TEXT [Commentary]

  II.   Second Disputation: Indictment of the Corrupt Priesthood (1:6–2:9)

6 The LORD of Heaven’s Armies says to the priests: “A son honors his father, and a servant respects his master. If I am your father and master, where are the honor and respect I deserve? You have shown contempt for my name!

“But you ask, ‘How have we ever shown contempt for your name?’

7 “You have shown contempt by offering defiled sacrifices on my altar.

“Then you ask, ‘How have we defiled the sacrifices?[*]’

“You defile them by saying the altar of the LORD deserves no respect. 8 When you give blind animals as sacrifices, isn’t that wrong? And isn’t it wrong to offer animals that are crippled and diseased? Try giving gifts like that to your governor, and see how pleased he is!” says the LORD of Heaven’s Armies.

9 “Go ahead, beg God to be merciful to you! But when you bring that kind of offering, why should he show you any favor at all?” asks the LORD of Heaven’s Armies.

10 “How I wish one of you would shut the Temple doors so that these worthless sacrifices could not be offered! I am not pleased with you,” says the LORD of Heaven’s Armies, “and I will not accept your offerings. 11 But my name is honored[*] by people of other nations from morning till night. All around the world they offer[*] sweet incense and pure offerings in honor of my name. For my name is great among the nations,” says the LORD of Heaven’s Armies.

12 “But you dishonor my name with your actions. By bringing contemptible food, you are saying it’s all right to defile the Lord’s table. 13 You say, ‘It’s too hard to serve the LORD,’ and you turn up your noses at my commands,” says the LORD of Heaven’s Armies. “Think of it! Animals that are stolen and crippled and sick are being presented as offerings! Should I accept from you such offerings as these?” asks the LORD.

14 “Cursed is the cheat who promises to give a fine ram from his flock but then sacrifices a defective one to the Lord. For I am a great king,” says the LORD of Heaven’s Armies, “and my name is feared among the nations!

CHAPTER 2

1 “Listen, you priests—this command is for you! 2 Listen to me and make up your minds to honor my name,” says the LORD of Heaven’s Armies, “or I will bring a terrible curse against you. I will curse even the blessings you receive. Indeed, I have already cursed them, because you have not taken my warning to heart. 3 I will punish your descendants and splatter your faces with the manure from your festival sacrifices, and I will throw you on the manure pile. 4 Then at last you will know it was I who sent you this warning so that my covenant with the Levites can continue,” says the LORD of Heaven’s Armies.

5 “The purpose of my covenant with the Levites was to bring life and peace, and that is what I gave them. This required reverence from them, and they greatly revered me and stood in awe of my name. 6 They passed on to the people the truth of the instructions they received from me. They did not lie or cheat; they walked with me, living good and righteous lives, and they turned many from lives of sin.

7 “The words of a priest’s lips should preserve knowledge of God, and people should go to him for instruction, for the priest is the messenger of the LORD of Heaven’s Armies. 8 But you priests have left God’s paths. Your instructions have caused many to stumble into sin. You have corrupted the covenant I made with the Levites,” says the LORD of Heaven’s Armies. 9 “So I have made you despised and humiliated in the eyes of all the people. For you have not obeyed me but have shown favoritism in the way you carry out my instructions.”

NOTES

1:6 have shown contempt. The repetition of the verb “show contempt, despise” (bazah [TH959, ZH1022]) in the prophet’s second oracle (1:6, 7, 12; 2:9) sets the tone and the theme for the speech unit.

1:7 defiled. The word ga’al [TH1351, ZH1458] signifies ritual pollution or contamination that disqualifies or renders unfit in religious terms an object (or person) for service in the worship of Yahweh. This ritual pollution or contamination is the result of some violation of the holiness code specified in the law of Moses (in this case the laws concerning acceptable animal sacrifices, cf. Lev 22:17-25; Deut 15:21).

1:8 governor. The term (pekhah [TH6346, ZH7068]) is a rather vague title for a government official, in this case designating the Persian-appointed overseer or governor of the province of Judah. The juxtaposition of “my altar” (1:7) and “your governor” (1:8) insinuates a confusion of loyalties on the part of the Levitical priesthood.

1:12 dishonor. Lit., “you are desecrating it” (i.e., desecrating God’s name). The (Piel) participle of khalal [TH2490, ZH2725] describes an ongoing state of affairs. Ironically, the guardians of Israel’s covenant relationship with Yahweh were habitually profaning his Temple with impure sacrifices.

1:13 turn up your noses. Lit., “to sniff at” or “snort” (napakh [TH5301, ZH5870]) contemptuously.

1:14 cursed. To “bind with a curse” (’arar [TH779, ZH826]) is to deliver an individual over to misfortune as punishment for a serious crime committed against the community (cf. TDOT 1.411). Malachi resorts to the curse in much the same fashion as Deut 27:15-26 and Jer 48:10, in the sense that “since Yahweh is speaking, the [curse] should be taken as a pronouncement of doom rather than as a wish” (Brichto 1963:82).

