In chapter one Malachi addressed the subject of God’s compassion for Israel (verses 1-5). In verses 6-14 the priests and the people are charged with cheating, offering defective animals for sacrifices. In this chapter the unfaithfulness of the priests, the violation of the ordinance of marriage, impiety, and impenitence are addressed.The priests are charged with
profaning of the Lord’s name and violating His commands
and statues. They were not performing their duties as teachers and expositors of the law and commandments of the Lord. This responsibility of the priests remains in the hands of pastors and teachers in the church today. Those who pastor are under the authority of the Senior Pastor, Jesus Christ. The greatest teacher that has ever or will ever walk on the face of this earth. When pastors and teachers follow the example set by the priests the Lord has filed a charge of failing to perform their duties against them in the Lord’s heavenly court.
If the priests do not pay attention to what Malachi has to say to them and honor the name of the Lord of hosts He will send the curse upon them (Deuteronomy 27:15-26; 28:15-68). The inescapable result of breaking the covenant was the imposing of the curses that are spelled out in the covenant texts (Leviticus 26:14-39; Deuteronomy 27:11-26; 28:15-57). Part of the curse the Lord will send upon the priests involve their offspring. They will be removed from the priest-hood. The intent of the warning of the curse was to convince the priests they must turn from their evil
ways and evil deeds and return to the Lord so that the covenant with Levi could continue.
Verse five - “My covenant with him was one of life and peace, and I gave them to him as an object of reverence; so he revered Me and stood in awe of My name.”
This is called a covenant of life and peace because it was intended for the support of religion, which brings life and peace to the souls of men and peace to the distressed, or because life and peace were by this covenant promised to those priests that faithfully and conscientiously discharged their duty. What is here said of the covenant of priesthood is true of the covenant of grace made with all believers, as spiritual priests; it is a covenant of life and peace; it assures all believers of life and peace, ever-lasting peace, everlasting life, all happiness both in this world and in that to come.
This covenant was made with the whole tribe of Levi when they were distinguished from the rest of the tribes, were not numbered with them, but were taken from among them and appointed over the “tabernacle of testimony (Numbers 1:49-50). By virtue of this appointment the Lord says, “I have taken the Levites from among the sons of Israel instead of every firstborn, the first issue of the womb among the sons of Israel. So the Levites shall be Mine (Numbers 3:12). This covenant was made with Aaron when he and his sons were taken to “minister as priest to” the Lord
(Exodus 28:1). In Psalm 106:16, Aaron is called, “the saint of the Lord.”
The covenant that was made with Phinehas and his family, a branch of Aaron’s, upon a particular
occasion (Numbers 25:12-13). Because of his hatred of sin (Numbers 25:7-8), Phinehas’s family was promised the high priesthood in Israel, thus bypassing the other grandsons of Aaron (Numbers 12_13). The covenant is called a “covenant of peace” because by it peace was made and kept between God and Israel. These great blessings of life and peace, contained in the covenant, God made with Levi, Aaron and Phinehas; the Lord promised life and peace to them and their posterity, entrusted them with these benefits for the use and benefit of Israel. They received these benefits so that they might give, as Christ himself did (Psalm 68:18)for all mankind.
The covenant was grounded on the tribe of Levi’s proof of their holy fear of God, and their reverence for his name, when they appeared so bravely against the worshippers of the golden calf (Exodus 32:26). For their zeal in that matter God bestowed this blessing upon them and invited them to consecrate themselves to Him. Those, and those only, who fear God’s name, can expect the benefit of the “covenant of life and grace.” Those who give proofs of their zeal for the Lord shall without fail be recompensed in the
glorious privileges of the Christian life. Some scholars don’t interpret this as grant, but as the
condition. If the Lord grants us life and peace, he expects we should honor and magnify His name.
The trust that was given to the priests by this covenant made them messengers of the Lord of hosts, the messengers of the covenant of life and peace and not mediators of it. They were messengers, or ambassadors, employed to deliver the terms of peace to Israel. The priests were the Lord’s spokesmen. It is an honor to be the servants of the Lord. To be employed as His messengers and to be sent on his errands.
