Malachi

Richard Belcher focuses on the book of Malachi. He emphasizes its themes of covenant faithfulness, judgment, and hope. Belcher provides insights into God’s warnings and promises to Israel through Malachi’s prophecies, applying these lessons to modern spiritual life.

The following unedited transcript is provided by Beluga AI.

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This audio lecture is brought to you by RTS on iTunesu at the virtual campus of Reformed Theological Seminary. To listen to other lectures and to access additional resources, please visit us at itunes rts.edu. For additional information on how to take distance education courses for credit towards a fully accredited Master of Arts in religion degree, please visit our website at virtual rts.edu.

Alright, we come to Malachi. And if you want to know more about Malachi, you have to take Hebrew. I’m sorry, because we go through Malachi in Hebrew exegesis.

So some of you have had that privilege. But quickly, want to place Malachi in the historical situation. Haggai, Zechariah have been right around 525. The temple dedicated 516. Esther under that King Ahasuerus or Xerxes, Artaxerxes. I forget exactly which one. It’s about 465. Ezra’s ministry is about 458. Nehemiah about 444. So we’re moving down the historical timeline.

Malachi somewhat debated, but in the general vicinity of the late 400s, some argue that Malachi sort of arises as a prophet during a period of time when Nehemiah is removed or is gone, not removed, is gone from being governor of, of Judah. And there’s debate about that. But certainly the issues that Nehemiah and Malachi deal with overlap significantly. The behavior of the priests that’s dealt with Nehemiah and Malachi, the neglect of the contributions to the temple, that’s dealt with Nehemiah and Malachi intermarriage with foreign women. Both Nehemiah and Malachi deal with those issues.

So they’re dealing with the same issues. And that’s what makes you think that they probably minister during a similar time period toward the end, well, end toward this post, in this post exilic community, you know, getting down toward 400, 400 bc. The one issue Nehemiah deals with that Malachi does not deal with is a desecration of the Sabbath. So there is a difference there, but there is quite a bit of overlap in terms of the issues between Nehemiah and Malachi.

So the audience of malachi, the second or third generation after the temple was rebuilt, temple was rebuilt, dedicated 516 now we’re down past 444, 433, late four hundreds, the second or third generation after the temple was rebuilt. And they were apathetic, they were indifferent to God. They were lax in their attitudes towards God. They were discouraged. None of the great prophecies of the prophets were being fulfilled in their community. They couldn’t see the evidence, as we see at the beginning of Malachi, of God’s demonstration of God’s love.

And so this is a period where the community is very discouraged. Malachi’s style I may have, in your notes, Micah’s style, but it’s actually Malachi’s style has been called the disputation method, where there will be a statement, then an objection raised to that statement, and then an answer to the objection. Very common in Malachi for a statement to be made, the people to then object or to question that statement, and then for God to give an answer. This is very common in Malachi.

It may be one way to break through the apathy of that community, sort of a dialogue with that community. Now the message of Malachi: God will judge his people if they are lax in their attitudes toward him. The book opens with this introductory appeal of God’s love: I have loved you. That’s the statement. I have loved you, says the Lord. Objection or counter, how have you loved us? We don’t see evidence. We don’t see a demonstration of your love for us. Show us how has God loved us.

² “I have loved you,” says the Lord . But you say, “How have you loved us?” “Is not Esau Jacob’s brother?” declares the Lord . “Yet I have loved Jacob (Malachi 1:2, ESV)

And the answer that is given here, Jacob I have loved, but Esau I have hated. The answer goes back to the Jacob and Esau situation, where you’ve got two brothers, Esau being the firstborn, Jacob being the younger brother. But as happens in the book of Genesis, so much God chooses to work through the younger brother. Jacob I loved, Jacob I chose, and Esau I hated. And that’s the answer. In fact, the answer goes on here in the first five verses. Look at the results. Esau does not have a future.

