Old Testament – Page 9 – A Thimble-full of Theology for Daily Living

Malachi 2:17-3:5, The Underlying Root of Unbelief

Most of us are familiar with the process of smelting silver or gold in order to remove the impurities. This is a common metaphor of judgment in Scripture. But another metaphor is cleansing by fuller’s

Malachi 2:10-16, Another Covenant Failure

Book of Malachi Idolatry Old Testament
/ By Randall Johnson

There are three covenants in view in this section of Malachi. He has already mentioned the covenant that Yahweh made with Levi, constituting his tribe as the priestly tribe. Here in this passage, he mentions

Malachi 2:5-9, How Priests (Pastors) Should Minister

Though there is not a one-to-one correspondence between priests and pastors, there is a similarity of responsibility. As one commentator says, Whilst the prophets were extraordinary messengers of God,

Malachi 2:1-4, Judgment on the Priests

The functions of Israel’s priests were (1) ritual – the offering of sacrifices that brought Israelites back into relationship with God, (2) oracular – divine or perceive God’s will

Malachi 1:6-14, Polluted Sacrifices

God did not accept sacrifices that were imperfect: Animals blind or disabled or mutilated or having a discharge or an itch or scabs you shall not offer to the LORD or give them to the LORD as a food offering

Malachi 1:2-5, Yahweh’s Major Contention

If God sent you a message saying, “I love you,” would you receive it? Or would you question it? 2 “I have loved you,” says Yahweh. “But you say, ‘How have you loved us?’ “Was not Esau

Malachi 1:1, The Last Prophet of Israel

Though there were many books written after Malachi’s prophecy and before the New Testament (see the Apocrypha or deuterocanonical books), they did not rise to the level of true prophecy. Malachi is the

1 Peter 1:13-16, Be Holy

I challenged, privately, a young woman who publicly disrespected a fellow believer on Facebook because he didn’t take the same political view she did. Rightly or wrongly, I asked her if her father, who

Zephaniah 3:18-20, The Vindication of All Who Suffered

It would seem that Zephaniah could have ended his prophecy with his description of the joy and glory of the perfect kingdom of peace and safety. But he doesn’t. God has him speak at the last of those

Zephaniah 3:14-17, The Joy of the Kingdom

The appropriate response to the bringing in of God’s glorious kingdom of peace and safety, of proper worship and service, is joy and rejoicing. 14 Sing, Daughter Zion; shout aloud, Israel! Be glad

Zephaniah 3:9-13, God’s Glorious Future For All His People

There can be no doubt that J.R.R. Tolkien’s celebrated trilogy, The Lord of the Rings, with its epic battle against evil and its triumphant restoration of the true king to the throne, is meant as a depiction

Zephaniah 3:1-8, Judah Is Incorrigible

To be incorrigible is to be “not capable of being cured or reformed,” like a “criminal who should spend the rest of his life behind bars” (Merriam-Webster). Though Yahweh appealed

Zephaniah 2:4-15, Yahweh’s Judgment on the Nations

Zephaniah’s prophecy takes a strong right turn, from talking about the certain judgment coming on Judah and the appeal to her to repent, to a focus on God’s judgment of the nations around Judah and

Zephaniah 2:1-3, Take an Opportunity to Repent

I asked Bing, powered by AI (artificial intelligence), what someone would mean by, “Let’s gather ourselves.” It answered: When someone says, “Let’s gather ourselves,” they are suggesting that

Zephaniah 1:7-18, Judah Sacrificed in Judgment

It seems the phrase “getting off Scot free” comes from the Scandinavian term “skat,” meaning a tax or payment, and an English “redistributive taxation” or “skat”

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