Bible Commentaries
Malachi 1

Verses 1-9

XXXI

THE BOOK OF MALACHI PART I

Malachi 1:1-3:9

We now take up the prophecy of Malachi. We have seen that there were three prophets in the period after the exile, whom we called the prophets of the restoration. These were Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi. We now take up the last of those three, the prophet whose writings closed the canon of the Old Testament. Between the books of Zechariah and Malachi there is an interval of about sixty years, and of what was done during these sixty years we have some light. We can draw inferences from the condition of things previous to, and the conditions we find portrayed in Malachi’s book.

We are pretty sure of some things. We know that the Temple was finished and dedicated four years after the preaching of Haggai, under the inspiration of his preaching and that of Zechariah, his greater successor. We know that the Temple worship was instituted, and the ritual and the ceremonial had been performed and they had built the walls of the city. Herein fall the events of the book of Esther, Ezra’s reformation and Nehemiah’s organization. These facts are about all that we have regarding that period.

There are some things also we can determine by way of inference. It is important to know the condition of Israel at the time of the prophecy of Malachi. We must always know the historical situation, the economic, civic, social and religious conditions of the people in order to fully understand the message which God brings to them through his prophet.

We take up now the political condition. Israel was only a very small vassal, dependent upon the great Persian Empire. Zerubbabel evidently had been appointed governor soon after they arrived in the land, but apparently he had no successor in the royal line, for in the period of Malachi the Persians had appointed their own governors. They are under a Persian governor and are one of the least known and least interfered with of all the little nations of the world. The great tide of the world’s history has flowed north; Xerxes had made his great campaign against Greece; was three or four times defeated, and the great tide of barbarism from the Persian Empire was rolled back by that wonderful little nation, Greece, and thus Europe was saved from an eastern Asiatic and barbarous civilization.

The consequences, or the effect, of that upon all ancient history we can hardly calculate. Had Xerxes succeeded in conquering Greece, southern Europe and perhaps northern Europe would have been overrun with Persian religion and civilization. As it was, that invasion was driven back, and a century or so later Alexander the Great spread the civilization of Greece over the Persian Empire; the tide was turned eastward instead of westward, and the world has been the better ever since.

All this passed and did not touch Israel. They had no place whatever in one of the greatest movements of the ages. They had enemies round about them, who never forgot them, and who never failed in a chance to thwart their purposes, or to harass them in their efforts to build up their nation again. They apparently had no hope, and there seemed to be no reason for the hope of the fulfilment of the prophetic visions of Amos, Hosea, Micah, Jeremiah, Isaiah, and Ezekiel. These all seemed to be failures, and there was no indication on the horizon of history that they would be fulfilled. Thus their political situation tended toward a despondent condition of mind among the rulers and probably among all the people.

The following were the economic conditions: They had had a succession of bad harvests and of hard times. This we find in the book of Malachi itself. A great many of them had suffered from poverty. They had been compelled to pay their taxes to the Persian Empire regularly, and in order to do that, many of them, as we find in Nehemiah, were forced to mortgage their property, and some of them had to sell their children into slavery. Part of the population, the dregs, had been left by Nebuchadnezzar when he destroyed the city and carried away the best of the people, and when the other people were removed they took possession and cultivated all the best of the land for themselves. The Samaritan people, that mixed race of the north, had also come in and cultivated their land, and a great many of them had become wealthy and were in a prosperous condition. Doubtless, many of them came down into Judah and there held important positions. Thus there grew up a large number of families of considerable wealth and social influence. But the best of the people who had returned from the captivity were poor.

Now let us look at the social condition. The city itself had never been rebuilt. The ruins were there to be seen every day in the year. These people were mainly poor, and in order that they might become rich and influential they married into the rich families and got rich wives. In order to marry these heathen or semi-heathen women who belonged to the rich influential families, they divorced their own wives. This was done altogether too promiscuously in Judah. There grew up a select class and as a result there was enmity between the poor and the rich.

These political, economic, and social conditions produced a peculiar religious condition. The colony had returned with all the glorious promises of the great prophets filling their horizon, and they looked confidently to the time when they should be a great nation, and all the nations of the world should look to them for the law of Jehovah. Naturally they were filled with a considerable amount of spiritual pride, because of the exalted position in which they believed themselves to be placed. The Persian kings were generous; did not interfere with their religion. These people had nothing of the fires of persecution to purify them, nothing to arouse that which was best within them. They were beginning to settle down upon their lees, and to grow dull and stupid in their religious life.

