#1 Background
If the theme of Messiah’s opening pieces (I. 1-4) is comfort, then the theme of the subsequent set (
Imagine getting the news that an internationally known chef is coming to your house for dinner. If your house is anything like mine, this would be both good news and bad news. I love to cook, so such a visit would offer an unprecedented opportunity for learning new things and gathering new ideas. But, think of the pressure! No amount of lead time would seem sufficient to the task of getting one’s house-and menu-in order!
We can sense some of the same good news/bad news tension in the books of Haggai and Malachi. The guest whose arrival they anticipate is, of course, the messiah.1 The "house" that they are attempting to put in order is the house of worship. On the one hand, they look forward to their honored guest’s arrival because they know that he will raise them to heights they had only dreamt of before. On the other hand, they are sadly self-conscious about how far they fall short. So, they attempt to rally everyone around the urgent task of reform and preparation. Haggai’s focus is on the house itself, while Malachi is more concerned with the menu, that is, the quality of the worship being "served" within that house. Both books share a common concern for fusing form with substance, words with actions.
Although the original context of these prophetic words is ancient, their call to religious accountability is startlingly relevant to modern communities of faith. They offer some timely advice on how we as modern Christians can "prepare the way" for the Messiah. As you study their words and listen to Handel’s interpretation of them, be sure to listen for God’s word for your life and your particular worshiping community
#2 Setting the Scene
When last we left the people of
As it turned out, those hopes were well-founded. In 539 B.C.E. Babylon fell to the Persians, and the exiles found themselves under radically new political leadership. The Persian king, Cyrus, had a very different policy toward those who had been held captive by his Babylonian predecessors. Religious and, to some extent, political toleration were the new orders of the day. In 538, Cyrus issued an edict for the captives’ release, and further, the restoration of the
Ezra 1:2-4
“‘The Lord, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth and he has appointed me to build a temple for him at
Ezra 6:3-5
4 With three rows of great stones, and a row of new timber: and let the expenses be given out of the king’s house:
5 And also let the golden and silver vessels of the house of God, which Nebuchadnezzar took forth out of the temple which is at
#3 The Divine Shakedown – Haggai to Malachi
The book of Haggai opens eighteen years later in the year 520 B.C.E. In it we find many of the former exiles back in Judah, which is now a Persian state. True to Cyrus’ liberal policies, however, they are allowed some measure of independence. They have their own high priest, Joshua, and a governor named Zerubbabel. While this governor is a Persian appointee, he is also the grandson of one of the last Davidic kings, a fact that must have added fuel to the fire of the people’s nationalistic hopes.
Politically speaking, this situation was a vast improvement over the people’s prospects in exile. Yet, it was still a far cry from either the golden age of the past or the glorious restoration envisioned in Isaiah 40-55. The people’s meager present must have made the prophecies in Isaiah seem at best an exaggeration and, at worst, a cruel joke. Where were the jewel-encrusted gates (Isaiah 54:12), the adoring nations (Isaiah 49:22-23), and the abundant harvests (Isaiah 49:10 and 55:13)? If the people of this period were suffering from disillusionment, one can hardly blame them.
The prophet Haggai steps into this situation with a word of both explanation and encouragement. The reason that the nation is not enjoying their promised age of prosperity, according to Haggai, is that the
Haggai 1:1-11
A Call to Build the House of the Lord
1 In the second year of King Darius, on the first day of the sixth month, the word of the Lord came through the prophet Haggai to Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua son of Jozadak,[a] the high priest:
2 This is what the Lord Almighty says: “These people say, ‘The time has not yet come to rebuild the Lord’s house.’”
3 Then the word of the Lord came through the prophet Haggai: 4 “Is it a time for you yourselves to be living in your paneled houses, while this house remains a ruin?”
5 Now this is what the Lord Almighty says: “Give careful thought to your ways. 6 You have planted much, but harvested little. You eat, but never have enough. You drink, but never have your fill. You put on clothes, but are not warm. You earn wages, only to put them in a purse with holes in it.”
7 This is what the Lord Almighty says: “Give careful thought to your ways. 8 Go up into the mountains and bring down timber and build my house, so that I may take pleasure in it and be honored,” says the Lord. 9 “You expected much, but see, it turned out to be little. What you brought home, I blew away. Why?” declares the Lord Almighty. “Because of my house, which remains a ruin, while each of you is busy with your own house. 10 Therefore, because of you the heavens have withheld their dew and the earth its crops. 11 I called for a drought on the fields and the mountains, on the grain, the new wine, the olive oil and everything else the ground produces, on people and livestock, and on all the labor of your hands.”
Haggai’s "bad news/good news" announcement seems to have had a profound effect on the people and their leaders. Haggai 1:12-14 describes an abrupt change in attitude and action, and the building project is commenced anew.
Haggai 1:12-14
12 Then Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, Joshua son of Jozadak, the high priest, and the whole remnant of the people obeyed the voice of the Lord their God and the message of the prophet Haggai, because the Lord their God had sent him. And the people feared the Lord.
