Complacency Exposed Preparing Our Hearts for the Study

Complacency Exposed Preparing Our Hearts for the Study of Malachi © Archie England

Foundational Issues • Four Pillars of Judaism derived from OT Law Land Temple Faith in God Grace Heaven Body of Christ Faith in Christ • Literary production periods of OT – Mosaic era (Moses-Joshua) – Davidic Era (Samuel-Solomon) – Hezekiah (classical prophets, 8 th BC) – Ezra & Scribal School (Persian period, 5 th BC)

What We Know about Malachi • The Prophet/Prophecy – Name, symbol, or title of “my messenger” – Book of the Twelve (as 4 th major prophet) • The Time of This Prophecy – Approximately 410 BC

Malachi’s Historical Setting Israel 800 s (Joel, Obadiah) 700 s Jonah, Amos, Hosea Judah 600 s 500 s Isaiah, Micah Nahum Zephaniah Jeremiah, Habakkuk (Joel Obadiah) Ezekiel Daniel, Haggai, Zechariah 400 s [Esther, Ezra, Nehemiah, 1&2 Chronicles] Malachi

Post-exilic Returns Date Leader Significance 537 BC Zerubbabel Small remnant returned; laid foundation of 2 d temple yet waited 20 yrs to complete 535 BC Daniel’s history and prophecies (Cf. 9: 25) 520 BC Haggai/Zechariah urge temple construction (516) 458 BC Ezra Initiated reforms, culminating in the famous “divorce text” 444 BC Nehemiah Motivated remnant to rebuild Jerusalem’s walls in 52 days (6: 15)

The Message of Malachi • Nine Rhetorical Questions/Statement – 8 by Israel, 1: 2, 6 b-7 a; 2: 10, 14; 2: 17; 3: 7 b, 8, 13 – 1 by God, 1: 13 d • The Levitic Commandment, 2: 1 -16 – Explained, 2: 1 -9 – Illustrated, 2: 10 -16 • The Evidence of Israel’s failures, 2: 17 -3: 15 • Who is True Israel, 3: 16 -18 • When will this True Israel be realized? 4: 1 -6

Big Issues in the Book of Malachi • Covenant Lawsuit (implied), 1: 6 -2: 9? – Introductory indicator, Indictiment (stipulation), Punishment (cursings) [People vs. Priests] • Great King (Mal 1: 14), ANE title – Hittites…Persians (14 th BC-5 th BC), Darius • • Covenant of Levi (Ex 32: 26, Num 25: 12) Divorce Storehouse Tithing Intertextuality (OT: : OT and OT: : NT)

Intertextuality Examples OT: : OT 1: 2 -3, Jacob loved… 1: 7, sacrifices 1: 8, to your governor OT: : NT Rom 9: 13 Lev 21 -22 Neh 5: 14 -18 2: 4, covenant with Levi 3: 1, behold, I’m sending … Isa 40: 3; 57: 14; 62: 10 3: 2, endure the day of … Amos 5: 17 ff; Joel 2: 11 3: 17, treasured possession Exodus 19: 4, 5 (+…kingdom of priests) Eph 1: 14; 1 Pet 2: 5 4: 5, … Day of the Lord Isa 13; Ezek 30: 3; Joel 2: 1, 11, 3: 14; Amos 5: 18, 20; Obad 15; Zeph 1: 7, 8, 14, 18; Mal 4: 5 Acts 2: 20; 1 Cor 5: 5; 1 Thess 5: 2; 2 Thess 2: 2; 2 Pet 3: 10 4: 6, restore the hearts… Matt 3: 3; Mk 1: 3; Lk 3: 4; John 1: 23 Luke 1: 16 -17

JBS 2017 Outline of Malachi • 1: 1 -5 How Have You Loved Us? • 1: 6 -2: 9 How Have We Despised You? • 2: 10 -16 Why Are We Unfaithful to One Another? • 2: 17 -3: 5 Where Is the God of Justice? • 3: 6 -12 How Can We Return? • 3: 13 -4: 6 What Have We Spoken Against You?

