Reference: Malachi
American
The last of the minor prophets, and of all the Old Testament writers; so little known, that it is doubted by some, though without sufficient reason, whether his name be a proper name, or only a generical one, signifying the angel of the Lord that is, a messenger, a prophet, Hag 1:13; Mal 3:1. Malachi most probably prophesied about B. C. 416, in the latter part of the administration of Negemiag, and after Haggai and Zechariah, at a time of great disorder among the priests and people of Judah, whom her reproves. He inveighs against the priests; reproves the people for having taken strange wives, for inhumanity to their brethren, for divorcing their wives, and for neglect of paying tithes and first fruits. He seems to allude to the covenant that Nehemiah renewed with the lord, together with the priests and chief of the nation. In the latter part he foretells the coming of John the Baptist in the spirit and power of Elijah, Mal 3:1; 4:5-6; Mt 11:10,14; 17:10-13; Lu 1:17. He also foretells the two-fold coming of Christ, and the blessedness of those who fear and serve him. Thus the Old Testament closes with Predictions of the Messiah, and the New Testament opens with the record of their fulfillment.
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Haggai, the Lord's messenger, delivered the Lord's message to the people, "I am with you"-the Lord's declaration.
"See, I am going to send My messenger, and he will clear the way before Me. Then the Lord you seek will suddenly come to His temple, the Messenger of the covenant you desire-see, He is coming," says the Lord of Hosts.
"See, I am going to send My messenger, and he will clear the way before Me. Then the Lord you seek will suddenly come to His temple, the Messenger of the covenant you desire-see, He is coming," says the Lord of Hosts.
Look, I am going to send you Elijah the prophet before the great and awesome Day of the Lord comes. And he will turn the hearts of fathers to [their] children and the hearts of children to their fathers. Otherwise, I will come and strike the land with a curse."
This is the one it is written about: Look, I am sending My messenger ahead of You; he will prepare Your way before You.
if you're willing to accept it, he is the Elijah who is to come.
So the disciples questioned Him, "Why then do the scribes say that Elijah must come first?" "Elijah is coming and will restore everything," He replied. read more. "But I tell you: Elijah has already come, and they didn't recognize him. On the contrary, they did whatever they pleased to him. In the same way the Son of Man is going to suffer at their hands." Then the disciples understood that He spoke to them about John the Baptist.
And he will go before Him in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of fathers to their children, and the disobedient to the understanding of the righteous, to make ready for the Lord a prepared people.
Easton
messenger or angel, the last of the minor prophets, and the writer of the last book of the Old Testament canon (Mal 4:4-5,6). Nothing is known of him beyond what is contained in his book of prophecies. Some have supposed that the name is simply a title descriptive of his character as a messenger of Jehovah, and not a proper name. There is reason, however, to conclude that Malachi was the ordinary name of the prophet.
He was contemporary with Nehemiah (comp. Mal 2:8 with Ne 13:15; Mal 2:10-16 with Ne 13:23). No allusion is made to him by Ezra, and he does not mention the restoration of the temple, and hence it is inferred that he prophesied after Haggai and Zechariah, and when the temple services were still in existence (Mal 1:10; 3:1,10). It is probable that he delivered his prophecies about B.C. 420, after the second return of Nehemiah from Persia (Ne 13:6), or possibly before his return.
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While all this was happening, I was not in Jerusalem, because I had returned to King Artaxerxes of Babylon in the thirty-second year of his [reign]. It was only later that I asked the king for a leave of absence
At that time I saw people in Judah treading wine presses on the Sabbath. They were also bringing in stores of grain and loading [them] on donkeys, along with wine, grapes, and figs. All kinds of goods were being brought to Jerusalem on the Sabbath day. So I warned [them] against selling food on that day.
In those days I also saw Jews who had married women from Ashdod, Ammon, and Moab.
"I wish one of you would shut the [temple] doors, so you would no longer kindle a useless [fire on] My altar! I am not pleased with you," says the Lord of Hosts, "and I will accept no offering from your hands.
"You, on the other hand, have turned from the way. You have caused many to stumble by your instruction. You have violated the covenant of Levi," says the Lord of Hosts.
Don't all of us have one Father? Didn't one God create us? Why then do we act treacherously against one another, profaning the covenant of our fathers? Judah has acted treacherously, and a detestable thing has been done in Israel and in Jerusalem. For Judah has profaned the Lord's sanctuary, which He loves, and has married the daughter of a foreign god. read more. To the man who does this, may the Lord cut off any descendants from the tents of Jacob, even if they present an offering to the Lord of Hosts. And this is another thing you do: you cover the Lord's altar with tears, with weeping and groaning, because He no longer respects your offerings or receives [them] gladly from your hands. Yet you ask, "For what reason?" Because the Lord has been a witness between you and the wife of your youth. You have acted treacherously against her, though she was your marriage partner and your wife by covenant. Didn't the one [God] make [us] with a remnant of His life-breath? And what does the One seek? A godly offspring. So watch yourselves carefully, and do not act treacherously against the wife of your youth. "If he hates and divorces [his wife]," says the Lord God of Israel, "he covers his garment with injustice," says the Lord of Hosts. Therefore, watch yourselves carefully, and do not act treacherously.
