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Good morning
When you hear some one teach lesson and say turn to Malachi what comes immediately to your mind?
Tithes
Mal 3:8
8 “Will a man rob God?
Yet you rob me.
“But you ask, ‘How do we rob you?’ “In tithes and offerings.
Have you ever considered the rest of the book?
This morning I’d like to do that.
I’d like to see what came before and after.
Let’s start with Malachi himself.
Ø Who is he?
A prophet.
Ø Where is he?
Jerusalem
Ø When did he write?
@430 BC
o Why would that be significant?
Look at your Bibles, what book comes after Malachi?
Matthew
o When was Matthew written?
@60 AD
o Malachi’s book marks the end of the writings of the Old Testament and the beginning of what we know as the silent years between testaments.
Ø In Bible Study, Malachi is classified as a minor prophet.
That doesn’t mean he’s not important, that means his book is short.
o Malachi only has 54 verses.
We don’t know much more about Malachi.
Malachi’s words to the people are met with a series of sarcastic questions.
This morning we’ll look at these questions and at God’s answers.
*1* An oracle: The word of the Lord to Israel through Malachi.
When we define “oracle” we think of prophesy.
But in Hebrew the word is better translated as “burden”.
This is more than an important message, more than orders or directives from God.
This is something you will be held responsible for – a burden, you must carry.
Not only does Malachi clarify his words as coming from God, but he reminds them of who they are by referring to them as Israel – the covenant people.
2 “I have loved you,” says the Lord.
Question 1: “But you ask, ‘How have you loved us?’
Can you imagine someone saying that to God? I want you to remember who God is talking to.
This is taking place 100 years after the Jews returned from exile.
Ø The city and its walls had been repaired
Ø the temple rebuilt
Ø Prosperity had returned.
Ø God’s people had settled down to live the “good life”
They were spiritually dull.
They didn’t have an urgent sense of a need for God.
They really didn’t care about fulfilling God’s plans, or living out their destinies.
All that mattered to them was what was going on “now.”
Sound familiar?
Answer 1: “Was not Esau Jacob’s brother?” the Lord says.
“Yet I have loved Jacob, 3 but Esau I have hated,
You know the story.
Isaac had 2 sons: Jacob & Esau.
Jacob got his brother to give up his birthright for a pot of stew, and then tricked his father into giving him Esau’s blessing.
It’s not that God hated Esau, it’s that Jacob walked in God’s favor.
Jacob got the inheritance.
Hold it Malachi!
Edom didn’t go into exile.
In fact Edom helped Babylon take Judah into exile by acting as informants and cutting off escape routes.
(Ps.
137:7; Ezk.
25:12–14; 35:15; Ob. 8–16).
Doesn’t look much like favor to me.
and I have turned his mountains into a wasteland and left his inheritance to the desert jackals.”
4 Edom may say, “Though we have been crushed, we will rebuild the ruins.”
But this is what the Lord Almighty says: “They may build, but I will demolish.
They will be called the Wicked Land, a people always under the wrath of the Lord.
5 You will see it with your own eyes and say, ‘Great is the Lord—even beyond the borders of Israel!’
This is a reminder of one of Jeremiah’s prophesy.
What it says in a nutshell is that Edom is not exempt and will face God’s judgment if they don’t get their acts together.
Between 550 & 400 BC Edomites were evicted from their homeland.
The people who conquered them let the towns go to ruin and over grazed their fields.
We know that the land of Judah was renewed.
Israel today is one of the world’s largest producers of fruits and vegetable.
The land of Edom, however today still remains a wasteland.
So you can see how Jacob~/Israel is favored, while Edom was not.
The real question then is not how has God loved Israel?
But rather how has Israel loved God?
6 “A son honors his father, and a servant his master.
If I am a father, where is the honor due me?
If I am a master, where is the respect due me?” says the Lord Almighty.
“It is you, O priests, who show contempt for my name.
Who’s in trouble here?
The priests.
Their job was to lead the people in Worshipping God.
When Malachi mentions the names “Father” and “Master” he’s pointed out that Israel will give man respect by addressing him by titles, and yet even the priests are guilty of not showing God the same respect!
Question 2: “But you ask, ‘How have we shown contempt for your name?’
OK God, go ahead and blast the priests.
But don’t condemn me.
I’m just doing my obligation.
I bring my sacrifice to the temple, like I’m supposed to.
Answer 2: 7 “You place defiled food on my altar.
Question 3: “But you ask, ‘How have we defiled you?’
Answer 3: “By saying that the Lord’s table is contemptible.
8 When you bring blind animals for sacrifice, is that not wrong?
When you sacrifice crippled or diseased animals, is that not wrong?
Try offering them to your governor!
Would he be pleased with you?
Would he accept you?” says the Lord Almighty.
9 “Now implore God to be gracious to us.
With such offerings from your hands, will he accept you?”—says the Lord Almighty.
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