"And he will turn the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers ...." (Malachi 4:6; ESV)
It is safe to say from reading this verse out of context that the relationship between fathers ... at least the fathers in this verse ... and children ... at least the children in this verse ... are important. What I aim to present today is that not only are fathers important but fatherhood itself is important. Some children of all ages and times have lost their fathers through untimely means such as disease, war, etc. Some have even lost them through horrible choices on the part of fathers. However, in today's society our children ... for the most part ... will grow up not only without their fathers around ... but also without the concept of fatherhood. What we have seen in our society is that "being a man" no longer includes being a father and that fatherhood no longer includes being male. I contend that nearly all problems in our society result from the castration and euthanizing of fatherhood. We don't simply need to repair what it means to be a father ... we need to rebuild fatherhood itself in our society.
Let's consider some of the problems in Malachi's day and the two pronged solution he offers.
Malachi 1:6-8
"A son honors his father, and a servant his master. If then I am a father, where is my honor? And if I am a master, where is my fear? says the LORD of hosts to you, O priests, who despise my name. But you say, 'How have we despised your name?' By offering polluted food upon my altar. But you say 'How have we polluted you?' Buy saying that the LORD's table may be despised. When you offer blind animals in sacrifice, is that not evil? And when you offer those that are lame or sick, is that not evil? Present that to your governor; will he accept you or show you favor? says the LORD of hosts." (ESV)
We see here that defiled worship was being allowed by the priest and offered by the people. What made this defiled worship is that the people and the priests were withholding the best of their animals from Temple sacrifice ... which is totally contrary to Torah. If the people were withholding their best from the LORD, then they were keeping it and its benefits for themselves. Can we not say this is deceit and violations of sacred trust?
Malachi 2:7-9
"For the lips of a priest should guard knowledge, and people should seek instruction from his mouth, for the is the messenger of the LORD of hosts. But you have turned aside from the way. You have cause many to stumble by your instruction. You have corrupted the covenant of Levi, says the LORD of hosts, and so I make you despised and abased before all the people, inasmuch as you do not keep my ways but show partiality in your instruction." (ESV)
We see here that charges of corruption and deceit are more overtly levelled at the worship leadership, which was the hub of Israeli life at this time. The priest are polluting the teaching going out to the people. If the teaching becomes polluted, which fills the minds of the people, then the minds of the people ... concerning the things of God ... will become polluted.
Malachi 2:10-14
Have we not all one Father? Has not one God created us? Why then are we faithless to one another, profaning the covenant of our fathers? Judah has been faithless, and abomination has been committed in Israel and in Jerusalem. For Judah has profaned the sanctuary of the LORD, which he loves, and has married the daughter of a foreign god. May the LORD cut off from the tents of Jacob any descendant of the man who does this, who brings an offering to the LORD of hosts!
And this is the second thing you do. You cover the LORD's altar with tears, with weeping and groaning because he no longer regards the offering or accepts it with favor from your hand. but you say, "Why does he not?" Because the LORD was witness between you and the wife of your youth, to whom you have been faithless, though she is your companion and your wife by covenant. Did he not make them one, with a portion of the Spirit in their union? And what was the one God seeking? Godly offspring? (ESV)
Malachi has levelled a charge at the people in general of being unfaithful (deceitful) to God by going after foreign gods? ... and this after being exiled and being allowed to return from exile! Malachi levels another charge at the men of the society ... in against particular husbands and fathers. The men have violated the sacred covenant of marriage ... leaving their wives and children. Another charge has been levelled at these "dead beat dads." They have not brought up godly offspring ... either because they chose not to have kids or because they and their godly influence were absent ... or because they had no godly influence to give.
Notice also verse 15 "Did he not make them one, with a portion of the Spirit in their union? And what was the one God seeking? Godly offspring." Because of these absent men, husbands, fathers, the marriage and family could not represent the character and nature of "the one God." Is it possible to read between the lines here and speculate on good grounds that these men were off pursuing their own interests to the exclusion of their own families and their covenants ... and thus true unity became impossible because these men pursued their own selfishness at the exclusion of their covenants?
