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Priests/Ministers Experience Justice—Malachi
The writings of Malachi are a collection of prophetic utterances presented
as a unique teaching or
i ns t ruc t i ona l f o rm t o d i s t i ngu i sh t he c o r r e c t name
o f God
and the misuse thereof. The first prophecy reaffirms God’s love for
his chosen people Israel and His everlasting enmity toward Edom. The
term Edom [
’e
ḏ
ôm
] denotes the name of Esau, and it was given in memory
of the red pottage for which he exchanged his birthright. There is no excuse
for the exchange, except that the temporal greed was more important; thus,
the birthright passed to the second son. It is a profound understanding
throughout the scriptural history of mankind.
In the second prophecy, the priests and the people are rebuked for defiling
God’s name by sacrificing unfit animals, a metaphor pertaining to humans
not animal sacrifice in this time. If they persist in ignoring their obligations,
the priests fall short and are strongly urged to recant. The third prophecy is
concerned with divorce and the intermarriage of Jews and Gentiles. Divorce
is hateful to God, and through mixed marriages heathen customs and
beliefs are introduced and accepted, thereby violating the Covenant. The
fourth prophecy warns that the Lord will come, heralded by his messenger,
and judge the evildoers who no longer fear him as “the God of justice,”
especially when given the authority to judge. The fifth prophecy explains
that the crops have failed because the people are robbing God by not
rendering “the full tithes”.
We can see that Edom or evil influences within human flesh are a weakness
used to defile, even though all seems well on the surface. In the face of the
rebuke before or after, those who claim to be priests, using the pretense of
serving God, are always caught up in the rituals or processes. God’s name is
used in an inappropriate manner; thus, the essence of the meaning is defiled
without anyone realizing it. The supposed teachers, the Pharisees and
Sadducees, rejected the very person who came to fulfill the covenant, even
to the extent of killing Him as a final test. As it is, most people in the world
today will continue to defile His name, using an epithet to supposedly
honor His name.
Not much has changed, but much time has elapsed as we draw nearer to the
day of fulfillment. Perhaps what is clear is that God always uses a
messenger, because nothing that is imperfect may stand before God. It
must be perfected or be destroyed. The analogy is similar to the sterilization
of surgical instruments or even to fire: it purifies gold while destroying the