39. BIBLICAL EPIC: Notes

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Malachi 1: "I have loved you," says the LORD. "Where is my honor? You offer blind and lame sacrifices. My name will be great among the nations." The Hebrew name “Malachi” means “my messenger,” which sets up an important wordplay on the prophet’s name in 3:1: “Behold, I send my messenger, and he will prepare the way before me.” This wordplay suggests that Malachi’s own ministry was intended to foreshadow that of the coming messenger, who is identified in the NT as John the Baptist. Malachi was likely a contemporary of Ezra and Nehemiah, writing in the mid-fifth century BC. While the people of his day were relatively orthodox in their beliefs, theirs had become a dead orthodoxy. They were all too ready to make ethical compromises and to dilute the strenuous demands of proper worship. In response, Malachi’s prophecy comes as a wake-up call to renewed covenant fidelity. We could summarize the book in this way: “Despite the people’s sin and turning away from God, God reiterates His love for His people (1:2) and His promises of a coming Messenger (3:1).” • 1:1-5. First Disputation: The LORD’s Love for . After introducing himself (v. 1), Malachi’s first sermon presents the thesis for the entire book: the LORD loves Israel (v. 2). The prophet debates this thesis with the audience in the five speeches that follow. The Israelites are being contrasted with the Edomites in order to establish the fact that God loves them. Israel and Edom are nations descended from Isaac’s twin sons, and . In this context “loved” refers to choice rather than affection, and “hated” refers to rejection rather than animosity. As a result, one nation has survived, while the other has perished. This is a sign of God’s love for Israel (cf. Paul’s quote in Rom 9:13). • 1:6-14. Second Disputation: The Priest’s Polluted Offerings. Malachi’s second sermon contains two speeches (1:6- 14; 2:1-9), and the theme of worship joins them: God is worthy of worship (v. 14), but the priests have corrupted that worship (2:8). The real issue is not God’s love for Israel but Israel’s love for God. True worship of God has always been a matter of the heart, not form or ritual. Here, Malachi exposes the improper worship of the LORD, indicts the corrupt Levitical priesthood responsible, and affirms God’s role as Father, Lord, and sovereign Ruler of the nations. Malachi 2: "Now, O priests, I will curse you. You have corrupted the covenant of ." has profaned the sanctuary. The LORD hates divorce. • 2:1-9. Second Disputation (cont.): The LORD Rebukes the Priests. Since the priests failed to guard the purity of the temple (1:6-14), the LORD threatens to punish them in a manner that fits their crime. Because they “despised” (1:6) and failed to give honor to the LORD’s name, they will be “despised and abased before all the people.” Because they “polluted” God (1:7), He will figuratively pollute and disqualify them for service at the altar by spreading on their faces the “dung” taken from their rejected sacrifices (v. 3). Since that dung was to be taken away from the sanctuary and burned, so they too will be “taken away.” Because they presumed to bless the people of God, as if Israel’s sacrifices had been accepted and atonement made, God will now curse their blessings. Offering blind, lame, and sick animals for sacrifice is serious because of what they represent – they should point to the pure and blameless sacrifice whom God will provide. By the time of the priesthood was under God’s curse (Matt 16:21; 21:23-46). But the promise of a lasting Levitical priesthood was still in effect (Num 25:13; Jer 33:17-18; Mal 3:3-4). • 2:10-16. Third Disputation: Judah Profaned the Covenant. In this third disputation, the prophet traces covenant failure in Judah from the priests (v. 8) to the people (v. 10). He begins with a general description of Israel’s infidelity against one another, which profanes their covenant with God, the Father (1:6) and Creator of Israel (Deut 32:6). Malachi condemns two parallel (though not necessarily related) marital offenses: intermarriage with pagans (v. 11; cf. Neh 13:29) and divorce based merely on aversion or incompatibility (vv. 13-16). Marriage is not just a contract, a two-way relationship between husband and wife, but a covenant, a three-way relationship in which the couple is accountable to God, for “the LORD was witness” to that covenant. As Jesus affirms in Matt 19:5-9, it is God who joins a couple together. And He intends marriage to produce “godly offspring” (v. 15), but divorce frustrates that purpose. Malachi’s lofty view of the marriage covenant hearkens back to the marriage ideal announced in Gen 2:23-24. Divorce is an act of violence against the marriage partner and a form of social injustice, a topic the fourth sermon addresses (3:5). The Hebrew text of v. 16 is one of the most difficult in all the OT to translate and is much disputed. But it is clear that God hates a broken covenant. Divorce breaks the heart, destroys relationships, violates family integrity, damages the children’s well-being, and makes for an uncertain future. And as Paul will later reveal (Eph 5), the “mystery” of marriage is that it is a picture of Christ and the church; thus, divorce preaches a false Gospel. • 2:17. Fourth Disputation: The Messenger of the LORD. The prophet begins the fourth disputation by accusing the people of wearying the LORD with their accusations that He does not love them and that He condones