A Chiastic Reconfiguration Of Malachi

Kuruvilla Thomas
Bangalore
Published on 2 April 2025 *

Fig. 1

Introduction

This study treats Malachi 1:2-4:3 as a cryptochiasmus in order to arrive at a coherent reconfiguration of the text ( see definition of cryptochiasmus in [1] ). If you wish to skip the technicalities of a chiastic parse, you may read starting from Section 4 of the Discussion section, which has the reconfigured text.

Malachi primarily details some of the sins of the Judahites in the time of Nehemiah. The book has significant prophecies - some of which are quoted in the New Testament - about John the Baptist and Christ.

Discussion

1. Presuppositions

We base our parse of Malachi 1:2-4:3 on the assumption that it refers to 3 Periods:

1. The Sins of the Judahites of Nehemiah's time (c. 433BC). We presume that this Period is regarding the short period of a few years during which Nehemiah left Jerusalem to serve in Babylon, from the 32nd year of the reign of Artaxerxes I (see Nehemiah 13:6,10-14,23-30).
2. The Judahites are Purged through Christ's Ministry (26AD-30AD) and The First Jewish–Roman War (66AD–73AD) (26AD-73AD). The Judahites who did not believe in Christ were killed in the war.
3. The Wicked are Punished and the Righteous Blessed at the Start of Christ's Millennial Reign (circa 2027AD).

2. Parsing the chiasmus

We will use the NIV Bible for this parse.

Parsing this chiasmus involves dividing portions of the text into three categories as above. We will call the time of Nehemiah Period 1, Christ's Ministry and The First Jewish–Roman War Period 2 and The Start of Christ's Millennial Reign Period 3.

Categorizing Malachi 1:2-4:3

Ch 1 Vs 2-5 belong to Period 3. Satan's kingdom "Edom" - "Babylon" and the Beast - are defeated at the Start of the Millennial Reign.

Ch 1 Vs 6 - Ch 2 Vs 16 belong to Period 1. The Judahites and their priests dishonour God and do not follow His Law. The Judahites are unfaithful in marriage, and they marry foreigners.

Ch 2 Vs 17 - Ch 3 Vs 7 belong to Period 2. Jesus refines and purges the Judahites - those who do not turn from their sins and heed his Gospel of the New Covenant are killed in the First Jewish-Roman War.

Ch 3 Vs 8-12 belongs to Period 1. The Judahites do not pay tithes according to the Law.

Ch 3 Vs 13 - Ch 4 Vs 3 belong to Period 3. The righteous are vindicated and the wicked punished at the start of the Millennial Reign. ( We set the closing boundary of this cryptochiasmus at 4:3, because all the decrees and judgements of the Law from Moses, mentioned in 4:4, do not apply to this Period.)

Original text

We color-code the chiastic units of the original text (NIV) below for easy visual identification using: red for Period 1, blue for Period 2, green for Period 3 and purple for text outside the chiasmus.

Malachi 1 1 A prophecy: The word of the Lord to Israel through Malachi.
2 “I have loved you,” says the Lord.
“But you ask, ‘How have you loved us?’
“Was not Esau Jacob’s brother?” declares the Lord. “Yet I have loved Jacob, 3 but Esau I have hated. I have laid waste his mountains [a] and left his inheritance to the desert jackals.”
4 Edom may say, “Though we have been crushed, we will rebuild the ruins.”
But this is what the Lord Almighty says: “They may build, but I will demolish. They will be called the Wicked Land, a People with whom the Lord is Angry Forever [b]. 5 You will see it with your own eyes and say, ‘Great is the Lord—even beyond the borders of Israel!’
6 “A son honors his father, and a slave his master. If I am a father, where is the honor due me? If I am a master, where is the respect due me?” says the Lord Almighty.
“It is you priests who show contempt for my name.
“But you ask, ‘How have we shown contempt for your name?’
7 “By offering defiled food on my altar.
“But you ask, ‘In what way is it defiled [c]?’
“You show contempt for the Lord's table: [d] 8 When you offer blind animals for sacrifice, is that not wrong? When you sacrifice lame or diseased animals, is that not wrong? Try offering them to your governor! Would he be pleased with you? Would he accept you?” says the Lord Almighty.
9 “Now plead with God, "Be gracious to us." [e] With such offerings from your hands, will he accept you?”—says the Lord Almighty.
10 “Oh, that one of you would shut the temple doors, so that you would not light useless fires on my altar! I am not pleased with you,” says the Lord Almighty, “and I will accept no offering from your hands. 11 My name will be great among the nations, from where the sun rises to where it sets. In every place incense and pure offerings will be brought to me, because my name will be great among the nations,” says the Lord Almighty.
12 “You [f] profane it by saying, ‘The Lord’s table is defiled,’ and, ‘Its food is contemptible.’ 13 And you say, ‘What a burden!’ and you sniff at it contemptuously,” says the Lord Almighty.
“When you bring injured, lame or diseased animals and offer them as sacrifices, should I accept them from your hands?” says the Lord. 14 “Cursed is the cheat who has an acceptable male in his flock and vows to give it, but then sacrifices a blemished animal to the Lord. Indeed, I [g] am a great king,” says the Lord Almighty, “and my name is to be feared among the nations.

Retranslation notes for Malachi 1
[a] vs 3 "hated. I have laid waste his mountains" instead of "hated, and I have turned his hill country into a wasteland".
[b] vs 4 "a People with whom the Lord is Angry Forever" instead of "a people always under the wrath of the LORD".
[c] vs 7 "In what way is it defiled" instead of "How have we defiled you".
[d] vs 7 "You show contempt for the Lord's table:" instead of "By saying that the LORD’s table is contemptible.".
[e] vs 9 'God, "Be gracious to us."' instead of "God to be gracious to us".
[f] vs 12 "You" instead of "But you".
[g] vs 14 "Indeed, I" instead of "For I". For the chiasmus.


