Malachi - The Park Forum

April 18, 2025April 16, 2025

Examine Your Sacrifices

Links for today’s readings:

Read: Leviticus 22 Listen: (4:41) Read: Acts 18 Listen: (4:06)

Links for this weekend’s readings:

Read: Leviticus 23 Listen: (6:31) Read: Acts 19 Listen: (5:47)
Read: Leviticus 24 Listen: (2:58) Read: Acts 20 Listen: (5:22)

Scripture Focus: Leviticus 22.17-20

17 The Lord said to Moses, 18 “Speak to Aaron and his sons and to all the Israelites and say to them: ‘If any of you—whether an Israelite or a foreigner residing in Israel—presents a gift for a burnt offering to the Lord, either to fulfill a vow or as a freewill offering, 19 you must present a male without defect from the cattle, sheep or goats in order that it may be accepted on your behalf. 20 Do not bring anything with a defect, because it will not be accepted on your behalf.

Malachi 1.8, 14

8 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.

14 “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. For I am a great king,” says the Lord Almighty, “and my name is to be feared among the nations.

Reflection: Examine Your Sacrifices

By John Tillman

Where does food come from? We know the answer is “farms,” yet the first image in our head is probably a grocery store.

Most people in modern societies, whether we live in cities or the countryside, are socially and geographically disconnected from our food sources. Few have ever grown and harvested our own crops or raised or butchered our own animals. This isn’t bad or good—it’s just different than biblical societies. This agricultural disconnection distances us from some aspects of the sacrificial system.

We might cringe at the perceived cruelty of animal sacrifices but fail to blink at the financial cost. When a family sacrificed an animal they weren’t sacrificing a pet. They sacrificed all the things the animal could give them over its life. They sacrificed the labor the animal could perform, the goods it could be traded for, the offspring it could reproduce, in addition to most of the food it could provide.

Leviticus 22 stressed that animals for sacrifices must be “without defect,” to head off a financial temptation to keep the best animals for breeding, working the land, or market, sacrificing to the Lord less valuable stock. You wouldn’t want to breed the runts, the deformed, or the sickly animals. Yet, God forbids using sacrifices to cull the weak. He demands their best.

Israel struggled with this. Malachi condemned the priests and people of his day. They brought God offerings so deformed and diseased that no human wanted to eat them. (Malachi 1.12-14) God challenged the people to offer food like this to human rulers and endure their reaction.

Just as the Israelites were prone to give to God lame, blind, diseased, or deformed animals, we are prone to give up to God things we didn’t want anyway and keep for ourselves what we find most valuable.

Our salvation is secured by the sacrifice of Jesus the “spotless lamb.” But we are still called to many works of sacrifice. Jesus asks us to take up our cross and lay down our lives. He asks us to feed the hungry, hydrate the thirsty, welcome the stranger, clothe the naked, and visit the sick and the prisoner. (Matthew 25.34-40)

If a human leader had assigned these tasks, would the state of our world indicate acceptable job performance? Are our sacrifices and efforts at these tasks (our orthopraxy) lame, blind, or weak like a diseased lamb?

Examine your sacrifices. Give your best.

Divine Hours Prayer: The Call to Prayer

I cry out to you, O Lord; I say, “You are my refuge, my portion in the land of the living.” — Psalm 142.5

– Divine Hours prayers from The Divine Hours: Prayers for Springtime by Phyllis Tickle.

The “Last Words” of a Testament

Scripture Focus: Malachi 4.4-6
4 “Remember the law of my servant Moses, the decrees and laws I gave him at Horeb for all Israel.
5 “See, I will send the prophet Elijah to you before that great and dreadful day of the Lord comes. 6 He will turn the hearts of the parents to their children, and the hearts of the children to their parents; or else I will come and strike the land with total destruction.”

