the messenger of the LORD.
• Dan 12:3 … those who lead many to righteousness shall shine like the stars / brightness of the sky. Contrast:
• Mal 2:8-9 broken covenant, caused many to stumble, not kept my ways, shown partiality in instruction.
• Application? > we need to fulfill our roles, whatever it is, prophet, priest, leader.
• to lead many to righteousness is a great, great calling
• True teaching and revelation by the Holy Spirit applying it to each individual’s hearts are essential to healthy faith.
• Half-willing, bargaining religiosity will never do. First it will not last, it can only deteriorate, either into legalistic systems or into gradual carelessness (like the West)
• Second God has no joy in an of it, he is not honored by it in the least. He couldn’t care less about empty forms and rituals, as a matter of fact: they are distracting from the real thing.
• Remember Mrk 13:1-2 See what big stones and beautiful buildings! Not a stone will remain … God is doggedly committed to the real thing. He wants reality.

Repeated theme: Covenant reinforcement

• Malachi restates Deuteronomy, Malachi is a classic covenant-reinforcing prophet, the book ends with a reference to the Law and a restatement of the if > then.

Repeated theme: Curse

• Mal 1:14 “cursed be the cheat”
• Mal 2:2 “I will send the curse on you and I will curse your blessings”
• Mal 3:9 “you are cursed with a curse, for you are robbing me”
• Mal 4:6 “turn hearts of parents and children to teach other, so that I will not come and strike the land with a curse.”
• Remember, curse in the Bible is not something mysterious or mystical, a celestial black box, it is something you bring on yourself by disobedience, by definite action, by going against God’s word, by continual refusal to listen to God.
• So in this sense we are all cursed.
• Since God is gracious to accept all repentant, a curse never is inescapable or permanent. It’s the state of Godlessness and repentance will undo it by God’s grace. It is totally unnecessary and only permanent if you choose to stick with curse. So in a very real sense you choose how much cursed or blessed you will be, there is no mystery to it.
• Prv 26:2 “Like a sparrow in his flitting, like a swallow in its flying, and undeserved curse goes nowhere.”
• So God doesn’t mention curse to discourage or condemn, but as a description of real consequences from which you can escape if you repent. So do repent! that’s why he says it.
• In the Bible curse is not a mysterious thing, it is a very straight forward thing with clear conditions and consequences.
• Example: innocent blood flow brings a curse on the land. Switzerland’s good criminal record, but currently abortion.
• So: obey! So you do not bring curses on yourself
• So: do not fear cursing. Commit yourself into God’s care, resist Satan, refuse lies, and trust God.

Mal 2:10-12                          Mixed marriages

• The topic is marrying somebody of a different religion, more specifically men of Judah marrying idolatrous women.
  • Ezr 10      Ezra leads the nation in a repentance of mixed marriages, 110 mixed marriages are dissolved.
  • Neh 13     shows Nehemiah rebuking Judah’s men for their mixed marriages.
  • Mal 2:11  married the daughter or a foreign God. > Metaphor meaning marrying a woman that is an idol worshiper.
• It seems the people justified themselves with the first 2 questions, and God counters with the 3rd question: Have we not all one father? Has not one God created us? …
• Yes, we all do come from one family, we all are relatives, we all are created by one God .. which is why we need to worship only him and not be faithless to his covenant .. Why then are we faithless to one another, profaning the covenant? … God asks.
• Mixed marriages are an abomination … why so tragic? > dilution of religion, children being discipled into idolatry, this is how Israel started to deteriorate in the first place (Solomon).
• Why does this seem to be more a male problem? … maybe think themselves stronger, less worried, think they will dominate the household, maybe more lust and less realistic thinking? … yet they don’t dominate, for the children will be raised, especially in the beginning, by women.
• Warning of compromise. Warning of compromise in the relational area. This is a hard one. I think it’s easy to lower the standards.
• Maybe for men it’s more the ‘got to have this one’. For women it may more be: ‘got to get someone’. But the result is the same.
• Do get married! but do get married in the fear of God! what common ground will you have?
• The issue of mixed marriages addresses the marriage between people of different faiths, not marriages between different Christian denominations. Inter-denominational marriages are of course no problem. If looking for a spouse only look for the same basic religion, look for same commitment to God.

