Malaquias 1

Malaquias 1

Cole observes that... It has been observed that the opposite of love is often not hatred; it is apathy. I hope that no one here hates God, but some of you may have grown indifferent towards God. You may be going through all the motions of being "a good Christian." You go to church, you're outwardly moral, maybe you even tithe. Like a functional marriage, you have a functional relationship with God, but the passion has leaked out over the years. Perhaps you've gone through some difficult trials and you've wondered, "If God really loves me, then why is this happening to me? Why do I suffer while people who don't even believe in Christ prosper?" Malachi's audience was there. Keep in mind that Israel's "life and family" was to some degree in shambles" as Piper phrased it. Yes, the Jews were back in Israel after 70 years exile (reflecting God's faithfulness to His promise in Jer 29:10 - which should encouraged them!) but were still under Persian rule, they possessed their Temple but it was far less glorious than Solomon's Temple and finally they were experiencing both a "plague (which was) ruining (their) crops" and a loss of fruit of "the vine...before harvest" (Mal 3:11NET). And thus in light of their somewhat dismal (from a human perspective) circumstances their first of a series of replies to God's rebukes is the question "How have You loved us?" The implication of their question is that they deserved much better treatment than they had received! Logsdon "To sin against love is more reprehensible than sinning against law, though the latter is the result of the former and is not without seriousness." But you say - This identifies the first of a series of interchanges that follow the pattern of... God's Declaration Israel's Refutation God's Rebuttal In short Israel's priest and people repeatedly failed to see their sin against God and their need to confess so that they might experience His mercy and forgiveness. As Wiersbe wisely points out "It is a dangerous thing when people argue with God and try to defend their sinful ways." ISRAEL'S REFUTATION OF THEIR SIN 1 But you say, “How hast Thou loved us?” 2 But you say, ‘How have we despised Thy name?’ 3 But you say, ‘How have we defiled Thee?’ 4 Yet you say, ‘For what reason?’ 5 Yet you say, “How have we wearied Him?” 6 But you say, ‘How shall we return?’ 7 But you say, ‘How have we robbed Thee?’ 8 Yet you say, ‘What have we spoken against Thee?’ Israel doesn't even reply to God's accusations by "Yes, but" but only "But!" There is no "Yes," no acknowledgement whatsoever of their guilt before a holy God. This reflects their intractably stony hearts, their immutably stiff necks, their unresponsive rebellious spirits! A sad state indeed, for a people chosen by God to be lights unto the Gentiles! GOD'S COMPASSION DOUBTED How have You loved us?- Is this not brazen? Are you not shocked at the creature responding to the Creator in such a way? They question the Almighty's love. They in a sense quarrel with God's claim. G Campbell Morgan sum's up Israel's attitude this way, noting that they look at the prophet with mingled astonishment and incredulity, and they say, “Wherein?" (in the KJV - "How" in the NAS)." What do you mean? You charge us with having despised God and polluted His altar, with having wearied Him, and with wandering from and refusing to return to Him, and accuse us of robbing and speaking against Him; we don’t see that we have done these things, so why should we be subjected to these accusations? You come and say we despise God’s work. Look at our sacrifices and offerings! You tell us that we have polluted the altar. We have brought our gifts! You tell us that we have wearied Him. We don’t see where or when! We are not conscious of having done anything to displease Him! You tell us to return. We don’t see where we are to return from; we don’t see where we are to return to! You tell us we have robbed God. We want to know when? You say we have spoken against God. We don’t remember having spoken against Him; when was it?” What is the significance of this word “Wherein?” (How?) These people are not in open rebellion against God, nor do they deny His right to offerings, but they are laboring under the delusion, that because they have brought offerings, they have been true to Him all along. Theirs is not the language of a people throwing off a yoke and saying, “We will not be loyal,” but of a people established in the Temple. It is not the language of a people who say, “Let us cease to sacrifice, and worship; and let us do as we please”; but it is the language of a people who say, “We are sacrificing and worshipping to please God,” and yet He says, by the mouth of His servant, “Ye have wearied Me: ye have robbed and spoken against Me.” They have been most particular and strict in outward observances, but their hearts have been far away from their ceremonials (Isa 29:13, Mt 15:8, Mk 7:6). They have been boasting themselves in their knowledge of truth, responding to that knowledge mechanically, technically; but their hearts, their lives, their characters, the inwardness of their natures, have been a perpetual contradiction in the eye of Heaven, to the will of God; and, when the prophet tells them what God thinks of them, they, with astonishment and impertinence, look into his face and say, “We don’t see this at all!” To translate it into the language of the New Testament—“having the form of godliness, they deny the power.” (2Ti 3:5-note) They have passed into the fearful condition of imagining that what God asks for is but the letter, and they are failing to understand that the letter is, at best, but an awkward representation of what God is demanding in the spirit (cp 2Cor 3:6-note)....When the prophet came to these people, he came to a people who were feeling thoroughly satisfied with their religious observances, and were prepared to say, “Wherein have we done this, or failed to do that?” (The Spirit of the Age) Steven Cole observes that Israel was so focused on their problems that they were oblivious to God's great covenant love towards them. It's as if God says, "I love you," and they respond, "Ho hum!" Matthew Henry puts God's question and Israel's response in perspective writing... As God traces all his favors to them to the fountain, which was His love, so He traces up all their sins against Him to the fountain, which was their contempt of His love. Instead of acknowledging His kindness, and studying what they shall render, they scorn to own that they have been beholden to Him, challenge Him to produce proofs of His love that are material, and think and speak very slightly of the instances they have had of His kindness, as if they were so few, so small, as not to be worth taking notice of, and no more than what they had sufficiently made returns for, or at least than He had sufficiently balanced with instances of His wrath. "Have we not been wasted, impoverished, and carried captive; and wherein then hast thou loved us?’’ Was not Esau Jacob's brother? - God answers Israel's question with a rhetorical question. He asks this question because He knows that the answer to the question contains the key to understanding of His distinctive love for Israel (Jacob). Clearly Esau was Jacob's brother, in fact his twin brother. Not only that, but he was also the elder brother, who customarily would have received his father Isaac's blessing. Can you see Jehovah's "logic"? Although they were twins, God choose Jacob. And although Esau was the elder, God choose Jacob. So what does all of this say about God's love for Jacob? John