Malachi 1:12-14
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Malachi 1:12
"But you profane it by saying of the Lord's table, 'It is defiled,'
and of its food, 'It is contemptible.'"
The word for profane is CHALAL, and it means "to defile." In
other words, Malachi quotes God as saying the priests, by being unbelievers
and ministering in the Temple, have defiled the Temple of God. And as will
be brought out in chapter 2, the presence of unbelievers in the Temple of
God is comparable to the presence of "offal" or excrement on the
altar.
The priests cast spiritual excrement, then, on the altar by their presence
and by saying of "the Lord's table," which is the shewbread, i.e.,
bread without leaven, "it is polluted" or more properly, "it
is common," GA'EL. In other words, the priests call the shewbread
common because it has no leaven and tastes plain. It has no savor. In
effect, then, the priests are saying sin is commendatory and human works
have merit before God; Christ died for nothing.
And the "it" that they profane or cast excrement at is the name
of Jesus Christ.
BAZAH, is the word used for "contemptible." And it is the memorial
offering that they hold in contempt. The priests despise the work of Christ
as unnecessary. For in their monumental arrogance, they believe that their
personal attributes and abilities are sufficient to provide salvation for
themselves. These apostate unbelieving priests hold that they can earn
salvation.
Malachi 1:13
"And you say, 'What a burden!' and you sniff at it contemptuously,'
says the Lord Almighty. 'When you bring injured, crippled or diseased animals
and offer them as sacrifices, should I accept them from your hands?' says
the Lord."
The priests say, "what a weariness," i.e., "how boring to
stand here and perform these meaningless sacrifices." They were bored
by their functions and, as unbelievers, gave no thought to what the sacrifices
represented or the utter beauty of God's grace. They "sniff at it
contemptuously" is from HpanA, and means they disdain [29] the sacrifices.
The picture, then, is this: the priests would blow away the smoke from
the incense as they burn the offerings. The smoke gets in their eyes and
they think, 'what a burden.' Whereas God, when He sniffs at the smoke from
the sacrifices, is metaphorically propitiated, for the incense represents
the future sacrifice of Christ on the Cross; and this is pleasing to God.
So what is pleasing to God is a burden to the priests, for they have no
comprehension.
And will God accept blemished offerings? In other words, will God accept
these priests on their own merits? The answer is an emphatic, No! For
only perfection, i.e., Christ Jesus, is acceptable.
The Five Offerings
The five offerings that the priests of Malachi's day held in disdain are:
The Burnt Offering: this offering is described in Leviticus 1:2-17, and
Leviticus 6:8-13, and portrays Christ's work on the Cross, stressing redemption
and propitiation.
The Meal Offering: this offering is described in Leviticus 2:1-16 and 6:14-18,
depicts the impeccability of the Person of Christ.
The Peace Offering: this offering is described in Leviticus 3:1-17, and
7:11-20. This offering limns the concept of reconciliation and the willingness
of Christ to hang on the Cross and bear the sins of the world.
The Sin Offering: this offering is found in Leviticus 4:2-35 and 7:25-30.
This offering depicts the suffering of Christ outside the city, I Peter
2:24 and Hebrews 13:11-13, and portrays "cleansing from all unrighteousness,"
i.e., the unknown sins of the congregation.
The Trespass Offering: this offering is described in Leviticus 5 - 6:7
and 7:1-7, and portrays "cleansing from all trespasses," that
is, the known sins of the congregation. [30]
Malachi 1:14
"'Cursed is the cheat who has an acceptable male in his flock and
vows to give it, but then sacrifices a blemished animal to the Lord. For
I am a great king,' says the Lord Almighty, 'and my name is to be feared
among the nations.'"
The word for "cursed" is 'ARUR, and refers to the effects of a
curse, which in this particular case led to the eventual obliteration of
the Aaronic line, and the Diaspora in 70 AD. The exegetical discussion
of chapter 2 will detail the obliteration of the Levitical priesthood.
And the word "cheat" is a "deceiver," those priests
who are defrauding God by sacrificing diseased animals and selling the healthy
animals for monetary gain. For "I am a great king, says the Lord Almighty;"
here, Yahweh, the Lord of the armies, uses an anthropopathism to describe
Himself to the priests. By using this figure, God condescends to the arrogance
of the priests, that is, He points to His true humanity as the Lion of the
Tribe of Judah, a real person who will return at the Second Advent in all
His glory. In other words, He also is a man, a king, a ruler, just like
the Judean Pasha of 420 BC, and as such, He is to be feared and reverenced.
[31]
And His name, i.e., the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, is JARE, "feared"
among the "nations." In other words, even the Gentiles, who had
no covenant with God, and who did not offer sacrifices, feared God in the
days of Malachi. While the priests disclaimed the sacrifices and did not
fear God. The priests are pictured as worse than heathens.
In Malachi chapter 2, verses 1-9 pronounce the crimination of the Priests,
while verses 10 through 17 pronounce the crimination of the People. To
fully comprehend the extent of the indictment, Israel as a unique nation
is presented.
Within the Dispensation of Israel, or the Age of Israel, Israel was unique
in it covenant with Yahweh. This dispensation may be divided into three
parts: the Patriarchs, the Law, and the Tribulation. During this dispensation
the Jews were a "holy nation" unto God, that is, they were the
custodians of the Word of God and its dissemination. Indeed, the very word
'Hebrew' is defined as "missionary" or "one who crossed over
the river to witness." For Abraham crossed the Euphrates River to
witness to the Canaanites when he was a Chaldean, a Gentile.
The covenant between God and Israel made Israel a "holy nation"
before God. Robert Thieme designates this as a "client nation to God,
His specially protected representative on earth (Ex. 19:5-6; Hosea 4:6)."
[32] In other words, the Jews were to evangelize other nations throughout
the world. And not only the entire book of Jonah, but Deuteronomy 4:6-8
sustain this idea: "Observe them carefully, for this will show your
wisdom and understanding to the nations, who will hear about all these decrees
and say, 'Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.'
What other nation is so great as to have their gods near them the way the
Lord our God is near us whenever we pray to him? And what other nation
is so great as to have such righteous decrees and laws as this body of laws
I am setting before you today?"
Israel is also unique in the sense that it is the archetype for the concept
of nationalism. Under this concept, the Israelites had freedom, privacy,
and property. The national entity existed to protect these entitlements.
And included in the idea of property are the notions of free enterprise
and industry. Indeed, Codices I and III of the Mosaic Law were the first
explicit documents to assert freedom, privacy and property as they related
to the absolute truth, God and His Plan. These Codices provided specific
applications to freedom, privacy, property, business, industry, farming,
marriage, civil law, governmental function, etc.
Notes:
[29] Thieme, Robert. Exegesis of Malachi; from his exposition of verse
13; 1968.
[30] Thieme, Robert. Levitical Offerings; page 108-109. Privately published,
1973. The above delineation of the five offerings is based upon Robert
Thieme's scholarship; altered, revised and appended by R.E. Radic.
[31] The Jews called this anthropopathism Derech Benai Adam, i.e., Mdx
ynEbi :jr,d,, the way of the sons of man. And the Greeks called it syncatabasis.
The Romans called it condescensio.
[32] Thieme, Robert. The Divine Outline of History; page 35. Privately
published, 1989.
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