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Introduction
The book of Malachi is the twelfth of what are called “the twelve minor prophets” (Major and Minor Prophets).
The last three of the minor prophets – Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi – were called post-exilic prophets because they prophesied after the return to Jerusalem from the Babylonian Captivity. Haggai and Zechariah were contemporaries of Ezra and Nehemiah, helping with the rebuilding of the temple by their prophetic encouragement; Malachi came just after them and was the last prophetic voice recorded in the Old Testament. The time between Malachi and New Testament events was called the Intertestamental Period and lasted about 400 years – from roughly the 4th century BC to the 1st century AD.
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Malachi 1
God’s Love for Jacob
Mal 1:1-5 – Be sure to understand what the names “Esau” and “Edom” have to do with each other: Jacob and Esau, Israel and Edom. ***** Regarding Edom, consider Esau’s ongoing intransigence toward God through his descendants. Also, see related passages: Num 20:14-22 (including accompanying BSN notes) and Heb 12:16 (including accompanying BSN notes).
Mal 1:2-3 – The apostle Paul quotes this verse in the middle of an extended explanation of how God is being fair to everyone – so extended that it’s too long to reproduce here. It covers three chapters (Rom 9-11) in the middle of his letter to the Jewish and Gentile believers in Rome.
Rom 9:13 Just as it is written, “JACOB I LOVED, BUT ESAU I HATED.”
Jacob is a stand-in for Jews; Esau is a stand-in for Gentiles. That is, these names are used metaphorically as well as literally in the Bible. For a similar use of this Jacob-Esau paradigm, see Ezek 35 and the accompanying BSN notes.
To understand the point being made here, we need to remember that “love one, hate the other” is a figure of speech – not a literal expression. See Figures of Speech.
God gave the Jews a covenant that He did not give to other nations…but that was only until He could come as Messiah. Then He would be able to do for all nations what He had previously only done for Israel.
Sin of the Priests
Mal 1:6-14 – Malachi is chastising the priests for paying lip service to God. By offering to the Lord gifts they would be ashamed to offer to each other, they were showing contempt for the Lord. In essence, they were acting as if He wasn’t even there when they made sacrifices to Him.
Mal 1:9 – “gracious“
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Malachi 2
Priests to Be Disciplined
Mal 2:2-5 – Malachi is continuing to press the point he began making in Mal 1:6 – that the priests are dishonoring His name. A name is supposed to mean something. Consider this example:
Rev 3:1 “To the angel of the church in Sardis write: He who has the seven Spirits of God and the seven stars, says this: ‘I know your deeds, that you have a name that you are alive, but you are dead.
If you have a name (that is, a reputation) that you are alive, you shouldn’t be dead! Likewise, if we call the Lord “Father” or “Master” (Mal 1:6) then we ought not treat Him as if He’s not a father or master.
Mal 2:6-9 – Malachi reminds the priests of the standards from which they have fallen. Their responsibility is to teach the law – by word and deed. He’s calling them to repentance.
As fathers, we are priests for our families. The Lord Jesus expects us to teach righteousness to our children by our words and our deeds. Our priestly service begins with prayer. We seek the good of our children – not of ourselves – in life. (Presumably, it’s to their benefit to have their parents around and healthy…so we are indirectly praying for ourselves.)
1 Cor 10:24 Let no one seek his own good, but that of his neighbor.
The word “neighbor” means “near one.” Who’s nearer than your family?
Sin in the Family
Mal 2:10-17 – Further to the note on Mal 2:6-9 above, who is the closest neighbor to a man if not his wife? Therefore, our obedience to Jesus’ commandment that we love our neighbor must begin with love of our wives. For if we bypass them to love others, what good is that? A man’s love for his children and for everyone else is built on the foundation of his love for his wife. And his love for his wife is built on the foundation of his love for the Lord. If the foundations are weak, then nothing built on them can be strong.