Malachi 3:5
"Then I will draw near to you for judgment. I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, against the adulterers, against those who swear falsely, against those who oppress the hired worker in his wages, the widow and the fatherless, against those who thrust aside the sojourner, and do not fear me," says the LORD of hosts. (ESV)
Here we see that social injustice is being practice by the people. It is possible that many more injustices were being committed besides these. But these are the ones we have to work with in our understanding of this passage. We have adulterers, liars, oppressors of employees and widows and orphans. The common thread here is deceit and cheating for selfish personal gain at the expense of these victims' helpless and defenseless welfare.
On either side of the list we see God is angry with the sorcerers and "those who thrust aside the sojourner (alien)." If cheating and deceit is the common thread in the middle categories then is is possible that thread is wound through these categories as well? Perhaps people were going to the sorcerers to have them curse their neighbors? Perhaps God feels cheated by people going to them instead of himself. Concerning treatment of sojourners or aliens, the term is thrust aside. This perhaps speaks to their justice under the law being "thrust aside" or the poor laws from Torah being ignored on their behalf.
(An aside here perhaps speaks to the illegal immigration debate of our own time. Torah does not wield or add to the sojourners or aliens the same privileges as citizens. But Torah certainly does prohibit the citizens from taking away from the sojourners or aliens some basic temporary beneficence. Deporting illegal immigrants in a humane manner is hardly denying them basic temporary beneficence. Rather is it not more unjust to allow people who chose to enter this country illegally the rights of citizenship before those who entered this country and stood in the lines and did it legally?)
At any rate what we have here is a citizenry who are now practicing deceit and cheating. It is possible that we have seen the citizenry delve down into this low state because the worship leaders and the fathers had become corrupt? Oddly enough in 3:6-12 we see the priests being cheated out of their living expenses because the worshippers are cheating God out of his tithes. What goes around comes around huh?
Malachi 3:17
You have wearied the LORD with your words. But you say, "How have we wearied him?" By saying, "Everyone who does evil is good in the sight of the LORD, and he delights in them." Or by asking, "Where is the God of justice?" (ESV)
The worship establishment and the people are corrupt, but they each complain that others get ahead by evil while they themselves languish in their good ways. They in their unjust and corrupt states have the gall to ask, "Where is the God of justice?"
Malachi offers a two-pronged solution on behalf of God to the people.
Malachi 3:1-4
Behold, I send my messenger, and he will prepare the way before me. And the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple; and the messenger of the covenant in whom you delight, behold, he is coming, says the LORD of hosts. But who can endure the day of his coming, and who can stand when he appears? for he is like a refiner's fire and like fullers' soap. He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and he will purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, and they will bring offerings in righteousness to the LORD. Then the offering of Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasing to the LORD as in the days of old and as in former years. (ESV)
Here we see the two pronged approach God is offering the people through Malachi.
- His messenger is coming.
- God himself is going to show up.
Who is the one we are two think of as the refiner's fire and the fuller's soap? I think it's best to think of God and his messenger as working together, though its always spoken of God as wondering "who can stand in his presence." Either way God is going to show up in the Temple for the purpose of purifying and refining the Temple ... or can we say the worship therein and the leaders thereof? We can also say that God was planning on bringing revival to that society because Scripturally worship is not simply that moment before the Lord, but indeed worship was seen as the whole lifestyle lived under the yoke of Torah.
Malachi 4:1-6
"For behold, the day is coming, burning like an oven, when all the arrogant and all evildoers will be stubble. The day that is coming shall set them ablaze, says the LORD of hosts, so that it will leave them neither root nor branch. But for you who fear my name the sun of righteousness shall rise with healing in its wings. You shall go out leaping like calves from the stall. And you shall tread down the wicked, for they will be ashes under the soles of your feet, on the day when I act, says the LORD of hosts.
Remember the law of my servant Moses, the statutes and rules that I commanded him at Horeb for all Israel.
Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and awesome day of the LORD comes. And he will turn the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the land with a decree of utter destruction." (ESV)
We see here that a day is coming when God himself will act to destroy the wicked, leaving them neither root nor branch. Is it possible that part of the solution of destroying the wicked is to allow them to simply die out as a population by not repopulating themselves? At any rate God is supposed to show up and bring healing.
We also see that the prophet Elijah is supposed to return, who is most likely the messenger of the LORD spoken of earlier. Elijah is going to turn the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers. If the turning of hearts is part of the solution, then the hearts must be away and thus be part of the problem. Indeed we have seen earlier that a major part of the social problems of Malachi's day was men abandoning their covenants as husbands and fathers.
What we see here then is that a major prong of this two-pronged solution is the restoration of responsible fatherhood ... a fatherhood that is committed to covenant with family and committed to covenant with the LORD via Torah (see 4:4).
Since God does not change (3:6), if God thought restoring fatherhood to society was key in bringing lasting and sustaining social renewal in Malachi's day ... and again in the day of John the Baptist and Jesus (they were the fulfillment of Malachi's prophesy) ... then is it possible that God thinks restoring fatherhood to our society is key to our social renewal of any lasting and sustaining worth?
According to David Blankenhorn (1995), a father's investment in the lives of his children bring
- physical protection
- his money and resources
- "paternal cultural transmission" (identity, character, and competence)
- day-to-day nurturing (Fatherless America: Confronting Our Most Urgent Social Problem, p. 25)
Also according to Blankenhorn in order for fathers to have any real investment in the lives of their children, they must have to a) live with them constantly and b) have a good working alignment with the mother. Part-time fathers can't contribute (or won't contribute) the above four necessities to any measurable comparison of full-time dads.
According to Armin Brott (1999) in his essay, "Not Just Another Pair of Hands," both boys and girls receive priceless cognitive development from consistent and faithful interaction with their father. For boys the social and emotional nurturing received contributes to greater academic skills in both high school and college, higher IQ score and higher scores on other standardized tests ... than boys who do not receive this from their fathers. These emotionally nurtured boys tend to be more empathetic, nurturing, and better behaved (in The Fatherhood Movement: A Call to Action; eds Wade Horn, David Blankenhorn, & Mitchell Pearlstein; pp. 37-40).
Girls who receive the high physical play from their fathers tend to be more popular and assertive with their peers and thus less likely to passively accept their environment (Brott, 1999). These girls are more interested in pursuing higher levels of education and more involvement in sports. The more involved in sports girls tend to be, the less likely they are to wind up pregnant.
On the other hand, "When a girl cannot trust and love the first man in her life, her father, what she is missing cannot be replaced by money, friends, teachers, social workers, or well-designed public policies aimed at helping her. She simply loses. More over, as more and more girls grow up without fathers, society loses. From a societal perspective, this particular consequence of fatherlessness is very much like most others. It is not remediable. Paternal disinvestment cannot be offset by either maternal investment or public investment. As a society, we will not solve our crisis of fatherlessness with prison cells, mentoring programs, antiviolence curricula, boyfriends, antistalking laws, children's advocates, income transfers, self-esteem initiatives, or even mothers. We will solve it only with fathers." (Blankenhorn, Fatherless America, p. 48).
Two other quotes by Blankenhorn capture the importance of not merely men sharing the load with women, but of men assuming and embracing a fully-male fatherhood ... with society's celebration.
- Prisons cannot replace fathers. At best, new prisons constitute an expensive endgame strategy for quarantining some of the consequences of fatherlessness (Fatherless America, p. 32).
- Fatherhood is a social role that obligates men to their biological offspring. For two reasons, it is society's most important role for men. First, fatherhood, more than any other male activity, helps men to become good me: more likely to obey the law, to be good citizens, and to think about the needs of others. Put more abstractly, fatherhood bends maleness--in particular, male aggression--towards prosocial purposes. Second, fatherhood privileges children, In this respect, fatherhood is a social invention designed to supplement maternal investment in children with paternal investment in children (Fatherless America, p. 25).
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