Malachi 2 1 “Now, O priests [a], this warning is for you. 2 If you do not listen, and if you do not resolve to honor my name,” says the Lord Almighty, “I will send a curse on you, and I will curse your blessings. Yes, I have already cursed them, because you have not resolved to honor me.
3 “Because of you I will rebuke your descendants; I will smear on your faces the dung from your festival sacrifices, and you will be carried off with it. 4 Know, then,[b] that I have sent you this warning so that my covenant with Levi may continue,” says the Lord Almighty. 5 “My covenant was with him, a covenant of life and peace, and I gave them to him; this called for reverence. He [c] revered me and stood in awe of my name. 6 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.
7 “Indeed, [d] the lips of a priest ought to preserve knowledge, because he is the messenger of the Lord Almighty and people seek instruction from his mouth. 8 But you have turned from the way and by your teaching have caused many to stumble; you have violated the covenant with Levi,” says the Lord Almighty. 9 “So I will cause [e] you to be despised and humiliated before all the people, because you have not followed my ways but have shown partiality in matters of the law.”
10 Do we not all have one Father? Did not one God create us? Why do we profane the covenant of our ancestors by being unfaithful to one another?
11 Judah has been unfaithful. A detestable thing has been committed in Israel and in Jerusalem. Judah [f] has desecrated the sanctuary the Lord loves by marrying women who worship a foreign god. 12 As for the man who does this, whoever he may be, may the Lord remove him from the tents of Jacob—even though he brings an offering to the Lord Almighty.
13 And afterwords you do this [g]: You flood the Lord’s altar with tears. You weep and wail because he no longer looks with favor on your offerings or accepts them with pleasure from your hands. 14 You ask, “Why?” It is because 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.
15 Did not God make one human? Why then did He make another with a portion of his spirit? He seeks Godly offspring. [h] So be on your guard, and do not be unfaithful to the wife of your youth.
16 “The man who hates and divorces his wife,” says the Lord, the God of Israel, “does violence to the one he should protect,” says the Lord Almighty.
So be on your guard, and do not be unfaithful.
17 You have wearied the Lord with your words.
“How have we wearied him?” you ask.
By saying, “All who do evil are good in the eyes of the Lord, and he is pleased with them” or “Where is the God of justice?”

Retranslation notes for Malachi 2
[a] vs 1 "Now, O priests" instead of "And now, you priests". For the chiasmus.
[b] vs 4 "Know, then," instead of "And you will know". For the chiasmus. From the NRSV.
[c] vs 5 "reverence. He" instead of "reverence and he".
[d] vs 7 "Indeed," instead of "For".
[e] vs 9 "will cause" instead of "have caused".
[f] vs 11 "Jerusalem. Judah" instead of "Jerusalem: Judah". Changed the punctuation.
[g] vs 13 "And afterwords you do this" instead of "Another thing you do".
[h] vs 15 "Did not God make one human? Why then did He make another with a portion of his spirit? He seeks Godly offspring" instead of "Has not the one God made you? You belong to him in body and spirit. And what does the one God seek? Godly offspring".


Malachi 3 “I will send my messenger, who will prepare the way before me. Then immediately [a] the Lord you are seeking will come to his temple; the messenger of the covenant, whom you desire, will come,” says the Lord Almighty.
2 But who can endure the day of his coming? Who can stand when he appears? For he will be like a refiner’s fire or a launderer’s soap. 3 He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver; he will purify the Levites and refine them like gold and silver. Then the Lord will have men who will bring offerings in righteousness, 4 and the offerings of Judah and Jerusalem will be acceptable to the Lord, as in days gone by, as in former years.
5 “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.
6 “Nevertheless, I [b] the Lord do not change. So you, the descendants of Jacob, are not destroyed. 7 Ever since the time of your ancestors you have turned away from my decrees and have not kept them. Return to me, and I will return to you,” says the Lord Almighty.
“But you ask, ‘How are we to return?’
8 “Will a mere mortal rob God? Yet you rob me. “But you ask, ‘How are we robbing you?’ “In tithes and offerings. 9 You are cursed with a curse, for you are robbing me. The whole nation of you, 10 bring [c] 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. 11 I will prevent pests from devouring your crops, and the vines in your fields will not drop their fruit before it is ripe,” says the Lord Almighty.
12 “Then all the nations will call you blessed, for yours will be a delightful land,” says the Lord Almighty.
13 “You have spoken harshly [d] against me,” says the Lord.
“Yet you ask, ‘What have we said against you?’
14 “You have said, ‘It is futile to serve God. What do we gain by carrying out his requirements and going about in mourning [e] before the Lord Almighty? 15 Now [f] we call the arrogant blessed. Certainly evildoers prosper, and even when they put God to the test, they get away with it.’”
16 Thus spoke those who feared the Lord one to another [g], and the Lord listened and heard. A scroll of remembrance was written before Him [h] concerning those who feared the Lord and honored his name.
17 “On the day when I act,” says the Lord Almighty, “they will be my treasured possession. I will spare them, just as a father has compassion and spares his son who serves him. 18 And you will again see the distinction between the righteous and the wicked, between those who serve God and those who do not.

Retranslation notes for Malachi 3
[a] vs 1 "immediately" instead of "suddenly".
[b] vs 6 "Nevertheless, I" instead of "I".
[c] vs 9-10 "You are cursed with a curse, for you are robbing me. The whole nation of you, 10 bring" instead of "You are cursed with a curse, yet you—the whole nation—are still robbing Me. 10 Bring".
[d] vs 13 "harshly" instead of "arrogantly".
[e] vs 14 "in mourning" instead of "like mourners". From the NASB.
[f] vs 15 "Now" instead of "But now". For the chiasmus.
[g] vs 16 "Thus spoke those who feared the Lord one to another" instead of "Then those who feared the LORD talked with each other" - based on the LXX.
[h] vs 16 "before Him" instead of "in his presence".


