Criswell Theological Review 2.1 (1987) 39-61[Copyright © 1987 by Criswell College, cited with permission;digitally prepared for use at Gordon and Criswell Colleges and elsewhere]THE SUBTLE CRISESOF SECULARISM: PREACHINGTHE BURDEN OF ISRAELC. RICHARD WELLSCriswell College, Dallas, TX 75201The path from the "then" of biblical exegesis to the "now" ofbiblical preaching always proceeds between borders. On one sideare the times, on the other, timeless principles. The contemporarypreacher must negotiate the path so as to bring the truly universalteaching of Scripture to bear on conditions similar in some significantways to those addressed in Scripture. The path is strewn with debrisfrom earlier (and sometimes careless) travellers. And we must be surewe actually remain on the path, lest we find ourselves digressing alongan overgrown trail that leads to a place where nobody lives.Our plan for this article is to point out some of the significantlandmarks that lie on the path from the prophet Malachi to a genera-tion approaching the last decade of a phenomenal century. We willwork in two ways. First, we will attempt to mark the path in broadoutline. We will suggest: (a) parallels between the conditions of Mala-chi's age and those of our own; and (b) major theological themesaddressed to Malachi's audience; and, by application, to us. Second,we will attempt to develop a preaching program from Malachi.I. A Practical Theology of MalachiMalachi and the Malaise of IsraelMost scholars agree that Malachi was written sometime duringthe last half of the 5th century B.C. The reader will find extensiveintroductory material elsewhere in this Review. The critical point hereis that Malachi's prophecy appears within a strategic nexus of socialand religious realities.40 CRISWELL THEOLOGICAL REVIEWThe Social Realities. Just as there were three deportations toBabylon, there were three returns to Palestine. Zerubbabel returnedwith a group of exiles in 536 B.C. After some delay (cf. Haggai andZechariah), the people completed the Second Temple in 516 B.C. In458 B.C., Ezra the Scribe returned with a second group, and labored torestore the knowledge of the Law (Ezra 7:14, 25-26). In 455 B.C.,Nehemiah came with a third group. Under his twelve-year governor-ship, the walls of Jerusalem were rebuilt, and numerous reformsinaugurated (Neh 5:1-13; 13:7-27). If we assume that Malachi datesfrom a period following Nehemiah's brief return to Persia (433 B.C.),then the setting for his ministry is about one century after the end ofthe Exile.During this century of gradual return to the land, several impor-tant changes occurred in the political environment of Israel. First, thebalance of power in the Near East began to shift from Persia west-ward toward Greece. The Persians lost the historic Battle of Marathonin August, 490 B.C. Ten years later they defeated the Spartans atThermophylae and briefly occupied Athens; but, Xerxes himselfwatched his navy defeated at Salamis in the same year. From thatpoint on, the Persian government became less and less efficient, andmore and more corrupt and weak, an unnerving experience for Israel.Second, the people who filled the void left by the deportationscontinually frustrated the returning exiles. They evidently taxed theJews (Neh 5:4), a burden that lay on top of that imposed by Persiaitself. Some had to borrow money just to buy food and pay taxes(Neh 5:14-15). These neighbors accused them to the central govern-ment of Persia (Ezra 4:6; 4:7-23), and physically opposed their work,so that it had to be done in shifts, with half the men working and halfstanding guard (Neh 4:16-18).The pragmatic realities which awaited the exiles may have provedmore distressing than the political. The situation in Jerusalem wasbleak. The extensive ruins (Neh 4:10), and the inferiority of theproject compared to those of the more glorious past (Ezra 3:12; Hag2:3), diminished whatever initial enthusiasm may have existed. Andthe prospects for a better life seemed no better now. Small wonderthat few in Babylon wanted to return to Israel. Many had grownaccustomed to life there, many knew no other life, and some hadprospered.The Religious Realities. The greatest difficulty for Israel lay,however, in what the Exile and subsequent events did to her identity.The shattering experience of the Exile raised many questions aboutIsrael as the people of God. But the post-Exile raised these questionsWells: THE SUBTLE CRISES OF SECULARISM 41in a new way. In the Exile, Israel wondered about the justice of Godin the face of catastrophe. Now she wondered about the presence ofGod in the face of life!Furthermore, the Exile had the advantage of being a trauma.Traumata summon the reserves of the human spirit. They tend topurify, to strengthen, even to ennoble. The post-Exile was not trauma;but, to use the popular description of America's last decade, a "mal-aise." As G. A. Smith put it, the Jews of Malachi's age were "deniedthe stimulus, the purgation, the glory of a great persecution." Instead,they were "severely left to themselves and to the petty hostilities oftheir neighbors."1Theologically and pragmatically, these were hard realities. Afterall, the Jews had returned. They had returned to Yahweh from theiridols. They had returned to Israel from Babylon. They had returnedto build the Temple and the holy city out of its ruin. They hadreturned to re-institute the true worship of the true God. It is in thiscontext of "obedience" that the crisis of God's presence develops.Once again, Smith is helpful:[The Jews] entered the period, it is true, with some sense of theirdistinction. In exile they had suffered God's anger, and had been purgedby it. But out of discipline often springs pride. . . . The tide of hope,which rose to flood with [the completion of the Temple], ebbed rapidlyaway, and left God's people struggling, like any ordinary tribe of peas-ants, with bad seasons and the cruelty of their envious neighbors. Theirpride was set on edge. . . . 2This generation had done the "right things," but God had not re-ponded in kind.Malachi and the Crisis in IsraelT. V. Moore pointed out in the last century that whereas "beforethe captivity the besetting sins of the Jews were idolatry and supersti-tion," after the Exile "they were prone to the other extremes ofpractical atheism and Epicureanism."3 Israel had indeed lost her dis-tinctiveness. Out of disappointment and difficulty, she had lost anysense of the nearness, the power, the glory,