Malachi

The insolent complainers had charged that “evildoers not only prosper but they put God to the test and they escape” (3:15). But in 3:17–4:3 the Lord promises that a day is coming when these complainers will see how wrong they were. For those faithful believers listed in the “book of remembrance” (3:16), it will be a day when God will say, “They shall be mine,” his treasured possession (3:17; cf. Ex. 19:5), and they will be spared as a man spares his son who serves him. Although for the arrogant and all evildoers it will be a day when they are burned up like stubble, for those who fear God’s name it will be a day when the sun of righteousness shall rise with healing in its wings (Mal. 4:2; cf. Isa. 60:1–3; Luke 1:78), and they will subdue the wicked.

From the “delight” mentioned in this verse, it appears that Israel had repeated the error of their forebears in the days of Amos (Amos 5:18) by supposing that the Lord’s appearance would be unmitigated good news. When he comes, it will be not only for blessing, as they assume, but also for judgment—he will come to be a “witness” (the term in Mal. 3:5 is the same as in 2:14) against all evildoers, including these blasphemous cynics! In preparation for this fearful epiphany, the Lord promises, “Behold, I send my messenger, and he will prepare the way before me.” “My messenger,” who “will prepare the way,” is distinguished in 3:1a from the divine LORD of hosts, who is the speaker and to whom the pronouns “I,” “my,” and “me” refer. So the messenger in v. 1a is someone different from the Lord of hosts. And despite the fact that “my messenger” and “Malachi” are the same in Hebrew, the future-oriented context of vv. 1–5 and the parallel between 3:1 and 4:5 make clear that “my messenger” is not Malachi. Nevertheless, the play on Malachi’s name suggests that his own ministry of preparation was intended to foreshadow the work of this promised messenger in 3:1a. But in v. 1b, another idea is in view, for v. 1b speaks in poetic parallelism, in which two lines express the same idea in different words. Therefore, the Lord whom you seek is the same person as the messenger of the covenant in whom you delight, and thus this coming “messenger of the covenant” is the same divine being as “the Lord,” who also is desired and will come. Then in the following verses, the ministry described in vv. 2–4 also indicates the divine nature of this coming Lord. The NT confirms this interpretation by its identification of John the Baptist as the promised messenger of v. 1a, who prepares the way for the Lord who is predicted in v. 1b (see Matt. 11:10–14 par.).

When the Lord comes, he will perform two complementary works: he will purify some sinners (vv. 2–4) and judge others (v. 5). The images used for that purifying work, the refiner’s fire and fullers’ soap, stress both its thoroughness and its severity. The heat of the refiner’s fire was intense in order to separate the dross from the molten pure metal. Similarly, the fuller washed clothes using strong lye soap, after which the clothes would be placed on rocks and beaten with sticks. If sinners prefer the Lord’s cleansing work to his judgment, this is the price that must be paid (cf. Heb. 12:7–11).

Fifth Disputation: Israel’s Begrudging Offerings Condemned. The prophet returns to Israel’s begrudging offerings, a subject treated in the parallel second disputation (1:6–2:9). There the emphasis was on the priests’ failure, but here Malachi’s concern expands to include the whole nation (3:9). Perhaps the reference to Jacob serves as a reminder of Jacob’s return from exile in Paddan Aram; upon coming back both to the Promised Land and to the Lord, he built an altar at Bethel and offered a tithe according to his vow in Gen. 28:20–22 (cf. Gen. 35:1–7). Similarly, when Jacob’s descendants returned from their exile, they rebuilt the altar at Jerusalem, but they were grossly negligent in offering their tithes (cf. Neh. 13:10–13). This negligence may have seemed justified because of crop failure, drought, and pestilence (Mal. 3:10–11). The Lord reveals, however, that these natural disasters were not the cause of the nation’s disobedience, but the cursed result (3:8; cf. Hag. 1:6, 9–11; 2:16–19).

I the LORD do not change implies that God’s character and eternal purposes do not change, which gives a solid foundation for his people’s faith and hope. However, unchangeableness in character does not mean that the Lord is unchanging in his actions, for the very next verse, “Return to me and I will return to you” (v. 7), shows that God acts differently in response to different situations. Therefore implies that God’s purpose to bring blessing to the world through Abraham’s descendants and through a Davidic Messiah will not be defeated, and thus the children of Jacob are not consumed: their existence as the restored community is evidence of God’s faithfulness.

