“A son honors his father, and a servant his master. But if I am a father, where is my honor?
And if I am a master, where is your fear of me?”
says the Lord of Armies to you priests, who despise my name.
Yet you ask, “How have we despised your name?”
“By presenting defiled food on my altar.”
“How have we defiled you?” you ask.
When you say, “The Lord’s table is contemptible.”
“When you present a blind animal for sacrifice, is it not wrong?
And when you present a lame or sick animal, is it not wrong?
Bring it to your governor! Would he be pleased with you or show you favor?” asks the Lord of Armies.
Malachi 1:6-8
Last time we saw God’s indignation toward the Edomites, and how he will use their unrepentance for His glory beyond Israel’s borders. Today we will dig more deeply into our prophetic song directed this time toward the Israelites.
“A son honors his father” is up first. I appreciate how the statement is not, “A son should honor his father,” but that he does. Honor here is kabad – to be heavy, weighty, or burdensome; be grievous, harden, honor self; [or]…in a good sense numerous, rich, honorable, abounding with, glorify, be honorable man, nobles, promote to honor.
I think this encapsulates what it means for your father to have weight in your life. Even if it is grievous or a burden, the father’s role in a son’s life is deeply consequential.
But He’s not done. Yahweh also compares servants/slaves to their masters. Servant comes from abad – to work, serve; bondage, cultivate, do the work, enslaved, holding in bondage, labor, make slaves, subject, used. This could be someone hired to work the land or someone held in bondage to slavery. I just have to be honest, this one kills me. But Jesus keeps reminding me of His sovereignty, His authority to rule, and how I am never more merciful than He is. With that in mind, we can have a discussion.
The Bible can be used to support our various positions, and I have to come to terms with how there are verses people could use to justify slavery. Last time I mentioned Hagar, the ensalved Egyptian woman whom God sought out after her horrific abuse. And the truth is, El Roi, the One Who sees her, still tells her to return to her mistress. Again, I wrestle with this. I think we should. But it doesn’t change the fact that we are not more merciful than a God Who is love.
So, in a country which began on the Doctrine of Discovery – though people had been here thousands of years – and was built on the backs of enslaved people, I have to hold in tension our collective generational sin of white supremacy, chattel slavery, and genocide with verses like these where God compares Himself to a servant’s Master.
The word Master here is adon – lord, husband, master, owner, to rule, sovereign. Once again, this could be a grievous burden or honoring someone over you. What it does not point to is complete indifference or apathy. Sons cannot ignore the influence of their father, for good or ill. Nor can a servant pretend they have no one over them. The weight of the position is obvious.
Adon is the root word for the name Adonai, Lord. Basically, the One to Whom we say yes no matter the question. And in a fiercely independent culture we do not like this. Well, as human beings bent on pride, we do not like this. We want to be our own boss, and it is painful when we cannot be. But, we’re just so very bad at it. And, like all things when we go against God’s design, the outcomes of bossing ourselves are destructive.
Now Yahweh turns it toward His role in His people’s lives:
“Then if I am the father, where is my honor?“
Honor here is a different form from above. It is kabowd whose definition goes straight to the positive: glorious, honorable; weight, but only figuratively in a good sense, splendor. I am your Creator. Where is my glory and honor in your lives?
I was reminded on social media what it looks like to make Jesus Lord – or the liberty of Jesus a reality – in places where it is not tolerated. I have never had my family threatened, my job lost, or my home bombed because of my dedication to Jesus or His call on my life.
And yet, that is exactly what is asked of many worldwide and here in America. Or our friend in her 30’s with stage 4 cancer and two sweet kiddos both pleading with God to let her live and daily telling Him there’s nothing that could happen that would make her love Him less.
It’s the kind of lordship that happens when we sincerely say, “Yes, Lord. You are our Master, and even if I don’t like what’s being asked, I know it can only go straight to positive glory when You’re the One asking. Because You’re incapable of evil, I trust this is for ultimate Good.” Even while we weep.
But He’s not done: “And if I am a master, where is your fear of Me?
Fear here is mora – fear, terror from yare – affright, reverence. Yes, this is reverent awe, like is often described for fearing God. But, to be honest, I think we sometimes rush over the genuine fear that’s being referred to. While I don’t want our children to live in terror of us, there is something to be said for fearing what might happen if they knowingly disobey what is clearly instructed. Not because we delight in power, but for their good.