We might ask, “What is the duty of the servants of the Lord?” They are to preach and teach the Word of the Lord and not keep it from the people, but keep it for them. They must be men and women of the Word of the Lord. They must study the Word of the Lord and retain what they have been given not only in their heads, but their lips as well (Proverbs 10:13, 21). The duties of the people are: to listen to and heed the words of the prophet, ask questions so that they may better understand what the Lord has revealed to the prophets so that mistakes concerning the word of the Lord may be prevented and rectified.
We want to know what the will of the Lord is for our lives. To know His will we must not only consult the written word but the messengers of the Lord as well. In the affairs of life we seek the advice of lawyers and not physicians when we have questions about our estates and the law of the land. We seek the advice of physicians and not lawyers when we have questions about our health.
When we have questions about our spiritual life who do we turn to? The lawyer or physician? Or do we turn to the minister, the servant of the Lord? Like the lawyer and physician can only advise us what we should do, the minister’s responsibility is to advise us what we are to do. The minister has not been called to lay down the law of the Lord to those who are seeking advice concerning their situation in life. The minister is to instruct (2nd Timothy 2:25). The minister also has the responsibility to be a watchman and warn the people of impending dangers. If the people do not heed the words of the minister, their blood is not on the hands of the minister. If the minister does not warn the blood of the people will be
upon the hands of the minister.
Malachi’s warning to the priests is:
Verse eight - “But as for you, 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.’”
The priests of Malachi’s day had wandered from the path of truth and had caused many people to fall away from the Lord through their instructions. The unfaithful priests had corrupted the Lord’s
covenant with Levi through their evil ways and evil deeds. Because of their unfaithfulness the
Lord was drawing away from the priests. These unfaithful priests should have followed the example of Levi and Phinehas and do the good they did. The law of truth was in their mouths and they delivered the law of truth to the people. In all their discourses the law of truth was in them. Ministries today should follow the example of the One who spoke as one having authority, wisdom, and integrity. No iniquity was found on His lips and He did not handle the word of God deceitfully to please men or make Himself interesting to them. He told all who heard Him speak the truth whether it was pleasing or unpleasing. He did
not call what was unclean clean, nor what was clean unclean. He was meek, an example and promoter of love. He walked with God in peace, was himself peaceable and a great peace-maker. He did no wrong to any, but they hung Him on a cross. Can any minister due less than our Lord Jesus Christ.
The priests transgressed God’s Law. They departed from the life the Lord had prescribed for them and the life their godly ancestors lived before them. The Lord’s charge against the priests is a failure to keep themselves in the center of the Lord’s will. Great harm comes to those whose responsibility it is to teach others the ways of the Lord and they depart from them. The Lord’s charge is loud and clear, you have not kept My ways. You have not done your part to keep others in them. They betrayed their trust. They corrupted the covenant of Levi. They contradicted the
great intentions of it and brought frustration and defeat upon themselves. They acted as if their
office was designed only for their benefit and not for the glory of God and the good of the souls of men.
This corrupting of the covenant of Levi was perverting the purpose of the office of priest and making it an accessory to those sensual secular things over which it ought to have dominion. And thus they forfeited the benefit of that covenant and lost the life and peace which were by it settled upon them. They had no reason to expect the Lord to perform his part of the covenant if they did not perform their part.
A second way the priests were betraying their trust was the “showing partiality in the instruction.”
In the law given to them they would pick and choose what they would do and what they would not do. This is the works of hypocrites, while those whose hearts are upright with the Lord obey all His commandments to the best of their ability. They were also guilty of showing favoritism in applying the law. They rejected the idea the Lord is no respecter of persons. There-fore his priests, his ministers, misrepresent him, and do him a great deal of dishonor, if, in doctrine or discipline, they are respecters of persons (1st Timothy 5:21).
There are many to whom the law of God is a stumbling block, the gospel of Christ and Christ himself a rock of offense because of the vicious lives of those who misuse their office as pastor or teacher or make a profession of faith. Woe to those who commit this offence.
