Malachi and a Theology of Emotions

A Passionate Prophet: Reading Emotions in the Book of Malachi Abstract: This article examines evidence of Malachi’s interest in uncovering the audience’s emotional state and of using various strategies to affect those emotions. One effect of such “emotional reading” is to dig deeper into motives and to get a fuller picture of the original situation than is usually obtained. It also demonstrates the author was aware of the close, even overlapping relationship between thought, emotions, attitudes, and behavior. Old Testament; Prophets; Malachi; Theology of Emotions How should a Christian regard emotions (or “feelings”)?1 Are they part of God’s image or part of the curse? Are they dangerous, an aspect of our fallen human nature and likely to lead us to make bad decisions, therefore something to be avoided or squelched?2 Or are they to be nurtured and sought as a medium for spiritual devotion or a window into the heart? These and other questions about emotions are fascinating, but my primary purpose is to investigate the question, What part do the emotions play in effecting spiritual change? Do the biblical writers and the divine Author himself use emotion to achieve their purpose, or do they bypass it to focus only on the mind? Perhaps Malachi is not the first book one thinks of when considering the emotions, but I believe it can serve well as a place to begin investigating the use of emotions in the Bible. My secondary, less ambitious goal, is to see whether focusing on the emotions can be a productive tool in studying a biblical book. First, however, I’d like to make a few comments about the state of psychological research on the emotions. The Nature of Emotions Psychologist Eric L. Johnson says that emotion is one of the “basic formative ingredients that make possible the development of an individual, mature human being.”3 He explains that “an emotion is an intrinsically private, subjective aspect of human experience that signifies something.” It provides oneself and others with information “regarding one’s needs, goals and 1 For an explanation of the difference between emotions and feelings, see Robert C. Solomon, The Passions: Emotion and the Meaning of Life (2nd ed.; Indianapolis: Hackett, 1993), 96–102. 2 This viewpoint is critiqued in, among others, Matthew Elliott, Feel: The Power of Listening to Your Heart (Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale, 2008), pp. 1–134. See also Solomon, The Passions: Emotion and the Meaning of Life, whose thesis is summarized in the preface: “It is said that the passions are without judgment or at least without good judgment, but I insist that, to the contrary, they are themselves judgments of the most important kind. It is said that the passions are without purpose, that they conflict with our ambitions and distract us from our goals, that they distort our sense of reality, create illusions, and are ‘blind.’ But the passions are the very source of our interests and our purposes” (p. xvii). 3 Eric L. Johnson, Foundations for Soul Care: A Christian Psychology Proposal. (Downers Grove, IL: IVP, 2007), p. 300. In fact, Robert C. Roberts points out that “among the virtues that make up the mature Christian character, some go by the names of emotions: gratitude, hope, peace, joy, contrition, and compassion” (Spiritual Emotions: A Psychology of Christian Virtues [Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2007], p. 9). 2 concerns.”4 But unlike words, “emotions provide value information,” since they are “elicited by evaluations (appraisals) of events and situations.”5 Thus, “the emotion system is motivational” in that emotions “signify people’s deepest drives, understanding and values, often with greater accuracy than their thoughts about such things.” Emotions “shape one’s volition activity” and so “are foundational to human meaning.”6 As Matthew Elliott explains, “Emotion serves to guide us in every aspect of decision making and daily life. A life led only by reason or logic is impossible.”7 As to what are the basic emotions, researchers and theorists disagree. But most agree that the basic emotions include anger, excitement, joy, distress, disgust, pride, fear, shame, guilt, anticipation, surprise, and love.8 As to how the emotions work, Johnson explains that emotions of distress, such as “sadness, anxiety, fear, anger, disgust, shock,” are responses to “perceived loss, threat, mistreatment or disvalue.” Pleasant emotions, on the other hand, such as “joy, excitement, humor, surprise, wonder, anticipation,” are responses to “perceived benefit and novelty.” Emotions, then, are human experiences that result from evaluating a real or imagined situation in a certain way.9 Anger, for example, an emotion which we shall encounter in Malachi, is “a sign of a frustration