September 20, 2025

How does the Old Testament end?

Malachi 1-4

Scott Breedlove
Saturday's Devo

September 20, 2025

Saturday's Devo

September 20, 2025

Saturday's Devo

September 20, 2025

Saturday's Devo

September 20, 2025

Big Book Idea

Despite being exiled, God's people still keep on sinning.

Key Verse | Malachi 3:1

"Behold, I send my messenger, and he will prepare the way before me. And the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple; and the messenger of the covenant in whom you delight, behold, he is coming, says the LORD of hosts."

Malachi 1-4

Chapter 1

1 The oracle of the word of the LORD to Israel by Malachi. 1 1:1 Malachi means my messenger

The LORD's Love for Israel

2 “I have loved you,” says the LORD. But you say, “How have you loved us?” “Is not Esau Jacob's brother?” declares the LORD. “Yet I have loved Jacob 3 but Esau I have hated. I have laid waste his hill country and left his heritage to jackals of the desert.” 4 If Edom says, “We are shattered but we will rebuild the ruins,” the LORD of hosts says, “They may build, but I will tear down, and they will be called ‘the wicked country,’ and ‘the people with whom the LORD is angry forever.’” 5 Your own eyes shall see this, and you shall say, “Great is the LORD beyond the border of Israel!”

The Priests' Polluted Offerings

6 “A son honors his father, and a servant his master. If then I am a father, where is my honor? And if I am a master, where is my fear? says the LORD of hosts to you, O priests, who despise my name. But you say, ‘How have we despised your name?’ 7 By offering polluted food upon my altar. But you say, ‘How have we polluted you?’ By saying that the LORD's table may be despised. 8 When you offer blind animals in sacrifice, is that not evil? And when you offer those that are lame or sick, is that not evil? Present that to your governor; will he accept you or show you favor? says the LORD of hosts. 9 And now entreat the favor of God, that he may be gracious to us. With such a gift from your hand, will he show favor to any of you? says the LORD of hosts. 10 Oh that there were one among you who would shut the doors, that you might not kindle fire on my altar in vain! I have no pleasure in you, says the LORD of hosts, and I will not accept an offering from your hand. 11 For from the rising of the sun to its setting my name will be 2 1:11 Or is (three times in verse 11; also verse 14) great among the nations, and in every place incense will be offered to my name, and a pure offering. For my name will be great among the nations, says the LORD of hosts. 12 But you profane it when you say that the Lord's table is polluted, and its fruit, that is, its food may be despised. 13 But you say, ‘What a weariness this is,’ and you snort at it, says the LORD of hosts. You bring what has been taken by violence or is lame or sick, and this you bring as your offering! Shall I accept that from your hand? says the LORD. 14 Cursed be the cheat who has a male in his flock, and vows it, and yet sacrifices to the Lord what is blemished. For I am a great King, says the LORD of hosts, and my name will be feared among the nations.

Chapter 2

The LORD Rebukes the Priests

1 And now, O priests, this command is for you. 2 If you will not listen, if you will not take it to heart to give honor to my name, says the LORD of hosts, then I will send the curse upon you and I will curse your blessings. Indeed, I have already cursed them, because you do not lay it to heart. 3 Behold, I will rebuke your offspring, 3 2:3 Hebrew seed and spread dung on your faces, the dung of your offerings, and you shall be taken away with it. 4 2:3 Or to it 4 So shall you know that I have sent this command to you, that my covenant with Levi may stand, says the LORD of hosts. 5 My covenant with him was one of life and peace, and I gave them to him. It was a covenant of fear, and he feared me. He stood in awe of my name. 6 True instruction 5 2:6 Or law; also verses 7, 8, 9 was in his mouth, and no wrong was found on his lips. He walked with me in peace and uprightness, and he turned many from iniquity. 7 For the lips of a priest should guard knowledge, and people 6 2:7 Hebrew they should seek instruction from his mouth, for he is the messenger of the LORD of hosts. 8 But you have turned aside from the way. You have caused many to stumble by your instruction. You have corrupted the covenant of Levi, says the LORD of hosts, 9 and so I make you despised and abased before all the people, inasmuch as you do not keep my ways but show partiality in your instruction.”

Judah Profaned the Covenant

10 Have we not all one Father? Has not one God created us? Why then are we faithless to one another, profaning the covenant of our fathers? 11 Judah has been faithless, and abomination has been committed in Israel and in Jerusalem. For Judah has profaned the sanctuary of the LORD, which he loves, and has married the daughter of a foreign god. 12 May the LORD cut off from the tents of Jacob any descendant 7 2:12 Hebrew any who wakes and answers of the man who does this, who brings an offering to the LORD of hosts!

13 And this second thing you do. You cover the LORD's altar with tears, with weeping and groaning because he no longer regards the offering or accepts it with favor from your hand. 14 But you say, “Why does he not?” Because the LORD was witness between you and the wife of your youth, to whom you have been faithless, though she is your companion and your wife by covenant. 15 Did he not make them one, with a portion of the Spirit in their union? 8 2:15 Hebrew in it And what was the one God 9 2:15 Hebrew the one seeking? 10 2:15 Or And not one has done this who has a portion of the Spirit. And what was that one seeking? Godly offspring. So guard yourselves 11 2:15 Or So take care; also verse 16 in your spirit, and let none of you be faithless to the wife of your youth. 16 “For the man who does not love his wife but divorces her, 12 2:16 Hebrew who hates and divorces says the LORD, the God of Israel, covers 13 2:16 Probable meaning (compare Septuagint and Deuteronomy 24:14); or The LORD, the God of Israel, says that he hates divorce, and him who covers his garment with violence, says the LORD of hosts. So guard yourselves in your spirit, and do not be faithless.”

The Messenger of the LORD

17 You have wearied the LORD with your words. But you say, “How have we wearied him?” By saying, “Everyone who does evil is good in the sight of the LORD, and he delights in them.” Or by asking, “Where is the God of justice?”

