Malachi Chapter 2
The book of Malachi is a message from God for His people some 100 years after the exile. Malachi uses the phrase several times “says the Lord of hosts” or “says the Lord” to depict that he is a messenger of God.
The setting of this book is a time of discouragement amongst the people. The temple has been built but the promises of God have not yet been seen.
Previous prophets had told them that they would be richly blessed.
They are wondering if God truly cares for them.
Let's Reflect
1. Does God really care about His people? Did He forget about them. They had waited so long for the blessings to come. The answer came back very emphatically. God said, “I have loved you.” This statement’s deeper meaning is that God is saying “I have loved you, I do love you, I will love you.” What did God say was their question in response?
2. There is a phrase that may jump off the page “but Esau I have hated.” We need to remember God’s original covenant promise. God made His covenant promise through Jacob, and not his twin brother Esau. God is showing them how He gave them (the Israelites) His favor through their lineage of Jacob. God has favored Jacob and not Esau. This should be proof to the people how much He loves them. They were beneficiaries of His unmerited favor. The Edomites, their neighbors who were descendants of Esau were not preserved by God like Israel. What kind of people were the Edomites?
3. After God established how much He loved His chosen people, He addressed their worship of Him. They were busy doing all the things they should do in worship, but their worship was meaningless and hollow. God said that they offered sacrifices to Him, but they did not bring their best to the sacrifice. Instead, they brought the unwanted animals. God makes a comparison for them and asks if they would consider taking this same type of animal to whom?
4. The priests were allowing all this to happen. God said it would be far better if the priests did what than to allow such hollow worship to take place? See verse 10.
5. According to verse 11 what should have been the heart attitude of the people as they worshipped God? Note that this truth about God will be established amongst the nations.
6. Their hollow worship treated God as if He were unholy, or as if He were unimportant. God says you treat worship of me as if it is a burden to you. In viewing worship as a burden what sound did the people make when they thought about having to go to the temple?
7. Their worship of God had reached a point where they might have even vowed to bring the best of their flock to God to sacrifice but made a conscious decision to instead bring the blemished animal because they just didn’t care enough about God. God reminds them of who He is. Who does God say that He is?
Devotionals