13 Then Haggai, the Lord’s messenger, gave this message of the Lord to the people: “I am with you,” declares the Lord. 14 So the Lord stirred up the spirit of Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, governor of
As the work progresses, however, a new psychological obstacle is raised. Evidently there are still a number of people around who remember the glories of the first
Haggai 2:1-3
1 on the twenty-first day of the seventh month, the word of the Lord came through the prophet Haggai: 2 “Speak to Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, governor of
This is the point at which Haggai steps in again with another encouraging word (and the verses which are quoted in Handel’s Messiah). After counseling courage and reminding the people of God’s sustaining presence (read Haggai 2:4-5), he makes a prediction about the once and future glory of God’s
Haggai 2:4-5
4 But now be strong, Zerubbabel,’ declares the Lord. ‘Be strong, Joshua son of Jozadak, the high priest. Be strong, all you people of the land,’ declares the Lord, ‘and work. For I am with you,’ declares the Lord Almighty. 5 ‘This is what I covenanted with you when you came out of
Thus says the Lord of hosts," he proclaims in 2:6-7:
Once again, in a little while, I will shake the heavens and the earth and the sea and the dry land; and I will shake all the nations, so that the treasure of all nations shall come, and I will fill this house with splendor, says the Lord of hosts.
Verses 8 and 9 go on to remind the people that God, finally, is the owner of all things precious, and that "the latter splendor of this house shall be greater than the former."
8 ‘The silver is mine and the gold is mine,’ declares the Lord Almighty. 9 ‘The glory of this present house will be greater than the glory of the former house,’ says the Lord Almighty. ‘And in this place I will grant peace,’ declares the Lord Almighty.”
Most modern translations of these verses, such as the NRSV, printed above, make it clear that Haggai is envisioning a sort of divine "shakedown." If this had been the translation that Jennens worked with, it is probably safe to suggest that he would not have chosen to include these verses in the oratorio. They seem, after all, to have little to say about the messiah. We must remember, however, that Jennens was working with the King James Version. The KJV reads, "the desire of all nations shall come" rather than "the treasure of all nations shall come," thus making it sound as if that which is coming is a person rather than a thing.
This places the modem listener of Messiah in something of a predicament. The KJV is not very precise at this point; most scholars would agree that "treasure" is a better translation than "desire." Knowing this, are we forced to qualify our appreciation of this piece?
I think not, for two reasons. First, Haggai has some messianic expectations of his own, so such an idea would not have been completely foreign to him. Second, the extravagant way in which he describes the restored
Revelation 4:1-5
1 After this I looked, and there before me was a door standing open in heaven. And the voice I had first heard speaking to me like a trumpet said, “Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after this.” 2 At once I was in the Spirit, and there before me was a throne in heaven with someone sitting on it. 3 And the one who sat there had the appearance of jasper and ruby. A rainbow that shone like an emerald encircled the throne. 4 Surrounding the throne were twenty-four other thrones, and seated on them were twenty-four elders. They were dressed in white and had crowns of gold on their heads. 5 From the throne came flashes of lightning, rumblings and peals of thunder. In front of the throne, seven lamps were blazing. These are the seven spirits[a] of God. 6 Also in front of the throne there was what looked like a sea of glass, clear as crystal.
In the center, around the throne, were four living creatures, and they were covered with eyes, in front and in back
In that Haggai’s prophecy lifts our eyes toward that heavenly temple where the Messiah will reign in majesty, the inclusion of these verses seems entirely appropriate. For on that final day "the glory of this latter house" shall indeed "be greater than of the former" (Haggai 2:9; KJV). Sit back, close you eyes, and picture the heavenly temple in all its grandeur.
Messiah
->Recitative for Bass
Thus saith the Lord of hosts: yet once a little while, and I will shake the
heavens and the earth, the sea and the dry land, and I will shake all nations, and the desire of the nations shall come. (Haggai 2:6-7; modified)
#4 Ancient Church Politics
Now that we have dealt with Haggai’s external preparations for the messiah, let us turn to Malachi’s concern for the internal preparations.
Malachi lived 50-75 years after Haggai.2 At this point the Temple had been rebuilt, but something was still "rotten" in Jerusalem. Malachi lays much of the blame on the priests. One of the reasons he may have been so critical of them is that he was probably a "Levite," that is, a member of one of the parts of the priestly house of Levi who were no longer allowed to act as full priests. This rivalry among the various priestly groups is fairly complex.
Summary:
• Levi was the patriarch of one of the 12 tribes of
• By Malachi’s time, only the "sons of Levi" who were descendants of Aaron could exercise full priestly functions. Those outside this exclusive line were called "Levites" but were limited to auxiliary roles.
Malachi was not amused. From his perspective, the priests of his day were merely going through the motions-making a big show out of their religion without giving any attention to its substance. "Do faithful people cheat their employees?" asks Malachi. "Do they lie? Ignore the needs of widows and orphans? Try to fool God into thinking they are giving their best, when really they have kept it for themselves?"