Chapter 3

1 “Behold, I send my messenger, and he will prepare the way before me. And the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple; and the messenger of the covenant in whom you delight, behold, he is coming, says the LORD of hosts. 2 But who can endure the day of his coming, and who can stand when he appears? For he is like a refiner's fire and like fullers' soap. 3 He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and he will purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, and they will bring offerings in righteousness to the LORD. 14 3:3 Or and they will belong to the LORD, bringers of an offering in righteousness 4 Then the offering of Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasing to the LORD as in the days of old and as in former years.

5 Then I will draw near to you for judgment. I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, against the adulterers, against those who swear falsely, against those who oppress the hired worker in his wages, the widow and the fatherless, against those who thrust aside the sojourner, and do not fear me, says the LORD of hosts.

Robbing God

6 For I the LORD do not change; therefore you, O children of Jacob, are not consumed. 7 From the days of your fathers you have turned aside from my statutes and have not kept them. Return to me, and I will return to you, says the LORD of hosts. But you say, ‘How shall we return?’ 8 Will man rob God? Yet you are robbing me. But you say, ‘How have we robbed you?’ In your tithes and contributions. 9 You are cursed with a curse, for you are robbing me, the whole nation of you. 10 Bring the full tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. And thereby put me to the test, says the LORD of hosts, if I will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you a blessing until there is no more need. 11 I will rebuke the devourer 15 3:11 Probably a name for some crop-destroying pest or pests for you, so that it will not destroy the fruits of your soil, and your vine in the field shall not fail to bear, says the LORD of hosts. 12 Then all nations will call you blessed, for you will be a land of delight, says the LORD of hosts.

13 Your words have been hard against me, says the LORD. But you say, ‘How have we spoken against you?’ 14 You have said, ‘It is vain to serve God. What is the profit of our keeping his charge or of walking as in mourning before the LORD of hosts? 15 And now we call the arrogant blessed. Evildoers not only prosper but they put God to the test and they escape.’”

The Book of Remembrance

16 Then those who feared the LORD spoke with one another. The LORD paid attention and heard them, and a book of remembrance was written before him of those who feared the LORD and esteemed his name. 17 “They shall be mine, says the LORD of hosts, in the day when I make up my treasured possession, and I will spare them as a man spares his son who serves him. 18 Then once more you shall see the distinction between the righteous and the wicked, between one who serves God and one who does not serve him.

Chapter 4

The Great Day of the LORD

1  16 4:1 Ch 4:16 is ch 3:1924 in Hebrew For behold, the day is coming, burning like an oven, when all the arrogant and all evildoers will be stubble. The day that is coming shall set them ablaze, says the LORD of hosts, so that it will leave them neither root nor branch. 2 But for you who fear my name, the sun of righteousness shall rise with healing in its wings. You shall go out leaping like calves from the stall. 3 And you shall tread down the wicked, for they will be ashes under the soles of your feet, on the day when I act, says the LORD of hosts.

4 Remember the law of my servant Moses, the statutes and rules 17 4:4 Or and just decrees that I commanded him at Horeb for all Israel.

5 Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and awesome day of the LORD comes. 6 And he will turn the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the land with a decree of utter destruction.” 18 4:6 The Hebrew term rendered decree of utter destruction refers to things devoted (or set apart) to the Lord (or by the Lord) for destruction

Footnotes

[1] 1:1 Malachi means my messenger
[2] 1:11 Or is (three times in verse 11; also verse 14)
[3] 2:3 Hebrew seed
[4] 2:3 Or to it
[5] 2:6 Or law; also verses 7, 8, 9
[6] 2:7 Hebrew they
[7] 2:12 Hebrew any who wakes and answers
[8] 2:15 Hebrew in it
[9] 2:15 Hebrew the one
[10] 2:15 Or And not one has done this who has a portion of the Spirit. And what was that one seeking?
[11] 2:15 Or So take care; also verse 16
[12] 2:16 Hebrew who hates and divorces
[13] 2:16 Probable meaning (compare Septuagint and Deuteronomy 24:1–4); or “The LORD, the God of Israel, says that he hates divorce, and him who covers
[14] 3:3 Or and they will belong to the LORD, bringers of an offering in righteousness
[15] 3:11 Probably a name for some crop-destroying pest or pests
[16] 4:1 Ch 4:1–6 is ch 3:19–24 in Hebrew
[17] 4:4 Or and just decrees
[18] 4:6 The Hebrew term rendered decree of utter destruction refers to things devoted (or set apart) to the Lord (or by the Lord) for destruction
Table of Contents
Introduction to Malachi

Introduction to Malachi

Timeline

Author and Date

The prophet Malachi (whose name means “my messenger”) probably lived at the same time as Ezra and Nehemiah, around 460 B.C.

Theme

Malachi’s fellow Israelites were guilty of corrupt worship and unethical behavior. He called the people to renewed covenant obedience.

Purpose, Occasion, and Background

Malachi’s ministry took place nearly a hundred years after the decree of Cyrus in 538 B.C., which ended the Babylonian captivity and allowed the Jews to return to their homeland and rebuild the temple (2 Chron. 36:23). This was some 80 years after Haggai and Zechariah encouraged the rebuilding of the temple. Those two earlier prophets had said that the rebuilding of the temple would result in peace, prosperity, the conversion of people from other nations, and the return of God’s own glorious presence (see Haggai 2; Zech. 1:16–17; 2:1–13; 8:1–9:17). To the discouraged people of Malachi’s day, these predictions must have seemed a cruel mockery. In contrast to the glowing promises, they faced economic difficulties due to drought and crop failure (Mal. 3:11). They remained an insignificant territory, no longer an independent nation and no longer ruled by a Davidic king. Worst of all, despite the promise of God’s presence, they experienced only spiritual decline.

The Setting of Malachi

c. 460 B.C.

Malachi likely prophesied several decades after the first Jewish exiles had returned from Babylon to Judea and had rebuilt the temple. Edomites had migrated northwest from their traditional homeland just south of Moab into the area immediately south of Judea, which was now called Idumea. Territory that once belonged to the northern kingdom of Israel had been divided into several minor provinces, including Samaria.

