Malachi 2

Mal 2:1-17.

REPROOF OF THE

PRIESTS FOR

VIOLATING THE

COVENANT; AND THE

PEOPLE

ALSO FOR

MIXED

MARRIAGES AND

UNFAITHFULNESS.

1. for you--The priests in particular are reproved, as their part was

to have led the people aright, and reproved sin, whereas they encouraged

and led them into sin. Ministers cannot sin or suffer alone. They drag

down others with them if they fall [MOORE].

2. lay . . . to heart--My commands.

send a curse--rather, as Hebrew, "the curse"; namely, that

denounced in

De 27:15-26; 28:15-68.

curse your blessings--turn the blessings you enjoy into curses

(Ps 106:15).

cursed them--Hebrew, them severally; that is, I have cursed

each one of your blessings.

3. corrupt, &c.--literally, "rebuke," answering to the opposite

prophecy of blessing

(Mal 3:11),

"I will rebuke the devourer." To rebuke the seed is to forbid

its growing.

your--literally, "for you"; that is, to your hurt.

dung of . . . solemn feasts--The dung in the maw of

the victims sacrificed on the feast days; the maw was the perquisite of

the priests

(De 18:3),

which gives peculiar point to the threat here. You shall get the dung

of the maw as your perquisite, instead of the maw.

one shall take you away with it--that is, ye shall be taken away with

it; it shall cleave to you wherever ye go

[MOORE]. Dung shall be thrown

on your faces, and ye shall be taken away as dung would be,

dung-begrimed as ye shall be

(1Ki 14:10;

compare

Jer 16:4; 22:19).

4. ye shall know--by bitter experience of consequences, that it was

with this design I admonished you, in order "that My covenant with Levi

might be" maintained; that is, that it was for your own good (which

would be ensured by your maintaining the Levitical command) I admonished

you, that ye should return to your duty

[MAURER] (compare

Mal 2:5, 6).

Malachi's function was that of a reformer, leading back the priests and

people to the law

(Mal 4:4).

5-9. He describes the promises, and also the conditions of the

covenant; Levi's observance of the conditions and reward (compare

Nu 25:11-13,

Phinehas' zeal); and on the other hand the violation of the conditions,

and consequent punishment of the present priests. "Life" here includes

the perpetuity implied in

Nu 25:13,

"everlasting priesthood." "Peace" is specified both here and

there. MAURER thus explains it; the Hebrew

is, literally, "My covenant was with him, life and peace

(to be given him on My part), and I gave them to him: (and on his part)

fear (that is, reverence), and he did fear Me," &c. The former portion

of the verse expresses the promise, and Jehovah's fulfilment of

it; the latter, the condition, and Levi's steadfastness to it

(De 33:8, 9).

The Jewish priests self-deceivingly claimed the privileges of the

covenant, while neglecting the conditions of it, as if God were bound

it imposed to serve Him. The covenant is said to be not merely

"of life and peace," but "life and peace"; for the keeping of

God's law is its own reward

(Ps 19:11).

6. law of truth was in his mouth--He taught the people the truths of

the law in all its fulness

(De 33:10).

The priest was the ordinary expounder of the law; the prophets were so

only on special occasions.

iniquity . . . not found--no injustice in his judicial functions

(De 17:8, 9; 19:17).

walked with me--by faith and obedience

(Ge 5:22).

in peace--namely, the "peace" which was the fruit of obeying the

covenant

(Mal 2:5).

Peace with God, man, and one's own conscience, is the result of

"walking with God" (compare

Job 22:21;

Isa 27:5;

Jas 3:18).

turn may . . . from iniquity--both by positive precept and by tacit

example "walking with God"

(Jer 23:22;

Da 12:3;

Jas 5:20).

7. In doing so

(Mal 2:6)

he did his duty as a priest, "for," &c.

knowledge--of the law, its doctrines, and positive and negative

precepts

(Le 10:10, 11;

De 24:8;

Jer 18:18;

Hag 2:11).

the law--that is, its true sense.

messenger of . . . Lord--the interpreter of His will;

compare as to the prophets,

Hag 1:13.

So ministers are called "ambassadors of Christ"

(2Co 5:20);

and the bishops of the seven churches in Revelation, "angels" or

messengers

(Re 2:1, 8, 12, 18; 3:1, 7, 14;

compare

Ga 4:14).

