COMMENTARY ON MALACHI
LESSON NUMBER 2
Mal 1:2 “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.” (Malachi 3:2-3)
DIVINE LOVE UNHEEDED
INTRODUCTION
At the time Malachi prophesied, Israel was in a state of spiritual decline. This took place after the completion of the Babylonian captivity, which was a specific judgment because they had refused to give the land its appointed Sabbath every seven years (Lev 25:2-4). That obstinance continued uninterrupted for 490 years. As a result, God took all seventy of the land-sabbaths at one time, sending Israel out of the land so it could rest (2 Chron 36:21; Jer 25:11). At the conclusion of that uninterrupted captivity, God raised up Cyrus the Persian to rally the people of Israel for a return to Jerusalem from Babylon, and to commence the rebuilding of the Temple (Ezra 1:1-8). 42,360 Jews returned, plus 7,337 servants and maids, and 200 singing men and singing women – 49,897 in all (Ezra 2:64-65). Around 18-20 years later, under the leadership of Zerubbabel and Joshua the high priest, the Temple was finally rebuilt (Ezra 6:14). Then, under the leadership of Nehemiah, the wall of Jerusalem was fully repaired (Neh 6:15), and the Levitical order was again put in place (Neh 11:1-20). This was approximately 25 years after the return prompted by Cyrus. Following all of this, Nehemiah had returned to Shushan. While he was there, things fell apart in Jerusalem. The seeds of spiritual corruption had flourished, confirming that in the flesh “dwelleth no good thing” (Rom 7:18), and that “the flesh profiteth nothing” (John 6:63) – even if it is given every conceivable advantage and opportunity. Now Malachi is sent by God to hew the people, delivering a chastening word. He will confirm the obtuseness of the people. As well, he will show the weakness of mere ceremony, and how a ritualistic approach to God – even a revealed one – cannot get through to the heart. Man sorely needs a salvation that is initiated and maintained by God Himself.
“I HAVE LOVED YOU”
Malachi 1:2a “I have loved you, saith the LORD . . . ” Other versions read, “You have been loved by Me,” BBE “I love you,” CJB “I have shown love to you,” NET “I have always loved you,” NLT “I have shown you love,” TNK and “I have loved you very deeply.” LIVING
I HAVE. Before God recalls to the mind of the people what they have done, He will first affirm what HE has done. That will put the whole matter in the proper context, for the things that men do are to be seen through the lens of what the Lord has done. That is the manner of spiritual reasoning. In the beginning, God spoke to Adam about what He had done: “I have given you every herb bearing seed. . . I have given you every green herb for meat” (Gen 1:29). He reminded Israel, “I gave Egypt for thy ransom” (Isa 43:3), and spoke of “the land I gave to your fathers” (Jer 7:7). He “gave” them their food (Ezek 16:19; Hos 2:8). When dealing with waywardness, men must begin with what the Lord has given, for all of that has to be forgotten before the heart can wander and regress.
LOVED YOU. By saying “I have loved you,” God is not speaking of a mere attitude, although that was surely involved. This is a love that was put into action – He did something that confirmed the love He had for the people.
Not An Attractive People. That is, it is not that the people were attractive to God. Solemnly Moses reminded the people, “The LORD did not set His love upon you, nor choose you, because ye were more in number than any people; for ye were the fewest of all people” (Deut 7:7). His love for them, therefore, was not prompted by what He saw in them.
For the Sake of the Fathers. He even narrowed the cause by revealing He loved them because of the oath He made to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob: “But because the LORD loved you, and because He would keep the oath which he had sworn unto your fathers.” God declared to Isaac that He would bless and multiply his offspring “for My servant Abraham’s sake” (Gen 26:24).
Confirmed in Their Deliverance. “Because the LORD loved you . . . hath brought you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you out of the house of bondmen, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt” (Deut 7:8). All of this designed to confirm that “He is the God, the faithful God, who keepeth covenant and mercy with them that love Him” (Deut 7:9).
