The Last Prophet: Malachi Commentary on Chapter 1

We find that the first section of Malachi is dedicated to God's love of Israel. In this we also find a very common complaint to God, "How have You loved us" this is born out of mistrust and ignorance. This is the complaint of a blind believer who cannot see the love that is God.

God promises that he will tear down those who despise him and that those who are wicked will be cursed and the evidence of their wrongdoing will be visible to all. It is through this that Israel would come to see how great God is.

(Malachi 1: 1-5, HCSB Translation)

In the second section (Malachi 1: 6-14 HCSB Translation)

Malachi Begins by calling out the Israelites for their disrespect of God. Through Malachi God draws the comparison of a father and a master revealing Himself as both the Heavenly Father and The Master of our lives (when we are obedient), God announces these things to call the priests into check for they had begun to present decrepit offerings, things they would not serve to other Humans with high stature.

In verse 9 we see that the Israelites still called for God's grace despite being crafty and dishonest in their worship and offerings. He called for the temple to be shut so that a useless fire would never be lit, this is a major things as the temple was the place where the very presence of God could be felt. For us today this message is extremely important as we can clearly see that a dishonest relationship with God is spiritual death. We are promised in the latter half Malachi 1: 10 that God will not accept an offering from a dishonest relationship.

Starting in verse 11 we quite clearly see that God is yet again reminding the Israelites of His glory and amazing power, and still despite this the priests still presented decrepit and lame animals at the offerings... Verse 14 promises a curse upon those who knowingly choose to offer up a faulty animal when they have their best in stock.