SUMMER 2012 Bible Studies for Life Herschel THE HOBBS COMMENTARY
KJV B i b l e S t u d i e s f o r L i f e Herschel THE HOBBS COMMENTARY by Robert J. Dean Summer 2012 Volume 6, Number 4
Ross H. McLaren Content Editor Christina Zimmerman Editorial Project Leader Brent Bruce Graphic Designer Alan Raughton Lead Adult Ministry Specialist David Apple Adult Ministry Specialist Send questions/comments to Editor, The Herschel Hobbs Commentary One LifeWay Plaza Nashville, TN 37234-0175 Or make comments on the web at www.lifeway.com Management Personnel Bret Robbe, Director Leadership and Adult Publishing Ron Keck, Ken Braddy, Debbie Johnson Managing Directors Leadership and Adult Publishing David Francis, Director Sunday School Bill Craig, Director Leadership and Adult Ministry ACKNOWLEDGMENTS. We believe the Bible has God for its author; salvation for its end; and truth, without any mixture of error, for its matter and that all Scripture is totally true and trustworthy. The 2000 statement of The Baptist Faith and Message is our doctrinal guideline. Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are from the King James Version. Scripture quotations identified as CEV are from the Contemporary English Version. Copyright American Bible Society 1991, 1992. Used by permission. Scripture quotations marked ESV are from the The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. Copyright 2007 by Crossway Bibles. Used by permission. Scripture quotations marked HCSB are from the Holman Christian Standard Bible, Copyright 1999, 2000, 2002, 2003 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. Passages marked NASB are from the New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. The Lockman Foundation, 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995. Used by permission. Quotations marked NEB are from The New English Bible. Copyright The Delegates of the Oxford University Press and the Syndics of the Cambridge University Press, 1961, 1970. Reprinted by permission. Quotations marked NIV are from the Holy Bible, New International Version, copyright 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission. Quotations marked REB are from The Revised English Bible. Copyright Oxford University Press and Cambridge University Press, 1989. Reprinted by permission. The Herschel Hobbs Commentary (ISSN 1550-719X; Item 005075032), Bible Studies for Life, is published quarterly by LifeWay Christian Resources of the Southern Baptist Convention, One LifeWay Plaza, Nashville, Tennessee 37234; Thom S. Rainer, President, LifeWay Christian Resources of the Southern Baptist Convention; Copyright 2012 LifeWay Christian Resources of the Southern Baptist Convention. All rights reserved. Single subscription to individual address, $22.35 per year. If you need help with an order, WRITE LifeWay Church Resources Customer Service, One LifeWay Plaza, Nashville, Tennessee 37234-0113; For subscriptions or subscription changes, FAX (615) 251-5818 or E-MAIL subscribe@lifeway. com. For bulk shipments mailed quarterly to one address, FAX (615) 251-5933, E-MAIL orderentry@lifeway.com., or write to the above address. Please allow six to eight weeks for arrival of first issue. Printed in the United States of America. ii
Contents Study Theme Apathy Who Cares?...6 June 3 Are You Just Going Through the Motions? (Mal. 1:1-14)... 7 June 10 Do You Honor Your Commitments? (Mal. 2:1-16)... 16 June 17 How Do You Treat God? (Mal. 2:17 3:12)... 26 June 24 What Is Your Decision? (Mal. 3:13 4:6)... 36 Study Theme Living Beyond Yourself...44 July 1 Free [Evangelism Lesson] (John 16:5-15)... 45 July 8 Victorious (Rom. 7:20 8:9)... 53 July 15 Empowered (Rom. 8:26-27; Eph. 5:17-21; 6:18)... 63 July 22 Wise (1 Cor. 2:1-16)... 72 July 29 Confident (Rom. 8:14-17; 2 Cor. 5:1-5; Eph. 1:13-14)... 83 4
Contents Study Theme The Person God Uses...94 August 5 Make No Excuses (Jer. 1:4-14,17-19)... 95 August 12 Let Your Heart Be Broken (Jer. 8:4-13,18 9:1)... 105 August 19 Rise Above Discouragement (Jer. 20:1-13)... 116 August 26 Persevere in Obedience (Jer. 37:11-17; 38:4-6,14-18)... 127 Coming Next Quarter... 137 5