"See, I am going to send My messenger, and he will clear the way before Me. Then the Lord you seek will suddenly come to His temple, the Messenger of the covenant you desire-see, He is coming," says the Lord of Hosts.
Bring the full 10 percent into the storehouse so that there may be food in My house. Test Me in this way," says the Lord of Hosts. "See if I will not open the floodgates of heaven and pour out a blessing for you without measure.
"Remember the instruction of Moses My servant, the statutes and ordinances I commanded him at Horeb for all Israel. Look, I am going to send you Elijah the prophet before the great and awesome Day of the Lord comes. read more. And he will turn the hearts of fathers to [their] children and the hearts of children to their fathers. Otherwise, I will come and strike the land with a curse."
Fausets
("messenger of Jah"), or Jehovah; contracted for Malachijah, as Abi for Abijah (2Ki 18:2; compare 2Ch 29:1). The name is that of an office rather than of a person; it occurs in the sense "My (Jehovah's) messenger" (Mal 3:1, compare Hag 1:13). Malachi was Jehovah's last inspired messenger of Old Testament, announcing the advent of the great Messenger of New Testament; the transition link between the two dispensations, "the skirt and boundary of Christianity," to which is due his abrupt earnestness. Not identical with Ezra, as Chaldee paraphrase represents, for Malachi is never called a scribe, always a prophet, but Ezra always a scribe, never a prophet.
The analogy of the headings of the other prophets favors the view that Malachi is a proper name. He supported or followed up the governor Nehemiah in the restoration of the national polity civil and religious, as Haggai and Zechariah previously had supported Joshua the high priest and Zerubbabel the civil governor in building the temple, Malachi (Zec 1:10; 3) presupposes the temple already built. Like Nehemiah (Ne 13:5,15-30) he censures the secular and mercenary spirit of the priests (Mal 1:10; 2:14-16; 3:8-10); the people's marriages with foreigners; the non-payment of the tithes (Nehemiah states the cause, the high priest's alliance with Tobiah the Ammonite and Sanballat); and the rich men's want of sympathy toward the poor. Nehemiah (Ne 6:7) implies that "prophets" supported him, by his desire, in his reformation.
DATE. About 420 B.C. or later will be about the date, from the above facts. Thus kingly (Zerubbabel and Nehemiah), priestly (Joshua and Ezra), and prophetic men (Haggai and Zechariah and Malachi) headed God's people at the earlier and the later stage in the restoration of Jerusalem. The former period was that of building the temple, the later that of restoring the polity and rebuilding the city. The rebuilding of the temple was the theocratic people's first care; the political restoration was secondary. A small colony of 50,000 settled with Joshua and Zerubbabel (Ezr 2:64). These became intermingled with the pagan during the 60 years that elapsed before Ezra (Ezr 9:6-15; Ne 1:3); "the remnant ... left in the province are in great affliction and reproach, the wall of Jerusalem is broken down, and the gates burned with fire."
A second restoration was therefore needed, to mold the national life into Jewish form, by reestablishing the holy law and the city. This was the work of Ezra and Nehemiah with the aid of Malachi in about 50 years, ending with the death of Malachi and Nehemiah, at the close of the fifth century B.C. Hence, the "seven weeks" (49 or 50 years) stand by themselves at the beginning of the foretold "seventy weeks" (Da 9:25), to mark the fundamental difference between them, as the last period of Old Testament revelation, and the 62 weeks of years that follow without revelation, preceding the final week standing out by itself in unrivaled dignity as Messiah's week. The 70 weeks begin with Artaxerxes' seventh year, 457 B.C., when he allowed Ezra (Ezr 7:1,6) to go to Jerusalem in accordance with the commandment which then went forth from God.
Ezra the priest purified the nation from within of pagan elements and restored the law; Nehemiah did the outer work of rebuilding the city and restoring the national polity (Auberlen). The time following Nehemiah's second return to Jerusalem from Persia (subsequently to the 32nd year of Artaxerxes Longimanus, Ne 13:6) is the probable date of Malachi's prophecies, about 420 B.C. Socrates at Athens was at about the same time awakening that corrupt city to self examination. The Jews were now in Jerusalem (Mal 2:11); the Persian "governor" (pechah, pasha'; Mal 1:8) was there, the altar (Mal 1:7) and temple rebuilt (Mal 2:13; 3:1), the sacrifices and feasts celebrated (Mal 1:13-14; 2:3).
Nehemiah bore this very title (pechah, Ne 5:14; 12:26), and its equivalent "tirshatha" (Ne 8:9; 10:1; 7:65; Ezr 2:63), the prefect of a province less extensive than a satrapy. It is curious that Malachi is not mentioned in Nehemiah nor Nehemiah in Malachi. But the same evils are sought to be remedied by both: see above; also compare Mal 2:8, "ye have corrupted the covenant of Levi, saith the Lord of hosts," with Ne 13:29, "they have defiled the covenant of the priesthood and of the Levites." Thus the closing chapter of Old Testament history is the key of the last of Old Testament prophecy.