2:2 make up your minds. This idiomatic expression (lit., “lay it to heart”) indicates this is an issue of the will, not the emotions.

terrible curse. The “terrible curse” (me’erah [TH3994, ZH4423]) the prophet has in mind is the utter destruction threatened against those who violate the Mosaic covenant (cf. Deut 28:20).

2:7 knowledge of God. The priests had been entrusted with a sacred deposit, the knowledge of God as revealed in the Torah or law of Moses. They functioned as guardians of Yahweh’s covenant with Israel by means of their role as teachers of God’s law (Deut 33:9-10).

messenger. The title “messenger” (mal’ak [TH4397, ZH4855]) may be a play on words with the name Malachi. Usually this title is reserved for the Hebrew prophets in the OT. Here, Malachi seems to be ascribing “prophetic” duties related to the interpretation of God’s word to the Levitical priesthood.

2:9 shown favoritism. The literal OT idiom “lift up the face” (nos’im panim [TH5375/6440, ZH5951/7156]) is traditionally understood to the unjust favoritism of the priests in their administration of the Mosaic law (cf. NJB, “being partial in applying the law”). Assuming, however, that ’enekem is the implied (or gapped) subject of the participle nosim, then the meaning of both verse 9c and 9d must be parallel in the sense that both are negated clauses. Literally, the expression reads “and you are not lifting up faces [of the people] in Torah” (cf. Peterson 1995:176 n. o.). Not only have the Levitical priests failed to keep the ways of Yahweh’s Torah, but they have also been derelict in “raising faces in Torah”; that is, they have neglected to demonstrate the grace of kindness and justice in their administration of the rules of Torah. The expression has a parallel in 1:9 (“Why should he show you any favor,” NLT), and the two may form an envelope construction for the second oracle. Note the irony in the prophet’s opening question to the priests (“Will [God] lift up your face?”—1:9) and the implied answer to that question in his assertion that the priests were not lifting up the face of the people. How ridiculous to suppose God would show favor to the priests when they had shown partiality in discharging the prescribed duties of their divinely ordained office!

COMMENTARY [Text]

The prophet’s second disputation consists of two distinct speech acts, with Yahweh the subject of the first (1:6-14) and the Levitical priesthood the subject of the second (2:1-9). Malachi’s first speech is designed to persuade his audience that Yahweh is truly Lord. His second speech both warns and threatens the priests for their “liturgical malpractice” in that they have failed to honor Yahweh as Lord. Fishbane (1985:334) has convincingly demonstrated that Malachi’s second disputation is a postexilic example of haggadic exegesis of the Aaronic blessing (Num 6:23-27). Typically, Jewish haggadic exegesis reuses earlier biblical texts and draws forth latent meanings from these traditional or well-known passages that are appropriate to the later historical setting. In this case, Malachi recasts the priestly prayer of Aaron in Numbers 6:23-27 as an “anti-blessing” or a curse for the corrupt priests and Levites (1:14; 2:2). Finally, Wells (1987:49-51) has pointed out Malachi’s clever use of irony in exposing the recurring, dual crises of commitment (1:6-9; 2:1-5) and responsibility (1:10-14; 2:6-9) in the second disputation. The concepts of commitment (promise) and responsibility (stipulation) lie at the heart of covenant relationship—the unifying theme of the book of Malachi. Malachi exploded the myth that the dutiful discharging of responsibilities by people and priests, with the corresponding commitment to obey the covenant stipulations, was sufficient for sustaining a relationship with Yahweh.

The point of contention in the second disputation is improper worship of Yahweh in the form of unworthy sacrifices offered by the people (1:7-8) and corrupt ministry on the part of the priests (2:8). The dual crises of commitment and responsibility may be seen in the first speech of the prophet’s second disputation in the failure of the community to honor Yahweh with appropriate sacrificial ritual (2:6-8). Consequently, this lack of commitment to offer God the worship he deserved had an impact on the responsibility of Israel to provide the model for the universal worship of Yahweh (1:11) and promote his reputation among the nations as “a great king” (1:14).

The commitment to revere God with proper worship is rooted in the core values of honor and shame found across the biblical world. Honor may be ascribed in the sense of the social status or position into which one is born or inherits. Honor may also be acquired in the sense of the social status or position that is earned or achieved by means of personal initiative in risk taking. Shame is the disgrace or reproach incurred when one acts out of character with the cultural protocols required for recognizing ascribed and acquired honor within the society. (For the social values of “honor” and “shame,” see Pilch 1991:49-70.)

Malachi emphasized the ascribed honor of Yahweh as Creator and Deliverer of Israel and thereby attempted to shame the people and the priests into offering him proper worship. Ironically, in so doing, the prophet reversed the argument of the first disputation in which he had acknowledged the ascribed honor of Israel by virtue of Yahweh’s election (1:2-5). The proposition that God deserved the honor of proper worship is further stressed by comparative degree in the analogies of the ascribed honor due a father (1:6) and a human governor (1:8). Israel’s destiny was entwined with the nations from the very beginnings of its covenant relationship with Yahweh, as all the families of the earth would be blessed through Abram and Sarai (Gen 12:1-3). The supremacy of Yahweh as a universal deity, God of all the nations, was later demonstrated in the spiritual contests against the Egyptian gods at the Exodus (Exod 12:12) and the Canaanite gods at Mount Carmel (1 Kgs 18:24, 36-39).

