Malachi 1:7

The Holy Bible, Berean Study Bible

Contextual Overview

⁶"A son honors his father, and a servant his master. But if I am a father, where is My honor? And if I am a master, where is your fear of Me?" says the LORD of Hosts to you priests who despise My name. Yet you ask, "How have we despised Your name?" ⁷"By presenting defiled food on My altar." You ask, "How have we defiled You?" "By saying that the table of the LORD is contemptible."⁸"When you offer blind animals for sacrifice, is it not wrong? And when you present the lame and sick ones, is it not wrong? Why not offer them to your governor! Would he be pleased with you or show you favor?" asks the LORD of Hosts. ⁹"But ask now for God's favor. Will He be gracious to us? Since this has come from your hands, will He show you favor?" asks the LORD of Hosts. ¹⁰"Oh, that one of you would shut the temple doors, so that you would no longer kindle useless fires on My altar! I take no pleasure in you," says the LORD of Hosts, "and I will accept no offering from your hands." ¹¹"For My name will be great among the nations, from the rising to the setting of the sun. In every place, incense and pure offerings will be presented in My name, because My name will be great among the nations," says the LORD of Hosts. ¹²"But you profane it when you say, 'The table of the LORD is defiled, and its fruit, its food, is contemptible.' ¹³You also say: 'Look, what a nuisance!' And you turn up your nose at it," says the LORD of Hosts. "You bring as an offering animals that are stolen, lame, or sick! Should I accept this from your hands?" asks the LORD. ¹⁴"But cursed is the deceiver who has an acceptable male in his flock and vows to give it, but sacrifices a defective animal to the Lord. For I am a great King," says the LORD of Hosts, "and My name is to be feared among the nations."

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

Ye offer: etc. or, Bring unto my, etc

polluted: Leviticus 2:11, Leviticus 21:6, Deuteronomy 15:21

The table: Malachi 1:12, 1 Samuel 2:15-17, Ezekiel 41:22, 1 Corinthians 10:21, 1 Corinthians 11:21, 1 Corinthians 11:22, 1 Corinthians 11:27-32

Reciprocal: Exodus 12:5 - be without Exodus 25:30 - General Leviticus 3:11 - the food Leviticus 22:25 - the bread Numbers 18:32 - pollute Numbers 28:2 - my bread 2 Samuel 12:10 - because Jeremiah 34:16 - polluted Ezekiel 23:41 - a table Ezekiel 40:39 - tables on that Ezekiel 44:7 - when Ezekiel 44:16 - to my table Malachi 1:2 - Wherein Malachi 1:13 - torn Malachi 2:14 - Wherefore Malachi 2:17 - Wherein Matthew 26:8 - To

Cross-References

Genesis 1:8
God called the expanse "sky." And there was evening, and there was morning-the second day.

Genesis 1:9
And God said, "Let the waters under the sky be gathered into one place, so that the dry land may appear." And it was so.

Genesis 1:11
Then God said, "Let the earth bring forth vegetation: seed-bearing plants and fruit trees, each bearing fruit with seed according to its kind." And it was so.

Genesis 1:15
And let them serve as lights in the expanse of the sky to shine upon the earth." And it was so.

Genesis 1:24
And God said, "Let the earth bring forth living creatures according to their kinds: livestock, land crawlers, and wild animals according to their kinds." And it was so.

Genesis 1:28
God blessed them and said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it; rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and every creature that crawls upon the earth."

Genesis 1:29
Then God said, "Behold, I have given you every seed-bearing plant on the face of all the earth, and every tree whose fruit contains seed. They will be yours for food.

Job 26:8
He wraps up the waters in His clouds, yet the clouds do not burst under their own weight.

Psalms 104:10
He sends forth springs in the valleys; they flow between the mountains.

Psalms 148:4
Praise Him, O highest heavens, and you waters above the skies.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

Ye offer polluted bread upon mine altar,.... Which some understand of the shewbread, mention being afterwards made of a "table", as Jerom; who observes that it was made of wheat, which the priests themselves sowed, reaped, ground, and baked, and so could take what they would out of it: as for their sowing it, it does not seem likely that they should be employed in such service, whatever may be said for their reaping; since the sheaf of the first fruits was reaped by persons deputed from the sanhedrim w; though of the reaping of that for the shewbread, I find no mention made; but as for grinding, sifting, kneading, and making it into loaves, and baking it, and taking it out of the oven, and putting it upon the table of shewbread, all this was the work of the priests x; and those of the house of Garmu y were appointed over that work: now, this bread might be said to be polluted, when they set upon the table such as was not made of fine wheat flour, and had not pure frankincense put upon or by each row, as the law required, Leviticus 24:5 nor is it any material objection to this sense, that it is an altar, and not a table, on which this bread was offered; since, as the altar is called a table, Ezekiel 41:22, as this is in a following clause, the table may be called an altar; though it may be observed, that the shewbread is never said to be offered, but to be set, or put upon the table: indeed the burning of the frankincense set by it is called an offering made by fire unto the Lord, Leviticus 24:7 wherefore others interpret this of the daily meat offering, which went along with the daily sacrifice of the lambs, and part of which was burnt on the altar, Exodus 29:40 or rather this designs sacrifice in general, sometimes called "bread", Leviticus 3:11 and so the Targum here,