DIVISIONS.
I. The first two chapters are mainly expostulation;
II. the last two mainly prediction.
(1) Charge against Israel for insensibility to God's love, which so distinguished Israel above Edom (Mal 1:1-5).
(2) Against the priests for contemptible offerings, profaning instead of honoring their Master and their Father, unlike Levi of old, who walked with God in a covenant of life and peace, turning many from iniquity, whereas they departed out of the way and caused others to stumble; therefore God will send a curse upon them, making them contemptible, even as they contemned and failed to give glory to His name (Mal 1:6-2:9).
(3) Reproof of the wrong done to Jewish wives by the foreign marriages. Jehovah being the one common Father of all Israel, putting away an Israelite wife for a foreigner is a wrong done to a sister of the same family (Mal 2:10-16). Explain Mal 2:15; "did not He (God) make us Israelites one? Yet He had the residue of the Spirit (namely, an inexhaustible fullness of the Spirit for the rest of the world, but that was to be given them by God's first choosing out, one godly seed). And wherefore did He make us the one people? That He might seek a seed of God," to be the repository of the covenant, the stock for Messiah, the witness for God against surrounding polytheism. Repudiation of Jewish wives for foreigners set aside this, God's, design.
II.
(4) In answer to their cavil, "where is the God of judgment?" Messiah's forerunner, followed by the sudden coming of Jehovah Himself the Angel of the covenant (which they had despised) to His temple, is foretold (Mal 2:17-4:6). He shall on the one hand refine the sons of Levi, so that Judah's offering shall be pleasant unto Jehovah; on the other hand He shall be a swift witness against wrong doers, wherefore "return unto Me," instead of "robbing Me of tithes," "prove Me now herewith and I will pour you out a blessing," etc. But still they cavil at God's service bringing no "profit," while God's people commune together; so "the day of the Lord" cometh, consuming to the proud scorners, but with healing beams of the Sun of righteousness to fearers of God's name; ushered in by the forerunner Elijah, preaching a return to the law of Moses, and to the piety of Israel's forefathers, lest Jehovah come and smite the earth with a curse.
CANONICITY. Established by New Testament quotations (Mt 11:10; 17:12; Mr 1:2; 9:11-12; Lu 1:17; Ro 9:13). The "incense and pure offering from the rising to the setting of the sun" points on to the spiritual sacrifices of self devotion, prayer, and praise under the gospel, based on the once for all completed sacrifice of Messiah (Ps 141:2; Re 8:3; Heb 13:10,15-16; Ro 12:1; 1Pe 2:5,12); in every place (Joh 4:21-24; 1Ti 2:8). Style. Bold and abrupt, yet with the smoothness of a reasoner rather than a poet, at the same time modeled after the old prophets.
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He was 25 years old when he became king; he reigned 29 years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Abi daughter of Zechariah.
Hezekiah was 25 years old when he became king; he reigned 29 years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Abijah daughter of Zechariah.
The governor ordered them not to eat the most holy things until there was a priest who could consult the Urim and Thummim. The whole combined assembly numbered 42,360
After these events, during the reign of King Artaxerxes of Persia, Ezra- Seraiah's son, Azariah's son, Hilkiah's son,
came up from Babylon. He was a scribe skilled in the law of Moses,(F) which Yahweh, the God of Israel, had given. The king had granted him everything he requested because the hand of Yahweh his God was on him.
And I said: My God, I am ashamed and embarrassed to lift my face toward You, my God, because our iniquities are higher than [our] heads and our guilt is as high as the heavens. Our guilt has been terrible from the days of our fathers until the present. Because of our iniquities we have been handed over, along with our kings and priests, to the surrounding kings, and to the sword, captivity, plundering, and open shame, as it is today. read more. But now, for a brief moment, grace has come from the Lord our God to preserve a remnant for us and give us a stake in His holy place. Even in our slavery, God has given us new life and light to our eyes. Though we are slaves, our God has not abandoned us in our slavery. He has extended grace to us in the presence of the Persian kings, giving us new life, so that we can rebuild the house of our God and repair its ruins, to give us a wall in Judah and Jerusalem. Now, our God, what can we say in light of this? For we have abandoned the commandments You gave through Your servants the prophets, saying: "The land you are entering to possess is an impure land. The surrounding peoples have filled it from end to end with their uncleanness by their impurity and detestable practices. So do not give your daughters to their sons in marriage or take their daughters for your sons. Never seek their peace or prosperity, so that you will be strong, eat the good things of the land, and leave [it] as an inheritance to your sons forever." After all that has happened to us because of our evil deeds and terrible guilt-though You, our God, have punished [us] less than our sins [deserve] and have allowed us to survive- should we break Your commandments again and intermarry with the peoples who commit these detestable practices? Wouldn't You become [so] angry with us that You would destroy us, leaving no survivors? Lord God of Israel, You are righteous, for we survive as a remnant today. Here we are before You with our guilt, though no one can stand in Your presence because of this.