8. out of the way--that is, from the covenant.

caused many to stumble--By scandalous example, the worse inasmuch as

the people look up to you as ministers of religion

(1Sa 2:17;

Jer 18:15;

Mt 18:6;

Lu 17:1).

at the law--that is, in respect to the observances of the law.

corrupted . . . covenant--made it of none effect, by not fulfilling

its conditions, and so forfeiting its promises

(Zec 11:10;

Ne 13:29).

9. Because ye do not keep the condition of the covenant, I will not

fulfil the promise.

partial in the law--having respect to persons rather than to truth

in the interpretation and administration of the law

(Le 19:15).

10-16. Reproof of those who contracted marriages with foreigners and

repudiated their Jewish wives.

10. Have we not all one father?--Why, seeing we all have one

common origin, "do we deal treacherously against one another"

("His brother" being a general expression implying that all are

"brethren" and sisters as children of the same Father above

(1Th 4:3-6),

and so including the wives so injured)? namely, by putting away

our Jewish wives, and taking foreign women to wife (compare

Mal 2:14

and Mal 2:11;

Ezr 9:1-9),

and so violating "the covenant" made by Jehovah with "our fathers," by

which it was ordained that we should be a people separated from the

other peoples of the world

(Ex 19:5;

Le 20:24, 26;

De 7:3).

To intermarry with the heathen would defeat this purpose of Jehovah,

who was the common Father of the Israelites in a peculiar sense in

which He was not Father of the heathen. The "one Father" is Jehovah

(Job 31:15;

1Co 8:6;

Eph 4:6).

"Created us": not merely physical creation, but "created us" to be His

peculiar and chosen people

(Ps 102:18;

Isa 43:1; 45:8; 60:21;

Eph 2:10),

[CALVIN]. How marked the contrast between the

honor here done to the female sex, and the degradation to which

Oriental women are generally subjected!

11. dealt treacherously--namely, in respect to the Jewish wives who

were put away

(Mal 2:14;

also

Mal 2:10, 15, 16).

profaned the holiness of . . . Lord--by ill-treating

the Israelites (namely, the wives), who were set apart as a people

holy unto the Lord: "the holy seed"

(Ezr 9:2;

compare

Jer 2:3).

Or, "the holiness of the Lord" means His holy ordinance and covenant

(De 7:3).

But "which He loved," seems to refer to the holy people, Israel,

whom God so gratuitously loved

(Mal 1:2),

without merit on their part

(Ps 47:4).

married, &c.--

(Ezr 9:1, 2; 10:2;

Ne 13:23,

&c.).

daughter of a strange god--women worshipping idols: as the

worshipper in Scripture is regarded in the relation of a child to a

father

(Jer 2:27).

12. master and . . . scholar--literally, "him that

watcheth and him that answereth." So "wakeneth" is used of the

teacher or "master"

(Isa 50:4);

masters are watchful in guarding their scholars. The reference

is to the priests, who ought to have taught the people piety, but who

led them into evil. "Him that answereth" is the scholar who has

to answer the questions of his teacher

(Lu 2:47)

[GROTIUS]. The Arabs have a proverb, "None calling

and none answering," that is, there being not one alive. So

GESENIUS explains it of the Levite watches in the

temple

(Ps 134:1),

one watchman calling and another answering. But the

scholar is rather the people, the pupils of the priests "in

doing this," namely, forming unions with foreign wives. "Out of the

tabernacles of Jacob" proves it is not the priests alone. God will

spare neither priests nor people who act so.

him that offereth--His offerings will not avail to shield him from the

penalty of his sin in repudiating his Jewish wife and taking a foreign

one.

13. done again--"a second time": an aggravation of your offense

(Ne 13:23-31),

in that it is a relapse into the sin already checked once under Ezra

(Ezr 9:10)

[HENDERSON]. Or, "the second time" means this:

Your first sin was your blemished offerings to the Lord: now "again" is

added your sin towards your wives [CALVIN].

covering . . . altar . . . with tears--shed by your unoffending wives,

repudiated by you that ye might take foreign wives.

CALVIN makes the

"tears" to be those of all the people on perceiving their sacrifices to

be sternly rejected by God.

