Scripture Daily

Context No. 1360 of 4322 · Malachi

Context · Reflection

Malachi 1:6-14: in context

6“A son honors his father, and a servant his master. If I am a father, then where is my honor? And if I am a master, where is the respect due me?” says the LORD of Armies to you priests who despise my name. “You say, ‘How have we despised your name?’ 7You offer polluted bread on my altar. You say, ‘How have we polluted you?’ In that you say, ‘The LORD’s table is contemptible.’ 8When you offer the blind for sacrifice, isn’t that evil? And when you offer the lame and sick, isn’t that evil? Present it now to your governor! Will he be pleased with you? Or will he accept your person?” says the LORD of Armies. 9“Now, please entreat the favor of God, that he may be gracious to us. With this, will he accept any of you?” says the LORD of Armies. 10“Oh that there were one among you who would shut the doors, that you might not kindle fire on my altar in vain! I have no pleasure in you,” says the LORD of Armies, “neither will I accept an offering at your hand. 11For from the rising of the sun even to its going down, my name is great among the nations, and in every place incense will be offered to my name, and a pure offering; for my name is great among the nations,” says the LORD of Armies. 12“But you profane it when you say, ‘The LORD’s table is polluted, and its fruit, even its food, is contemptible.’ 13You say also, ‘Behold, what a weariness it is!’ And you have sniffed at it”, says the LORD of Armies; “and you have brought that which was taken by violence, the lame, and the sick; thus you bring the offering. Should I accept this at your hand?” says the LORD. 14“But the deceiver is cursed who has in his flock a male, and vows and sacrifices to the Lord a defective thing; for I am a great King,” says the LORD of Armies, “and my name is awesome among the nations.”

Through Malachi, God brings a charge against the priests. A son honors his father and a servant his master; if I am your father and master, where is my honor? You despise my name, he says, and when they ask how, he answers: by offering polluted food on my altar, by bringing the blind, the lame, and the sick animals for sacrifice. Try presenting such a gift to your governor, God says; would he be pleased with you? You say what a weariness this is, and sniff at it. And God declares that he would rather the temple doors were shut than have such offerings, for his name is great among the nations, and he is a great King.

The charge cuts to the quality of what the priests were offering God. The law required unblemished animals, but they were bringing the blind, the lame, and the sick, the animals they could not sell or use, the leftovers they would not miss, and laying them on God's altar as though he would not notice or mind. God's question exposes the insult: present it to your governor, would he accept it? They would never dare offer a human official the defective animals they thought good enough for God; they gave what was fine to those whose favor they wanted and their refuse to God. That is the heart of it, and it reaches straight to us. The question is not really about animals but about what we give God: our finest, or our leftovers. It is easy to give God the tired end of the day, the money we will not miss, the attention left over after everything else has had its share, the half of our effort we would be embarrassed to offer anyone whose regard we valued. God sees the calculation, that we save what is good for what we think matters and bring him the blind and the lame. And he says plainly that he would rather have nothing than a grudging, second-rate offering; better the doors shut than the altar insulted. He is a great King, and the gift we bring him says exactly what we think he is worth.

What am I actually giving God, my finest or my leftovers, the first cut or the tired remainder I will not miss, and does the quality of what I bring him reveal what I really think he is worth?

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