Malachi 2
RileyMalachi 2:1-17
MALACHI—OR A MINOR PROPHET’S MESSAGE TO MODERN Malachi 1:1 to Malachi 4:6. IN discussing the Book of Malachi, I do not propose to give special time to the two subjects which students of this Book have made the occasion of much dispute, namely, the authorship, and the time of its origin. Suffice it to say that the so-called advanced critics, with a few notable exceptions, believe that no such person as Malachi lived, that the volume is anonymous, and the name came from the words, “Behold, I will send My messenger” where “malĕ ?’-akhi” was the term chosen at a later time for the title. While the more conservative students, with a few exceptions, believe that Malachi was not only the name of a Prophet, but also of that Prophet who gave the world this Book. And these latter fix the dates for his work as between 436 and 347 B. C. In passing, permit me to remark that I believe that Malachi was a man, the last of the Minor Prophets, God’s messenger indeed to Israel, and also to us; and that this volume was his message.While it does not make mention of him, there are in the Book internal evidences that his ministry practically coincided with Nehemiah’s administration.
Dr. Angus, in his “Bible Handbook” calls attention to what a good student of this Prophet would see, namely, that the second Temple was now built, and the services of the altar, with the sacrifices and offerings were established. And the very evils which Nehemiah, in the thirteenth chapter of his volume, so vigorously condemns, Malachi excoriates. The definite purpose of the volume seems to be the correction of Israel who had lapsed into a practical infidelity, and whose continued forms and ceremonies were in flagrant violation alike of the letter and the spirit of God’s Law, and therefore an offense unto Him! This apostasy had so far proceeded that even the priests of the Temple were putrid, and the people polluted and polluting.God’s Prophet would have sung his song in a minor key, but for the single circumstance that prophets are also seers; and, distant as was “the day of the Lord” from where Malachi stood, a vision of the same was yet vouchsafed him, and he finishes with a forthsetting of its beauty, and victory for its banners.Now shall we search the Book and see what Malachi had to say, and how much of this minor Prophet’s message is applicable to moderns.The volume opens with a discussion ofTHE OF ISRAEL“The burden of the Word of the Lord to Israel by Malachi. “I have loved you, saith the Lord. Yet ye say, Wherein hast Thou loved us”? (Malachi 1:1-2). That infidelity then expresses itself in the first instance by questioning God’s love. “Yet ye say, Wherein hast Thou loved us”? The remaining text to verse five included God’s answer and argument in proof of His demonstrated affection for them. He had made a distinction between Jacob and Esau and all His favors had gone to the former— the father of this people; yea, to this people themselves, for were they not Israeli sons and daughters —Israelites? It is bad enough when the unregenerate are infidel and in their folly say, “There is no God”. It is vastly worse when those who have once had a true knowledge of God turn away from the same. Hear Paul speak of the fate of such— “It is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the Heavenly Gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, and have tasted the good Word of God, and the powers of the world to come, if they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put Him to an open shame”.
I do not profess to understand the full meaning of these words of the Apostle, but I have found that when a man who has once counted himself a child of the King, becomes a scoffer, it is easier to win a thousand sinners to the Saviour than to convert him from the error of his way. There is something so unnatural in his infidelity; something so strange in his skepticism that neither reason nor revelation seem to reach his heart.Have you not noticed that the greatest ingratitude is sometimes shown by those who have received the most signal favors?
There is a man who was bankrupt and you went and stood at his side and gave him your sympathy, and freely offered your silver and gold; joined with him in his struggle and never left off until he was lifted up and prosperity came instead of poverty, and singing instead of sighing. And yet he soon forgot the favor and if one so much as makes mention of it he meets that mention with these questions—“Wherein did you ever love me? What did you ever do for me? What kindness did you ever show me?” Such is the ingratitude born of the spirit of infidelity! And such is Israel’s state of mind when Malachi— God’s messenger—flashes the searchlight of newborn Scripture into her unbelieving bosom. But what man ever laid his fellow under such obligation as God has put every living soul?
