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Malachi 2:10-12 Here we go again!! Day 363

Good afternoon friends,

As we draw to the end of the Old Testament, we see that Judah has rebuilt the temple and the walls of Jerusalem, but they are following in the footsteps of faithless fathers and not in the footsteps of Abraham and ultimately God.  The exile was a low point, but now a new low is about to happen.  The prophetic voice has once again become warning and not encouraging.

Faithful reading and preaching of the word is all that keeps us from losing our way.  May we be faithful in our generation.

Blessings,

Jeff

I am sure I have mentioned this before, but it bears repeating.  The section summary, chapter and verse are not in the original language.  They are all rather modern inventions to help us.  For example, the section title here is "Judah profaned the Covenant".  That is OK as far as it goes, but which Covenant?  So let's take a look.

Observations

Starts with 3 questions but who is asking the questions and to whom are they addressed?

I think the first two are rhetorical.  Malachi is writing a little over 100 years after the return from exile started  but only about 30 years after the second group of exiles under Ezra and the Nehemiah.  Everyone should have said Yes to both these questions.  They are really the foundations of Judaism. While the ESV has Father capitalized, this is probably referring to Abraham and not God and God as creator is the basis for all the following in the books of Moses.  The pointed question then is why are we (seems that Malachi is including himself with his people) living in accordance with our foundation? 

Malachi is addressing faithless behavior by the exiles, not their predecessors during the time of the kings.  The exile "paid for" the faithlessness of those people.  Now the exiles have their own faithlessness to deal with.

How have they profaned the sanctuary?  Seems that is violation of the covenant of marriage.  The exiles have been marrying foreign wives and worshipping their gods.  As I have been saying about the author of Chronicles, the exiles were being encouraged to learn from the mistakes of the past and establish a godly nation.  Based on what Malachi says, they did not learn this lesson.

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