Like the priests of Israel there are far too many pastors and teachers in the church who are not
grieved by or ashamed of their vicious lives and lies. It is an evil thing when people rob the Lord of His honor, but worst in ministers and priests whose office and business it is to bear up His name and to give Him the glory and honor due Him.
Because the priests of Israel for profaning the name of the Lord and holy things they lost their comfort. The Lord said He had already cursed their blessings. They lost the satisfaction that comes from doing good. The Lord turned their blessings into curses as he did Balaam’s curses into blessings. Those who profane the Lord’s name should not expect the favor of receiving the blessings of the Lord, nor should the profaning priests and ministers receive the honor of conferring and conveying them, but both lie under the pledges of his wrath. Nor will they find any comfort in their wages, for the blessings with which God blessed them will be turned into a curse to them by their abuse of them. They do not receive them as the gifts of his favor when they make themselves so obnoxious to his displeasure by not heeding the reproofs given them.
While the priests glorified the Lord, He dignified them. They had the love and esteem of the people. Every one respected and honored them. When they forsook the ways of God, and corrupted the covenant of Levi, they not only lost the respect of the people they became contemptible in the eyes of the people. Although the people honored the office of the priest they hated the men that were a dishonor to it. Their violation of their trust was the source of the
contempt of the people and the Lord and it will be a sign of a just judgment of the violators of the trust bestowed upon them.
Those who are satisfied in their external performances of religion, which they should count but dung, that they might win many souls for Christ, shall not only come short of acceptance with the Lord, but shall be filled with shame and confusion. All will end, at last, in their utter ruin. Corrupt practices are the genuine fruit and product of corrupt principles; and the evilness of men’s hearts and lives is due to some atheistic notions which they have accepted to governing their lives.
In the following verses we find evidence of this. We find men dealing falsely with one another, and it is because they think falsely of the Lord.
Verse ten - “Do we not all have one father? Has not one God created us? Why do we deal treacherously each against his brother so as to profane the covenant of our fathers?”
The people of Israel are charged with two things following by these questions; the taking strange
wives of heathen nations, and abusing and putting away the wives they had of their own nation. In both of these they dealt treacherously and violated a sacred covenant. In the covenant the Lord made with Israel the marriage of an Israelite and a Gentile was expressly prohibited (Deuteronomy 7:3).
We must be very careful in considering the questions asked. “Do we not have one father?” This is not a reference to the doctrine of the Fatherhood of God. It is a reference to the father of the Israelites, who was Abraham, Isaac, or Jacob. The Jews took great pride in this. But here it is turned upon them as an aggravation of their sin in betraying the honor of their nation by intermarrying with Gentiles.
“Has not one God created us?” This is not a reference to God’s creation of Adam and Eve. This is a reference to the creation of the nation of Israel. The Lord set Israel aside from all other nations. Should this not oblige the Israelites to maintain the dignity of the character of the nation?
Considering the character of the church, whose Creator and Father of the church is Christ, should this not oblige us to maintain the dignity of the character of the church and guard it against all corruption.
Israel was dedicated to the Lord, set apart by him for himself, to be to him for a name and a praise, and upon this account He loved them above all people and delighted in them. He set His sanctuary up among them, but they broke the covenant. Those who are devoted to the Lord and beloved of him, are to preserve their integrity, that they may not draw themselves out of his love, nor lose the honor, or defeat the end, of their dedication to him.
Verse eleven - “Judah has dealt treacherously, and an 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.”
What was the abomination they committed? They profaned themselves in the very thing which was prescribed to them for the preserving of the honor of their nation. The harm was not so much that she was the daughter of a strange nation, but that she was the daughter of a strange god, trained up in the service and worship of false gods, at their disposal, as a daughter at her father’s disposal, and having a dependence upon them. The corruption of the old world began with the
intermarriages of the “sons of God with the daughters of men” (Genesis 6:2). Here the corruption is reversed. Judah, the Lord’s chosen intermarries with the daughters of a foreign god. The honor of the Lord was betrayed and His holiness profaned. It was an abomination committed in both the land of the Lord and in His holy city. It was a hateful act on the part of His chosen people and very unbecoming to those that were called by his name. It is an abominable thing for those who profess the holiness of the Lord to profane it, particularly by yoking themselves unequally with
unbelievers.