Because of these conditions, and the seeming failure of the prophecies of the great prophets, their pride was set on edge, and a peculiar condition developed in Israel, such as we have never met before, viz: a contempt for their revealed religion and ceremonials, contempt for even God and his Temple, the ritual and the sacrifices. They began to think that there was no use to believe in God. They began to doubt the very existence of the love of God, and to have little or no reverence for the honor and holiness of God. The priests treated all their ceremonial and ritual with contempt. The nation seemed to be on the verge of renouncing God and their religion entirely.

As a result they sacrificed only with the poorest gifts they could find; they picked out the lame and the maimed and the blind and the halt for their sacrifices. They offered the poorest of their bread upon the altar and treated God as if he were not worthy of their worship. By marriage they mixed with the heathen or the semi-heathen surrounding them, and thus were in danger of amalgamating their race with the low and degraded race of that country, thus losing their distinct nationality as a people. Some of them went further than that, and actually began to doubt and question the justice of God in his rule over the world. They were coming to the point of saying that God dealt more kindly and justly with the wicked than he did with the righteous, and was treating the wicked better in all their sin, than he was the Israelites in all their righteousness. They refused to bring in the tithe to support the priesthood. Some of them had actually come to the conclusion that there was no profit in serving God, and they might as well renounce it all.

In this brief survey of the condition we observe that Malachi met a great many of the problems which we have to meet today. The book of Malachi is rich in homiletical material. A great many of the problems which we must face are there. In this period the Pharisees and the Sadducees began to spring up. In the authorized, Greek, Latin, Syriac, and Arabic versions the book is divided into four chapters, as we have it in the American Standard; the Hebrew combines the third and fourth chapters into one, but none of the chapter divisions exactly fit the contents and subject matter of the book as we have it in our Bible.

According to the title of the book, the prophet’s name is Malachi, which means "my messenger," exactly what the Hebrew word means, as found in Malachi 3:1: "Behold, I send my messenger [Malachi]." A great many maintain that this book is anonymous, and that Malachi is not the name of the man, but that the name is adopted from this expression here, and given to the author because his real name was unknown. The Targum, the translation of the Hebrew text into Aramaic, adds this little note and says, "My messenger is Ezra the scribe," thus ascribing this prophecy to Ezra, but this is not the prophecy of Ezra, although it does breathe a great deal of his spirit. It is not necessary to say that Malachi is strictly the official name and not the real name. There is no reason why Malachi should not be the name given to the man, his personal name, as well as his official name. Malachi was the name of the prophet who actually lived and wrote in the postexilic period.

There is no date given. It can only be inferred. We know that it occurred some time after the rebuilding and dedication of the Temple, but the question arises, Was it before Ezra returned from Babylonia in 458 B.C. or after? Was it before Ezra’s visit in 458 and Nehemiah’s visit in 444, or was it between Nehemiah’s visits in 444 and 432, or was it after Nehemiah’s second visit? It is more probable that these things would be said in connection with Nehemiah’s second visit, for he compelled the Jews to bring their tithes in, to divorce all their foreign wives, and to adhere to the Temple ceremonials. It fits the conditions of Nehemiah’s second visit. Malachi was preaching against the very conditions which Nehemiah dealt with. There is no Question that it occurred during the reign of Artaxerxes, the same ruler who sat upon the throne when Nehemiah came. Edom had been conquered and almost totally destroyed by this time. So this prophecy parallels very closely the latter part of Nehemiah.

The book is a dialogue in form, prosaic in style, with simple, smooth, and concise diction. It is a fine piece of eloquence, the outline of which is very simple, as follows:

Introduction: The name of the author (Malachi 1:1)

I. Fundamental Affirmation (Malachi 1:2-5)

II. Formal Accusations (Malachi 1:6-2:17)

III. Final Annunciations (Malachi 3:1-4:6)

Malachi adopts a peculiar method of prophesying, a pedagogical method. We will observe it more closely as we go on with our exposition. His method was to make a great statement of some fundamental, theological truth which was being questioned in that age. Then having made that statement be throws out the question that is raised up by those people who are in that peculiar religious condition described above, in which they question these theological truths. He voices their skepticism and doubts. Then he gives his answer, and drives it home with illustration, with exhortation, and even with threats.