Confirmed in Condescending to be Near Them. Moses reminded the people of the singular benefit of having access to a God that was near to them – that is, within hearing distance. They were privileged to call upon Him in the time of need. “For what nation is there so great, who hath God so nigh unto them, as the LORD our God is in all things that we call upon Him for?” (Deut 4:7). This benefit was not owing to Israel’s worthiness, but was rather traceable to God’s own beneficence and compassionate nature.
Confirmed in Giving Them a Good Law. Because He loved Israel, He gave them a righteous Law in which His own character was revealed. Thus they were tutored in Divine manners and characteristics, while being shown the right way for men. “And what nation is there so great, that hath statutes and judgments so righteous as all this law, which I set before you this day?” (Deut 4:8).
Confirmed by Turning a Curse into a Blessing. When Balaam, who prophesied for wages, sought to curse Israel, God would not let him do so. “Nevertheless the LORD thy God would not hearken unto Balaam; but the LORD thy God turned the curse into a blessing unto thee, because the LORD thy God loved thee” (Deut 23:5). When Balaam opened his mouth to curse Israel, through Divine compulsion, he blessed them instead (Num 23:8-11).
Confirmed in His Chastening of Them. It is declared that the Lord chastens those whom He loves (Heb 12:6). Faithfully, the Lord laid the chastening rod upon Israel, so that “they poured out a prayer when Thy chastening was upon them” (Isa 26:16).
Yet, Israel “forgat His works, and His wonders that He had showed them” (Psa 78:11), being drawn aside to lesser things, and becoming slothful and heartless toward the One who loved them. It is written, “They soon forgat His works; they waited not for His counsel” (Psa 106:13). And again, “They forgat God their Savior, which had done great things in Egypt” (Psa 106:21). They forgot how they multiplied in the “iron furnace” (Deut 4:20),were protected during the ten plagues (Ex 8:22; 9:4-6,26; 10:23, and came out of the land with “jewels of silver, and jewels of gold, and raiment” (Ex 12:35; Psa 105:37), just as God had promised – “with great substance” (Gen 15:14) . How slow men are to learn the liability of being human!
SAITH THE LORD. The One who “cannot lie” makes the declaration (Tit 1:2). He is ever “the God of truth” (Deut 32:4; Psa 31:5; Isa 65:16). He never misrepresents, understates, or exaggerates. Furthermore, He always speaks and acts in strict accord with who He is. His attributes are never placed to the side when dealing with men – whether in blessing or in judgment. The very fact that God said, “I have loved thee,” was enough to establish it as the truth. However, His tolerance of their wayward “manners in the wilderness” (Acts 13:18), as well as many deliverances, timely warnings, and staggering promises of covenantal blessing, all worked together as the unquestionable confirmation of that love. “I HAVE LOVED THEE!”
“WHEREIN HAST THOU LOVED US?”
1:2b “ . . . . Yet ye say, Wherein hast Thou loved us? Was not Esau Jacob's brother? saith the LORD: yet I loved Jacob.”
YET YE SAY. Other versions read, “But you say,” NASB “But you ask,” NIV “Yet ye say,” ASV “you have said,” DARBY and “But you retort, “‘Really?’” WEB
God, who “cannot lie,” had spoken, and this was Israel’s reply. They question Divine integrity, and doubt holy affirmation. Mind you, they make no foolish charge, for God had already challenged them through Jeremiah, “What iniquity have your fathers found in Me?” (Jer 2:5) – for that is the only justifiable reason for going astray! His voice of thunder cries out, “Have I been a wilderness unto Israel? a land of darkness” (Jer 2:31). However, “the carnal mind is enmity against God,” and dares to question the truth of what He declares (Rom 8:7). Every soul that does not yield to the Word of the Lord does so because they do not think it is the truth and therefore assign no value to it. They feel they can ignore it with impunity.
WHEREIN HAST THOU LOVED US. Other versions read, “In what way,” NKJV “How hast Thou,” NASB “Wherein hast Thou,” ASV “Where was Your love,” BBE “How do you show us,” CJB “How have you shown,” NET “In what hast Thou,” YLT “When was this?” LIVING “How and in what way have You loved us,” and “in what hast Thou loved us.” NLT
It is not that the people verbalized these words – although I do not doubt that possibility. Stony hearts and uncircumcised lips can certainly respond in such a manner. This was a people God said “do err in their heart” (Psa 95:10; Heb 3:10). The wicked man “hath said in his heart, I shall not be moved: for I shall never see adversity” (Psa 10:6). He has glibly “said in his heart, God hath forgotten: He hideth His face; He will never see it” (Psa 10:11). Such a person says “in his heart, Thou shalt not require it” (Psa 10:13). Also, “The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God” (Psa 14:1; 53:1).