Week of June 3 ARE YOU JUST GOING THROUGH THE MOTIONS? Bible Passage: Malachi 1:1-14 What This Lesson Is About: This lesson exposes people s apathy toward God, expressed especially in their worship. The Israelites doubted God s love, considered their leftovers good enough for Him, and felt wearied with serving God. Through Malachi, God reminds us that He is God and is worthy of all honor and glory. How This Lesson Can Impact Your Life: This lesson can help you respond to God s love with heartfelt obedience that honors Him. This is a CONNECT lesson. The Book of Malachi and Its Historical Setting This short book is last in order of the 12 Minor Prophets, and the last in the order of the 39 books of the Old Testament. Several centuries passed between Malachi and Matthew. Thus it was God s final prophetic word before the coming of Christ. The final period of Old Testament history was the restoration following the period of exile. The restoration began with the decree of the Persian king Cyrus in 539 B.C. a decree allowing exiles to return to their native lands (Ezra 1:1-4). Some exiles began to return to Jerusalem. They laid the foundation for the temple, since Solomon s temple had been destroyed. They finally finished building the new temple when they were spurred on by the prophets Haggai and Zechariah. Ezra came in 458 B.C. to reemphasize the Law for God s people. Nehemiah came in 445 B.C. and supervised rebuilding the walls of the city; over a dozen years later he was appointed governor. The Book of Malachi does not give explicit information about when it was written; however, the subjects dealt with show that the 7
Are You Just Going Through the Motions? temple had been rebuilt long enough for the priests and people to have lost the joy of being people with a new appreciation for the opportunity to worship the Lord. Search the Scriptures God is the central person in the Book of Malachi. The style of the book is dialogue, using questions and answers. When God affirmed His love for Israel, they asked how God loved them; and He compared His treatment of Israel and Esau (Edom). The Lord pointed to their failure to give Him the honor of a father and the fear of a master. They asked how they had done such things, and God said that they had offered sacrifices that were imperfect. They also despised the sacrificial system. He told the priests and people that the governor would not be pleased at such unworthy offerings. He also said that their actions had, in effect, closed the temple doors. He predicted a time when Gentiles would honor Him. Israel, however, spoke of all this as something tiresome and boring. Doubting God s Love (Mal. 1:1-5) Is Malachi a name or a title? In what sense was the message a burden? Why did God begin with a claim to love them? How can we explain the people s response? How was Esau hated? Verses 1-5: The burden of the word of the Lord to Israel by Malachi. 2 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, 3 And I hated Esau, and laid his mountains and his heritage waste for the dragons of the wilderness. 4 Whereas Edom saith, We are impoverished, but we will return and build the desolate places; thus saith the Lord of hosts, They shall build, but I will throw down; and they shall call them, The border of wickedness, and, The people against whom the Lord hath indignation forever. 5 And your eyes shall see, and ye shall say, The Lord will be magnified from the border of Israel. The name Malachi means My Messenger. It is found nowhere else in Scripture as a person s name; therefore, some Bible students 8
Week of June 3 feel that here in verse 1 it is not the name of a person. Thus they claim that the book is anonymous. In other words, the author whoever he was did not use his name but the title for his role. He was primarily a person with a message. Compare the first verse of Malachi with the first verses of other prophetic books. In most other books, the author tells the name of his father, and often names the king who reigned at the time. Whether Malachi was his given name or not, he was called by God to deliver God s message the typical role of a prophet. Malachi referred to this word of the Lord to Israel as a burden. The word translated burden is rendered oracle in many translations (NIV, HCSB, ESV). The reason for this difference is the double meaning of the Hebrew word massa. The root word nasa means to lift up as in carrying a burden. Therefore, it lays stress on the prophet s sense of constraint in giving the message that follows.... To the rather neutral term oracle, therefore, must be added the idea of compulsion, urgency, dread; the prophet would escape it if he could from what may understandably be called his burden. 1 The basic message from God was assurance of His love for Israel. He said to them, I have loved you. The tense notes that God had loved them in the past and He still did. This theme is the central message not only of this prophecy to Israel but also of the entire Bible for everyone. However, the people s response is not what we might have expected, which should have been gratitude and praise for God s great love. Instead, they asked, How have You loved us? (HCSB; Wherein hast thou loved us?). This was a surly answer, dripping with sarcasm. Their cynical answer revealed hearts that lacked the kind of faith that honors God. Their answer reminds me of a child whose parents have given of themselves sacrificially for the child. He accepted their sacrifices as his due. A friend asked him why he was so ungrateful. The friend said, Aren t you grateful for all they have done for you? He replied, What have they done for me lately? The Israelites response led to an answer from God in verses 2b-5. In fact, verses 1-5 illustrate the unusual style of Malachi. It is a style of questions and answers. It can be called a dialogical style in which an assertion by one draws an answer from the other. 9