of one’s desires or of a perception of injustice.”10 Also interesting is that “because emotions can be stored in memory, they can influence future emotional dispositions so that one’s current emotional capacities constitute a summation of one’s emotion history.” Furthermore, “one’s current motives, desires, attitudes, passions, values, loves and hates are the summative expression of one’s basic evaluative framework that has developed over one’s life, and that lies at the base of all mature human activity.”11 We might expect, therefore, that uncovering human emotions in the Bible might be a very productive enterprise, playing an important part in human maturity.12 Elliott suggests that “by searching 4 Johnson, Foundations for Soul Care, p. 301. Ibid. Here Johnson is quoting I. J. Roseman and G. A. Smith, “Appraisal Theory: Assumptions, Varieties, Controversies,” in K. Scherer et al. (eds.), Handbook of Emotions (New York: Guilford, 2001), p. 3. 6 Ibid. According to Matthew Elliott, “Emotions are not primitive impulses to be controlled or ignored, but cognitive judgments or construals that tell us about ourselves and our world. In this understanding, destructive motives can be changed, beneficial emotions can be cultivated, and emotions are a crucial part of morality” (Faithful Feelings: Rethinking Emotion in the New Testament [Grand Rapids: Kregel, 2006], p. 54). 7 Elliott, Feel, p. 63. 8 Johnson, Foundations for Soul Care, p. 301. Also see Solomon’s “emotional register” in The Passions, 223–303. 9 Roberts defines emotions as “concern-based construals” or interpretations (Spiritual Emotions, p. 11). That is, a situation is not only evaluated in a certain way, but the outcome is a matter of concern to the person whose emotions are engaged. 10 Johnson, Foundations for Soul Care, pp. 301–2. 11 Ibid. p. 302. 12 As Roberts argues in Spiritual Emotions, p. 5, emotion is “an essential medium in which Christian teachings get incorporated into the life of the individual believer.” As a “philosopher of emotion,” his interest in emotion, he says, is “in large part because of its 5 3 God’s Word, with our eyes peeled for ‘emotional content,’ we can understand something of what God wants us to feel.”13 How I Approach the Study of Emotions in Malachi I strongly believe14 that viewing Malachi as comprising six disputation speeches (with or without an appendix at the end) is a red herring that diverts attention from the three major topics the book covers: (1) the priests’ responsibility to honor Yahweh’s name in 1:2–2:9, (2) Yahweh’s demand that His people treat each other with kindness and faithfulness in 2:10–3:6, and (3) Yahweh’s demand that His people treat their possessions with faith in God’s provisions, mercy toward those in need, and obedience to His instructions in 3:7–4:6 [Hb. 3:24]. The obvious place to begin a study of emotion in Malachi would be God’s initial declaration of his love and the people’s response of “Oh yeah? How have you loved us?” in v. 2. The problem of beginning there is that we don’t see what lay behind the people’s obstinate stupidity. So I’d like to fast forward to the prophet’s third address beginning in 3:7, where we get the clearest picture of the people’s emotional and spiritual condition. People’s Emotions in the Third Address The third address (3:7–4:6) begins, like the first, with a rhetorical dialogue (or pseudodialogue) between Yahweh and the people, which reveals what was in the people’s heart. Verses 7-10a is essentially a divine command that they repent and begin bringing all the required offerings to the Lord at the temple. Although all they have belongs ultimately to him, they are selfishly and tight-fistedly hanging onto as much of it as possible. Refusing to accept their role as stewards of their possessions, they insist that they are owners of all they have received.15 In v. 9 Yahweh pleads (literally), “With the curse you are being cursed, yet Me you are robbing—the nation, all of it.” This is an exaggeration, since we learn later about some faithful people in Judah at the time, but Yahweh makes it clear that this is not a problem with just a few. “You’re just robbers, the whole bunch of you.” Having God accuse you of stealing from him might just make you a little sick to your stomach, and your hands sweat. This verse also tells us the people were suffering. “The curse” almost certainly refers collectively to the consequences of disobedience and rebellion listed in Leviticus 26 and Deuteronomy 28. No specifics are given. But then Yahweh switches from command and accusation to promise in 3:10b–12: “Test Me in this way,” says the LORD of Hosts. “See if I will not open the floodgates of heaven and pour out a blessing for you without measure. I will rebuke the devourer for you, so that it will not ruin the produce of your land and your vine in your field will not fail to produce fruit,” says the LORD of Hosts. “Then all the nations will consider you fortunate, for you will be a delightful land,” says the LORD of Hosts.16 connection with ethics: it is a central topic in moral psychology” (p. 7). 