"ye offer upon my altar an abominable offering;''

such as had blemishes in them, were blind or lame, as after mentioned; and had not the requisites of a sacrifice in them; or were offered not in a right manner, or by bad men, and with a wicked mind:

and ye say, Wherein have we polluted thee? thy bread offering or altar; as if their offerings were pure, and they themselves, and their consciences pure from sin. The answer is,

In that ye say, The table of the Lord is contemptible; either the shewbread table, which yet was covered with gold, and all the vessels of it made of gold; or the altar, as in Ezekiel 41:22 their actions spoke so loud, and declared that the table or altar of the Lord was a contemptible thing, since they cared not what was offered upon it: or the reason why it was had in contempt, as some think, was because there was not that holiness in the second temple as in the first: or, as Abarbinel and Kimchi say, because of the fat and the blood which were offered on the altar, which they esteemed contemptible things; not observing the end for which the Lord commanded them to be offered.

w Misn. Menachot, c. 10. sect. 3. x Maimon. Hilchot Tamidin, c. 5. sect. 6. y Misn. Shekalim, c. 5. sect. 1.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Offering polluted bread upon Mine altar - This, continuing on the words, “despisers of My Name,” , is the answer to their question, “Wherein have we despised Thy Name?” “Bread” might stand, in itself, either for the showbread, or for the מנחה minchāh, meal-offering, which was the necessary accompaniment of sacrifices and sometimes the whole.

But here the “polluted bread” cannot be the showbread, since this was not put upon the altar, but upon its own table; and although the altar is, as here, also called “a table” , in regard to the sacrifice hereon consumed, “the table” of the showbread is nowhere called “altar.” The prophet then means by “bread,” either the meal-offering, as representing the sacrifice, or the offerings by fire altogether, as in Ezekiel Ezekiel 44:7, “When ye offer My bread, the fat and the blood;” and in Leviticus “the offerings of the Lord, made by fire, the bread of their God, do they offer;” and of the “peace-offering Leviticus 3:11, the priest shall burn it upon the altar; the bread of the offering made by fire unto the Lord:” and specifically, of animals with blemish, as these, it is forbidden Leviticus 22:25, “Neither from a stranger’s hand shall ye offer the bread of your God of any of these, because their corruption is in them, blemishes in them: they shall not be accepted for you.” It was, as it were, a feast of God with man, and what was withdrawn from the use of man by fire, was, as it were, consumed by God, to whom it was offered.

It was “polluted,” in that it was contrary to the law of God which forbade to sacrifice any animal, “lame or blind” or with “any ill blemish,” as being inconsistent with the typical perfection of the sacrifice. Even the Gentiles were careful about the perfection of their sacrifices.

“Blind is the sacrifice of the soul, which is not illumined by the light of Christ. Lame is his sacrifice of prayer, who comes with a double mind to entreat the Lord.” “He offereth one weak, whose heart is not established in the grace of God, nor by the anchor of hope fixed in Christ. These words are also uttered against those who, being rich, offer to the Creator the cheaper and least things, and give small alms.”

“And ye say, Wherewith have we polluted Thee?” It is a bold expression. Yet a word, to which we are but too ill-accustomed, which expresses what most have done, “dishonor God,” comes to the same. Though less bold in expression, they are yet like in meaning Ezekiel 13:19. “Will ye pollute Me anymore among My people?” or Ezekiel 20:9, Ezekiel 20:14, Ezekiel 20:22, “that My Name should not be polluted before the pagan Ezekiel 43:7. My holy Name shall Israel no more defile Ezekiel 39:7, “I will not let them pollute My Name anymore.” “Much more in the new law, in which the Sacrifice is Christ Himself our God, whence the Apostle says expressly 1 Corinthians 11:27, “Whoso eateth this bread and drinketh this cup of the Lord unworthily, shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord.” “For when the sacraments are violated, Himself, whose sacraments they are, is violated.” God speaks of our acts with an unveiled plainness, which we should not dare to use. “As we are said to sanctify God, when we minister to Him in holiness and righteousness, and so, as far as in us lies, show that He is holy; so we are said to pollute Him, when we conduct ourselves irreverently and viciously before Him, especially in His worship, and thereby, as far as in us lies, show that He is not holy and is to be dishonored.”

“In that ye say, the table of the Lord is contemptible,” literally “contemptible is it,” , and so any contemptible thing might be offered on it. They said this probably, not in words, but in deeds. Or, if in words, in plausible words. “God doth not require the ornamenting of the altar, but the devotion of the offerers.” “What good is it, if we offer the best? Be what we offer, what it may, it is all to be consumed by fire.” “The pretext at once of avarice and gluttony!” And so they kept the best for themselves. They were poor, on their return from the captivity. Anyhow, the sacrifices were offered. What could it matter to God? And so they dispensed with God’s law.

“So at this day we see some priests and prelates, splendid in their tables and feasts, sordid in the altar and temple; on the table are costly napkins and wine; on the altar torn linen and wine-mace rather than wine.” “We pollute the bread, that is, the Body of Christ, when we approach the altar unworthily, and, being defiled, drink that pure Blood, and say, ‘The table of the Lord is contemptible;’ not that anyone dareth to say this, but the deeds of sinners pour contempt on the table of God.”

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Malachi 1:7. Ye offer polluted bread — The priests, probably to ingratiate themselves with the people, took the refuse beasts, c., and offered them to God and thus the sacrificial ordinances were rendered contemptible.