Mal 2:17 | KingComments | STEP | Malachi tells the people that they weary the LORD with their words (cf. ). Through their constant faithlessness and hypocrisy, they have brought God’s patience to an end. They feel that God does not take care that they are doing badly, while their enemies are doing very well. God does not care about them, that is how they experience it. He doesn’t punish the suffering that has been done to them enough, that’s how they judge God’s attitude towards them. The words they utter about it weary God. The self-complaint is a complaint against God that they make without self-knowledge and without repentance about the way they go. God grows weary of having to listen to their unjustified complaining over and over again. God gets weary of words that are about their own right, and in which He is put in the dock. The reaction of the people is again a justification of themselves. They would not know what they have wearied God with. But God confronts them with their indifference by quoting their words, reminding them of it. Their whole attitude testifies to a complete lack of knowledge of God. Not only do they ignore Him, but they also attribute to Him preposterous conduct of which they feel they are the victims. We hear these kinds of expressions when people say: ‘If God is righteous, why then does He let …?’ and so on and so forth. These kinds of questions are commonplace and are found in the mouths of people who think that God acts arbitrarily, both in the world and in their personal lives. They are blind to their own sins, but they blame God for the misery in which they are or which they see around them. In fact, they are so audacious that they challenge God to show Himself as the God of judgment. If He really is the God of judgment, where is He? What an arrogant attitude. If God were to express Himself in judgment, they would all be stricken by that judgment. The answer comes in the first verse of the next chapter. There they hear about the coming Judge, Who by God’s grace is preceded by a herald who calls for repentance in order to be ready for the Judge’s coming.

‏ Malachi 2:17

The LORD Is Weary of Their Words

Malachi tells the people that they weary the LORD with their words (cf. Isa 43:24b). Through their constant faithlessness and hypocrisy, they have brought God’s patience to an end. They feel that God does not take care that they are doing badly, while their enemies are doing very well. God does not care about them, that is how they experience it. He doesn’t punish the suffering that has been done to them enough, that’s how they judge God’s attitude towards them.

The words they utter about it weary God. The self-complaint is a complaint against God that they make without self-knowledge and without repentance about the way they go. God grows weary of having to listen to their unjustified complaining over and over again. God gets weary of words that are about their own right, and in which He is put in the dock.

The reaction of the people is again a justification of themselves. They would not know what they have wearied God with. But God confronts them with their indifference by quoting their words, reminding them of it. Their whole attitude testifies to a complete lack of knowledge of God. Not only do they ignore Him, but they also attribute to Him preposterous conduct of which they feel they are the victims.

We hear these kinds of expressions when people say: ‘If God is righteous, why then does He let …?’ and so on and so forth. These kinds of questions are commonplace and are found in the mouths of people who think that God acts arbitrarily, both in the world and in their personal lives. They are blind to their own sins, but they blame God for the misery in which they are or which they see around them.

In fact, they are so audacious that they challenge God to show Himself as the God of judgment. If He really is the God of judgment, where is He? What an arrogant attitude. If God were to express Himself in judgment, they would all be stricken by that judgment.

The answer comes in the first verse of the next chapter. There they hear about the coming Judge, Who by God’s grace is preceded by a herald who calls for repentance in order to be ready for the Judge’s coming.