13 Elliott, Feel, p. 188. 14 See especially E. Ray Clendenen, “Malachi,” in Richard A. Taylor and E. Ray Clendenen, Haggai, Malachi, NAC (Nashville: B&H, 2004), esp. pp. 227–32. 15 Roberts asserts that “if we fail to think and behave as stewards, we will live a crippled and incomplete life” (Spiritual Emotions, p. 125). 16 Unless otherwise indicated, translations are from the Holman Christian Standard 4 This tells us several things. First, at least part of the curse they were under involved the loss of their crops, their main food supply. According to v. 9, this severe trial was intended to convince and move the people to repent. But it wasn’t working. So God sends Malachi with promises of unimaginable abundance if they will repent. Also notice that the importance and reliability of God’s promise is underlined three times with “says the LORD of Hosts” (Yahweh, the absolute Ruler and Commander of all the celestial armies). Then in vv. 13–15 we have the people’s longest speech in the book. God gives the prophet insight into what the people are thinking in their heart and saying to one another (3:13) in the supposed privacy of their taverns, pool halls, and porches. “Your words against Me are harsh,” says the LORD. Yet you ask: “What have we spoken17 against You?” You have said: “It is useless to serve God. What have we gained by keeping His requirements and walking mournfully before the LORD of Hosts? [From now on] we are going to consider the arrogant to be fortunate. Not only do those who commit wickedness prosper, they even test God and escape.” In their pain and suffering, they’ve been looking back over their lives and asking themselves, “What have I gained for all my efforts to serve and please God? Nothing but hardship. I’ve kept all His rules, mourned and lamented my sins when I was supposed to, cried out for help, and gotten nothing. Yet those wicked ones who defy God and do what they please—who get ahead by cheating—they’re doing fine. They’re the smart ones. God is leaving them alone and coming after us.” What was the emotional state of these people God was talking to? They were angry,18 frustrated, envious, disappointed, discouraged. They felt God had cheated them, deprived them of something they had a right to. They were just like some people you and I know. They were just like us, perhaps at times. Such a response is a combination of emotions, attitudes, and thoughts. According to Elliott, Our emotional response to anything is a collage of our personality, upbringing, selfimage, worldview, experiences, and beliefs. What we concentrate on, what we dwell on, what we run over and over again in our heads is what we get emotional about. ... You can spend most of your life at a single spot emotionally because you pitched your tent on one thing that you relive and rehash every day. Sometimes, you have to make yourself pack it up and move on to something new.19 Bible, with occasional adjustments in brackets. 17 The Hebrew verb is a niphal, meaning that the speaking is to one another. 18 Roberts explains that “in anger one wishes to be treated fairly or respectfully by agents, ... but somebody or some quasi-personal agency frustrates this wish with an offense” (Spiritual Emotions, p. 167). Also, “anger is a construal of someone as an offender, as morally bad and deserving punishment. It is a construal of him or her as opposed to oneself .... Since the angry person judges by standards with which he affectively identifies, he ‘looks down’ from a position of righteousness on the offender” (p. 176). The “offender” in this case, of course, is God. 19 Elliott, Feel, pp. 141–42. 5 People’s Emotions in the Second Address Remember God’s concern in the second address (2:10–3:6) is with how they were treating each other. It starts in 2:10 like this: Don’t all of us have one Father? Didn’t one God create us? Why then do we act treacherously [a man against his brother], profaning the covenant of our fathers? The people in Judah were violating the trust of their fellow covenant members, their fellow believers, their neighbors, and, as he eventually explains, their wives—to whom they were bound not just by the Sinai covenant, but also by the marriage covenant. They were even marrying pagan women—probably in hopes of improving their situation—and so defiling not only the covenant people but even Yahweh’s beloved sanctuary. But while they were doing all this, what else were they doing? Verse 13 tells us, And this is another thing you do: you cover the LORD’s altar with tears, with weeping and