God’s Word for You
Malachi 1:4 The Wicked Country
by Pastor Timothy Smith on Friday, November 27, 2020
4 If Edom says, “We are shattered but we will rebuild the ruins,” the LORD of Armies says, “They can build up, but I will tear down. They’re going to be called the ‘Wicked Country,’ and ‘the people that the LORD is angry with forever.’”
We don’t know when Edom was shattered, but a very good guess would be to say it happened during the Babylonian or Persian conquests. Searches into Edomites history invariably lead to a pair of cities with similar names, Tema and Teman. Both were in southern Edom. Tema, an oasis some 400 kilometers (250 miles) northwest of Medina, was the “resort” to which King Nabonidus of Babylon fled after he murdered the grandson of King Nebuchadnezzar, leaving his son Belshazzar to rule as his regent for ten years (Daniel 5:1, 7:1). Teman, famous for the desert citadel (mausoleum) of Petra, is 891 km (550 miles) northwest of Medina. Both of these places, and many others, were probably ruined by the armies of Babylon. Also, Ezekiel prophesied, “I will lay Edom waste, and from Teman to Dedan they will fall by the sword” (Ezekiel 25:13). The region was certainly known to the Babylonians, since King Nabonidus preferred living there to Babylon itself. This would also account for the rebuilding to come just a century later, in the time of Malachi and Nehemiah.
In the days of Isaiah the prophet, the Edomites attacked Judah and carried away prisoners (2 Chronicles 28:17). Over a century later, when Judah was attacked by the Babylonians, the Edomites did nothing but join in with the Babylonians. “Remember, O Lord, what the Edomites did on the day Jerusalem fell. ‘Tear it down,’ they cried, ‘tear it down to its foundations!’” (Psalm 137:7).
Now Edom was torn down, and God says: Can they do anything I oppose? They can build, but I will tear down. This exposes a certain kind of sin: A willing opposition to God and to the gospel. In one sense, all sins are actions, words or even thoughts that are contrary to God’s law, “for the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit” (Galatians 5:17). Such people fall under the judgment of God: “There will be trouble and distress for every human being who does evil” (Romans 2:9). For the Christian who fights against temptation but still falls, there is forgiveness in Christ (Romans 7:24-25). But for those who despise Christ in their hearts, there can be no forgiveness. Jesus says, “I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’” (Matthew 7:23). Edom as a nation fell into this class. Now, there might be individual Edomites who repented and held onto Christ, but most were like David’s enemy Doeg the Edomite shepherd, who opposed David at every opportunity (1 Samuel 22:9-10, 22:22; Psalm 52 title).
With Edom, there was still the hand of God stretched out to those who might respond to the gospel. As with all whom the gospel calls, “If they do not persist in unbelief, they will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again” (Romans 11:23). Otherwise the curse of this passage fell upon all of the Edomites, the ‘Wicked Country,’ and ‘the people that the LORD is angry with forever.’ To be called this is to be placed outside the fellowship of the Church. Edom became a visible, geographical picture of what being outside Israel is like. God dwells within his people: “I will live among you and you will know that the LORD Almighty has sent me to you” (Zechariah 2:11). This was partly fulfilled in Malachi’s time by the rebuilding of the temple but fulfilled completely and finally by the advent of Christ. Those who live apart from Christ are outside his Church, which is made up of all who put their faith in him. “The righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe” (Romans 3:22). The Lord shows himself within his borders today through the means of grace. “The sign of the presence of God,” Luther explains, “is the presence of the pure Word and the pure use of God’s sacraments” (LW 18:393). Malachi preaches a warning here that glorifies God in pure light. We run to the cross for forgiveness. We praise God for our baptism which grafted us into his spiritual Israel. And we gratefully receive the sacrament for our forgiveness and for the assurance of everlasting life.
In Christ,
Pastor Timothy Smith
Pastor Smith serves St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in New Ulm, Minnesota. To receive God’s Word for You via e-mail, please visit the St. Paul’s Lutheran Church website.