Mal 2:13-16                    Breach of word / Divorce

• Sacrificing, crying … all will do nothing if combined with sin. God is not to be gotten around with religious efforts
• This is a sore warning: Doing well in one area does not let you ‘off the hook’ in another.
• God is either Lord of all or not Lord at all. We cannot ‘take out / keep back’ some pet area.
• Do not compartmentalize obedience, for God does not compartmentalize obedience. If you do well in one area and give yourself some ‘freedom to sin’ in another, this is wrong. That’s still religious bargaining. It’s unacceptable to God.
• Being a charismatic, fruitful preacher and having an anger problem towards your children will not do.
• Be very open to God’s conviction and people’s rebuke in areas where you might be doing badly.
• Most likely the ‘mixed marriages’ above and the rebuke for divorce are related (people divorced their wives and married idolatrous women)
• This gives an additional slant: good, faithful Jewish wives (likely with children) are rejected for idolatrous foreign women. So the issue is not that these poor men can’t find wives, ‘forcing’ them to marry outside of the flock. These are men who have already God-fearing wives and children who depend on them, and they reject these for idolatrous women.
• Or even if we assume there is no link to idolatry, this is severe rebuke for divorcing the wife of your youth, breaking marriage covenant … God says with emphasis: I hate divorce.
• What is the problem with divorce? … deeply hurts, deeply damages, especially women, but also children, breech of word, carelessness-lust (getting something a bit younger and trimmer), own interests over well-being of family
• Remember: the higher the covenant, the severer its breach. Marriage is committing one’s whole person, future, everything. It’s the highest of human covenants. Only our covenant with God is more complete.
• God hates divorce, not the divorcee. God wants nobody to have to experience this.
• So have compassion on divorcees, but fight for marriages.
• First: fight for your own: by being attentive, by giving it importance, by responding to conviction immediately, by prayer, by commitment, …
• Fight for your own marriage, but also others’. By prayer, by help, by integrity yourself. Never ever destabilize another person’s marriage. If you want to make God really angry, this is a good way. If you find yourself attracted, or if you start suspecting attraction to you in a married person, move away categorically. You have no right. The stakes are high. Find ways to support couples and families. Maybe babysit the children, whatever.
• But also, we are unfair: we charge the party wronged (for example the beaten wife) to save the marriage. God addresses the vow-breaker, not the person wronged and broken covenant against.
• Moses’ law: grounds for divorce was unfaithfulness (universally agreed on and not explicitly mentioned), material neglect (food, clothing) and emotional neglect (marital right). Women had the right to ask for a divorce when these basic things were not met, without losing the denmohor (he is guilty, she is not).
  Mal 2:15 What does God desire? Godly offspring.
• Some have used this passage to declare that the only reason for marriage (or sex) is having children > condemnation of pregnancy prevention (pill, contraceptives) and of the childless couple (or woman).But that is likely not the intended message: God says he wants godly offspring, which is not likely to happen if there is familial strife, abdication of responsibility, breach of word, selfishness for its damaging influence on children. Divorce is a very bad condition for raising godly children.
• You be faithful and considerate, then you have a chance of discipling your children successfully.
• Mal 2:15    “Did not god make her? / one? … both flesh and spirit are his” … different translations. But clear: Woman is God’s creation, needs to be protected. Divorce rips apart flesh and spirit > profound hurt.
• Mal 2:16    “I hate divorce and covering one’s garment with violence” … by context a description of what divorce is: violent, a hacking apart of one body, one flesh
• Application? work on the little things, prevention is key, one doesn’t start with divorce, but ends with divorce, work on relationships, fairness, justice, selflessness, communication skill, self-control

