Well, believe it or not, we’ve come to the most likely timeline of our next prophet of the Ezra/Nehemiah series. He’s the final prophet of the Old Testament, as well. It’s Malachi, and most scholars believe he prophesied between chapter 12 and 13 of Nehemiah (Source).
So we’ll take a little break from that book of the Bible, and dive into some the troubles that cropped up when our governor left Jerusalem and the people for Babylon.
“But while all this was going on, I was not in Jerusalem,
for in the thirty-second year of Artaxerxes king of Babylon I had returned to the king.”
(Nehemiah 13:6)
What is all “this” that was “going on?” We’re about to find out:
A prophecy:
The word of the Lord to Israel through Malachi.
“I have loved you,” says the Lord.
“But you ask, ‘How have you loved us?’
“Was not Esau Jacob’s brother?” declares the Lord. “Yet I have loved Jacob, but Esau I have hated,
and I have turned his hill country into a wasteland and left his inheritance to the desert jackals.”
Malachi 1:1-3
Well, a nice and light way to begin the book.
Interestingly, the word for prophecy is massa‘, meaning burden, load, lifting, prophecy, song. I think I have always viewed the prophets as enjoying blasting the people not following God’s law. But to view it as a burden? I can see it.
No one likes being told they’re wrong, and to be the one to deliver the message would be a load. I wonder if it felt like a weight lifting off their shoulders when they obeyed and told?
Either way, this burden was the word (dabar) of Yahweh. You could be stoned, by the way, if you were a false prophet, if what you predicted did not come true. Or – even more terrifying – you would have to answer to God for saying, “Thus says the LORD,” if he hadn’t.
In short, this is nothing to play games with.
This word of Yah was by Malachi: by is our familiar word yad – hand, the open one, indicating power, means, direction. And Malachi means “My messenger” from malak – messenger, angel, ambassador, envoy. So, as usual in God’s word, we see the interplay of the Most High and people both choosing, acting, in motion.
I like this word picture of Malachi opening his hand and, by the power of God’s Spirit, passing on a message from God, come what may. But let’s look at some details of the prophet’s song.
“I have loved you,” says Yahweh.
It’s a positive beginning. Love here is aheb – friend, lover, dearly loved, show love, beloved, affection. Makes me think of “Dearly Beloved, we are gathered here today…” And I can think of multiple verses throughout the Old and New Testament when the Spirit compares His love to God’s people in all these ways.
Unfortunately, the people’s response is not great. “And yet you say, ‘In what way have you loved us?'”
In what way here is mah, meaning what? how? So God begins with I have dearly loved, showed tender affection to you, but you ask, “How?”
Yikes. Like, what’s going on here? How long had it been since chapter 12’s dedication ceremony? Was Nehemiah gone a long time? Was it just that after the momentum of building and rebuilding and dedicating, the people found themselves right back into negative patterns?
We’ll find out. But in the meantime, if we’re ever tempted to think in our hearts, “How?” to Him when He says He loves us, let’s be brave enough to openly converse about our bitterness, hurt, fear, anger, envy or pride. And let Him remind us all the ways He’s shown us affection.
Now for the tricky part: “Was not Esau Jacbo’s brother?”says Yahweh.
Some of us might know Jacob’s name means heel-grabber/deceiver from their twin birth story. The name Jacob comes from aqeb – heel, footprint, hind part. And Esau comes from asah – to press or squeeze
So, right from the start, some rough names. And a tough pregnancy, as Rebekah inquired of the LORD:
Isaac prayed to the Lord on behalf of his wife, because she was childless.
The Lord answered his prayer, and his wife Rebekah became pregnant.
The babies jostled each other within her, and she said, “Why is this happening to me?” So she went to inquire of the Lord.
The Lord said to her,
“Two nations are in your womb,
and two peoples from within you will be separated;
one people will be stronger than the other,
and the older will serve the younger.”
Surely this was different than ordinary baby flutter kicks? (The Hebrew word used is ratsats which means “crush, break, bruise, oppress, crack in pieces. Whoa.) But to know from the start that you have two nations within your womb would be heavy. Huh…back to burden again. This prophecy was surely that for a mother’s heart.
But it also speaks to God’s all-knowing. Because His character is perfect love and justice combined, and He is not cruel, this is surely a foretelling of what will happen. But even with the knowledge He always knows more than us, the next section of our Malachi verses are hard to hear.
“Yet Jacob I have loved and Esau I have hated…”
Hated here is sane – detest, enemy, turn against, foe, to be hateful, odious, utterly. So…hate is a pretty good translation.
We can review the story of Jacob tricking his brother into giving him his first-born birthright, and sneaking around to get his father’s blessing, to remind us of how he lived up to his deceiver name. So this isn’t about one brother being a sinner and the other not. Just like everyone else.
But at some point Jacob faced God. Wrestled with Him even. God is not petty or vindictive and is righteous in all His ways and loving toward all He has made. He is the same God in this prophecy as the One being described as patient with us, not wanting anyone to perish but all to come to repentance. He says, “Repent and live!“
So, in the dance of God’s actions and peoples’, there must be something Esau and those after him did not choose. And God foreknew it.
Unfortunately, the hate description gets even more intense next: “and have laid waste his mountains.” Laid is sum (to put, place, set, appoint, bring, call a name, care, cast in, change, charge) waste is shemamah (devastation, horror, utterly desolate), and mountains is har (hill, mountain, hill country).
“I have appointed devastation to his land.”
Still it continues: “And his heritage for the jackals of the wilderness.” Heritage is nachalah (possession, property, portion, heirloom), jackals is tannah (dragon) and wilderness is midbar (desert, south, speech, mouth).
“His inheritance will be food for the desert dragon, the jackal.”
We’ve talked before on here about hyenas and their less-than-savory role in the Word of God. Jackals are not much different:
“Spiritually speaking, the jackal represents one whose worldly cunning and indifference to the plight of others, is salient. The jackal waits, and watches, and when the time is opportune and the risk slight, he pounces; his aim is survival – at any cost.”
They will be given over to the sword and become food for jackals. (Psalm 63:10)
(Source)
What a devastating way to live. And a horrible way to have Yahweh describe your inheritance – your land, possessions, family now, future generations. By His appointment have it all devastated and pounced upon by opportunistic predators.
Because none of us are victims in a Greek-god-like, narcissistic higher power making choices by the whim of their emotions, this does not have to scare us. We get to choose, and He stands waiting in sincere love to any who turn to Him.
But we also never, ever dare to use verses such as these to somehow justify our own hate of particular people, people groups, lands, or nations. To somehow twist God’s righteousness into a means of sin on a personal and societal level is to answer to Him Who takes injustice toward others personally.
So let’s take the first section of Malachi to heart by being in awe of His power, seeking godly sorrow over any sin, and turning to Him – wrestling even – to receive His love.