This is a pedagogical method for either teaching or preaching, and an effective method, an excellent way to arouse the careless and indifferent. It compels attention; it compels the people to action. This method of Malachi is the beginning of a certain scholastic method that prevailed in the synagogue for centuries after. As we have in the book of Zephaniah the beginning of the great apocalyptic literature which is amplified in Daniel, Zechariah, and the book of Revelation, and as in Habakkuk we have the beginning of the speculative method in Israel, when they were speculating upon God’s providence and God’s rulership, so in Malachi we have introduced the scholastic method which has survived more or less ever since in Hebrew and Christian literature.

Now we come to the exposition of the prophecy. We take up in this chapter three of the prophet’s messages. There are eight in all. The remaining five will follow in the next chapter. Malachi’s fundamental affirmation is that God’s love was shown in Israel’s election, and Edom’s rejection (Malachi 1:2-5). Here we have exemplified that pedagogical method. He first makes his great fundamental, theological statement: "I have loved you, saith Jehovah," one of the most fundamental and far-reaching truths that was ever uttered. With that as the fundamental truth in theology we hold to everything else. Malachi then projects their questioning: "Ye say, wherein hast thou loved us?" This question represents their very dangerous, skeptical attitude. This attitude, as expressed by "wherein," is manifested at seven points in this book, viz: Malachi 1:2; Malachi 1:6-7; Malachi 3:7-8; Malachi 3:13. But Malachi goes on and proves that God loved Israel. His proof is based on the history of Esau, the twin brother of Jacob, in contrast with the history of Jacob, or Israel. His love is proved by the difference in his conduct toward Jacob, and his treatment of Esau. In other words, God’s love for Jacob is proved by Jacob’s history, in contrast with the history of his brother.

These nations were as near akin as they could possibly be, but the very opposites in disposition and destiny. We have some of the characteristics of Edom in Obadiah. Now the difference between God’s treatment of Jacob and Esau is as he says in the latter part of Malachi 1:2, "Yet I loved Jacob, but Esau I hated, and made his mountains a desolation, and gave his heritage to the jackals of the wilderness." He does not mean that he actually hated Esau, but that Esau occupied a very small place, or a very subordinate place in his estimation, for God cannot hate any nation, but he puts them in a very low place in his estimation in comparison with others.

God’s love for Israel is proved in her preservation, while his lack of love for Edom is proved in the fact that Edom is made a desolation, which occurred at the hands of the Nabataean Arabs during the period of the exile, somewhere about the middle of the century preceding this prophecy. Then he goes on to verify that history of Esau, "Whereas Edom, after he had been so utterly crushed, said, We are beaten down, but we will return and build the waste places." "They shall build, saith Jehovah, but I will throw down, and they shall call them the border of wickedness, and the people against whom Jehovah hath indignation forever. And your eyes shall see [this judgment upon Esau], and ye shall say, The Lord be magnified beyond the border of Israel." Paul refers to Jacob and Esau in Romans 11:13 to illustrate the doctrine of election. They do not show honor and reverence for God as do the heathen (Malachi 1:6-14). Again Malachi starts with his fundamental, theological premise. He says, "A son honoreth his father, and a servant his master." He is basing his remark on the Fifth Commandment which says, "Honour thy father and thy mother." God did not say, "Love thy father and thy mother," but "Honour thy father and thy mother." What Malachi has in mind here is the holiness, the majesty, the authority of God, which demands honor and reverence on the part of his people.

Then God speaks, "If then I am a father, where is mine honour?" I have commanded you to honor father and mother, which implies that in the very highest and noblest sense you honor God also. But they had begun to despise and heap contempt upon the holiness, the majesty, and the authority of God Almighty. "If I am a master, where is my fear?" The first thing demanded of a servant is that he fear his master, and of the child, that he honor and reverence the parent, and the first and fundamental thing demanded of subjects is that they reverence and fear Almighty God. But these people were despising the holiness of God; the priests looked upon the services with contempt.

Now having projected this great fundamental truth, he states the objections of the people. He charges the priests with despising his name and saying, "Wherein have we despised thy name?" Such is their position, and that position, on the part of those priests, indicates a woeful, wilful ignorance or a scornful skepticism. To be unconscious of the fact that they were despising God’s name shows that their moral consciousness, as well as their religious perceptions, must have been dormant, or utterly perverted.

Now having stated their position, he attacks it. This is what they do: "Ye offer polluted bread upon mine altar," and that proved that they despised the name, majesty, and holiness of God. "And ye say, Wherein have we polluted thee? In that ye say, The table of Jehovah is contemptible." Then he goes on to specify in what ways they made the table of Jehovah contemptible; that when they offered the blind, and the lame, and the sick, they thought it was all right. They would not dare offer such a gift to the governor, but they did to Almighty God. They knew the governor would not accept it of them, but they dared to offer it to God.