groaning, because He no longer respects your offerings or receives them gladly from your hands. Yet you ask, “For what reason?” I believe that many of the ones who were frustrated and angry in the third address were doing whatever was necessary to improve their situation in the second address, even cheating their neighbors and discarding their wives for “better” ones. According to 3:5, many of them had become “sorcerers and adulterers; ... those who swear falsely; ... those who oppress the widow and the fatherless, and cheat the wage earner; and ... those who deny justice to the foreigner.” In short, they had ceased to fear God. But they were also still bringing bribes to God at the temple, and sobbing bitterly out of self pity because it wasn’t doing any good. They felt God had abandoned them, that he wasn’t being faithful and fulfilling his promises to hear their prayers and care for them (as Solomon had prayed in 1 Kgs 8:31–53). Verse 17 elaborates further on the people’s spiritual and moral condition: You have wearied Yahweh with your words. Yet you ask, “How have we wearied Him?” When you say, “Everyone who does what is evil is good in Yahweh’s sight, and He is pleased with them.” Otherwise, “Where is the God of justice?” Such statements directly contradict what they had been taught and what they knew about God. It expresses extreme frustration, anger, and self-righteousness. They knew they were righteous and that God should be helping them. Since he wasn’t, he wasn’t good. And since God wasn’t being faithful to them, why should they be faithful to their neighbors? Their problem was apparently not really intellectual or moral; it was spiritual and emotional. Priests’ Emotions in the First Address This address, and therefore the book, begins with a paragraph (1:2–5) that declares Yahweh’s love. It is intended to motivate all the commands in the book, not just the ones in the first address. Unlike the other two addresses, the first one, beginning with v. 6, addresses the priests. “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 Yahweh of Hosts to you priests, who despise [lit., “despisers of”] My name.” 6 The priests were the very people responsible for protecting and honoring Yahweh’s name (Lev 21:5–6; Deut 18:1–5; 21:5). Yet “despising” His name was their characteristic attitude toward God. The verb ‫בָּזָה‬, “despise,” does not imply revulsion, but rather disregard, treating something or someone as insignificant or worthless, undeserving of any attention or notice. In 1 Sam. 2:30 it is parallel to ‫קָלַל‬, “be slight, trifling.” They did not take Him seriously, or regard their responsibilities to serve Him as deserving much time or effort. Their disobedience is confronted in v. 8: they were presenting blind, lame, and sick animals to God as sacrifices. According to vv. 12-13, they had grown tired of their labor at the altar, considering it “contemptible” and a “nuisance.” God could hear them muttering under their breath and behind His back what a “nuisance” it was to have to deal with all the filthy animals and the people who brought them. According to v. 7, their attitude was that “the LORD’s table is contemptible.” Referring to the altar as “the LORD’s table” means that it signified fellowship with him. They despised the altar and the sacrifices, as well as the fellowship with God that such sacrifices made possible. Like the people, they had come to consider obedience to God to be worthless, a waste of time. Since it didn’t really matter to them, they were allowing people to bring any offering they wanted to the temple (v. 14), and they would present it to God, expecting him to be pleased with their paltry efforts. Also like the people, God had already begun to curse the priests. The cause was that they were not (lit.) “placing it on their hearts to honor My name” (2:2). Their present experience of the curse was that Yahweh had made them “despised [the same word used of their regard for God’s name] and humiliated before all the people because you are not keeping My ways but are showing partiality in your instruction” (2:9). This tells us that in their priestly judgments (such as regarding the acceptability of offerings) they were favoring the wealthy and influential in return for bribes or other kinds of personal advantages. It also tells us that a large number of the people knew what scoundrels they were and gave them the disrespect they deserved. The people had already begun to make jokes about their laziness and incompetence. Since the emotional state of the people shares much in common with that of the priests, it causes us to ask to what degree both were inspired by the economic conditions in Judah at the time, and to what degree the people may have been infected by the attitudes of the priests. Clearly the emotions of one person or