Are You Just Going Through the Motions? God gave the people a contrast between His dealings with Israel and His dealings with Esau. Anyone who reads verses 2b-3a wonders about the words, I loved Jacob, and I hated Esau. The word that catches our attention is hated. The issue is how could the God of love hate Esau? This is not an easy question to answer. It challenges all who study it learners, teachers, and writers. The first thing to keep in mind is that the emphasis is on God s love for Israel, not on His hatred for Esau s descendants. God s love for Israel was based not on Jacob s superiority but on the basis of divine choice. God s love for Jacob was also not based on a perfect life. Both Jacob and his brother had their sins, but God loved Jacob and chose through him to continue the line of promise given to Abraham and Isaac. Jacob s sons became the beginning of the people of Israel. Their descendants became the nation of Israel, which divided into northern Israel and southern Judah. The history of the descendants of the twins showed God s forgiving grace at work among the children of Jacob (Israel). Malachi 1:3b-5 reflects a time when Edom was also defeated and their land devastated. They were impoverished, but they boasted that they would rebuild. Malachi quoted God as saying, They shall build, but I will throw down. Malachi cited this as the Lord s way of illustrating His claim that He loved Israel and hated the descendants of Esau. Both were defeated, but Israel found forgiveness of sins and restoration. What are some lasting truths in Malachi 1:1-5? 1. When God gives someone a message to deliver, His message can be a burden on the one who is to deliver it. 2. The message, however, is more important than the messenger. 3. God s love is at work in the lives of His people even when they do not realize it or they ignore it. Offering Our Second Best (Mal. 1:6-10) Why is God s name repeated so often? What does a son owe his father and a slave his master? How did the Lord say they had despised His name? What was the table of the LORD? Verses 6-10: A son honoreth his father, and a servant his master: if then I be a father, where is mine honor? and if I be a 10
Week of June 3 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? 7 Ye offer polluted bread upon mine altar; and ye say, Wherein have we polluted thee? In that ye say, The table of the Lord is contemptible. 8 And if ye offer the blind for sacrifice, is it not evil? and if ye offer the lame and sick, is it not evil? Offer it now unto thy governor; will he be pleased with thee, or accept thy person? saith the Lord of hosts. 9 And now, I pray you, beseech God that he will be gracious unto us: this hath been by your means: will he regard your persons? saith the Lord of hosts. 10 Who is there even among you that would shut the doors for nought? neither do ye kindle fire on mine altar for nought. I have no pleasure in you, saith the Lord of hosts, neither will I accept an offering at your hand. As we have seen, the writer gave no information about himself. Instead, he magnified the Lord. One evidence of this is in the many times God s name appears. God is the all-important subject of Malachi s dialogues. This is evident from the way He is introduced. Twenty-one times He is called Yahweh, the God of the covenant (1:1,2,4,5,7,13; 2:11,12,13,14,17; 3:3,4,6,13,16,23 [Eng. 4:5]; in some verses more than once: 1:2; 2:17; 3:16). Twenty-four times He is referred to as YHWH seba ot, the Lord Almighty. 2 This title is often translated Lord of hosts. The Lord asked two questions about relationships in verse 6. The answers to both questions were easy for anyone. Thus Malachi assumed that his hearers knew the right answers. Sons owe their fathers honor. The Fourth Commandment calls for children to honor their parents. The realities of life in that day expected servants to respect and obey their masters. The word translated honor (kabod) has a basic meaning of heavy. From this came the ideas of treating people as weighty people, that is, to honor them as worthy people. When used about God, the word refers to glorifying Him. The Bible calls for people to fear God. This is not the cringing dread of God, but it is a sense of reverence and awe. In the case of impenitent sinners, fear may be the sense of impending doom that is called for. This is the kind of fear that is the beginning of wisdom. Having established the need for sons to honor their fathers and servants to fear their masters, God asked why He was not being 11