This situation just described was certainly a far cry from what the prophet Haggai had envisioned some 75 years earlier. One gets the sense that Haggai had expected everything to fall into place after the rebuilding of the
Although no one knows for sure, it is very likely that the Persians soon caught on to the fact that it was not a good idea to appoint a Davidic heir to the governorship. In spite of Haggai’s high hopes for him, Zerubbabel simply disappears from the annals of history. Scholars are not sure of his fate, though most make note of the fact that his absence seems suspiciously convenient for the Persians.
By the time of Malachi, the governorship had faded into insignificance, and
As with any kind of politics, there are winners and there are losers. Malachi was very probably among the latter. All priests of this time were formally considered to be "sons of Levi," named for the tribe of Levi which had been given priestly privileges in ancient times (see Exodus 32:25-29 and Deuteronomy 33:8-11). Yet, within that overarching category there were certain subgroups, some of which had considerably more power and prestige than others. At the time when the book of Malachi was written, the "sons of Aaron" were among the most powerful, having sole right of access to the altar for offering sacrifices. Malachi’s group (the "Levites"), on the other hand, had been demoted to the ranks of temple servants and singers.
#5 The Importance of Being Ernest
One does not have to read very far in Malachi to discover that he has an ax to grind against "the priests" (i.e., the sons of Aaron). The crux of his argument is found in 1:6-2:3. Read that section now.
Malachi 1:5-12
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, ‘How have we defiled you?’
“By saying that the Lord’s table is contemptible. 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 to be gracious to us. 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 “But you 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.
Malachi 2:1-3
1 “And now, you 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.
3 “Because of you I will rebuke your descendants[a]; I will smear on your faces the dung from your festival sacrifices, and you will be carried off with it.
“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. For I am a great king,” says the Lord Almighty, “and my name is to be feared among the nations.
His basic criticism is that they are doing a rotten job-simply going through the motions of their priestly duties, presenting impure offerings and keeping the best of everything for themselves. Neither Malachi nor God is fooled by this hypocrisy. In an unsurpassed moment of prophetic indignation, Malachi prophesies that Yahweh will curse their priestly blessings (2:2) and spread the dung of their impure offerings on their faces (2:3)!
Malachi’s criticism, however, is constructive. He has some very definite ideas about the road to reform, and these are along the lines of the ancient "covenant with Levi" which he describes in 2:4-9. Yet, he looks toward the future as well as the past for the realization of his hopes. Read Malachi 3:1-4 now.
Malachi 2:4-9
4 And you will know 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 and 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.
7 “For 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 have caused 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.”
Malachi 3:1-4
1 “I will send my messenger, who will prepare the way before me. Then suddenly 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
In this chapter he strains his eyes ahead and sees a "messenger of the covenant in whom you delight" (3:1). This messenger will "purify the descendants of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, until they present offerings to the Lord in righteousness" (3:3).
The process of purification promises to be painful, however. The metaphors used in this section are indeed "caustic." Though Messiah does not quote the phrase, one of the images used by Malachi is that of the "fuller’s soap" (3:2). A fuller is one who treats wool, usually with a harsh, alkaline soap we refer to as lye. The other metaphor, that of the "refiner’s fire," is even more severe. It refers to the process by which metal is refined, which involves heating at extremely high temperatures in order to eliminate all impurities. No wonder Malachi introduces this verse with the question, "who can endure the day of his coming, and who can stand when he appears?". One suspects he may have had a ready answer in mind, and that the sons of Aaron were not on his list of survivors.
Malachi looked for the day when God’s people would worship by heart and not by rote. The covenant to which he swore faithfulness was one that assumed a fusion of form and substance, a correspondence between what we say and what we do. Like Haggai, he insisted that God must have only our best in our worship and in our lives.
Malachi never saw his reforms realized, at least not in the ways he had hoped. The Levites continued to languish, and the sons of Aaron retained their power. Still, Malachi’s inclusion in the biblical canon has significantly prolonged the fife of his prophecies. His call to purity and sincerity in worship, and his insistence on consistency between faith and practice ring out loud and clear across the centuries.
As we look toward Jesus’ birth, it is good to be reminded of that message. It is not enough, after all, to go through the motions of our traditional Christmas pageantry, beautiful though they may be. "Preparing the way" for the Messiah means fusing form and substance. It calls us to reach out to the world’s needs just as God has reached out to us in Jesus Christ. "Indeed, he is coming, says the Lord of hosts" (Malachi 3:1). Will we be able to stand when he appears?
Messiah
->Recitative for Bass (continued)
The Lord whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to his temple, e’en the messenger of the covenant whom ye delight in, behold, he shall come, saith the Lord of hosts. (Malachi 3:1b)
Video 2 link
->Air for Alto
But who may abide the day of his coming? And who shall stand when he appeareth? For he is like a refiner’s fire.
(Malachi 3:2a)
->Chorus
And he shall purify the sons of Levi, that they may offer unto the Lord an offering in righteousness.
(Malachi 3:3; selected portions)