Malachi

Malachi

Malachi is the last prophetic message from God before the close of the Old Testament period, providing a fitting conclusion to the Old Testament and a transition for understanding the kingdom proclamation in the New Testament. It is probably no accident that the one prophesied in Malachi 3:1 to "prepare" the way for the Lord's coming to His temple is identified as "My messenger," a word identical in Hebrew to the name of the book's author given in 1:1. It may be that the prophet Malachi and his earliest readers considered that He and this book constituted a preliminary fulfillment of this prophecy.

Nothing is known about the author other than his name. The book emphasizes the message rather than the messenger, since out of a total of fifty-five verses as many as forty-seven are the personal addresses of the Lord.

Although the book is not dated by a reference to a ruler or a specific event, internal evidence, as well as its position in the canon, favors a postexilic date. Reference to a governor in 1:8 favors the Persian period, when Judah was a province or subprovince of the Persian satrapy Abar Nahara, a territory that included Palestine, Syria, Phoenicia, Cyprus, and, until 485 b.c., Babylon. The temple had been rebuilt (515 b.c.) and worship established (1:6-11; 2:1-3; 3:1,10). But the excitement and enthusiasm for which the prophets Haggai and Zechariah were the catalysts had waned. The social and religious problems Malachi addressed reflect the situation portrayed in Ezra 9 and 10 and Nehemiah 5 and 13, suggesting dates either just before Ezra's return (around 460 b.c.) or just before Nehemiah's second term as governor (Neh. 13:6,7; around 435 b.c.).

Message and Purpose.

Indictment: Malachi presents Judah's sins largely on the people's own lips, quoting their words, thoughts, and attitudes (1:2, 6, 7, 12-13; 2:14, 17; 3:7,8, 13-15). Malachi was faced with the failure of the priests of Judah to fear the Lord and to serve the people conscientiously during difficult times. This neglect had contributed to Judah's indifference toward the will of God. Blaming their economic and social troubles on the Lord's supposed unfaithfulness to them, the people were treating one another faithlessly (especially their wives) and were profaning the temple by marrying pagan women. They were also withholding their tithes from the temple.

Instruction: Malachi called the people to turn from their spiritual apathy and correct their wrong attitudes about worship by trusting God with genuine faith as their living Lord. This included honoring the Lord's name with pure offerings, being faithful to covenants made with fellow believers, especially marriage covenants, and signifying their repentance with tithes.

Judgment: If the priests will not alter their behavior, the Lord will curse them, shame them, and remove them from service. Malachi also announces a coming day when the Lord of justice will come to purge and refine His people. At that time He will make evident the distinction between the obedient and the wicked and will judge the wicked.

Hope: Malachi also bases his instruction on (1) the Lord's demonstration of love for Israel (1:2), (2) their spiritual and covenant unity with God and with one another (2:10), and (3) that coming day when the Lord will also abundantly bless those who fear Him (3:1-6; 3:16-4:3).

Structure. Malachi's message is communicated in three interrelated movements or addresses. Each address contains five sections arranged in a mirror-like repetitive structure surrounding a central section ( a b c b a). In the first two addresses, the focus is on the center section which contains the Lord's instruction (1:10; 2:15b-16). These addresses begin with positive motivation or hope (1:2-5; 2:10a) and end with negative motivation or judgment (2:1-9; 3:1-6). The second and fourth sections contain the indictment (1:6-9 and 1:11-14 in the first address; 2:10b-14 and 2:17 in the second). The climactic address begins and ends with a general call to repent (3:7-10a; 4:4-6). The indictment is in the center (3:13-15). The second section furnishes positive motivation or hope (3:10b-12), and the fourth section combines positive and negative motivation (3:16-4:3).

1. Honor Yahweh (1:2-2:9)
2. Faithfulness (2:10-3:6)
3. Return and Remember (3:7-4:6)

The Lord's Love (1:1-5)

Despite their responsibility under the covenant of Levi (see 2:4,8) to be the Lord's messengers of Torah (2:7), the postexilic priests were dishonoring the Lord, particularly in their careless attitude toward the offerings. They are exhorted to stop the empty worship and to begin honoring the Lord with pure offerings and faithful service. To encourage them the Lord declares His love for them (and for all Israel) in 1:2-5. To challenge them, He threatens them with humiliation and removal from His service (2:1-9).

