Outline
The book of Malachi describes six disputations between God and Israel. There is a common pattern in each dispute:
- God charges his people with bad behavior;
- he then envisages the people’s response to the charge (“But you say”; 1:2, 6, 7, 13; 2:14, 17; 3:7, 8, 13);
- God then replies to their presumed response and expands the charge. The chart below shows the subject of each dispute and God’s response to it.