AS A REFINER AND PURIFIER OF SILVER

Few, if any of us, would have practical experience of the process of which the writer speaks here. We may be able to purchase the product but we know little of what is involved in its preparation - the different measures of purity only become apparent when we are presented with the cost of each.

One of the lessons we learn from a cursory glance at Malachi’s prophecy is God’s expectation of His people. It is clear that God requires the best. He is not prepared to accept anything else - certainly not the ‘polluted bread’, 1. 7, or ‘lame and sick’, 1. 8, that seemed to feature in that which the people offered.

Equally, God was not prepared to accept sacrifice from the hands of those who had corrupted themselves as priests and who were not prepared to put the matter right. Hence the Lord of hosts passes sentence, ‘ye are departed out of the way; ye have caused many to stumble at the law; ye have corrupted the cove­nant of Levi’, 2. 8.

The solution to the problem of a failed priesthood is now seen in the work of the refiner, ‘the Lord, whom ye seek’, v. 1. His work is to ‘purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer unto the Lord an offering in righteous­ness’, v. 3.

The purity of the gold or silver as it progresses through the refining process is determined by two main factors. The first fac­tor is heat, Ezek. 22. 22. It is imperative that the metal is melted and diverse metals have different melting points. To enable any alternative metals to be removed, to leave a pure silver or gold, the temperature has to be right. The second factor is the removal of impurities. As the metal is brought to the correct temperature it is possible to ‘skim’ impurities from the surface, the purging of which the verse speaks.

‘By implication, there was something of value in rebellious Israel, but the refining fires must have their way if all the dross and impurity was to be removed’, F. A. Tatford. The practical import of our reading today is that God has a work to do in us that we might be vessels ‘meet for the master’s use’, 2 Tim. 2. 21. Are we prepared to let the refiner do His work?