And yet they say, “Wherein hast Thou loved us?”Again, that infidelity was evidenced in the transgression of God’s Law. He had said concerning the offerings,“All the firstling males that come of thy herd and of thy flock thou shalt sanctify unto the Lord thy God: thou shalt do no work with the firstling of thy bullock, nor shear the firstling of thy sheep. “Thou shalt eat it before the Lord thy God year by year in the place which the Lord shall choose, thou and thy household. “And if there be any blemish therein, as if it be lame, or blind, or have any ill blemish, thou shalt not sacrifice it unto the Lord thy God” (Deuteronomy 15:19-21). But, despising that plain statement and “the Name of Him” who made it, He says,“Ye offer polluted bread upon Mine altar: and ye say, Wherein have we polluted Thee?” “And if ye offer the blind for sacrifice, is it not evil? and if ye offer the lame and sick, is it not evil? offer it now unto thy governor; will he be pleased with thee, or accept thy person”? Again, God had His Law concerning marriage. They were not to take a wife from strangers, nor to put one away save they had found some uncleanness in her. But here they have divorced the wives of their youth, against whom they had dealt treacherously—the companions of covenant, whom God had made to be one with them; and taken unto themselves wives from the mixed nations round about, that they might gratify at once “the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life”.When Israel was carried captive to Babylon some of the weakest and least favored of her fold were left in the land. Cut off from their fellows in the faith, widely scattered among the heathen, they soon accepted the adage of doing as the Romans about them, and amalgamated with the nations. They possessed much land, were well regarded socially, and really seemed a superior class to that Israel which was now recovered from the long captivity. And so God’s people saw an opportunity in such alliances to wealth and political influence, and defended the step by reminding themselves that these Samaritans were, after all, their forty-second cousins.
The consequence was easy divorce, domestic disorder, and Divine offense.It is perfectly apparent also from the text that the priests of the time had sanctioned and participated in these sins, and had attempted to supplant the spirit of service with mongrel ceremonies. It is little wonder that Malachi exposes this transgression!
It is a true picture of ancient Israel; it is a clean-cut portrait of the modern church. We sometimes read from Genesis the words, “The sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all which they chose”, to imagine that that speech is centuries old. And so it is,—the old is often new. It is just what is being done today—the sons of God are forming alliances with the daughters of men. The children of the church, while wearing the Name of Christ, are being unequally yoked together with unbelievers. And the mongrel society,—in the church and out,—silence every prophet who would dare speak against this agreeable and profitable arrangement.
But let it be remembered that if the last John the Baptist was beheaded, the Book of God would remain, and every professed Christian man, and every professed Christian woman consorting with the world, or sending their children to do the same, must either leave it unstudied, or open it to read the condemnation of their conduct.And yet again,—the infidelity of Israel is expressed in that—They are withholding God’s offering. We learn in chapter one, verses seven and eight, that they brought “the lame and sick” instead of the “firstlings of the flock, healthy and without blemish.” We learn by referring to verses twelve to fourteen of this same chapter, that they even defended the practice by saying, “The table of the Lord is polluted; and the fruit thereof, even His meat, is contemptible” (Malachi 1:12).
And so the torn, and the lame, will suffice, while they kept back the male of the flock and offered in sacrifice a corrupt thing.Beloved, here God’s minor Prophet presents again a message of which the so-called church of Christ stands in sore need. We may profess whatever faith we will, but we will never believe in our own profession, nor convince the world of our serious convictions while we treat the treasury of the Lord with neglect or contempt. The crucible for a good profession of faith is the contribution box. The man who is hunting for a church where no offering will be made, no sacrifice expected, or where, instead of giving the most, he may give the least to God, is hunting for an institution from which God’s Spirit has long since departed, and is himself controlled by an idea that crucifies Christ, who “Being rich, yet for our sakes became poor,” and sets up in His stead an image to covetousness.Such was the infidelity of Israel! To question God’s love; to transgress God’s Law; to keep back God’s offering! The infidelity of this hour will repeat these processes! And its existence makes Malachi’s prophecy a reminder to the Church of our century.Passing on in our study I call your attention to another fact, namely, IN NATURAL EFFECTS It is painfully and yet extremely interesting to follow these lines of infidelity in Israel to see what fruits they bring forth. The Apostle Paul might have been thinking of the Minor Prophet’s message when he said, “Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap”. You will see that the judgments made against Israel were according to natural law in the spiritual world.His love was given to others. Seeing that they would not serve Him He said,“I have no pleasure in you, saith the Lord of Hosts, neither will I accept an offering at your hand. “For from the rising of the sun even unto the going down of the same My Name shall be great among the Gentiles; and in every place incense shall be offered unto My Name, and a pure offering: for My Name shall be great among the heathen, saith the Lord of Hosts” (Malachi 1:10-11). Beloved, is God to be blamed?A few years since the newspapers narrated the history of a woman to whom one of our noblest presidents proffered his hand in marriage while they were yet young. She rejected it. He grieved over the refusal, and went his way to woo and win another. When the time came that this second choice shared with him the first place in the land, and his first love found herself without property or position, no one thought to complain against the great man.I have sometimes wondered if the Jews of the world, scattered and persecuted as they are, were not patient in their sufferings because they knew that they were without a cause of complaint, having rejected God, whose first choice they were, to see the Gentiles come into the Father’s fellowship and enjoy the Divine favor of centuries.Let us not be blind to parallelisms. History is repeating in substance the very suggestion of the above quoted text. The great denominations of the past have fallen from their favored heights; and humble, despised folk have been exalted above them.There was a day when Romanism looked with contempt upon Luther’s movement.