David Dorsey’s Chiasm • Yahweh is Just: he “loves”… (1: 1) – Priests and people have cheated YHWH (1: 6 -14) • In the past Levi served in righteousness (2: 1) – Stop being unfaithful (2: 10) • In the future “malachi” will…purify priests (2: 17) – People have robbed YHWH (3: 7) • Yahweh is Just: he will reward…(3: 13)

My Alternative Proposal 1: 1 -14, Failed Covenant Relationship Confronted (Love & Honor Questioned) 2: 1 -16, Intended Covenant Holiness Explained (Holiness vs. Defilement) 2: 17 -3: 15, Evidence for Covenant Failure Examined (3 Case Studies: Desires, Hands, & Words) 3: 16 -4: 6, Reality of Covenant Relationship Affirmed (Present Blessing and Future Hope)

Gideon Ein Herod

I. Failed C. Relationship Confronted • 1: 1 • 1: 2 -5 • 1: 6 -14 Introduction Love Questioned Honor Questioned – (i) Two “you say” statements, 3: 6 -7 • Bad offerings rejected, 3: 8 • Bad requests rejected, 3: 9 -10 b • Judgment and Purposed Expressed 3: 10 c-11 – (ii) Two “you say” statements, 3: 12 -13 c – (iii) God now asks His rhetorical question, 3: 13 d • Two Great Commandments…

1: 2 “I have loved you, ” says the Lord. But you say, “How have You loved us? ” “Was not Esau Jacob’s brother? ” declares the Lord. “Yet I have loved Jacob; 3 but I have hated Esau, and I have made his mountains a desolation and appointed his inheritance for the jackals of the wilderness. ”

1: 5 Your eyes will see this and you will say, “The Lord be magnified beyond the border of Israel!” Verse 4 makes it clear: Edom, the later offspring of Esau, will be denied any hope of being left alone by God. What Esau spurned affects all his generations.

Petra

1: 6“ ‘A son honors his father, and a servant his master. Then if I am a father, where is My honor? And if I am a master, where is My respect? ’ says the Lord of hosts to you, O priests who. . . 1: 6 b-8, Two rebuttals answered by God Ø lame offerings won’t work Ø lame entreaties aren’t acceptable 1: 9 -10 a, Judgment and Purpose revealed Ø not pleased and not accepted Ø God’s name must be magnified 1: 10 b-14, Two accusatory arguments and God’s conclusion

Tabernacle Replica

Horn Altar

II. Intended C. Holiness Explained • 2: 1 -9, The Covenant Holiness God intended – 2: 1 -4: Cursings, not blessings – 2: 5 -7: What covenant leadership should be – 2: 8 -9: What Israel rendered instead • 2: 10 -16, The Covenant Defilement God endured – 2: 10 -12: Profaned relationships – 2: 13 Superficial worship – 2: 14 -16 Broken marriages

Significance of the Sacrifices • Major OT Sacrifices • Burnt • Sin • Guilt • Day of Atonement • Passover

Major Sacrifices Explained Type Purpose Terms Reference Burnt Dedicatory, consecration Continual throughout the day Lev 1 Sin Acknowledgment of sin Offering to God Lev 4 ff Guilt Day of Atonement Reparation of Offering to God sin against + 1/5 to the one others harmed Lev 6 Patriarchal confession & presentation Lev 16 Scapegoat Sacrifical goat

Covenant Lawsuit Indictment against Priests • Mal 2: 1 -9 • Mosaic legislation for obedience invoked – Deut 30: 11 – Deut 27 -28, Blessings and Cursings • Rejected Mediation (2: 2 b-3) – Smeared fecal matter – Disqualified leaders • True vs. False Priests (2: 5 f vs. 2: 8)…

True Priestly Leadership 5 “My covenant with him was one of life and peace, and I gave them to him as an object of reverence; so he revered Me and stood in awe of My name. 6 “True instruction was in his mouth and unrighteousness was not found on his lips; he walked with Me in peace and uprightness, and he turned many back from iniquity. 7 “For the lips of a priest should preserve knowledge, and men should seek instruction from his mouth; for he is the messenger of the Lord of hosts.

False Priestly Behavior 8 “But as for you, you have turned aside from the way; you have caused many to stumble by the instruction; you have corrupted the covenant of Levi, ” says the Lord of hosts. 9 “So I also have made you despised and abased before all the people, just as you are not keeping My ways but are showing partiality in the instruction.

Covenant Defilement Illustrated • 2: 10 Asks 3 Rhetorical Questions… – “Do we not all have one father? – Has not one God created us? – Why do we deal treacherously each against his brother so as to profane the covenant of our fathers?

The Point of the 3 Questions • 2: 11 “Judah has dealt treacherously, and an abomination has been committed in Israel and in Jerusalem; ” • Breach of covenant conduct obligations is serious. Malachi provides 3 examples, with the first and last directly related to marital infidelity.

First, the Secular does not belong in the Sacred • 11 b for Judah has profaned the sanctuary of the Lord which He loves and has married the daughter of a foreign god. • • 12 “As for the man who does this, may the Lord cut off from the tents of Jacob everyone who awakes and answers, or who presents an offering to the Lord of hosts.