group, especially leaders, can to some extent spread to or be emulated by others. But however it occurred, a general state of wretchedness and dejection was widespread in Judah at the time, which both priests and people had allowed to affect their attitudes and behavior toward God, toward one another, and toward their possessions. They had become careless, selfish, greedy, bitter, unscrupulous, callous, rebellious, and angry. What did God do to counter this state of affairs? We know that first God brought against them the curses of deprivation warned about in the Mosaic covenant. But then He sent His words through the prophet Malachi. God’s words to them are provocative—laden with emotion and calculated to incite new emotions in His listeners. He uses strikingly emotive words, vivid imagery, stark contrasts, bold promises, and frightening warnings. If emotions are to change, they must be replaced by other emotions.20 20 According to D. G. Benner, “Scripture not only speaks about emotions, it also speaks to and through our emotions. The Bible itself is emotional literature, filled with emotional 7 Divine Response in the First Address The first divine word from the prophet’s mouth is ‫אָהַבְתִּי‬, “I have loved you.” Understanding their emotional state, it doesn’t surprise us that the people of postexilic Judah respond with doubt and bitterness. But Yahweh then graciously points out that even though Jacob/Israel and Esau were brothers, he chose to have a loving relationship with Jacob and to reject/hate Esau. This meant that even though Israel had trampled God’s name in the dirt time after time and run off with every sweet-talking god or potentate that came along, He had continued chasing them down, bringing them back with a severe whipping, and then blessing them again. But for Edom’s rampant arrogance and wickedness God had torn them apart and brought them to a permanent end, even though they were descended from Jacob’s brother Esau (1:4). As for Israel, Yahweh would continue working on their heart until one day the entire nation will be so impressed with what he has done that they will enthusiastically say, “Wow, what a great God we have, even beyond the borders of Israel!” (1:5). The question arises here whether ‫ אָהַבְתִּי‬refers to an emotion or only an act of election and then of loyalty. I believe it does involve choosing and loyalty, but there is too much biblical evidence of God’s affectionate feeling for his people to discount this aspect of divine love.21 For example, Isaiah says in Isa 63:9, “In all their suffering, He suffered, and the Angel of His Presence saved them. He redeemed them because of His love and compassion; He lifted them up and carried them all the days of the past.” In 1 Kgs 9:3, God tells Solomon, “I have consecrated this temple you have built, to put My name there forever; My eyes and My heart will be there at all times.” And in Jer 31:20, God says, “Isn’t Ephraim a precious son to Me, a delightful child? Whenever I speak against him, I certainly still think about him. Therefore, My inner being yearns for him; I will truly have compassion on him. This is the LORD’s declaration.” Then in Jer 32:41, God tells the prophet, “I will take delight in them to do what is good for them, and with all My heart and mind I will faithfully plant them in this land.” And in Hos 11:8 God declares to Israel, “How can I give you up, Ephraim? How can I hand you over, O Israel? How can I make you like Admah? How can I treat you like Zeboiim? My heart recoils within me; my compassion grows warm and tender.” So I believe divine love includes compassion and affection, in addition to election and loyalty.22 As for the priests in Judah (see v. 6), God felt like a father whose son continually treats him disrespectfully, or like a boss whose employees don’t care what he wants them to do. It seems hard to avoid concluding that God’s words to the priests portray Him as insulted—and not expression and designed not just to communicate with our rationality but also to stir us emotionally, thus affirming our emotionality” (“Emotion,” in Evangelical Dictionary of Theology, ed. Walter A. Elwell [2nd ed.; Grand Rapids: Baker, 2001], p. 375). 21 See Brian S. Borgman, Feelings and Faith: Cultivating Godly Emotions in the Christian Life (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2009), pp. 32–41, 209–12. Elliott declares that “emotions are a good and legitimate part of man’s character because they are clearly part of God’s character” (Faithful Feelings, p. 111). Also see the excursus on divine impassibility in Clendenen, “Malachi,” pp. 372–82. 