The great hierarchy with its head beside the Tiber was confident that it was the chosen of the Lord. But its very conduct was so much akin to that of this Israel to whom Malachi delivers his message that God could not remain their Friend, but turned rather to Luther and his humble followers, and made His Name great among them.There was a time when the established Church of England scorned the pretentions of John Wesley and the ragged crowd who walked in his wake.But the infidelity of the Establishment contrasted the fidelity of the Wesleyans, and “Ichabod” was written for the Church of England, and the words, “Arise, shine; for thy Light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee” expressed at once God’s command and commendation of the plain Methodist brethren.Beloved, do you know the biggest fear that finds a place in my heart today? It is that these denominations of ours that number now over millions, should be puffed up with pride and become Laodicean indeed,—lukewarm in love, insane in selfesteem, saying, “We are rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing!” Lost, except they repent and invite into their lives and labors Him who stands at the door and knocks, saying, “If any man hear My voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with Me”.It is not a strange circumstance that the Christian Alliance movement, originating but a little more than fifteen years ago, should have enjoyed such a growth and proven itself such a world-missionary power. God’s love and God’s great power are alike the heritage of them that humble themselves before Him, and undertake for Him.He expressed contempt for their ceremonies.“But ye are departed out of the way; ye have caused many to stumble at the Law; ye have corrupted the covenant of Levi, saith the Lord of Hosts. “Therefore have I also made you contemptible and base before all the people, according as ye have not kept My ways, but have been partial in the Law” (Malachi 2:8-9). Few things are more offensive to God, the Father, than ceremonies when they have no spirit of service in them. Before Malachi’s day the Lord had said by Isaiah’s lips concerning this custom, “This people draw near Me with their mouth, and with their lips do honour Me, but have removed their heart far from Me, and their fear toward Me is taught by the precept of men” (Isaiah 29:13).And Ezekiel had also declared “And they come unto thee as the people cometh, and they sit before thee as My people, and they hear thy words, but they will not do them: for with their mouth they shew much love, but their heart goeth after their covetousness” (Ezekiel 33:31).One of the most difficult things in the Christian life is to keep form from displacing affection; and ceremony from killing the spirit. It is so much easier to bend the knee than to bow the heart, and to say prayers than to pray; to sing songs than to “make a joyful noise unto the Lord”; and to look pious while the offering passes than to part with our substance. Did I say it was much easier? No! It only seems to be!
It is much harder! The man whose religion troubles him most is the one whose true spirit amounts to the least.
It is better to have none than not enough. The out and out unbelievers of Christ’s time never incited His criticism as did the pious pretenders.In Dr. Pierson’s volume on Gordon’s dream, “How Christ Came to Church” he tells the story of an aged and venerable clergyman whose son had gone over to the extreme of Roman ritualism. The boy importuned the father to come and preach in his “chapel of ease.” He finally yielded, but startled the congregation by choosing as his text,— “Lord, have mercy on my son: for he is a lunatick”.And then he proceeded to show the utter insanity of the modern methods which had robbed us of simplicity and given place to elaborate ceremonials. We may question the propriety of the father’s procedure, and yet, we cannot rid ourselves of the Saviour’s declaration concerning the ceremonials of His time, “In vain they do worship Me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men”.And yet again,—This judgment expresses itself in the failure of the fruits of earth. Mark you here, God is following natural law again.
They withheld from Him, and shortly they had nothing to give. “There is that withholdeth more than is meet, but it tendeth to poverty” (Proverbs 11:24).“Will a man rob God”? Yes, and without knowing it rob himself at the same time by severing himself from the source of all good. “But ye say, Wherein have we robbed Thee”?
He answers,“In tithes and offerings. “Ye are cursed with a curse: for ye have robbed Me, even this whole nation. “Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in Mine House, and prove Me now herewith, saith the Lord of Hosts, if I will not open you the windows of Heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it. “And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, and he shall not destroy the fruits of your ground; neither shall your vine cast her fruit before the time in the field, saith the Lord of Hosts” (Malachi 3:8-11). Beloved, I often wonder how much of our poverty is self-imposed? I often question whether the Church of Jesus Christ has not shorn herself by covetousness? And often have I wondered whether many of the deserts of earth would not long since have “rejoiced and blossomed as the rose” in fair fruitfulness, had men cheerfully contributed to every call of Him who is the Giver of every “good and perfect gift”.David M. Torrey says, “Having found God my Saviour, I thought I would try Him in temporal things, as I was out of business. The first day He allowed me to make 85¢.” Then Mr. Torrey continues by telling how he went on tithing and God went on blessing, until thousands of dollars were poured into his lap.The history of Wm.