2 Chronicles 36.23
23 “This is what Cyrus king of Persia says:
“‘The Lord, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth and he has appointed me to build a temple for him at Jerusalem in Judah. Any of his people among you may go up, and may the Lord their God be with them.’”

Reflection: The “Last Words” of a Testament
By Erin Newton

What do you say to a loved one when you know you won’t see them for a while? Do you warn them of impending dangers? Do you encourage them? Do you offer a bit of advice?

Malachi 4 closes the Old Testament, at least in the Protestant Bible. These verses mark the end of God’s revelation through the prophets and open the period of “silence.” The Hebrew Bible, arranged differently, ends with 2 Chronicles. This variation of “last words” reveals God’s steadfast and unchanging nature.

2 Chronicles 36 ends with Cyrus’s proclamation to restore the Jerusalem temple. The final words are a promise—“May the Lord their God be with them.” God with us—Immanuel. Although the Hebrew Bible ends with this promise and does not continue with the testimony of that same Immanuel, God has always promised to be with his people.

The “last words” of Malachi 4 are an encouragement, a warning, and an instruction.

The instruction: “Remember the law of Moses.” A reminder not to neglect the word of God. For centuries, the people had warped the message of God using divine words for personal benefit. It is a call to be more than familiar with the words on the page—to remember the words is to judge and apply them rightly.

The warning: “I will send the prophet Elijah to you before that great and dreadful day.” The days ahead, though the sun rises with healing (v. 2), are marked for judgment. These “last words” herald a time when all spiritual procrastination will meet a deadline. The coming day would draw a line between apathetic and repentant hearts.

The encouragement: “He will turn the hearts of the parents to their children, and the hearts of the children to their parents.” The last words are words of peace. Formerly one family, the people of Judah, were torn apart by exile but reunited a century later. The returning people and those who remained in the last were at odds with one another (read Ezra and Nehemiah). God promises to reconcile the family of God.

God’s “last words” are true for us today. We must remember his word and turn our hearts to peace and repentance. The promised Elijah has come, and the peace has been set in motion by Christ. Why do we continue to sow animosity in the family of God? Let us take heed to remember these “last words.”

Divine Hours Prayer: A Reading
Jesus taught us, saying: “Whoever holds to my commandments and keeps them is the one who loves me; and whoever loves me will be loved by my Father, and I shall love him and reveal myself to him.” — John 14.21

– From The Divine Hours: Prayers for Summertime by Phyllis Tickle.

Today’s Readings
Malachi 4 (Listen 1:06)
Psalm 92-93 (Listen 2:09)

Read more about Destiny of Grass vs Cedars
The writer sees through the illusion that worldly power and success indicate heavenly endorsement. So should we.

Destiny of Grass vs Cedars

Apply or tell a student!
One spot left! (and overflow available) #StudentWritersMonth orientation begins this weekend! #FreeCoaching, seminars by special guests, published work, and a scholarship/stipend.

Student Writers Month

September 28, 2022September 26, 2022

Offal Leaders—Readers’ Choice

Today’s post was originally published, on June 3, 2022, based on Malachi 2.3-4, 9
It was selected by reader, Brian Bakke, Washington DC:
“This reflection reminded me of growing up in and living in the city of Chicago where I was surrounded by corruption. I am a regular reader of The Park Forum so that I might gain wisdom.”

Scripture Focus: Malachi 2.3-4, 9
3 “Because of you I will rebuke your descendants; I will smear on your faces the dung from your festival sacrifices, and you will be carried off with it. 4 And you will know that I have sent you this warning so that my covenant with Levi may continue,” says the Lord Almighty.

9 “So I have caused you to be despised and humiliated before all the people, because you have not followed my ways but have shown partiality in matters of the law.”

Reflection: Offal Leaders—Readers’ Choice
By John Tillman

In their commissioning, priests had the blood of the sacrifices daubed on their ears, hands, and feet to represent their holiness. This marking of symbolic purity qualified them to speak for God, work for God, and lead the people.