Judah's disputing God's love shows that they had allowed their difficulties to steal their sense of God's loving presence. Such an impoverishment resulted in the moral decay denounced in the second address and the spiritual indifference criticized in the third. Following Judah's impertinent question, the Lord asserts that His love for Judah had been abundantly demonstrated in recent history (vv. 3-5). The Lord's love for Israel consists in His having chosen them out of all the nations for an intimate relationship with Himself and His faithfulness to them in that relationship. They should grasp God's love by simply comparing their blessings to Edom's punishments.

Unworthy Worship (1:6-14)

The situation in the first address is that the priests were failing to honor or fear the Lord. The temple altar is compared to a dinner table which the Lord hosted. This table represented hospitality and relationship. One's attitude toward that table revealed one's attitude toward the Lord. Judah's bringing blemished animals to the altar showed how little they valued their relationship with the Lord.

The Lord desired fear and honor manifested in proper sacrifices from pure hearts. But He preferred no ritual to the empty ritual Judah was orchestrating (v. 10; see Isa. 1:10-17; Amos 5:21-23). "Worship" that does not arise from wholehearted devotion to the Lord is sin (Prov. 15:8; Isa. 1:13; Amos 4:4; see Rom. 14:23; Heb. 11:6). The Lord is not dependent upon human offerings or service. They are means of testifying to His greatness and exalting His name. Worship also benefits the worshipers, serving to nourish their relationship with God individually and to encourage one another in the faith. But religious activity performed without genuine love and gratitude to God is not only useless but repulsive to Him because it slanders His character.

The point of 1:11-14 is that although a time is coming when even Gentiles all over the world will fear the Lord, God's own chosen people of Judah, His kingdom of priests who were supposed to mediate His grace to the nations, were profaning Him. Although God's purpose to make himself known and worshiped among the nations would not be thwarted, He would do it more in spite of Israel than by means of them (see Ezek. 36:20-36; 39:7; Rom. 3:1-8; 11:11-12). Still, the Messiah will be an Israelite (Rom. 9:5).

Priesthood Cursed (2:1-9)

The "admonition" (better translated "decree") here is that if the priests' attitude and behavior does not change, the Lord will curse them and remove them from service (see Lev. 10:1-3; 1 Sam. 2:29-36; Ezek. 44:6-14; Hos. 4:6-8). God had entrusted them with the spiritual well-being of Israel (see Num. 25:11-13; Deut. 33:8-11). Although Nehemiah "purified the priests and the Levites of everything foreign, and assigned them duties, each to his own task" (Neh. 13:30), according to the gospel writers, by the time of Jesus the Jerusalem priesthood was under God's curse (see Matt. 16:21; 21:23-46). But the promise of a lasting Levitical priesthood was still in effect (Mal. 3:3-4; see also Jer. 33:17-22).

A priest is called here a "messenger of the Lord Almighty." Elsewhere the Lord's "messengers" are either angels or prophets. Whereas those messengers conveyed new words or instructions from God, priests informed His people of the words of His law previously revealed and applied that law to their lives and situations. Malachi's time near the end of Old Testament prophecy and the completion of the Old Testament canon would make the term's use here especially significant. That teachers of God's Word could be described as "messengers" implies the ongoing relevance of God's past instructions and shows the continuing importance of the role of biblical teacher (and translator) among God's people. Those who proclaim God's written Word are no less important to His redemptive program than those who previously served as "prophets," since both carry God's message (see 2 Pet. 1:19-21).

Marital Unfaithfulness (2:10-16)

The audience of the second address has broadened to all Judah. The indictment is against unfaithfulness to one another, especially against wives, many of whom were being divorced to marry pagan women. Such behavior involved treachery against those to whom one was joined by spiritual kinship (v. 10a; see 1 John 5:1) as well as by a covenant sworn before the Lord (v. 14).

The vertical aspect of Judah's unfaithfulness is in view in verses 11-12. By marrying those who worshiped other gods, the people had committed a "detestable" act which "desecrated" or profaned the Lord's sanctuary. Such unfaithfulness to God also introduced a spiritually destructive element into the covenant community (see Exod. 34:11-16; Deut. 7:3-4; Neh. 13:26; 2 Cor. 6:14-17). Their sin was made more reprehensible by their continuing to sacrifice to the Lord as if all was well (v. 12). Then they complained because He was not honoring the sacrifices (v. 13). The horizontal aspect of Judah's unfaithful-ness—the breaking of marriage cove-nants—is the focus of verses 13-15a. But this had a vertical dimension as well in that God was "witness" to those covenants.

