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Malachi: The Last Prophetic Book In The Old Testament

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Book of Malachi The Book of Malachi is the last prophetic book in the Old Testament. The book does not provide dates or references to actual people or events, thus it is unknown when the book was truly written. However, since the book uses a specific term for “governor,” historians believe that the book was written after the Judeans return to Judah after being held captive by the Babylonians (Access Bible, 1300). The book was written to correct the behaviors of the Judeans in their relationships with God and with one another. Malachi condemns the Judeans and the priests for not respecting God and one another and tries to teach them of what they did wrong. He teaches how to improve their behavior by providing examples of actions and statements …show more content…

One of the major problems with the Judeans is their treatment of God. In Malachi 1:6 the LORD cries out, “A son honors his father, and servants their master. If I am a father, where is the honor due me? And if I am a master, where is the respect due me?” Malachi places blame on the priests for allowing the Judeans to dishonor God. In the laws God provided their ancestors, God explicitly tells them that they are supposed to offer sacrifices to Him. He further explains what the sacrifices have to be. Rather than providing unblemished sacrifices, the priests allow the Judeans to offer “polluted food” (Malachi 1:7). The sacrifices are animals that are sick or imperfect in some way. Even in Chapter 3, God is angry with the Judeans for not offering a percentage of their yield when God is the one who gave them the land to grow their food on. It is disrespectful to God because the people do not view God as being worthy of having the best sacrifices and the priests are not honoring the commands God has given them. Not only have the priests allowed the people to disrespect God, but they are not teaching the Judeans how to remain holy. They are held to higher standards because

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