BibleProject | One Story That Leads to JesusSample

The prophets constantly try to shake the Israelites out of their stupor so they can see the truth of their rebellion and the harm it’s bringing. They have tried warning, pleading, praying, and shocking Israel’s community with bizarre sign acts.

They tried describing the impending Day of the Lord in a kaleidoscopic array of intense, apocalyptic images. Hosea exposed Israel’s unfaithfulness to God by marrying a prostitute who repeatedly gave herself to other lovers. Ezekiel tried baking food with dung. Jeremiah tried smashing pottery. Isaiah tried public nudity. Joel warned about destruction so severe that it would be like suffering a ravenous locust invasion. Amos tried fury and fiery language. Zechariah spoke of intricate, symbolic, sometimes horrifying dreams.

Israel rejects every message. The results unfold exactly as the prophets foretell. Babylon marches the Israelites off in chains, Jerusalem a smoking heap in their rearview mirror. Their infamous exodus out of darkness has become an exile out of the good land of promise, back into darkness.

In Malachi, the final prophetic book of the Hebrew Bible, we learn that even after all their grinding years in exile, the people’s hard hearts remain cold and calloused. The Israelites, who from the beginning were called to reflect Yahweh’s character by blessing every nation on Earth, have spiraled into what looks like selfishness so chronic that hope seems unrealistic. None of the prophecies changed their minds or hearts. All of the loss and destruction, plus seven decades of exile, didn’t compel them to change course.

Watch the video to see how Yahweh takes his people to task one last time in the book of Malachi.

Reflection Questions

• Review Yahweh’s instructions about acceptable sacrifices in Leviticus 22:17-33. What kinds of animals were the people supposed to offer as gifts to Yahweh? What were the people and priests in Malachi’s day doing instead?
• Meditate on the connection Malachi makes between marital unfaithfulness and unfaithfulness to Yahweh. Where else have you seen this theme in the Book of the Twelve? What have you learned from this theme about the kind of faithfulness God desires from his people?