[Faith-talk] {Spam?} Baffling Bible Questions Answered for Monday, August 29, 2016

[Paul Smith]

Hello and greetings to most of you for the second time today.  As 
promised, here is a quick look at the book of Malachi.



Question:  Who wrote this book, and what themes and issues does it deal with?

Answer:  Malachi is the last book of the Old Testament, written some 
four hundred years before Christ.  The prophet wrote to confront the 
postexilic community with its slide back into the sins of indifference 
and materialism.  While the book shows us the flaws in that ancient 
community and reflects tendencies in our own lives, it also reminds us 
that God keeps a record of individuals who are faithful to Him in times 
of national decline.  Malachi ends with a prediction that Elijah will 
appear to announce the coming of the long-promised Messiah who will 
save Israel at history's end.



Malachi 1:3

Question:  Does the phrase, "Esau have I hated," really express God's 
attitude toward this person and his descendants? How can a God of love 
hate anyone?

Answer:  The words "love" and "hate" in this passage are used in a 
legal sense.  In ancient wills, the phrase, "I have hated," was used to 
reject decisively a person's claim to any part of the writer's estate 
that was to belong to another person.  The prophet is reminding the 
Jews that they are the chosen people (the "loved" ones who have 
inherited the covenant first given to Abraham) while Abraham's grandson 
Esau was "hated" (did not inherit the covenant promise).  The prophet 
cites historical as well as biblical evidence to underline his point.  
God restored the Jews to Jerusalem, but the land of the descendants of 
Esau (the Edomites) lay barren when Malachi wrote this prophecy.



MALACHI 2:11

Question:  Who or what is "the daughter of a foreign god?"

Answer:  The phrase simply means a pagan woman.  Marriages to pagans 
were forbidden by Old Testament law, because such relationships 
characteristically led to apostasy.



MALACHI 2:15

Question:  Various English versions translate this verse differently.  
What is it saying?

Answer:  The prophet speaks out against those who divorce their wives 
to marry younger, more sexually attractive women (2:14).  While the 
Hebrew language here is difficult, the sense of verse 15 is, "No one 
who has done this has any share of God's Spirit.  What is the godly 
husband concerned about? Godly offspring.  So keep watch over your 
spirit and do not betray the wife of your youth." Verse 16 sums up:  "I 
hate divorce," says the Lord God of Israel.

Thus, Malachi calls the believer to set clear priorities in marriage.  
Be faithful to your wife.  Be concerned not about sexual pleasure but 
about bringing up your children as godly men and women.  Clearly, this 
must be done in the context of a home where faithfulness, selflessness, 
and love rule.

And there you have this week's look at the book of Malachi.  Next week, 
Lord willing, the book of Matthew will be perused.  Until then may the 
God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob just keep us safe, individually and 
collectively, in these last days in which we live.  Your Christian 
friend and brother, Paul