Mal 3:8-12                 Do not rob God

• Robbing God, not bringing the full tithe to God’s store house … > curse
• Pastor’s favorite verse … most well known verse of Malachi. Not sure that’s justified. Why quote this and not the rest? Why bring this law into the OT and not the other laws?
• The law is re-stated here with utmost importance: God claims the tenth as his property. To not give it will bring a curse on one, not unlike the destruction keeping an item ‘devoted to destruction’ in Joshua brought curse or destruction onto oneself (Jos 7, Achan). For tithe to be found in one’s property it to be stealing from or robbing God. It is similar to one holding unto something which is utterly devoted to God and to destruction > one will bring destruction onto oneself, one is cursed (another way of saying it.
• This is a very strong and quite fearful word. Are we as NT believers still under the law? No. Yes. it’s interesting that even those who mostly loudly state that we are no longer under the law often make the tithe into a Christian law … why? It is our usual confusion as to what to do with the OT law. Actually, as NT believers we are not strictly bound to the law, also not the tithe law, the NT commands generosity, not tithe. But if my question is ‘what is generosity?’, tithe is a good starting point, but definitely not an end point. Personally I suggest to never give less than the tithe, but to try to give far more.
• Why does God demand the tithe, why does he insist upon this thing? What does God want with this command? … acknowledging the Giver, honoring God, depending on God, combating greed, financing God’s work, … again: attitude is crucial.
• Mal 3:10 bring the full tithe into the store house and put me to the test … see if I will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you and overflowing blessing.
• God challenges us to try it out, to test him with this (not a common command). … many ywamers can gladly confirm the truth of this statement.
• The point is not to make this a bargain with God: ‘okay, I’ll give you so much and then you have to give me so much more’. That attitude is still self-concerned, using God as a means to more prosperity. It also assumes that I know what is good for me (more than God does) and strengthens the pattern of smart self-accommodation, and trains greed.
• God blesses indeed, but that blessing is far more than just money. God generously gives what is so much more valuable, like peace, truth, people, trust, honor, fruitfulness
• Mal 3:11 “I will rebuke the locust for you … your vine will not be barren.” One is fertility, the other is protection or what was gained.
• Often people have much higher salaries, but nothing much comes of it, it’s all gone, or it’s all spent, but nothing good come out of it, rather problems, demanding wives, spoiled children, self-importance. DINKS (‘double income no kids’) in debt.
• Much work, but simple things bring it all to nothing. Example: woman not paying tithe, having to do car repairs.
• I am rich in all good things, rich for every good deed (2 Cor 9:8) … There is no true honor nor even joy in riches (Ecclesiastes).
• Often we feel obliged to run after money ‘for our children’s sake’. Story of the poor family storing up money for the church offering for a needy family > get their 80 plus 3 dollars back. Who is rich?
• Application: putting God first. Then all other things will get their right place. And there they will do no harm, won’t be corrupting idols, also possessions.
• Mal 2:17, 3:13-15 Harsh words against God
• Mal 2:17 “All who do evil are good in the sight of the LORD and he delights in them.” … “where is the God of justice?”
• Mal 3:13-15 “It is vain to serve God. What do we profit by keeping his command and by going about as mourners before the LORD of hosts? Now we count the arrogant happy, evildoers not only prosper, but when they put God to the test they escape”
• What is the problem with these sentences? What picture of God is behind them?
• Actually, God didn’t tell them to mourn, maybe connected with Mal 2:13. A bit a bargaining attitude, ‘it doesn’t profit’
• to say that the evil are doing well might well be a description of current reality. But to say “the LORD delights in them’ is an assumption, and a wrong one, hurtful one to God.
• They say: ‘God is not fulfilling his promises. God is not doing his part of the deal. We who are the most committed, sacrificial, we are cheated, shamed.’ We may not say it quite so straight out, but we also know this feeling.
• Discrepancy of amazing prophecies and current reality is a challenge … meant to make them depend on God, press into him and look forward towards a yet greater fulfillment in the Messiah.
• It’s again Haggai: the temple will be filled with greater splendor and the riches of the nations, but keeping demanding the literal fulfillment means to miss the real figurative fulfillment.
• Application: seeing my life with God’s eyes. Trusting for the greater fulfillments.
• God does address their need, answers this fully and gives assurance: the faithful will be rewarded (Mal 3:17-18), maybe because God is aware that this discouragement gets his humans.

Mal 3:1-7, 4:1-5      The Messiah will surely come, but also as a Purifier of the faithful

