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"But you profane it"

Text: Malachi 1:12

THE PROPER REGARD

The need to have a right or proper regard for the Lord’s name should have been obvious! Post-captivity Israel should have learned the necessary lessons when they were in exile for 70 long years.

“But you profane it,
In that you say,
‘The table of the LORD is defiled;
And its fruit, its food, is contemptible.'”
Malachi 1:12

1. “But you profane it”

a) The word “profane” is the opposite of “sacred”.

b) The following nuances are associated with the word “profane”.

i) To make secular.

ii) To regard as common rather than sacred.

c) The priests and Levites ended up with a secular approach to their ministry.

i) It was just a job.

ii) Though it may be a religious job.

2. Expressions of a profane attitude

a) It was expressed verbally.

i) The priests spoke poorly of the Lord’s work.

ii) The poor regard for the Temple ministry was spoken out loud.

b) “The table of the LORD is defiled; and its fruit, its food, is contemptible”

i) The priests and Levites despised the table of the LORD.

ii) But they were the ones who had accepted the defective animals.

iii) They knew that the sick animals should have been rejected.

iv) They accepted whatever offerings were given and thus the worship was defiled.

But they blamed the Temple worship system and the LORD instead.