Even when His disciples did not speak their minds, Jesus asked them, “Why reason ye these things in your hearts?” (Mark 2:8). And again, “What reason ye in your hearts?” (Lk 5:22). The Malachi text is speaking of heart-talk: of the way the Israelites were thinking. They viewed their circumstances and dd not see the love of God in them. Nor, indeed, did they see the evidence of their own unbelief which moved them to think in such a manner.
When God assesses people, it is according to their hearts, “for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh” (Matt 12:34). Man looks on the outward appearance, including audible verbalization, “but the Lord looketh on the heart” (1 Sam 16:7). That is where this statement was found, and it was confirmed to be how they reasoned, and in the way the people spoke and conducted their lives. They were living as though God had no interest in them.
WAS NOT ESAU JACOB’S BROTHER? The manner of God’s reasoning here is arresting. He is going to show them that His love was revealed in preferential choice and treatment. Jacob not only had a brother, he had a twin brother – Esau. At one time, they were housed together in the same womb, and represented two “manner of people” (Gen 25:23). By Divine appointment, one people would be weaker, and the other stronger. Contrary to all known rules, the older son would serve the younger one. This was confirmed by God to their mother when she inquired why the twins were struggling in her womb: “Two nations are in thy womb, and two manner of people shall be separated from thy bowels; and the one people shall be stronger than the other people; and the elder shall serve the younger” (Gen 25:23).
Paul confirms that this choice was not owing to anything found in the children themselves, either at the time, or in potentiality. “(For the children being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but of him that calleth;) It was said unto her, The elder shall serve the younger” (Rom 9:10-12). The phrase “neither having done” speaks of God’s perusal of their entire lives, and not their conduct in the womb. God was not moved to make His choice by the knowledge of what these twins would do. The purpose would stand “according to election,” not merit.
YET, I LOVED JACOB. Now the Lord reasons through Malachi, placing two babes before the people for consideration. Neither one has yet done any good or evil. They have the same father and the same mother. They are twins, and will be born at the same general time, with Esau exiting the womb first. Neither son has any natural advantage. “Yet, I loved Jacob!” One son’s works were not better than the other, “Yet I loved Jacob!” One sons works were not worse than the other, “Yet I loved Jacob!”
Jacob was the progenitor of the Jewish race, not Esau! He was so because God elected him to be in that role. There was no natural reasoning behind it. His love for Israel was upon precisely the same basis – because He chose to love them: “Only the LORD had a delight in thy fathers to love them, and He chose their seed after them” (Deut 10:15). Of course, this is precisely the kind of love God has chosen to focus toward us – a love that is because of Jesus, like Israel was loved because of Abraham. “. . . the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Rom 8:39). This love is twice discreet: first toward Jesus, then toward those who are in Him.
“AND I HATED ESAU”
1:3 “ And I hated Esau, and laid his mountains and his heritage waste for the dragons of the wilderness.”
Two brothers – twin brothers: yet one was loved and one was hated. One was accepted and the other rejected. This should not surprise us. Abraham was chosen rather than his brothers Nahor and Haran (Gen 11:26; 12:1). Isaac was chosen rather than Ishmael (Gen 21:12). Joseph was preferred over his brethren (Psa 105:17). If you attempt to account for this discretion independently of Divine choice, it is not possible to arrive at a satisfactory answer. God’s love and choice were discretionary, but that discretion was not determined by human qualification. It was the result of the Lord working all things “according to the counsel of His will” NKJV (Eph 1:11). The desires and choice of God are right because He makes them – and all things are apparent to Him. Further, as Job well said, “Why dost thou strive against Him? for He giveth not account of any of His matters” (Job 33:13). If God cannot be trusted to be right, He cannot be trusted at all – and, for me, that is even a frightening thing to even utter.
