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Malachi 1:1-5

Devotions for Thursday 11th March

1 The oracle of the Word of the Lord to Israel delivered by Malachi. 2 The Lord says ‘I have loved you, but you ask, “In what way have you loved us?”  The Lord declares ‘Is Esau not a brother to Jacob? Yet I have loved Jacob, 3 but I have hated Esau; I have given over his mountains to wasteland and his inheritance to desert jackals.’  4 Though Edom says, ‘we are shattered, but we will return and rebuild the ruins,’ this is what the Lord of Hosts says: ‘They may build, but as for me, I will demolish. They are spoken of as the Land of Wickedness, a people with whom the Lord is incensed forever!  5 You will see this with your own eyes and say, “Great is the Lord, even beyond the borders of Israel!”’

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Lord Jesus Christ, we praise You for the truth of Your Gospel:

We marvel at the wonder of Your love, offered to all who will receive it;

We rejoice at the amazing love You have showed in releasing us from sin;

We delight in the gifts of Your Holy Spirit and the assurance of our salvation;

And we anticipate with joy the feast of heaven when You come again in glory;

Lord Jesus Christ, we praise You for the power of Your Gospel: AMEN

Deliver us from evil’s allies

From those who try to halt the work of God within our world

Deliver us from false belief

From those who peddle religion instead of the love of God

Deliver us from lying tongues,

From those who lead the church astray by devious words

Deliver us from lovers of war,

From those who choose to fight instead of work for what is best

Deliver us from false accounting

From those who use words and numbers to deceive the faithful

Deliver us from ignorance of sin,

From those who prefer to judge themselves than trust the Word

Make us wise Satan’s ways,

And give us wisdom’s eyes to see, and ears to hear, Your truth.

Prayer ideas

Look at a map of the region around where you live, and let this prompt your prayers for people and places

On-going prayers

• Pray for the people you know  Pray for those in your home church fellowship, that God will bless them and lead them in faith and witness
• Pray for the countries of N. Africa and their problems with drought
• Praise the Lord for those who work tirelessly for justice and peace

The first verses of a work such as the prophecy of Malachi are often important.  What we have read today may seem relatively straightforward, but it reveals far more than a casual glance might suggest.  Many Christians know Malachi’s prophecy about the return of Elijah (4:5), and some are familiar with his words against complacency urging God’s people to tithe and give the Lord His due (3:8f.).  Few, however, are aware of its powerful comments about remaining faithful when life is hard, and this is especially important for those who feel that God’s great deeds are but a distant memory.

The prophecy of Malachi has been argued about for centuries.  Firstly, the book gives no indication of who ‘Malachi’ is, and secondly, it does not say much about when it was written.  However, none of this should worry us.  The name ‘Malachi’ means ‘my messenger’, which has led some to suggest that the book was written anonymously.  But it is generally true of Hebrew names that they had a meaning, and ‘Malachi’ is no different in this respect, moreover, the meaning of the name adds to our sense of expectation in reading the work of someone who knew himself to be God’s ‘messenger’.  Secondly, a close look at the general social conditions of Israel mentioned by this prophecy suggest that it was written around 500 to 450 AD.  This was after the return of the first exiles from Babylon and the rebuilding of the Temple under Zerubabbel, Haggai and Zechariah (as recorded by Ezra 1-6), but before the extensive ministry of Ezra himself (Ezra 7-10) and Nehemiah, that re-created the organised religious life of the Israelite community in Jerusalem and rebuilt the walls of the city.

The whole of Malachi reflects a sense of unhappiness and unease within the Israelite community in the days after their return.  The Temple had been rebuilt, but it seemed that the glory of the Lord’s presence had not yet returned (as in Ezekiel – 43:4f.).  Life was hard and the Israelite community was increasingly sceptical about their God.  This negativity was what drew Ezra (Ezra 7:1f.) and Nehemiah (Nehemiah 1:1f.) back to Jerusalem from far flung regions of the Persian Empire, but it was also what lay behind the phrase in the opening verses of Malachi that we have read today.  The Lord had said to his people ‘I have loved you’, only for the people to reply, ‘In what way have you loved us?’ (1:2) and the more you think about it, the more you realise what a heart-rending failure of faith this represents.  God’s people had lost faith in their God!

God could have done or said a number of things; He could have chastised Israel for her unbelief or shown His power and glory.  He did none of these because, the people had endured virtually the complete obliteration of their culture, their nationhood and their faith, through the terror of exile under the Babylonians.  So the Lord replied to the awful and depressive state of His people by reminding them of their history.  Malachi delivered the message that the Lord loved Israel and had chosen to do so, but not Edom, the nation founded by Esau, Jacob’s brother.  These two nations had a long history, but verses 3 and 4 reflect the fact that by the 5^th century BC the Edom had been wiped off the map of world.  Israel, however, still survived.  A vast unknown number of Jewish people now lived around the cities of the Persian Empire (as in the book of Esther, for example), and a tiny but disillusioned community existed in Jerusalem.  The Lord still had an important work for His people to do, and He needed them to live in the Promised Land according to the historic covenant, because His plan for the salvation of the world had yet to be completed.  Malachi was entrusted with a message to challenge Israel to remain faithful.

The book of Malachi consequently has an important place in the history of Old Testament prophecy.  It will also speak directly to us today, particularly to people who live at a time when they feel that God is far away and has ceased to work in power as He did many years ago.  This is not true of all Christians today, but it describes some very accurately.

Going Deeper

Each of verses 1 and 2 of Malachi has important nuances yielding helpful information about the meaning of the whole of Malachi’s prophecy.  After this, the section about Esau needs some explanation to be fully understood, before we can appreciate the triumphant comment ‘Great is the Lord, even beyond the borders of Israel!’.  The rest of our study focuses on these details and nuances of the Hebrew text.

Going Deeper

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