Malachi goes on with his admonition: "And now, I pray you, entreat the favor of God, that he may be gracious unto us: this hath been your means: will he accept any of your persons?" He will not..

Then the prophet breaks forth and says, "Oh, that the doors of the temple could be shut! I have no pleasure in you, saith Jehovah of hosts, neither will I accept an offering at your hand," expressing the same attitude toward their sacrifices as did Amos, Hosea, and Isaiah, not that he objected to the ceremonial or to the ritual, but he objected to the spirit in which they offered them, as also those prophets did.

Now we have a remarkable prophecy in which he shows the Gentiles will offer up incense and sacrifices all over the world: "For from the rising of the sun even unto the going down of the same my name shall be great among the Gentiles; and in every place incense shall be offered unto my name, and a pure offering: for my name shall be great among the Gentiles, saith Jehovah of hosts." This passage finds its fulfilment in the transfer of the covenant privileges from the Jews to the Gentiles which came to pass when the Jews rejected the Messiah. The argument is that the Jews with their great mission to all the world were failing and therefore, they must be punished for their failure with such opportunities.

He goes on stigmatizing those priests. They profane the Temple of Jehovah, they pollute it and they say, "Behold, what a weariness is it! and ye have snuffed at it . . . and ye have brought that which was taken by violence, and the lame, etc." Then he pronounced a curse upon the deceiver who had in his flock a male, and voweth, and sacrificeth unto the Lord a blemished thing; for I am a great King, saith the Lord of hosts, and my name is terrible among the Gentiles."

Next he charges the priests with unfaithfulness and wickedness. Here we have some splendid homiletical material for the preacher. In Malachi 2:1 he continues thus: "And now, O ye priests, this commandment is for you. If ye will not hear, and if ye will not lay it to heart, to give glory unto my name, saith the Lord of hosts, then will I send the curse upon you, and I will curse your blessings; yea, I have cursed them already, because ye do not lay it to heart." The third verse gives a description of the awful curse that shall come upon them.

Then he goes back to the history of Levi to get his ideal for the priest, when the tribes were set apart in the great covenant on Mount Sinai: "My covenant was with him of life and peace; I gave them to him for the fear wherewith he feared me, and was afraid before my name. The law of truth was in his mouth, and unrighteousness was not found in his lips: he walked with me in peace and uprightness, and turned many away from iniquity."

Then he gives his reasons for the statement: "For the priest’s lips should keep knowledge." The role of the priest was to teach and from the very beginning of God’s institution of his religion, he required a whole tribe to be set apart as teachers and administrators of the law. God recognized the fact that human nature must have teachers provided for their instruction. "They should seek the law at his mouth; for he is the messenger of the Lord of hosts." But by way of contrast to what Levi did at one time and what he does now, look at Malachi 2:8-9, “But ye are departed out of the way; you have caused many to stumble in the law." They had wilfully perverted it or misinterpreted or misapplied it. "Ye have corrupted the covenant of Levi, saith Jehovah of hosts. Therefore have I also made you contemptible and base before all the people, according as ye have not kept my ways, but have had respect of persons in the law." And God Almighty will make every priest and every preacher of his people contemptible and base in the eyes of the people, if they do with his gospel as the priests did with his Law.

QUESTIONS

1. What is the historical setting of this book?

2. What is the political condition of the people at this time?

3. What is the economic condition?

4. What is the social condition?

5. What is the religious condition?

6. What two Jewish parties began to spring up about this time?

7. What are the chapter divisions in the different versions, what in the Hebrew and how do these arrangements fit the subject matter?

8. What of the author and his name?

9. What is the date of the book and what were the difficulties in connection with it?

10. What is the general character of the book?

11. Give the outline of the book.

12. What is Malachi’s method?

13. What was Malachi’s fundamental affirmation and what was their reply?

14. What was the attitude of the people as indicated by the sevenfold "wherein" and where do they occur in the book?

15. What was God’s reply to their question, what was the meaning and what is the New Testament use of this statement?

16. What was Malachi’s first accusation, against whom was it made, what commandment referred to in this accusation, and what their reply?

17. What were his charges against the priests?

18. What were the threats against the priests for this failure in duty and what was Malachi’s ideal for the priests?