14. Wherefore?--Why does God reject our offerings?

Lord . . . witness between thee and . . . wife--(so

Ge 31:49, 50).

of thy youth--The Jews still marry very young, the husband often being

but thirteen years of age, the wife younger

(Pr 5:18;

Isa 54:6).

wife of thy covenant--not merely joined to thee by the marriage

covenant generally, but by the covenant between God and Israel, the

covenant-people, whereby a sin against a wife, a daughter of Israel, is

a sin against God [MOORE].

Marriage also is called "the covenant of God"

(Pr 2:17),

and to it the reference may be

(Ge 2:24;

Mt 19:6;

1Co 7:10).

15. MAURER and

HENGSTENBERG explain the verse thus: The Jews had

defended their conduct by the precedent of Abraham, who had taken Hagar

to the injury of Sarah, his lawful wife; to this Malachi says now, "No

one (ever) did so in whom there was a residue of intelligence

(discriminating between good and evil); and what did the one

(Abraham, to whom you appeal for support) do, seeking a godly seed?" His object

(namely, not to gratify passion, but to obtain the seed promised by God)

makes the case wholly inapplicable to defend your position.

MOORE (from

FAIRBAIRN) better explains, in accordance with

Mal 2:10,

"Did not He make (us Israelites) one? Yet He had the residue of the

Spirit (that is, His isolating us from other nations was not because

there was no residue of the Spirit left for the rest of the world). And

wherefore (that is, why then did He thus isolate us as) the one

(people; the Hebrew is 'the one')? In order that He might

seek a godly seed"; that is, that He might have "a seed of God," a

nation the repository of the covenant, and the stock of the Messiah,

and the witness for the one God amidst the surrounding polytheisms.

Marriage with foreign women, and repudiation of the wives wedded in the

Jewish covenant, utterly set aside this divine purpose. CALVIN thinks "the one" to refer to the conjugal one body

formed by the original pair

(Ge 2:24).

God might have joined many wives as one with the one husband, for He

had no lack of spiritual being to impart to others besides Eve; the

design of the restriction was to secure a pious offspring: but compare

Note, see on

Mal 2:10.

One object of the marriage relation is to raise a seed for God and for

eternity.

16. putting away--that is, divorce.

for one covereth violence with . . .

garment--MAURER translates, "And

(Jehovah hateth him who) covereth his garment

(that is, his wife, in

Arabic idiom; compare

Ge 20:16,

'He is to thee a covering of thy eyes'; the husband was so to

the wife, and the wife to the husband; also

De 22:30;

Ru 3:9;

Eze 16:8)

with injury." The Hebrew favors "garment," being accusative of

the thing covered. Compare with English Version,

Ps 73:6,

"violence covereth them as a garment." Their "violence" is the putting

away of their wives; the "garment" with which they try to cover it is

the plea of Moses' permission

(De 24:1;

compare

Mt 19:6-9).

17. wearied . . . Lord--

(Isa 43:24).

This verse forms the transition to

Mal 3:1,

&c. The Jewish skeptics of that day said virtually, God delighteth in

evil-doers (inferring this from the prosperity of the surrounding

heathen, while they, the Jews, were comparatively not prosperous:

forgetting that their attendance to minor and external duties did not

make up for their neglect of the weightier duties of the law; for

example, the duty they owed their wives, just previously discussed); or

(if not) Where (is the proof that He is) the God of judgment? To this

the reply

(Mal 3:1)

is, "The Lord whom ye seek, and whom as messenger of the covenant (that

is, divine ratifier of God's covenant with Israel) ye delight in

(thinking He will restore Israel to its proper place as first of the

nations), shall suddenly come," not as a Restorer of Israel temporally,

but as a consuming Judge against Jerusalem

(Am 5:18, 19, 20).

The "suddenly" implies the unpreparedness of the Jews, who, to the last

of the siege, were expecting a temporal deliverer, whereas a

destructive judgment was about to destroy them. So skepticism shall be

rife before Christ's second coming. He shall suddenly and unexpectedly

come then also as a consuming Judge to unbelievers

(2Pe 3:3, 4).

Then, too, they shall affect to seek His coming, while really denying

it

(Isa 5:19;

Jer 17:15;

Eze 12:22, 27).