• This is likely in answer to the discouragement (and subsequent flippancy) of the previous passages: You want God to do something? You want him to intervene? To show up in power? To bring about his long-promised and long-awaited reign? – Okay, it will come, but you may not like it.
• Both passages follow people saying “Where is the God of justice?” (Mal 2:17 > Mal 3:1) and “What do we profit by keeping his command?” (Mal 3:14 > 4:1-5).
• People are essentially saying: we are doing everything right, but God is not doing as he promised. Essentially: He is the problem, not us. God answers: I will act, but are you who you need to be when I intervene?
• Mal 3:1-2 “See, I am sending my messenger to prepare the way before me, and the LORD whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple. The messenger of the covenant in whom you delight – indeed, he is coming, says the LORD of hosts. 2 But who can endure the day of his coming, and who can stand when he appears?”
• Mal 3:1 “Who is the messenger to prepare the way before me?” > Mark quotes this verse and interprets “the messenger” to refer to John the Baptist, and therefore “me” to refer to Jesus or God (Mrk 1:2). Even clearer: Luke quotes Jesus as interpreting this to be John the Baptist (Luk 7:27).
• This Verse one has a slightly confusing but interesting use of words … “I am sending the messenger before me, the LORD whom you seek will suddenly come, the messenger of the covenant is coming” … Is it now God coming? Or a human coming? The Jews clearly expected a human Messiah, a second David. But then Jesus comes, and he is not only human, but he is ‘God come’, though nobody expects this nor even understands this.
• “me” then is the Messiah, “the one you seek” (the one who will change the game, the Jews desperately waited for a Messiah, see the NT) … will suddenly come … long wait but then still surprising … the messenger of the covenant (the Malachi of the covenant!) in whom you delight … indeed he is coming, but who can endure the day of his coming? … God’s coming is not a light thing to the self-pleased, the chosen, the favored ones … This should have been a warning against Pharisee-type attitudes.
• Mal 3:2-3 “For he is like a refiner’s fire and like a fullers’ soap, he will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver and purify the descendants of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, until they present offerings tot he LORD in righteousness.” Refiner’s fire, a launderer’s soap … metaphors showing what the real problem is: not surrounding nations, not evil oppressors, not idolaters, but the sin of my own heart.
  • “Refiner’s fire” burning away dross and impurities by melting the metal > separation, dross swims up to, is discarded, the pure metal underneath is used.
  • “Fuller’s soap”: soap is a strong base, used in combination with heat, hot water or even lather boiled over the fire, forming an aggressive lye, by moving laundry in it, stains are removed.
• Both pictures are ways ‘painful’ or ‘powerful’ ways to remove impurities, to cleans, to purify. It’s a challenge, it’s also a promise. Application: Be thankful for the Purifier’s fire … imagine having to live with yourself as you are for all eternity! Change is hard, but it’s a grace to be able to change.
• “Purify the descendants of Levi … then pleasing odor as in the former years.” Just the priests? not everybody? > probably them, so they can do it for everybody.
• Mal 3:5-6 “God will draw near to you for judgment, bear witness against sorcerers, adulterers, those who swear falsely, those who oppress the hired workers, widow, orphan, alien … for I, the LORD do not change …”.
• Nobody is exempt from the demand of justice. Judgment starts with ‘you’. Restoration, forgiveness, chosenness, the Messiah coming doesn’t mean that now sin is acceptable or now we don’t have to worry about morality.
• Also it’s not a national vindication, it’s not a ‘victory of the chosen race over the not chosen’ … it’s the willing versus the unwilling.
• He is making us holy as he is holy (Lev 20:26). God’s agenda has not changed. God’s character and holiness have not changed. When the Messiah comes it’s not ‘finally we win!’, but ‘repent and believe!’ Therefore:
  • Mal 3:7      which is a call for repentance: return to me!
  • Mal 4:1-5  These verse also generally reaffirm all the basic truths: God will come to judge all evil (the evil that oppresses me or victimizes me, but also the evil in my own heart). He will bring restoration, healing, victory for those who fear him … through the Messiah
  • Mal 4:4   “Remember the teaching of my servant Moses”. He revealed God’s will, character, he stands for the Law.
  • Mal 4:5    “Lo, I will send you the prophet Elijah before the great and terrible day of the LORD comes. He will turn the hearts of the parents to their children and the hearts of the children to their parents , so that I will not come and strike the land with a curse.”
    • First it’s a summary recap of the OT: Law and Prophets.
    • Then it’s a prediction of John the Baptist, as Jesus interprets it (Luk 7:27, Mrk 9:13).
    • Sequence Note the sequence: parents hearts to children, then children’s hearts to parents. We think: unruly children are the problem. God starts with the parents.
    • Meaning? Is this talking of family peace (family as crucial building block)? Or metaphorical about God and men (in connection with rest of Malachi)? Does this pick up on the divorce-hurt children? idolatrous-raised children? … not sure, maybe all of them.
    • Humility and relationship as the key to all health, build up and future.