Answer: "God's Messenger"
Malachi's name in Hebrew meant "Yahweh's Messenger". In his book he tries to write God's words to His people. The message rebukes, instructs, and offers hope.
From Quiz: BBB Bible Series: Malachi
Answer: Edom
God is condemning the Edomites. The Lord Almighty says: "They may build, but I will demolish. They will be called the Wicked Land, a people always under the wrath of the Lord." The Edomites were descendants of Esau, and they battled the Israelites for many years. In the end, they were completely destroyed, as Malachi notes. The ruins of Petra in Jordan are linked with the Edomites. Edom was located in the area southeast of the Dead Sea. Cush was located near the horn of Africa, while Moab was just east of the Dead Sea, in present-day Jordan.
From Quiz: More on Malachi
Answer: Esau
Malachi 1:2 says, "I have loved you, saith the LORD. Yet ye say, Wherein hast thou loved us? Was not Esau Jacob's brother? saith the LORD: yet I loved Jacob."
The story of Jacob and Esau can be read in the book of Genesis, beginning in Chapter 25.
From Quiz: Malachi
Answer: "I have loved you."
In the book of Malachi, God beings speaking to his people because they doubt his love for them. Israel had been destroyed by their enemies, but God was in the process of avenging them. God wanted them to know that He still loved them, even though their belief was small because of the horrible circumstances they had been through. (Malachi 1:2-3)
From Quiz: BBB Bible Series: Malachi
Answer: Offering defiled food at the altar
God accuses the Israelites of offering blind animals, lame animals and diseased animals for sacrifice. All of these are violations of rules regarding sacrifice laid out in Leviticus 17. "Try offering them to your governor! Would he be pleased with you? Would he accept you?" states God about his displeasure (Malachi 1:8). The Lord does condemn the people for failing to pay tithes, but in Chapter 2.
From Quiz: More on Malachi
Answer: honoureth his father
Malachi 1:6 says, "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?"
God is comparing the father/son relation with the people's relation to Him in this verse to help them understand why He should be honored.
From Quiz: Malachi
Answer: Esau
God reminded His people that He loved Jacob over Esau. Esau had been the first born and the rightful heir, but God had given his inheritance and blessing to Jacob.
Edomites were the descendants of Esau and boasted that they would rebuild what God had crushed. God told the Israelites he would turn the country of the Edomites into a wasteland for desert jackals. He told them the Edomites would always be a people that would be under the wrath of God. (Malachi 1:3-5)
From Quiz: BBB Bible Series: Malachi
Answer: Levi
Levi was the tribe that became the priestly caste. It can be seen in modern day Jewish names such as Levy, Levie and Levine. God speaks highly of Levi, noting: "he revered me and stood in awe of my name. True instruction was in his mouth and nothing false was found on his lips. He walked with me in peace and uprightness, and turned many from sin" (Malachi 2:5-6). Benjamin and Reuben are also sons of Jacob. Abraham, who did have a covenant with God, was the great-grandfather of Levi.
From Quiz: More on Malachi
Answer: priests
Malachi 2:1 begins, "And now, O ye priests, this commandment is for you."
The actual commandment he gives is found in Malachi 2:2: "If ye will not hear, and if ye will not lay it to heart, to give glory unto my name, saith the LORD of hosts, I will even send a curse upon you, and I will curse your blessings: yea, I have cursed them already, because ye do not lay it to heart."
From Quiz: Malachi
Answer: They had given blemished sacrifices.
God asked, "When you offer blind animals for sacrifice, is that not wrong? When you sacrifice lame or diseased animals, is that not wrong?" He told them to try offering their sacrifices to governors or kings. Kings or governors would not accept it because they wanted the best of the best. God wanted to be treated with the same respect. (Malachi 1:6-14)
From Quiz: BBB Bible Series: Malachi
Answer: Adultery
Malachi uses the metaphor of adultery to describe how the Israelites have fallen away from God. "Judah has been unfaithful.... Judah has desecrated the sanctuary the Lord loves by marrying women who worship a foreign god" (Malachi 2:11). There also seems to be an accusation of actual adultery: "The Lord is the witness between you and the wife of your youth. You have been unfaithful to her, though she is your partner, the wife of your marriage covenant" (Malachi 2:14).
From Quiz: More on Malachi
Answer: one father
Malachi 2:10 asks, "Have we not all one father? hath not one God created us? why do we deal treacherously every man against his brother, by profaning the covenant of our fathers?"
This verse explains why we should learn to get along with one another.
From Quiz: Malachi
Answer: priests
God threatened to curse the priests because they did not honor His name and did not practice the law like they were supposed to. They allowed God's people to sin, instead of holding them accountable.
God told the priests, "A priest is supposed to preserve knowledge, because he is the messenger of the Lord Almighty and people seek instruction from his mouth. But you have turned from the way and committed evil. Many listen to you and are deceived. You have violated my laws and my covenant with your father Levi. So I will cause you to be despised and humiliated in front of all the people for not following my commands" (Malachi 2:1-9)
From Quiz: BBB Bible Series: Malachi
Answer: silver
"He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver; he will purify the Levites and refine them like gold and silver" (Malachi 3:3). There are references to refining silver and gold in 1 Chronicles, Psalms, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Daniel and Zechariah as well. The Hebrew word for gold is zahav and the word for silver is kesef.
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Answer: His messenger
Malachi 3:1 announces, "Behold, I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me: and the LORD, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to his temple, even the messenger of the covenant, whom ye delight in: behold, he shall come, saith the LORD of hosts."
