Malachi 3:2b-4
For [the Lord] is like a refiner’s fire and like fullers’ soap; 3he will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and he will purify the descendants of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, until they present offerings to the Lord in righteousness. 4Then the offering of Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasing to the Lord as in the days of old and as in former years.
We can sort of figure out and imagine the refiner’s fire portion of this passage. We know what refineries are, and even if we don’t understand exactly how they work, we know that to refine something means to change it or make it more pure. The fullers’ soap reference might be a bit more obscure. We understand soap, though, even if the term ‘fuller’ might befuddle us.
Before the wool could be made woven, it needed to be stretched, pulled, beaten and shaped before it could be used as cloth. It also, after all of that, needed to be cleaned. This process of making the wool into a usable piece of cloth was the job of the fullers. I’ve always thought of the soap as a less drastic metaphor than the refiners’ fire, but after learning more about it – I’m not so sure! O, Lord – let our offerings be pleasing to you. Refine us and scrub us clean. Amen.
Peace,
Pastor Jenn
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