Biblical Theology XXXV: Malachi

The Book of Malachi is written sometime after the temple is rebuilt in the post-exilic era, and life and worship has resumed as ordinary, and has even become stale. The designation, “Malachi” means “My Messenger/Angel.” The book is structured on a series of accusations made by God that are then questioned by the accused (1:2, 6, 7, 12-13; 2:13-14, 17; 3:7, 8, 13). 

Theology: The message of the prophet is, again, described as a burden given to the prophet (1:1). 

       God’s love is defined by His choosing Jacob’s descendants over Esau’s in terms of saving the one and not the other (1:1-5). What this means is that love and hate have to do with choosing to save one over another, and to destroy the enemy of the one who is loved. Hence, God argues that, in destroying Edom, He has shown love toward Israel. Love is placing a higher priority on one’s life over another, so as to save the one and destroy his destroyers. Ergo, to love Jacob and to hate Esau is to save Jacob from Esau by destroying Esau who would do harm to him. Hence, God says, “I turned Esau’s mountains into a deserted wasteland  and gave his territory to the wild jackals” (v. 3).

       Yet, the Book of Malachi argues that this love was not returned as it should have been. The Lord was not chosen over the people’s sins.   

As a result of Israel’s evil, God will send His messenger to cleanse His temple and His people, so that proper worship is restored once the people fear and honor God by seeking His purposes, and not their own, for their marriages and lives in general (3:1-5).

God will send Elijah, the prophet of warning, before the judgment, indicating that God will offer salvation through repentance first before He destroys the wicked among His covenant community (4:4-6).

Ethics: Yet, the Book of Malachi argues that this love was not returned as it should have been. The Lord was not chosen over the people’s other desires. 

1.      They show hatred for God by choosing to offer substandard forms of worship to Him because they do not honor and fear Him as the Great King. Their sacrifices are leftovers and they blend what is holy with what is common (1:6-14). 

2.      The priests show hatred for God by not teaching the whole Scripture to the people and by not observing it themselves. Hence, they cause the people to be in violation of the law because they are picking and choosing out of it what they wish to teach. As a result God will curse the priesthood, rather than bless it, and cause the people to ignore the priests and think of them as a joke (2:1-9).

3.      The people show hatred for God by committing sins of idolatry and then give to Him worship as the leftovers of their lives. They do this by worshiping a foreign god, which Malachi argues is not necessarily done literally by bowing down to another god, but by divorcing one’s believing wife and marrying an unbeliever—hence, betraying the covenant made with God to bring up godly offspring, i.e., to fulfill the role of the image in Genesis and fill the earth with His covenant people. Hence, their divorcing their spouses and wasting their seed with unbelievers was anti-creational.

You also do this: You cover the altar of the Lord with tears as you weep and groan, because He no longer pays any attention to the offering nor accepts it favorably from you. Yet you ask, “Why?” The Lord testifies against you on behalf of the wife of your youth, to whom you have become unfaithful even though she is your companion and wife by law.  Has He not made them one? And the rest of the creative activity belongs to Him. And for what reason did He make them one? Because He was seeking the offspring of God. Guard your own creative activity then. Hence, one should not be disloyal to the wife he took in his youth.  “I hate divorce,” says the Lord God of Israel, “and the one who covers his garments with chaos,” says the Lord who rules over all. “Pay attention to your conscience, and do not be unfaithful.” (2:13-16)

To top it all off, they argue that those who do this evil are perfectly acceptable in the eyes of the Lord and that He has not condemnation for them (2:17).

4.      They show their hatred for God in other ways that they do not fear and honor God—i.e., getting revelation through omens, committing adultery, breaking promises, mistreating workers, widows, and orphans, and refusing to help the Gentile worshipers of God among them who are in need (3:5),

5.      They show their hatred for God by not making it a priority to give to His ministry, and God calls them to repent of it if His promises are to be restored to them (3:6-12).

6.      They show their hatred for God by envying the wicked because of their successes in the immediate, and look selfishly at the worship of God as being that which robs them of a better life. Hence, their idolatry is the worldly man or woman’s better life, and they choose to love that, i.e., prefer that, over fearing and honoring God by following His commands instead (3:13-16).

As in all the prophets, Malachi records those who repent of all of this, and the promises of God are given to them that those who serve Him by obeying His laws will be spared from the coming wrath of the day of judgment, and be fully restored, but the wicked who do not repent will be burned up like chaff (3:16-4:3).