Malachi describes a de-commissioning of unfaithful priests. Instead of blood that represented purity and life, the unclean feces from the animal would be smeared on their faces, representing impurity and death.

Normally this fecal matter, along with the skin and any other part of the animal not eaten or offered as a sacrifice would be carried to a location outside the community to be burned. In Malachi’s vision, the priests who dishonor God will be carried off with this offal.

God instituted the priesthood as a way of blessing the people. It was part of God’s fulfillment of his promise to bless the entire world through Abraham. For these priests, however, their part in that blessing was over. God even promised to reverse the priests’ blessings to curses.

However, there is still hope in Malachi’s vision. The disgusting image of the feces-smeared priests does not mean God is canceling the priesthood or the Temple or his mission to bless the nations. He’s just removing the sinful, the prideful, the corrupt, and the abusers of his people. God removes these priests so “that my covenant with Levi may continue.”

In every age, not just the time of Malachi, God is displeased with spiritual leaders who misrepresent him. God promises to bring dishonor on leaders who bring dishonor on his name. However, God’s plan to bless the nations won’t be derailed by spiritual leaders who fail.

We can make two mistakes when we are confronted with revelations of sin and corruption in spiritual leaders. One is to continue following/supporting these leaders. God smeared their faces with offal, but some keep trying to wipe it off and pretend nothing is wrong. Anyone can be forgiven. Not everyone can be reinstated. (Luke 12.48; James 3.1)

A second is to abandon faith in God because we lose faith in humans. God’s holiness is the reason these leaders are disgraced. We do not have to allow these “offal-smeared” leaders to cause us to stumble and abandon faith.

Rather than destroying everything, God’s purpose is to restore everything. Despite our shock at the removal of leaders, God’s covenant of life and peace through our high priest, Jesus, can continue.

Divine Hours Prayer: The Call to Prayer
But I will call upon God, and the Lord will deliver me.
In the evening, in the morning, and at noonday, I will complain and lament,
He will bring me safely back… God, who is enthroned of old, will hear me… — Psalm 55.17

– From The Divine Hours: Prayers for Summertime by Phyllis Tickle.

Today’s Readings
Lamentations 3 (Listen 5:10)
Romans 1 (Listen 5:02)

Readers’ Choice is Here!
We loved hearing your recommended posts from the last 12 months. Which one helped you heal?

Readers’ Choice 2025

Read more about Priests of Life and Peace
God’s purpose is not to end the priesthood. Instead, through Christ’s sacrifice, he instituted a new priesthood for all who follow Jesus.

Priests of Life and Peace

September 2, 2022May 2, 2024

From Esau to Jacob—Readers’ Choice

Readers’ Choice Month:
This September, The Park Forum is looking back on readers’ selections of our most meaningful and helpful devotionals from the past 12 months. Thank you for your readership. This month is all about hearing from you. Submit a Readers’ Choice post today.

Today’s post was originally published, on June 2, 2022, based on Malachi 1.2-3, Matthew 12.48-50, and Romans 5.8
It was selected by reader, Barbara:
“This was one of my favorites.”

Scripture Focus: Malachi 1.2-3
2 “I have loved you,” says the Lord.
“But you ask, ‘How have you loved us?’
“Was not Esau Jacob’s brother?” declares the Lord. “Yet I have loved Jacob, 3 but Esau I have hated, and I have turned his hill country into a wasteland and left his inheritance to the desert jackals.”

Matthew 12.48-50
48 He replied to him, “Who is my mother, and who are my brothers?” 49 Pointing to his disciples, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers. 50 For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother.”

Romans 5.8
…God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Reflection: From Esau to Jacob—Readers’ Choice
By John Tillman

“Esau I have hated.”

We may wonder: Does God randomly hate people? Am I one of those arbitrarily hated by God?