The Setting of Malachi

Key Themes and Outline: Malachi’s Sixfold Wake-up Call to Renewed Covenant Obedience

The book of Malachi describes six disputations between God and Israel. There is a common pattern in each dispute: (1) God charges his people with bad behavior; (2) he then envisages the people’s response to the charge (“But you say”; 1:2, 6, 7, 13; 2:14, 17; 3:7, 8, 13); (3) God then replies to their presumed response and expands the charge. The chart below shows the subject of each dispute and God’s response to it.

Malachi’s Sixfold Wake-up Call to Renewed Covenant Obedience

Disputation Reference Summary Focus
Disputation 1 1:2–5 Malachi defends God’s love for Israel. The proper response to his love is covenantal obedience and sincere worship. Israel must remember the Law of Moses (4:4).
Disputation 2 1:6–2:9 Malachi exposes offenses related to worship and criticizes the priests for allowing them.
Disputation 3 2:10–16 Malachi condemns marriage to an unbeliever as unfaithfulness to Israel’s covenant with God. He also condemns unjust divorce as a violation of the marriage covenant between husband and wife, to which the Lord is witness.
Disputation 4 2:17–3:5 Malachi promises that God will demonstrate his justice. He will do so when “the messenger of the covenant” comes to judge the wicked and purify his people. Israel must remember the promise of Elijah and the coming day of the Lord (4:5–6).
Disputation 5 3:6–12 Malachi returns to the subject of Israel’s wicked offerings. The difficulties the people are experiencing are punishment for their sin.
Disputation 6 3:13–4:3 Malachi assures the people that evildoers, who seem to escape divine justice, will be judged. The Lord will deliver his people.
Summary 4:4–6 Malachi summarizes the main points of his prophecy: keep God’s law (the focus of disputes 1–3), and remember the promise of a coming prophet like Elijah and the coming day of the Lord (the focus of disputes 4–6).  
The Global Message of Malachi

The Global Message of Malachi

“‘I have loved you,’ says the LORD. But you say, ‘How have you loved us?’” (Mal. 1:2). After the return from exile, the rebuilding of the temple, and the reinstitution of temple worship, Israel was looking around and wondering why they were still a marginalized, insignificant nation compared to the national powers of the day. What had become of God’s great promises to exalt Israel and punish the godless nations?

The global message of Malachi is that God’s judgment is indeed coming on his enemies, but God’s people must be more concerned about their own relationship to him than with anyone else’s fate. The global church must beware the dead orthodoxy that so easily sets in when church life becomes routine.

Malachi in Redemptive History

God’s promises. The long-threatened and well-deserved exile from the Promised Land had come and gone. A remnant had returned to Judah and had been eagerly expecting final restoration of all that God had promised them—supremacy among the nations, the coming of a final Messiah-king, judgment on the Gentile nations who had oppressed Israel so long, and lasting peace and prosperity. Above all, they were looking forward to the day when God himself would dwell among his people once more in glory (see Hag. 2:1–9; Zech. 1:16–17; 2:1–13; 8:1–9:17).

Yet this was not the picture of life in Israel in Malachi’s day. Instead, the people were experiencing economic adversity, poor harvests, and pestilence (see Mal. 3:10–12). Where was the abundance promised and longed for?

God’s summons. Malachi’s answer is that God will not fail to fulfill what he has promised to his people, but the time is not yet ripe for such fulfillment. Instead, God calls the people to love him more than the abundance they have so long anticipated. Israel must learn once more what it is to trust the Lord, committing themselves again to the covenant into which God has entered with them. For it is by such covenant faithfulness that the nations will be gathered in. Then God’s “name will be great among the nations” (Mal. 1:11; compare 1:14). When Israel turns to love the Lord their God with all their heart, then the Gentiles will be attracted to such a life, such a people, and such a God.

God’s provision. Ultimately, however, God could not wait for such Israelite faithfulness to blossom, for it never did blossom and never could. If his people were to love him with all their heart, something more drastic was needed. Rather than waiting for his people to love him and in that way attract the nations, God would send his own Son, pouring out his Spirit onto his people and moving them from the inside out to walk in his ways as a witness to the nations of the world (Jer. 31:31–34; Ezek. 36:22–27).

By sending his Son, moreover, God showed his people how the nations would be won—not by attracting them but by going to them (Gal. 4:4–6). With the coming of Christ the way by which his people are a light to the nations has been reversed. Disciples of Christ do not wait for the nations to come to them. Rather they determine, in sacrificial mission according to the pattern set by Christ’s own incarnation, to go to the nations (John 20:21).

Universal Themes in Malachi

The pervasive tendency toward spiritually empty religion. The key indictment against Israel is their hollow, formal, corner-cutting religion. Their sacrifices to God are manipulated so as to allow them to retain their best animals (Mal. 1:8); the spiritual leaders only pretend to honor the Lord (2:1–2); marriage is taken lightly (2:14–16); and tithes are withheld out of love of money (3:6–12). Everywhere that the church presently thrives, believers must be vigilant against allowing dead orthodoxy to set in. A sign of such dead orthodoxy is when doctrinal truth is acknowledged (“Have we not all one Father? Has not one God created us?” [2:10]) and yet love for one’s neighbor is neglected, which brings God’s judgment “against those who oppress the hired worker in his wages, the widow and the fatherless, against those who thrust aside the sojourner, and do not fear me, says the LORD of hosts” (3:5).

The worldwide exaltation of God’s name. Amid his indictment of Israel’s sin, the Lord reiterates the global dimensions of the worship he deserves. “For from the rising of the sun to its setting my name will be great among the nations, and in every place incense will be offered to my name, and a pure offering. For my name will be great among the nations” (Mal. 1:11). “For I am a great King, says the LORD of hosts, and my name will be feared among the nations” (1:14). In light of his people’s failure to be a light to the nations, God will bring “utter destruction” on “the great and awesome day of the LORD” (4:5–6). Yet this day will also be linked with the return of Elijah to turn the hearts of the people back to God, once and for all vindicating God’s great name and glory (see Matt. 17:12; Luke 1:17; John 13:32; 17:1).

