Contemplative Bible Reading

Malachi 2:10 (New Living Translation)

Are we not all children of the same Father? Are we not all created by the same God? Then why do we betray each other, violating the covenant of our ancestors?

The prophet Malachi brings to mind something that was oft forgotten by God’s people in the Old Testament era. It is also something oft forgotten by Christians today as we read the Old Testament.

The Israelites were one big, (not so) happy, blood-related family.

They were all descended from Jacob. There were a big bunch of cousins and distant cousins and aunts and uncles and so on.  The terrible things they did to one another – they were doing these things to their family. How could they be so cruel to their own blood relatives?

Fast forward a few thousand years…How can we today be so cruel to those people who are our brothers and sisters bound to us by the blood of Jesus? Hmmm.