Colgate reads like a romance. His gifts were munificent, sacrificial; but God’s gifts to him were greater still, illustrating the words of Jesus, “Give, and it shall be given unto you”.In the study of this Book I am profoundly impressed by a single verse in it, and believe it to contain a suggestion worthy definite notice, namely,THE OF THE To me there are two beautiful touches in this Book of Malachi, aside from the bright prospect shown in the last chapter. One is the picture of an ideal priest, Malachi 2:7,—“The priest’s lips should keep knowledge, and they should seek the Law at his mouth: for he is the messenger of the Lord of Hosts”. The other is the verse referred to, and compasses the fellowship of the saints,—Malachi 3:16-17,—“Then they that feared the Lord spake often one to another: and the Lord hearkened, and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before Him for them that feared the Lord, and that thought upon His Name. And they shall be Mine, saith the Lord of Hosts, in that day when I make up My jewels; and I will spare them, as a man spareth his own son that serveth him”.It is a blessed fact that the Lord is never without true followers. No matter how many speak against Him there are those to speak for Him. When Elijah, in his dejection, supposed himself to be left alone of all God’s followers, he was corrected by the assertion of the Divine One, “Yet I have left Me seven thousand in Israel, all the knees which have not bowed unto Baal, and every mouth which hath not kissed him”.
And you will find that when the time of the antichrist comes, and that enemy of our God rules in all the world, there will be knees that will not bow to him; hands and foreheads that will refuse his mark. In the day of Malachi, miserable as was the situation of Israel, there were some saints, and “they spake often one to another: and the Lord hearkened, and heard it”.They must have received strength by exchange of sympathy.
Did you ever try to picture what it surely meant to the early disciples of Jesus at the time when they were enduring cruel mockings and scourgings, bonds and imprisonments; when they were sawn asunder, tempted and slain; when they wandered about in sheepskins and were destitute, afflicted and tormented, living in deserts and in caves of the earth? What strength they got from speaking often one to another; from exchange of sympathy! It is difficult to serve God alone. The very desolation of it incites despair. But to meet with kindred spirits and listen to their story of suffering or recitations of victory, and to know that they have learned the fellowship of Christ’s suffering! Ah, who is not made strong by that exchange? “If you have a friend worth loving Love him,—yes, and let him know That you love him, ere life’s evening Tinge his brow with sunset glow. Why should good words ne’er be said Of a friend till he is dead?
“If you see the hot tears falling, Falling from a brother’s eyes, Share them—and thus by the sharing Own your kinship with the skies. Why should any one be glad When a brother’s heart is sad?” Courage also would come out of this conference of believers. Do you not suppose that is why Jesus commissioned His disciples to go out two by two? Have you not had hours when your heart sank within you; when you felt baffled, defeated; when you said, “I am undone!” when the coming of some Christian friend, and the converse that followed, filled you with fresh spirit, and caused you to stand forth again, saying, “I can, and, God helping me, I will”? Where one can “chase a thousand, two can put ten thousand to flight.”Here again in this verse,—The communion of the saints called the Lord into the company.“And the Lord hearkened, and heard it, and a hook of remembrance was written before Him for them that feared the Lord, and that thought upon His Name. “And they shall be Mine, saith the Lord of Hosts, in that day when I make up My jewels” (Malachi 3:16-17). We have long been accustomed to the thought that when the knees of two were bowed together in prayer God was there to hearken to the petition and to grant the request according to His promise.Have we also forgotten His pledge that where “two or three are gathered together in My Name, there am I in the midst of them”? Did it ever occur to you to ask why Jesus appeared to the two on the way to Eramaus? It was because of the subject which engaged them in conversation. And I do not believe that His saints ever assemble anywhere and talk of high and holy things, but there sitting in the midst of them, is the Saviour Himself, taking note of all that is said and standing ready, when we have finished our conversation, to reveal Himself as He did to the two in the way, and teach us truths that no mortal tongue could ever tell. I know not what the fellowship of the saints may have meant to others but to me it has been strength, and courage, and holy communion, and Divine instruction!But to finish the study of this Book, let me call attention to the fourth lesson.THE FUTURE OF FIRE AND FAVOR“For, behold, the day cometh, that shall bum as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall bum them up, saith the Lord of Hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch. “But unto you that fear My Name shall the Sun of Righteousness arise with healing in His wings; and ye shall go forth, and grow up as calves of the stall. “And