22 Also note Mark 10:21 cited by Borgman, Feelings and Faith, 160: “Jesus loved people who would not follow him, as in the case of the rich young ruler: ‘And Jesus, looking at him, loved him.’” 8 happy about it. In fact, he will not tolerate their insolence, any more than an army general would tolerate a private refusing to obey an order. God is not concerned about hurting the priests’ feelings when he calls their paltry efforts to satisfy him “useless” and that they are no longer welcome at his temple. God’s verdict is given in 1:10: “I wish one of you would shut the temple doors, so you would no longer kindle a useless fire on My altar! I am not pleased with you [lit. “I have no pleasure in you”],” says the LORD of Hosts, “and I will accept23 no offering from your hands. Such words remind me of the movie Patton when General Eisenhower calls General Patton’s behavior “despicable,” and it has a serious emotional effect on Patton. In 1:11-14 God uses shame and jealousy to turn His people’s heart. He is ready to shut down the temple and to wait for the Gentiles to be converted and for them to give him the respect and devotion he deserves. His own priests, whom he had elevated to national prominence as religious leaders of Israel, think that their duties and their recompense are not worthy of their abilities and their status. So God tells the disgraceful priests how the unclean Gentiles they despise are going to celebrate his great name by gathering with gifts, worship, and fearful reverence from the east and the west (1:11,14). The apostle Paul, who was very familiar with Malachi (cf. Rom 9:13), uses the same strategy in Rom 11:11–16, “magnify[ing]” his ministry to the Gentiles “if I can somehow make my own people jealous and save some of them.” In Mal. 2:1-9, the prophet concludes his divine message to the priests with a climactic warning: God will curse them and remove them disgracefully from His service. Honoring the Lord is not a suggestion for those who serve him, but a mandate. A warning about a divine “curse” should have gotten the priests’ attention and set them to shaking in their sandals, especially if they recognized the allusion to the covenant curses of Deut 28:15–68, which warned that disobedience would cause God to block every artery of blessing from their lives and to open the floodgates to disaster. Every aspect of their lives would be plagued by trouble, and in fact, their troubles had already started. Then God increased the voltage of his rebuke. First, the curse would also apply to their descendants being groomed for the family business, and second, God used a reprehensible image to depict the revulsion he felt for these priests (2:3). God says he’s going to spread the priests’ faces with the entrails and manure left behind by the sacrificial animals from a festival at the temple, so that the priests would have to be carried outside the gates to be burned on the dung heap along with the rest of the garbage unfit to be in God’s holy city. This is a very graphic way of saying the priests will be dismissed in disgrace. For their contempt of him and defilement of his altar, Yahweh would show his contempt for them and defile them, so removing them from the “nuisance” of having to serve at the altar. At this point, the priests should have gotten the message that Yahweh was serious about priestly integrity. But Yahweh made one more effort to get the priests to recognize and to be accountable for how reprehensible their behavior was. That effort was to contrast the faithfulness of the priests at the beginning of Israel’s history with those of Malachi’s day (2:5– 8). His intention was to awaken in these priests feelings of grief, remorse, and shame at how far The verb “accept” translates ‫רָצָה‬, which means to “take pleasure in” or “accept with pleasure.” It occurs in Mal 1:8, 10, 13. It is the word translated “delight” in Isa 42:1: ““This is My Servant; I strengthen Him, this is My Chosen One; I delight in Him.” 23 9 off course they had traveled.24 Instead of “turning many from sin,” they themselves had “turned from the way” and had “caused many to stumble.” God’s Response in the Second Address Whereas Malachi’s first address, dealing with sins against God, initially involves an argument based on the filial kinship between Jacob and Esau, the second address (2:10–3:6), dealing with sins against one another, begins with an argument based on the close spiritual kinship between every Israelite—all the covenantal children of the one true God. Again the prophet attempts to shame his audience into recognizing and admitting the seriousness of their sins, which amount to nothing less than treachery.25 As God’s relationship to Israel as Father and Creator should have led Israel to depend on his faithfulness and enduring love (cf. Isa 43:1–7), so it should have led individual Israelites to treat one another as brothers and sisters, with faithfulness and loyalty. Yahweh calls attention to his paternal relationship with Israel several times in this book. He