They said to me, "The survivors in the province, who returned from the exile, are in great trouble and disgrace. Jerusalem's wall has been broken down, and its gates have been burned down."
Furthermore, from the day King Artaxerxes appointed me to be their governor in the land of Judah-from the twentieth year until his thirty-second year, 12 years-I and my associates never ate from the food allotted to the governor.
and have even set up the prophets in Jerusalem to proclaim on your behalf: "There is a king in Judah." These rumors will be heard by the king. So come, let's confer together.
The governor ordered them not to eat the most holy things until there was a priest who could consult the Urim and Thummim.
Nehemiah the governor, Ezra the priest and scribe, and the Levites who were instructing the people said to all of them, "This day is holy to the Lord your God. Do not mourn or weep." For all the people were weeping as they heard the words of the law.
Those whose seals were [on the document] were: Nehemiah the governor, son of Hacaliah, and Zedekiah,
These [served] in the days of Joiakim son of Jeshua, son of Jozadak, and in the days of Nehemiah the governor and Ezra the priest and scribe.
and had prepared a large room for him where they had previously stored the grain offerings, the frankincense, the articles, and the tenths of grain, new wine, and oil prescribed for the Levites, singers, and gatekeepers, along with the contributions for the priests. While all this was happening, I was not in Jerusalem, because I had returned to King Artaxerxes of Babylon in the thirty-second year of his [reign]. It was only later that I asked the king for a leave of absence
At that time I saw people in Judah treading wine presses on the Sabbath. They were also bringing in stores of grain and loading [them] on donkeys, along with wine, grapes, and figs. All kinds of goods were being brought to Jerusalem on the Sabbath day. So I warned [them] against selling food on that day. The Tyrians living there were importing fish and all kinds of merchandise and selling them on the Sabbath to the people of Judah in Jerusalem. read more. I rebuked the nobles of Judah and said to them: "What is this evil you are doing-profaning the Sabbath day? Didn't your ancestors do the same, so that our God brought all this disaster on us and on this city? And now you are rekindling [His] anger against Israel by profaning the Sabbath!" When shadows began to fall on the gates of Jerusalem just before the Sabbath, I gave orders that the gates be closed and not opened until after the Sabbath. I posted some of my men at the gates, so that no goods could enter during the Sabbath day. Once or twice the merchants and those who sell all kinds of goods camped outside Jerusalem, but I warned them, "Why are you camping in front of the wall? If you do it again, I'll use force against you." After that they did not come again on the Sabbath. Then I instructed the Levites to purify themselves and guard the gates in order to keep the Sabbath day holy. Remember me for this also, my God, and look on me with compassion in keeping with Your abundant, faithful love. In those days I also saw Jews who had married women from Ashdod, Ammon, and Moab. Half of their children spoke the language of Ashdod or of one of the other peoples but could not speak Hebrew. I rebuked them, cursed them, beat some of their men, and pulled out their hair. I forced them to take an oath before God and said: "You must not give your daughters in marriage to their sons or take their daughters as wives for your sons or yourselves! Didn't King Solomon of Israel sin in matters like this? There was not a king like him among many nations. He was loved by his God and God made him king over all Israel, yet foreign women drew him into sin. Why then should we hear about you doing all this terrible evil and acting unfaithfully against our God by marrying foreign women?" Even one of the sons of Jehoiada, son of Eliashib the high priest, had become a son-in-law to Sanballat the Horonite. So I drove him away from me. Remember them, my God, for defiling the priesthood as well as the covenant of the priesthood and the Levites.
Remember them, my God, for defiling the priesthood as well as the covenant of the priesthood and the Levites. So I purified them from everything foreign and assigned specific duties to each of the priests and Levites.
May my prayer be set before You as incense, the raising of my hands as the evening offering.
Know and understand this: From the issuing of the decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until Messiah the Prince will be seven weeks and 62 weeks. It will be rebuilt with a plaza and a moat, but in difficult times.
Haggai, the Lord's messenger, delivered the Lord's message to the people, "I am with you"-the Lord's declaration.
Then the man standing among the myrtle trees explained, "They are the ones the Lord has sent to patrol the earth."
An oracle: The word of the Lord to Israel through Malachi. "I have loved you," says the Lord. But you ask: "How have You loved us?" "Wasn't Esau Jacob's brother?" [This is] the Lord's declaration. "Even so, I loved Jacob, read more. but I hated Esau. I turned his mountains into a wasteland, and [gave] his inheritance to the desert jackals." Though Edom says: "We have been devastated, but we will rebuild the ruins," the Lord of Hosts says this: "They may build, but I will demolish. They will be called a wicked country and the people the Lord has cursed forever. Your own eyes will see this, and you yourselves will say: The Lord is great, [even] beyond the borders of Israel.
"By presenting defiled food on My altar." You ask: "How have we defiled You?" When you say: "The Lord's table is contemptible." "When you present a blind [animal] for sacrifice, is it not wrong? And when you present a lame or sick [animal], is it not wrong? Bring it to your governor! Would he be pleased with you or show you favor?" asks the Lord of Hosts.
