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May 15, 2023

Malachi 1:1-5

The book of Malachi is called an 'oracle' in the first verse.  An oracle (some translations use the word 'burden') is a message which has an ominous, threatening tone.  Malachi lived one hundred years after people returned from the Babylonian captivity.  At this time there was (again) widespread spiritual corruption.  The evidence of this was polluted offerings, a corrupt priesthood, rampant divorce, and withheld tithes.

Tenderly, God begins His message by reminding the people of His love for them.  They had gotten to the place where they concluded that God had forgotten them.  God recalls to the Israelites that He had chosen Jacob, setting His special favor on him.  In doing this, God had passed over Esau, Jacob's older brother. 

We are confronted in these verses by the notion of God's love and His hatred.  God, Himself, declares that He loved Jacob and hated Esau.  To understand divine love and divine hatred we must not think only in terms of the emotional aspects of love and hatred.  When God loves someone, He grants His blessing and favor.  When God hates someone, He brings judgment.  And whereas God's favor is never deserved, His judgments on sinful people are always deserved.

Let the people of God bow down in wonder and thanksgiving that God has granted them (us) His undeserved, saving love.  Let those who do not hope in God shudder to think that they are in danger of experiencing God's everlasting rejection … so that they might turn to Him for His mercy.