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Malachi 3
The Purifier
Mal 3:1 – #FJOT In this verse, there’s a messenger coming before the messenger – a forerunner before the runner. The forerunner is John the Baptist, and the runner is the Lord Himself. And then there are all the other runners – the whole human race, including us. That’s the sense in which we understand the following.
Heb 12:1 Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us,
Heb 12:2 fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
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1 Pet 2:21 For you have been called for this purpose, since Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example for you to follow in His steps,
1 Pet 2:22 WHO COMMITTED NO SIN, NOR WAS ANY DECEIT FOUND IN HIS MOUTH;
1 Pet 2:23 and while being reviled, He did not revile in return; while suffering, He uttered no threats, but kept entrusting Himself to Him who judges righteously;
1 Pet 2:24 and He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross, so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness; for by His wounds you were healed.
Thus we are running a race that Jesus has run before us. In running that race, we are following in His steps – that is, following His example. To slightly alter the metaphor, John the Baptist is like a pace car in an auto race. This is, of course, a car that sets the pace for the other cars and allows them to have a rolling start. Once the race actually starts, the pace car gets out of the way and drops out. Thus John the Baptist exited the race well before Jesus approached the finish line.
***** Mal 3:1 is quoted multiple times in the New Testament, including Mark 1:2; Luke 1:17, 76; 7:24-35. I’ve chosen this one from Matthew because it gives the fullest context to show how John the Baptist fit in with the messianic plan.
Matt 11:7 As these men were going away, Jesus began to speak to the crowds about John, “What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken by the wind?
Matt 11:8 “But what did you go out to see? A man dressed in soft clothing? Those who wear soft clothing are in kings’ palaces!
Matt 11:9 “But what did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and one who is more than a prophet.
Matt 11:10 “This is the one about whom it is written,
‘BEHOLD, I SEND MY MESSENGER AHEAD OF YOU,
WHO WILL PREPARE YOUR WAY BEFORE YOU.’
Matt 11:11 “Truly I say to you, among those born of women there has not arisen anyone greater than John the Baptist! Yet the one who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.
Matt 11:12 “From the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and violent men take it by force.
Matt 11:13 “For all the prophets and the Law prophesied until John.
Matt 11:14 “And if you are willing to accept it, John himself is Elijah who was to come.
Matt 11:15 “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.
Matt 11:16 “But to what shall I compare this generation? It is like children sitting in the market places, who call out to the other children,
Matt 11:17 and say, ‘We played the flute for you, and you did not dance; we sang a dirge, and you did not mourn.’
Matt 11:18 “For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, ‘He has a demon!’
Matt 11:19 “The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Behold, a gluttonous man and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’ Yet wisdom is vindicated by her deeds.”
God was promising through Malachi that Messiah would have a forerunner. This would help Israel identify the Messiah. God is going to say something else about this forerunner in Mal 4:5-6.
Mal 3:2-6 – Messiah would be like a “refiner’s fire” and a “fuller’s soap.” Some things – like clothes – can be cleaned with soap and water. Other things – like gold or silver – can only be purified with fire. Messiah is able to clean and purify everything.
You Have Robbed God
Mal 3:7-15 – Tithing was part of the Law of Moses and we are not bound to it, just as we are not bound to the Law’s requirements for circumcision or animal sacrifice. That said, tithing is a practice that God blesses. And it removes a great deal of the pain associated with being generous. For if we have set aside the first 10% of our income, then when we are presented with someone having a legitimate financial need, we do not have to wonder if we might giving away the children’s lunch money because the money has already been designated for charity. The 90% we retain for ourselves always goes farther than the 100% used to because that’s part of the blessing of God on the practice of tithing.
The Book of Remembrance
Mal 3:16-18 – The Lord is keeping records on us. We should stop living as if He isn’t.
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Malachi 4
Final Admonition
Mal 4:1 – This day Malachi is talking about is the day of the Lord.
