CONTEMPTIBLE

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In Christ, Mark

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

“A son honors his father, and a slave his master. If I am a Father, where is the honor due Me? If I am a Master, where is the respect due Me?” says the Lord Almighty.

“It is you priests who show contempt for My name.”

“But you ask, ‘How have we shown contempt for Your name?’”

“By offering defiled food on My altar.”

“But you ask, ‘How have we defiled You?’”

“By saying that the Lord’s table is contemptible. When you offer blind animals for sacrifice, is that not wrong? When you sacrifice lame or diseased animals, is that not wrong? Try offering them to your governor! Would he be pleased with you? Would he accept you?” says the Lord Almighty.

“Now plead with God to be gracious to us. With such offerings from your hands, will He accept you?”—says the Lord Almighty.

“Oh, that one of you would shut the temple doors, so that you would not light useless fires on My altar! I am not pleased with you,” says the Lord Almighty, “and I will accept no offering from your hands.

“But you profane it by saying, ‘The Lord’s table is defiled,’ and, ‘Its food is contemptible.’ And you say, ‘What a burden!’ and you sniff at it contemptuously,” says the Lord Almighty.

“When you bring injured, lame or diseased animals and offer them as sacrifices, should I accept them from your hands?” says the Lord.”

“Cursed is the cheat who has an acceptable male in his flock and vows to give it, but then sacrifices a blemished animal to the Lord.”

Malachi 1:6-10, 12-14a

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

As we continue our study of the first chapter in the Book of Malachi, we find the Israelites falling back into old habits again, specifically being disobedient to God. Look again at these verses as the Lord calls out His people for contemptible behavior:

“A son honors his father, and a slave his master. If I am a Father, where is the honor due Me? If I am a Master, where is the respect due Me?” says the Lord Almighty.

“It is you priests who show contempt for My name.”

“But you ask, ‘How have we shown contempt for Your name?’”

“By offering defiled food on My altar.”

“But you ask, ‘How have we defiled You?’”

“By saying that the Lord’s table is contemptible. When you offer blind animals for sacrifice, is that not wrong? When you sacrifice lame or diseased animals, is that not wrong? Try offering them to your governor! Would he be pleased with you? Would he accept you?” says the Lord Almighty.

“Now plead with God to be gracious to us. With such offerings from your hands, will He accept you?”—says the Lord Almighty.

“Oh, that one of you would shut the temple doors, so that you would not light useless fires on My altar! I am not pleased with you,” says the Lord Almighty, “and I will accept no offering from your hands.

“But you profane it by saying, ‘The Lord’s table is defiled,’ and, ‘Its food is contemptible.’ And you say, ‘What a burden!’ and you sniff at it contemptuously,” says the Lord Almighty.

“When you bring injured, lame or diseased animals and offer them as sacrifices, should I accept them from your hands?” says the Lord.”

“Cursed is the cheat who has an acceptable male in his flock and vows to give it, but then sacrifices a blemished animal to the Lord.”  Malachi 1:6-10, 12-14a

Remember the fifth command God gave the Israelites through Moses at Mount Sinai? It went like this:

“Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the Lord your God is giving you.” Exodus 20:12

There is no doubt that God expected the Israelites children to respect their parents.

Now let’s consider all of God’s people in the context of being children with one heavenly Father, the Lord God Almighty. The expectation was that all people would show the Lord the respect He deserved, and yet, that wasn’t the way it was. We know this because God made this statement at the start of our passage:

“A son honors his father, and a slave his master. If I am a Father, where is the honor due Me? If I am a Master, where is the respect due Me?” says the Lord Almighty.

The Lord wasn’t receiving the respect He was due and the chief violators were the priests who bore the responsibility to be the spiritual role models for the Israelites but instead were setting the wrong example. God charged them with contempt.

What exactly was the contemptible behavior?

Well, as we read in the scriptures, it was all about the sacrifices.

As mentioned in yesterday’s devotion, a big part of Ezra’s work with the Israelites after leading the second wave of Israelites back to their homeland was reinstituting proper worship practices that would be consistent with the law. Initially, the Israelites were back on track but by the time Nehemiah had returned, got the work started on the walls around Jerusalem, and returned to Persia to again serve the king there, the Israelites were starting to allow sin to creep into their worship and as we see in our passage today, it was no more evident than in the way the people were offering sacrifices.

So what were they supposed to be doing?

We find the answer by returning to the law itself. Look at these words from the Book of Deuteronomy:

If an animal has a defect, is lame or blind, or has any serious flaw, you must not sacrifice it to the Lord your God.  Deuteronomy 15:21

It doesn’t get more clear cut than that. No flawed animals were to be sacrificed to the Lord, period.

Now look at what was happening in the time of Malachi:

“When you offer blind animals for sacrifice, is that not wrong? When you sacrifice lame or diseased animals, is that not wrong? Try offering them to your governor! Would he be pleased with you? Would he accept you?” says the Lord Almighty.

It’s obvious that sacrifices were not being offered in accordance with the law. The Israelites were offering God blind, lame, and diseased animals to God, defiled sacrifices that not only defiled the sacred altar they were offered on but defiled God in the process.

This is why God called the actions of the priests unacceptable and contemptible. In fact, the Lord would rather have the doors to His temple closed rather than have the altar defiled with inappropriate sacrifices. In other words, no sacrifices would be better than tainted ones.  

So how would the Lord respond to these illicit, wicked practices?

Well, if the priests or anyone else wanted to treat God with contempt then they could expect to be treated contemptuously by God. We know this because of this assurance:

“Cursed is the cheat who has an acceptable male in his flock and vows to give it, but then sacrifices a blemished animal to the Lord.”

Being cursed by God is a place no one should want to ever be but this is where the Israelites, and especially the priests, found themselves, squarely in the cross hairs of the Lord’s displeasure and judgment.

Today, the Lord still expects His people to give Him their best. He expects the offerings of His people to be their first fruits, not leftovers. He demands that we offer up our time, talents, and treasures in a way that always glorifies and magnifies His name and furthers His kingdom here on earth.

Friends, we’ll do that only if we are obedient to His word, will, and way. To act otherwise is nothing short of contemptible.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark
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