It is normal to struggle with difficult passages, especially those that have been misused. For example, some passages in Malachi 1, including this one, have been twisted to support slavery. Those who did this surrendered to culture and profit and selfishness, all the while proclaiming themselves wise, biblical, and superior. May we not make similar mistakes.

It’s impossible in a 400-word devotional to unpack a difficult passage like this. I won’t attempt it. Let us simply meditate on a few details from scripture.

“Esau” doesn’t mean the individual. God is using these names as collective nouns to speak to the descendants of these brothers, not the brothers themselves. We don’t do this much in our culture. The closest thing we might understand is using the name of a country’s leader to refer to actions of that nation. For example, “Volodymyr Zelensky” meaning Ukraine, or “Xi Jinping” meaning China.
God’s “hatred” isn’t arbitrary. It refers to justice for Edom’s actions—what they collectively did and continued to do. Esau, the individual, while reconciled to his brother, enjoyed God’s blessing. His descendants continually opposed Israel throughout their history and came to represent, poetically, all people opposed to God and God’s people.
God’s “hatred” is not absolute. Edomites are not arbitrarily cursed or hated throughout history or in totality. In many places, God implies hope for Edom. He shows he cares for them, gives them their own land, and commands that no Israelite should despise an Edomite. (Deuteronomy 2.1-8, 12; 23.7)
This statement’s purpose is to show love, not hatred. God speaks poetically to reassure his people. He points to justice done on their behalf, which proves his love. To Micah’s readers, this justice was the downfall of “The Wicked Land” (Malachi 1.4) that harmed them.

We can be assured of God’s love and justice. We are not innocent. Yet, we are not hated. We are loved. This is demonstrated in Christ as God turns “Esaus” into “Jacobs.”

God loved us when we were like Esau—sinners, rebels, and persecutors. (Romans 5.8) All of us have been children of Esau, but by God’s grace, we can become children of Jacob and brothers and sisters of Christ (Matthew 12.50). Through Jesus, we cry “Abba, father,” (Romans 8.15; Galatians 4.6; Mark 14.36) for “Jacob, have I loved.” (Malachi 1.2)

Divine Hours Prayer: The Refrain for the Morning Lessons
It is not the healthy who need a doctor but the sick…And indeed I did not come to call the virtuous, but sinners. — Matthew 9.12-13

– From The Divine Hours: Prayers for Summertime by Phyllis Tickle.

Today’s Readings
Jeremiah 27 (Listen -3:52)
1 Corinthians 4 (Listen – 3:15)

This Weekend’s Readings
Jeremiah 28 (Listen -3:05), 1 Corinthians 5 (Listen – 1:58)
Jeremiah 29 (Listen -5:44), 1 Corinthians 6 (Listen – 3:03)
Jeremiah 30-31 (Listen 11:21), 1 Corinthians 7 (Listen – 6:09)

Read more about Running to Forgive
In this moment, in a limited way, Esau demonstrates the welcome of the gospel. The wronged party shows undeserved mercy.

Running to Forgive

Readers’ Choice is Here!
There’s still room for your recommended posts from the last 12 months. Which ones did you share with a friend?

Readers’ Choice 2025

June 3, 2022June 2, 2022

Offal Leaders

9 “So I have caused you to be despised and humiliated before all the people, because you have not followed my ways but have shown partiality in matters of the law.”

Reflection: Offal Leaders
By John Tillman

Divine Hours Prayer: The Greeting
I am bound by the vow I made to you, O God; I will present to you thank-offerings;
For you have rescued my soul from death and my feet from stumbling, that I may walk before God in the light of the living. — Psalm 56.11-12

Today’s Readings
Malachi 2 (Listen – 3:12)
Matthew 13 (Listen – 7 :23)

This Weekend’s Readings
Malachi 3 (Listen – 3:13), Matthew 14 (Listen – 4 :14)
Malachi 4 (Listen – 1:06), Matthew 15 (Listen – 4 :23)