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Minor Prophets, Part 3: Persian Period and Restoration

  1. Lesson One
    Obadiah
    17 Activities
    |
    2 Assessments
  2. Lesson Two
    Haggai
    17 Activities
    |
    2 Assessments
  3. Lesson Three
    Zechariah
    20 Activities
    |
    2 Assessments
  4. Lesson Four
    Malachi
    18 Activities
    |
    2 Assessments
  5. Lesson Five
    OT Wrap-Up (Psalm 119)
    15 Activities
    |
    5 Assessments
  6. Course Wrap-Up
    Course Completion
    1 Activity
    |
    1 Assessment

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Minor Prophets, Part 3: Persian Period and Restoration Malachi In | Workbook: Disputed Sayings in Malachi, Part 1
Lesson 4, Activity 6

In | Workbook: Disputed Sayings in Malachi, Part 1

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Grab your Workbook Journal!

[Record your answers in the workbook provided at the beginning of this course.]

The pattern of these disputed sayings in Malachi is pretty simple. YHWH’s position is presented and then contradicted by the people, as outlined in the sayings below. 

Malachi (NASB)YHWHThe People
1:2“I have loved you,” says the LORD . . .But you say, “How have You loved us?” “Was not Esau Jacob’s brother?” declares the LORD. “Yet I have loved Jacob.”
2:17You have wearied the LORD with your words . . .Yet you say, “How have we wearied Him?” In that you say, “Everyone who does evil is good in the sight of the LORD, and He delights in them,” or, “Where is the God of justice?”
3:7“Return to me, and I will return to you,” says the LORD of armies.But you say, “How shall we return?”
3:8“Would anyone rob God? Yet you are robbing Me!”But you say, “How have we robbed You?” In tithes and offerings.
3:13“Your words have been arrogant against Me,” says the LORD . . .Yet you say, “What have we spoken against You?”

If we take another step back from these sayings, we can see that in some cases they resemble a formal address. First YHWH offers His thesis, which is then disputed by the people, before being proved and affirmed through Malachi. 

ComponentPassage
Thesis“I have loved you,” says the LORD. 
Call for ProofBut you say, “How have You loved us?” 
Response“Was not Esau Jacob’s brother?” declares the LORD. “Yet I have loved Jacob; but I have hated Esau, and I have made his mountains a desolation and appointed his inheritance for the jackals of the wilderness.” Though Edom says, “We have been beaten down, but we will return and build up the ruins”; thus says the LORD of hosts, “They may build, but I will tear down; and men will call them the wicked territory, and the people toward whom the LORD is indignant forever.” 
Final AffirmationYour eyes will see this and you will say, “The LORD be magnified beyond the border of Israel!”

Read Malachi 3:8-12 below and then complete the following exercise.

“Will a mere mortal rob God? Yet you rob me. “But you ask, ‘How are we robbing you?’ “In tithes and offerings. You are under a curse—your whole nation—because you are robbing me. Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this,” says the Lord Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it. I will prevent pests from devouring your crops, and the vines in your fields will not drop their fruit before it is ripe,” says the Lord Almighty. “Then all the nations will call you blessed, for yours will be a delightful land,” says the Lord Almighty. Malachi 3:8-12 NASB

  1. Identify each part of this dispute in Malachi 3:8-12. Referencing the table below, inside your workbook write the words of the verse which corresponds to the dispute component given below.
ComponentMalachi 3:8-12 (NASB)
Thesis
Call for Proof
Response
Final Affirmation
See the completed table below:
Component Passage
Thesis “Will a mere mortal rob God? Yet you rob me.
Call for Proof “But you ask, ‘How are we robbing you?’”
Response “In tithes and offerings. You are under a curse—your whole nation—because you are robbing me. Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this,” says the LORD Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it. I will prevent pests from devouring your crops, and the vines in your fields will not drop their fruit before it is ripe,” says the LORD Almighty.
Final Affirmation “Then all the nations will call you blessed, for yours will be a delightful land,” says the LORD Almighty.

Reference: Mark McEntire, A Chorus of Prophetic Voices, 2015, p. 196.

Source: James D. Nogalski, Interpreting Prophetic Literature, 015, pp. 64-65.

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