is here the Father who pleads with his children to love one another, to seek the best for one another, and to fulfill their promises to one another. When Judah pleads with his brothers for Joseph’s life, he argues, “For he is our brother, our flesh” (Gen 37:27). Realizing their relationship to one another should have made reprehensible the idea of seeking personal benefit at the expense of their brother. In describing their sin, several strongly emotive words are used. The nature of the primary sin being confronted in Malachi’s second address is designated by the verb ‫בָּגַד‬, ”to act unfaithfully or treacherously, to betray.” It describes either violation of a covenant (Judg 9:23) or an act of betrayal or treachery in a relationship that calls for loyalty and kindness (cf. Job 6:15; Jer 12:6; Lam 1:2). The word is used most often of Israel’s betrayal of Yahweh and his covenant. It carries an emotional connotation of shattered hopes and bitter disappointment resulting from the loss of a treasured, seemingly safe relationship. Deceitfulness is also often included. The Bible contains several comparisons to help us understand the pain and damage caused by the betrayal of a traitor, being abandoned or even turned against in a desperate situation by someone you trusted completely. For example, Prov 25:19, “Trusting an unreliable person [‫בּוֹגֵד‬, act. part.] in a difficult time is like a rotten tooth or a faltering foot.” Job expresses his feelings by the image of the empty wadi (Job 6:14–17). Job’s friends (his brothers he should have been able to count on) are like a “treacherous wadi” that overflows with water during good times, but when the heat of trouble comes, they desert you, and you die waiting and watching for help that never comes. Psalm 78:57 compares the traitor to a “faulty bow” that refuses to 24 His goal was ultimately to produce the fear of God or contrition, as the prophet Nathan did for David in 2 Sam 12:1–12. See Roberts, Spiritual Emotions, pp. 97–113, esp. pp. 100–101. He describes Christian contrition as “that state of mind in which we appreciate with our spiritual viscera what God has done for us in Jesus Christ, and in which we are moved to depart from our sin and consolidate ourselves in him. It is that state of proper pain, that experience of fitting misery, without which our joy is not a joy in our Redeemer” (p. 113). 25 Calvin wrote, “Had exhortations and reprimands no other profit with the godly than to convince them of sin, they could not be deemed altogether useless. Now, when, by the Spirit of God acting within, they have the effect of inflaming their desire of good, of arousing them from lethargy, of destroying the pleasure and honeyed sweetness of sin, making it hateful and loathsome, who will presume to cavil at them as superfluous?” (Institutes, 2.5.5). 10 work when you desperately need it. Their sin is described in 2:11 as ‫תּוֹעֵבָה‬, something “detestable,” “despicable,” or “abhorrent”; an “abomination.” This word carries a strong sense of condemnation, used of sins (such as idolatry, child sacrifice, witchcraft, prostitution, murder, adultery) that would cause the most serious defilement requiring destruction or death. In 2:14 “the wife of your youth” being divorced is described as “your marriage partner [‫ ]חֲבֶרֶת‬and your wife by covenant”—a covenant to which Yahweh had been witness. The marriage relationship is emphatically portrayed as something not to be treated lightly. In 2:16 the way these men are abandoning their wives is described as ‫חָמָס‬, “violence, injustice, oppression.” Then after describing the coming divine judgment in terms of “refiner’s fire” and “cleansing lye” (3:2), God concludes the second address by pointing out, “Because I, Yahweh, have not changed, you descendants of Jacob have not been destroyed” (3:6). Judah was being kept from destruction only by Yahweh’s enduring love, which they claimed he had forsaken. God’s Response in the Third Address In the third address (3:7–4:6), more strongly emotive words are used. God accuses Judah of “robbing” Him (‫קבע‬, 3:8–9). I’m sure they had not thought of themselves as thieves, stealing from God, so for God to include that crime in their indictment would have been a great shock. In 3:13 God told them their words against him were “harsh,” using a word (‫ )חזק‬that usually meant “hard” or “strong.” It could connote courage, but it was also the word used of Pharaoh’s “hard” heart and of the wicked who (lit.) “make each other strong with evil words” (Ps 64:5). This is another word that would have grabbed their attention and made them feel their precarious position. In 4:1 God uses more fire imagery to depict his coming judgment: “For indeed, the day is coming, burning like a furnace, when all the arrogant and everyone who commits wickedness will become