Start with the big picture.
Malachi confronts a post-exilic community whose worship has become careless and cynical. Priests offer polluted sacrifices, men deal treacherously in marriage, people rob God in tithes and offerings, and many speak as though serving God is vain. Through a series of disputes, the LORD answers their objections, defends his covenant name, promises a coming messenger, warns of refining judgment, distinguishes those who fear him from the wicked, and closes by pointing back to Moses and forward to Elijah before the great and dreadful day of the LORD.
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