Malachi
1:6 – 2:9
Introduction
God was having problems with His priests. They were showing Him dishonor and disrespect as they went about their daily duties. He warned them that He would curse the clergy unless they began showing Him honor and respect by devoting themselves to their service.
God still has problems with priests! Some have recently been well-publicized and rightly criticized. Most problems with priests go unrecognized, however, because we fail to remember that, as far as God is concerned, every believer is His priest!
As God’s priests, we want to be sure we are showing Him devotion and not dishonor and disrespect. We’ll organize our thoughts around these two points: #1 You Show Dishonor And Disrespect For God When You Despise Serving As His Priest, and #2 You Show Honor And Respect For God When You Are Devoted To Serving As His Priest.
#1 You Show Dishonor And Disrespect For God
When You Despise Serving As His Priest
(1:6-14; 2:8-9; 2:1-3)
God had just told His people "I have loved you." They were not returning His love. God wanted them to have a context within which to think about their lack of love, so He compared Himself to a father and a master.
Malachi 1:6 "A son honors his father, and a servant his master. If then I am the Father, where is My honor? And if I am a Master, where is My reverence? says the LORD of hosts…"
God can seem more like a power than a person to us. So that we will understand that He is not "the Force," He reminds us He is our Father. If your earthly father is a person to be honored, how much more should you honor your heavenly Father?
Neither is our relationship with God to be merely mechanical. He is our Master and, like all masters, is to be respected. If your earthly master is a person to respect, then how much more should you respect your heavenly Master?
The Jews, as a whole, were dishonoring and disrespecting God. God began by addressing the priests before addressing the people – holding the leaders to a higher accountability since they were to be
His example to the people.
Malachi 1:6 "…To you priests who despise My Name. Yet you say, ‘In what way have we despised Your Name?’"
Throughout the Book of Malachi the Lord charges the priests and the people with something and they respond with shock. God was exposing the hidden habits of their hearts.
Here God charged them with "despising" His Name. In the following verses He will describe two ways they were despising His Name: Defiling Worship and Departing from the Way.
You see them defiling worship beginning in verse seven:
Malachi 1:7 "You offer defiled food on My altar, but say, ‘In what way have we defiled You?’ By saying, ‘The table of the LORD is contemptible.’
There were certain prescribed food offerings that the priests would place upon the altar. How were the priests defiling them? Bible commentator G. Campbell Morgan wrote,
"They bring their bread to the altar, and, I think that if you had the opportunity of examining it, you would have not found it polluted in the ordinary, literal sense of the word....Yet it was polluted, by the hands of the very men who placed it there...Gifts presented to God by hands that are impure, are themselves impure, for God only receives the gift according as He has received the giver."
This fits with the fact that the end of verse seven says they treated the Lord’s table with contempt. They were simply going through the motions of serving with no thought to their own personal preparation. It reminds you of the New Testament church at Corinth and their communion services. They, too, held the Lord’s table in contempt.
Malachi 1:8 And 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?" says the LORD of hosts."
Malachi 1:9 "But now entreat God’s favor, that He may be gracious to us. While this is being done by your hands, will He accept you favorably?" says the LORD of hosts.
Some of the things people donate to God are pathetic! You would never think of giving them to anyone else. I asked some of the Calvary pastors to tell me the lamest thing ever donated to their ministry. Here are just a few:
Malachi 1:10 "Who is there even among you who would shut the doors, so that you would not kindle fire on My altar in vain? I have no pleasure in you," says the LORD of hosts, "Nor will I accept an offering from your hands.
Malachi 1:11 For from the rising of the sun, even to its going down, My name shall be great among the Gentiles; in every place incense shall be offered to My name, and a pure offering; for My name shall be great among the nations," says the LORD of hosts.
"Shut the doors" and "kindle a fire" are phrases that describe their priestly daily duties in the Temple. The complaint here is that the priests would neither "shut the doors" nor "kindle a fire" unless it brought them some blessing. They wouldn't serve God to bring Him glory, but only so they could gain.
If His own chosen people refused to give Him glory, God promised that the Gentiles would give Him glory. Pardon the pun, but the priests offering incense would be incensed by this!
Malachi 1:12 "But you profane it, in that you say, ‘The table of the LORD is defiled; and its fruit, its food, is contemptible.’
Malachi 1:13 You also say, ‘Oh, what a weariness!’ and you sneer at it," says the LORD of hosts. "And you bring the stolen, the lame, and the sick; thus you bring an offering! Should I accept this from your hand?" says the LORD.
This is similar to the previous verses, but God added their attitude, "Oh, what a weariness." In other words, they saw their service as a burden. Ever go into a store, or a restaurant, and get the impression that the employees think they are doing you a favor by helping you? That’s the idea here – only applied to priests in God’s Temple!
God has one more point to make about their lame offerings, in verse fourteen:
Malachi 1:14 "But cursed be the deceiver who has in his flock a male, and takes a vow, but sacrifices to the Lord what is blemished - for I am a great King," says the LORD of hosts, "And My name is to be feared among the nations."
Here comes a person to the Temple to make a vow that requires an offering. He brings God the worst, sickest, most blemished, useless animal from his flock or herd. He will be "cursed" as a "deceiver." Whatever else that means, it means that God won’t bless him!
Now, remember, God is addressing the priests. This is a warning to the priests that if they allow the people to get away with lame offerings, they are contributing to their spiritual downfall! They were giving a stamp of approval to the half-hearted offerings of God’s people.