How severely will the Lord deal with the people for committing this abomination?
Verse twelve - “As for the man who does this, may the Lord cut off from the tents of Jacob everyone who awakes and answers, or who presents an offering to the Lord of hosts.”
The man who has done this, married the daughter of a foreign god, has, in effect, cut himself off from the holy nation, and joined in with foreigners and so shall his doom be. The Lord will cut him off all that belonged to him. The Lord will cut off all who are guilty of this sin. The blind leaders and the blind followers shall fall together. The Lord will no more own a man as belonging to His nation if he marry a strange wife, as many of the priests did (Ezra 10:18). The offering he offers shall not atone for him, but he shall be cut off from the temple of the Lord, as others from the tabernacles of Jacob.
In contempt of the marriage-covenant, which God instituted for the common benefit of mankind, they abused and put away the wives they had of their own nation, probably to make room for those strange wives.
Verse thirteen - “This another thing you do; you cover the altar of the Lord with tears, with weeping and with groaning, because He no longer regards the offering or accepts it with favor from your hand.”
This is the second part of the charge, these men didn’t behave as they ought to have towards their
wives. They were cross with them and made their lives bitter. When they came with their wives and families to worship the Lord at the solemn feasts, which they should have done with rejoicing, they were all out of humor and the poor broken hearted wives not daring to make their case known they “covered the altar of the Lord with tears, with weeping, and with crying.” This is illustrated by the instance of Hannah, who, upon the account of her husband’s having another wife, though otherwise a kind husband, and the discontent arising, whenever they went up to the house of the Lord to worship she wept and would not eat. “She, greatly distressed, prayed to the Lord and wept bitterly” (1st Samuel 1:6-7, 10). So it was with these wives. This was so contrary to the cheerfulness which the Lord requires in his worshippers that it spoiled the acceptableness of their devotions and the Lord regarded their offerings no longer.
The people could not understand why the Lord no longer regarded their sacrifices.
Verse fourteen - “Yet you say, ‘For what reason?’ Because the Lord has been a witness between you and the wife of your youth, against whom you have dealt treacherously, though she is your companion and your wife by covenant.’”
It is sufficiently proved by the testimony of the Lord He has been witness to the marriage-covenant between the man and woman. He has also been a witness to all the violations of it, and their contempt of it. This should have caused them to be faithful, both to the Lord and their wives. They should have considered their wives more closely related to them than any other
relationships. They should have realized their wives are not to be looked on as a servant, but a
companion. One whose company they should take delight in more than in any other’s. One to whom they are so firmly bound that, while she continues to be faithful, they can not be loosed from because the marriage covenant is a covenant for life. It is the wife with whom they have covenanted, and who has covenanted with them and there is an oath of the Lord between them
which is not to be trifled with.
The reasons why a man and wife should continue together, to their lives’ end, in holy love and peace, and not separate from each other. "But not one has done so who has a remnant of the Spirit. And what did that one do while he was seeking a godly offspring? Take heed then to your spirit, and let no one deal treacherously against the wife of your youth.”
Because the Lord has joined them together the man must not put her away to make room for another. It is a great wickedness to claim the covenant of marriage is like a confinement as some of the men were doing. Adam in innocence, in Eden, in the garden of pleasure, was confined to one. It was possible for the Lord to make a second Eve as easy as he did make the first woman. But He created one help mate for Adam and no more. Why did the Lord make one help mate for Adam? So that every man might have his own wife, and but one according to the law (1st Corinthians 7:3). That they might live in chaste and holy love, under the directions and restraints of the divine law, and not as beasts, under the dominion of lust. That they might propagate the nature of man in such a way that it might make it most likely to participate of a divine nature. That the children, being born in holy matrimony, which is an ordinance of the Lord, and by which the inclinations of nature are kept under the regulations of the Lord’s command might be made a
seed to serve the Lord.