You, as God’s people, have a future. And it talks about Esau wanting to rebuild, but God says they may want to rebuild, but they will not be able to rebuild. And an interesting way to answer this question, show us the demonstration of God’s love. Well, look at Esau, and look at the descendants of Esau, the Edomites. You are God’s people. You have a future. They are not God’s people. They do not have a future. This is the way that the answer comes across.

And so there’s an emphasis here on sort of the negative side of the equation, not the positive side, not doesn’t go through all the evidence of God’s love on a positive side, but shows what happens when you’re not a part of God’s people, perhaps a way to get the people to begin thinking in a better way. But that’s how the book opens. And of course, Paul picks up on this in Romans 9, and we don’t have time to talk about it. Then you have a passage, chapter 16:29, that are oracles against the priests.

And this passage begins with the statement that they would all accept:

⁶ “A son honors his father, and a servant his master. If then I am a father, where is my honor? And if I am a master, where is my fear? says the Lord of hosts to you, O priests, who despise my name. But you say, ‘How have we despised your name?’ (Malachi 1:6, ESV)

So here, an accusation is made against the priest: “you despise my name.” And now, there is a response by the priests: “How have we despised your name?” And the answer comes, you have despised my name by offering sacrifices that are not acceptable to God. And if you read in this section, they are bringing to God animals that are weak, sick, and blemished. It’s a pretty good deal. As priests, you could get a little more meat out of these animals, and as people, you could get rid of some of your animals that really weren’t doing you any good.

And so this is a pretty good deal, but it goes against what God had said in his law that you should bring certain kinds of animals to worship. And so you have the book of Malachi, beginning with a statement on the character of God, God’s love for his people, which the people had not seen or recognized. And when their view of God is not where it should be, it has affected their worship of God, especially the priests. Here are the ones that come in for condemnation.

And then God, in chapter two, still with the priest, promises to send a curse on the priests if they do not quit this violation.

¹ “And now, O priests, this command is for you. ² If you will not listen, if you will not take it to heart to give honor to my name, says the Lord of hosts, then I will send the curse upon you and I will curse your blessings. Indeed, I have already cursed them, because you do not lay it to heart. (Malachi 2:1-2, ESV)

In fact, the way this curse is stated, chapter two, verse three, “I will rebuke your offspring.”

³ Behold, I will rebuke your offspring, and spread dung on your faces, the dung of your offerings, and you shall be taken away with it. (Malachi 2:3, ESV)

And that’s significant to a priest because the priest’s line was hereditary. It was hereditary. And so, to rebuke your offspring is getting at the very heart of the priesthood because it is hereditary.

But then notice, I will spread dung on your faces, the dung of your offerings, and you shall be taken away with it. What do you do when you sacrifice an animal with that dung or that offal, as it’s called? That part of the animal that’s unclean, including the dung. What do you do with it? Well, you set it aside and you take it outside the camp to an unclean place.

God says I’m going to spread it all over your face because you’re unclean and I’m going to take you out with it outside the camp because you are, you are unclean. That’s the judgment, possibility that God brings against his people. And in that context, he calls them back to responsibility. Their job as priests was to teach the people. And he mentions the covenant with Levi, Chapter 2:4-6.

⁴ So shall you know that I have sent this command to you, that my covenant with Levi may stand, says the Lord of hosts. ⁵ My covenant with him was one of life and peace, and I gave them to him. It was a covenant of fear, and he feared me. He stood in awe of my name. ⁶ True instruction was in his mouth, and no wrong was found on his lips. He walked with me in peace and uprightness, and he turned many from iniquity. (Malachi 2:4-6, ESV)

There’s maybe not one place in the Old Testament where you can maybe see the phrase covenant of Levi, but there’s several places in the Old Testament where this might be made. One is Exodus 32. That might be one place where the covenant of Levi perhaps is made with the Levites in terms of their role within the nation of Israel. But the responsibility of the priests is brought out, and the effectiveness of the priests if they will be faithful to God. Verse seven.

