Part of the prophet's task is to correct the opinions and attitudes of God's people and their leaders. Examples of such correction may be found in all the Old Testament prophetic books - Edmund Heddle's study this week focuses on Malachi.

The prophecy of Malachi provides a clear illustration of how wrong ideas and mistaken habits on the part of the Children of Israel were corrected by the prophet, as he faithfully sought to get them to see things from God's point of view.

It is not certain whether the word 'Malachi' (which means 'my messenger') is a proper name or is the editor's title for an anonymous book (perhaps suggested by Malachi 3:1). This prophecy belongs to the period of Nehemiah's governorship, probably between his first (445 BC) and second visits (433 BC) to Jerusalem.

Two of the issues Nehemiah had sought to deal with are given prominence in Malachi. These were, first, neglect in sustaining the Temple services and the payment of tithes, and secondly, the divorcing of Hebrew wives and intermarriage with foreign women (Neh 10:37-39; Mal 3:8-10; Neh 13:23-27; Mal 2:11-16).

The framework of Malachi consists of seven dialogues between God on the one hand and Israel and her priests on the other (Mal 1:2; 1:6; 1:7; 2:13, 14; 2:17; 3:7 and 3:13). In these verses we note the recurring and prominent phrase, "But you say".

Two issues of the people's wrongful behaviour are given prominence in Malachi: neglect of Temple sacrifices and tithing, and divorcing and intermarriage with foreigners.

The Intimate Character of Malachi's Prophecy

This prophecy begins with the simple declaration on the part of God, "I have loved you." During the ensuing conversation the personal pronoun referring to God, namely 'I', occurs 35 times. The personal pronoun referring to Israel, namely 'you', occurs 48 times. Within a total of 54 verses in this prophecy, the name for God (ie 'Lord') occurs 35 times, and in 24 of these instances the whole phrase 'the Lord of Hosts' occurs.

This so-frequent repetition of the pronouns 'I' and 'you' stresses the vividness of the personal encounter that is taking place between God and his people, an encounter unequalled in any other prophetic book of the Old Testament. The pattern of the Malachi prophecy consists of an accusation on the part of the prophet followed by the people's reply of injured innocence. This calls forth the response of the Lord through his prophet correcting their mistaken ideas.

Malachi's prophecy is a vividly personal dialogue between God and his people, the people protesting innocence and the Lord correcting them.

The Day of the Lord

The seven dialogues of this prophecy are set against the background of the Day of the Lord. This event provides a solemn, or as Malachi puts it, a dreadful eventuality (Mal 4:5) as the setting for the dialogues. The prophet exclaims, "Who can endure the day of his coming?" and contemplates it further in the words, "Surely the day is coming, it will burn like a furnace. All the arrogant and every evildoer will be stubble, and the day that is coming will set them on fire."

Malachi predicts the coming of a forerunner in advance of that awesome event: "See, I will send you the prophet Elijah before that great and dreadful day of the Lord comes." He sees the wicked being trodden under the feet of those who revere the Lord: "The wicked will be ashes under the soles of your feet on the day when I do these things." But in contrast, those who fear the Lord will escape the coming day of judgment. God says of them, "They will be mine...in the day when I make up my treasured possession" (Mal 3:2; 4:1; 4:5; 4:3; and 3:17).

The Hebrew word translated 'treasured possession' is segullah, which is the word used by Moses in Deuteronomy 7:6, "The Lord your God has chosen you out of all the people on the face of the earth to be his people, his treasured possession." Malachi wanted the people of Israel in his day to be God's special folk, a people for his very own.

This was also the desire of Paul in his letter to Titus and of Peter in his first letter (Ti 2:14; 1 Pet 2:9). This should still be our ambition today. However, the people of Malachi's day were failing to judge their own behaviour and outlook, and so it was necessary to let them see themselves from God's point of view.

The people of Malachi's day were failing to judge their own behaviour and outlook, so it was necessary to let them see themselves from God's point of view.

So then, Malachi records the process in the following seven dialogues:

1. Failing to Love God for Himself

"'I have loved you', says the Lord. But you ask, 'How have you loved us?'" (Mal 1:2). It is as if they were saying, "We have seen no evidence of your love." Surely only those with hearts of stone could be oblivious of God's love for his covenant people. After the 70 years of exile, God had brought them back from Babylon and was establishing them in their own land.

In addition to past blessings they were a people with a future, guaranteed by the Almighty God himself. But we learn from Jesus that love can grow cold (Matt 24:12). Part of a prophet's task is to re-awaken the love of God's people.

2. Failing to Honour God's Name

"'If I am a father, where is the honour due to me? If I am a master, where is the respect due to me?' says the Almighty. 'It is you, O priests, who show contempt for my name'" (Mal 1:6). This time the accusation is addressed specifically to the priests.

Malachi makes it clear that God's name is great. "Great is the Lord - even beyond the borders of Israel!" (Mal 1: 5). But he warns that they would be cursed "because you have not set your heart to honour me" (Mal 2:2). There were some who revered his name, and upon them the sun of righteousness would rise with healing in his wings (Mal 4:2).

It is commonplace for the names of God and of Jesus to be blasphemed on television, and pointless blasphemy plays a major role in the ordinary conversation of both men and women. Another part of the prophet's task is to encourage young and old to fear God and to be careful they do not use his name in vain (Deut 5:11).