The raising up of a godly seed, which shall be accountable to the Lord is one of the ends of the
institution of marriage. This is a good reason why the marriage-bed should be kept undefiled and the marriage bond sacred. Husbands and wives must live in the fear of the Lord that their seed may be a godly seed.
The marriage-covenant, which was a type of the covenant of grace, and the mystical union between Christ and His church, in which He seeks and secures to himself a godly seed (Ephesians 5:25, 32).
Because he is much displeased with those who put asunder what He has joined together He said:
Verse sixteen - “For I hate divorce, says the Lord, the God of Israel, and him who covers his garments with wrong, says the Lord of hosts. So take heed to your spirit, that you do not deal treacherously.”
The Lord did, because of the hardening of the heart, permitted the Jews to divorce their wives (Matthew 19:8), but He hated it, especially those who divorces their wives for every cause (Matthew 19:3). The Lord hates it when wives separate themselves from their husbands. He hates it when husbands are cruel to their wives and turn them away, or take their affections off from their wives and place them upon others, and those husbands and wives that live asunder by consent, for want of love to each other, however vain men may make a jest of them.
Those that would be kept from sin must “take heed to their spirits” because all sin begins there. They must keep their hearts with all diligence, must keep a jealous eye upon them and a strict hand. We must control our behavior. We must consider what kind of a person we are otherwise we shall be in danger of our own hearts deal treacherously with us.
Verse seventeen - You have wearied the Lord with your words. Yet you say, ‘How have we wearied Him?’ In that you say, ‘Everyone who does evil is good in the sight of the Lord, and He delights in them, or Where is the God of justice”’”
The Israelites thought they could escape the convictions of the word of the Lord and justify
themselves by finding fault with the Lord’s plan for their lives. However, their defense was their offence, and their vindication of themselves was the aggravation of their crime. They affronted the Lord with their words, and repeated them so often, and persisted so long in their contradictions,that they “wearied the Lord.” They made Him weary of doing them good as he had done, and stopped the current of his favors. They claimed the Lord was weary of governing the world, and willing to quit it and lay aside the care of it.
It is a wearisome thing, even to God himself, to hear people insist upon their own justification in their corrupt and wicked practices, and plead their atheistic principles in vindication of them. But,
as if the Lord, by his prophet had done them wrong, see how impudently they ask, “How have we wearied Him?” They didn’t understand sinful words are more offensive to the Lord of hosts than they are commonly thought to be. But the Lord has his proofs ready; two things they had said, at least in their hearts and thoughts are words to the Lord, with which they had wearied him. They had denied him to be a holy God, and claimed everything that is contrary to the doctrine of His holiness He delights in.
As He is a holy God, He hates sin and can not look upon it. He finds no pleasure in wickedness Psalm 5:4). Yet, they had the impudence to say, in direct contradiction to this, “Everyone who does evil is good in the sight of the Lord, and He delights in them.”
This wicked conclusion they drew, without any reason, from the prosperity of sinners in their sinful behavior, as if the Lord’s love or hatred were to be known by what they were doing or not doing. Or they said this because they wished it to be true. Or they decided to do what is evil in the sight of the Lord and thought there was some way they could find favor in the eyes of the Lord.
Those who think God is a friend to sin affront him and deceive themselves. They deny He is the righteous governor of the world. They didn’t believe the Lord would call them to an account, and reckon. Why? Because, according to them, He has forsaken the earth, and takes no notice of what is said and done here. He said He will come to judge the world, why hasn’t He. Since He has not come to judge the works of mankind, we may do what we please; He doesn’t see us. He doesn’t
care what we do. It is such a challenge to the Judge of the whole earth that defiles His justice and in effect, dares him to do the worst He can do. Such scoffers as these that were in the latter days of Israel and will be in the latter days of the Christian church. But their unbelief shall not make the promise of God of no effect; for the day of the Lord will come.
