Malachi 2

v.2

If you do not listen, and if you do not set your heart to honor my name,” says the LORD Almighty, “I will send a curse upon you, and I will curse your blessings. Yes, I have already cursed them, because you have not set your heart to honor me.

If we are not set to solely honor His name, we are set on a cursed path anyhow. His name is above all others; any who dare honor another name as higher is better off cursed than alive.

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v.6

True instruction was in his mouth and nothing false was found on his lips. He walked with me in peace and uprightness, and turned many from sin.

God’s covenant with Levi was predicated on the integrity of his priestly office which overflowed into influencing others to lead holy peaceful lives.

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v.7

“For the lips of a priest ought to preserve knowledge, and from his mouth men should seek instruction—because he is the messenger of the LORD Almighty.

Preserve. They are not to ideate or generate knowledge and revelations apart from God. They simply preserve and keep what God has spoken already. How much so is any other messenger of the Lord! They set out to preserve the purity and knowledge of Christ through the Gospel and instruct God’s people.

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The priests wre the custodians of learning, both the preservers and the pioneers of scholarship.

alden

v.8

But you have turned from the way and by your teaching have caused many to stumble; you have violated the covenant with Levi,” says the LORD Almighty.

Teachers have more influence and thus have a stricter judgement. See also v 1.

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But those who sought to drink at those wells found them either dry or poisoned. Instead of turning people into “the way,” the priests did the opposite. Such irresponsibility violated the covenant of Levi. Sins of omission were compounded with sins of comission. Malachi made it clear that God could tolerate the situation no longer.

alden

v.10

Have we not all one Father? Did not one God create us? Why do we profane the covenant of our fathers by breaking faith with one another?

In what context do we interpret this so it does not conflict with v.44?

jj

Since Hebrew makes no proper-noun distinctions, the translators must decide whether “father” refers to God or to Abraham. In either case, the point is clear: “We Jews should cooperate, work harmoniously, and marry within our own people.”

v.11

Judah has broken faith. A detestable thing has been committed in Israel and in Jerusalem: Judah has desecrated the sanctuary the LORD loves, by marrying the daughter of a foreign god.

Other versions translate “broken faith” into “dealt treacherously”: acted deceitfully or betrayed someone’s trust.

jj

The implications of “breaking faith with one another” probably are broader than simply the matter of divorce. All betrayals, from the slightest unkindness to the grossest injustice, merit God’s disapproval.

alden

v.14

You ask, “Why?” It is because the Lord is acting as the witness between you and the wife of your youth, because you have broken faith with her, though she is your partner, the wife of your marriage covenant.

v.15

Has not [the LORD] made them one? In flesh and spirit they are his. And why one? Because he was seeking godly offspring. So guard yourself in your spirit, and do not break faith with the wife of your youth.

Purpose of marriage is to raise godly offspring. Both a father and mother are needed, so the Lord warns of betraying one’s wife. She is paramount in fulfilling God’s purpose for establishing marriage.

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v.16

“I hate divorce,” says the LORD God of Israel, “and I hate a man’s covering himself with violence as well as with his garment,” says the LORD Almighty. So guard yourself in your spirit, and do not break faith.

God’s heart for marriage: he loves it so much that he hates everything that obstructs it. We are only so capable of keeping ourselves from betraying others. We can only do so by guarding ourself in the spirit. We have to walk in the spirit to not gratify the desires of the flesh.

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v.17

You have wearied the LORD with your words. “How have we wearied him?” you ask. By saying, “All who do evil are good in the eyes of the LORD, and he is pleased with them” or “Where is the God of justice?”

How can we weary the Lord?

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God was tired of hypocrisy, inverted morals, spiritual blindness, and obduracy.

alden