Malachi 4 1 “Surely the day is coming; it will burn like a furnace. All the arrogant and every evildoer will be stubble, and the day that is coming will set them on fire,” says the Lord Almighty. “Not a root or a branch will be left to them. 2 For [a] you 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. 3 Then you will trample on the wicked; they will be ashes under the soles of your feet on the day when I act,” says the Lord Almighty.
4 “Remember the law of my servant Moses, the decrees and judgements [b] I gave him at Horeb for all Israel.
5 “See, I will send the prophet Elijah to you before that great and dreadful day of the Lord comes. 6 He will turn the hearts of the parents with [c] their children, and the hearts of the children with [d] their parents. Otherwise [e] I will come and strike the land with total destruction.”

Retranslation notes for Malachi 4
[a] vs 2 "For" instead of "But for". For the chiasmus.
[b] vs 4 "judgements" instead of "laws".
[c,d] vs 6 "with" instead of "to".
[e] vs 6 "parents; or else" instead of "parents. Otherwise". For the chiasmus.

3. Building the reconfigured text

From this parse, it appears that Malachi 1:2-4:3 forms a cryptochiasmus as below:

A1   Ch 1 Vs 2-5 Period 3. "Babylon" and the Beast are defeated
  B1   Ch 1 Vs 6 - Ch 2 Vs 16 Period 1. The sins of the Judahites
    X   Ch 2 Vs 17 - Ch 3 Vs 7 Period 2. Jesus refines the Judahites
  B2   Ch 3 Vs 8-12 Period 1. The Judahites do not pay adequate tithes
A2   Ch 3 Vs 13 - Ch 4 Vs 3 Period 3. The righteous are rewarded and the wicked punished

We now reconstruct the passages in the right order based on the chiastic structure above and based on the ordering rules of a cryptochiasmus [1].

We lead with central pivot point 'X'. The corresponding subunits (For example; subunit A1 corresponds to A2) are placed contiguously to form units (For example, A1,A2 is a unit ) so that we get a list of such units.

The sequence selected for rearrangement is:

X  [A1,A2]  [B1,B2]        (1)

Translating (1) into verse numbers, we get:

Ch 2 Vs 17 - Ch 3 Vs 7   [Ch 1 Vs 2-5, Ch 3 Vs 13 - Ch 4 Vs 3]   [Ch 1 Vs 6 - Ch 2 Vs 16, Ch 3 Vs 8-12]        (2)

We arrive at the reconfigured passage in the next section by rearranging the verses so they are in sequence (2).

4. Malachi 1:2-4:3 Reconfigured and the chiastic structure of the closing section

The Judahites are Purged through Christ's Ministry (26AD-30AD) and The First Jewish–Roman War (66AD–73AD) (26AD-73AD) (Ch 2 Vs 17 - Ch 3 Vs 7)



The Wicked are Punished and the Righteous Blessed at the Start of Christ's Millennial Reign (circa 2027AD) (Ch 1 Vs 2-5, Ch 3 Vs 13 - Ch 4 Vs 3)

Chiasmus 1: God loves Israel and hates "Edom"


Chiasmus 2: The Righteous are rewarded and the Wicked punished at the start of the Millennial Reign



The Sins of the Judahites of Nehemiah's time (c. 433BC) (Ch 1 Vs 6 - Ch 2 Vs 16, Ch 3 Vs 8-12)

Chiasmus 1: The Judahites show contempt for God with blemished sacrifice offerings


Chiasmus 2: The Levite priesthood will be punished for violating its covenant


Chiasmus 3: Judahites must not divorce their wives to marry foreigners


Chiasmus 4: The Judahites will be rewarded if they tithe according to the Law



The Concluding Section (c.433BC - c.26AD) (Ch 4 Vs 4-6)

5. A Commentary on the Reconfigured Text

5.0 Introductory Statement (Ch 1 vs 1)

Chapter 1 1 A prophecy: The word of the LORD to Israel through Malachi.

The name Malachi means "My messenger". We speculate that the book was written shortly before the start of Period 1 (c. 433BC). This is the last book of the Old Testament, and it forms a connecting link between the Old Covenant and the New Covenant, in terms its content, the time it was written and its location in the Bible.

5.1 The Judahites are Purged through Christ's Ministry (26AD-30AD) and The First Jewish–Roman War (66AD–73AD) (26AD-73AD) (Ch 2 Vs 17 - Ch 3 Vs 7)

This Period is arranged in the form of a two-unit chiasmus:

A1 2:17 The state of Judahites before Christ: Injustice
  B1 3:1-2 Christ brings justice and a New Covenant
    X 3:3-4 Christ reforms the priesthood
  B2 3:5-6 Christ brings justice and a New Covenant
A2 3:7 The state of Judahites before Christ: Spiritual confusion

Throughout this book, Malachi uses imagined conversations as a rhetorical device to better convey his message. In the imagined conversation of this Period, God converses with the Judahites of this time.

Subunit A1: The state of Judahites before Christ: Injustice (2:17)

Chapter 2 17 You have wearied the Lord with your words.
“How have we wearied him?” you ask.
By saying, “All who do evil are good in the eyes of the Lord, and he is pleased with them” or “Where is the God of justice?”

In the time before Christ, the Judahites see that the wicked among them flourish, while the righteous are crushed (see Isaiah 3:13-15), and it almost appears to them that the Lord favours the wicked. They continually cry to their God for justice ("weary the Lord").

God's punishments and rewards may not come immediately, and the wicked may prosper for a while, according to His will; humans are in no position to judge or even understand his actions (cf. Psalm 73:2-20). But He is a God of justice and righteousness. So the problems that the Judahites faced in Unit A of this chiasmus are addressed through Christ's coming, as detailed in Unit B and the Pivot X.

Subunit B1: Christ brings justice and a New Covenant (3:1-2)

Chapter 3 1a “I will send my messenger, who will prepare the way before me.

John the Baptist ("my messenger") prepared the Judahites for Christ's message by preaching repentance for sins (see also Matt 3:1-8, Isaiah 40:3). God is the speaker here, and we take "before me" to mean "at My command, so that the message of My New Covenant may be taught". Jesus quoted this passage as predicting the arrival of John the Baptist in Matthew 11:10 (see also Mark 1:2).