"I wish one of you would shut the [temple] doors, so you would no longer kindle a useless [fire on] My altar! I am not pleased with you," says the Lord of Hosts, "and I will accept no offering from your hands.
You also say: "Look, what a nuisance!" "And you scorn it," says the Lord of Hosts. "You bring stolen, lame, or sick animals. You bring this as an offering! Am I to accept that from your hands?" asks the Lord. "The deceiver is cursed who has an [acceptable] male in his flock and makes a vow but sacrifices a defective [animal] to the Lord. For I am a great King," says the Lord of Hosts, "and My name will be feared among the nations.
"Look, I am going to rebuke your descendants, and I will spread animal waste over your faces, the waste from your festival sacrifices, and you will be taken away with it.
"You, on the other hand, have turned from the way. You have caused many to stumble by your instruction. You have violated the covenant of Levi," says the Lord of Hosts.
Don't all of us have one Father? Didn't one God create us? Why then do we act treacherously against one another, profaning the covenant of our fathers? Judah has acted treacherously, and a detestable thing has been done in Israel and in Jerusalem. For Judah has profaned the Lord's sanctuary, which He loves, and has married the daughter of a foreign god.
Judah has acted treacherously, and a detestable thing has been done in Israel and in Jerusalem. For Judah has profaned the Lord's sanctuary, which He loves, and has married the daughter of a foreign god. To the man who does this, may the Lord cut off any descendants from the tents of Jacob, even if they present an offering to the Lord of Hosts. read more. And this is another thing you do: you cover the Lord's altar with tears, with weeping and groaning, because He no longer respects your offerings or receives [them] gladly from your hands.
And this is another thing you do: you cover the Lord's altar with tears, with weeping and groaning, because He no longer respects your offerings or receives [them] gladly from your hands. Yet you ask, "For what reason?" Because the Lord has been a witness between you and the wife of your youth. You have acted treacherously against her, though she was your marriage partner and your wife by covenant.
Yet you ask, "For what reason?" Because the Lord has been a witness between you and the wife of your youth. You have acted treacherously against her, though she was your marriage partner and your wife by covenant. Didn't the one [God] make [us] with a remnant of His life-breath? And what does the One seek? A godly offspring. So watch yourselves carefully, and do not act treacherously against the wife of your youth.
Didn't the one [God] make [us] with a remnant of His life-breath? And what does the One seek? A godly offspring. So watch yourselves carefully, and do not act treacherously against the wife of your youth.
Didn't the one [God] make [us] with a remnant of His life-breath? And what does the One seek? A godly offspring. So watch yourselves carefully, and do not act treacherously against the wife of your youth. "If he hates and divorces [his wife]," says the Lord God of Israel, "he covers his garment with injustice," says the Lord of Hosts. Therefore, watch yourselves carefully, and do not act treacherously.
"If he hates and divorces [his wife]," says the Lord God of Israel, "he covers his garment with injustice," says the Lord of Hosts. Therefore, watch yourselves carefully, and do not act treacherously.
"See, I am going to send My messenger, and he will clear the way before Me. Then the Lord you seek will suddenly come to His temple, the Messenger of the covenant you desire-see, He is coming," says the Lord of Hosts.
"See, I am going to send My messenger, and he will clear the way before Me. Then the Lord you seek will suddenly come to His temple, the Messenger of the covenant you desire-see, He is coming," says the Lord of Hosts.
"Will a man rob God? Yet you are robbing Me!" You ask: "How do we rob You?" "[By not making the payments] of 10 percent and the contributions. You are suffering under a curse, yet you-the whole nation-are [still] robbing Me. read more. Bring the full 10 percent into the storehouse so that there may be food in My house. Test Me in this way," says the Lord of Hosts. "See if I will not open the floodgates of heaven and pour out a blessing for you without measure.
This is the one it is written about: Look, I am sending My messenger ahead of You; he will prepare Your way before You.
"But I tell you: Elijah has already come, and they didn't recognize him. On the contrary, they did whatever they pleased to him. In the same way the Son of Man is going to suffer at their hands."
As it is written in Isaiah the prophet: Look, I am sending My messenger ahead of You, who will prepare Your way.
Then they began to question Him, "Why do the scribes say that Elijah must come first?" "Elijah does come first and restores everything," He replied. "How then is it written about the Son of Man that He must suffer many things and be treated with contempt?
And he will go before Him in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of fathers to their children, and the disobedient to the understanding of the righteous, to make ready for the Lord a prepared people.
Jesus told her, "Believe Me, woman, an hour is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. You Samaritans worship what you do not know. We worship what we do know, because salvation is from the Jews. read more. But an hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth. Yes, the Father wants such people to worship Him. God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth."
As it is written: Jacob I have loved, but Esau I have hated.
Therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, I urge you to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God; this is your spiritual worship.
Your message is to be sound beyond reproach, so that the opponent will be ashamed, having nothing bad to say about us.
We have an altar from which those who serve the tabernacle do not have a right to eat.
