Isaiah chapter 39 - Malachi

Chapter 1
God loves Israel/Jacob and hates Esau/Edom Israel asks; How have you loved us?
He has cursed Edom’s lands and has laid waste his governments and heritage
God asks where is the return love from Israel?
They have responded to Him with disdain, foul offerings of their left-over
God has no pleasure in them, and will turn His attention to the gentiles
They will make oblations to Him in every corner of the world
Israel has turned up their nose to God and His temple sacrifices
Israel has profaned the temple by offering inferior animals

Chapter 2
God curses the priests because of their polluted offerings, Priesthood is corrupt
Covenant is with Levi who was godly, (feared God), iniquity not found in him
Priests have used the law for their personal benefit. Sounds like the Pharisees
Judah has profaned the holiness of the Lord by marrying the daughter of a strange god.
God will cut off those who do this
God will also cut off the priests because they have covered His altar with tears
Something else has replaced the ‘heart’ of giving offerings at the temple
God no longer regards their offerings
The priests have dealt treacherously against the wife of their youth
This is a form of divorce and God hates divorce
They have wearied the Lord with their words, saying that; “We’re all doing goodness.”

Chapter 3
God will send his messenger before Him to prepare the way
He (God) will come suddenly to His temple
Who shall abide the day of His coming?
He will purify and purge the sons of Levi at that time
Then Judah’s offering shall be pleasant to the Lord
God will then come near to Israel again and will judge the wicked
Because God does not change, if Israel will return to Him, He will return to them
Even though they have departed from Him since the days of their fathers
They have robbed God of His due tithes and offerings
Bring God what you owe! And He will pour out over-abundance of blessings
Your land will prosper and nations will call you blessed
Israel has spoken against God
They have said that it is vain to offer offerings to Him. What good has it done us?
They have glorified proud men instead of God, the wicked are exalted
Those who feared God, understood His word, and talked about Him together
They thought about Him all the time. They shall be His
When God makes up His jewels, they shall be among them, like His own Son.
Then Israel shall return and discern the truth, and know the good man from the bad man

Chapter 4
A day is coming when wickedness shall be burned up
The righteous shall be healed and grow like young calves in the stall, (healthy and fast?)
Remember the Law of Moses (to Israel).
Elijah will come first to turn the hearts to God, so that He doesn’t smite the earth with a curse.

Summary of Isaiah 39

Hezekiah had been ill, and he received get-well presents and cards from the king of Babylon. In response he had an open-house for that king, and he showed him all of his wealth and goodies. Isaiah then chastised Hezekiah for doing so, and prophesied that a time would soon come when not only all of that wealth, but also Hezekiah’s sons would be taken to Babylon as spoils of war. Hezekiah said, ‘God is good’.

Hezekiah’s first sin was that he boasted in the wealth as if it was a result of his accomplishments. When Nebuchadnezzar did this same sort of thing, God punished him by taking it all away from him, and making him go mad.

God was going to be consistent, and would take it all away from Hezekiah as well. The point of this first sin was that the wealth was not the result of anything Hezekiah was or anything he had done. It was God’s wealth, not Hezekiah’s.

Hezekiah’s second sin was to laud his wealth and property in front of a king other than God. Presumably this was to aggrandize himself. It was a pride issue again, but the point of this second sin was that Hezekiah should have been holding up his wealth to God and praising Him instead. Hezekiah was not sacrificing praise to God, but to a foreign king.

God’s punishment for these sins was that it would all be taken away from Hezekiah and from Israel too. All the blessings of wealth and property that had been accumulated in the coffers of Israel would be removed, and would be held by Gentiles.

Isaiah’s chapter thirty-nine story of the actions of King Hezekiah is a picture of what God was saying in the chapters of the book of Malachi. Those in charge of offering to God had profaned the offerings.

They thought it needless (“vain”) to make offerings to God. They thought that such activity didn’t bring them any material gains, so they worked to impress the lofty men of Israel, the proud and exalted men.

Judah (Israel) and the priests praised themselves and each other instead of praising their Holy God. That was their sin, and the first sin of Hezekiah. God’s punishment for this sin would be the same for Israel in the time frame of Malachi’s prophecy as it was in the time frame of Isaiah’s prophecy: That which God had given them would be taken away and given to the Gentiles.

I believe that the prophecy concerning Hezekiah in the thirty-ninth chapter of Isaiah was realized when Babylon took Judah into captivity in the early part of the sixth century B.C. That captivity was certain, but it was temporary. That which Israel had was taken to Babylon as booty, but the Bible record shows that it was also returned during the time of Ezra and Nehemiah.

I believe that much of the prophecy in Malachi was realized at the first advent of Christ, and that at that time, what God had given to Israel by way of spiritual blessing was taken from them and given to…? The Gentiles.

God deprived Israel of what they had boasted of, but it was to be a temporary deprival as well. There is coming a day when the full wealth of Israel’s spiritual standing and blessings will be returned to that people.

This has been the thirty-ninth chapter of Isaiah, and Malachi is the thirty-ninth book of the Bible. They are connected.