⁷ For the lips of a priest should guard knowledge, and people should seek instruction from his mouth, for he is the messenger of the Lord of hosts. (Malachi 2:7, ESV)

That’s what a priest should do. In fact, if you look at verse six related to Levi,

⁶ True instruction was in his mouth, and no wrong was found on his lips. He walked with me in peace and uprightness, and he turned many from iniquity. (Malachi 2:6, ESV)

If the priests will be faithful, they will help God’s people be faithful, turning many from iniquity. But they have not fulfilled their priestly responsibilities related to worship, especially, which is also related to their teaching the people about proper worship and other things. And so, this oracle focuses on the priests. Then, really, the rest of most of the rest of the book are oracles related to the people, and a variety of things are emphasized. But one particular passage that is somewhat difficult, I want to just spend a few moments talking about. That’s chapter 2:10-16.

And I probably should add a lecture review question related to this passage in terms of the various approaches, chapter 2:10-16. So I’m going to put up on the board here. This may not be in your notes, some of the approaches to chapter 2, verses 10 through 16. And then we’ll briefly talk about this passage. Some take 2:10-16 as all figurative, with the focus being on idolatry. So all the stuff said in these verses, many would connect to idolatry.

It’s not dealing with real divorce, but it’s dealing with divorce in the context of covenant faithlessness, like Hosea, and really focusing on idolatry. That’s one particular view of these verses. Another approach to these verses is to see three things in view: interfaith marriage, pagan worship or idolatry, and divorce. This is argued by Stewart. Interfaith marriage, pagan worship, and divorce. The problem or the question related to this view is that the text seems to point out two things, because in Chapter 2:13, this is the second thing you do.

So if two things are pointed out, it seems like two things are in view rather than three things. So that’s one of the questions related to that view. Thirdly, the third approach is to see two things in view: idolatry, which would be the first thing about verses ten through twelve, and divorce, which would be verses 13 through 16. That view is reflected in your notes. The fourth view sees two things: interfaith marriage and divorce. And that’s sort of where I lean now. So your notes, I need to change that.

But as you read through some of the things that are said in this section, you can see how in verses ten through twelve especially, is it talking about idolatry or is it talking about interfaith marriage? Well, they could be. They could be. Certainly they could be. But if you look at, it’s in verse eleven. Judah has been faithless, and an abomination has been committed in Israel and in Jerusalem. For Judah has profaned the sanctuary of the Lord. What does that refer to? The way it reads here, many people would connect that to the temple.

¹¹ Judah has been faithless, and abomination has been committed in Israel and in Jerusalem. For Judah has profaned the sanctuary of the Lord , which he loves, and has married the daughter of a foreign god. (Malachi 2:11, ESV)

So, if you take the Hebrew as Kodesh, if you take Kodesh as sanctuary of the Lord, and he’s married to the daughter of a foreign god, you could see how someone could take that as idolatry. The temple is in view. And you have this terminology related to false worship, the daughter of a foreign god. However, the word Kodesh, translated sanctuary, can mean something that is holy.

And the phrase which he loves makes people move in the direction of the covenant community, that which is holy to God, his people, which he loves. I have loved you. That’s the way the book opens. And the phrase “daughter of a foreign God” is a way to talk about other nations who worship false gods. In other words, see if I can find this phrase. The Moabites were called daughters of Chemosh. So it’s not referring to idolatry necessarily. It’s referring to a woman who is the worshipper of a false foreign God.

So there’s where the two sort of come together. But the question is, is this focusing on the idolatry angle, or is it focusing on the marriage angle? Married the daughter of a foreign God. And I’ve sort of come to the conclusion that the focus here is primarily on interfaith marriage, that that’s part of the issue that the covenant community has been faithless in this regard.

You go back to verse ten.

¹⁰ Have we not all one Father? Has not one God created us? Why then are we faithless to one another, profaning the covenant of our fathers? (Malachi 2:10, ESV)

Now there’s debate about what that refers to, but you could refer that to the Mosaic Covenant, where they became a nation. And part of the way they are profaning the covenant of their fathers is to marry individuals who are not worshippers of the true God, which would then cause problems for the covenant community. So that’s sort of. So your notes reflect view three. I’m sort of here at view four. What you need to know about 2:10 through 16.