Therefore, through Him let us continually offer up to God a sacrifice of praise, that is, the fruit of our lips that confess His name. Don't neglect to do good and to share, for God is pleased with such sacrifices.
Another angel, with a gold incense burner, came and stood at the altar. He was given a large amount of incense to offer with the prayers of all the saints on the gold altar in front of the throne.
Hastings
MALACHI
1. Author.
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"Every tenth of the land's produce, grain from the soil or fruit from the trees, belongs to the Lord; it is holy to the Lord. If a man decides to redeem any part of this tenth, he must add one-fifth to its value. read more. Every tenth animal from the herd or flock, which passes under the [shepherd's] rod, will be holy to the Lord. He is not to inspect whether it is good or bad, and he is not to make a substitution for it. But if he does make a substitution, both the animal and its substitute will be holy; they cannot be redeemed."
"Look, I have given the Levites every tenth in Israel as an inheritance in return for the work they do, the work of the tent of meeting. The Israelites must never again come near the tent of meeting, or they will incur guilt and die. read more. The Levites will do the work of the tent of meeting, and they will bear the [consequences] of their sin. The Levites will not receive an inheritance among the Israelites; this is a perpetual statute throughout your generations. For I have given them the tenth that the Israelites present to the Lord as a contribution for [their] inheritance. That is why I told them that they would not receive an inheritance among the Israelites." The Lord instructed Moses, "Speak to the Levites and tell them: When you receive from the Israelites the tenth that I have given you as your inheritance, you must present part of it as an offering to the Lord-a tenth of the tenth. Your offering will be credited to you as if [it were your] grain from the threshing floor or the full harvest from the winepress. You are to present an offering to the Lord from every tenth you receive from the Israelites. Give some of it to Aaron the priest as an offering to the Lord. You must present the entire offering due the Lord from all your gifts. The best part of the tenth is to be consecrated. "Tell them further: Once you have presented the best part of the tenth, and it is credited to you Levites as the produce of the threshing floor or the winepress, then you and your household may eat it anywhere. It is your wage in return for your work at the tent of meeting. You will not incur guilt because of it once you have presented the best part of it, but you must not defile the Israelites' holy offerings, so that you will not die."
The Lord spoke to Moses, "Phinehas son of Eleazar, son of Aaron the priest, has turned back My wrath from the Israelites because he was zealous among them with My zeal, so that I did not destroy the Israelites in My zeal. read more. Therefore declare: I grant him My covenant of peace. It will be a covenant of perpetual priesthood for him and his descendants, because he was zealous for his God and made atonement for the Israelites."
Furthermore, from the day King Artaxerxes appointed me to be their governor in the land of Judah-from the twentieth year until his thirty-second year, 12 years-I and my associates never ate from the food allotted to the governor.
so I could return to Jerusalem. Then I discovered the evil that Eliashib had done on behalf of Tobiah by providing him a room in the courts of God's house.
In the second year of King Darius, on the first day of the sixth month, the word of the Lord came through Haggai the prophet to Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, the governor of Judah, and to Joshua son of Jehozadak, the high priest:
Haggai, the Lord's messenger, delivered the Lord's message to the people, "I am with you"-the Lord's declaration. The Lord stirred up the spirit of Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, the spirit of the high priest Joshua son of Jehozadak, and the spirit of all the remnant of the people. They began work on the house of Yahweh of Hosts, their God,
An oracle: The word of the Lord to Israel through Malachi. "I have loved you," says the Lord. But you ask: "How have You loved us?" "Wasn't Esau Jacob's brother?" [This is] the Lord's declaration. "Even so, I loved Jacob,
"I have loved you," says the Lord. But you ask: "How have You loved us?" "Wasn't Esau Jacob's brother?" [This is] the Lord's declaration. "Even so, I loved Jacob, but I hated Esau. I turned his mountains into a wasteland, and [gave] his inheritance to the desert jackals." read more. Though Edom says: "We have been devastated, but we will rebuild the ruins," the Lord of Hosts says this: "They may build, but I will demolish. They will be called a wicked country and the people the Lord has cursed forever. Your own eyes will see this, and you yourselves will say: The Lord is great, [even] beyond the borders of Israel. "A son honors [his] father, and a servant his master. But if I am a father, where is My honor? And if I am a master, where is [your] fear of Me? says the Lord of Hosts to you priests, who despise My name." Yet you ask: "How have we despised Your name?"
"For My name will be great among the nations, from the rising of the sun to its setting. Incense and pure offerings will be presented in My name in every place because My name will be great among the nations," says the Lord of Hosts.
If you don't listen, and if you don't take it to heart to honor My name," says the Lord of Hosts, "I will send a curse among you, and I will curse your blessings. In fact, I have already begun to curse them because you are not taking it to heart.
Then you will know that I sent you this decree so My covenant with Levi may continue," says the Lord of Hosts.
Then you will know that I sent you this decree so My covenant with Levi may continue," says the Lord of Hosts. "My covenant with him was one of life and peace, and I gave these to him; it called for reverence, and he revered Me and stood in awe of My name.
