The End Of The Line

by L.B. Horne, Hamilton, Ontario | Category: The Minor Prophets | Oct 1969

Malachi

The last book of the Old Testament is a sad one. It summarizes the theme of a fossilized people who did not respond to the love and life of God. The story is told in a series of "whereins", seven questions in answer to God's statements.

Malachi must have written late, probably after the time of Ezra and Nehemiah. The evils that caused concern to them seem to have grown into fixed social behaviour that was typical of the people of Israel. He does not mention any historical events or any point of reference to fix his place in time, but there is an atmosphere of finality. The feeling is that hope lies only with the remnant within the remnant.

The most terrible "wherein" is the first (1.2), "I have loved you, saith the LORD. Yet ye say, Wherein hast Thou loved us?" God had set His eye upon Jacob, nursed him from childhood, cared for him, rescued him from the results of his own foolishness, trained him, protected him, given and given and given. It is a hard blow to any parent when a child turns round and says, "You don't love me". In a normal parent, part of the blow and the pain is the memory of times when love for the child was less than it should have been, when selfishness or weakness caused failure. God's love for Jacob was a perfect love, one that never failed, but Jacob refused to see. When things went wrong, because of intent and actions, the people mocked God with complaints that He did not love them. We, who owe Him our lives, our past, our future, our selves, can never doubt His love. Can we?

"Yet I loved Jacob; but Esau I hated". That is a hard saying to hear. It has been interpreted as a relative term, as meaning, "Esau I loved less", but this is playing with words to try to make ourselves feel more comfortable. Reality is often uncomfortable and God's hatred is as much a reality as His wrath. It is part of the climate in which men live, perhaps always but certainly often, by choice. Esau is the example of the man who shut God out, and shut himself out from God. He chose the life which offered him what he wanted and, when he chose, he did not believe that he would have to take the environment in its entirety, that he could not pick and choose. I live in Canada because it offers some of the things I find rewarding in life. I did not come because I like four months of hard winter, ice storms and snowstorms and sub-zero temperatures, but they are part of what I have chosen. A man shut off from God, shuts himself off from love and salvation, and chooses to refuse them.

The next "wherein" comes from the priests who say, "Wherein have we despised Thy Name?" (1.6). They had grown weary of serving God. There was no meaning left in it for them, and it had become a mechanical ritual. It is a dreadful fact that service can be carried on without purpose. They had practical reasons for continuing the service. It was the "proper" thing to do, their livelihood depended on it, it pleased the common people and was expected; but it was so unreal to them that they were giving God much less respect than they gave a governor. They were ready to cheat Him, but pot human authority.

Boredom and indifference are no use in God's service. It should always be exciting, alive and meaningful. If it becomes dreary and monotonous there is something seriously wrong and God would prefer to have the doors of His house closed because it no longer serves a purpose. The failure of the priests was very serious because it brought the whole Temple service into disrepute, and rendered the testimony ineffectual. Men had lost their confidence and respect for God's work.

The fourth query (2.17) involved the problem of sexual morality and the divorce laws. Treacherous dealings were typical of relationships in the nation. The whole structure of God's dealings with His people was a tightly meshed plan for their well-being, and malpractice in one area affected the whole. The picture is summed up in the question, "Wherein have we wearied Him?" The moral scale, standard of right and wrong, had been turned upside down, and society was defining right as wrong and wrong as right. There was total confusion because the people had let go their hold on truth.

In the sad world of Malachi, there are two points worth remembering. It is not all darkness and despondency. It would be so easy to see the story of the Old Testament as a tale of disaster and to lose hope. It would be even simpler to see the story of our modern world as a tale without hope or meaning, "full of sound and fury, signifying nothing". Human philosophy is often represented by this view, from the earliest days of Greece, to the modern existentialists. God's word presents a different view.

The first point that Malachi makes is that God always has His remnant. "And they shall be Mine, said the LORD of hosts, in the day that I do make, even a peculiar treasure; and I will spare them, as a man spareth his own son that serveth him" (3.17). However dark the night may get, there is one thing absolutely certain: the light will never go out. "Here is the patience of the saints, they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus" (Revelation 14.12).

The second point that Malachi makes consistently is that when people lose their perspective about God, they cannot serve Him with meaning. The true servants are those who fear the LORD, the false servants are those who do not fear.

If the knowledge of God is a real experience to us, we will have a concept in mind which will affect all our actions. The concepts of father or mother or employer, the meanings we apply to a doctor or policeman, mould our actions and relationships. A criminal has a different concept of law than you or I, and he acts differently in relationship to it. The Eternal God, Creator and Upholder of all things, always present and always active in His universe, expects that we His servants, who live by His grace for a short time in this little earth, will respect and honour Him. He did not hide Himself, but "knowing God, they glorified Him not as God" (Romans 1.21), and men cut themselves off from the truth and exchanged it for a lie.

If we know God, we will fear Him. If we know God we will love Him and serve Him. The people in Malachi's time had lost the desire to serve because they no longer loved or feared or knew the LORD who loved them with an everlasting love. They had all the ritual but it was dead; they had all the appearances but there was no meaning. Malachi makes a man look inside himself and ask the questions that nobody else can answer for him.

L.B. Horne, Hamilton, Ontario | Oct 1969
The Minor Prophets