Malachi 1
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Malachi 1:1:
"The burden of the word of the Lord to Israel by Malachi." |
"Malachi" means "my messenger." Malachi was the last of the Hebrew prophets. Malachi gave his prophecy during the period of Nehemiah's absence from Jerusalem at the court of Persia.
I have loved you,” says the LORD. “ Yet you say, ‘In what way have You loved us?’ Was not Esau Jacob’s brother?” Says the LORD. “ Yet Jacob I have loved; But Esau I have hated, And laid waste his mountains and his heritage For the jackals of the wilderness.” If God loves, God also hates because you cannot love without hating. If God loves good, he has to hate the evil. They are mutually exclusive to one another. There is no "little bit of love" or "little bit of hate." Hate maintains the purity of love and vice versa. . |
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Malachi 1:7:
"Ye offer polluted bread upon mine altar; and ye say, Wherein have we polluted thee? In that ye say, The table of the Lord is contemptible." |
How could they despise his name when they were going to the temple so regularly? God begins to lay it out for them. The sacrifice they offered was polluted.
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Malachi 1:8:
"And if Ye offer the blind for sacrifice, is it not evil? and if ye offer the lame and the sick, is it not evil? Offer it now unto thy governor; will he be pleased with thee, or accept thy person? saith the Lord of hosts. |
God made it clear to Israel from the very beginning that nothing which was to be offered to Him was in any way to be maimed or defiled. In other words, when you give secondhand clothing to the mission, don't chalk it up as thinking God will give you credit for it. Granted, missions can use that kind of thing, but you are not giving sacrificially to God when you give that sort of thing. You are giving stuff you were discarding anyway.
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And if ye offer the blind for sacrifice, is it not evil? - Others, “it is not evil,” as we should say, “there is no harm in it.” Both imply, alike, an utter unconsciousness on the part of the offerer, that it was evil: the one, in irony, that this was always their answer, “there is nothing amiss;” the other is an indignant question, “is there indeed nought amiss?” And this seems the most natural.
The sacrifice of the “blind” and “lame” was expressly forbidden in the law Deuteronomy 15:21, and the sick in manifold varieties of animal disease. “Whatever hath a blemish ye shall not offer Leviticus 22:22, blind or with limb broken, or wounded or mangy or scabby or scurfy.” Perfectness was an essential principle of sacrifice; whether, as in the daily sacrifice, or the sin or trespass-offerings, typical of the all-perfect Sacrifice, or in the whole-burnt-offering, of the entire self-oblation. But these knew better than God, what was fit for Him and them. His law was to be modified by circumstances. He would not be so particular (as people now say so often.)
Is it then fit to offer to God what under the very same circumstances man would not offer to man? Against these idle, ungrateful, covetous thoughts God saith,
“Offer it now unto thy governor.” He appeals to our own instinctive thought of propriety to our fellow creature, which may so often be a test to us. No one would think of acting to a fellow-creature, as they do to Almighty God. Who would make diligent preparation to receive any great one of the earth, and turn his back upon him, when come? Yet what else is the behavior of most Christians after holy communion? If thou wouldest not do this to a mortal man, who is but dust and ashes, how much less to God Almighty, the King of kings and Lord of lords! “The words are a reproof to those most negligent persons, who go through their prayers to God without fear, attention, reverence or feeling; but if they have to speak to some great man, prelate or prince, approach him with great reverence, speak carefully and distinctly and are in awe of him. Do not thou prefer the creature to the Creator, man to God, the servant to the Lord, and that Lord, so exalted and so Infinite.” --Albert Barnes
The sacrifice of the “blind” and “lame” was expressly forbidden in the law Deuteronomy 15:21, and the sick in manifold varieties of animal disease. “Whatever hath a blemish ye shall not offer Leviticus 22:22, blind or with limb broken, or wounded or mangy or scabby or scurfy.” Perfectness was an essential principle of sacrifice; whether, as in the daily sacrifice, or the sin or trespass-offerings, typical of the all-perfect Sacrifice, or in the whole-burnt-offering, of the entire self-oblation. But these knew better than God, what was fit for Him and them. His law was to be modified by circumstances. He would not be so particular (as people now say so often.)
