A vase shatters, brushed by a careless elbow; a toy breaks, handled roughly by young fingers; and fabric rips, pulled by strong angry hands. Spills and rips take time to clean up, effort to repair, and money to replace, but far more costly are shattered relationships. Unfaith­fulness, untruths, hateful words, and forsaken vows tear delicate personal bonds and inflict wounds not easily healed. Most tragic, however, is a broken relationship with God.1

Malachi understood all too well the tragedy of a broken rela­tionship with God. He saw it in his congregation, his fellow Jews. They had been in Babylonian exile. After years of deportation, the exiles returned under the leadership of their governor, Zerubbabel, they finished the temple in 516 BC. Forty-eight years later in 458 BC, the communi…