Poor Offerings Malachi 1:8

The nation of Israel could not understand where they despised and dishonored the name of the Lord. The Lord told them they said, “The table of the Lord is contemptible” as they offered “polluted bread” as sacrifices to Him. In chapter one and verse eight of his prophesy Malachi continued the Lord's description of how the people of Israel offered poor offerings to Him. We read:

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 your person? says the LORD of hosts.

The verse begins, “And if you offer the blind for sacrifice, is it not evil? and if you offer the lame and sick, is it not evil?” Apparently those who offered sacrifices for Israel were bringing “blind”, “lame” and “sick” animals as offerings unto the Lord. Rather than selecting the best of the animals for a sacrifice as instructed in the law, those who offered them would choose animals with flaws. The Lord's question for these sacrifices was, “is it not evil” which means “bad, disagreeable, malignant, or unpleasant”. Though the Israelites were going through the routine of offerings, they were not putting forth the effort to insure they gave their best to the Lord.

The verse continues, “offer it now unto your governor; will he be pleased with you, or accept your person? says the LORD of hosts.” As a challenge to those who made these offerings, the Lord told them to “offer” which means “to come near, approach, enter into, or draw near” “it now unto your governor” who was their earthly lord and ruler. God's first question to them was, “will he be pleased with you”or “be favorable to, accept favorably” to you? The obvious answer to this question is “no”, and the Lord continued, “or accept your person” which means “lift up or exalt your face”. Once again we are brought to the rhetorical answer “no”, and let us be reminded again of who is making this statement, “the LORD of hosts”.

As we think about these questions and statements from the Lord, let us use our imaginations and picture the flailed sacrifices which were being offered by Israel. Blind sheep, lame oxen, sick cattle and basically the worst of the worse of the sacrificial animals were being offered to the Lord by them. What if we were to sit down at a meal to eat and had the worst of bread, meat and other foods as our dinner? Would we be pleased? Would we offer a poor meal to our Governor or leadership within our country? The Lord pointed out Israel's flaw in worship, and because they did not care to find their best for Him, they were looking upon the Lord and His altar with condescension. Let us allow the Holy Spirit to show us areas where we are disregarding the altar of the Lord with contempt, and when He points out our poor offerings may we change our ways and seek to worship Him as “the LORD of hosts” whom He is.

Next time Malachi brings another question to his readers, so read ahead, and we shall join together then.

Until tomorrow...there is more...

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