Mal 1:13-14 | KingComments | STEP | In we return to the raw reality of those days. How awful it is when people who confess to belong to God’s people dishonor His Name through their speaking and their behavior. They dishonor His Name especially by doing their sacrificial service in a way that shows their contempt for God. They do not say it, but their dealings with the table of the Lord and the sacrifices show their contempt for it. And that’s not all. They find the service of the LORD but a tiresome, difficult occupation ( ). They disdainfully sniff at that service, so little does it mean to them. In another translation it says that they frown at it. That is an indication of their contempt for the service to God. The LORD presents Himself to them again as “the LORD of hosts”. They feel sorry for Him! Don’t we see this same tiredness regarding the Lord’s things in our days? Are there not Christians who were once active in the service of the Lord, but are now tired? They have grown weary, tired of praying, tired of reading the Bible, tired of thinking of the Lord, tired of preaching the gospel, tired of the things of the Lord and tired of the people of the Lord. A confession without practice and a service without devotion lead to tiredness in the things of the Lord. And when people get tired of something, they will finally despise it. The LORD also holds up to them with what nice sacrifices they bring to Him. They “bring what was taken by robbery”. A robbed sacrifice is the sacrifice stolen from another person and brought as if it were their own sacrifice. Thus we can use the words of God’s Word in our thanksgiving without having made them our own. Then we steal or rob God’s words ( ). We should not adopt expressions because we like them and want to make an impression with them. God wants us to be honest and not pretend that we are more than we are. He wants us to tell Him in our own words Who the Lord Jesus is. The LORD also repeats the bringing of what is “lame or sick” ( ; ). This shows how deeply He has been touched by their contempt. They should not think that He will accept their offering from their hand. Their hand is not pure, their actions are not clean. That is why He does not take anything out of them. The grain offering speaks of the perfect life of the Lord Jesus. We may be able to tell God a lot about it, but if our actions are unclean, He does not accept our thanksgiving. He does not listen to us. What do we give to the Lord? Do we give Him the best of everything we have, or only what we don’t need? For example, how do we spend our time? Is He at the front and at the top when we start the day? In this way we can look at our possessions and our capacities. Do we serve Him with that or ourselves and should He be content with the leftovers?

‏ Malachi 1:13-14

Once More the Attitude of the Priests

In Mal 1:12 we return to the raw reality of those days. How awful it is when people who confess to belong to God’s people dishonor His Name through their speaking and their behavior. They dishonor His Name especially by doing their sacrificial service in a way that shows their contempt for God. They do not say it, but their dealings with the table of the Lord and the sacrifices show their contempt for it.

And that’s not all. They find the service of the LORD but a tiresome, difficult occupation (Mal 1:13). They disdainfully sniff at that service, so little does it mean to them. In another translation it says that they frown at it. That is an indication of their contempt for the service to God. The LORD presents Himself to them again as “the LORD of hosts”. They feel sorry for Him!

Don’t we see this same tiredness regarding the Lord’s things in our days? Are there not Christians who were once active in the service of the Lord, but are now tired? They have grown weary, tired of praying, tired of reading the Bible, tired of thinking of the Lord, tired of preaching the gospel, tired of the things of the Lord and tired of the people of the Lord. A confession without practice and a service without devotion lead to tiredness in the things of the Lord. And when people get tired of something, they will finally despise it.

The LORD also holds up to them with what nice sacrifices they bring to Him. They “bring what was taken by robbery”. A robbed sacrifice is the sacrifice stolen from another person and brought as if it were their own sacrifice. Thus we can use the words of God’s Word in our thanksgiving without having made them our own. Then we steal or rob God’s words (Jer 23:30). We should not adopt expressions because we like them and want to make an impression with them. God wants us to be honest and not pretend that we are more than we are. He wants us to tell Him in our own words Who the Lord Jesus is.

The LORD also repeats the bringing of what is “lame or sick” (Mal 1:13; Mal 1:8). This shows how deeply He has been touched by their contempt. They should not think that He will accept their offering from their hand. Their hand is not pure, their actions are not clean. That is why He does not take anything out of them. The grain offering speaks of the perfect life of the Lord Jesus. We may be able to tell God a lot about it, but if our actions are unclean, He does not accept our thanksgiving. He does not listen to us.

What do we give to the Lord? Do we give Him the best of everything we have, or only what we don’t need? For example, how do we spend our time? Is He at the front and at the top when we start the day? In this way we can look at our possessions and our capacities. Do we serve Him with that or ourselves and should He be content with the leftovers?

The LORD Is a Great King

The people act just like the priests. There are people who make a vow that they will sacrifice a healthy male animal to the LORD, but they sacrifice to Him “a blemished animal”. Malachi calls someone who acts in this way a “swindler”. It is a conscious, deliberate ‘switcheroo’. Promising something but not doing it is an abomination to the Lord. With a powerful “but cursed be” Malachi expresses his deep indignation about such an act.

It can be compared to the sin of Ananias and Saphira. They want to give the impression that they are giving all their money, while they secretly withhold a part for themselves (Acts 5:1-11). It is the hypocrisy of pretending to be pious, but acting for one’s own benefit, both financially and in prestige.

God stands up in all His greatness. He presents Himself to them as “a great King”. How dare man oppose or despise Him! He is “the LORD of hosts”. He is above all heavenly and earthly powers. His Name cannot but inspire awe, not only among His people, but among all nations. There is no greater authority in creation than His. There is also nothing in the universe that is not under His government and authority. If Israel were aware of this, they would realize how foolish it is to swindle Him. The same goes for us.