“Your words have been harsh against Me, says God. Yet you say, what have we spoken against You? You have said, it is useless to serve God; what profit is it that we have kept His ordinance and that we have walked as mourners before the Lord of Hosts? So now we call the proud sinners with praise, for those who do wickedness are raised up; they have even tested God and been spared (Malachi 3:13–15).”

“What’s the use in serving God? No matter what we do, we still get abused; we don’t have anything, and we are prosperous!” These are their words even though they had just been relieved from seventy years of captivity and slavery!

King David describes his response to such arguments and complaints in Psalm 73:

This is what the wicked are like

always free of care, they go on amassing wealth.

Surely in vain I have kept my heart pure

and have washed my hands in innocence.

All day long I have been afflicted,

and every morning brings new punishments.

If I had spoken out like that,

I would have betrayed Your children.

When I tried to understand all this,

it troubled me deeply

till I entered the sanctuary of God;

then I understood their final destiny.

Surely You place them on slippery ground;

You cast them down to ruin.

How suddenly are they destroyed,

completely swept away by terrors!

They are like a dream when one awakes;

so You, My Master,

You will despise them as fantasies.

When my heart was grieved

and my spirit embittered,

I was senseless and ignorant;

I was a brute beast before You.

Yet I am always with You;

You hold me by my right hand.

You guide me with your counsel,

and with glory You will receive me.

Whom have I in heaven but You?

And earth has nothing I desire besides You.

My flesh and my heart may fail,

but the Lord is the strength of my heart

and my portion forever.

Those who are far from You will perish;

You destroy all who are unfaithful to You.

But as for me, it is good to be near God.

I have made My Master, the Lord God my refuge;

I will tell of all Your deeds.

Isaiah too, responded to such complaints:

“But now listen, Jacob, my servant,

Israel, whom I have chosen.

This is what God says—

He who made you, Who formed you in the womb,

and who will help you:

Do not be afraid, Jacob, my servant,

Jeshurun, whom I have chosen.

For I will pour water on the thirsty land,

and streams on the dry ground;

I will pour out my Spirit on your offspring,

and my blessing on your descendants.

They will spring up like grass in a meadow,

like poplar trees by flowing streams.

Some will say, ‘I belong to God’;

others will call themselves by the name of Jacob;

still others will write on their hand, ‘God’s,’

and will take the name Israel (Isaiah 44:1-5).”

Malachi continues his message by reminding us that each word we speak is recorded:

“Then those who feared God talked with each other, and God listened and heard. A scroll of remembrance was written in His presence concerning those who feared God and honored His name.

‘On the day when I act,’ says God, Master of Legions,, ‘they will be my treasured possession. I will spare them, just as a father has compassion and spares his son who serves him.  And you will again see the distinction between the righteous and the wicked, between those who serve the Lord and those who do not’ (Malachi 3:16-18).”

Malachi well understands our fears and frustrations. He urges us to accept God’s promise of assurance and protection. He wants us to remember that each word of complaint we speak leaves a permanent Mark on our soul. He urges us to fear God, not His wrath, but rather to be in awe of Him, and hold on to His promise of protection just as did the Children of Israel when they risked their lives and took the animal worshiped as a god by the Egyptians and tied them up in front of their homes, provoking their former masters, and saying, “We fear God, not you.”

When the people returned from Babylon to Jerusalem they were still frightened of the military powers who threatened their existence in their new home. They did not fear God as much as they feared men. They cried out against God, rather than to Him, in rejection and anger, rather than connection. They were unchanged despite experiencing redemption. Their complaints were no different from those in King David’s time, and those to whom Isaiah spoke. Their words were the same even after experiencing Redemption. This is our challenge on Pesach- “Peh Sach,” a mouth that converses; has our vocabulary and speech changed because of our positive experiences? (Please see our special series on TheFoundationStone.org: Nisan-Perfecting Our Speech, and Nisan-Fighting The Fire of Anger)

Author Info:
Learn & discover the Divine prophecies with Rabbi Simcha Weinberg from the holy Torah, Jewish Law, Mysticism, Kabbalah and Jewish Prophecies. The Foundation Stone™ is the ultimate resource for Jews, Judaism, Jewish Education, Jewish Spirituality & the holy Torah.

