Bible with Brandi – Week 20 Malachi Chapters 1-2
This week we begin the final book in the Protestant Old Testament, Malachi. Believed to have been written around 450 B.C., Malachi unfolds as a series of questions and answers narrated by the Lord, representing both His voice and the voice of the people of Israel. Historically, the book takes place after a remnant of exiles returned from Susa (formerly a capital city of Babylon that later came under the Medo-Persian Empire) to Jerusalem. Under the leadership of Zerubbabel, Joshua, Ezra, and Nehemiah, the temple was rebuilt and the walls around Jerusalem restored. Yet, as Nehemiah continually pointed out, the people’s hearts remained far from the Lord. No matter the man-made vows they attempted, they failed to turn wholeheartedly and humbly to their Maker and Sustainer.
So, the Lord gives a word to Malachi (His “messenger”), who describes it as a burden. The message is so weighty that Malachi can feel the heaviness of it, yet the children of Israel seem completely unaware of the seriousness of the conversation God is initiating. In these first two chapters, the Lord addresses three major issues: (1) Israel’s orphan heart; (2) their deceptive sacrificial practices; and (3) their lack of reverence for and faithfulness to the marriage covenant.
Here are the questions exchanged between Israel and God within each category: Israel’s orphan heart asks, “In what way have You loved us?” In response, God reminds Israel that He chose them through Jacob (rather than choosing Esau, the firstborn), and He continues to choose Israel still. Regarding their deceptive sacrificial practices, God asks, “Where is My honor? Where is My reverence?” But Israel defends itself: “In what way have we despised Your name? In what way have we defiled You?” God responds by reminding them that they regard the table of the Lord as contemptible: “When you offer the blind as a sacrifice, is it not evil? And when you offer the lame and sick, is it not evil? Offer it then to your governor! Would he be pleased with you? Would he accept you favorably?... Why then would I accept you favorably? Should I accept this from your hand?”
Finally, the Lord addresses Israel’s profanity against what He calls His holy institution—marriage. Israel says, “Have we not all one Father? Has not one God created us? Why then do we deal treacherously with one another by profaning the covenant of our fathers?” Because of this treachery, God no longer accepts their offerings, even though they weep at the altar. “For what reason?” they ask. His response: “Because the LORD has been witness between you and the wife of your youth, with whom you have dealt treacherously; yet she is your companion and your wife by covenant. But did He not make them one, having a remnant of the Spirit? And why one? He seeks godly offspring!” And just in case they missed the point, God declares plainly: “For the LORD God of Israel… hates divorce, for it covers one’s garment with violence!”
As a final summary of God’s thoughts concerning Israel’s behavior and heart posture, He says that they have wearied Him. “In what way have we wearied [You]?” they ask. But He reminds them of their own words: “Where is the God of justice?” Instead of taking responsibility for their own actions, they blamed God because the evil nations around them seemed to prosper while they themselves were in want of Spirit. Yet they were in want because they had broken covenant with one another and with the Lord Himself.
Reflective Questions:
1. Israel questioned God’s love by asking, “In what way have You loved us?” Have there been seasons where you questioned God’s love because your circumstances felt difficult? How does God’s covenant faithfulness answer those doubts?
2. The Lord asked, “Where is My honor? Where is My reverence?” What does reverence for God practically look like in daily life?
3. Israel defended itself rather than humbling itself before correction. Is repentance harder for you than self-justification?
4. Malachi reveals that outward religious activity meant nothing when the people’s hearts were far from God. How can you guard against going through spiritual motions without genuine intimacy with the Lord?
5. God called marriage His “holy institution” and took Israel’s covenant unfaithfulness seriously. What does this passage teach us about God’s view of covenant relationships?
6. The phrase “He seeks godly offspring” reveals God’s generational heart. How does this one sentence change the way you view having children?
7. Malachi described the word of the Lord as a “burden.” Why do you think truth can feel heavy before it produces repentance and restoration?