Chapter 3 1b Then immediately the Lord you are seeking will come to his temple; the messenger of the covenant, whom you desire, will come,” says the Lord Almighty.

Soon after John began his ministry, Christ came to his "temple" - we take the "temple" to refer to the faithful Judahite community, those who would soon form the first Church when they came under the New Covenant (cf. 1 Cor. 3:16–17).

Christ is the messenger that the Judahites "desired", as detailed in Unit A: through the First Jewish-Roman War, he brought them the justice they sought (the answer to the question "Where is the God of justice?" in Subunit A1 above), and through the New Covenant, Christ brought them the way back to God that they yearned for (the answer to the question, ‘How are we to return?", in 3:7 of Subunit A2 below) (see John 3:16, cf. Jer. 31:31, Isaiah 42:6).

Chapter 3 2 But who can endure the day of his coming? Who can stand when he appears? For he will be like a refiner’s fire or a launderer’s soap.

For the wicked among the Judahites, this was a time of cruel punishment - the rhetorical questions of this passage indicate the brutality that the Judahites experienced during the war at the end of the Period. Christ was like a "refiner's fire" or a "launderer's soap" that purified the Judahites of the wicked among them (cf. Isaiah 8:14,15), because those who believed Christ's message, took his advice to flee when the Romans arrived at Jerusalem (Matt. 24:15-18), and the rest were punished and killed during the First Jewish-Roman War. The period of the massacre at Jerusalem was one of the three great "Days of the Lord" of Joel [7] (referred to as "the day of his coming" in this verse).

Pivot X: Christ reforms the priesthood (3:3-4)

Chapter 3 3a He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver; he will purify the Levites and refine them like gold and silver.

The Levites, the priestly class who led the Judahites astray, were particularly punished and purged during the Jewish-Roman War (see details on this war in [2]), because they abused their privileged position as shepherds of the Judahites (see Isaiah 3:12-15). Under the New Covenant from Christ, the Levitical priesthood was no longer required, because all Christians are priests who have direct access to God (Matt. 27:50-51, 1 Peter 2:5,9). The early church, which replaced the Levitical priesthood, was purified through Christ's message and through the persecution and tribulations it faced.

Chapter 3 3b Then the Lord will have men who will bring offerings in righteousness, 4 and the offerings of Judah and Jerusalem will be acceptable to the Lord, as in days gone by, as in former years.

In Period 1 of this prophecy, God despised the meaningless, worthless offerings of the Judahite priesthood (see Mal. 1:10), but the sincere contributions of the righteous Judahite Christians of this Period are once again acceptable to God (Romans 12:1), just as they were during the early days of the nation, under righteous leaders like David.

Subunit B2: Christ brings justice and a New Covenant (3:5-6)

This subunit continues from 3:2 in the corresponding Subunit B1 above.

Chapter 3 5 “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.

Many Judahites, while outwardly pious, behaved in a manner that evidenced a lack of fear of God (engaging in sorcery and idol-worship) and a lack of love for their fellow man (defrauders, perjurers...) (see Matt. 23:23, 25-28) - these Judahites were purged by God through the Romans in the war of this Period (see Matt 3:12).

Chapter 3 6 “Nevertheless, I the Lord do not change. So you, the descendants of Jacob, are not destroyed.

However the entire land of Israel ("Jacob") was not destroyed, because it was God's chosen nation (Exo. 29:45), and God is faithful to His people (“I the Lord do not change") - those who heeded Christ's gospel and took Jesus' advice to flee to the mountains and were spared a cruel death (Matthew 24:15–16 ).

Subunit A2: The state of Judahites before Christ: Spiritual confusion (3:7)

Chapter 3 7 Ever since the time of your ancestors you have turned away from my decrees and have not kept them. Return to me, and I will return to you,” says the Lord Almighty.
“But you ask, ‘How are we to return?’

The Israelites had frequently been unfaithful to their God and disobeyed His Law in the past, and they continue to sin against God. God tells the Judahites of this Period to return to Him, but this confuses them, because they laboured under the delusion that they were living according to God's Law. Their leaders had taught them false doctrines and led them astray, so that many of them followed the letter of the Law while ignoring its spirit (see Matt. 23:23).

Christ's New Covenant answers their question as to how they are to return (see Subunit B1 [3:1-2] above). With its focus on Love, and on the other Fruits of the Spirit, the Gospel of the New Covenant is designed to turn the Judahites once again into a people that are worthy of being called God's chosen (see John 14:5, Galatians 5:14-26).

5.2 The Wicked are Punished and the Righteous Blessed at the Start of Christ's Millennial Reign (circa 2027AD) (Ch 1 Vs 2-5, Ch 3 Vs 13 - Ch 4 Vs 3)

This Period is structured as a series of 2 chiasmi.

Chiasmus 1: God loves Israel and hates "Edom"

The passage below in 1:2-5 is arranged in the form of a single-unit chiasmus:

A1 1:2-3a God loves Israel and hates "Edom"
    X 1:3b-4a Satan's kingdom "Edom" is destroyed at the start of the Millennial Reign
A2 1:4b-5 God loves Israel and hates "Edom"

In this Period, "Esau"/"Edom" refers to Satan's kingdoms, "Babylon" and the Beast (as seen in our parse of Obadiah [4], Isaiah 63:1 [9], Jer. 49:7-22 [8]) - "Babylon" is an international cabal of Satan worshippers and the Beast is an alliance of 10 nations (see Rev. 13,17). Why are Satan's empires named after Esau and his nation Edom? Although Esau was not a bad man, the disregard he showed for his inheritance, selling it for a meal (Genesis 25:29-34), is a type of the disregard the wicked of this Period show for their inheritance in God's heavenly kingdom by selling their souls to Satan for trifling temporal benefits (see 1 Tim. 6:10, Heb. 12:16,17).

This chiasmus is in the form of an imagined dialogue between God and the Israelites of this time.