"My covenant with him was one of life and peace, and I gave these to him; it called for reverence, and he revered Me and stood in awe of My name.
"So I in turn have made you despised and humiliated before all the people because you are not keeping My ways but are showing partiality in [your] instruction." Don't all of us have one Father? Didn't one God create us? Why then do we act treacherously against one another, profaning the covenant of our fathers? read more. Judah has acted treacherously, and a detestable thing has been done in Israel and in Jerusalem. For Judah has profaned the Lord's sanctuary, which He loves, and has married the daughter of a foreign god. To the man who does this, may the Lord cut off any descendants from the tents of Jacob, even if they present an offering to the Lord of Hosts. And this is another thing you do: you cover the Lord's altar with tears, with weeping and groaning, because He no longer respects your offerings or receives [them] gladly from your hands. Yet you ask, "For what reason?" Because the Lord has been a witness between you and the wife of your youth. You have acted treacherously against her, though she was your marriage partner and your wife by covenant. Didn't the one [God] make [us] with a remnant of His life-breath? And what does the One seek? A godly offspring. So watch yourselves carefully, and do not act treacherously against the wife of your youth.
You have wearied the Lord with your words. Yet you ask, "How have we wearied [Him]?" When you say, "Everyone who does evil is good in the Lord's sight, and He is pleased with them," or "Where is the God of justice?"
"See, I am going to send My messenger, and he will clear the way before Me. Then the Lord you seek will suddenly come to His temple, the Messenger of the covenant you desire-see, He is coming," says the Lord of Hosts.
"See, I am going to send My messenger, and he will clear the way before Me. Then the Lord you seek will suddenly come to His temple, the Messenger of the covenant you desire-see, He is coming," says the Lord of Hosts.
"See, I am going to send My messenger, and he will clear the way before Me. Then the Lord you seek will suddenly come to His temple, the Messenger of the covenant you desire-see, He is coming," says the Lord of Hosts.
"See, I am going to send My messenger, and he will clear the way before Me. Then the Lord you seek will suddenly come to His temple, the Messenger of the covenant you desire-see, He is coming," says the Lord of Hosts.
"See, I am going to send My messenger, and he will clear the way before Me. Then the Lord you seek will suddenly come to His temple, the Messenger of the covenant you desire-see, He is coming," says the Lord of Hosts.
"See, I am going to send My messenger, and he will clear the way before Me. Then the Lord you seek will suddenly come to His temple, the Messenger of the covenant you desire-see, He is coming," says the Lord of Hosts.
"See, I am going to send My messenger, and he will clear the way before Me. Then the Lord you seek will suddenly come to His temple, the Messenger of the covenant you desire-see, He is coming," says the Lord of Hosts.
"I will come to you in judgment, and I will be ready to witness against sorcerers and adulterers; against those who swear falsely; against those who oppress the widow and the fatherless, and cheat the wage earner; and against those who deny [justice to] the foreigner. They do not fear Me," says the Lord of Hosts. "Because I, Yahweh, have not changed, you descendants of Jacob have not been destroyed. read more. "Since the days of your fathers, you have turned from My statutes; you have not kept [them]. Return to Me, and I will return to you," says the Lord of Hosts. But you ask: "How can we return?" "Will a man rob God? Yet you are robbing Me!" You ask: "How do we rob You?" "[By not making the payments] of 10 percent and the contributions. You are suffering under a curse, yet you-the whole nation-are [still] robbing Me. Bring the full 10 percent into the storehouse so that there may be food in My house. Test Me in this way," says the Lord of Hosts. "See if I will not open the floodgates of heaven and pour out a blessing for you without measure.
Bring the full 10 percent into the storehouse so that there may be food in My house. Test Me in this way," says the Lord of Hosts. "See if I will not open the floodgates of heaven and pour out a blessing for you without measure.
Bring the full 10 percent into the storehouse so that there may be food in My house. Test Me in this way," says the Lord of Hosts. "See if I will not open the floodgates of heaven and pour out a blessing for you without measure.
Bring the full 10 percent into the storehouse so that there may be food in My house. Test Me in this way," says the Lord of Hosts. "See if I will not open the floodgates of heaven and pour out a blessing for you without measure. I will rebuke the devourer for you, so that it will not ruin the produce of your ground, and your vine in your field will not be barren," says the Lord of Hosts. read more. "Then all the nations will consider you fortunate, for you will be a delightful land," says the Lord of Hosts. "Your words against Me are harsh," says the Lord. Yet you ask: "What have we spoken against You?"
"Your words against Me are harsh," says the Lord. Yet you ask: "What have we spoken against You?" You have said: "It is useless to serve God. What have we gained by keeping His requirements and walking mournfully before the Lord of Hosts? read more. So now we consider the arrogant to be fortunate. Not only do those who commit wickedness prosper, they even test God and escape." At that time those who feared the Lord spoke to one another. The Lord took notice and listened. So a book of remembrance was written before Him for those who feared Yahweh and had high regard for His name.