You need to know these four possibilities and some of the details. Don’t worry too much about it, since the notes may go in a little bit different direction. Now, the other problem, the second thing you do, and it’s very interesting, in the first part, you have the problem stated: interfaith marriage. If that’s the problem, verse eleven.

¹¹ Judah has been faithless, and abomination has been committed in Israel and in Jerusalem. For Judah has profaned the sanctuary of the Lord, which he loves, and has married the daughter of a foreign god. (Malachi 2:11, ESV)

And then you have how it affects their worship:

¹² May the Lord cut off from the tents of Jacob any descendant of the man who does this, who brings an offering to the Lord of hosts! (Malachi 2:12, ESV)

The second thing you do, and before getting to that second thing, verse 13 mentions worship. So the first thing you do is mentioned, and then the effect for worship, the second thing you do before it gets to that worship is emphasized.

¹³ And this second thing you do. You cover the Lord ‘s altar with tears, with weeping and groaning because he no longer regards the offering or accepts it with favor from your hand. (Malachi 2:13, ESV)

Okay. God is no longer accepting your offering. Why? Well, now, here the issue is divorce. you’ve been faithless with the wife of your covenant.

Verse 15 is probably the most difficult verse in the Old Testament. So I’m not going to get into, did he not make them one with a portion of the Spirit in their union, this residue of the spirit? The point of this, however, is clear: Godly offspring. And so the problem with both interfaith marriage and then the divorce, and in that context, they were divorcing for economic reasons, divorcing and remarrying for economic reasons. You could marry into a family, many times a non-Jewish family, and receive economic benefit.

And that may be part of the background here, but certainly part of the problem is this, of this is the godly offspring. Everybody’s pretty much agreed that the bad consequences of this relate to the godly offspring. And so guard yourselves and let none of you be faithless to the wife of your youth. And then you got verse 16, which is also somewhat of a difficult verse, and we don’t really have time to get into it. I think I have in your notes the various ways it’s translated.

¹⁵ Did he not make them one, with a portion of the Spirit in their union? And what was the one God seeking? Godly offspring. So guard yourselves in your spirit, and let none of you be faithless to the wife of your youth. ¹⁶ “For the man who does not love his wife but divorces her, says the Lord , the God of Israel, covers his garment with violence, says the Lord of hosts. So guard yourselves in your spirit, and do not be faithless.” (Malachi 2:15-16, ESV)

Is that in your notes? Some versions translate this, “I hate divorce,” a statement by God directly proclaiming, “I hate divorce.” There are problems with that translation. Translation is possible, but there are problems with that translation in the Hebrews. The New King James Version makes it God’s statement, but it’s more indirect. Yahweh says that he hates divorce, for it covers one’s garment with violence. There. It’s God’s statement, but it’s more indirect. The ESV, which really is a fairly faithful reflection in the Hebrew, does the ESV make your notes? Yeah. Okay.

It’s still God’s statement, but it’s his statement about the person who divorces. So you can, you know, God does not like divorce. That, you know, it’s just how much rhetorical effect you have here is God saying, “I hate divorce” directly. That brings with it a lot of rhetorical effect that preaches. Whereas if it’s more God’s indirect statement, it’s not as strong. It doesn’t still mean that you can preach against divorce.

You certainly can in this passage, but it doesn’t quite have the rhetorical effect. And so you have to sort of wrestle with that. The challenge we face in our culture is to uphold God’s standards of marriage and divorce in a way that recognizes people in your congregation who have been through divorce. Some of them maybe the innocent victim. Some of them may have been the ones who were the guilty party, but they’ve repented. Some of them still may be the guilty party.

And so, to preach in such a way that God’s word ministers to those who have been through divorce, that’s the challenge, I think, that we face: to communicate the tragedy of this, but to offer some, some hope. Yes? Hey. Yes, go ahead. Oh, I’m sorry. Thought you had to make an announcement.

