The reference to the Lord’s table and its food points to the altar and the sacrificial service connected to it. The priests viewed the entire sacrificial service with contempt, as though it were less than worthless, as though it were vile and detestable. From a purely human point of view, this is understandable, because the sorrowful sounds of animals dying and the stench of blood and burnt flesh would be unappealing to us today, as it was to the priests of Malachi’s day.
12 But you profane it when you say that the Lord’s table is polluted, and its fruit, that is, its food may be despised.