Malachi 2 - ESV - Bible Reading / Study Notes

Malachi 2

The Lord Rebukes the Priests

2:1 “And now, O priests, this command is for you. 2 If you will not listen, if you will not take it to heart to give honor to my name, says the LORD of hosts, then I will send the curse upon you and I will curse your blessings. Indeed, I have already cursed them, because you do not lay it to heart. 3 Behold, I will rebuke your offspring,¹ and spread dung on your faces, the dung of your offerings, and you shall be taken away with it.² 4 So shall you know that I have sent this command to you, that my covenant with Levi may stand, says the LORD of hosts. 5 My covenant with him was one of life and peace, and I gave them to him. It was a covenant of fear, and he feared me. He stood in awe of my name. 6 True instruction³ was in his mouth, and no wrong was found on his lips. He walked with me in peace and uprightness, and he turned many from iniquity. 7 For the lips of a priest should guard knowledge, and people⁴ should seek instruction from his mouth, for he is the messenger of the LORD of hosts. 8 But you have turned aside from the way. You have caused many to stumble by your instruction. You have corrupted the covenant of Levi, says the LORD of hosts, 9 and so I make you despised and abased before all the people, inasmuch as you do not keep my ways but show partiality in your instruction.”

Judah Profaned the Covenant

10 Have we not all one Father? Has not one God created us? Why then are we faithless to one another, profaning the covenant of our fathers? 11 Judah has been faithless, and abomination has been committed in Israel and in Jerusalem. For Judah has profaned the sanctuary of the LORD, which he loves, and has married the daughter of a foreign god. 12 May the LORD cut off from the tents of Jacob any descendant⁵ of the man who does this, who brings an offering to the LORD of hosts!

13 And this second thing you do. You cover the LORD’s altar with tears, with weeping and groaning because he no longer regards the offering or accepts it with favor from your hand. 14 But you say, “Why does he not?” Because the LORD was witness between you and the wife of your youth, to whom you have been faithless, though she is your companion and your wife by covenant. 15 Did he not make them one, with a portion of the Spirit in their union?⁶ And what was the one God⁷ seeking?⁸ Godly offspring. So guard yourselves⁹ in your spirit, and let none of you be faithless to the wife of your youth. 16 “For the man who does not love his wife but divorces her,¹⁰ says the LORD, the God of Israel, covers¹¹ his garment with violence, says the LORD of hosts. So guard yourselves in your spirit, and do not be faithless.”

The Messenger of the Lord

17 You have wearied the LORD with your words. But you say, “How have we wearied him?” By saying, “Everyone who does evil is good in the sight of the LORD, and he delights in them.” Or by asking, “Where is the God of justice?”

Footnotes

[1] 2:3 Hebrew seed
[2] 2:3 Or to it
[3] 2:6 Or law; also verses 7, 8, 9
[4] 2:7 Hebrew they
[5] 2:12 Hebrew any who wakes and answers
[6] 2:15 Hebrew in it
[7] 2:15 Hebrew the one
[8] 2:15 Or And not one has done this who has a portion of the Spirit. And what was that one seeking?
[9] 2:15 Or So take care; also verse 16
[10] 2:16 Hebrew who hates and divorces
[11] 2:16 Probable meaning (compare Septuagint and Deuteronomy 24:1–4); or “The Lord, the God of Israel, says that he hates divorce, and him who covers

Commentary

v1-2: No escape for the priests, as in 1.6-8; God is not deceived, He does see; His words here are firm, as He shakes them, urging them to mend their ways.

They have already suffered curses from God, Hag 1.5-6, and there is more to come. They must take to heart the warnings, applying the Lord's words to their own hearts.

v3-4: The clear reason why judgment must come; here is God purifying and cleansing His people. The specific reason is that His covenant with Levi be maintained.

v5-6: The responsibility of the priests is based on God's covenant with them, and this covenant is to be maintained.

Levi was God's gift to Israel, that Israel might fear Him. The covenant was of "life and peace," which is the blessing for the spiritually minded, Rom 8.6.

Verse 6 also points us to Christ, who is perfectly righteous;

He spoke perfect truth, never injustice;

He walked in peace and equity;

He turned many from iniquity.

In these things, therefore, He is our example, and especially so for leaders, Josh 1.8; Dan 12.3.

v7: The priest, the messenger of the Lord of hosts, an ambassador for Christ. The people must have a confidence that he will always bring truth.

v8-9: Their grievous failure;

they departed from the way;

they caused many to stumble, bringing a poor influence upon others;

they corrupted the covenant;

they did not keep God's ways, neglecting to obey what God had said;

they showed partiality.

The same standards are expected in Christian leaders, Matt 28.20; Acts 20.27; 1 Tim 4.11,13,16. Where the priests failed to honour God's standards, they are despised and humiliated. Although the people were restored to Jerusalem, and had put away their idolatry, they began to slip into bad habits of ritualism and complacency.

v10: We claim to know God as our Father, but that claim is denied by treachery and deceit. Judah and Israel have the calling to be the testimony to God in the world, but they failed to honour that.

v11: Double standards; a covenant with a foreign god; their love for God is not true.

v12: Those who are guilty will be judged.

v13: The apparent devotion of the people, with lots of emotion; they are surprised that the Lord does not answer their prayers.

v14: The problem; "broken faith," as in v10-11; Judah has behaved with treachery. He is responsible before God, his witness, and cannot avoid the blame. The message is clear about "the wife of your marriage covenant," and it is wrong to break that covenant.

v15: The unity of the covenant is from God, and the unfaithful people have broken that covenant. The covenant is provided since the Lord seeks "godly offspring." This purpose is therefore frustrated by the people's unfaithfulness.

v16: Divorce, separation, treachery; all hated by the Lord God. But we can "guard" ourselves, and thus avoid breaking faith.

v17: Man's own deceit and unfaithfulness distorts his view of God; he thus imputes to God either injustice or complacency. Man has "wearied" God because these bad attitudes remained.