At that time those who feared the Lord spoke to one another. The Lord took notice and listened. So a book of remembrance was written before Him for those who feared Yahweh and had high regard for His name. "They will be Mine," says the Lord of Hosts, "a special possession on the day I am preparing. I will have compassion on them as a man has compassion on his son who serves him. read more. So you will again see the difference between the righteous and the wicked, between one who serves God and one who does not serve Him.
So you will again see the difference between the righteous and the wicked, between one who serves God and one who does not serve Him.
So you will again see the difference between the righteous and the wicked, between one who serves God and one who does not serve Him.
So you will again see the difference between the righteous and the wicked, between one who serves God and one who does not serve Him.
"For indeed, the day is coming, burning like a furnace, when all the arrogant and everyone who commits wickedness will become stubble. The coming day will consume them," says the Lord of Hosts, "not leaving them root or branches.
"Remember the instruction of Moses My servant, the statutes and ordinances I commanded him at Horeb for all Israel.
"Remember the instruction of Moses My servant, the statutes and ordinances I commanded him at Horeb for all Israel.
And he will turn the hearts of fathers to [their] children and the hearts of children to their fathers. Otherwise, I will come and strike the land with a curse."
Morish
Mal'achi
The last of the minor prophets. Nothing is recorded of the prophet's personal history, he is named once only. He was prophet near the time of Nehemiah's return to the land, and the prophecy reveals the moral condition of the people. The first chapter, while it shows their insensibility, shows also the sovereign love of Jehovah to them, a love on which His purpose depended. When charged with their sins, they asked wherein had they sinned. The answer is that they brought to the Lord that which was torn, the lame, and the sick, and had offered polluted bread upon Jehovah's altar: in effect saying, "The table of the Lord is polluted; and the fruit thereof, even his meat, is contemptible." This brought judgement upon those who were insensible to what was due to the Lord. Yet Jehovah should be magnified beyond the border of Israel, and His name be great among the Gentiles.
Mal. 2. The priests who ought to have been guides to the people, are called to account. Judah had intimate fellowship with idolatry; had symbolically married the daughter of a strange god; and had associated this with the worship of Jehovah. Israel had also dealt treacherously with the wife of their youth: this was but the discovery of a treacherous principle in them. God hated putting away: notwithstanding all this, they were apathetic, and asked wherein had they wearied God.
Mal. 3 opens with the announcement of the Lord's messenger, which was fulfilled in John the Baptist. But the first coming of the Lord is here connected with His second coming, when He will sit as a refiner, and will purge away the dross, and then shall the sons of Levi offer an offering in righteousness.
God challenged the returned Jews to be faithful to Him, and they should have such a blessing that they would not have room enough to contain it. When called upon to return to Jehovah they are still unconscious of their condition, and ask, "Wherein shall we return?" and "Wherein have we robbed thee?" "What have we spoken so much against thee?" They had said it was in vain to serve the Lord; they had called the proud happy; the wicked were built up, and they that tempted God were delivered.
Yet God's purpose should stand: their land should be a delightsome land, and all nations should call them blessed. In the meantime the remnant are spoken of as those that feared the Lord and thought upon His name: they communed often one with another. God had a book of remembrance of such: they shall be remembered when the Lord of hosts makes up His jewels, and shall be spared when He comes in judgement.
Mal. 4. A day of great judgement is coming when the wicked shall be consumed. But to them that fear His name the Sun of righteousness shall arise with healing in His wings (not the morning star here, as for the church). There will be judgement for the disobedient, as was indeed fully shown in the law at the beginning of the covenant with them.
But Elijah will come as Christ's forerunner, to call them to repentance before the great and dreadful day of the Lord. John the Baptist would have fulfilled this mission had they received him; but, except a few, they did not, and therefore when asked if he was Elias, he said, No. He fulfilled the prophecy in the first clause of Mal 3:1; but not that of Mal 4:5-6; the people did not repent. Elijah will still come. There will be judgement first, but great blessing in the end to those that are spared.
See Verses Found in Dictionary
"See, I am going to send My messenger, and he will clear the way before Me. Then the Lord you seek will suddenly come to His temple, the Messenger of the covenant you desire-see, He is coming," says the Lord of Hosts.
Look, I am going to send you Elijah the prophet before the great and awesome Day of the Lord comes. And he will turn the hearts of fathers to [their] children and the hearts of children to their fathers. Otherwise, I will come and strike the land with a curse."
Watsons
MALACHI, the last of the twelve minor prophets. Malachi prophesied about B.C. 400; and some traditionary accounts state that he was a native of Sapha, and of the tribe of Zebulun. He reproves the people for their wickedness, and the priests for their negligence in the discharge of their office; he threatens the disobedient with the judgments of God, and promises great rewards to the penitent and pious; he predicts the coming of Christ, and the preaching of John the Baptist; and with a solemnity becoming the last of the prophets, he closes the sacred canon with enjoining the strict observance of the Mosaic law, till the forerunner, already promised, should appear in the spirit of Elias, to introduce the Messiah, who was to establish a new and everlasting covenant.