The LORD’s love
Malachi 1
14 verses≈ 4 min1 personBSB
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In this chapter
Where we are
- 1:1–5The LORD’s loveJacob loved, Edom laid wasteChapter 1
- 1:6–14Despised offeringsBlind, lame and sick on the altar
- 2Covenants brokenLevi’s covenant, and the wife of your youth
- 3My messengerThe refiner, the full tithe, a scroll of remembrance
- 4The Day of the LORDThe sun of righteousness, and Elijah
The LORD’s Love for Israel
This is the burden of the word of the LORD to Israel through Malachi:
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“I have loved you,” says the LORD.
Malachi 1:2
The people
But you ask, “How have You loved us?”
God
“Was not Esau Jacob’s brother?” declares the LORD. “Yet Jacob I have loved,
but Esau I have hated, and I have made his mountains a wasteland and left his inheritance to the desert jackals.”
God
Though Edom may say, “We have been devastated, but we will rebuild the ruins,” this is what the LORD of Hosts says: “They may build, but I will demolish. They will be called the Land of Wickedness, and a people with whom the LORD is indignant forever.
You will see this with your own eyes, and you yourselves will say, ‘The LORD is great—even beyond the borders of Israel.’”
How each dispute runs
Whiteboard
Malachi is a string of arguments. The LORD speaks, the people push back, and He answers them.
Reflect
Reflect
When life is hard, do you ask God how He has loved you? What would He point to in your story?
The Polluted Offerings
God
“A son honors his father, and a servant his master. But if I am a father, where is My honor? And if I am a master, where is your fear of Me?” says the LORD of Hosts to you priests who despise My name.
The priests
“But you ask, ‘How have we despised Your name?’
God
By presenting defiled food on My altar.
The priests
But you ask, ‘How have we defiled You?’
God
By saying that the table of the LORD is contemptible.
God
When you offer blind animals for sacrifice, is it not wrong? And when you present the lame and sick ones, is it not wrong? Try offering them to your governor! Would he be pleased with you or show you favor?” asks the LORD of Hosts.
“But ask now for God’s favor. Will He be gracious? Since this has come from your hands, will He show you favor?” asks the LORD of Hosts.
Question
Quick question
Read verses 7 and 8 again before you answer.
What were the priests putting on the LORD’s altar?
For My name will be great among the nations, from where the sun rises to where it sets. In every place, incense and pure offerings will be presented in My name, because My name will be great among the nations,” says the LORD of Hosts.
“But you profane it when you say, ‘The table of the Lord is defiled, and as for its fruit, its food is contemptible.’
You also say: ‘Oh, what a nuisance!’ And you turn up your nose at it,” says the LORD of Hosts. “You bring offerings that are stolen, lame, or sick! Should I accept these from your hands?” asks the LORD.
“But cursed is the deceiver who has an acceptable male in his flock and vows to give it, but sacrifices a defective animal to the Lord. For I am a great King,” says the LORD of Hosts, “and My name is to be feared among the nations.
0:28
Narrated by Bob Souer · BSB audio, public domain
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Malachi 1
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A verse to carry with you
“I have loved you,” says the LORD.
Malachi 1:2
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