MALACHI NOW ADDRESSES the issue of sacrifice, which should be a loving response to love received (cf. 1:2–3) but instead has degenerated into something else. Malachi 1:6–2:9 opens with another disputation dialog but continues with different literary genres, including accusation and command. This section as a whole has been identified as a “prophetic exhortation”1 directed to the priests (see 1:6; 2:1). The temple was rebuilt under Ezra, but Israel and its religious leaders soon fell again into their
Page 226