Malachi 1

Yahweh’s Love for Israel// Genesis 25:19–28; Romans 9:6–29

¹This is the burden of the word of Yahweh to Israel through Malachi:

• MAL 1:1[NOTE]MALACHI. The name means My messenger. Some think it is a title, not a name, because 3:1 says I will send My messenger. A Jewish tradition says the writer was Ezra.

²“I have loved you,” says Yahweh.

But you ask, “How have You loved us?”

“Was not Esau Jacob’s brother?” declares Yahweh. “Yet Jacob I have loved, ³but Esau I have hated, and I have made his mountains a wasteland and left his inheritance to the desert jackals.”

• MAL 1:2[QUOTED]Quoted in the New Testament → ROM 9:13
• MAL 1:2[NOTE]BUT YOU ASK. Malachi is built like six arguments. God says something, the people talk back, How?, and God answers. Most of their questions print red here because God is quoting them. See Jacob I Loved, Esau I Hated?
• MAL 1:3[FULFILLS]The cup of judgment would pass to Edom too ← LAM 4:21MEDIUM
• MAL 1:3[FULFILLS]Mount Seir, Edom, would become a desolate waste ← EZK 35:3-4MEDIUM
• MAL 1:3[NOTE]EDOM'S RUINS. By Malachi's day Edom's kingdom was in ruins, and Arab tribes were moving into its land. See The Rock of Sela and What Happened to Edom?, Obadiah.

⁴Though Edom may say, “We have been devastated, but we will rebuild the ruins,” this is what Yahweh of Hosts says: “They may build, but I will demolish. They will be called the Land of Wickedness, and a people with whom Yahweh is indignant forever. ⁵You will see this with your own eyes, and you yourselves will say, ‘Yahweh is great—even beyond the borders of Israel.’”

The Polluted Offerings

⁶“A son honors his father, and a servant his master. But if I am a father, where is My honor? And if I am a master, where is your fear of Me?” says Yahweh of Hosts to you priests who despise My name.

“But you ask, ‘How have we despised Your name?’

⁷By presenting defiled food on My altar.

But you ask, ‘How have we defiled You?’

By saying that the table of Yahweh is contemptible.

⁸When you offer blind animals for sacrifice, is it not wrong? And when you present the lame and sick ones, is it not wrong? Try offering them to your governor! Would he be pleased with you or show you favor?” asks Yahweh of Hosts.

• MAL 1:8[ARCHAEOLOGY]Small silver coins of Persian Judah from the 300s BC are stamped Yehezqiyah the governor, using pechah, the same Hebrew word as your governor here, see The Governor's Coin Field Notes page

⁹“But ask now for God’s favor. Will He be gracious? Since this has come from your hands, will He show you favor?” asks Yahweh of Hosts.

¹⁰“Oh, that one of you would shut the temple doors, so that you would no longer kindle useless fires on My altar! I take no pleasure in you,” says Yahweh of Hosts, “and I will accept no offering from your hands.

¹¹For My name will be great among the nations, from where the sun rises to where it sets. In every place, incense and pure offerings will be presented in My name, because My name will be great among the nations,” says Yahweh of Hosts. ¹²“But you profane it when you say, ‘The table of the Lord is defiled, and as for its fruit, its food is contemptible.’

• MAL 1:11[PROPHECY]God's name would be great among the nations with pure offerings in every place → JN 4:21-23; HEB 13:15MEDIUM
• MAL 1:11[NOTABLE]Prophecy that God's worship would extend beyond Israel; incense offered globally
• MAL 1:11[NOTE]FROM EAST TO WEST. From where the sun rises to where it sets, people of every nation would honor God's name, not just Israel.

¹³You also say: ‘Oh, what a nuisance!’ And you turn up your nose at it,” says Yahweh of Hosts.

“You bring offerings that are stolen, lame, or sick! Should I accept these from your hands?” asks Yahweh.

¹⁴“But cursed is the deceiver who has an acceptable male in his flock and vows to give it, but sacrifices a defective animal to the Lord. For I am a great King,” says Yahweh of Hosts, “and My name is to be feared among the nations.