“When someone tells you to consult mediums and spiritists, who whisper and mutter, should not a people inquire of their God? Why consult the dead on behalf of the living?Consult God’s instruction and the testimony of warning. If anyone does not speak according to this word, they have no light of dawn (Isaiah 8:19-20).”

Most of us are seekers, whether we seek God, truth, material success, happiness, or the ultimate thrill; we are seekers.

When Isaiah urges us to,

“Seek God while He may be found;

call on him while He is near.

Let the wicked forsake their ways

and the unrighteous their thoughts.

Let them turn to God, and He will have mercy on them,

and to our Lord, for He will freely pardon (Isaiah 55:6-7),”

he is reminding us, that we not only must choose to seek God and His love, we must choose how we will seek, where we will seek, and whom we will consult.

“Why consult the dead on behalf of the living?” We are seeking life, “Remember us for life, King Who desires life; Inscribe us in the Book of Life, for Your sake, the Living Power.” If we are seeking life, we must seek in something living, vibrant and real.

“Consult God’s instruction and the testimony of warning.” Elul, the most auspicious time to seek God, as this is the time when He may be found, is the time when we must “Consult God’s instruction,” and search for answers to our questions in His Torah.

We can use this month to make a list of our questions, the issues that we have with God and Judaism, our doubts, and our need for clarity. We should then use this month of Seeking God to “Consult God’s instruction,” to find answers.

Author Info:
Learn & discover the Divine prophecies with Rabbi Simcha Weinberg from the holy Torah, Jewish Law, Mysticism, Kabbalah and Jewish Prophecies. The Foundation Stone™ is the ultimate resource for Jews, Judaism, Jewish Education, Jewish Spirituality & the holy Torah.

“1 Cry aloud, spare not, lift up your voice like a horn, and declare to My people their transgression, and to the house of Jacob their sins. 2 Yet they seek Me daily, and delight to know My ways; as a nation that did righteousness, and did not forsake the ordinance of their Lord, they ask of Me righteous ordinances, they delight to draw near to the Lord.

3 ‘‘Why have we fasted, and You do not see? Why have we afflicted our soul, and You do not take knowledge?’–Behold, in the day of your fast you pursue your business, and exact all your labors.

4 Behold, you fast for strife and contention, and to smite with the fist of wickedness;

you do not fast this day so as to make your voice to be heard on high.

5 Is such the fast that I have chosen? the day for a man to afflict his soul? Is it to bow down his head as a bulrush, and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him? Will you call this a fast, and an acceptable day to God?

6 Is not this the fast that I have chosen? to loose the fetters of wickedness, to undo the bands of the yoke, and to let the oppressed go free, and that you break every yoke?

7 Is it not to deal your bread to the hungry, and that you bring the poor that are cast out into your house? when you see the naked, that you cover him, and that you do not hide yourself from your own flesh?

8 Then shall your light break forth as the morning,

and your healing shall spring forth speedily;

and your righteousness shall go before you,

God’s glory shall be your rearward.

9 Then shalt you call, and God will answer; you shalt cry, and He will say: ‘Here I am.’ If you take away from your midst the yoke, the putting forth of the finger, and speaking wickedness;

10 And if you draw out your soul to the hungry, and satisfy the afflicted soul;

then shall your light rise in darkness, and your gloom be as the noon-day;

11 And God will guide you continually, and satisfy your soul in drought, and make strong your bones;

and you shalt be like a watered garden,

and like a spring of water, whose waters fail not.”

No commentary necessary.

(I suggest that you study Rabbeinu Yonah on the Rif, Berachot, Chapter 5 for his application of this chapter to the blessing of Restoration of Justice.)

Author Info:
Learn & discover the Divine prophecies with Rabbi Simcha Weinberg from the holy Torah, Jewish Law, Mysticism, Kabbalah and Jewish Prophecies. The Foundation Stone™ is the ultimate resource for Jews, Judaism, Jewish Education, Jewish Spirituality & the holy Torah.