Malachi (3)

Below is what our small group considered in its third session in Malachi. Maybe there is something here for you. 

Let’s please consider Malachi 2:10 – 16.

Let me say at the outset that this passage is like trying to hit a knuckleball – it moves one way and then another and it can be confusing. Since we can’t just stand at the plate and do nothing, we’ll take our best swings and see what happens. When I consulted an “academic” commentary (a commentary which looks closely at ancient languages, grammar, history, and different ways of looking at a passage) I have on Malachi, I realized that Hoyt Wilhelm (an old knuckleball pitcher) must be descended from Malachi.

Taking a first look at the passage, what do see as its main point(s)?

I think there are two things going on at the same time, and this is one of the things that makes the passage a knuckleball. On the one hand Israel is once again worshiping idols, and on the other hand the men are divorcing their Jewish wives and marrying pagan women who are bringing with them pagan gods; one practice is feeding the other practice. (I’ve pondered this for a few days!)

It is interesting to me that in Hosea, which is the first Minor Prophet, we looked at Israel’s adultery in marrying foreign gods (Hosea chapters 1 – 3). Now in Malachi, the last Minor Prophet, we are dealing with the very same thing.

Hosea took place before the Assyrians destroyed the northern kingdom (Israel) and Babylon destroyed the southern kingdom (Judah); in Malachi the people of Judah have returned from Babylonian captivity and rebuilt Jerusalem and the Temple and now they are back to doing the same thing.

Regarding marrying pagan women, take a look at Ezra 9:1 – 4 and Nehemiah 13:23 – 31. We looked at these passages last May and June. The sequence was:

1.    Judah comes back from captivity.

2.    Ezra, Nehemiah, Haggai, and Zechariah insist that the priests, civil leaders, and people not form alliances with pagans and not marry pagans; and that the pagan women they have married be sent away.

3.    The people obey.

4.    Then after a few years (let’s say within 50 – 100 years) the priests, government leaders, and people go back the worshiping idols, forming alliances with pagans, and marrying pagan women.

5.    God speaks through Malachi – the last Old Testament prophet.

6.    God (in a sense) will not speak prophetically to His people for 450 years; then come John the Baptist and Jesus Christ.

There are a lot of moving parts in all of this, which is a reason reading, reading, and reading the Bible is critical to developing a framework for “seeing” the Bible.

Note the sequence of Malachi; from Malachi 1:6 – 2:9 we see the sins of the priests, then beginning in 2:10 we see the sins of the people. If the leaders are sinful and immoral, the people will follow. If the ministers and priests are wicked, the people will be wicked. Please remind me again why the morality of our leaders doesn’t matter? I seem to have missed that one. If our seminaries are teaching pagan and worldly thinking, and denying the Bible as the Word of God, and not placing the Christ of the Cross above everything else in life – then what can we expect our congregations to do?

Malachi 2:11. I think the “sanctuary” here is the People of God. God’s People are where God lives. When one of us sins we bring sin into the sanctuary, the rest of us are affected by the sin. 1 Peter 2:5; Ephesians 2:19 – 22; 1 Corinthians 5:6 - 8. If an offensive lineman misses his blocking assignment it affects the entire team; if a soldier on the perimeter goes to sleep, the enemy can infiltrate the camp; the weakest link in a band of brothers can lead to the destruction of the unit.

Here is a nice quote from my commentary, “…the mixed marriages were a desecration of the ‘sanctuary of God,” a violation of Israel’s spiritual existence as a covenant people. Through these marriages the frontiers between covenant people and heathen, between church and world were obliterated.”

The idea that sin can be “private” and not affect others is simply not true. If Christians are truly “members of one another” (1 Cor. 12:12; Rom. 12:4; Eph. 4:25), then what one person does affects the entire Body. Here are some more excerpts from the commentary:

“The sinful divorces which they had considered a private affair had not escaped the notice of the Lord. It is because He had acted as witness.” (The Books of Haggai and Malachi, Pieter A. Verhoef, The New International Critical Commentary on the Old Testament, Eerdmans).

“Whatever the reason for the divorces might have been, the fact remains that it was the reason why the communion with God was broken.”

Malachi 2:13: Judah thought that it could sin by practicing unrestrained and wholesale divorce, and by worshiping pagan gods, and that the True and Living God would still accept their worship. They believed that then, and we believe that now. We believe that we can teach whatever we want to, live however we want to, and that our Sugar Daddy God will pat us on our heads and be proud of us and understand that we are well-intentioned.

Do you think about the fact that when you sin it affects us all?

Do you think about the fact that when you are obedient to Christ that it blesses us all?

Is it possible to restore a Biblical view of marriage, divorce, fornication (sex outside of marriage), adultery, and sexual purity within the professing-church in our nation?

What are the challenges to such a restoration?

How might we begin the process?

Why don’t we think sex outside of marriage is sinful?

Considering that the Bible is clear about sexuality and marriage, why is it that a couple can live together without being married, attend church, join a church, and not be held accountable for sexual sin?

How can churches model strong marriages and strengthen all marriages?

How can churches model sexual purity?

A promiscuous society and a promiscuous church (a church that worships the idols of the world) produces promiscuous people, and promiscuous people produce an idolatrous church.

I love you!

Bob