On the Make
Alongside the failure in personal relationships goes the failure in personal commitment, as evidenced particularly in commercial, social and political affairs.
If the community of the faithful is getting slack and in danger of offering ‘cheap grace’ they are certainly not helped by the general mass of nominal believers who claim to embrace the doctrines in general but are increasingly unreliable when it comes to practice. Standards apparently have sunk so low that many people seem singularly incapable of appreciating what they are doing wrong (vv 8, 13). So the Messenger spells it our for them.
One test of a believer is a willingness to give God what is his due, whether it be worship and service or tithes and offerings. In this society many believers are failing at this point to such an extent that they see nothing wrong in what they are doing. That in Malachi’s book is a double offence: bad enough to ‘rob’ God, much worse not even to be aware of it, and in some translations (‘cheat’ [JB], ‘defraud’ [REB]) there is even a hint that they do indeed know what is right and are going out of their way to avoid it and to ease their conscience at the same time.
Wider issues rumble beneath the surface. Their attitude to tithes reflects a generation or a class whose hearts are not right with God, whilst the way in which they ignore the basic principles of public life and service and show no hesitation in bending the law in every possible way to achieve their own ends suggests little concern either for their fellow human beings.
Malachi’s view is that if the economy is not doing very well (v 11) this may be why and a change of heart and attitude could well produce a richer world for everyone (vv 10b, 12).
It is not enough that all the right things are said, if it makes no difference and the worst offenders get away with it. No wonder the faithful are depressed — tired, victims of compassion fatigue or just downright disappointed.