Malachi: The Prophet of the Lord’s
Coming – Cory Collins
(Sources
include The Wiersbe Bible Commentary and
the ESV Study Bible.)
Name:
“My angel” or “My messenger.” Note play on his name in Mal 3:1.
Date
and setting: Most place Malachi in the mid-fifth-century BC (around 450), the
time of Ezra and Nehemiah. Malachi, Ezra, and Nehemiah reprove the same sins.
These include corruption of the priesthood (Neh 13:4–9, 29–31; Mal
1:6–2:9), marriage to idolaters (Ezra 9–10; Neh 10:30;
13:1–3, 23–27; Mal 2:10–12),
abuse of the disadvantaged (Neh 5:1–13; Mal 3:5),
and failure to pay tithes (Neh 10:32–39; 13:10–13; Mal 3:8–10).
Some
80 years have passed since Haggai and Zechariah. The temple has been rebuilt,
but the Jews have not seen the glorious future that they expected. They have
lost their zeal. Malachi uses a new “didactic-dialectic” style, which later
became standard in Jewish schools and synagogues. First, an assertion is
brought. Second, an imagined objection is raised by the hearers: “But you say
…” Third, that objection is refuted by the speaker. The book contains six such charges.
Malachi
promises that the Lord will send “My messenger” to clear the way before Him
(3:1). He will send “Elijah the prophet” before the great and terrible day of
the Lord (4:4-6). The NT applies both of these statements specifically to John
the Baptist (Matt 11:10, 14; 17:10-13; Mark 1:2; 9:11-13; Luke 1:17, 76; 7:27;
John 1:6-7, 21).
Outline:
1:1-5 Doubting
God’s Love
God had
punished Judah (descended from Jacob) with 70 years in Babylonian exile, while
the people of Edom (descended from Esau) remained safe and prosperous. Was that
fair? Did He really love His people? Answer: God had loved Jacob by choosing
him over the “hated” (rejected) Esau for His own redemptive purposes. Edom
would in fact suffer for her sins, too.
Note: God
did not “hate” Esau in the sense of refusing to save him and his descendants.
However, salvation for everyone would come, not through Esau, but through Jacob
(>> Christ). This passage is quoted in Rom 9:13.
1:6-2:9 Dishonoring
God’s Name
What is at
fault is not God’s love for Israel, but Israel’s love for God.
1:6-14 People charged with offering defiled
sacrifices
2:1-9 Priests charged with dishonoring the
Lord and corrupting His teachings
2:10-16 Profaning
God’s Covenant
2:10-12 Marrying heathen women
To marry
an idolater (“daughter of a foreign god”) was to profane God’s holy sanctuary.
2:13-16 Divorcing their wives
One who is
faithless to the wife of his youth breaks covenant with both her and God, who
was and is witness to the marriage vows. One who hates his wife and divorces
her defiles himself (“covers his garment with violence”). Therefore God would
not accept that man’s worship. Cf Matt 5:23-25; 19:1-9; 1 Pet 3:7).
2:17 – 3:5 Questioning God’s Justice
The Jews
charged God with treating as good those who did evil and thus being unjust.
God would
bring justice for sure. He would send His messenger (John the Baptist) before
Him. And the Lord Himself (Jesus Christ) would come – to refine, clean,
restore, and judge. The sins named in Mal 3:5 include oppressing hired workers
and neglecting the sojourner.
3:6-12 Robbing
God’s House
When the
Jews robbed God by not giving, they actually robbed themselves of His
blessings.
To tithe
was to give 10% of one’s income. This would express trust in God and gratitude
to God. It would provide for the material needs of the Levite, the stranger,
the fatherless (the orphan), and the widow. It would acknowledge God’s
ownership of the entire earth. See Lev 27:30–32; Num 18:21-32; Deut 26:12–13.
3:13 – 4:3 Despising God’s Service
The complainers
asking. “What good does it do us to serve God, when the wicked prosper?”
The
believers receiving assurance. “God will spare the faithful and judge the
wicked.”
4:4-6 Summary
Remember
the Law of Moses – assertions / charges 1–3.
Remember
the promise of Elijah and the coming day of the Lord – assertions / charges 4–6.
Key
principles from Malachi:
Until we are sure of God’s genuine love for us, we
will be unable to love Him and others.
Marriage is a three-way covenant. God holds us
accountable to keep our marriage vows.
When we fail to give to God’s work, we are robbing
God of what is rightfully His.
God would fulfill all His promises and warnings in
the person and work of Jesus Christ.
Key
verses from Malachi:
Mal 3:3 He will sit as a refiner
and purifier of silver, and he will purify the sons of Levi and refine them
like gold and silver, and they will bring offerings in righteousness to the
Lord.
Mal 3: 6 “For I the Lord do not change; therefore you, O children
of Jacob, are not consumed.”
Mal 3:10 Bring the full tithe into
the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. And thereby put me to the
test, says the Lord of hosts, if I will not open the windows of heaven for you
and pour down for you a blessing until there is no more need.
Mal 4:2 But for you who fear my
name, the sun of righteousness shall rise with healing in its wings. You shall
go out leaping like calves from the stall.
Mal 4:5 “Behold, I will send you
Elijah the prophet before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes. 6 And he will turn the
hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their
fathers, lest I come and strike the land with a decree of utter destruction.”
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