Old Testament - Malachi 1 - December 12, 2022

12/12/2022 – Malachi 1

First of all, I’ve just learned that the name Malachi means “my messenger”.

Malachi lived a century after the Israelites had returned to Jerusalem, and once again, the people, as a whole, had become complacent and less devoted to the Lord. They had finally rebuilt the temple in Jerusalem, but as a people they still needed to rebuild their relationship with the Lord. The scholars believe Malachi lived around 430 BC. The student manual addresses their current situation at this time as having a declining commitment to God. Chapter 1’s synopsis certainly goes along with that description: “The Jews despise the Lord by offering polluted bread upon the altar and by sacrificing animals with blemishes” and that “The Lord’s name shall be great among the Gentiles.”

The first verse: “The burden of the word of the Lord is to Israel by Malachi.” That small statement helps me to realize that knowing the Lord’s words can be a heavy responsibility in our life.

The Lords asks several questions of the Israelites in order to help bring them closer to Him:

V 2: The Lord’s first sentence to them is “I have loved you…” But then he reminds them that their response to that was always “Wherein hast thou loved us?”  In v’s 3-5 He points out how the children of Israel had been blessed above other nations.

In v 6, the Lord speaks of early families and how children honor their father. And then He asks “If then I be a father, where is mine honour?” He answers that question by Himself, speaking first to the priests who should be the ones who teach the people to honor the Lord: “O priests, that despise my name. And ye say, Wherein have we despised thy name?”  He follows that by telling them that they have offered “polluted bread upon mine alter” and He reminds them that their sacrifices have been animals that are lame or sick. These sacrifices were supposed to remind them that Christ, the only perfect man who has lived on earth, sacrificed his earthly life for them…in the way He conducted His entire life, and in the way He ended His life—overcoming death and allowing our spirits to return to their Heavenly Father, and in His atonement, He offered us the way to have our mistakes completely blotted out.

Christ gives His best to us, and He has asked us to follow Him. Basically, He’s trying to tell them—and us!—that we truly honor and please the Lord when we do give our best to Him. A good way we can check on ourselves: 1) when we are asked to do something, do we give it our utmost efforts? 2) when there are things that need to be done, do we try to slip away instead of lending a hand? Basically, we simply need to ask ourselves:

Am I doing my best? 

And then answer ourselves truthfully. 


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