Are You Just Going Through the Motions? honored and feared. God accused the priests of doing things that despised His name. Typically, the priests asked how they had despised God s name. The Lord was quick to answer, By presenting defiled food on My altar (HCSB). To make the matter worse, they added another cynical question, How have we defiled You? (HCSB). God said that they had committed a double sin. They had offered polluted bread upon mine altar and they had said, The table of the Lord is contemptible. Some might think that the table of the Lord was the table in the holy place, but the offering of animal sacrifices shows that they were mocking the altar on which animals were sacrificed. The Lord exhorted them to pray for God to be gracious with them. Malachi asked how their governor would react if they treated him like they treated God. He asked, Will he be pleased with thee, or accept thy person? The governor was an official authority. Few such officials of that day would tolerate such treatment. The Law clearly called for sacrificial animals to be the best of their flocks and herds. They must be perfect and without blemish (Lev. 22:18-33). But the priests of Malachi s day were offering animals that were blind... lame... sick. This was a terrible perversion of the purpose of the sacrificial system. These were animals of little or no value to those who brought them. The priests guilt was in accepting those kinds of sacrifices. The priests were accountable for settling for such animals, but the people who brought these unworthy sacrifices also had their share of guilt. The seriousness of their sin was reflected in their failure to bring their best animals to be sacrificed. This meant that they were disobedient to God, but it also shows a cynical, evil spirit. Some of them actually called the sacrifices contemptible. This attitude showed a mixture of doubt and irreverence. They missed the whole point of the sacrifices as a way to show faith, devotion, and worship. These people were just going through the motions of worship. Both the priests and the people were guilty of offering less than the best of their animals for sacrifice. Malachi s message did not accuse the priests or the people of forsaking the temple as a place of worship. He did accuse them of sinning against the God who had shown them such love. They kept doing in the temple what 12
Week of June 3 they had learned to do, but they were cynical and indifferent about repenting and offering their all and their best. The returned exiles had rebuilt the temple, but they showed their cynicism by their unworthy sacrifices. The Lord challenged the people who made unworthy offerings to imagine that someone shut the doors of the temple. He said that this was in substance what had happened. He did not mean that the temple was actually closed. His point was that it was as good as closed as long as they used it to make unworthy sacrifices on its altar. What are some lasting truths in Malachi 1:6-10? 1. We are supposed to honor and revere God. 2. We owe God our first, best, and all. 3. Offering God the leftovers of life is unacceptable to Him. 4. Failing to offer our best to the Lord is like closing the doors to places of worship. Forgetting Whom We Serve (Mal. 1:11-14) How are verses 11-14 similar to but different from verses 6-10? How had the people profaned the Lord s name? What are the meanings of the words weariness and snuffed? Who was the deceiver of verse 14? Verses 11-14: For from the rising of the sun even unto the going down of the same my name shall be great among the Gentiles; and in every place incense shall be offered unto my name, and a pure offering: for my name shall be great among the heathen, saith the Lord of hosts. 12 But ye have profaned it, in that ye say, The table of the Lord is polluted; and the fruit thereof, even his meat, is contemptible. 13 Ye said also, Behold, what a weariness is it! and ye have snuffed at it, saith the Lord of hosts; and ye brought that which was torn, and the lame, and the sick; thus ye brought an offering: should I accept this of your hand? saith the Lord. 14 But cursed be the deceiver, which hath in his flock a male, and voweth, and sacrificeth unto the Lord a corrupt thing: for I am a great King, saith the Lord of hosts, and my name is dreadful among the heathen. Verses 11-14 are closely related to verses 6-10. The new point in verse 11 is the mention of Gentiles who worship the Lord without the special advantages of God s chosen people but who call on the 13