wickedness. : "My messenger will prepare the way. I will come to judge. You have robbed me of tithes. The LORD will remember those who serve Him." • 3:1-5. Fourth Disputation: The Messenger of the LORD (cont.). In 2:17, Malachi accused Israel of having “wearied the LORD” through their accusations and impatience. Zechariah had promised that God would return to Jerusalem and to His temple, which He would again inhabit with His own glorious presence (e.g., Zech 1:16ff; 2:4ff, 10-13; 8:3-8; 9:9- 17). Since ’ tabernacle and Solomon’s temple were filled with the visible glory of God as soon as they were completed, it was hoped that the same would happen with the rebuilt temple (Exod 40:34ff; 1 Kings 8:10ff; Ezek 43:1-12). Indeed, Hag 2:9 promised that the rebuilt temple would be filled with an even greater measure of glory than Solomon’s. But far from enjoying such radiant glory, the temple of Malachi’s day was devoid of any visible manifestation of God. Yet it would not always be so, for Malachi promised, “the LORD whom you seek will suddenly come to His temple” (v. 1). Simeon witnessed at least a partial fulfillment of this prophecy when he encountered in the temple the infant Jesus, who had come “for glory to your people Israel” (Luke 2:32). The NT unfolds further fulfillment, for only the glory of God in the person of Jesus Christ would be this greater glory (Luke 2:29-32; John 1:14; 2 Cor 4:6). Preceding the appearance of the LORD would be ”my messenger” who will “prepare the way before me.” The NT identifies John the Baptist as the promised messenger of v. 1a, who prepares the way for the LORD who is predicted in v. 1b (Matt 11:10; Mark 1:2; Luke 7:27). Jesus the Messiah is "the messenger of the covenant,“ the New Covenant (cf. Isa 42:6; Luke 2:29-32; 22:20). When the LORD comes, He will perform two complementary works: He will purify some sinners (vv. 2-4; at His first coming) and judge others (v. 5; at His second coming). • 3:6-12. Fifth Disputation: Israel’s Begrudging Offerings Condemned. The prophet now returns to Israel’s begrudging offerings, a subject treated in 1:6-2:9, while also echoing the first sermon underscoring God’s faithfulness (1:2-5). The charge to bring the tithe (vv. 8-10) is tied to the call to repentance (vv. 6-7), the heart of the message. • 3:13-18. Sixth Disputation: The Coming Day of Judgment. The prophet’s final sermon distills the teaching of the previous speeches, especially highlighting the contrast between the evildoers and the righteous. : "The day is coming like a furnace. The sun of righteousness will rise. The wicked will be ashes. I will send you the prophet." • 4:1-3. Sixth Disputation: The Coming Day of Judgment (cont.) Here Malachi breaks away from the disputation format of his sermon, bluntly warning the people that God’s judgment is inescapable. This decisively answers the people’s charge that God does not distinguish between the righteous and the wicked (cf. 3:15, 18). The “day” in v. 1 is shorthand for the day of the LORD. For “the arrogant and all evildoers” it will be a day when they are burned up like “stubble.” But for those faithful believers listed in the “book of remembrance” (3:16), it will be a day when God will say, “They shall be mine,” His treasured possession (3:17; cf. Exod 19:5), and they will be spared. For them, it will be a day when “the sun of righteousness shall rise with healing in its wings” (v. 2; cf. Isa 60:1-3). Jeremiah also longed for and promised such divine “healing” (Jer 8:15; 33:6). Christian interpreters throughout the history of the church have understood this prophecy to be fulfilled in Christ, who is “the light of the world” (John 8:12; cf. John 1:4-6). Indeed, it is a title for Christ in Zechariah’s song, “whereby the sunrise shall visit us on high to give light to those who sit in darkness” (Luke 1:78-79). Just as the sun drives away darkness and clouds, bringing light and joy, so the “sun of righteousness” will appear to dispel gloom, oppression, and injustice. The “righteousness” brought by this “sun” includes both judgment on evildoers and reward for those who are righteous in their deeds. • 4:4-6. Conclusion. These closing appeals summarize the main points of Malachi’s prophecy: “Remember the law of my servant Moses” (the focus of the first three disputations) and the promised sending of “Elijah the prophet” before the coming “day of the LORD” (the focus of the last three disputations). The reason for the identification of the coming prophet as “Elijah” is disputed. It seems likely that Malachi recognized that of all the OT prophets, Elijah best fit the portrait of the messianic prophet “like Moses” predicted in Deut 18:15 and 34:10-12. As such, Elijah stands alongside Moses in vv. 4-6 as the representative of the entire OT line of prophets, much as he functions on the Mount of Transfiguration. Thus, this future prophet is identified with Elijah not because Elijah was spared from death, as if this might permit a literal return to life, but because the future messenger would have a prophetic ministry similar to that of the historical Elijah. Elijah boldly rebuked kings (1 Kings 21:17-29), preached repentance (1 Kings 18:18-21, 36-39), and validated his messages with signs and miracles (1 Kings 17:17-23). The NT identifies John the Baptist as the Elijah figure who ministered “in the spirit and power of Elijah” (Luke 1:17) and prepared the way for Jesus the Messiah by calling people to repentance. Some identify Elijah as one of the two witnesses in Rev 11:3.