Monday 12 December 2022
- Bible Book:
- Malachi
'The Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple.' (v. 1)
Background
The Book of Malachi comes from around 450 BC, which was about 80 years after the Israelites returned from exile in Babylon. Life was hard for the returnees and later generations. But regular worship was now under way in the restored Temple in Jerusalem, although standards were already slipping. Standards of behaviour judged against the demands of the Jewish law slipped; as did understandings of what it meant to be a covenant people pledged to the Lord. The people felt God had abandoned them to their struggles; so they questioned the justice of God’s dealings with them.
One theme is clear from our passage: God will soon and suddenly come to the Temple to judge and purify the Levites who were responsible for the liturgy. God’s purifying action will be like the smelting of silver and gold in a furnace; or like the cleaning of wool with water and a caustic soap to eliminate oils, dirt and impurities. Only God’s intervention can restore worship of such purity.
What is unclear is who will precede and prepare for God’s coming. The Hebrew word behind ‘my messenger’ is transliterated into English as ‘Malachi’. Was there a prophet called Malachi? Or was it a self-chosen title of an anonymous prophet? In verse 1, could the phrase perhaps refer to an angel, or some other special representative of God? And in the same verse is ‘my messenger’ (whether a prophet named Malachi, an anonymous prophet or an angel) equivalent to ‘the messenger of the covenant’? In addition, how do these references to ‘messenger’ relate to the picture of a returning Elijah in 4:5?
Later, Jesus (Mark 1:2, 9:11-13, Matthew 11:10) linked what is in the Book of Malachi to John the Baptist, the forerunner of Jesus himself.
To Ponder:
- How satisfied are you with the quality of worship in your congregation? Can insights from private prayer throw some light on how to make corporate worship more meaningful for you? What contribution can you make to improve the worship services?
- Notice that in Malachi 3, God does not come to destroy but to reform. Who are the individuals, and what are the movements or attitudes in Church or society, that you find yourself very easily condemning out of hand? Dare you adopt an open-minded approach to engage constructively with those who offend you deeply?