Malachi 1 King James Version (KJV)
1 The burden of the word of the Lord to Israel by Malachi.
2 I have loved you, saith the Lord. Yet ye say, Wherein hast thou loved us? Was not Esau Jacob’s brother? saith the Lord: yet I loved Jacob,
3 And I hated Esau, and laid his mountains and his heritage waste for the dragons of the wilderness.
4 Whereas Edom saith, We are impoverished, but we will return and build the desolate places; thus saith the Lord of hosts, They shall build, but I will throw down; and they shall call them, The border of wickedness, and, The people against whom the Lord hath indignation for ever.
5 And your eyes shall see, and ye shall say, The Lord will be magnified from the border of Israel.
6 A son honoureth his father, and a servant his master: if then I be a father, where is mine honour? and if I be a master, where is my fear? saith the Lord of hosts unto you, O priests, that despise my name. And ye say, Wherein have we despised thy name?
7 Ye offer polluted bread upon mine altar; and ye say, Wherein have we polluted thee? In that ye say, The table of the Lord is contemptible.
8 And if ye offer the blind for sacrifice, is it not evil? and if ye offer the lame and sick, is it not evil? offer it now unto thy governor; will he be pleased with thee, or accept thy person? saith the Lord of hosts.
9 And now, I pray you, beseech God that he will be gracious unto us: this hath been by your means: will he regard your persons? saith the Lord of hosts.
10 Who is there even among you that would shut the doors for nought? neither do ye kindle fire on mine altar for nought. I have no pleasure in you, saith the Lord of hosts, neither will I accept an offering at your hand.
11 For from the rising of the sun even unto the going down of the same my name shall be great among the Gentiles; and in every place incense shall be offered unto my name, and a pure offering: for my name shall be great among the heathen, saith the Lord of hosts.
12 But ye have profaned it, in that ye say, The table of the Lord is polluted; and the fruit thereof, even his meat, is contemptible.
13 Ye said also, Behold, what a weariness is it! and ye have snuffed at it, saith the Lord of hosts; and ye brought that which was torn, and the lame, and the sick; thus ye brought an offering: should I accept this of your hand? saith the Lord.
14 But cursed be the deceiver, which hath in his flock a male, and voweth, and sacrificeth unto the Lord a corrupt thing: for I am a great King, saith the Lord of hosts, and my name is dreadful among the heathen.
Commentary
The meaning of the Hebrew word malachi is ‘my messenger’. Since a prophet was God’s messenger, some have thought that ‘Malachi’ in the opening verse is not a person’s name but a statement that the writer is a genuine messenger from God. (The same word is used of another messenger of God in Malachi 3:1.) The usual understanding is that the writer, in calling himself Malachi, is introducing himself by his own name, as do the other writing prophets.
| Malachi Comentary | Malachi Comentary |
|---|---|
| Malachi 1 Commentary | Malachi 4 Commentary |
| Malachi 2 Commentary | Malachi KJV |
Conditions in Israel
After Persia’s conquest of Babylon in 539 BC, the first lot of Jewish exiles returned to Jerusalem and set about rebuilding their city and temple. They were under the leadership of the governor Zerubbabel and the high priest Joshua, and these were helped by the prophets Haggai and Zechariah (Ezra 5:1-2). It was largely a result of the stirring preaching of the prophets that the temple was finished (in 516 BC; Ezra
6:14-15). (For further details of this period see background to Haggai.)
Little is known of affairs in Israel during the next sixty years. A new generation grew up, and without the strong leadership provided by Zerubbabel, Joshua, Haggai and Zechariah, the people drifted from God. When news of this reached Persia, a godly Jewish priest named Ezra obtained authority and finance from the Persian king, Artaxerxes, to go to Jerusalem and carry out reforms there. This was in 458 BC (Ezra 7:7,11-26).
Ezra’s reforms met with only limited success. But when Nehemiah arrived in Jerusalem thirteen years later (445 BC) more extensive changes began to take place. Nehemiah also was a Jew who had previously lived in Babylon, and he also came to Jerusalem with authority from Artaxerxes. He was the king’s appointed governor over Jerusalem (Neh 2:1-8; 5:14-15). Ezra and Nehemiah then worked together to lead the people back to God (Neh 8:9; 12:26).
It seems that Malachi carried out his ministry some time during this period of post-exilic reform by Ezra and Nehemiah. The date of his book cannot be fixed with certainty, but the sins he rebuked were similar to those that Ezra and Nehemiah had to deal with.
The people apparently expected that because they had come back to their land and rebuilt their temple, they were going to enjoy the unlimited blessing of God. This did not prove to be so, and as a result people began to doubt whether God really cared for them. Malachi replied that the fault was on their side, not God’s. They had, by their sins, created barriers that hindered the flow and enjoyment of God’s love.