The Global Message of Malachi for Today

God’s people around the world today have been promised great and glorious things, just as God’s people of old had been. Yet like Israel upon returning from the exile, the glory for which we so eagerly wait remains perplexingly elusive as we live life under the sun in this fallen world. Sin and sickness, abuse and maligning, discouragement and setbacks—such is the lot of those who live in a diseased world. Indeed, some suffering is unique to followers of Christ (Acts 14:22; 2 Tim. 3:12).

Yet like the faithful remnant who determined to trust the Lord no matter what in Malachi’s day (Mal. 3:16–18), we too must cling to God and his promises regardless of what afflictions befall us—physically, politically, emotionally, relationally, culturally. The curse of the fall infects all aspects of life, yet the coming final restoration will likewise redeem all aspects of life. This restoration has already dawned in Christ and is guaranteed to all of God’s children, who enjoy the down payment of the Spirit in anticipation of the coming full liberation from sin and death (Rom. 8:18–25; 2 Cor. 1:22; Eph. 1:13–14).

Joy is secure. Glory awaits. Hope stands fast.

Malachi Fact #1: Lord

Fact: Lord of hosts

The title LORD of hosts appears more frequently in Malachi than in any other OT book. Following the exile, Judah was a very small province within the vast Persian Empire. It had no army of its own, leaving its people painfully aware of how limited their resources were. Malachi wants to remind his people that God is in command of a great heavenly host that stands ready to defend Judah.

Malachi Fact #2: Blind, lame, and sick animals

Fact: Blind, lame, and sick animals

Blind, lame, and sick animals were financially worthless. The Lord commanded his people to sacrifice healthy animals (see Deut. 15:21; 17:1). Disobeying this command showed a lack of respect for the Lord (Mal. 1:8, 14).

Malachi’s Sixfold Wake-up Call to Renewed Covenant Obedience

Malachi’s Sixfold Wake-up Call to Renewed Covenant Obedience

Disputation Reference Summary Focus
Disputation 1 1:2–5 Malachi defends God’s love for Israel. The proper response to his love is covenantal obedience and sincere worship. Israel must remember the Law of Moses (4:4).
Disputation 2 1:6–2:9 Malachi exposes offenses related to worship and criticizes the priests for allowing them.
Disputation 3 2:10–16 Malachi condemns marriage to an unbeliever as unfaithfulness to Israel’s covenant with God. He also condemns unjust divorce as a violation of the marriage covenant between husband and wife, to which the Lord is witness.
Disputation 4 2:17–3:5 Malachi promises that God will demonstrate his justice. He will do so when “the messenger of the covenant” comes to judge the wicked and purify his people. Israel must remember the promise of Elijah and the coming day of the Lord (4:5–6).
Disputation 5 3:6–12 Malachi returns to the subject of Israel’s wicked offerings. The difficulties the people are experiencing are punishment for their sin.
Disputation 6 3:13–4:3 Malachi assures the people that evildoers, who seem to escape divine justice, will be judged. The Lord will deliver his people.
Summary 4:4–6 Malachi summarizes the main points of his prophecy: keep God’s law (the focus of disputes 1–3), and remember the promise of a coming prophet like Elijah and the coming day of the Lord (the focus of disputes 4–6).  
Malachi

Malachi

Malachi, whose name means “my messenger,” probably ministered during the same time as Ezra and Nehemiah. He prophesied to Judah about 80 years after Haggai and Zechariah had encouraged the people to rebuild the temple. Though Haggai and Zechariah had assured Judah that God’s blessings would return to his people, bringing peace and prosperity, they had not yet experienced these promised blessings. Instead, they were facing a prolonged period of economic difficulty and hardship. Rather than wait faithfully on the Lord, the people sinned against him with half-hearted worship and imperfect offerings. God used Malachi to reaffirm his love for Israel and to rebuke them for their unfaithfulness to him. Malachi urged Judah to remember the Law of Moses, as well as the promise of Elijah and the coming day of the Lord. (Malachi 4:1–6)

John the Baptist

John the Baptist

Zechariah and Elizabeth were childless and advanced in age when Gabriel announced that Elizabeth would bear a son. The baby would be named John, and he would “be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother’s womb” (Luke 1:15). John the Baptist lived and preached in the wilderness of Judea, where he wore clothes made of camel’s hair and ate locusts and wild honey (Mark 1:4–6). John prepared the way for Jesus the Messiah by calling people to repentance, as the OT prophets had predicted (Isa. 40:3; Mal. 3:1). Those who accepted his message were baptized as an outward sign of their inward cleansing from sin. Although Jesus needed no repentance or cleansing, he was baptized by John in order to identify with the sinful people he came to save. After angering the royal Herod family, John was imprisoned and eventually beheaded (Matt. 14:6–12). (John 1:29–34)

Study Notes

Mal. 1:1 Heading. Malachi declares his role as God’s messenger and identifies his book as the word of the LORD. Nearly half of the verses in Malachi include “says the LORD of hosts,” “says the LORD,” or some similar phrase. This prophecy is an oracle (compare Zech. 9:1), literally, “a burden.” Malachi directs his message to the post­exilic community of Judah. By referring to them as “Israel,” he identifies them as recipients of all God’s covenant promises as well as the covenant obligations.

Study Notes

Mal. 1:2 But you say. See Introduction, Key Themes and Outline.

Study Notes

Mal. 1:2–4 Malachi reminds readers of God’s covenantal love for Jacob. In this context loved means chosen for a particular service rather than affection. Likewise, Esau I have hated refers to Esau’s descendants being rejected for a particular service rather than God actually hating the people. Although Jacob and Esau were brothers, God chose Jacob to be the bearer of the messianic promise (see Rom. 9:13). Malachi compares the nations that descended from Jacob and Esau—Israel and Edom. Neither country will escape God’s judgment. Judah will be graciously restored after her punishment, but Edom will not recover (Mal. 1:4).

Study Notes

Mal. 1:2–5 First Dispute: Are God’s People Still Special in His Sight? Malachi answers the doubts of the people who question God’s love because of Israel’s many current problems.

