Malachi 1:6-9

Malachi 1:6-9

[6] A son  honoureth  his father,  and a servant  his master:  if then I be a father,  where is mine honour?  and if I be a master,  where is my fear?  saith  the LORD  of hosts  unto you, O priests,  that despise  my name.  And ye say,  Wherein have we despised  thy name?  [7] Ye offer  polluted  bread  upon mine altar;  and ye say,  Wherein have we polluted  thee? In that ye say,  The table  of the LORD  is contemptible.  [8] And if ye offer  the blind  for sacrifice,  is it not evil?  and if ye offer  the lame  and sick,  is it not evil?  offer  it now unto thy governor;  will he be pleased  with thee, or accept  thy person?  saith  the LORD  of hosts.  [9] And now, I pray you, beseech  God  that he will be gracious  unto us: this hath been by your means:  will he regard  your persons?  saith  the LORD  of hosts. 

What does Malachi 1:6-9 Mean?

Contextual Meaning

The preceding section ended with a statement of Yahweh"s greatness. The second one opens with a question about why Israel"s priests did not honor Him. The theme of honoring or fearing the Lord appears several times in Malachi making it one of the major themes in this book (cf. Malachi 1:11; Malachi 1:14; Malachi 2:2; Malachi 2:5; Malachi 3:5; Malachi 3:16; Malachi 4:2). The first disputation ( Malachi 1:2-5) is the simplest, and this one ( Malachi 1:6 to Malachi 2:9) is the most complex.
". . . God inspired Malachi to produce an excoriation of the priests, in the same overall disputation format that governs all the passages of the book, but incorporating terminology and themes from a famous blessing closely associated in everyone"s mind with the priests [1]." [2]