The main problem described in the last reading was with the priests. They had made a covenant in days of old with the Lord to be the keepers of the house of the Lord, priests to his people. God would grant to them life and peace – and gave it to them! They simply were to fear God, instruct the people in truth, walk in the ways of the Lord and turn the people from their sins.
But they didn’t fear God. They turned away from the truth. They caused people to fall into sins through their own way of life. They fell away from the covenant the Lord made with them, and for that reason He would make them despised among the peoples.
This book is a call to repentance, a call to turn from the ways that dishonor God to the covenant promise He has with His people. The call is for us as well. We, too, need to repent of our apathetic, rote, unfocused worship. We need to remember the reason we worship – God’s great love shown to us through Jesus Christ!