Study Notes
Malachi Fact #2: Blind, lame, and sick animals

Fact: Blind, lame, and sick animals

Blind, lame, and sick animals were financially worthless. The Lord commanded his people to sacrifice healthy animals (see Deut. 15:21; 17:1). Disobeying this command showed a lack of respect for the Lord (Mal. 1:8, 14).

Study Notes

Mal. 1:11 Surprisingly, Malachi refers to people presenting incense and pure offerings in many places, even among the nations, not just in the Jerusalem temple (see Deuteronomy 12). The phrase from the rising of the sun to its setting indicates this will happen in a future time of great blessing (see Isa. 45:6; 59:19).

Study Notes
Malachi Fact #2: Blind, lame, and sick animals

Fact: Blind, lame, and sick animals

Blind, lame, and sick animals were financially worthless. The Lord commanded his people to sacrifice healthy animals (see Deut. 15:21; 17:1). Disobeying this command showed a lack of respect for the Lord (Mal. 1:8, 14).

Study Notes

Mal. 1:6–2:9 Second Dispute: Why Do Israel’s Offerings Not Honor God? Malachi argues that Israel’s love for God should be questioned, not God’s love for Israel. Malachi focuses on Israel’s priests (2:1–9). It is their responsibility to guard the sanctuary from being misused and to inspect all sacrifices (1:8; Lev. 22:17–25). The priests have failed in both of these areas.

Mal. 2:2–9 Since the priests failed to guard the temple’s purity, the Lord threatens to punish them. Because they “despised” (1:6) the Lord’s name, they will be despised and abased before all the people (2:9). Because they “polluted” God (1:7), he will pollute and remove them from the sanctuary, like dung from the sacrifices is removed (2:3; Ex. 29:14). Because they presumed to bless the people, as if God had accepted Israel’s sacrifices, God will now curse their blessings.

Study Notes

Mal. 2:13–14 Israel was distressed because God refused to accept their offerings, as evidenced by his not blessing them. Malachi explains that God was acting as a witness against husbands who were unfaithful to their wives. Marriage is not just a contract, a two-way agreement between husband and wife. Instead it is a covenant. Since the LORD was witness to it, marriage is a three-way relationship in which the couple is accountable to God. For this reason, faithfulness in marriage is linked to spiritual well-being. A couple’s relationship must be in good standing, or their prayers will be hindered (compare 1 Pet. 3:7). Other OT passages describing marriage as a covenant include Prov. 2:17; Ezek. 16:8–14; and especially Genesis 2. There, covenant words and phrases describe a husband’s duty (“leave” and “hold fast”; Gen. 2:24; “this at last is bone of my bones”; Gen. 2:23).

Study Notes

Mal. 2:15 Make them one recalls Adam and Eve’s marriage (Gen. 2:24). The Lord intends marriage to produce godly offspring (literally, “a seed of God”). Describing a person as “a seed of God” shows that God is a “Father” to his people through redemption (Mal. 1:6; 2:10; compare “the daughter of a foreign god” in v. 11).

Study Notes

Mal. 2:10–16 Third Dispute: Why Are the People Faithless in Marriage? Malachi now describes Israel’s infidelity, which dishonors God. Malachi condemns two marital offenses: intermarriage with unbelievers (v. 11; compare Neh. 13:29) and unjust divorce (Mal. 2:13–16).

Mal. 2:16 This verse is one of the most difficult OT passages to translate. The ESV footnote includes the other most common translation. Despite the translation difficulty, this passage states clearly that the biblical standard for marriage comes from Gen. 2:23–24, which teaches that marriage is a covenant. Malachi refers to creation (Mal. 2:10), and calls marriage a covenant (v. 14). He refers to the oneness described in Gen. 2:24 (“union,” Mal. 2:15), and reminds his readers of the purpose of marriage (“godly offspring,” v. 15). The Israelite man who unjustly divorces his wife commits a serious offense. He violates the creation order and breaks his covenantal relationship with his wife. These acts damage his character (covers his garment with violence). But divorce affects more than just the husband and wife; it affects the whole community’s social and spiritual health (vv. 13–15). (See also the notes on Matt. 5:31–32; 19:3–9; Mark 10:10–12; 1 Cor. 7:15.)

Study Notes

Mal. 3:1 Apparently Israel was repeating the error of Amos’s listeners (Amos 5:18). They supposed that the Lord’s coming would be only for blessing. They did not realize that the Lord’s coming would also be for judgment. He would come to be a “witness” against all evildoers, including his own people. In preparation for this fearful appearance, the Lord promises, Behold, I send my messenger, and he will prepare the way before me. The NT identifies John the Baptist as this messenger. He prepares the way for the Lord whom you seek, that is, Jesus the Messiah (see Matt. 11:10–14).

John the Baptist

John the Baptist

Zechariah and Elizabeth were childless and advanced in age when Gabriel announced that Elizabeth would bear a son. The baby would be named John, and he would “be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother’s womb” (Luke 1:15). John the Baptist lived and preached in the wilderness of Judea, where he wore clothes made of camel’s hair and ate locusts and wild honey (Mark 1:4–6). John prepared the way for Jesus the Messiah by calling people to repentance, as the OT prophets had predicted (Isa. 40:3; Mal. 3:1). Those who accepted his message were baptized as an outward sign of their inward cleansing from sin. Although Jesus needed no repentance or cleansing, he was baptized by John in order to identify with the sinful people he came to save. After angering the royal Herod family, John was imprisoned and eventually beheaded (Matt. 14:6–12). (John 1:29–34)

Study Notes

Mal. 2:17–3:5 Fourth Dispute: Is God Unjust? Malachi accuses the people of wearying the Lord with their insulting complaints: “Everyone who does evil is good in the sight of the LORD” and “Where is the God of justice?” Many of the people were distressed at the apparent failure of the prophetic promises of restoration (see Haggai 2; Zech. 1:16–17; 2:1–13; 8:1–9:17). Israel was experiencing continued social and political oppression and economic hardship (Neh. 1:3; 9:36–37; Mal. 3:11). Worse, they had been promised that God would return to his temple with greater glory than was seen at Moses’ tabernacle or Solomon’s temple (e.g., Zech. 1:16–17; 2:4–5, 10–13; 8:3–8; 9:9–17), but the rebuilt temple lacked any visible display of glory. Now, however, Malachi promises that “the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple” (Mal. 3:1). This prophecy was fulfilled ultimately in Jesus Christ (John 1:14; 2 Cor. 4:6).