Defiling worship was not the only way the priests were despising God. They were also departing from the way. Let’s skip down into chapter two and look at verses eight and nine:
Malachi 2:8 But you have departed from the way; you have caused many to stumble at the law. You have corrupted the covenant of Levi," says the LORD of hosts.
Malachi 2:9 "Therefore I also have made you contemptible and base before all the people, because you have not kept My ways but have shown partiality in the law."
There are at least two departures from the way, one personal and the other public.
Personally, the priests were causing the people to "stumble at the law." They were somehow "corrupting" the priesthood. We’re not told how, but somehow they were engaging in behavior unbecoming a priest.
Publicly, they showed partiality towards the people. They preferred the powerful.
God had a word of warning for the priests who were despising Him. Look back at verses one, two, and three of chapter two:
Malachi 2:1 "And now, O priests, this commandment is for you.
Malachi 2:2 If you will not hear, and if you will not take it to heart, to give glory to My name," says the LORD of hosts, "I will send a curse upon you, and I will curse your blessings. Yes, I have cursed them already, because you do not take it to heart.
Malachi 2:3 "Behold, I will rebuke your descendants and spread refuse on your faces, the refuse of your solemn feasts; and one will take you away with it."
Their offerings are compared to refuse, which God said He would spread on their faces. They had treated the Lord with contempt; He would treat them like garbage – they would be taken away like garbage, both they and their descendants after them.
All they needed to do was to "take it to heart" and "give glory to [God’s] Name."
All you need to do is to "take it to heart" and "give glory to [God’s] Name."
#2 You Show Honor And Respect For God
When You Are Devoted To Serving As His Priest
(2:4-7)
Throughout the Book of Malachi there is a godly remnant who honor and respect God as Father and Master.
Malachi 2:4 Then you shall know that I have sent this commandment to you, That My covenant with Levi may continue," Says the LORD of hosts.
Malachi 2:5 "My covenant was with him, one of life and peace, And I gave them to him that he might fear Me; So he feared Me And was reverent before My name.
Malachi 2:6 The law of truth was in his mouth, And injustice was not found on his lips. He walked with Me in peace and equity, And turned many away from iniquity.
Malachi 2:7 "For the lips of a priest should keep knowledge, And people should seek the law from his mouth; For he is the messenger of the LORD of hosts.
This phrase, "My covenant… of peace," takes you back to the Book of Numbers. In the twenty-fifth chapter of Numbers, the Israelite men were committing fornication with the prostitutes of Moab, and it involved worshipping the Moabite gods. God had sent a plague which killed twenty-four thousand Jews. An Israelite named Phinehas took a javelin in his hand, went into the tent where an Israelite was having sex with a Moabite prostitute, and he thrust the javelin through the both of them. His actions stopped the plague.
God said of him,
Numbers 25:11 "Phinehas the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, has turned back My wrath from the children of Israel, because he was zealous with My zeal among them, so that I did not consume the children of Israel in My zeal.
Numbers 25:12 "Therefore say, 'Behold, I give to him My covenant of peace;
Numbers 25:13 'and it shall be to him and his descendants after him a covenant of an everlasting priesthood, because he was zealous for his God, and made atonement for the children of Israel.'"
Phinehas, then, is one impressive example of the devoted priest. The qualities of a devoted priest are: Fear, Faithfulness, and Fervor.
You see the fear of God in verse five and a portion of verse six:
Malachi 2:5 "My covenant was with him, one of life and peace, and I gave them to him that he might fear Me; so he feared Me and was reverent before My name.
Malachi 2:6 The law of truth was in his mouth…"
"Fear" for God has many possible meanings and applications. Here is a simple way of understanding it. To fear God is to believe in Him, and to believe Him. It’s amazing to me how often Christians who believe in God don’t believe Him. They know what He has said, but either argue with it or ignore it.
The "law of truth… in his mouth" means that the devoted priest lives according to God’s truth. Since it is the law of truth, he is always ready to submit to its wisdom.
You see the devoted priest’s faithfulness in the middle of verse six:
Malachi 2:6 "… and injustice was not found on his lips. He walked with Me in peace and equity..."
"Injustice" could be translated iniquity. Having "no iniquity… found on [your] lips" means your words and your walk are in harmony. It means that your behavior is consistent with your belief in God and of God.
You see the devoted priest’s fervor in the rest of verse six and in verse seven:
Malachi 2:6 "… and turned many away from iniquity."
Malachi 2:7 "For the lips of a priest should keep knowledge, and people should seek the law from his mouth; for he is the messenger of the LORD of hosts."
The devoted priest has a fervor, an intense drive, to share God with others. You "turn many from iniquity" because you speak the word of God to them. They seek you out and you are the "messenger" who gives them God’s message.
Do people seek you out? I think that they do; or they will. If those you live and work and play around know you fear God, and see your faithfulness, they will come to you in their distress and in their iniquity. You become their priest – representing God to them, and representing them to God in your fervor to help them with the truth.
Conclusion
The priesthood of all believers is one of the great truths of the New Testament Church. Every believer has access to God’s throne by the merits of Jesus.
The church no longer needs priests in the Old Testament sense of men who hold a separate office to offer up sacrifices for people. Jesus Christ has made, once for all time, the perfect atoning sacrifice of Himself for the sins of mankind.
Show honor and respect for God by being devoted in your serving Him as His priest.