Malachi 1:1 The burden of the word of the Lord to Israel.(today it's a spiritual Israel, so it applies to us).by Malachi.

Malachi 1:2 I have loved you, says the Lord. Yet you say, Wherein have you loved us? Was not Esau Jacob's brother? says the Lord, yet I loved Jacob.

Genesis 25:23.

God is saying that He loved Israel, whose name was Jacob earlier:.Genesis 32:24-30; Romans 9:13.

Why such favoritism by God? Ah! God had them both born for an ultimate purpose. What was it?

Malachi 1:3 And I hated.(God doesn't hate; comprehend the word hate in the Bible).Esau and laid his mountains and his heritage waste for the dragons of the wilderness.(the barren wilderness away from his family).

The story of Esau and his brother Jacob was all set up by God before their birth.

Esau was a particular manner of individual, very different from his brother Jacob:.Genesis 25:22,23.

Esau made choices and the law of the multiverse is, we reap what we have sown. And most times we don't even know why negatives are happening:.Romans 13:11 "And that knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep..."

The whole story of Esau/Edom and his brother Jacob was a setup by God to provide an important learning principle for all of us, etched for all time and space.

Malachi 1:4,5 Whereas Edom says, We are impoverished, but we will return and build the desolate places; thus saith the Lord of hosts, They shall build, but I will throw down and they shall call them, The border of wickedness and The people against whom the Lord has indignation for ever. And your eyes shall see and you shall say, The Lord will be magnified from the border of Israel.

Malachi 1:6 A son honors his father and a servant his master. If then I be a father, where is my honor? And if I be a master, where is my fear? says the Lord of hosts unto you, O priests.(*), that despise my name. And you say, Wherein have we despised your name?

The corrupt ones know exactly what they themselves are, unthankful, unholy, harmful to others and deceitful about it:.2Timothy 3:2. What can we do about this?

Malachi 1:7 You offer polluted bread upon mine altar and you say, Wherein have we polluted you? In that you say, The table of the Lord is contemptible.

Thay say, How have we polluted you God? You are just contemptible:.Jeremiah 44:16,17.

Malachi 1:8 And if you offer the blind for sacrifice, is it not evil? And if you offer the lame and sick, is it not evil? Offer it now unto your governor. Will he be pleased with you or accept you, says the Lord of hosts?

These corrupt ones would take advantage of anyone to get their money or something of value they possessed, even conning the blind and lame out of it. The blind and lame were exempt under the Mosiac law for any kind of compliance:.Deuteronomy 15:21.

Malachi 2:1-3 And now, O you priests, this commandment is for you. If you will not hear and if you will not lay it to heart, to give glory unto my name, says the Lord of hosts, I will even send a curse upon you and I will curse your blessings; yea, I have cursed them already, because you do not lay it to heart. Behold, I will corrupt your seed and spread dung upon your faces, even the dung of your solemn feasts and one shall take you away with it. 

Malachi 2:4 And you shall know that I have sent this commandment unto you, that my covenant might be with Levi, says the Lord of hosts. 

Malachi 2:5 My covenant was with him of life and peace and I gave them to him for the fear wherewith he feared me and was afraid.(original for word 'afraid' connotes 'realizing that compared to the Creator humanity virtually can not do anything':.John 15:5).before my name. 

Malachi 2:6 The law of truth was in his mouth and iniquity was not found in his lips. He walked with me in peace and equity and did turn many away from iniquity.

That is, turned them from the heartaches in their lives caused by living with the ordinary consciousness they came here with., which was so subject to being influenced by the dark side.

Malachi 2:7 For the priest's lips should keep knowledge and they should seek the law at his mouth, for he is the messenger of the Lord of hosts.

Malachi 2:8,9 But you are departed out of the way. You have caused many to stumble at the law.(the law at this time before Emmanuel's crucifixion and resurrection, was the now abolished.Old Testament.Mosaic Law). You have corrupted the covenant.(a covenant is an agreement).of Levi.(what was this 'covenant of Levi'?.Nehemiah 13:29; Malachi 2:5), says the Lord of hosts. Therefore have I also made you contemptible and base before all the people, according as you have not kept my ways, but have been partial in the law.

They didn't want to be wholehearted in that they picked and chose what parts of it they liked in order to make up their own religion:.Jeremiah 44:16,17.