The point of the very difficult verse 15a seems to be that marriage is not only a union of flesh that can be dissolved, but one of God's Spirit. Since the Spirit remains, marriage has an inherent unity that survives human efforts to sever it. The nature or purpose of marital unity is "seeking seed of [i.e., "from"] God." God intended that a man's purpose in departing from his father and mother and in joining himself to a wife by covenant, thus becoming one with her in flesh (Gen. 2:24), should be fruitfulness. By that means God's people were to spread His rule throughout the whole earth, producing and discipling children who would manifest the divine glory in their obedient lives and continue the process until the earth was full of His glory. Although couples can no longer be assured of bearing children (as the Book of Genesis makes clear), they are still to "seek" them, and can reproduce themselves in other ways if necessary, through adoption and/or spiritual discipleship.

The instruction section (vv. 15b-16) begins and ends with the command to "guard yourself" and not "break faith." Between is another difficult passage, whose traditional interpretation as a general condemnation of divorce (reflected in the NIV) is in tension with Moses' apparent permission for divorce in Deuteronomy 24:1-4, Ezra's prescription for it in Ezra 10:5,11, and Jesus' allowance for it in Matthew 19:9. Beginning verse 16 is a particle meaning either "indeed," "for," or "if, when." The syntax favors "if" (see 2:2), producing the literal translation, "'If He hates (and) divorces,' says the Lord God of Israel, 'then He covers his garment with violence,' says the Lord Almighty." The point is that one who divorces his wife simply because He dislikes her (Deut. 24:2) commits "violence" or injustice against her, that is, "cold-blooded and unscrupulous infringement of the personal rights of others, motivated by greed and hate" (see Ps. 73:6). Such a man deprives his wife of the very things a husband is responsible to provide—blessings, good, protection, praise, peace, justice—and He stands condemned by God.

Justice From the Lord (2:17-3:6)

This paragraph concludes the second address. The sin of unfaithfulness that was widespread in Judah was a case of injustice, failing to give someone their due. Yet Judah, unable to recognize its own corruption, saw its current economic and social troubles (see Hag. 1:6,9-11; 2:16-19; Neh. 9:32-37) as a sign of God's unfairness or unfaithfulness. God's response to their complaints was to announce a coming messianic "messenger of the covenant" who would purge and purify God's people (see John 2:14-17), including the priests.

The divine-human nature of this messenger is indicated by his being both distinct from God, who is speaking, and also identified with Him (see comments on Zech. 12:10-13:9). "My messenger" is not the same but one who will announce the coming of the "messenger of the covenant" (see Heb. 9:15). The New Testament identifies this one as well as "Elijah" in 4:5 and the "voice" of Isaiah 40:3 with John the Baptist (Matt. 3:3; 11:10; Mark 1:2-3; Luke 3:3-6; John 1:23).

God's immutability in the sense of His faithfulness to His relationship with Israel expressed in 3:6 echoes 1:2-5 (see also Hos. 11:9; Ps. 124; Rom. 11:26-29).

Return and Remember the Law (3:7-4:6)

The final address begins and ends with commands. The first section (3:7-10a) contains two commands: first to "return" to the Lord, then to evidence that return by bringing Him the tithes and offerings they had been withholding. Devoting to the Lord a tenth of one's produce as representative of the whole was an expression of faith and a recognition that all one's possessions were a gift of God. The tithe was used to support the temple personnel and the helpless members of society (see Neh. 13:10; Lev. 27:30-33; Num. 18:21-32; Deut. 12:5-18; 14:22-29; 26:12-15). The "offerings" were the priestly portions of all the sacrifices brought to the temple (Num. 18:8-20).

In 3:10b-12 the Lord promises blessing from heaven, from the land, and from the nations if Judah would be faithful to Him. As in all the Old Testament promises of material blessings, these applied to the nation, not the individual. Applying such promises to individuals is a misinterpretation that the Book of Job and later Jesus (Matt. 19:23-25; John 9:3) speak against.

Judah's complacency toward serving the Lord is exhibited by their speech in 3:13-15. The difficulties they had been encountering, together with their perverse perspective on their own righteousness and their seriously flawed understanding of what it means to have a relationship with God, had led them to a false conclusion. They had decided that there was no advantage in serving God (see Ps. 73:13) and that there was no real difference between righteousness and wickedness (see Isa. 5:20). What perverse thinking our wicked minds can lead us into, when not guided by God's truth!

