Malachi 1
The Lord's Love Questioned 1–5
God Condemns Defective Offerings 6–10
The Promise of Universal Worship 11–14
Bible text: King James Version (1769 Blayney text) · Public domain
Study Notes for Malachi 1
Verse 1
The burden of the word of the LORD — Massa’ comes from the verb ‘to lift’: a load the prophet carries and delivers. The same opening heads Zech 9:1 and 12:1, and ‘to Israel’ answers Zech 12:1, ‘for Israel’. ‘By Malachi’ is literally ‘by the hand of’ Malachi (yad), a name meaning ‘my messenger’.
Verse 2
Wherein hast thou loved us? — The first of the people’s questions, each beginning ‘Wherein…?’ (1:6–7; 2:17; 3:7–8). The LORD answers with two brothers: ‘Was not Esau Jacob’s brother?’ They were the two nations of Gen 25:23, ‘the elder shall serve the younger’, and Paul sets this verse beside that promise (Rom 9:13).
Verse 3
I hated Esau — Sane, the verb of Rom 9:13, ‘Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated’. Esau is Edom (Gen 36:8), and his ‘mountains’ are Mount Seir where he dwelt. Their ruin is the one Obadiah foretells (Obad 1:18). ‘Dragons’ is tannah, a word found only here, probably the feminine of tan, the jackal.
Verse 4
They shall build, but I will throw down — Edom’s two plans, ‘return’ (shub) and ‘build’, are met by one verb of the LORD, ‘throw down’ (haras), the opposite of ‘build’. The names given to Edom’s land, ‘The border of wickedness’, agree with Ezek 35:9, ‘I will make thee perpetual desolations, and thy cities shall not return’.
Verse 6
if then I be a father, where is mine honour? — The LORD is called Israel’s father in Deut 32:6, ‘is not he thy father that hath bought thee?’, and the commandment is Ex 20:12, ‘Honour thy father’. The charge is made to ‘priests, that despise my name’; to Eli’s house the same had been said: ‘they that despise me shall be lightly esteemed’ (1 Sam 2:30).
Verse 7
polluted bread — ‘Polluted’ is ga’al, defiled, and ‘bread’ (lechem) is the offering itself: priests ‘offer… the bread of their God’ (Lev 21:6). ‘The table of the LORD’ is the altar, the place priests ‘come near to my table’ (Ezek 44:16); Paul uses the same words, ‘the Lord’s table’ (1 Cor 10:21).
Verse 8
the blind… the lame and sick — The law’s rule was exact: ‘whatsoever hath a blemish, that shall ye not offer’ (Lev 22:20); ‘lame, or blind’ are named in Deut 15:21. ‘Governor’ (pechah) is the title of Zerubbabel (Hag 1:1) and Nehemiah (Neh 5:14). ‘Accept thy person’ is literally ‘lift up thy face’, the idiom of favour.
Verse 9
beseech God — Literally ‘soften the face of God’ (chalah panim), the idiom of Moses’ prayer in Ex 32:11, ‘besought the LORD his God’. The verb ‘regard’ (nasa) and ‘persons’ (panim) are the words of ‘accept thy person’ in v.8, so their prayer is weighed by the same standard as their gifts.
Verse 10
shut the doors for nought — Chinnam, ‘for nought’, is without payment or without result. The altar’s fire was to be kept burning continually: ‘it shall never go out’ (Lev 6:13). The LORD says he has ‘no pleasure’ (chephets) in them and will not accept the minchah, the offering of grain, from their hand.
Verse 11
my name shall be great among the Gentiles — The sun’s whole course is given as the range, as in Ps 113:3. ‘Pure’ (tahor) answers the ‘polluted’ bread of v.7. The offering of the Gentiles is also named in Isa 66:19–20 and Rom 15:16, and ‘in every place’ is the worship Christ describes, neither ‘in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem’ (John 4:21–23).
Verse 13
what a weariness is it! — Mattelah, found only here, is the word ‘weariness’; the people ‘snuffed’ (naphach, to puff out the breath) at the service. ‘Torn’ is gazal, to seize by force. With ‘the lame, and the sick’ it echoes the list of v.8, and the law’s rule is plain: no blemished animal may be offered (Lev 22:20–22).
Verse 14
cursed be the deceiver — Nakal is to defraud or deal craftily, the verb used of Joseph’s brothers who ‘conspired against him’ (Gen 37:18). The man has ‘a male’ in his flock, as the vow-offering required (Lev 22:19–21), and gives a ‘corrupt’ one instead. ‘The Lord’ here is Adonai; ‘a great King’ is Ps 47:2, and ‘dreadful among the heathen’ returns to v.11.