Malachi 2:10 Have we.(who are the 'we' spoken of here?).not all one father.(God is not just Christ's Father, he's also yours)? Has not one God created us? Why.(it's the natures of some, but why?) do we deal treacherously every man against his brother by profaning the covenant of our fathers?.(why?.Psalms 10:7-10).

Our forefathers had agreed to follow the way of good for all. Some did (Ezekiel 34:24) and some didn't:.Jeremiah 44:16,17.

How did they profane this agreement their fathers made with the Creator?.Malachi wrote during the time of the old covenant, an agreement with the people back then and he recorded it within the Old Testament part of the Bible. The covenant of our fathers was the old covenant. It was an agreement, now done away with. This old covenant has been superceded by the new covenant.

Spiritual principles.however, as compared to all the anicient physical rituals, are always irrespective of time. The designed by God eternal keys always work as intended, but people back then avoided having anything to do with God:.Jeremiah 44:16,17. As a result of this, it was easy for them to carry on with their carnal attitudes, including the hate and resulting wars that hate causes. Hate blinds one to spiritual solutions:.1John 2:11 "But he that hates his brother is in darkness and walks in darkness and knows not whither he goes, because that darkness has blinded his eyes."

Spiritual principles are eternal and as such are irrespective of time. We find spiritual principles, which have to do with the mind of man and his attitudes, throughout the Old Testament and the New Testament. Though the Old Testament Mosaic Law has been abolished, spiritual principles will always be.

Malachi 2:11 Judah has dealt treacherously and an abomination is committed in Israel and in Jerusalem, for Judah has profaned the holiness of the Lord which he loved and has married the daughter of a strange God.

These were they who aligned not with the true God, instead to one of their many Gods.

Malachi 2:12 The Lord will cut off the man that does this, the master and the scholar, out of the tabernacles of Jacob and him that offers an offering unto the Lord of hosts.

Comprised with.Barnes Notes: And him that offers an offering unto the Lord of hosts, him being he who offers an offering to God to bribe Him, as it were, so they could continue to do whatever they decided to do in their worshipping:.Jeremiah 44:16,17. In the same meaning, Isaiah states:.Isaiah 1:13; 61:8. Proverbs also:.Proverbs 15:8; 28:9. And in Amos:.Amos 5:21.

Malachi 2:13 And this have you done again, covering the altar of the Lord with tears, with weeping and with crying out, insomuch that he regards not the offering any more or receives it with good will at your hand.

Because they don't see what led up to them doing bad things and their myopia prevents them forming a change in heart toward love.

Malachi 2:14 Yet you say, Wherefore? Because the Lord has been witness between you and the wife of your youth, against whom you have dealt treacherously. Yet is she your companion and the wife of your covenant.(agreement).

Malachi 2:15 And did not he make one? Yet had he the residue of the spirit. And wherefore one? That he might seek a Godly seed. Therefore take heed to your spirit and let none deal treacherously against the wife of his youth.

Malachi 2:16 For the God of Israel, says that he hates putting away.(such as hiding one's evil real motives; covid anyone?). Violence is covered with garments.(Psalms 73:6). Take heed to your spirit, that you deal not treacherously.(Matthew 7:15).

Malachi 3:1 Behold, I will send my messenger and he shall prepare the way before me. And the God, whom you seek shall suddenly come to his temple.(we are His temple), even the messenger of the covenant whom you delight in. Behold, he shall come, says God.

Malachi 3:2 But who may abide the day of his coming and who shall stand when he appears? For he is like a refiner's fire and like fullers' soap. 

Malachi 3:2 But who may abide the day of his coming and who shall stand when he appears? For he is like a refiner's fire and like fullers' soap.(a strong cleaner used for clothes).

Malachi 3:3 And he shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver. He shall purify the sons of Levi, that they may offer unto the Lord an offering in righteousness.

Malachi 3:3 And he shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver. He shall purify the sons of Levi.(speaking here of the ancient priests, but applicable to all those who trust in their wealth).and purge them as gold and silver.(as gold & silver is refined), that they may offer unto the Lord an offering in righteousness.

How does a refiner of silver do his work? He holds the silver in the fire just long enough to see his image on the silver, like a mirror. Then he knows that all the dross has gone and it's as pure as can be.