Subunit A1: God loves Israel and hates "Edom" (1:2-3a)

Chapter 1 2 “I have loved you,” says the Lord.
“But you ask, ‘How have you loved us?’
Was not Esau Jacob’s brother?” declares the Lord. “Yet I have loved Jacob, 3a but Esau I have hated.

God tells the Israelites that He has a special love for them, His chosen people. In order to expand on this statement, as a rhetorical device, Malachi imagines Israel asking God, ‘How have you loved us?'. We take the question mean: "What do you mean? Do you not, as our creator, love all mankind?".

God answers that although Jacob and Esau were twin brothers, he has chosen Jacob's descendants to be his elect people, as is His prerogative (Paul justifies this discriminatory treatment in Romans 9, and quotes from this passage in Romans 9:13). But God hates Esau's spiritual descendants - the evil Satan worshippers that operate the "Babylon" and Beast empires.

Pivot X: Satan's kingdom "Edom" is destroyed at the start of the Millennial Reign (1:3b-4a)

Chapter 1 3b I have laid waste his mountains and left his inheritance to the desert jackals.”

At the end of Satan's reign in 2027AD, God will eternally defeat and destroy Satan's empires of "Babylon" and the Beast ("mountains" figuratively represents the divisions of Satan's empire) (see Rev 18,19, Ezekiel 39). Since "Edom/Esau" refers to the Satan worshippers that operate Satan's organization and not a physical country, the phrase "left his inheritance to the desert jackals" figuratively indicates the eternal destruction of this organization.

Chapter 1 4a Edom may say, “Though we have been crushed, we will rebuild the ruins.”
But this is what the Lord Almighty says: “They may build, but I will demolish.

The "Edomites" defiantly say they will rebuild Satan's kingdom, but they will remain crushed throughout the Millennial Reign (see also Rev 18:21-23). Satan will be imprisoned in the Bottomless Pit up to the end of the world (see Rev. 20:1-3), and without his spiritual power, his worshippers do not form an effective force for evil.

Subunit A2: God loves Israel and hates "Edom" (1:4b-5)

This subunit continues from 1:3a in the corresponding subunit A1 above.

Chapter 1 4b They will be called the Wicked Land, a People with whom the Lord is Angry Forever. 5 You will see it with your own eyes and say, ‘Great is the Lord—even beyond the borders of Israel!’

The Satan worshippers of "Edom" will be forever hated by God and so they will be eternally punished (see Rev 19:20, Rev 18, 19:1-3). When the Israelites see that God has destroyed this wicked organization that once ruled the world, and they see that God has raised them up instead to reign over the earth, they will understand that the God that has chosen them as His own is all powerful (see also Psalm 93:1) - unlike the gods of other nations that only control their assigned kingdoms (see Deut. 32:8).

Chiasmus 2: The Righteous are rewarded and the Wicked punished at the start of the Millennial Reign

The passage below in 3:13-4:3 is arranged in the form of a two-unit chiasmus:

A1 3:13-14 The Righteous will be rewarded after a time of persecution
  B1 3:15-16a The Wicked will be punished after a time of prosperity
    X 3:16b-18 The Scroll of Remembrance
  B2 4:1 The Wicked will be punished after a time of prosperity
A2 4:2-3 The Righteous will be rewarded after a time of persecution

This chiasmus is in the form of an imagined conversation between God and the righteous Christians of the world (Chiasmus 1 of this Period primarily focused on Israel).

Subunit A1: The Righteous will be rewarded after a time of persecution (3:13-14)

Chapter 3 13 “You have spoken harshly against me,” says the Lord. “Yet you ask, ‘What have we said against you?’ 14 “You have said, ‘It is futile to serve God. What do we gain by carrying out his requirements and going about in mourning before the Lord Almighty?

During the times of persecution under the Beast empire, many of the righteous, in their great misery, think harshly of the actions of God (see Isaiah 55:8-9). They question God's justice in their hearts (as in Malachi 2:17), thinking that those who obey God only suffer and do not get their just rewards (cf. Rev 13:7-10).

Subunit B1: The Wicked will be punished after a time of prosperity (3:15-16a)

Chapter 3 15 Now we call the arrogant blessed. Certainly evildoers prosper, and even when they put God to the test, they get away with it.’” 16a Thus spoke those who feared the Lord one to another, and the Lord listened and heard.

During the reign of the Beast empire, the wicked, those who worship Satan and the Beast, enjoy a time of prosperity (see Rev. 18), while the God fearing righteous suffer under their yoke. The Lord is aware that the righteous are suffering, but He has set apart this time to test mankind.

Pivot X: The Scroll of Remembrance (3:16b-18)

Chapter 3 16b A scroll of remembrance was written before Him concerning those who feared the Lord and honored his name. 17 “On the day when I act,” says the Lord Almighty, “they will be my treasured possession. I will spare them, just as a father has compassion and spares his son who serves him. 18 And you will again see the distinction between the righteous and the wicked, between those who serve God and those who do not.

God reassures the righteous, those that are faithful to Him, by indicating that, at His order ("before Him"), the names and good works of those who fear Him are noted in heaven and recorded in a Scroll of Remembrance (cf. Luke 10:20, Hebrews 12:22-23, and the "Book of Life" in Rev 20:12).

At the time of judgement at the Start of the Millennial Reign, one of the three "Days of the Lord" of Joel [7] (the "day when I act" in this passage), the wicked will be punished while the righteous, those whose names are written in the Scroll of Remembrance, will be spared punishment and will be rewarded as God's treasured people.

Subunit B2: The Wicked will be punished after a time of prosperity (4:1)

Chapter 4 1 “Surely the day is coming; it will burn like a furnace. All the arrogant and every evildoer will be stubble, and the day that is coming will set them on fire,” says the Lord Almighty. “Not a root or a branch will be left to them.

At the end of the reign of the Beast, the wicked of the world will be punished and destroyed (Rev. 14:9-11, Rev 16,18,19) along with the evil organizations they have created ("Not a root or a branch will be left to them") (see Psalm 137:8-9).

Subunit A2: The Righteous will be rewarded after a time of persecution (4:2-3)

Chapter 4 2 For you 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. 3 Then you will trample on the wicked; they will be ashes under the soles of your feet on the day when I act,” says the Lord Almighty.