As it was for Haggai (see note on Hg 1:5-8), an issue for Malachi was the community’s provision for its worship life. The people were not bringing in the tithe of their grain for the support of the priesthood and the temple ceremonies. In response, Malachi declared the word of the Lord: “Bring the full tenth into the storehouse” (Mal 3:10). Interpreters do not all agree on the status of the tithe in Christian practice. Some see it as part of the law of Moses that has been superseded as a mandatory requirement in the new covenant of Jesus Christ. Others see it as a fundamental principle of faithful Christian living in the kingdom of God, comparable to the moral requirements of the Ten Commandments.

Most, however, would agree on several points. (1) The tithe of one’s increase does not represent all that belongs to the Lord; it is emblematic of the fact that “everything in the heavens and on earth belongs to you” (1Ch 29:11), and whatever a person has should be applied, in some way, to God’s purposes. (2) The tithe supports the work of God through the church he has called to serve him in the world. It is instrumental in making possible both the edification of believers and the outreach to unbelievers; without it, the church’s mission and the extension of the kingdom of God would be hampered. (3) The practice of tithing, and of giving in general, prepares the believer to receive blessing from the Lord. The grasping hand is not open to what he seeks to give. On this last point, Malachi specifically urged the Judeans to “test me in this way” (Mal 3:10).

you are robbing me. When the people did not give the “tithe” (see note on vv. 10–12), they were keeping wealth that rightly belonged to God.

As an evidence of wholehearted repentance (v. 7), God promises that if his people become faithful in presenting their full tithe (the Hb. word means “a tenth”), then the desperately needed rain will come (v. 10), pestilence and crop failure will cease (v. 11), and the Abrahamic promise that all nations will call you blessed (v. 12; Ps. 72:17) will be fulfilled. The tithes were given to support the priests and Levites (see Neh. 10:38; 12:44), whose ministry was essential if Israel was to be faithful to its calling. By saying, “put me to the test,” God is challenging the people to give the tithe that they owed him and then watch to see if he would be faithful to his promise. God promises to meet all their needs, but not necessarily all their “greeds,” and to pour down for you a blessing until there is no more need.

The sixth disputation begins with Israel’s audacious and blasphemous complaint that it is vain to serve God. It looks like keeping his charge and walking as in mourning are parallel statements, which suggests that they refer to ceremonial or liturgical requirements such as the ritual mourning about which Israel boasts in Zech. 7:1–6. Because of their hypocrisy, these acts had degenerated into meaningless formalities (Isa. 58:3–9; Mal. 2:13).

In the era of “postmodernism,” the distinction between what is right and wrong is often minimized; what is wrong for one person, it is said, may be right for another, or what is right in one situation may be wrong in another. Such indifference to moral and ethical standards can even filter into the Christian community. Malachi spoke of a time when such indifference will no longer be the case; for those who “feared the LORD,” at least, it would be clear what was righteous and what was wicked, and it would be evident who was truly serving God. Jesus Christ laid down a firm test of righteousness, or standing with God: “No one comes to the Father except through me” (Jn 14:6). Whether or not a person is found “in Christ” (2Co 5:17) would not be a matter of indifference; it would be a test on the order of that which Malachi spoke.

In sharp contrast to the fault-finding cynics, a second group is now mentioned, those who feared the LORD and esteemed his name. Just as the Lord recounts the contemptuous blasphemies of the first group (vv. 13–15), so he overhears the faithful conversation of the second. Similar to the honor roll kept by King Xerxes, which recorded the long-unrewarded faithfulness of Mordecai (Est. 6:1–3), a book of remembrance is written in God’s presence concerning these faithful believers. Similar books of significant deeds were kept by kings in the ancient world (see Est. 2:23; 6:1). This image of God’s record book, which appears throughout Scripture (see e.g., Ex. 32:32–33; Ps. 56:8; 139:16; Dan. 7:10; 12:1; Rev. 20:12), indicates that God will never forget and will rightly judge both the good deeds of the righteous and the evil deeds of the wicked.