Malachi revisited this theological truth in a triad of verses in his first and second disputations (1:5, 11, 14). The climactic arrangement of the three declarations is often recognized: First, Yahweh’s greatness reaches beyond the borders of Israel (1:5); then he is honored by the worship of other people groups—making his name great among the nations (1:11); and finally, Yahweh is a great king, feared among the nations (1:14).

This theme of Yahweh’s worship by the nations is central to the second disputation, and it fits the pattern of universal worship of Yahweh projected in each of the postexilic prophets (cf. Hag 2:7; Zech 14:16-17). More than the worship of the Diaspora Jews or even Jewish proselytes, Malachi seems to have in mind the eschatological future when the Kingdom of God is established over all the earth and the nations recognize Yahweh as the true Sovereign. Malachi rightly understood that Israel’s proper worship of Yahweh had global implications (cf. Ps 86:9; John 3:16; Rev 7:9-10).

The second speech act (2:1-9) of the second disputation (1:6–2:9) is a warning directed specifically to the priesthood servicing the Second Temple (2:1). The themes of commitment (i.e., a heart of loyalty to Yahweh’s covenant) and responsibility (i.e., a pliant will obedient to the commands of Yahweh’s covenant) join the two speech acts. Both units of the second speech act (2:1-3 and 2:4-9) are connected first by a pair of key words, “honor” (kabod [TH3519, ZH3883], “glory”; 2:2) and “reverence, revered” (yare’ [TH3372, ZH3707], “fear”; 2:5). Thus, the second speech act is structured as a response to the rhetorical questions posed in the first speech act: “Where are the honor (kabod) and respect (mora’ [TH4172, ZH4616]) I deserve?” (1:6).

Even as kingship was the heritage of the tribe of Judah (Gen 49:9-10), so the priesthood was the heritage of the tribe of Levi. According to the farewell blessing of Moses, the Levites were charged to “watch over” the word of God and “guard” Yahweh’s covenant (Deut 33:9). In addition, they were authorized to “teach” the law of God to Israel and “offer” sacrifices on Yahweh’s altars (Deut 33:10). Right worship and right behavior on the part of the people of Israel (who were bound to God in covenant relationship) were dependent upon the virtuous priestly example in the ministry of worship and the sound priestly instruction of the Mosaic law. Sadly, the priests of Malachi’s day failed on both counts.

What hope is there for sheep without a shepherd (Jer 50:6; Zech 10:2)? The very covenant of Levi was in jeopardy (2:4) because priests living unworthy lives were encouraging unworthy worship by God’s people through unworthy and erroneous teaching. For this reason, the priests were shamed by God (2:2-3) and were despised and humiliated in the eyes of the people (2:9). The prophet ultimately attributed the corruption of the covenant of Levi to the sin of the priests, the sin of disobedience to the laws of God—the same laws they were to teach the Hebrew people (2:8-9.) Malachi’s implicit cure for the malady threatening the covenant of Levi was a return to a posture of obedience to God’s commandments by the Second Temple priesthood. The prophet’s explicit remedy, for the ailing priesthood and people alike, was correct “instruction” in the knowledge of God (2:7). Such instruction would promote proper worship and righteous lives (2:5-6).

In his classic essay on worship, Tozer has forwarded the thesis that worship is the missing gem in the crown of the evangelical church. Tozer (1992:11-14) proposed to restore that missing jewel of worship, in part, through the teaching of sound doctrine—the knowledge of God. Granted, the biblically based knowledge of God’s character and redemptive work in history is vital to restoring the element of mystery essential to Christian worship. Further, I would concur with Tozer (1992:22-24) that “admiration, fascination,” and “adoration” are the spiritually prompted responses of the worshiping heart to the work of God in creation and redemption. I would suggest, however, that there is still something “missing” in Tozer’s plan for restoring worship in the evangelical church. The missing component of which I speak is worship education itself, formal instruction in the history, theology, and practice of Christian worship.

This is hardly a revolutionary idea. For more than two decades Robert Webber has been calling for formal worship education as a part of the Christian education initiative in the church. In fact, worship education heads the lists of Webber’s “nine proposals” for worship renewal among evangelical worshipers (1982:193-196). I can echo his appeal to make the study of the biblical, historical, and theological sources of Christian worship at all age levels a matter of priority in the Christian church. Worship education is essential because the heart of worship renewal is a recovery of the power of the Holy Spirit who enables the congregation to offer praise and thanksgiving to God. The value of studying the history and theology of worship is that it provides us with insights into the work of the Holy Spirit in the past and allows us to be open to his work in the present. In this way the Holy Spirit may lead us into the ways of worship (Webber 1982:193). Perhaps this is the legacy of the prophet Malachi, a ministry of worship education that prompts worship renewal among both “priests” and “people.”