What does Malachi 1:4 mean?
Israel has been attacked and defeated many times by their enemies, at this point in history. They are able to rebuild Jerusalem and the temple only with the permission of Babylon. When God declares His love for Israel in verse 2, the response of Israel is to say, "how?" As a poor, oppressed, and weak nation, many Jews would have rejected the claim that God was "loving" them.God shows His love by contrasting it to the fate of Edom. That nation, judged by God for sin (Obadiah 1:10–14), was totally destroyed. Here, God specifically says that He will not allow Edom to rebuild. Their cities will remain empty and Edom will never be allowed to return. Israel may have been defeated and oppressed, but God had preserved them alive, allowed them to come back to their homes, and given them a way to rebuild. Despite the fact that these two nations were closely related (Malachi 1:2), God has done much more to protect the future of Israel than He has Edom.