ye shall tread down the wicked; for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet in the day that I shall do this, saith the Lord of Hosts. “Remember ye the Law of Moses My servant, which I commanded unto him in Horeb for all Israel, with the statutes and judgments. “Behold, I will send you Elijah the Prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord: “And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse” (Malachi 4:1-6). Fire is God’s symbol of separation. That is taught not alone in this passage where “all that do wickedly, shall be stubble”: “torn up root and branch, and trodden like ashes under the feet of God’s children,” but many other Scriptures suggest the same thought. In Daniel it was fire that slew those men that took up Shadrack, Meshach, and Abed-nego to cast them into the burning fiery furnace; but God’s servants it preserved instead, and they walked in it without hurt, attended by the Son of God Himself.There is an interesting passage in Isaiah 33:13-15, illustrating this,“Hear, ye that are far off, what I have done; and, ye that are near, acknowledge My might. “The sinners in Zion are afraid; fearfulness hath surprised the hypocrites. Who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire? who among us shall dwell with everlasting burnings? “He that walketh righteously, and speaketh uprightly; he that despiseth the gain of oppressions, that shaketh his hands from holding of bribes, that stoppeth his ears from hearing of blood, and shutteth his eyes from seeing evil”. And this illustration is not unnatural, it is the action of fire. When gold goes into fire it comes out refined, having lost nothing of its real value. When dross goes in it comes out a cinder. The very sun in the heavens is growth to the living trees, but destruction to the dead ones. When Jesus wanted to conclude His discourse of the end of the age, and declare the fate of infidel and faithful alike, He said to the latter, “Come, ye blessed of My Father, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world”, but to the former, “Depart from Me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels”.But I will not dwell upon this imagery, with the Scripture extent of which you are familiar. It is a solemn warning against sin. And I hasten from the awful suggestion to remind you that,—Favor is God’s purpose and promise to them that fear Him.“But unto you that fear My Name shall the Sun of Righteousness arise with healing in His wings; and ye shall go forth, and grow up as calves of the stall. “And ye shall tread down the wicked; for they shall he ashes under the soles of your feet in the day that I shall do this, saith the Lord of Hosts” (Malachi 4:2-3). It is the Old Testament history; it is the New Testament teaching. When fire consumed Sodom, Lot was saved out of it only because he feared the Lord. When fallen Jericho was touched with a thousand flames, Rahab, the harlot, and hers, were preserved alive for the very same reason,—she feared the Lord. “As the heaven is high above the earth, so great is His mercy toward them that fear Him. As far as the east is from the west, so far hath He removed our transgressions from us. Like as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear Him”. “The fear of the Lord” is not only “the beginning of wisdom” but the secret of God’s favor forevermore.But the crowning blessing belongs here with the coming of the Son. It is when He arises “with healing in His wings” that we are to “grow up as calves of the stall”; that we are to “tread down the wicked” until they shall be as ashes under the soles of our feet.
And before the day of the Lord He shall send Elijah, the Tishbite, “And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse”.Beloved, it is beautiful to me to see how though the Scripture conception of the end of the age is characterized by the supremacy of the antichrist, for a short time, that darkness will soon pass, as the hours of the night swiftly receive them, and, though with the rising of the Son of God,—who is the Prophet’s Sun of Righteousness,—the day of the Lord is on, and what a day it will be!It has seemed to me that Joseph Parker’s idea that this Scripture is a figure which signifies the inexpressible vigor of life, is justified by the whole text, “Grow up as calves of the stall”. Parker interprets by saying, “Ye shall be sportive, ye shall realize the idea of youthfulness; you shall be vivacious, you shall not be old, cold, dead things; ye shall be as calves of the stall, full of life, leaping because of the very redundance of vitality. There is a hint here of spiritual enthusiasm. This is not an animal vivacity, it is a spiritual impulse and ambition; it is the new and deeper magnetism, it is the effect of being in touch with God.”But when one comes to believe, even this familiar language seems limited. Whose imagination can ascend with Prophet and Apostle to the heights of glory depicted for the “day of the Lord”, or sound the depths of its joy? All that one can do is to rejoice with the Prophet, and sing with the poet, the prayer:— “Thou, glorious Sun of Righteousness, On this day risen to set no more, Shine on me now to heal, to bless, With brighter beams than e’er before. Shine on, shine on, eternal Sun! Pour richer floods of life and light, Till that bright Sabbath be begun, That glorious day which knows no night.”