Delve Into The ProphetsSample

DAY 21 – MALACHI

Inspired by the prophecies of Haggai and Zechariah, the rebuilding of the temple under Zerubbabel and Joshua was completed in 516 BC. The new temple was meant to be the centerpiece of a community where there was true justice and genuine worship. Unfortunately, as the years went by, the people of Judah fell farther and farther away from this ideal. By the middle of the next century, their worship had become cold, formal, and corrupt, and their society was plagued with injustice. Malachi challenged the people to honor God properly in their worship and in their dealings with one another. If they did, he promised, their prosperity and honor would be restored. (Malachi means “my messenger,” so it could be either the prophet’s name or his title.)

Malachi brought his challenges to the people in a distinctive style. First he offered an abrupt charge. Then he voiced the objections he anticipated in response. And finally he answered those objections. Through this means he addressed:

• The people’s doubts that God still favored them 

• Their offering of blemished animals in sacrifice and the priests’ partiality in interpreting the law 

• The prevalence of divorce 

• The sense that evildoers prospered

• The people’s failure to bring tithes to support the priests and the temple 

• Their complaints that it was futile to serve God 

The book of Malachi records that some of the people repented in response to these challenges and that God said he would spare them when he came to judge the earth. The book reminds the people to keep the law of Moses and ends with God’s promise to send the prophet Elijah back before the “great and dreadful day of the Lord.” 

PRAYER: Thank You for sending Your Son, Jesus Christ, to rescue us from our sins.