Major Lessons from Minor Prophets

Lest We Forget? (Malachi) 

Lesson #13 for June 29, 2013

Scriptures: Malachi 1-4;Leviticus 1:1-3; Ephesians 5:21-33; Exodus 32:32.

1. The name Mal’aki means “my messenger.” However, it could be a contraction of Mal’akiyah meaning “messenger of Yahweh.” This name is not found anywhere else in the Old Testament. It could be a title and not a name. Who else do Seventh-day Adventists refer to as a “messenger of the Lord”? The book of Malachi uses the rhetorical form of dialectic reasoning which was popular in his day. That method was used very effectively by Socrates who lived at about the same time.
2. Malachi was almost certainly the last book of the Old Testament to be written.Malachi 1:7,8and 3:10 suggest that it was written after the rebuilding of the temple when Judea was ruled by a governor appointed by the King of Persia. Many of the sins suggested by Malachi were rampant in the days of Ezra and Nehemiah. (Nehemiah 13:23-31; Ezra 9,10) This leads scholars to date the book of Malachi somewhere around 425 B.C., perhaps during the second time Nehemiah ruled.
3. As we know, historically, the prophetic voice felt silent for the next 400+ years. Did the attitudes of the people expressed in the book of Malachi have anything to do with that silence? Why didn’t God just give up on the Jewish people at that point?
4. The core message in the book of Malachi is: God is prepared to give us many blessings; but, He expects us to respond in appropriate ways to His blessings. God’s blessings come with responsibilities. God requires more than just pretentious piety which He specifically states is nauseating to Him and it causes Him to vomit. (Revelation 3:16; Special Testimonies, Series B, #2, p. 20.1) Does this message from Malachi and also from John when speaking to the Laodicean church have any application to the Seventh-day Adventist Church of today?
5. The general outline of the book of Malachi includes eight different times when God addressed the people and their leaders, pointing out specific transgressions. (Malachi 1:2, 6,7,8,10-13; 2:13,14,17; 3:7,8,13,14)

Look at all of the questions that people asked in the book of Malachi and think about why the people asked these questions. Then explain the answers that God gave to each question or to some of them. Here are the people’s eight questions, prefaced by God’s statement, “you ask”:

1. “ ‘ “How have you loved us?” ’ ” (Mal. 1:2, NIV).

2. “ ‘ “How have we shown contempt for your name?” ’ ” (Mal. 1:6, NIV).

3. “ ‘ “How have we defiled you?” ’ ” (Mal. 1:7, NIV).

4. Why do You not pay attention to our offerings and accept them with pleasure from our hands? (Mal. 2:13, 14).

5. “ ‘ “How have we wearied him? . . . Where is the God of justice?” ’ ” (Mal. 2:17, NIV).

6. “ ‘ “How are we to return” ’ ” to You? (Mal. 3:7, NIV).

7. “ ‘ “How do we rob you?” ’ ” (Mal. 3:8, NIV).

8. “ ‘ “What have we said against you?” ’ ” (Mal. 3:13, NIV).

In what ways are these issues still relevant to us in our postmodern world? How are we grappling with similar questions? (Adult Teacher’s Sabbath School Bible Study Guide p. 160.)

In his Message Bible, Eugene Peterson says this about the book of Malachi:

Most of life is not lived in crisis–which is a good thing. Not many of us would be able to sustain a life of perpetual pain or loss or ecstasy or challenge. But crisis has this to say for it: in time of crisis everything, absolutely everything, is important and significant. Life itself is on the line. No word is casual, no action marginal. And almost always, God and our relationship with God is on the front page.

But during the humdrum times, when things are, as we tend to say, “normal,” our interest in God is crowded to the margins of our lives and we become preoccupied with ourselves. . . .

The prophecy of Malachi is made to order for just such conditions. Malachi creates a crisis at a time when we are unaware of crisis. He wakes us up to the crisis of God during the times when the only thing we are concerned with is us. He keeps us on our toes, listening for God, waiting in anticipation for God, ready to respond to God, who is always coming to us.

Malachi gets in the last word of Holy Scripture in the Old Testament. The final sentences in his message to us evoke the gigantic figures of Moses and Elijah–Moses to keep us rooted in what God has done and said in the past, Elijah to keep us alert to what God will do in the days ahead. By leaving us in the company of mighty Moses and fiery Elijah, Malachi considerably reduces the danger of our trivializing matters of God and the soul. (Introduction to Malachi - The Message)