For the righteous, those in the Scroll, this Period will see the dawn of a golden age (the "sun of righteousness will rise..."), because they will rejoice in their blessings ("well fed") when the righteous Christ and his Messiah begin to rule over the world (see Isaiah 9:6-7, Isaiah 11:4). The reign of Christ and his Messiah will heal the wounds inflicted on the righteous during Satan's rule (....with healing in its rays.), and the righteous will figuratively trample on the ashes of their wicked oppressors after they are destroyed (cf. Isaiah 30:23-33).

5.3 The Sins of the Judahites of Nehemiah's time (c. 433BC) (Ch 1 Vs 6 - Ch 2 Vs 16, Ch 3 Vs 8-12)

This Period is structured as a series of 4 chiasmi that are all regarding aspects of the Mosaic Law. It is necessary to point out that the passages of this Period are prophetic - Malachi, who passed on this prophecy at around the start of this Period, predicts the behaviour of the Judahites over the next few years.

Malachi presents the prophecy of this Period in the form of an imagined dialogue between God and the Judahites of the Period.

The passage below in 1:6-14 is arranged in the form of a two-unit chiasmus:

Chiasmus 1: The Judahites show contempt for God with blemished sacrifice offerings

A1 1:6a The Almighty God is to be revered
  B1 1:6b-8 Judahite priests dishonour God with flawed sacrifices
    X 1:9-11 God's name will be honoured throughout the world
  B2 1:12-14a Judahite priests dishonour God with flawed sacrifices
A2 1:14b The Almighty God is to be revered


Subunit A1: The Almighty God is to be revered (1:6a)

Chapter 1 6a “A son honors his father, and a slave his master. If I am a father, where is the honor due me? If I am a master, where is the respect due me?” says the Lord Almighty.

The Judahites honour their human superiors, but do not respect the Almighty, the Creator and God, the ultimate father and master.

Subunit B1: Judahite priests dishonour God with flawed sacrifices (1:6b-8)

Chapter 1 6b “It is you priests who show contempt for my name.
“But you ask, ‘How have we shown contempt for your name?’
7 “By offering defiled food on my altar.
“But you ask, ‘In what way is it defiled?’
“You show contempt for the Lord's table: 8 When you offer blind animals for sacrifice, is that not wrong? 8 When you sacrifice lame or diseased animals, is that not wrong? Try offering them to your governor! Would he be pleased with you? Would he accept you?” says the Lord Almighty.

The Lord accuses the priests of showing contempt for Him by offering defiled food on the altar. The priests ask which of their sacrifices He considers defiled. God replies that sacrifices of blemished food - like blind,lame or diseased animals - those that violate the Law (for ex. see Deut. 15:21, Lev. 22:22), exhibit contempt for God and His Law; the priests would not offer up blemished food to their human masters, yet they do not hesitate to offer it to their God.

Pivot X: God's name will be honoured throughout the world (1:9-11 )

Chapter 1 9 “Now plead with God, "Be gracious to us." With such offerings from your hands, will he accept you?”—says the Lord Almighty.

The priests are sarcastically told to make supplications to God, and then asked, rhetorically, "Will God answer your prayers after your contemptuous offerings?"

Chapter 1 10 “Oh, that one of you would shut the temple doors, so that you would not light useless fires on my altar! I am not pleased with you,” says the Lord Almighty, “and I will accept no offering from your hands.

God wishes that the priests would stop performing their priestly duties of the Old Covenant - He is weary with their meaningless worship and He ignores their contemptuous offerings (cf. Isaiah 1:12-15).

Chapter 1 11 My name will be great among the nations, from where the sun rises to where it sets. In every place incense and pure offerings will be brought to me, because my name will be great among the nations,” says the Lord Almighty.

Though His own people consider Him with contempt in this Period, God will be honoured around the world during Christ's Millennial Reign, beginning in Period 3 (see Zech. 14:16-21). The people of the world will bring pure offerings to the New Israel to honour God.

Subunit B2: Judahite priests dishonour God with flawed sacrifices (1:12-14a)

Chapter 1 12 “You profane it by saying, ‘The Lord’s table is defiled,’ and, ‘Its food is contemptible.’ 13a And you say, ‘What a burden!’ and you sniff at it contemptuously,” says the Lord Almighty.

This subunit continues the conversation of 1:6b-8 in the corresponding subunit B1, listing ways in which the priests profane the Lord's name (the Lord's name in 1:6b is the antecedent of "it" of vs 12). Instead of regarding the Lord's table with the reverence it deserves, the priests treated it as something defiled with their blemished offerings (they do not say that the Lord's table is defiled, but they act as though it is), and they did not want to do their duties as prescribed by the Law ("what a burden"). They feel that their share of the sacrifices as prescribed by the Law is too meagre ("food is contemptible") and they consider it with disdain ("sniff at it contemptuously"). ( We assume a parallel design in 12 and 13a.)

Chapter 1 13b “When you bring injured, lame or diseased animals and offer them as sacrifices, should I accept them from your hands?” says the Lord. 14a “Cursed is the cheat who has an acceptable male in his flock and vows to give it, but then sacrifices a blemished animal to the Lord.

Some Judahites promised and could afford acceptable offerings under the Law, but they cheat and bring injured or diseased animals - note that the poor had the option of offering alternative inexpensive sacrifices (for ex., see Leviticus 5:7). The Judahite priests disrespect God when they offer up these blemished sacrifices instead of refusing them.

Subunit A2: The Almighty God is to be revered (1:14b)

This subunit continues from the corresponding subunit A1 above.

Chapter 1 14b Indeed, I am a great king,” says the Lord Almighty, “and my name is to be feared among the nations.

The Judahites must fear and revere the Almighty; the rest of the world will fear Him as King of the world during the Millennial Reign.