Are You Just Going Through the Motions? name of the Lord. Some people think that Malachi had in mind people of that day who acknowledged the Lord without the special revelation of the Jews. But these words surely apply to the Gentiles who have come to God because of salvation in Jesus Christ. The Great Commission applies to all. Verse 11 is one of the Old Testament verses that point to a universal gospel. God intended that one aspect of Abraham s mission related to all people (Gen. 12:3). But the purpose of verse 11 is the contrast between the irreverent actions of priests of the chosen people and Gentiles who showed genuine devotion to God. Verse 12 reemphasizes the condemnation of the Israelite priests and people of Malachi s day. The subject under discussion was the name of the Lord. The Israelites had profaned it. They did this by the unacceptable sacrifices offered in the temple. Malachi used three words from earlier verses in condemning their sins: profaned... polluted... contemptible. They profaned the name of the Lord by offering polluted meat on the altar, and they called the process of sacrifices contemptible. Verse 13 adds to the seriousness of their other sins by quoting them as saying, What a weariness is it! This represents boredom with what they were doing. The Lord added that they had snuffed at it. They made a kind of sound like the snorting of a horse. In our day we might say, They turned up their noses at it. This represented irreverence toward the God who gave them this sacrificial system. They called the sacrificial system contemptible for the second time in this chapter (vv. 7,12). Verse 13 mentions another category of unacceptable offerings. Some of the animals were torn ( stolen, HCSB; injured, NIV; taken by violence, ESV). Animals that were stolen were as unacceptable to the Lord as those that were imperfect in some way. God emphasized that He would not accept the worshiper who brought such unworthy sacrifices. Verse 14 condemns the person who has an animal that is qualified to be given as an animal sacrifice but who brings instead an unworthy sacrifice. God calls such a person a deceiver, whose attempt to deceive God will surely fail. This verse concludes with the title of the God who was speaking through Malachi I am a great King, saith the Lord of hosts, and my name is dreadful among the heathen. 14
Week of June 3 The title of this study of Malachi is one word Apathy. The literal meaning is without feeling. Some of the words with similar meanings are unconcern, indifference, and complacency. This approach whatever we call it is deadly for religious people. The Israelites described by Malachi are examples of this kind of deadly apathy. What are some lasting truths in Malachi 1:11-14? 1. Sometimes unlikely people show greater devotion to God than people with greater opportunities. 2. Apathy can lead to religion that just goes through the motions of genuine faith. 3. Something is seriously wrong with people who are bored with religion that is based on the Bible. 4. Biblical faith is expressed in sacrificial devotion. Spiritual Transformations This lesson challenges each believer to take a good look at his or her religious devotion. Based on what Malachi 1 teaches, we can evaluate our own relationship with God and how we express that devotion. In many ways, God has declared and shown that He loves us. How are we responding to that love? Does our experience with His love lead to our love and trust, or do we live as if we haven t experienced His love in such abundance? How do we express our devotion or lack of it? Do we offer our first, best, and all to Him, or do we slight Him in what we give and in what we use for ourselves? Are we walking with the Lord day by day, and is our worship acceptable to the Lord? Why are some people just going through the motions in their worship and devotion? What is the meaning of apathy in our relation to God? Prayer of Commitment: Lord, help me to not be weary in well-doing. Amen. 1 Joyce G. Baldwin, Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi, in The Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries [Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 1972], 162-163. 2 Pieter A. Verhoef, The Books of Haggai and Malachi, in The New International Commentary on the Old Testament [Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1987], 181. 15