MALACHI SERIES 2: GOD’S LOVE FOR JACOB (Mal 1:1-5)

I. GENERAL OUTLINE

I. INTRODUCTION TO THE SERIES

II. GOD’S LOVE FOR JACOB (1:1-5)

III. GOD’S FIRST CHARGE OF SIN (1:6-2:9)

IV. GOD’S SECOND CHARGE OF SIN (2:10-17)

V. GOD’S SENDING OF HIS MESSENGER (3:1-7)

VI. GOD’S THIRD CHARGE OF SIN (3:8-18)

VII. FINAL ADMONITION (4:1-6) II. GOD’S LOVE FOR JACOB (1:1-5)

A. INTRODUCTION (1:1)B. JACOB CHOSEN (1:2)C. ESAU REJECTED (1:3-5)

A. INTRODUCTION (1:1) Read Mal 1:1.

We are told that this was an “oracle”.

~ Hebrew term – literally “burden” “Word of the Lord” is a claim of

authority. So, in the opening words to this

book, we are told that the Lord was about to declare a message that was a burden to Him through His prophet Malachi.

This was originally “the oracle of the word of the Lord to Israel.”

B. JACOB CHOSEN (1:2) Read Mal 1:2. God begins by declaring His love for

Israel: “‘I have loved you,’ says the Lord.”

~ God’s loving Israel was and is a completed act that will

remain true forever! Israel responds with a question that

sounds more like a challenge.

~ The root of their sin was insensitivity to the love of God,

and to their own wickedness. ~ They look at what God had taken

away, not at what God had left behind.

~ WE MUST NOT THINK THAT GOD DOES NOT LOVE US BECAUSE

HE AFFLICTS US. ~ God, in His holy and perfect love for

us, will not hesitate to afflict us if He knows this will cleanse us or deepen us.

~ God’s higher priority for us is not our happiness but our holiness,

our likeness to the image of His Son; and therein must lie our happiness: when we see ourselves looking more like Jesus. To answer Israel’s question, God refers

to His electing love.

~ Gen 25:21ff

~ Paul, Rom 9:9-12

Lest we think that God chose Israel because they were better than everybody else, the Lord clarified this in Deut 7:6-8.

~ God’s gracious love in contrast to Israel’s unworthiness, Hos 11:1-4.

This is also the picture of God’s choosing to love us in spite of our sinfulness.

~ Rom 5:8

C. ESAU REJECTED (1:3-5) Read Mal 1:3.

~ “How can God hate?”

~ See Gen 25:23.

~ Therefore, the context of “hate” here shows this is technical covenant

vocabulary in which “love” and “hate” are synonymous with “choose” and “reject” respectively.

In answer to the possible question, “But why Jacob? Why not Esau? Is there favoritism with God?”, see Paul in Rom 9:14-16.

Read Mal 1:3b.

~ Malachi’s words echo those of the earlier prophets ( Amos 1:11-

12; Ezek 25:12-14; Obadiah). Who was Edom?

~ Edom is the name given to Esau after he bartered his birthright (Gen 25:30).

~ The reason for God cursing them, see Num 20:14-21. Read Mal 1:4.

~ Here we see further why God was bent on destroying Edom.

~ Even a God of love will act in judgment against an evil nation

(see Ex 34:5-7). Was Edom’s behavior any worse than

Israel’s?

~ God judged Edom as he would have judged Israel had Israel not periodically repented.

~ Malachi wanted Israel to grasp how undeserved was God’s love for

Israel. Read Mal 1:5.

~ When she sees the ultimate fate of Edom, doubting Israel will

acknowledge that the Lord is the great Ruler over all the nations (see Ps 47:2; 96:10; 97:1, 9).