Nielsen’s Nook

6� � � � � בֵּ֛ן יְכַבֵּ֥ד אָ֖ב וְעֶ֣בֶד אֲדֹ� ָ֑יו וְאִם־אָ֣ב אָ֣� ִי אַיֵּ֣ה כְבוֹדִ֡י וְאִם־אֲדוֹ� ִ֣ים אָ� ִי֩ אַיֵּ֨ה מוֹרָאִ֜י אָמַ֣ר׀ יְהוָ֣ה צְבָא֗וֹת לָכֶם֙ הַכֹּֽהֲ� ִים֙ בּוֹזֵ֣י שְׁמִ֔י וַאֲמַרְתֶּ֕ם בַּמֶּ֥ה בָזִ֖י� וּ אֶת־שְׁמֶֽךָ׃

Translation

“A son will honor a father and a servant his master. So if I am father where is my honor? And if I am master where is my reverence?” says YHWH, Lord of Hosts, to you, the priests who despise my name. But you say, “In what way have we despised your name?”

Reflection

There are two important points that seem to be impressed upon me as I consider this verse, which both fall under the rubric of the transcendence of God’s majestic glory. His glory is weighty and we are want to apprehend just how majestic and weighty that it is.

Honor and fear are due God simply because he is who he is. In other words, as a father deserves honor simply because he is a father who fulfills his position as father with honor, so God deserves honor as our Heavenly Father. As a master is to be revered and feared by his servant whom he owns, so also God as our Creator, who made and sustains us, innately requires our fear and reverence.

Second, as the priests found themselves corrupt, unable to see how they dishonored God’s sacred name, so - I fear - the church today, the so-called priesthood of believers, does not see how we disgrace and dishonor the holy name of God. It would seem that on account of both our lack of reverence for God and our failure to take sin seriously, we have opened ourselves up to the very thing for which Malachi condemns the priests of his time. Perhaps if we would present God in a true representation, one which entails both transcendence and immanence, we would help the church to regain the honor and fear that is due God as both their Creator and Redeemer.

O God, have mercy, that your Church might see such reverence and honor for your name regained in this generation. Amen.