1. How do we explain God’s statement inMalachi 1:1-3? It is very important to read these words in light of the entire history of the Israelites versus the Edomites throughout the Old Testament. This is not a statement about Jacob and Esau as individuals. For example, seeGenesis 25:23; 36:1-9; Isaiah 34:5-17; 63:1-6; Jeremiah 49:7-22; Ezekiel 25:12-14; 35:1-15; Amos 1:11,12; and Obadiah 1-14. It should be very clear that the descendants of Esau were frequent rivals and enemies of the Israelites. But, how could a God of love say He hates them? ReadMatthew 10:37 andLuke 14:26. What God is saying to us is that because of their attitudes and behaviors, He could not love the people of Edom as He loved the descendants of Israel. In other words, hate in this passage means to “love less.” This is a good example of why we need to have a “biblical vocabulary”!
2. ReadMalachi 1:6-14. Why did God say, “Cursed be the cheat”? Can even a physician here on this earth heal a cheating patient who refuses to do anything the doctor tells him to do? Does God have to actively curse the “cheat”? Or, is he cursed as the natural result of his own behavior? Wasn’t God simply stating a universal truth? Cheats only destroy themselves by their behavior. They may temporarily “get away with” their cheating; but, sooner or later, the results will show. God does not have to place a curse on the one who is cheating; he simply reaps the results of his cheating.Acts 16:31 tells us that our salvation is based on trust or faith. Cheating directly destroys that trust. Do we really want to destroy the very basis for our salvation? Do we want to make all of God’s efforts on our behalf a waste? Do we want to destroy our faith? Consider Cain.
3. ReadMalachi 2:1-9. Can you imagine a God of love rubbing anyone’s face in dung? (Malachi 2:3) Why would He do or say such a thing? The priests in Malachi’s day were promoting cheating. God had planned a wonderful life for the children of Israel. But, their leaders were teaching them to do wrong instead of right. How do you think God should feel about such behavior?
4. ReadMalachi 2:10-16. If you review the history of the children of Israel, you will realize that the beginning of the downfall occurred with Solomon marrying a thousand wives. Even earlier, God had to take the children of Jacob out of Canaan into Egypt in order to prevent them from just marrying Canaanite women and melting into Canaanite society. Following the Babylonian captivity on two different occasions (see #2 above–Ezra and Nehemiah), God had to step in and forcefully try to prevent the children of Israel from marrying foreign wives. This kind of relationship promoted by the fertility cult religions of Baal and Ashtoreth had led to the Babylonian captivity. Is it any wonder that God said, “I hate divorce”? God realized that if they fell back into that despicable practice, Israel would very soon lose any identity as His chosen people. Consider some other comments about divorce in Scripture. (Deuteronomy 24:1-4; Matthew 5:31,32; 19:1-12; Mark 10:11-12; Luke 16:18)
5. It was God’s original intention for men to learn about God from their wives and for wives to learn about God from their husbands. Men tend to have characteristics of strength, determination, and energy, setting for themselves high standards. Women tend to be more caring, loving, and accepting of others. In a true Christian marriage, the two partners are to learn from each other the characteristics of the other. This kind of God’s ideal could never succeed with casual on and off marital affairs and certainly not by marriage to foreign women accustomed to fertility-cult religions.
6. ReadMalachi 2:17-3:5. The children of Israel had come to believe that God was a distant being who paid little attention to whatever they did. But, God reminded them that the day is coming when He will, in fact, appear as a Judge and as the Refiner against all who are doing wrong. Do any of us in our day tend to think that God does not see or hear or care about what we are doing?
7. ReadMalachi 3:6. How could God say, “I am the Lord, and I do not change”? See1 Samuel 2:30; 15:10,11,29,35; 26:19; andGenesis 6:6,7; Exodus 32:14; Numbers 23:19,20; Judges 2:18; 2 Samuel 24:16; 1 Chronicles 21:14; etc. What are we supposed to do with such passages which are apparently in direct contradiction with each other? Some students of Scripture try to explain such apparent contradictions on God’s part by suggesting it was the writer’s lack of a full understanding of God! But, a careful look at the larger context of each of these passages should provide a more satisfactory answer. Was it God’s idea to make Saul king in the first place? No! The people were the ones who were insisting on a king. God warned them, and Samuel warned them, but they still insisted. So, God allowed them to have a king. He helped them choose the kind of king that they were looking for. But, God knew from the beginning what the results of Saul’s life would be. Wasn’t God sorry even before Saul was made king that the people were not willing to allow God Himself to be their King? Biblical passages need to be read in the context of all of Scripture.
8. God was not sorry that He had made humans. (Genesis 6:6,7) He Himself said that He was very pleased with His work in making us. (Genesis 1:31) God knew in advance that the flood was coming. But, He was very sorry that it was necessary. His children were the ones that were perishing. God refuses to take away our freedom of choice even when He knows in advance it is going to have devastating consequences. Freedom is essential for love, and God would not exchange that for anything.
9. ReadMalachi 3:8-12. What is the meaning and purpose of tithe? Why did God say that those who do not “pay up” are cheating Him? (Malachi 3:8-12)
10. The English word tithe is derived from the Old English words teothe or teogotha which mean one-tenth. The word is used to translate the Hebrew word maaser which means one-tenth. It usually is used to refer to the tenth portion of one’s income whether from crops or salary or any other source that is returned to God as an acknowledgment that all we have and are belong to Him. Abraham paid a “tenth” to the King/Priest Melchizedek after God helped him rescue Lot and his associates. (SeeGenesis 14:20) Jacob promised to return one-tenth of his income if God would continue to bless him. (SeeGenesis 28:22)
11. Later, God instructed Moses and the children of Israel to set aside the tenth (tithe) as support for the tabernacle/temple and the descendants of Levi. (SeeLeviticus 27:30-33) Many religious organizations still suggest that a tenth should be set aside as support for the clergy.
12. In Malachi God went beyond just asking us to set aside the tithe. He does not even just command us to do it. In this passage, God actually suggests that we enter into a partnership with Him. He challenges us to test Him. Shouldn’t anyone who is thinking clearly want God as a Partner?
13. ReadMalachi 3:13-18, and compareMatthew 5:43-48. When God seems to treat all people equally whether they are doing good or bad, how does that make us feel about Him? Will the day finally come when He will clearly distinguish between those who are doing what is right and those who are doing wrong? How do you feel about God sending His blessings even on the wicked?
14. What is the scroll (book) of remembrance being discussed inMalachi 3:16? SeeExodus 32:32; Psalm 139:16; Isaiah 4:3; 65:6; Daniel 7:9,10; Ecclesiastes 12:14; Revelation 20:12,15. We do not know what kind of “books” God has in heaven. No doubt, His recording devices are much superior to anything of which we have ever heard. However, He does have an accurate record of everything that has ever happened on this earth.