Malachi 3
TLBCMalachi 3:6-12
The Question of Returning to God (3:6-12) Malachi’s next section deals with the proper handling of tithes, but he sees these as a means by which the people may escape the consuming judgment of God. The prophet begins by declaring that the Lord does not change. Because of God’s unchanging concern the people have not yet been destroyed, in spite of their ritual abuses and moral perversity. In the spirit of the pre-exilic prophets Malachi invites a return to the Lord of hosts.
“How shall we return?” the people appear to ask, and the prophet proceeds to his indictment. The inconceivable is happening: the people are robbing God! A curse rests on the whole nation because all have been robbing God in the handling of tithes and offerings. The prophet indicates the specific particulars of his indictment in a direct command, “Bring the full tithes into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house.” It is possible to see the situation through these words. Tithes have been kept at home, presumably until times are better or are more convenient for delivery to the Temple storehouse; now the storehouse from which priests were supposed to be fed is practically empty. As a result, says the prophet, “the devourer,” perhaps a locust swarm, has been abroad in the land, destroying the fruit of vines and fields.
But if the people return by responding to the call for the tithe, the Lord promises to “open the windows of heaven . . . and pour down … an overflowing blessing.” Malachi takes his stand with the traditional reward-and-punishment view of God’s action, as this is expressed in the blessings and curses of Deuteronomy. With Malachi the reward for proper presentation of tithes and offerings is primarily material. It is not necessarily so for us, however, though many tithers insist that material blessings have followed the initiation of serious and careful setting apart of at least the tenth for the Lord.
In the generally nationalistic frame of Malachi’s thought, it is of interest to note one special reward mentioned in connection with the bringing of the tithes to God. “All nations will call you blessed” (Malachi 3:12). Malachi’s question, “Will man rob God?” — like the statement of 1:11 regarding acceptable pagan worship — refers to the human race as a whole. Malachi’s view sees God’s own people as peculiarly guilty in the light of their knowledge of God’s will through the traditional instruction of the priests. Other nations are ready to bless God, and are even capable of offering sacrifice which is acceptable to God; they would not think of robbing God! Malachi’s words provide a preface to a theology of world missions somewhat different from the traditional “rescue the perishing” view. With this prophet God’s call is to the elect community to be faithful to his command, so that the ensuing blessing will attract the attention of interested pagans.
Malachi 3:13-15
The Question of Speaking Against God (3:13-15) In a brief paragraph Malachi returns to an idea he has already expressed (Malachi 2:17). Replying to the question, “How have we spoken against thee?” Malachi tells his people that they have said, “It is vain to serve God.” In the mood of disillusionment of the times, even the pious have been tempted to give up the effort to obey the commandments or to walk “as in mourning before the Lord of hosts.” Having raised this question, Malachi simply leaves it unanswered. The kind of answer he would have given, and perhaps did give, is obvious. Or perhaps by this time his message was interrupted by the action described in 3:16. Some of the people, at least, saw that their actions, if not their words, had been against God.
Malachi 3:16-18
AND FURTHER
Malachi 3:16 to Malachi 4:6 The Book of Remembrance for Those Who Feared (3:16-18)
In the single verse of narrative (Malachi 3:16) contained in the Book of Malachi it is reported that “those who feared the Lord spoke with one another; the Lord heeded and heard them, and a book of remembrance was written before him of those who feared the Lord and thought on his name.” The remainder of the brief paragraph quotes God as declaring that those whose names were entered in the book of remembrance will be his special possession on the day when he acts, to be spared as a father spares a faithful son. Then, the prophet adds, “you shall distinguish between the righteous and the wicked, between one who serves God and one who does not serve him.”
This experience of the prophet is not described as a vision, but clearly it involves something of the special powers of insight into divine reality which were the mark of the prophets. The attached prophetic word appears to contemplate an immediate action of God of such definite judgment as to make clear to all the difference “between the righteous and the wicked.”