The final motivation offered to encourage repentance is the coming day when the Lord will separate the righteous and the wicked and will gather together His "treasured possession" (3:16-4:3; see Exod. 19:5; Deut. 7:6; 14:1-2; 26:18; Ps. 135:4). The message alternates between hope (3:16-18; 4:2) and judgment (4:1), combining the two in the last verse. It begins with a figurative anecdote whose point is that the Lord knows those who fear Him. The "scroll of remembrance" may refer to a heavenly book of destiny known from Psalms 40:7; 139:16; Isaiah 34:16; Daniel 7:10; and Revelation 20:12. The fiery element of the coming day in 4:1 echoes similar images in eschatological passages such as Joel 2:3-5 (see Ps. 21:9; Isa. 31:9). The word for "furnace" here can also mean "oven" and is used as a divine image in Genesis 15:17. The "sun of righteousness" refers to the Messiah whose appearance will be celebrated like the dawn because "in its wings" (i.e., the wings of the dawn; see Ps. 139:9) will be healing for those who fear the Lord (see Deut. 32:39; 2 Chr. 7:14; Isa. 6:10; 53:5; 57:18-19; 58:8; Jer. 33:6; Hos. 14:4).

Because the Lord remembers those who fear Him and honor His name (3:16), He commands Israel in the last section to "remember the law" revealed to Moses (4:4-6). As the people of Israel were to wear tassels as constant reminders of the Lord's instructions (Num. 15:38-40), so Malachi was calling them to a lifestyle guided at all times not by human wisdom, ambition, or societal expectations but by the thoughtful application of God's Word. Only this divine lighthouse can guide God's people to avoid destruction on "that great and dreadful day of the Lord."

Elijah's role as preparatory pro-claimer of the time of divine intervention derives from his being viewed as the quintessential prophet of repentance. As he appears with Moses in these final verses of the Old Testament, so he appeared with Moses representing the prophets to testify to Jesus as the Messiah on the mountain of Jesus' transfiguration (Matt. 17:3; Luke 9:29-31). The prophecy here was also fulfilled in part by John the Baptist (Matt. 11:14; 17:10-13; Luke 1:15-17). But Jesus indicated that an additional fulfillment awaits the time of His return (Matt. 11:14; 17:11), perhaps as reflected in the prophecy of the two witnesses in Revelation 11:3 (see Deut. 19:15).

Elijah's coming before the day of the Lord will result in a great revival of faith in Israel, expressed here as fathers and their "children" (or sons) turning (the same verb translated "return" in 3:7) their hearts toward each other. As quoted in Luke 1:17, it describes fathers turning compassionately toward their children and disobedient people accepting the wisdom of the righteous.

Theological and Ethical Significance. Malachi speaks to the hearts of a troubled people whose circumstances of financial insecurity, religious skepticism, and personal disappointments are similar to those God's people often experience or encounter today. The book contains a message that must not be overlooked by those who wish to encounter the Lord and His kingdom and to lead others to a similar encounter. Its message concerns God's loving and holy character and His unchanging and glorious purposes for His people. Our God calls His people to genuine worship, to fidelity both to Himself and to one another, and to expectant faith in what He is doing and says He will do in this world and for His people.

God's love is paramount. It is expressed in Malachi in terms of God's election and protection of Israel above all the nations of the world. Since God has served the interests of Judah out of His unchanging love, He requires Judah to live up to its obligations by obedience and loyalty to Him and not empty ritualism in worship. This love relationship between God and Judah is the model by which the individual is expected to treat his neighbor; we are bound together as a community created by God, we are responsible for one another, and we are required to be faithful in our dealings with one another at every point in life.

As a community devoted to God, God's people enjoy His protection and intercession. But failure to live right before God and our fellow man means not only the natural consequences of a wicked society but also the intervention of God's judgment. Thus, God's people cannot expect the joy of His blessings if we persist to fail in our duties to God and one another; the people must repent because the judgment of God is certain.

But before God would hold Judah in the balance of judgment, He would grant one last call for repentance; a forerunner would precede that terrible day and herald the coming of God's kingdom in the earth.

Questions for Reflection

1. How can a Christian keep from developing an attitude that displeases God, especially in difficult times?
2. How can we ensure that our worship honors God?
3. How can we ensure that our marriage and family honor God?

Sources for Further Study

Alden, R. L. "Malachi." Expositor's Bible Commentary. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1985.

Baldwin, J. Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi. Downers Grove: InterVarsity, 1972.

Kaiser, W. C. Malachi: God's Unchanging Love. Grand Rapids: Baker, 1984.

Merrill, E. H. Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi: An Exegetical Commentary. Chicago: Moody, 1994.

Verhoef, P. A. The Books of Haggai and Malachi. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1987.

Wolf, H. Haggai and Malachi. Chicago: Moody, 1976.