05/31/2025 – Day 335 – Malachi – Chapters 1 – 4 – “Believers today would do well to consider all they have as a stewardship responsibility from the Lord, asking Him what He would have them do with what he has given.” (Closing sentence to Malachi summary introduction – “The Apologetics Study Bible)/ See 3:10
Prior cycle posts: 1) 01/28/2024 – Verses 3:10 / 3: 18 -12 (*tithing) // 2) 04/17/2021 – a book of Malachi summary introduction through “Halley’s Bible Handbook”
(*tithing): An additional comment:
This is the only bible verse that specifically focuses on “tithing”. The only place also I know of where the “Lord” proclaims “Test me in this way.” (see 3:10) That is solid! But I read from a credible source that Robert Morris preached a sermon where he told his congregation the reason they were not receiving their blessing was that they were not fully complying with “tithing”. That turns an act of love for others in need to our own narcissistic tendencies. It is all about “me”.
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Verse Commentary from here is from “The Apologetics Study Bible” unless otherwise noted:
1: 2-5 Malachi beings with a reference to the long-standing tension between Israel and Edom, the descendants of Jacob’s brother Esau who despised his birthright and held the promises in contempt (Genesis 25: 29-34). Moses admonished the Israelites, ‘Do not despise an Edomite’ (Deuteronomy 23:7 because Esau was the brother of Jacob. But the Edomites continued to believe the Israelites had taken the land of Canaan by deception. They cooperated with the Assyrian invasion of Judah, and when the Judea’s were taken into exile they claimed the land for themselves. For these reasons they came under the Lord’s judgment (see Ezekiel 35: 5-15; 36: 1-15). When the Judean exiles returned to the region of Jerusalem the Edomites further opposed them. In this situation Malahi heard the Lord saying, ‘I loved Jacob, but I hated Esau’ (vv 2-3).
The word ‘hate”in the Bible does not always carry the same sense of antipathy and disgust associated with the English expression; it can mean simply to favor someone else with special privilege or devotion. In that sense, the Lord’s ‘hatred’ of Esau was only the other side of his loyalty to His covenant with Israel. Paul quoted verses 2-3 with that meaning in Romans 9:13 as an illustration of the Lord’s mercy and compassion on whomever He chooses to bestow them (Romans 9:15). Nevertheless, in the circumstances of the Jews’return from exile, the hostility of the Edomites seems to have reached another level, provoking Malachi to call the ‘the people the Lord has curses forever’ (v. 4).”
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“3: 16-18 In the era of ‘postmodernism’, the distinction between what is right and wrong is often minimized; what is wrong for one person, it is said, may be right for another, or what is right in one situation may be wrong in another. Such indifference to moral and ethical standards can even filter into the Christian community. Malachi spoke of a time when such indifference will no longer be the case, for those who ‘feared the LORD,’ at least, it would be clear what was righteous and what was wicked, and it would be evident who was truly serving God. Jesus Christ laid down a firm test of righteousness, or standing with God: ‘No one comes to the Father except Me’ (John 14:6). Whether or not a person is found ‘in Christ’ (2 Colossians 5:17) would not be a matter of indifference; it would be a test own the order of that which Malachi spoke.”
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“But for you who fear My name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings, and you will go out and playfully jump like calves in a stall.” (Malachi 4:2)
It is not about the messenger, but here again is John Gill, my go to “closer” for single verse commentary:
https://www.biblestudytools.com/commentaries/gills-exposition-of-the-bible/malachi-4-2.html
Sublime! Soli Deo Gloria!