Reflections on Malachi 1

 Malachi 01  (Contemporary English Version)

1. I am Malachi. And this is the message that the LORD gave me for Israel.
2. Israel, I, the LORD, have loved you. And yet you ask in what way have I loved you. Don't forget that Esau was the brother of your ancestor Jacob, but I chose Jacob
3. instead of Esau. And I turned Esau's hill country into a barren desert where jackals roam.
4. Esau's descendants may say, "Although our nation Edom is in ruins, we will rebuild." But I, the LORD All-Powerful, promise to tear down whatever they build. Then everyone will know that I will never stop being angry with them as long as they are so sinful.
5. Israel, when you see this, you will shout, "The LORD's great reputation reaches beyond our borders."
6. I, the LORD All-Powerful, have something to say to you priests. Children respect their fathers, and servants respect their masters. I am your father and your master, so why don't you respect me? You priests have insulted me, and now you ask, "How did we insult you?"
7. You embarrass me by offering worthless food on my altar. Then you ask, "How have we embarrassed you?" You have done it by saying, "What's so great about the LORD's altar?"
8. But isn't it wrong to offer animals that are blind, crippled, or sick? Just try giving those animals to your governor. That certainly wouldn't please him or make him want to help you.
9. I am the LORD God All-Powerful, and you had better try to please me. You have sinned. Now see if I will have mercy on any of you.
10. I wish someone would lock the doors of my temple, so you would stop wasting time building fires on my altar. I am not pleased with you priests, and I refuse to accept any more of your offerings.
11. From dawn until dusk my name is praised by every nation on this earth, as they burn incense and offer the proper sacrifices to me.
12. But even you priests insult me by saying, "There's nothing special about the LORD's altar, and these sacrifices are worthless."
13. You get so disgusted that you even make vulgar signs at me. And for an offering, you bring stolen animals or those that are crippled or sick. Should I accept these?
14. Instead of offering the acceptable animals you have promised, you bring me those that are unhealthy. I will punish you for this, because I am the great King, the LORD All-Powerful, and I am worshiped by nations everywhere.

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Malachi prophesied to Israel about 400 years before Christ and was the next to last of the Old Testament prophets, with John the Baptist being the last. At the time of his prophesy the people had been back in their homeland from Babylonian exile less than 100 years. The temple had been rebuilt. But what had they learned from their exile? They still did not love the Lord, for they doubted the Lord's love for them. So they were just going through the motions of their religion. If love was not their motive, what was the motivation behind their worship? Was it fear of another period of exile?

Malachi, the messenger, began by addressing the priests which becomes apparent in verse 6. They have questioned God's love for them. When God tells them, "I have loved you," they ask, "How have You loved us?" They sound like a rebellious child who fails to see all the ways his parents have shown their love because he only sees the one thing in which he perceives the parents have not been fair and is convinced he is not loved. The Lord's response was to ask, "Wasn't Esau Jacob's brother?" What is this supposed to mean? It means that while they are descendants of Jacob, whom God blessed, Jacob had a brother whom God could have blessed instead, but He chose not to. He rejected Esau even in Malachi's day and was still showing love to the descendants of Jacob. But as a rebellious child, they were not getting it.

Though in worship Israel may still be referring to God as their father and master, they did not regard Him as such in their actions. So God was asking, "If I am a father, where is My honor? And if I am a master, where is your fear of Me?" Again, the priests, reflecting also the attitude of the people, denied the accusation, asking, "How have we despised Your name?" And so the Lord tells them. They were bringing defiled food to the altar as offerings to the Lord - blind, lame, and sick animals. Would their governor be pleased with these offerings, the Lord asked? Obviously not, but they expected the Lord to be pleased. All the while as they brought their defiled offerings, they were saying, "what a nuisance."

In what ways might we be like these Israelites? Do we bring our best to the Lord, whatever it might be? Our best efforts, our best time (not just the time we have left over from doing what we want to do), or the best of our offerings, whether it be money or other offerings? Because we show up at church with some regularity we think God should be pleased with us. All the while we are thinking, "what a pain! I hope God is pleased that I got up early on a Sunday morning when I could be sleeping in or out on the lake." And so we expect God to understand that we have busy lives and that this is the best we can do. But it is only we who think this is our best. He knows we are only giving Him the left overs and He is not honored at all by our offering.