Mal. 3:2–5 When the Lord comes, he will purify some sinners (vv. 2–4) and judge others (v. 5). The purifying will be thorough and severe, as if it were done with a refiner’s fire and fullers’ soap (compare Heb. 12:7–11). The heat of the refiner’s fire helped separate impurities from the metal. Similarly, the fuller washed clothes using strong lye soap.

Study Notes

Mal. 3:6–7 I the LORD do not change. God’s character and eternal purposes remain constant. He always responds to repentance with forgiveness. They can trust him when he says, Return to me and I will return to you. Because of the Lord’s covenant faithfulness they are not consumed. Therefore implies that God’s promise to bless the world through Abraham’s descendants will not be defeated. He stands ready to bless the children of Jacob again.

Study Notes

Mal. 3:8 you are robbing me. The people were not giving to God the offerings that rightly belonged to him.

Study Notes

3:6–12 Fifth Dispute: How Shall We Repent? Can a Man Rob God? Malachi returns to the subject of Israel’s offerings, which he first addressed in the second dispute (1:6–2:9). When Israel returned from exile, they neglected to offer their tithes (see Neh. 13:10–13). Crop failure and disease did not excuse their unfaithfulness (Mal. 3:10–11). These natural disasters were the result of, not the cause of, the nation’s disobedience (v. 8).

Mal. 3:10–12 God promises that if his people faithfully present their full tithe, then the desperately needed rain will come (v. 10). Crop failure will cease (v. 11), and the promise to Abraham that all nations will call you blessed (v. 12; Ps. 72:17) will be fulfilled. By saying, “put me to the test,” God challenges the people to give the tithe they owe him and then watch to see if he will keep his promise. God promises to meet all their needs, but not necessarily all their wishes. This is not a promise of wealth in return for obedience.

Study Notes

Mal. 3:13–15 Israel complains that it is vain to serve God. They believe they have been faithful and have not been blessed.

Study Notes

Mal. 3:16 In sharp contrast to the people in vv. 13–15, a second group is now mentioned: those who feared the LORD and esteemed his name. Just as the Lord heard the insults of the first group, so he hears the faithful conversation of the second. A book of remembrance is written in God’s presence concerning these faithful believers. God will correctly judge the deeds of the righteous and the wicked.

Study Notes

Mal. 4:2 Just as the sun drives away darkness and clouds, bringing light and joy, so the sun of righteousness will scatter gloom, oppression, and injustice. The “righteousness” brought by this “sun” includes both judgment on evildoers and reward for the righteous. Its wings are a poetic image for the rays of this sun. These wings bring healing to all who come under them. Scholars have understood this prophecy to be fulfilled in Christ, who is “the light of the world” (John 8:12; compare John 1:4–6).

Study Notes

Mal. 3:13–4:3 Sixth Dispute: How Have We Spoken against God? This section echoes the first dispute. Here the focus is on God’s own people. Some embrace the covenant, and some do not.

Mal. 3:17–4:3 The Lord promises that, for those faithful believers listed in the “book of remembrance” (3:16), a day is coming when God will say, They shall be mine, his treasured possession (3:17; compare Ex. 19:5). God will spare them as a man spares his son who serves him.

Study Notes

Mal. 4:4–6 Summary. These closing appeals summarize the main points of Malachi’s prophecy: Remember the law of my servant Moses (the focus of the first three disputes) and prepare for the promised sending of Elijah the prophet before the coming day of the LORD (the focus of the last three disputes). Horeb is another name for Mount Sinai (see Exodus 19–20; Deut. 5:2). Malachi reveals that the future messenger will have a prophetic ministry like Elijah’s. The NT identifies John the Baptist as the fulfillment of Malachi’s prophesied Elijah (Matt. 11:10–14; 17:10–13). (For more on “the day of the LORD,” see note on Amos 5:18–20.)

See chart See chart
Malachi’s Sixfold Wake-up Call to Renewed Covenant Obedience

Malachi’s Sixfold Wake-up Call to Renewed Covenant Obedience

Disputation Reference Summary Focus
Disputation 1 1:2–5 Malachi defends God’s love for Israel. The proper response to his love is covenantal obedience and sincere worship. Israel must remember the Law of Moses (4:4).
Disputation 2 1:6–2:9 Malachi exposes offenses related to worship and criticizes the priests for allowing them.
Disputation 3 2:10–16 Malachi condemns marriage to an unbeliever as unfaithfulness to Israel’s covenant with God. He also condemns unjust divorce as a violation of the marriage covenant between husband and wife, to which the Lord is witness.
Disputation 4 2:17–3:5 Malachi promises that God will demonstrate his justice. He will do so when “the messenger of the covenant” comes to judge the wicked and purify his people. Israel must remember the promise of Elijah and the coming day of the Lord (4:5–6).
Disputation 5 3:6–12 Malachi returns to the subject of Israel’s wicked offerings. The difficulties the people are experiencing are punishment for their sin.
Disputation 6 3:13–4:3 Malachi assures the people that evildoers, who seem to escape divine justice, will be judged. The Lord will deliver his people.
Summary 4:4–6 Malachi summarizes the main points of his prophecy: keep God’s law (the focus of disputes 1–3), and remember the promise of a coming prophet like Elijah and the coming day of the Lord (the focus of disputes 4–6).  
Introduction to Malachi

Introduction to Malachi

Timeline

Author and Date

The prophet Malachi (whose name means “my messenger”) probably lived at the same time as Ezra and Nehemiah, around 460 B.C.

Theme

Malachi’s fellow Israelites were guilty of corrupt worship and unethical behavior. He called the people to renewed covenant obedience.