God is interested not in what worldly possessions one may have gained, but in.righteousness. One's reward is based on righteousness:.Proverbs 11:28.

Malachi 3:4 Then shall the offering of Judah and Jerusalem be pleasant unto God as in the days of old and as in former years.

Malachi 3:5 And I will come near to you to judgment and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, against the adulterers,  against false swearers and against those that oppress the hireling in his wages.(*), the widow and the fatherless and that turn aside the stranger from his right and fear not me, says the Lord of hosts.

Malachi 3:6 For I am God. I change not. Therefore you sons of Jacob are not consumed.

Malachi 3:6 For I am God. I change not.(what does this mean, considering God does change His mind and intentions? How to.comprehend it). Therefore you sons of Jacob are not consumed.

Original for word 'consumed' is 'end', meaning there is no end of that which is in God and what's that?

We are all 'sons of Jacob' because of the lineage tracing to Abraham, his grandfather, through Jacob's father Isaac. This is the Abraham-Isaac-Jacob-Joseph line of descent. And it's a descent open to all, as the line of descent is of faith:.Romans 3:29,30; Hebrews 13:8.

Abraham is the father of the faithful. All those who believe in the Creator are sons in the spiritual era of the New Testament:.Galatians 4:6,7.

Hebrews 13:8.Emmanuel the Christ, the same yesterday and today and forever.

Malachi 3:7 Even from the days of your fathers you are gone away.(*).from my ordinances and have not kept them. Return unto me.(*).and I will return unto you.(God will return to them from where?), says God. But you said, Wherein shall we return?.(how can we do this or how do we get back? see verse 16 below)

Malachi 3:8-10 Will a man rob God? Yet you have robbed me. But you say, Wherein have we robbed you? In tithes and offerings. You are cursed with a curse. For you have robbed me, even this whole nation.(it was a requirement back then to tithe, but in the era of the New Testament it's a different story). Bring you all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house and prove me now herewith, says God, if I will not open you the windows of heaven and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it. 

It's not doing again in this age, the ancient law of tithinh that blesses you, but one's belief in it that it does. It's the belief, not the physical compliance with a rule long ago abolished. See the article on tithing.

Malachi 3:11,12 And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes and he shall not destroy the fruits of your ground, neither shall your vine cast her fruit before the time in the field, says God. And all nations shall call you blessed. For you shall be a delightsome land.

Malachi 3:16 Then they that feared God spoke often one to another.(fellowship:.John1:3).and God hearkened and heard it and a book of remembrance was written before him for them that feared and that thought upon his name.(meditation and contemplation:.Ephesians 1:8)

"spoke often to one to another":.Matthew 18:20.
Why would thinking upon God's name seem to be of such importance?.Ephesians 1:21. What ways can one think upon His name?

Malachi 3:17 And they shall be mine, says God, in that day when I make up my jewels and I will spare them, as a man spares his own son that serves.(one that serves and helps his family or one that changes to be that way, the prodigal son:.Luke 15:11-32).him.

Malachi 3:18 Then shall you return and discern between the righteous and the wicked, between him that serves God and him that serves him not.

Malachi 4:1 For behold, the day comes that shall burn as an oven and all the proud, yea and all that do wickedly shall be stubble and the day that comes shall burn them up, says God, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch.

Malachi 4:2 But unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings and you shall go forth and grow up.(original 'spring about' as a happy little calf).as calves of the stall.

1Corinthians 2:9.

Malachi 4:3 And you shall tread down the wicked, for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet in the day that I shall do this, says God.

Malachi 4:4 Remember you the law of Moses my servant, which I commanded unto him in Horeb for all Israel, with the statutes and judgments.

Malachi 4:5 Behold, I will send you Elijah.(since Elijah had long past, this is talking about John the baptist:.Luke 1:17).the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord..(?)

Malachi 4:6 And he shall turn.(original also 'return', 'restore', make whole, all one; not speaking specifically of one individual, but of an attitude, a heart, that an individual would have that would similarly affect others:.Luke 1:17).the heart of the fathers to the children and the heart of the children to their fathers.(solid family life), lest I come and smite the Earth with a curse.

If there's no good family life, there's no good life for anyone, only the breeding of selfishness.

....next book is Matthew, first book of the New Testament