Is it then fit to offer to God what under the very same circumstances man would not offer to man? Against these idle, ungrateful, covetous thoughts God saith,
“Offer it now unto thy governor.” He appeals to our own instinctive thought of propriety to our fellow creature, which may so often be a test to us. No one would think of acting to a fellow-creature, as they do to Almighty God. Who would make diligent preparation to receive any great one of the earth, and turn his back upon him, when come? Yet what else is the behavior of most Christians after holy communion? If thou wouldest not do this to a mortal man, who is but dust and ashes, how much less to God Almighty, the King of kings and Lord of lords! “The words are a reproof to those most negligent persons, who go through their prayers to God without fear, attention, reverence or feeling; but if they have to speak to some great man, prelate or prince, approach him with great reverence, speak carefully and distinctly and are in awe of him. Do not thou prefer the creature to the Creator, man to God, the servant to the Lord, and that Lord, so exalted and so Infinite.” --Albert Barnes
Give God priority over possessions (8-9). We could sum up Israel’s problem by saying that they were suffering from SARS – Severe Acute Religious Syndrome – and it was highly contagious. Look at verse 8: “When you bring blind animals for sacrifice, is that not wrong? When you sacrifice crippled or diseased animals, is that not wrong? Try offering them to your governor! Would he be pleased with you? Would he accept you? says the LORD Almighty.” The priests were accepting not just the second best from the people; but worse than that, they were bringing God sick sheep and gross goats. They were offering the ones that weren’t worth anything.
Imagine the parade of diseased animals limping and stumbling blindly toward the Temple. Their oozing sores were covered with flies. Some of them probably collapsed even before they got there! The reason God says, “is that not wrong?” twice in this verse is because the people, and certainly the priests, should have known better. In Leviticus 22:2, 19-20, God made it very clear that He was not interested in substandard sacrifices: “Tell Aaron and his sons to treat with respect the sacred offerings the Israelites consecrate to me, so they will not profane my holy name. I am the LORD…you must present a male without defect from the cattle, sheep or goats in order that it may be accepted on your behalf. Do not bring anything with a defect, because it will not be accepted on your behalf.”
Here’s the principle: God deserves priority over your possessions. These people were more concerned with keeping what they had than they were in giving God their best. Their hearts were not in it any longer. They were still coming to church but it was just a meaningless ritual to them. They had accepted mediocrity in their lives and their leaders did nothing about it. God tells them to try and offer their junk to the governor as payment of their taxes and see if he would accept them. The bottom line is they thought God didn’t care what they did. After all, they were middle class people who had worked hard. They had high taxes, bills to pay, and they didn’t have a lot of extra cash.
I’m challenged by this passage because the priests could have said, “Hey, it’s not our fault that the people are bringing their garbage to God. We’re just sacrificing what they give to us.” God doesn’t buy this. He holds the priests accountable for what the people are bringing. Likewise, your pastors are responsible to make sure that this congregation does not slip into a ritualistic religion that no longer gives God the best. It all comes back to the Word of God, doesn’t it? God makes it very clear what He wants and we must therefore respond accordingly.
There are at least three standards for sacrifices in Scripture.
Why the disparity? One reason is because when we don’t have much we recognize that what we do have is a gift and we want to give out of gratefulness. When we have more we think we deserve it and because we’re spending what we have, or in some cases more than we have, the thought of giving to God first is either absurd, or absent from our minds altogether. And yet, God calls us to give to Him first, no matter how difficult that may be. It’s like the story of the widow in Mark 12:41-44, who gave all she had, while those who had a lot gave just a token of their wealth. Listen. God always measures the value of an offering by its worth to the person bringing it.
· Giving should cost something. Israel had been taught that giving should be sacrificial. In 2 Samuel 24, David came to the recognition that his own sin had led Israel astray, and God’s judgment had come in the form of a plague on the people. David interceded in prayer and then he wanted to offer a sacrifice to God. He went to a place owned by a man named Araunah and told him that he wanted to buy his threshing floor so that he could build an altar to the Lord. Araunah generously offered to give the oxen for the offering and the wood for the fire – kind of a “turn-key” sacrifice. All David had to do was sit in the pew and everything would be taken care of for him.
Instead of looking for a shortcut, David refused this discount and said in verse 24: “No, I insist on paying you for it. I will not sacrifice to the LORD my God burnt offerings that cost me nothing.” Likewise, we must give sacrificially, not sacrilegiously.
Are you giving God the best? Are you striving to give Him the first? And does your giving cost you something? Beth and I have always given at least 10% to the Lord’s work and then we try to respond sacrificially to God’s promptings, when opportunities like the Family Life Center, or when mission projects come along. Friend, one of the best ways to monitor how you’re doing spiritually is to take a look at your giving. Are you leaving God your leftovers, or are you giving Him priority over your possessions?