AND I HATED ESAU. Other versions read, “rejected,” NET “I even rejected his very own brother, Esau,” LIVING “I have hated Esau [Edom].” AMPLIFIED Every other version reads “hated.”
The word translated “hated” is associated with enmity and variance. As used in this text, the reasoning is, “on Jacob have I bestowed privileges and blessings such as are the proofs of affection; I have treated him as one treats a friend whom he loves; but from Esau have I withheld these privileges and blessings, and therefore treated him as one is wont to treat those whom he dislikes.” McCLINTOK & STRONG’S
Keep in mind that Malachi is confirming that the love of God has been toward Israel, the offspring of Jacob, as compared with Edom, the offspring of Esau. He is not establishing the doctrine of election, but the reality of Divine love. He is doing so by declaring what the Lord has said and done toward the ones loved. Even though His love needs no confirmation, it is God’s nature to confirm it. In that way His people can have confidence, and thus bring glory to Him.
It is true that some have chosen to soften the language of this text in their explanations: i.e. “I have preferred Jacob to Esau,” or “I have loved Esau less than Jacob.” However, the language itself does not support these modifications. The strength of the text stands in what it actually says, and it is to be taken in that manner, whether it blends with contemporary theological notions or not.
The Hebrew word translated “hate” in this text, is used 145 times in Scripture. Sample expressions include the following: “let thy seed possess the gate of those which hate them” (Gen 24:60); “men of truth, hating covetousness” (Ex 18:21); “visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate Me” (Ex 20:5); “Thou hatest all workers of iniquity” (Psa 5:5); “The LORD trieth the righteous: but the wicked and him that loveth violence His soul hateth” (Psa 11:5); “I hate robbery for burnt offering” (Isa 61:8); “Mine heritage is unto Me as a lion in the forest; it crieth out against Me: therefore have I hated it” (Jer 12:8); “Oh, do not this abominable thing that I hate” (Jer 44:4); “I hated them: for the wickedness of their doings I will drive them out of Mine house, I will love them no more (Hosea 9:15); “I hate, I despise your feast days, and I will not smell in your solemn assemblies” (Amos 5:21).
The holy employment of this word in Scripture does not encourage a weak and insipid view of it, as though there were people and things that God merely does not like as well as others. In both love and hatred, the Divine nature and will are being expressed.
I LAID HIS MOUNTAINS AND HERITAGE WASTE. To confirm that God is not speaking of some kind of reduced love and favor, the prophet compares what God did for the habitation of Edom, as compared with the land of Canaan. Further identifying Edom, it is written, “These are the sons of Esau, who is Edom” (Gen 36:19). What is said of Edom is confirmation of the statement, “Esau have I hated.” He said of the land given to Israel, “A land which the LORD thy God careth for: the eyes of the LORD thy God are always upon it, from the beginning of the year even unto the end of the year” (Deut 11:12). He said of the land of Edom, “I will make it desolate” (Ezek 25:13). And “I will lay My vengeance upon it” (Ezek 25:14). Joel prophesied against Edom, “Edom shall be a desolate wilderness” (Joel 3:19). Jeremiah wrote, “Also Edom shall be a desolation: every one that goeth by it shall be astonished, and shall hiss at all the plagues thereof” (Jer 49:17).
“Saviors,” or deliverers, came up “on mount Zion” in Canaan, but it was to “judge the mount of Esau” (Obad 1:24). God broke the power of the Assyrian in Canaan (Isa 14:25), yet let them decimate the land of Edom, laying it waste (Jer 27:3-10). Jeremiah called upon the people to “hear the counsel of the LORD, that He hath taken against Edom” (Jer 49:20). That counsel was indicative of how the Lord deals with those He hates. As with Esau, the progenitor of the Edomites, so it is with them. “For ye know how that afterward, when he would have inherited the blessing, he was rejected: for he found no place of repentance, though he sought it carefully with tears” (Heb 12:17). Malachi traces this back to Divine hatred – for the father of the Edomites, the Edomites themselves, and even their land. That is something to ponder!