Chiasmus 2: The Levite priesthood will be punished for violating its covenant

The passage below in 2:1-9 is arranged in the form of a single-unit chiasmus:

A1 2:1-3 The Levite priesthood will be punished for its sins
    X 2:4-6 The Covenant between God and Levi
A2 2:7-9 The Levite priesthood will be punished for its sins


Subunit A1: The Levite priesthood will be punished for its sins (2:1-3)

Chapter 2 1 “Now, O priests, this warning is for you. 2 If you do not listen, and if you do not resolve to honor my name,” says the Lord Almighty, “I will send a curse on you, and I will curse your blessings. Yes, I have already cursed them, because you have not resolved to honor me.

The Levite/Aaronic priesthood is warned that the power, prestige and privileges it enjoys will be taken away ("curse your blessings") if it continues to show contempt for God. The Lord has already decided to punish the priesthood for some of its past disrespect towards God.

Chapter 2 3 “Because of you I will rebuke your descendants; I will smear on your faces the dung from your festival sacrifices, and you will be carried off with it.

During the First Jewish-Roman War, the Levitical priesthood will be singled out for humiliation for the disrespect it had shown God (cf. Micah 5:1) - they figuratively will have their faces covered in dung. With Jerusalem and its temple destroyed and the Old Covenant terminated, they will be taken away and destroyed - they will be treated like the dung from their sacrifices.

Pivot X: The Covenant between God and Levi (2:4-6)

Chapter 2 4 Know, then, that I have sent you this warning so that my covenant with Levi may continue,” says the Lord Almighty. 5a “My covenant was with him, a covenant of life and peace, and I gave them to him; this called for reverence.

God issued this warning to the Levites so that He could continue to honour the covenant that He made with their forefather Levi. According to this covenant, Levi's descendants will have life and peace in its fullest sense, and in return they are to revere God and do all that it entails (cf. Numbers 25:12-13).

Chapter 2 5b He revered me and stood in awe of my name. 6 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.

Levi himself was in awe of God and showed it in his actions: he only taught the Truth from God (cf. Leviticus 10:11); he behaved righteously and corrected those who erred. He did all the things that a priest should do.

Subunit A2: The Levite priesthood will be punished for its sins (2:7-9)

Chapter 2 7 “Indeed, the lips of a priest ought to preserve knowledge, because he is the messenger of the Lord Almighty and people seek instruction from his mouth. 8 But you have turned from the way and by your teaching have caused many to stumble; you have violated the covenant with Levi,” says the Lord Almighty. 9 “So I will cause you to be despised and humiliated before all the people, because you have not followed my ways but have shown partiality in matters of the law.”

The wicked Levite priests, supposedly messengers of God, had not remained faithful to the teachings of the Law. Instead they taught the Judahites Satanic false doctrines from Babylon that led people astray, so violating their covenant with God. The priesthood will be humiliated because it has not followed God's ways, and because it was corrupt in its teachings that favoured certain classes of people ("partiality") (see Micah 3:11, cf. Acts 23:2-3).

Chiasmus 3: Judahites must not divorce their wives to marry foreigners

The passage below in 2:10-16 is arranged in the form of a two-unit chiasmus:

A1 2:10-11a Divorce harms the wives
  B1 2:11b-12 Reason for not straying: So that God's sanctuary is not desecrated by pagans
    X 2:13-14 God ignores the prayers of unfaithful husbands
  B2 2:15 Reason for not straying: To raise Godly children
A2 2:16 Divorce harms the wives

In this Period, many Judahites divorced their Israelite wives to marry foreign women. This chiasmus preaches against this wicked practice.

Subunit A1: Divorce harms the wives (2:10-11a)

Chapter 2 10 Do we not all have one Father? Did not one God create us? Why do we profane the covenant of our ancestors by being unfaithful to one another? 11a Judah has been unfaithful. A detestable thing has been committed in Israel and in Jerusalem.

Unfaithfulness and divorce harm the Judahites' wives, who are also God's creation and His children. These acts violate the Laws of the Old Covenant (Exodus 20:14), and they are detestable ("Israel and Jerusalem" can be considered to be a synonym for "Judah" here.)

Subunit B1: Reason for not straying: So that God's sanctuary is not desecrated by pagans (2:11b-12)

Chapter 2 11b Judah has desecrated the sanctuary the Lord loves by marrying women who worship a foreign god. 12 As for the man who does this, whoever he may be, may the Lord remove him from the tents of Jacob—even though he brings an offering to the Lord Almighty.

Many Judahites have divorced their Israelite wives so that they may marry pagan women from outside the community (see also Nehemiah 13:23-30, Ezra 9:1-4). This is an unforgivable sin (that cannot be remedied with a sacrificial offering), punishable with excommunication, primarily because pagan wives will influence the Judahite community, the Lord's chosen ("the sanctuary the Lord loves"), into the worship of demon gods (Neh. 13:26,27, Exodus 34:16, Ezra 9:5-15).

Pivot X: God ignores the prayers of unfaithful husbands (2:13-14 )

Chapter 2 13 And afterwords you do this: You flood the Lord’s altar with tears. You weep and wail because he no longer looks with favor on your offerings or accepts them with pleasure from your hands. 14 You ask, “Why?”
It is because 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.

After being unfaithful to their wives, the Judahites wail before the altar, because God no longer blesses them when they make offerings to Him. But God ignores their supplications, for they have violated the sacred covenant of marriage (cf. Matt 19:3-9, Genesis 2:24).

Subunit B2: Reason for not straying: To raise Godly children (2:15)

Chapter 2 15 Did not God make one human? Why then did He make another with a portion of his spirit? He seeks Godly offspring. So be on your guard, and do not be unfaithful to the wife of your youth.

After God made Adam, He created Eve using a portion of Adam's body (Gen, 2:18-23), and, according to this verse, with a portion of Adam's soul (see also Gen. 1:26,27). He did this so that Adam may have a companion, and so that they might multiply and raise children for God (Gen. 1:27,28). The Judahites are to remain faithful to their wives, so as to respect the sacred institution of marriage that was founded at creation, and so that they can better raise Godly children.