--Brian Bill
Imagine the parade of diseased animals limping and stumbling blindly toward the Temple. Their oozing sores were covered with flies. Some of them probably collapsed even before they got there! The reason God says, “is that not wrong?” twice in this verse is because the people, and certainly the priests, should have known better. In Leviticus 22:2, 19-20, God made it very clear that He was not interested in substandard sacrifices: “Tell Aaron and his sons to treat with respect the sacred offerings the Israelites consecrate to me, so they will not profane my holy name. I am the LORD…you must present a male without defect from the cattle, sheep or goats in order that it may be accepted on your behalf. Do not bring anything with a defect, because it will not be accepted on your behalf.”
Here’s the principle: God deserves priority over your possessions. These people were more concerned with keeping what they had than they were in giving God their best. Their hearts were not in it any longer. They were still coming to church but it was just a meaningless ritual to them. They had accepted mediocrity in their lives and their leaders did nothing about it. God tells them to try and offer their junk to the governor as payment of their taxes and see if he would accept them. The bottom line is they thought God didn’t care what they did. After all, they were middle class people who had worked hard. They had high taxes, bills to pay, and they didn’t have a lot of extra cash.
I’m challenged by this passage because the priests could have said, “Hey, it’s not our fault that the people are bringing their garbage to God. We’re just sacrificing what they give to us.” God doesn’t buy this. He holds the priests accountable for what the people are bringing. Likewise, your pastors are responsible to make sure that this congregation does not slip into a ritualistic religion that no longer gives God the best. It all comes back to the Word of God, doesn’t it? God makes it very clear what He wants and we must therefore respond accordingly.
There are at least three standards for sacrifices in Scripture.
- Give the best. Israel had been taught to look through the flocks and find the one animal without defect or blemish to sacrifice. This wasn’t easy to do because this animal was the cream of the crop, the most expensive, the one used for breeding, but it was what God demanded.
- Give to God first. I love the sense of joy that accompanies giving in 2 Chronicles 31:5: “As soon as the order went out, the Israelites generously gave the firstfruits of their grain, new wine, oil and honey and all that the fields produced. They brought a great amount, a tithe of everything.” God is never to get the leftovers. He should receive what is right, not what is left. When the Israelites gave God 10% right away, it helped them to recognize that everything they had was a gift from Him. We’ll talk more about this when we come to Malachi 3 but I find it very interesting that according to 1999 IRS figures, those who make the least amount of money contribute a greater percent of their income to charitable causes than those who make the most money. This chart appeared in the recent issue of Moody Monthly(May/June 2003, Page 48).
Why the disparity? One reason is because when we don’t have much we recognize that what we do have is a gift and we want to give out of gratefulness. When we have more we think we deserve it and because we’re spending what we have, or in some cases more than we have, the thought of giving to God first is either absurd, or absent from our minds altogether. And yet, God calls us to give to Him first, no matter how difficult that may be. It’s like the story of the widow in Mark 12:41-44, who gave all she had, while those who had a lot gave just a token of their wealth. Listen. God always measures the value of an offering by its worth to the person bringing it.
· Giving should cost something. Israel had been taught that giving should be sacrificial. In 2 Samuel 24, David came to the recognition that his own sin had led Israel astray, and God’s judgment had come in the form of a plague on the people. David interceded in prayer and then he wanted to offer a sacrifice to God. He went to a place owned by a man named Araunah and told him that he wanted to buy his threshing floor so that he could build an altar to the Lord. Araunah generously offered to give the oxen for the offering and the wood for the fire – kind of a “turn-key” sacrifice. All David had to do was sit in the pew and everything would be taken care of for him.
Instead of looking for a shortcut, David refused this discount and said in verse 24: “No, I insist on paying you for it. I will not sacrifice to the LORD my God burnt offerings that cost me nothing.” Likewise, we must give sacrificially, not sacrilegiously.
Are you giving God the best? Are you striving to give Him the first? And does your giving cost you something? Beth and I have always given at least 10% to the Lord’s work and then we try to respond sacrificially to God’s promptings, when opportunities like the Family Life Center, or when mission projects come along. Friend, one of the best ways to monitor how you’re doing spiritually is to take a look at your giving. Are you leaving God your leftovers, or are you giving Him priority over your possessions?
--Brian Bill