Well, the other interesting passage here in Malachi is this, Malachi 3:6-12, this tithing passage, and we’re coming to the end here.

One of the things we do in Hebrew exegesis as we go through Malachi is to draw proper parallels between the old covenant community and the new covenant community. And certainly, Israel and the church would be a parallel. When you think about the whole aspect of giving, you think about how they would bring their tithes and offerings. The tithe would be a tenth, and the offerings would be other things beyond that to the temple in support of the Levites. That parallels us bringing offerings to the church in support of pastors, leaders. So, there’s a parallel there.

And so the major question that people usually have is, what do you do with this whole 10th? And I think the New Testament pushes us in a direction toward liberality and cheerfulness in our giving. And I think 10th is an important standard, but it’s a standard that you want to go way beyond within the new covenant situation.

And it can be a good standard if you are dealing with a couple in your church who maybe their credit cards are way over their limits and they are at a stage where they are not even given 1% of their income. Well, you work with that couple to get them to a place where they have a goal, you know, 10%, that’s a goal. But you teach them along the way that that’s not the end product, that the direction of the New Testament is to give in abundance.

So that’s just generally the way I would sort of handle this covenant giving. And I do think that the emphasis in this chapter, the yous here, you know, bring the full tithes into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house, put me to the test. I will not pour out the windows of heaven for you. That you there is plural.

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. (Malachi 3:10, ESV)

This is a promise primarily to the community of God’s people. Many times this passage is used in sort of an individualistic way.

Now, there are individual blessings for those who give, but you have to take the whole concept of covenant blessing and covenant curse and put it now into the context of the new covenant, where we are promised persecution for our relationship to Jesus Christ. And that persecution may mean financial trouble. Now, we don’t experience that here in this country, but there are places where people do experience that. And so you can’t draw a one to one connection, as many do.

Certainly, in the new covenant, material blessings are important, but there’s much more emphasis on spiritual blessings in terms of our relationship with God. And I think, all things being considered, if you handle your money wisely, you will experience blessings. But not everything is on a level playing field. So, there are extenuating circumstances that happen. One of those is persecution.

So you have to, again, this whole challenge we’ve looked at all throughout this course, how do you take this passage in the Old Testament in its context, and then make the proper connections to God’s people today? Well, Malachi ends just because of time. We’ll move on to the end of Malachi. Malachi ends with an emphasis on the law and the prophets, which sort of is verse five.

⁵ “Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes. (Malachi 4:5, ESV)

And of course, Jesus says that John the Baptist came in the Spirit of Elijah and before that great and awesome day of the Lord. So, this sort of prepares the covenant community for the coming of the Lord, the coming of Christ. There’s one thing we need you to do before. Yes? Oh, exam. Let me talk about that while I do that. Let me hand these around. The exam is set up exactly the way the two other exams have been set up, identification questions and essay questions.

The only difference with this exam is there is a section on key dates, and that section on key dates is in the document outlines. So at the back of your outlines for the profits is a section of key dates. We’ve talked about these dates in class. You need to know what happened and the significance of what happened. So what happened and then the significance of what happened. And there won’t be any choice section.

In other words, I may give you three or four key dates and you have to answer all of them, whereas in the identification question and the essay question you usually have a choice. So there will be an identification question, there will be a short essay, and then there will be a longer essay section. There will be a question on your reading, reading percentage, how much of the percentage. Thank you for reminding me. How much of the percentage of reading did you complete for this class?

That will be a section on the final. If you’re a virtual student, the final exam will also include three outlines. You know right off what they are. They will let you know which outlines. So, virtual students will also have to do the three outlines that you will be given ahead of time. Any other questions or comments? Pardon OT 516. Thank you.

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To listen to other lectures and to access additional resources, please visit us at itunes dot rts.edu. For additional information on how to take distance education courses for credit towards a fully accredited Master of Arts in Religion degree, please visit our website at virtual rts.edu.