Christians believe that the first messenger mentioned in this verse is John the Baptist and the "messenger of the covenant" is Jesus.
From Quiz: Malachi
Answer: their spouses
God viewed marriage as a covenant that should not be broken. He wanted his people to be unified and be faithful to each other, as He loved them. He told them the reason that he did not accept some of their offerings was because they were unfaithful to their spouses and were serving idols. He told them that if a man hates and divorces his wife, he does harm to her and his family. (Malachi 2:10-16)
From Quiz: BBB Bible Series: Malachi
Answer: Murderers
Yes, murderers did not make the cut among evildoers, according to Malachi. "So I will come to put you on trial. I will be quick to testify against sorcerers, adulterers and perjurers, against those who defraud laborers of their wages, who oppress the widows and the fatherless, and deprive the foreigners among you of justice, but do not fear me," says the Lord Almighty (Malachi 3:5).
From Quiz: More on Malachi
Answer: A messenger
God promised to send a messenger who would come and prepare them. He told them after the messenger came, they would find the
One they desired in the temple. He would set the priests straight, make the temple a holy place, and bless the sacrifices again.
God told His people,"I will quick to judge against sorcerers, adulterers and perjurers, against those who defraud laborers of their wages, who oppress the widows and the fatherless, and deprive the foreigners among you of justice, but do not fear me." (Malachi 3:1-5)
From Quiz: BBB Bible Series: Malachi
Answer: Scroll
"A scroll of remembrance was written in his presence concerning those who feared the Lord and honored his name" (Malachi 3:16). Scrolls are a popular image in the Old Testament, showing up in Exodus, Number, Deuteronomy, Joshua, Ezra, Psalms, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel and Zechariah as well as Malachi.
From Quiz: More on Malachi
Answer: in tithes and offerings
Malachi 3:8 asks, "Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed me. But ye say, Wherein have we robbed thee? In tithes and offerings."
A tithe is 1/10 of what you earn from working. Since God gave the ability to work and earn money, He says some of that is to be given back to the church.
From Quiz: Malachi
Answer: They were not giving Him tithes.
God viewed the tithes, the first portion, as the part that was rightfully His in all His people produced or did. The tithes helped feed and pay the priests who kept the temple. However many of the Israelites did not pay tithes. God told them to put it to the test and gave them a promise.
"Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this," says the Lord Almighty, "and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it. I will prevent pests from devouring your crops, and the vines in your fields will not drop their fruit before it is ripe. Then all the nations will call you blessed, for yours will be a delightful land." (Malachi 3:6-12)
From Quiz: BBB Bible Series: Malachi
Answer: Elijah
Malachi says that Elijah will return some day. This is keeping with long standing Jewish traditions regarding the return of Elijah. Even today, there is a chair reserved for the prophet at Passover Seders. Elijah was a prophet during the 9th century BC. He is mentioned in First and Second Kings, for challenging the worship of Baal. Elijah is taken away into Heaven by a horse-driven chariot in 2 Kings 2. The prophet is also mentioned in the Quran, Talmud and Baha'i scripture.
From Quiz: More on Malachi
Answer: the wicked
Malachi 4:3 says, "And ye shall tread down the wicked; for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet in the day that I shall do this, saith the LORD of hosts."
This verse is interpreted as being in regards to the prophesy that one day Satan will be defeated.
From Quiz: Malachi
Answer: They would prosper.
God promised to burn the wicked with fire and destroy them in the last days. However God told the Israelites, "For those who revere my name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its rays. And you will go out and frolic like well-fed calves. Then you will trample on the wicked; they will be ashes under the soles of your feet on the day when I act." He reminded to keep the laws of Moses. (Malachi 4:1-4)
From Quiz: BBB Bible Series: Malachi
Answer: Destruction
"Or else I will come and strike the land with total destruction." (Malachi 4:6). "Curse" is used in the King James, Revised Standard Version and a variety of other translations. Malachi is one of the shortest books of the Bible, with only four chapters and 53 total verses. Most biblical scholars feel it was written in the fifth century BC, sometime between 445 BC and 420 BC.
Parents and children are in 4:6, Lord is in 4:5, and Israel is in 4:5.
From Quiz: More on Malachi
Answer: Moses
Malachi 4:4 advises, "Remember ye the law of Moses my servant, which I commanded unto him in Horeb for all Israel, with the statutes and judgments."
Moses was the man to whom God gave the Ten Commandments (commonly called "the law") up on Mount Sinai, as recounted in the Book of Exodus.
From Quiz: Malachi
Answer: Elijah
In His last words in the book of Malachi, God told His people that He would send the prophet Elijah to turn the hearts of men. God told His people, "He will turn the hearts of the parents to their children, and the hearts of the children to their parents, or else I will come and strike the land with total destruction." (Malachi 4: 5-6)
From Quiz: BBB Bible Series: Malachi
Answer: Messenger
The word mal'akhi signifies "my messenger" or "my angel". Because the book does not actually name the prophet, there is speculation that it was actually written by Ezra. According to the Targum, "by the hand of my angel, whose name is called Ezra the scribe." Others say the book could have been written by Zerubbabel and Nehemiah. In any case, the writer was a contemporary of Nehemiah, but came after Haggai and Zechariah.
From Quiz: More on Malachi
Answer: curse
Malachi 4:6 says, "And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse."
I hope you enjoyed this quiz. The next quiz will be on the book of Matthew.
From Quiz: Malachi
