Jamieson Fausset Brown Bible Commentary 1 REPROOF OF THE PRIESTS FOR VIOLATING THE COVENANT; AND THE PEOPLE ALSO FOR MIXED MARRIAGES AND UNFAITHFULNESS. (Mal. 2:1-17)
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
Δευτ. 27:15-
Δευτ. 27:26; Deu. 28:15-68.
curse your blessings--turn the blessings you enjoy into curses (
Ψαλ. 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 (
Μαλ. 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 (
Δευτ. 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 (
1Βασ. 14:10; compare
Ιερ. 16:4;
Ιερ. 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
Μαλ. 2:5-
Μαλ. 2:6). Malachi's function was that of a reformer, leading back the priests and people to the law (
Μαλ. 4:4).
5 He describes the promises, and also the conditions of the covenant; Levi's observance of the conditions and reward (compare
Αρ. 25:11-
Αρ. 25:13, 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
Αρ. 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 (
Δευτ. 33:8-
Δευτ. 33:9). The Jewish priests self-deceivingly claimed the privileges of the covenant, while neglecting the conditions of it, as if God were bound by it to bless them, while they were free from all the obligation which 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 (
Ψαλ. 19:11).
6 law of truth was in his mouth--He taught the people the truths of the law in all its fulness (
Δευτ. 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 (
Δευτ. 17:8-
Δευτ. 17:9;
Δευτ. 19:17).
walked with me--by faith and obedience (
Γέν. 5:22).
in peace--namely, the "peace" which was the fruit of obeying the covenant (
Μαλ. 2:5). Peace with God, man, and one's own conscience, is the result of "walking with God" (compare
Ιώβ 22:21;
Ησ. 27:5;
Ιακ. 3:18).
turn may . . . from iniquity--both by positive precept and by tacit example "walking with God" (
Ιερ. 23:22;
Δαν. 12:3;
Ιακ. 5:20).
7 In doing so (
Μαλ. 2:6) he did his duty as a priest, "for," &c.
knowledge--of the law, its doctrines, and positive and negative precepts (
Λευ. 10:10-
Λευ. 10:11;
Δευτ. 24:8;
Ιερ. 18:18;
Αγγ. 2:11).
the law--that is, its true sense.
messenger of . . . Lord--the interpreter of His will; compare as to the prophets,
Αγγ. 1:13. So ministers are called "ambassadors of Christ" (
2Κορ. 5:20); and the bishops of the seven churches in Revelation, "angels" or messengers (
Αποκ. 2:1,
Αποκ. 2:8,
Αποκ. 2:12,
Αποκ. 2:18;
Αποκ. 3:1,
Αποκ. 3:7,
Αποκ. 3:14; compare
Γαλ. 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 (
1Σαμ. 2:17;
Ιερ. 18:15;
Ματθ. 18:6;
Λουκ. 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 (
Ζαχ. 11:10;
Νεεμ. 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 (
Λευ. 19:15).
10 Reproof of those who contracted marriages with foreigners and repudiated their Jewish wives.
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,
1Θεσ. 4:3-6 and so including the wives so injured)? namely, by putting away our Jewish wives, and taking foreign women to wife (compare
Μαλ. 2:14 and
Μαλ. 2:11;
Εσδ. 9:1-
Εσδ. 9:9), 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 (
Έξ. 19:5;
Λευ. 20:24,
Λευ. 20:26;
Δευτ. 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 (
Ιώβ 31:15;
1Κορ. 8:6;
Εφεσ. 4:6). "Created us": not merely physical creation, but "created us" to be His peculiar and chosen people (
Ψαλ. 102:18;
Ησ. 43:1;
Ησ. 45:8;
Ησ. 60:21;
Εφεσ. 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 (
Μαλ. 2:14; also
Μαλ. 2:10,
Μαλ. 2:15-
Μαλ. 2:16).
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" (
Εσδ. 9:2; compare
Ιερ. 2:3). Or, "the holiness of the Lord" means His holy ordinance and covenant (
Δευτ. 7:3). But "which He loved," seems to refer to the holy people, Israel, whom God so gratuitously loved (
Μαλ. 1:2), without merit on their part (
Ψαλ. 47:4).
married, &c.-- (
Εσδ. 9:1-
Εσδ. 9:2;
Εσδ. 10:2;
Νεεμ. 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 (
Ιερ. 2:27).
12 master and . . . scholar--literally, "him that watcheth and him that answereth." So "wakeneth" is used of the teacher or "master" (
Ησ. 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 (
Λουκ. 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 (
Ψαλ. 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 (
Νεεμ. 13:23-
Νεεμ. 13:31), in that it is a relapse into the sin already checked once under Ezra (
Εσδ. 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
Γέν. 31:49-
Γέν. 31:50).
of thy youth--The Jews still marry very young, the husband often being but thirteen years of age, the wife younger (
Παρ. 5:18;
Ησ. 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" (
Παρ. 2:17), and to it the reference may be (
Γέν. 2:24;
Ματθ. 19:6;
1Κορ. 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
Μαλ. 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 (
Γέν. 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
Μαλ. 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
Γέν. 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
Δευτ. 22:30;
Ρουθ 3:9;
Ιεζ. 16:8) with injury." The Hebrew favors "garment," being accusative of the thing covered. Compare with English Version,
Ψαλ. 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 (
Δευτ. 24:1; compare
Ματθ. 19:6-
Ματθ. 19:9).
17 wearied . . . Lord-- (
Ησ. 43:24). This verse forms the transition to
Μαλ. 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 (
Μαλ. 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 (
Άμ. 5:18-
Άμ. 5:20). 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 (
2Πέτ. 3:3-4). Then, too, they shall affect to seek His coming, while really denying it (
Ησ. 5:19;
Ιερ. 17:15;
Ιεζ. 12:22,
Ιεζ. 12:27).
