Minor Prophets 12 - Malachi - The Prophet of the Lord’s Coming

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.”

Minor Prophets 11b - Zechariah 9-14 - The “Minor” Messianic Prophet

Zechariah: The “Minor” Messianic Prophet – Zech 9-14 – Cory Collins

(Sources include The Wiersbe Bible Commentary and the ESV Study Bible.)

Zechariah is the longest of all the Minor Prophets and arguably the most difficult OT book to interpret. It may be called the “Book of Revelation” of the OT. It contains a great frequency of visions, angelic mediation, apocalyptic language, and Messianic predictions. Many speculative and questionable interpretations have arisen from Zech 9-14 (see below). The safest course is to interpret Zech 9-14 based on the passages quoted by Jesus and the NT writers.

In Zech 1-8 the prophet exhorted the people to rebuild the temple. Zech 9 opens much later. The temple has long been finished, but the people have become discouraged. Gentiles have not flocked to the temple as the Jews had hoped, and later Persian rulers have not been so kind and considerate. So the prophet, as an old man, comes forth once more to comfort God’s people.

Zech 9-14 consists of two “burdens” (oracles) that were given to the prophet. The first (chs. 9-11) addresses the heathen enemies of Israel. The second (chs. 12-14) addresses Israel herself. There is some overlap between the two. Both highlight the coming Messiah and His reign.

Theme: The Coming of the King

Outline:

Chs. 9-11   The First Burden: The Nations and the Coming Messiah

The heathen nations would fall, and the Messianic King would come and rule in peace. However, He would be rejected as a shepherd despised and cast away, to be sold for the paltry price of a wounded slave.

9:1-17        The return of the king

9:1-8 The divine warrior comes against Israel’s enemies.

9:9-11        The king enters Jerusalem

The gospels interpret this in reference to Jesus and the triumphal entry (Matt 21:5; John 12:15).

9:12-17 The king’s enemies destroyed and his people redeemed

10:1-12     The shepherds and the flock

10:1-5        Judgment on Judah’s shepherds (cf. Ezek 34:1-16)

10:6-12  The restoration of the flock

11:1-17     The shepherds and one shepherd

11:1-3        Judgment on Judah’s shepherds

11:4-17  An object lesson: the shepherd rescues his flock but is rejected

Zechariah became a shepherd, leading them with staffs called “Favor” and “Union.”  He removed three evil shepherds and rescued his sheep. However, they would not follow him. So he left them to be destroyed, and he broke his “Favor” staff, annulling his covenant. He received his terribly low wages, which he threw to the potter. Then he broke his “union” staff, signifying that Israel and Judah refused to be united under his leadership.

The gospels interpret 11:12-13 in reference to Jesus and the 30 silver coins (Matt 27:3-10).

Chs. 12-14 The Second Burden: Israel and the Coming Messiah

Though the shepherd would be rejected and refused, the kingdom of God would still prevail. The old, antiquated order, seen in the ancient city of Jerusalem, would pass. The new order would take its place, characterized by holiness in all its elements.

12:1-13:6            The restoration and renewal of God’s people

12:1-9        Jerusalem’s triumph and the nations’ doom

12:10-14  Mourning for sin

13:1-6        Cleansing from sin and idolatry

13:7-14:21         Judgment and transformation

13:7-9        The shepherd struck and the flock scattered

Jesus interpreted this in reference to Himself and the apostles (Matt 26:31).

14:1-11 Jerusalem’s judgment, deliverance, and exaltation

14:12-21 The nations humbled and brought into submission

Picture of a great battle, all the nations against Jerusalem. The Lord’s feet stand on the Mount of Olives, which is split in two. The result is an east-west valley in the middle. No light, cold, frost, day or night. Living waters flowing from Jerusalem, half to the Dead Sea and half to the Mediterranean. The nations’ gold, silver, and garments are collected in abundance. Enemies are struck by a plague. Survivors of all nations observe the Jewish Feast of Booths in Jerusalem. All the utensils in the temple are holy, and animal sacrifices continue.

We must not forget the prophets’ symbolic imagery, as some have done. Some have interpreted this passage “literally,” thinking that each item will physically occur at Jesus’ second coming and that He will begin an earthly 1,000-year reign in Jerusalem. They connect this passage with Rev 20:1-6, which they must also understand “literally.” They then explain that, before Jesus can return, all the ethnic Jews must return to Jerusalem to fulfill this passage! So they strongly support Israel as a physical nation to which the Jews can return. They then insist that, before Jesus can come, the Jewish temple must be rebuilt so that Jewish sacrifices can be offered!

However, the old covenant has been superseded by the new. Animal sacrifices have been replaced by the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. God’s new “Israel” is the church. Jesus’ return will bring us, not to earth, but to the place in heaven that He has gone to prepare. If these interpreters were right, Jesus’ second coming would take us backwards, from the Christian covenant (open to all nations) to the Mosaic covenant (with the Jews). Zech 14 may simply be an apocalyptic description of God’s victory for His people and triumph over His foes.

Key verses from Zechariah 9-14:

Zech 9:16 On that day the Lord their God will save them, as the flock of his people; for like the jewels of a crown they shall shine on his land.

Zec 10:6 “I will strengthen the house of Judah, and I will save the house of Joseph. I will bring them back because I have compassion on them, and they shall be as though I had not rejected them, for I am the Lord their God and I will answer them.”