Mal 4:2-3 – Relate this verse to the BSN note on Gen 1:16 ***** #FJOT This “sun of righteousness” is, of course, Messiah – the one before whom the forerunner runs (Mal 3:1). There’ll be more about the relationship between the forerunner and the Messiah in the note on Mal 4:5 below.
Mal 4:5 – In the note on Mal 3:1 above, you can see in context the following verse in which Jesus identifies John the Baptist as the person whom Malachi was referring to as “Elijah.”
Matt 11:14 “And if you are willing to accept it, John himself is Elijah who was to come.
John the Baptist was prophesied as “Elijah” by the prophet Malachi in the same way that Jesus was prophesied as “David” by the prophets Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Hosea (Jer 30:9; Ezek 34:23-24; 37:24-25; Hos 3:5). That is, the type is used as a name for the reality.
Jesus confirms that John the Baptist is Malachi’s “Elijah” later in Matthew’s Gospel.
Matt 17:10 And His disciples asked Him, “Why then do the scribes say that Elijah must come first?”
Matt 17:11 And He answered and said, “Elijah is coming and will restore all things;
Matt 17:12 but I say to you that Elijah already came, and they did not recognize him, but did to him whatever they wished. So also the Son of Man is going to suffer at their hands.”
Matt 17:13 Then the disciples understood that He had spoken to them about John the Baptist.
We should, therefore, read Mal 4:4-6 with this understanding in mind. This understanding is further confirmed by what the angel Gabriel told John the Baptist’s father Zacharias before John was born.
Luke 1:13 But the angel said to him, “Do not be afraid, Zacharias, for your petition has been heard, and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you will give him the name John.
Luke 1:14 “You will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth.
Luke 1:15 “For he will be great in the sight of the Lord; and he will drink no wine or liquor, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit while yet in his mother’s womb.
Luke 1:16 “And he will turn many of the sons of Israel back to the Lord their God.
Luke 1:17 “It is he who will go as a forerunner before Him in the spirit and power of Elijah…
Elijah was a forerunner of Elisha – did double the miracles than Elijah did. Thus Elijah’s life provided a good example of a forerunner of someone greater. John the Baptist performed no miracles at all, and Jesus performed than anyone ever. But all this did was emphasize the greatness of the runner over the forerunner; it didn’t alter the pattern that the opening act is always followed by the greater act.
Mal 4:6 – Now I’ll show the rest of Luke 1:17. The part I showed above revealed the connection with Mal 4:5. Here below, it reveals the then connection with Mal 4:6 as well.
Luke 1:17 “It is he who will go as a forerunner before Him in the spirit and power of Elijah, TO TURN THE HEARTS OF THE FATHERS BACK TO THE CHILDREN, and the disobedient to the attitude of the righteous, so as to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.”
Messiah came to restore the entire creation to its original order, and that goes to the family which was established with this:
Gen 2:24 …a man shall leave his father and his mother, and be joined to his wife; and they shall become one flesh.
The blessing of the kingdom of God – through the seed of Messiah – would therefore be brought to focus on the family.
Acts 3:25 “It is you who are the sons of the prophets and of the covenant which God made with your fathers, saying to Abraham, ‘AND IN YOUR SEED ALL THE FAMILIES OF THE EARTH SHALL BE BLESSED.’
Acts 3:26 “For you first, God raised up His Servant and sent Him to bless you by turning every one of you from your wicked ways.”
For if the family can be right, so can everything else.
For the world to be right, the nations need to be right.
For a nation to be right, its families need to be right.
For a family to be right, the man needs to be right.
For a man to be right, he must look to Jesus.
The nuclear family is a flock and the man is the shepherd with whom the buck stops. The book title Christianity for Men and Their Families is in recognition of the importance and centrality of this idea in the outworking of the kingdom of God. Those words from the Lord through Malachi being found here at the crossroads of the testaments seems the perfect placement.
The Duty of a Man 