MALACHI—NOTE ON MALACHI 1:1 Heading. MALACHI 1:1 declares his role as God’s messenger and identifies his book as the WORD OF THE LORD. Nearly half of the verses in Malachi 1:1 include “says the LORD of hosts,” “says the LORD,” or some similar phrase. This prophecy is an ORACLE (compare Zechariah 9:1... [ Continue Reading ]
MALACHI—NOTE ON MALACHI 1:2 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. ⇐ ⇔ ⇒ var images = document.getElementsByTagName("img"); for (var i=0, len=images.length, img; i [ Continue Reading ]
MALACHI—NOTE ON MALACHI 1:6 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 (Malachi 2:1). It is their responsibility to guard the sanctuary from being misused and... [ Continue Reading ]
MALACHI—NOTE ON MALACHI 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 12:1). The phrase FROM THE RISING OF THE SUN TO ITS SETTING indicates this will happen in a future time... [ Continue Reading ]