Agere Sequitur Esse

Malachi

Book of Malachi

Notes.. .

. ..Introduction. By Malachi to confront the people with their sins and to restore their relationship with God. The person is Malachi. Places include Jerusalem and the temple.
. ..Themes. God’s Love, Sins of the Priests, Sins of the People, and The Lord’s Coming.
. ..Outline. “The people who made the trip back to Jerusalem from exile in Babylon initially desired to restore the nation and rebuild the temple. Before very many years the once again began to dishonor God’s name and forsake the laws of God. Therefore, God sent Ezra to bring the people back to a covenant relationship with Him. (William Seay 2019, L15 32:19–32:43).
. ..Application. “Malachi asks us to take a careful look at our concept of God and evaluate whether we truly reverence Him as king in our life. Malachi asks us to honor God with the best that we have through giving worship and giving our tithe. Malachi asks us to confess where we have failed to magnify His name and return to Him in humility. Malachi asks us to be faithful to God and our spouse and marriage relationship. Finally, Malachi asks us to be assured that when God sees whether we honor and serve Him and will richly bless us” (Seay 2019, L15 40:30–41:35).
. ..Timeline. Written in 430.

Introduction. 29:10 – The purpose was to confront the people with their sins and to restore their relationship with God. The author was Malachi. The person is Malachi. The key places are Jerusalem and the temple.

Themes. 30:05 – There are four major theological themes: (i) God’s Love. God loves His people even they neglect or disobey Him. He has great blessings to bestow on those who are faithful to Him. God’s love never ends. (ii) Sins of the Priests. Malachi singled out the priests for condemnation. They knew what God required, yet their sacrifices were unworthy. There services were insecure. There were lazy, arrogant, and insensitive. They had a casual attitude toward the worship of God and observance of God’s standards. (iii) Sins of the People. The people had not learned their lesson of the exile nor listened to the prophet. Men were callously divorcing their faithful wives to marry younger pagan women. This was against God’s law because it disobeyed His commands about marriage and threatened their religious training of the children, but pride had hardened the hearts of the people. (iv) The Lord Coming. God’s love for His faithful people is demonstrated by the coming of the messiah. The messiah will lead the people to the realization of all their fondest hopes. It will be a day of comfort and healing for a faithful few and a day of judgement for those who reject Him.

Outline. 32:10 – The people who made the trip back to Jerusalem from exile in Babylon initially desired to restore the nation and rebuild the temple. Before very many years the once again began to dishonor God’s name and forsake the laws of God. Therefore, God sent Ezra to bring the people back to a covenant relationship with Him. As few years later, Nehemiah came to help rebuild the walls of Jerusalem and Ezra, once again, challenged the people to revive their fear of God and separate themselves from foreign influences. Somewhere around the time of Nehemiah, or shortly afterwards, some of God’s people divorced their Hebrew wives and intermarried with foreigners. The priests failed to teach the people reverence of God. Many did not honor God with proper sacrifices or tithes. Some questioned God’s love and others began to wonder if it really paid to feat God and serve Him.

In light of these circumstances, the Jews could choose between several possible alternatives. (i) The could continue to disrespect God with improper sacrifices, to refuse to tithe, to divorce their wives and intermarry with unbelievers, and blame God for not loving and blessing them. (ii) The could turn from their evil ways and become strict observers of the law of Moses hoping God would be impressed by their zealous good works. (iii) They could form an alternative community to prepare the way for the message of the Lord to come to His temple, to judge the wicked, and to bring the kingdom of God. (iv) They could confess their sins and revitalize their stewardship of life before God.

In this situation, Malachi ministered the Word of the Lord using a unique question and answer style of interaction with his listeners. He sought to challenge the people concerning their lack of honor or respect for God when they worshiped at the temple and rebuke the priests for not fearing God and instructing the people in God’s ways; and also to plead with the people to confess their sins and return to God so that God could bless them; and to assure the righteous and wicked that God is a God of justice who will one day come and judge the wicked and spare those who fear Him.

The book of Malachi is a reminder of how God’s people allowed the worldly thinking of their day instead of their reverence for God to determine their behavior. It does matter if the people of God do not truly fear God and magnify His name. God despises those who do not honor Him with the best sacrifice, who refuse to tithe, who divorce and marry unbelievers, who question His love and justice, and who wonder if it is worth it to fear God and serve Him. God has a book of remembrance. He knows those who honor His name and will make those His own and pour out His love upon them.

The book of Malachi challenges the people to take a fresh look at the way they are thinking about God and underlying motives behind their religious activity. God is a great king who loves His people and deserves their respect and honor. The people of God demonstrate true reverence for God in worship and in marriage relationships. Spiritual leaders have a responsibility to instruct the people about God and God’s ways. God will one day send the messenger of the covenant to judge those who do not honor Him and bless those who magnify His name. The Israelites showed more respect for their governor than they did for God. They did not treat God as the sovereign king who rules the earth or honor Him with appropriate acts of worship.

The book of Malachi reminds the people that one day individuals from all nations will magnify His name. Surely, the people that God has loved and chosen to be his own people should honor Him and not question His grace or law. One of Malachi’s chief concerns was to demonstrate that the people of God had not honored God in worship or in their marriages. When they came to the temple to worship and praise God’s name, they brought unworthy gifts and were bored with ceremonies of praise. Such hypocrisy does not fool God. People would be better off not coming to worship at all. Their marriages were shameful. They intermarried with unbelievers who did not fear God, and this tempted them away from God. They were unfaithful to their believing spouses and divorced them. Such acts run contrary to the will of God and suggest a disrespect for God and His way.

Malachi believed that he could explain why the people had failed to reverence God. Because their spiritual leaders, the priests, did not fear God or teach the people God’s Word, the people did not honor God. The priests should have corrected the people of God when they brought unworthy sacrifices. They should have encouraged a deep love for God and given God’s instructions on tithing, but they did not know God either. Some believed in serving God and living according to His Word was a waste of time. Look around, the wicked seem to prosper and the righteous are not that well off. In response to this kind of thinking, Malachi reminded the people that God is just. He will send His messenger of the covenant. To purify the nation with judgement. He keeps records and knows who honors God and does not. In the end, God will distinguish between the wicked and the righteous and pout out His great blessing on His own people.

Application. 40:15 – The book of Malachi touches on issues which are significant to our own situation in the church today. Malachi asks us to take a careful look at our concept of God and evaluate whether we truly reverence Him as king in our life. Malachi asks us to honor God with the best that we have through giving worship and giving our tithe. Malachi asks us to confess where we have failed to magnify His name and return to Him in humility. Malachi asks us to be faithful to God and our spouse and marriage relationship. Finally, Malachi asks us to be assured that when God sees whether we honor and serve Him and will richly bless us.

Timeline. 41:35 – It was written by Malachi to the Jews in Jerusalem and is also applied to God’s people everywhere and the date that Malachi was written was c. 430 BC.

Ref.

Seay, William. 2019. Old Testament Theology [MP3]. Andersonville Theological Seminary (ATS). Camilla, GA: ATS