Subunit A2: Divorce harms the wives (2:16 )

Chapter 2 16 “The man who hates and divorces his wife,” says the Lord, the God of Israel, “does violence to the one he should protect,” says the Lord Almighty. So be on your guard, and do not be unfaithful.

This subunit concludes the argument of the corresponding subunit A1 [2:10-11a]. Judahites who are unfaithful or divorce their wives harm the one they should be protecting (cf. Matt 19:3-9)

Chiasmus 4: The Judahites will be rewarded if they tithe according to the Law

The passage below in 3:8-12 is arranged in the form of a single-unit chiasmus:

A1 3:8-10a The Judahites will no longer be cursed if they tithe properly
    X 3:10b The Judahites will be blessed abundantly if they tithed according to the Law
A2 3:11-12 The Judahites will no longer be cursed if they tithe properly

This chiasmus is in the form of an imagined conversation between God and the Judahites of this Period.

Subunit A1: The Judahites will no longer be cursed if they tithe properly (3:8-10a)

Chapter 3 8 “Will a mere mortal rob God? Yet you rob me.
“But you ask, ‘How are we robbing you?’
“In tithes and offerings. 9 You are cursed with a curse, for you are robbing me. The whole nation of you, 10a bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house.

The Judahites, in their foolish selfishness and contempt for God, stole from the Lord by withholding tithes and offerings, and for this they are cursed with meagreness. God asks them to bring to Him all the tithes as prescribed by the Law (see also Neh. 13:10-14, Neh. 10:38).

Pivot X: The Judahites will be blessed abundantly if they tithe according to the Law (3:10b)

Chapter 3 10b 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.

If only the Judahites offer tithes as prescribed by the Covenant Law (see for ex. Leviticus 27:30), God will not only bless them but also bless with abundance.

Subunit A2: The Judahites will no longer be cursed if they tithe properly (3:11-12)

This subunit continues from 3:8-10a in the corresponding subunit A1 above.

Chapter 3 11 I will prevent pests from devouring your crops, and the vines in your fields will not drop their fruit before it is ripe,” says the Lord Almighty. 12 “Then all the nations will call you blessed, for yours will be a delightful land,” says the Lord Almighty.

If the Judahites pay their tithes, they will no longer be cursed with pests and bad crops, and they will be considered a blessed and pleasant land.

5.4 The Concluding Section (c.433BC - c.26AD) (Ch 4 vs 4-6)

The passage below in 4:4-6 is arranged in the form of a single-unit chiasmus:

A1 4:4 The Judahites must follow the Law (c.433BC - c.26AD)
    X 4:5-6a John the Baptist will reform the Judahites (c. 26AD)
A2 4:6b The Judahites must follow the Law (c.433BC - c.26AD)

This chiasmus is a coda to the Old Testament and a prelude to the New Testament.

Subunit A1: The Judahites must follow the Law (c.433BC - c.26AD) (4:4)

Chapter 4 4 “Remember the law of my servant Moses, the decrees and judgements I gave him at Horeb for all Israel.

The Judahites are exhorted to remain faithful and obedient to God, to follow the Law He gave Moses at Horeb (see also Deut. 4:10). They must live under the Old Covenant Law until Christ brings the New Covenant - the Judahites are the only people that have remained under God's Laws without a break. This exhortation is given to the Judahites before Period 1 and it is the last utterance preceding a time of around 4 centuries of prophetic silence, until the coming of John the Baptist and Christ in Period 2.

Pivot X: John the Baptist will reform the Judahites (c. 26AD) (4:5-6a)

Chapter 4 5 “See, I will send the prophet Elijah to you before that great and dreadful day of the Lord comes.

John the Baptist ("Elijah") came to reform the Judahites in preparation for Jesus' ministry (Matt. 11:14, 17:10-13, 3:1-12, Mark 9:11-13). Although he was not Elijah (John 1:21), he came in the "spirit and power" of Elijah, preaching repentance from sins (see Luke 1:17). The "great and dreadful day of the Lord" (one of the 3 "Days of the Lord" of Joel [7]) refers to the devastation of Jerusalem and all its residents in 70AD, when all the Judahites who did not turn to Christ were killed. ( We believe that the coming of John the Baptist fulfilled the prophecy of this pivot.)

Chapter 4 6a He will turn the hearts of the parents with their children, and the hearts of the children with their parents.”

The Judahites of this time must turn to God and Christ as a family unit - parents and children together (note that 4:6a forms a parallelism), so that entire families are saved from the Roman slaughter of 70AD. On the other hand, the wicked Judahite dooms all his dependants to destruction; we propose that there is a practical reason for this death-by-family, as otherwise Judea will end up with an unsupportably large number of widows, orphans, and aged parents (see Luke 1:16,17, Isaiah 13:16).

Subunit A2: The Judahites must follow the Law (c.433BC - c.26AD) (4:6b)

This subunit continues from the corresponding subunit A1 above.

Chapter 4 6b Otherwise I will come and strike the land with total destruction.

If the Judahites as a nation stray from God and His Law in this period of 4 centuries of prophetic silence, God will severely punish them without a warning from a prophet.

Conclusion

With this chiastic reconstruction of the text, we have shown that the book of Malachi contains prophecies on three Periods. At the ends of both Periods 2 and 3 the wicked are punished an purged and the righteous are rewarded. We have shown that this prophecy predicts the coming of John the Baptist and Christ.

References

[1] A Definition of Cryptochiasmus
[2] A Chiastic Reconfiguration Of "The 70 Weeks Of Daniel"
[3] A Chiastic Reconfiguration Of Revelation 4-22 Part 2
[4] A Chiastic Reconfiguration Of Obadiah
[5] A Chiastic Reconfiguration Of "The Olivet Discourse" in Matthew 24
[6] A Chiastic Reconfiguration Of Revelation 4-22 Part 3
[7] A Chiastic Reconfiguration Of Joel
[8] A Chiastic Reconfiguration Of Jeremiah 49:7-22
[9] A Chiastic Reconfiguration Of Isaiah 59-63





* First version published on 8 February 2022.