Purpose, Occasion, and Background

Malachi’s ministry took place nearly a hundred years after the decree of Cyrus in 538 B.C., which ended the Babylonian captivity and allowed the Jews to return to their homeland and rebuild the temple (2 Chron. 36:23). This was some 80 years after Haggai and Zechariah encouraged the rebuilding of the temple. Those two earlier prophets had said that the rebuilding of the temple would result in peace, prosperity, the conversion of people from other nations, and the return of God’s own glorious presence (see Haggai 2; Zech. 1:16–17; 2:1–13; 8:1–9:17). To the discouraged people of Malachi’s day, these predictions must have seemed a cruel mockery. In contrast to the glowing promises, they faced economic difficulties due to drought and crop failure (Mal. 3:11). They remained an insignificant territory, no longer an independent nation and no longer ruled by a Davidic king. Worst of all, despite the promise of God’s presence, they experienced only spiritual decline.

The Setting of Malachi

c. 460 B.C.

Malachi likely prophesied several decades after the first Jewish exiles had returned from Babylon to Judea and had rebuilt the temple. Edomites had migrated northwest from their traditional homeland just south of Moab into the area immediately south of Judea, which was now called Idumea. Territory that once belonged to the northern kingdom of Israel had been divided into several minor provinces, including Samaria.

The Setting of Malachi

Key Themes and Outline: Malachi’s Sixfold Wake-up Call to Renewed Covenant Obedience

The book of Malachi describes six disputations between God and Israel. There is a common pattern in each dispute: (1) God charges his people with bad behavior; (2) he then envisages the people’s response to the charge (“But you say”; 1:2, 6, 7, 13; 2:14, 17; 3:7, 8, 13); (3) God then replies to their presumed response and expands the charge. The chart below shows the subject of each dispute and God’s response to it.

Malachi’s Sixfold Wake-up Call to Renewed Covenant Obedience

Disputation Reference Summary Focus
Disputation 1 1:2–5 Malachi defends God’s love for Israel. The proper response to his love is covenantal obedience and sincere worship. Israel must remember the Law of Moses (4:4).
Disputation 2 1:6–2:9 Malachi exposes offenses related to worship and criticizes the priests for allowing them.
Disputation 3 2:10–16 Malachi condemns marriage to an unbeliever as unfaithfulness to Israel’s covenant with God. He also condemns unjust divorce as a violation of the marriage covenant between husband and wife, to which the Lord is witness.
Disputation 4 2:17–3:5 Malachi promises that God will demonstrate his justice. He will do so when “the messenger of the covenant” comes to judge the wicked and purify his people. Israel must remember the promise of Elijah and the coming day of the Lord (4:5–6).
Disputation 5 3:6–12 Malachi returns to the subject of Israel’s wicked offerings. The difficulties the people are experiencing are punishment for their sin.
Disputation 6 3:13–4:3 Malachi assures the people that evildoers, who seem to escape divine justice, will be judged. The Lord will deliver his people.
Summary 4:4–6 Malachi summarizes the main points of his prophecy: keep God’s law (the focus of disputes 1–3), and remember the promise of a coming prophet like Elijah and the coming day of the Lord (the focus of disputes 4–6).  
The Global Message of Malachi

The Global Message of Malachi

“‘I have loved you,’ says the LORD. But you say, ‘How have you loved us?’” (Mal. 1:2). After the return from exile, the rebuilding of the temple, and the reinstitution of temple worship, Israel was looking around and wondering why they were still a marginalized, insignificant nation compared to the national powers of the day. What had become of God’s great promises to exalt Israel and punish the godless nations?

The global message of Malachi is that God’s judgment is indeed coming on his enemies, but God’s people must be more concerned about their own relationship to him than with anyone else’s fate. The global church must beware the dead orthodoxy that so easily sets in when church life becomes routine.

Malachi in Redemptive History

God’s promises. The long-threatened and well-deserved exile from the Promised Land had come and gone. A remnant had returned to Judah and had been eagerly expecting final restoration of all that God had promised them—supremacy among the nations, the coming of a final Messiah-king, judgment on the Gentile nations who had oppressed Israel so long, and lasting peace and prosperity. Above all, they were looking forward to the day when God himself would dwell among his people once more in glory (see Hag. 2:1–9; Zech. 1:16–17; 2:1–13; 8:1–9:17).

Yet this was not the picture of life in Israel in Malachi’s day. Instead, the people were experiencing economic adversity, poor harvests, and pestilence (see Mal. 3:10–12). Where was the abundance promised and longed for?

God’s summons. Malachi’s answer is that God will not fail to fulfill what he has promised to his people, but the time is not yet ripe for such fulfillment. Instead, God calls the people to love him more than the abundance they have so long anticipated. Israel must learn once more what it is to trust the Lord, committing themselves again to the covenant into which God has entered with them. For it is by such covenant faithfulness that the nations will be gathered in. Then God’s “name will be great among the nations” (Mal. 1:11; compare 1:14). When Israel turns to love the Lord their God with all their heart, then the Gentiles will be attracted to such a life, such a people, and such a God.

God’s provision. Ultimately, however, God could not wait for such Israelite faithfulness to blossom, for it never did blossom and never could. If his people were to love him with all their heart, something more drastic was needed. Rather than waiting for his people to love him and in that way attract the nations, God would send his own Son, pouring out his Spirit onto his people and moving them from the inside out to walk in his ways as a witness to the nations of the world (Jer. 31:31–34; Ezek. 36:22–27).

By sending his Son, moreover, God showed his people how the nations would be won—not by attracting them but by going to them (Gal. 4:4–6). With the coming of Christ the way by which his people are a light to the nations has been reversed. Disciples of Christ do not wait for the nations to come to them. Rather they determine, in sacrificial mission according to the pattern set by Christ’s own incarnation, to go to the nations (John 20:21).

