Malachi 1:6-14--The Priests' Polluted Offerings

Malachi 1:6-14
English Standard Version

The Priests' Polluted Offerings
6 “A son honors his father, and a servant his master. If then I am a father, where is my honor? And if I am a master, where is my fear? says the LORD of hosts to you, O priests, who despise my name. But you say, ‘How have we despised your name?’ 7 By offering polluted food upon my altar. But you say, ‘How have we polluted you?’ By saying that the LORD's table may be despised. 8 When you offer blind animals in sacrifice, is that not evil? And when you offer those that are lame or sick, is that not evil? Present that to your governor; will he accept you or show you favor? says the LORD of hosts. 9 And now entreat the favor of God, that he may be gracious to us. With such a gift from your hand, will he show favor to any of you? says the LORD of hosts. 10 Oh that there were one among you who would shut the doors, that you might not kindle fire on my altar in vain! I have no pleasure in you, says the LORD of hosts, and I will not accept an offering from your hand. 11 For from the rising of the sun to its setting my name will be great among the nations, and in every place incense will be offered to my name, and a pure offering. For my name will be great among the nations, says the LORD of hosts. 12 But you profane it when you say that the LORD's table is polluted, and its fruit, that is, its food, may be despised. 13 But you say, ‘What a weariness this is,’ and you snort at it, says the LORD of hosts. You bring what has been taken by violence or is lame or sick, and this you bring as your offering! Shall I accept that from your hand? says the LORD. 14 Cursed be the cheat who has a male in his flock, and vows it, and yet sacrifices to the LORD what is blemished. For I am a great King, says the LORD of hosts, and my name will be feared among the nations.

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The people call God both Father and Master with their mouths, but they neither honor nor fear Him as they would their earthy fathers or masters.  This is evidenced no more clearly than the priests offering subpar, polluted sacrifices to the LORD on His altar (animals that are diseased, deformed, lame, sick, blind, blemished or somehow other than the perfect standard that God has set).  The LORD calls them out on this and says they wouldn't offer such gifts to their governors, so why do they think it would be a pleasing and acceptable sacrifice to make to the King of Kings and Lord of Lords?

Let's stop for a second and ask why this matters so much to the LORD, as this has been an issue since early in the book of Genesis with the sacrifices brought by Cain and Abel.  Abel brought the best of his flock and offered the best portions (the fat portions) to the LORD as his sacrifice, and the LORD was pleased with his sacrifice.  Cain on the other hand brought some of the fruit of his field (it doesn't say he brought the best or the firstfruits of the new harvest--he may have even tried to bring some of the leftovers from a previous harvest to get rid of it without offering anything of any real value).  

Genesis 4:3-7
3 In the course of time Cain brought to the Lord an offering of the fruit of the ground, 4 and Abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat portions. And the Lord had regard for Abel and his offering, 5 but for Cain and his offering he had no regard. So Cain was very angry, and his face fell. 6 The Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry, and why has your face fallen? 7 If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is for you, and you must rule over it.”

It seems to be the same attitude here.  The priests want to offer less than the best to God and try to keep the best for themselves, thinking they can pull one over on God and He will have to be satisfied with any sacrifice they make, even if their heart is not in it.  He tells them He would rather they shut the doors of the Temple and not reopen them until they are ready to give Him pure and acceptable sacrifices, and that starts by them having clean hearts like David cried out for in Psalm 51.  He does not want their performative "worship" that is anything but--the word "worship" comes from the word "worthy" and He already said how this shows how much they dishonor Him.  They have no honor for Him nor fear of Him as they should.

The Temple is supposed to be a place where the name of the LORD is high and lifted up for all the nations of the world to see "Great is the LORD and greatly to be praised in all the earth" in action, but they have offered Him polluted sacrifices and therefore defamed and blasphemed His holy Name. 

 The LORD says it is wearisome to deal with this day after day.  Some are even offering sacrifices that they have taken by violence that did not rightfully belong to them, and they think that God wants them to reward their sin by accepting these sacrifices?  They believe they will cheat the LORD by offering one animal in a vow to Him and then offering Him another animal instead (this seems like the kind of deception their father Jacob was good at).  The LORD demands to be treated with the honor and fear that would be shown to the greatest of kings because He is King of Kings and Lord of Lords and He is worship of the first and best of our produce and we are to be good stewards of the rest that He leaves in our hands to manage.