Part of the prophet's task is to reawaken the love of God's people, and to encourage them to fear the Lord and not to use his name in vain.

3. Failing to Respect God's Sacrificial Offerings

"You place defiled food on my altar. But you ask, 'How have we defiled you?' You bring blind, crippled or diseased animals, is that not wrong?" (Mal 1:7,8). It was essential that an animal be in perfect condition before it could be offered as a sacrifice (Deut 15:21). Only so could the Levitical sacrifice foreshadow the perfect sacrifice that would one day be offered.

But on a lower level altogether, Malachi asks the pertinent question, "Try offering them to your governor. Would he be pleased with you? Would he accept you?" Only the best is fit for God, and another part of the prophet's task is to speak out on God's behalf against cheap religion or against offering him only second best.

4. Failing to Keep God's Law

The particular law which the prophet has in mind is the marriage covenant. "You weep and wail because he [God] no longer pays attention to your offerings or accepts them with pleasure from your hands. You ask why? It is because the Lord is acting as the witness between you and the wife of your youth...though she is your partner, the wife of your marriage covenant" (Mal 2:13, 14). The prophet is showing that God does not approve of husband and wife breaking faith. This phrase occurs again and again in verses 10-16.

God's attitude to the violation of promises made during the wedding vows is expressed tersely: "I hate divorce" (mercifully, he does not say "I hate divorcees"!). Behind this statement is revulsion at the action of the men in abandoning now-ageing wives in order to marry the daughters of a foreign god.

As well as caring for these rejected wives, God is concerned that the children should be a 'godly offspring' (Mal 2:11, 15). Today, far too many children are left with only one parent. Contemporary prophets do well to encourage the Lord's people to support those who labour under the handicap of having to bring up their children single-handed, rather than to deepen their sense of rejection with thoughtless judgmentalism.

Another part of the prophet's task is to speak out on God's behalf against cheap religion and offering him only second best.

5. Failing to Understand God's Providential Overruling

"You have wearied the Lord with your words. 'How have we wearied him?' you ask. By saying, 'All who do evil are good in the eyes of the Lord, and he is pleased with them', or, 'Where is the God of justice?'" (Mal 2:17). "But now we call the arrogant blessed. Certainly the evildoers prosper, and even those who challenge God escape" (Mal 3:15).

The problem of the prosperity of the wicked has puzzled prophets and psalmists down the ages (Job 21:7-13; Ps 73:1-12; Jer 12:1). The argument runs like this: if there is a God of goodness, he would long ago have intervened to deal with the awful situations in which God's people find themselves. Meanwhile, law-breakers go on enjoying themselves and so the very existence of an omnipotent and caring God is called into question.

But God was listening and was sick of hearing people complain about his moral government of the universe. Prophets need to remind God's people constantly that he hates grumblers. He is on the throne and what he does is best.

6. Failing to Pay the Lord's Tithe

"'Return to me, and I will return to you,' says the Lord Almighty. But you ask, 'How are we to return?' Will a man rob God? Yet you rob me. But you ask, 'How do we rob you?' In tithes and offerings" (Mal 3:7,8). The people of God were suffering because pests were devouring their crops and their vines were casting their fruit. This was God's way of showing them that they were neglecting to pay their tithes and to provide for the maintenance of the Temple services.

The attitude we adopt to our money and the way we use it is a key to our commitment to God. But no doubt it came as quite a shock to God's people in the time of Malachi to be told that they were actually robbing him. If they were anything like some of his people today, they would have produced as many excuses as there were individuals. But God wanted to bless them (he always does!) and was willing to open the floodgates of heaven and to pour out such an abundance of blessing they would not have room for it.

Prophets have to assure the people of God that they lose nothing by giving but that they lose everything when they are mean. One of the most encouraging aspects of the house-church movement has been its more mature approach to giving, and the consequent blessing that has been poured out on them. How sad that the traditional churches still insult the Lord with fundraising gimmicks and stunts to persuade people to part with their money! Are you a robber?

Prophets have to assure the people of God that they lose nothing by giving but lose everything when they are mean.

7. Failing to Sustain a Costly Commitment

"'You have said harsh things against me,' says the Lord. Yet you say, 'What have we said against you?' You have said, 'It is futile to serve God. What did we gain by carrying out his requirements, and going about like mourners?'" (Mal 3:13,14).

Most people have at some time or other indulged in spells of complaining, querying the point of living a life of prohibition and restriction. We appear to gain nothing by carrying out religious duties and living soberly. Religion seems such a drag! But such whole-hearted devotion need not array itself in the dark clothes of mourners at a funeral (Mal 3:14). The prophet, rather, likens the experience of the wholly committed to the gambolling of calves just released from the stall (Mal 4:2).

So let the prophet show us religion from God's point of view. It is joyful, vigorous and care-free. It speaks of release, freedom and deep satisfaction. Even when our pathway takes us through disappointment and sorrow, we can share the experience of the "one who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross" (Heb 12:2). We would do well in future to help others and ourselves make a habit of looking at things from God's point of view.

Finally, it is the role of the prophet to show us religion from God's point of view: not as dark and dreary duty, but as joyful and vigorous freedom.