How much more Yahweh? By the way, it’s Jehovah-Sabaoth, God of Angel Armies, Who is saying this to His People in this section.
And not just any group, but to: “you priests who despise my name.” Despise is bazah – careless, contempt, despicable, despise, disdained, think to scorn, vile person, to disesteem. Yep, not a good look for people whose job is to offer sacrifices due to God’s holiness.
And the despising has a particular focus: My name. Name is shem which can be positive or negative. But it cannot be neutral: byword, defamed, fame, famous, memorial, renown, report, repute, as a mark or memorial of individuality; by implication honor, authority, character; possibly “from sum [through the idea of conspicuous position]- to place, appoint, assign, bestowed, care, charged, formed and made, lay, ordained, pay attention, required.”
So put together, the priests in the newly-built Temple were disesteeming God’s character, His mark of individuality as Most High God alone among the “gods” of the nations. He had chosen them to show off His fame, renown, and perfect otherness to a watching world. His conspicuous position among them, not assigned by another, but innate in His Being as Creator of all.
And the very ones charged with paying attention to this were instead being careless with it.
And now we have a similar pattern as last week. When God says the priests are despising His Name, He anticipates their defense:
“And yet you say, ‘In what way have we despised your name?’
Uh oh.
His answer? “You offer on my altar food that is defiled.”
Offer here is nagash (to draw near, approach, bring offered, present, stand, touch), altar is from zabach meaning sacrifice, and defiled is gaal – defiled, stained. So the priests are offering the sacrifices as required, but when they do, they’e drawing near to God’s altar with animals which are defiled according to the law. But let’s keep going.
But you say, “In what way do we defile you?”
By saying Yahweh’s table (shulchan – table, by implication a meal) is contemptible (bazah again). Again, this picture of a God with no need for food eating a meal on which is an unacceptable sacrifice. Thus, despising Him. On we continue…
“And when you offer a blind sacrifice, is it not contemptible?”
Blind here is ivver meaning blind, literally or figuratively. And contemptible is not bazah this time, but ra’– adversity, evil. One more…
And when you offer the lame and sick, is it not evil?
Lame is pisseach, from pacach – to hop, skip over; by implication, to hesitate; also (literally) to limp, to dance. Sick is chalah – to be weak, worn; from chalal – to pierce. And evil is ra’ again.
So put all together, we have sacrifices which are blind, lame or limp, or weak and sick being offered to Yahweh. And that is a clear violation.
The Lord spoke to Moses:
“Speak to Aaron, his sons, and all the Israelites and tell them:
Any man of the house of Israel or of the resident aliens in Israel who presents his offering — whether they present payment of vows or freewill gifts to the Lord as burnt offerings —
must offer an unblemished male from the cattle, sheep, or goats in order for you to be accepted.
Leviticus 22:17-19
It’s interesting to me that when we are first talking about unblemished sacrifices in the law, God begins with telling Aaron and his sons – the priests. It was not the priests who were bringing the unacceptable animals (as they had no land on which to raise them), but they were the first in line to know the requirements and instead were taking from the people animals which did not meet them.
Finally, to drill home His point, Yahweh says with sarcasm: “Then offer it to your governor. Would he be pleased with you? Or would he accept you favorably?”
Whew.
Pleased is ratsah – accept favorably, accomplish, set affection; specifically, to satisfy a debt. And in “accept you favorably,” accept is nasah (to lift, accept, advance, arise, able to, armor, suffer to bearer, up, bring forth), and you is our familiar paneh meaning face.
Even a human ruler would look at such an offering and not accept it. And he would certainly not lift your face favorably because of it. How much more a perfect God?
Verses like these cause me to remember how the details and demands of the sacrificial system were to point to the One Who alone could perfectly fulfill it. Even the strongest or clearest-eyed animal was imperfect. And even though acceptable, another would need to be offered again soon. But a perfectly satisfactory Sacrifice once for all? That’s Who we need.
But I don’t want to skip over the application of these verses for our lives. In particular, the reverence with which we are called to worship. I don’t think we can manufacture this type of acceptance of lordship. And if we’re honest, we can all think of some people, things, or circumstances in our lives where, if God called us to give them up, our hearts would break.
But the good news is He’s not asking for those things to stop mattering to us. Just walking in the direction where, over time, as we continue to say yes, He begins to matter more.
And one fine day, He matters most.