Year 2, Week 28, Day 5 Bible Reading Observations

Year 2, Week 28, Day 5

I have a brief observation for today’s reading of Psalm 126; Malachi 1-3.

Today’s reading begins with Psalm 126. Psalm 126 is a part of a collection of Psalms known as the Songs of Ascents, which were songs that worshipers sang as they approached the Temple. Psalm 126 fits the responses of those returning from Babylonian captivity as it reflects gratitude and lament, for God’s people had already restored but not yet fully restored: “The LORD has done great things for us; we are glad. Restore our fortunes, O LORD, like streams in the Negeb” (Psalm 126:3-4). Today’s reading also includes three chapters from the Book of Malachi. It is hard to be exact about placing a date on the Book of Malachi, but it seems best to date it after Nehemiah’s time as governor, which ended in about 434 BC. Malachi 1 opens with a clear statement of God’s love for His people: “I have loved you,” says the LORD. But you say, “How have you loved us?” “Is not Esau Jacob’s brother?” declares the LORD. “Yet I have loved Jacob but Esau I have hated” (Malachi 1:2-3a). However, the rest of Malachi 1 as well as Malachi 2 contains strong rebukes concerning Israel’s unfaithfulness to the LORD: “For the lips of a priest should guard knowledge, and people should seek instruction from his mouth, for he is the messenger of the LORD of hosts. But you have turned aside from the way. You have caused many to stumble by your instruction. You have corrupted the covenant of Levi, says the LORD of hosts, and so I make you despised and abased before all the people, inasmuch as you do not keep my ways but show partiality in your instruction” (Malachi 2:7-9). Malachi 3, in containing a warning of coming judgment calls for the people to return to Him: “For I the LORD do not change; therefore you, O children of Jacob, are not consumed. From the days of your fathers you have turned aside from my statutes and have not kept them. Return to me, and I will return to you, says the LORD of hosts” (Malachi 3:6-7a).

One of the things that struck me from today’s reading was the announcement of the coming of the LORD as well as a messenger of the LORD: “Behold, I send my messenger, and he will prepare the way before me. And the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple; and the messenger of the covenant in whom you delight, behold, he is coming, says the LORD of hosts. But who can endure the day of his coming, and who can stand when he appears? For he is like a refiner’s fire and like fullers’ soap. He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and he will purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, and they will bring offerings in righteousness to the LORD” (Malachi 3:1-3). The people had just questioned if the LORD was fair by His allowance of ongoing injustice: “You have wearied the LORD with your words. But you say, “How have we wearied him?” By saying, “Everyone who does evil is good in the sight of the LORD, and he delights in them.” Or by asking, “Where is the God of justice?” (Malachi 2:17). The LORD provides a response concerning His justice. The LORD would display a purifying judgement to refine the impurities and uncleanness from among them. The imagery of fire certainly displays judgment: “For behold, the LORD will come in fire, and his chariots like the whirlwind, to render his anger in fury, and his rebuke with flames of fire. For by fire will the LORD enter into judgment, and by his sword, with all flesh; and those slain by the LORD shall be many” (Isaiah 66:15-16). But in this case, the fires of judgment will not bring complete destruction, but refinement and cleansing: “Behold, I have refined you, but not as silver; I have tried you in the furnace of affliction” (Isaiah 48:10).

Malachi’s announcement of judgment through the work of a messenger who will precede the actual judgment reflects earlier warnings: “Behold, I send an angel before you to guard you on the way and to bring you to the place that I have prepared. Pay careful attention to him and obey his voice; do not rebel against him, for he will not pardon your transgression, for my name is in him” (Exodus 23:20-21); and: "A voice cries: “In the wilderness prepare the way of the LORD; make straight in the desert a highway for our God” (Isaiah 40:3). In both these earlier warnings as well as Malachi’s warning, the end result will be to correct a truly great injustice—the improper worship of God: “Then the offering of Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasing to the LORD as in the days of old and as in former years” (Malachi 3:4).

The timing of Malachi’s announcement of judgment through the work of a messenger is not clear from Malachi’s own words, but the Gospels offer a clear connection to John the Baptist: “As they went away, Jesus began to speak to the crowds concerning John: “What did you go out into the wilderness to see?… A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet. This is he of whom it is written, “‘Behold, I send my messenger before your face, who will prepare your way before you” (Matthew 11:7-10), and: “Behold, I send my messenger before your face, who will prepare your way” (Mark 1:2); and: “This is he of whom it is written, “‘Behold, I send my messenger before your face, who will prepare your way before you” (Luke 7:27). The Gospels identify the messenger of the Lord as John the Baptist who precedes the coming of Jesus. God’s punishment of evil and injustice was borne by Jesus on the cross, and evil will be finally eradicated when He returns. In the meantime, the work of Jesus purifies and cleanses His people: “who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works” (Titus 2:14).

What struck you in today’s reading? What questions were prompted from today’s reading?

Pastor Joe