Second, superficial emotions don’t equal disciplined obedience 13 “This is another thing you do: you cover the altar of the Lord with tears, with weeping and with groaning, because He no longer regards the offering or accepts it with favor from your hand. No matter how “moved” one is by the emotions, God never accepts such a show without the expected discipline!

Failed marriages are a grievous reflection of Covenant abuse • 14 “Yet you say, ‘For what reason? ’ • Because the Lord has been a witness between you and the wife of your youth, against whom you have dealt treacherously, though she is your companion and your wife by covenant. • 15 “But not one has done so who has a remnant of the Spirit. And what did that one do while he was seeking a godly offspring? Take heed then to your spirit, and let no one deal treacherously against the wife of your youth. 16 “For I hate divorce, ” says the Lord, the God of Israel,

Floor at Zipporah

III. Evidence for C. Failure Examined • 2: 17, Three Rhetorical Statements posed – Everyone doing evil is good in the sight of the Lord – HE delights in them – Where is the God of justice • 3: 1 -15, Three Case Studies examined – First: Empty desires = banckrupt lives, 3: 1 -7 – Second: Empty hands = corrupt lives, 3: 8 -12 – Third: Empty words = spurious relations, 3: 13 -15

Malachi’s Burden—central premise • 2: 17 You have wearied the Lord with your words. • Yet you say, “How have we wearied Him? ” In that you say, – “Everyone who does evil is good in the sight of the Lord, – and He delights in them, ” – or, “Where is the God of justice? ”

Everyone who does evil is good in the sight of the Lord • All have sinned and continue doing so… • Redefined “evil” as “good”—Redefinition Redefined Game First case-study response: “How shall we return” Empty desires (superficial religiosity)

Isaiah 1 & 2 Kings 17 • Isaiah 1 (8 th) • 2 Kings 17 (8 th-6 th) • • • 7 -18: idolaters, syncretists, secretly corrupt, false centers for worship, burned incense, evil doers, stiff-necked, rebellious, false images, astrologists, & sacrificed children 1: 1 -3, Rebellious 1: 4 -6, Corrupt 1: 7 -9, Sodomites 1: 10 -15, Ritualistic

He delights in them • God loves all of His creation • Not the character of God—Rhetoric Game • Second case-study response: “Will a man rob God? ” Empty hands (corrupted to the core: it’s mine)

OT Tithing • Pre-dated OT Covenant (Gen 14: 17 -20) • Ordered by God (Lev 27: 30 -31) to be possessed by the Levites (Num 18: 21 -25). • Levites tithed (off that received) to the Aaronic Priesthood (Num 28: 26 ff) • Tithing occurred in one of two ways: – A) 10% per year to Levites + 10% extra every third year. Dt 14: 28; 26: 12. (After Temple, additional 10%) – B) 10% years 1 & 2 to Levites; 10% year 3 to Lev. Cities (as a poor/welfare offering) • Storehouse Tithing was exclusively from Levites (Neh 10: 37, 38; Neh 13: 12)

“Where is the God of justice? ” • If God is so mad with us, why are we so rich, happy, satisfied, not enduring …. Blessing Game! Aka…materialism game • Third case-study response: “What have we spoken against You? ” Empty, vain words (unprofitable faith)

South Temple Wall • Jesus taught the priest

IV. Reality of C. Relationship Affirmed • 3: 16 -18, True Covenant people identified – Book of remembrance – Peculiar treasure – True servants • 4: 1 -3, “That Day Coming” described – Fire that burns away the dross – Joy of Redemption • 4: 4 -6, Moses-like Prophet expected – A second Elijah – A second chance

True Covenant People, 3: 16 -18 – In the council halls of God…a book of remembrance – Notes 2 conditions and 1 emphatic statement • They fear the LORD • They esteem His name – Notes 2 anticipated events • YHWH will prepare them… “on that day” • HE will spare them as a man spares his own son…

True Covenant Hope, 4: 1 -3 – Future day “like a furnace” • Wicked will be consumed • Those fearing “My name” will exult – Like one healed by the sun – Like one released from bondage – Trampling the remains of the wicked – That Day is what God is preparing

True Covenant Blessing, 4: 4 -6 – Rooted in the Mosaic Law of Covenant • Regulation: covenant salvation • Revelation: a prophet like Moses (Deut 18) – Revealed in the model of Elijah the Prophet • Being sent one-like Elijah the prophet (Mt 11; 17) • Forewarned of yet another dreadful day (Egypt, Babylon, …) – Realized in restoration and forgiveness • Exodus 34: 6 forgiving to the 3 rd and 4 th generation

Malachi’s Messianic Concept • • Malachi’s Temple statement, with Isa 40: 3 Reference to Elijah before DOL Reference to Day of the Lord Turning hearts for restoration (Luke 1: 15 f)

Model of Temple