Universal Themes in Malachi

The pervasive tendency toward spiritually empty religion. The key indictment against Israel is their hollow, formal, corner-cutting religion. Their sacrifices to God are manipulated so as to allow them to retain their best animals (Mal. 1:8); the spiritual leaders only pretend to honor the Lord (2:1–2); marriage is taken lightly (2:14–16); and tithes are withheld out of love of money (3:6–12). Everywhere that the church presently thrives, believers must be vigilant against allowing dead orthodoxy to set in. A sign of such dead orthodoxy is when doctrinal truth is acknowledged (“Have we not all one Father? Has not one God created us?” [2:10]) and yet love for one’s neighbor is neglected, which brings God’s judgment “against those who oppress the hired worker in his wages, the widow and the fatherless, against those who thrust aside the sojourner, and do not fear me, says the LORD of hosts” (3:5).

The worldwide exaltation of God’s name. Amid his indictment of Israel’s sin, the Lord reiterates the global dimensions of the worship he deserves. “For from the rising of the sun to its setting my name will be great among the nations, and in every place incense will be offered to my name, and a pure offering. For my name will be great among the nations” (Mal. 1:11). “For I am a great King, says the LORD of hosts, and my name will be feared among the nations” (1:14). In light of his people’s failure to be a light to the nations, God will bring “utter destruction” on “the great and awesome day of the LORD” (4:5–6). Yet this day will also be linked with the return of Elijah to turn the hearts of the people back to God, once and for all vindicating God’s great name and glory (see Matt. 17:12; Luke 1:17; John 13:32; 17:1).

The Global Message of Malachi for Today

God’s people around the world today have been promised great and glorious things, just as God’s people of old had been. Yet like Israel upon returning from the exile, the glory for which we so eagerly wait remains perplexingly elusive as we live life under the sun in this fallen world. Sin and sickness, abuse and maligning, discouragement and setbacks—such is the lot of those who live in a diseased world. Indeed, some suffering is unique to followers of Christ (Acts 14:22; 2 Tim. 3:12).

Yet like the faithful remnant who determined to trust the Lord no matter what in Malachi’s day (Mal. 3:16–18), we too must cling to God and his promises regardless of what afflictions befall us—physically, politically, emotionally, relationally, culturally. The curse of the fall infects all aspects of life, yet the coming final restoration will likewise redeem all aspects of life. This restoration has already dawned in Christ and is guaranteed to all of God’s children, who enjoy the down payment of the Spirit in anticipation of the coming full liberation from sin and death (Rom. 8:18–25; 2 Cor. 1:22; Eph. 1:13–14).

Joy is secure. Glory awaits. Hope stands fast.

Malachi Fact #1: Lord

Fact: Lord of hosts

The title LORD of hosts appears more frequently in Malachi than in any other OT book. Following the exile, Judah was a very small province within the vast Persian Empire. It had no army of its own, leaving its people painfully aware of how limited their resources were. Malachi wants to remind his people that God is in command of a great heavenly host that stands ready to defend Judah.

Malachi

Malachi

Malachi, whose name means “my messenger,” probably ministered during the same time as Ezra and Nehemiah. He prophesied to Judah about 80 years after Haggai and Zechariah had encouraged the people to rebuild the temple. Though Haggai and Zechariah had assured Judah that God’s blessings would return to his people, bringing peace and prosperity, they had not yet experienced these promised blessings. Instead, they were facing a prolonged period of economic difficulty and hardship. Rather than wait faithfully on the Lord, the people sinned against him with half-hearted worship and imperfect offerings. God used Malachi to reaffirm his love for Israel and to rebuke them for their unfaithfulness to him. Malachi urged Judah to remember the Law of Moses, as well as the promise of Elijah and the coming day of the Lord. (Malachi 4:1–6)

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Dive Deeper | Malachi 1-4

Have you heard Shane & Shane perform this version of "O Holy Night"? Have you meditated on this part of the beloved hymn's lyrics: "Long lay the world in sin and error pining, 'Til he appeared and the soul felt its worth"?

Malachi's end marks the beginning of 400 silent years. God had consistently spoken to his people through prophets. He gave Israel visions of his glory, commands to bring them life and prosperity (Joshua 1:8), and revelations of all kinds. He warned them they would be conquered and exiled because of their sin but also revealed they would return so that God could fulfill his promises. And it happened.

But what now? The leaders have again turned from authentic dedication to the Lord, and the people have followed. They've watered down God, his standards, and his power as if they know what is good and just better than God does (Malachi 2:17). Sound familiar?

Behold the apocalyptic arrogance of the people, who complain, "It is futile to serve God. What do we gain by carrying out his requirements and going about like mourners before the LORD Almighty?" (Malachi 3:14, NIV) Consider the "scoffers" of 2 Peter 3:4 (NIV): "They will say, 'Where is this "coming" he promised? Ever since our ancestors died, everything goes on as it has since the beginning of creation.'"

Both Malachi and Peter reveal a fiery ending to such arrogance: "'[T]he day that is coming will set them on fire,' says the LORD Almighty." (Malachi 4:1, NIV)

Let's instead be counted among "those who feared the LORD" (Malachi 3:16). We will be spared as his "treasured possession." (Malachi 3:17) "Since everything will be destroyed in this way," we "ought to live holy and godly lives as [we] look forward to the day of God and speed its coming." (2 Peter 3:11-12, NIV)

Malachi's Israel had never seen the Lord's coming and now was left "in sin and error pining" for centuries. Let's feel that anticipation now for the Lord's second coming, but with an eager confidence. Let's "live holy and godly lives" and pray for the scoffers.

This month's memory verse

"Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light." (NIV)

– Matthew 11:28-30

Discussion Questions

1. "Long lay the Church in righteousness and truth pining"? How can eager anticipation of the Lord Jesus' return and your status as his treasured possession help you to live a holy and godly life today?

2. How are you robbing God these days? (Malachi 3:8) What needs to happen for you to become a "cheerful giver" (2 Corinthians 9:7), excited to give God your best and not just leftovers? (1 Chronicles 29:9)

3. Among those speaking into your life, who qualifies as "those who feared the LORD and esteemed his name"? (Malachi 3:16)

4. Are you ready to "go out leaping like calves from the stall"?! (Malachi 4:2) Maranatha! (see the note to 1 Corinthians 16:22)