stubble. The coming day will consume them,” says the LORD of Hosts, “not leaving them root or branches.” But God also tries to get their attention with rich promises.26 In 3:10 he tells them, “See if I will not open the floodgates [one of the sources of the flood in Gen 7:11; 8:2] of heaven and pour out a blessing for you [until there is no more need].” In contrast to the cursed land of Edom which people will call “the territory of wickedness and the people the LORD has cursed forever” (1:4), God promises Judah, “all the nations will consider you fortunate, for you will be a [land of delight]” (3:12). Although the angry, self-righteous Judahites had concluded in their dejected condition that it’s “useless” to serve God (3:14), Malachi tells us in 3:16–18 about a group of righteous people in Judah who were much like Elijah’s 7,000 who had not bowed the knee to Baal (1 Kgs 19:18). At that time [while others were speaking “harsh words”] those who feared the LORD spoke to one another. The LORD took notice and listened. So a book of remembrance was written before Him for those who feared Yahweh and had high regard for His name. “They will be Mine,” says the LORD of Hosts, “a special possession on the day I 26 Calvin says, “But as our indolence is not sufficiently aroused by precepts, promises are added, that they may attract us by their sweetness, and produce a feeling of love for the precept” (Institutes, 2.5.10). 11 am preparing. I will have compassion on them as a man has compassion on his son who serves him. So you will again see the difference between the righteous and the wicked, between one who serves God and one who does not serve Him.” We aren’t told what these people said to one another, but it was likely encouragement to continue trusting God. The point is that God not only knows but also remembers and acts to reward the actions of those who fear and honor him. The joy and exultation awaiting them is then graphically expressed in 4:2–3: But for you who fear My name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings, and you will go out and playfully jump like calves from the stall. You will trample the wicked, for they will be ashes under the soles of your feet on the day I am preparing,” says the LORD of Hosts. The final emotional state of those who fear Yahweh will be just the opposite of the bitterness and anger of the Judahites to whom Malachi was speaking. Conclusion The Lord spoke to Judah through Malachi on an intellectual level, but he also spoke to them on a deep, emotional level. This would have been the purpose of the graphic imagery and many of the word choices, the many powerful warnings and promises, and the many contrasts: between “loved” Israel and “hated” Edom, Israel and the nations, the unfaithful and faithful priests, and between the bitter, angry people and those who continued to fear God despite the circumstances. The rhetorical dialogues would also have had an emotional impact, as the people heard their deepest thoughts and most private conversations coming out of the prophet’s mouth. God recognized the strong emotions that were driving the people of Judah and dealt with them on that level. Of course, there is a strong sense in which our emotions are also dependent on our attitudes and convictions. God addresses both. Matthew Elliott sees a strong link between thoughts and emotions: “Rightly understood, our emotions are connected to what we focus on, what we know, what we value, and what we believe. What we think and how we feel work together to point us to the truth.”27 This interdependence of thought and emotion is also expressed well by Robert C. Roberts: Quite a lot of Christian theology is enfolded in the emotion of contrition [for example], and if you get the theology wrong, you get the emotion’s logic wrong, and if you get that wrong, you don’t get the distinctively Christian emotion of contrition. And if the emotion is not right, then the Christian virtue of penitence disintegrates, along with many other Christian virtues that are interdependent on it—virtues like joy, hope, and gratitude.28 By His Word and Spirit God confronts our ungodly emotions and their underlying attitudes 27 28 Elliott, Feel, p. 117. Roberts, Spiritual Emotions, p. 108. 12 and beliefs. He works to convert them to godly attitudes, beliefs, and emotions.29 But he also aims at and even commands such godly emotions as love, joy, hope, compassion, gratitude, humility, and contentment. Matthew Elliott has even made the rather shocking statement that he has come to believe “the true health of our spiritual lives is measured by how we feel.”30 29 As Borgman states (Feelings and Faith, p. 190), “Because we cannot divorce our emotions from our faith, to build up our faith is also to develop and cultivate godly emotions.” 30 Elliott, Feel, p. 6.