Malachi Chapter One, Defiling The Lord's Altar

 

Malachi 1:12 “But you profane it, in that you say, ‘The table of the LORD is defiled; and its fruit, its food, is contemptible.’ [13] You also say, ‘Oh, what a weariness!’ And you sneer at it,” says the LORD of hosts. “And you bring the stolen, the lame, and the sick; thus you bring an offering! Should I accept this from your hand?” says the LORD.

 

Tracing this line of thought backward we must reiterate what brought the prophet to this juncture. Verse 8 finds God complaining that Israel offers the lame or debilitated and the sick. Human governors would not find such an offering satisfactory for payment. Verses 9 and 10 engage Israel’s hypocrisy. While offering such meager platitudes, they expect that somehow God will be pleased. They entreat, or beg, or perhaps more likely, pray. It’s like a little child giving his parent some token to “please” them, but his only intention is to use that token as leverage to get something from them. Rather, God searches for someone to stand in the gap and close the temple doors so no more offerings are made. After an allusion to the Davidic kingdom under Messiah’s reign and the Gentile incorporation therein, we reach verse 12.

The Gentiles, in due time will offer pure offerings from morning until night, whereas Israel, God’s firstborn son (see Exodus 4:22), profanes the altar. The Hebrew word for “profane” is “chalal” and can mean, among other things, “to pollute or defile.” I have heard one Biblical commentator define “profane,” “to make commonplace.” You can see the modern, typical use of the word in secular society when we speak of profanity. Profanity would be the employment of words that conservative society would consider degrading, polluting, or otherwise filthy descriptors. The altar is defiled, and the offering on the altar is contemptible, which can also mean disgraceful or loathsome. The Hebrew word for contemptible is “bazah,” and it is used in Malachi three times, in 1:7, 1:12, and 2:9. Out of the 43 times it is variously used in Scripture it is translated “despised” 36 of those times to give an idea as to the severity of the adjective. The Jews profane God’s altar in their thoughts, which of course give way to their actions. The intents of the heart determine the purity of one’s action and the motive that empowers it, as our Lord taught, Matthew 15:18-20. The human view regarding holiness is honestly very flawed, myself included. Oxford defines “holy” as “very good in a moral or spiritual way.” God described the newly created heavens and earth as “very good,” Genesis 1:31. While the word for good in the Hebrews expressed in Genesis can mean, “pleasant, delightful, friendly or useful,” it does not mean holy. God’s holiness is unique to His person. Adam was created innocent, but was not innately holy. The angels that serve God are described as holy, but that holiness is positional rather than internal. Their proximity to God, both spatially (so to speak) and volitionally, have given them imputed holiness. Likewise when a man or woman is called holy may only be correctly employed when we are in Christ. Only a saint may be considered holy, because only the saints have become partakers of the divine nature.

 

God’s holiness is not reflected in our humanity. When we were created in God’s image, any holiness revealed in us was like the light of the sun reflecting off of the moon when night had come. It is borrowed light. Holiness is intense purity, an unapproachable light, something human nature both craves and fears. Holiness is a trait of God’s intrinsic deity; it marks Him as the only Uncreated Being. He is without flaw, perfect in holiness. One of my personal favorite descriptions of God’s holiness can be found in the Psalms. David writes, “Give unto the Lord the glory due to His name; worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness,” Psalm 29:2. Holiness is awe-inspiring. Ezekiel witnessed the holy God on His throne, compassed by the cherubim, and upon seeing Him, fell on his face and was unable to rise until the Holy Spirit literally brought him back to his feet, Ezekiel 1:28, 2:1-2. Daniel was blessed with the same vision, and it left the prophet likewise prostrate on the ground, entirely bereft of strength, Daniel 10:7-9. Isaiah likewise beheld God in His holiness in the temple, and was overcome with fear until his sin was atoned for with a coal from the altar, Isaiah 6:1-7. Perhaps the most vivid case of God’s holiness being imparted to a man was in Moses. When Moses descended Sinai with the tablets of the Law in hand his skin shone radiantly, so much so that Aaron and the others feared to approach him, Exodus 34:29, 30. God’s holiness had settled upon Moses due to his proximity to Him, having spoken with God face to face, as it were. Even the vestige of that radiance was enough to frighten Israel.

 

That fear is largely dead. It was in the time of Malachi, who bemoaned the pitiful state of affairs with temple worship. It is likewise dead with today’s Christianity. Church is a social club, where people congregate to hear positive messages, sing pretty songs, and have our self-esteem boosted and felt needs met. Man has largely usurped the church, and God finds little place there. But that means little, since the church isn’t a building and was never meant to be. We, the body of Christ, are the church. Built stone by stone into a temple for the dwelling of the Holy Spirit, where two or more believers are gathered in Jesus’s name there He is in the their midst. “Church,” then, can be a super market, parking lot, cornfield, or anywhere we gather to share our love of God, fellowship with the likeminded, worship and learn. If we gather in Christ’s name it means we gather with the intention of making Him the object of our veneration. We are authorized by the new birth to come together in adoration of Him who took us from Satan’s kingdom and made us fit for His Father’s.