8 But ye are departed H5493 out of the way; H1870 ye have caused many H7227 to stumble H3782 at the law; H8451 ye have corrupted H7843 the covenant H1285 of Levi, H3878 saith H559 the LORD H3068 of hosts. H6635
We have sinned, H2398 and have committed iniquity, H5753 and have done wickedly, H7561 and have rebelled, H4775 even by departing H5493 from thy precepts H4687 and from thy judgments: H4941 Neither have we hearkened H8085 unto thy servants H5650 the prophets, H5030 which spake H1696 in thy name H8034 to our kings, H4428 our princes, H8269 and our fathers, H1 and to all the people H5971 of the land. H776
And G5037 art confident G3982 that thou thyself G4572 art G1511 a guide G3595 of the blind, G5185 a light G5457 of them which are in G1722 darkness, G4655 An instructor G3810 of the foolish, G878 a teacher G1320 of babes, G3516 which hast G2192 the form G3446 of knowledge G1108 and G2532 of the truth G225 in G1722 the law. G3551 Thou therefore G3767 which G3588 teachest G1321 another, G2087 teachest thou G1321 not G3756 thyself? G4572 thou that preachest G2784 a man should G2813 not G3361 steal, G2813 dost thou steal? G2813 Thou that sayest G3004 a man should G3431 not G3361 commit adultery, G3431 dost thou commit adultery? G3431 thou that abhorrest G948 idols, G1497 dost thou commit sacrilege? G2416 Thou G3739 that makest thy boast G2744 of G1722 the law, G3551 through G1223 breaking G3847 the law G3551 dishonourest thou G818 God? G2316 For G1063 the name G3686 of God G2316 is blasphemed G987 among G1722 the Gentiles G1484 through G1223 you, G5209 as G2531 it is written. G1125
Then G1161 answered G611 one G5100 of the lawyers, G3544 and said G3004 unto him, G846 Master, G1320 thus G5023 saying G3004 thou reproachest G5195 us G2248 also. G2532 And G1161 he said, G2036 Woe G3759 unto you G5213 also, G2532 ye lawyers! G3544 for G3754 ye lade G5412 men G444 with burdens G5413 grievous to be borne, G1419 and G2532 ye yourselves G846 touch G4379 not G3756 the burdens G5413 with one G1520 of your G5216 fingers. G1147
Why G1302 do thy G4675 disciples G3101 transgress G3845 the tradition G3862 of the elders? G4245 for G1063 they wash G3538 not G3756 their G846 hands G5495 when G3752 they eat G2068 bread. G740 But G1161 he answered G611 and said G2036 unto them, G846 Why G1302 do ye G5210 also G2532 transgress G3845 the commandment G1785 of God G2316 by G1223 your G5216 tradition? G3862 For G1063 God G2316 commanded, G1781 saying, G3004 Honour G5091 thy G4675 father G3962 and G2532 mother: G3384 and, G2532 He that curseth G2551 father G3962 or G2228 mother, G3384 let him die G5053 the death. G2288 But G1161 ye G5210 say, G3004 Whosoever G3739 G302 shall say G2036 to his father G3962 or G2228 his mother, G3384 It is a gift, G1435 by G1537 whatsoever G3739 G1437 thou mightest be profited G5623 by me; G1700
Therefore have I also made H5414 you contemptible H959 and base H8217 before all the people, H5971 according H6310 as ye have not kept H8104 my ways, H1870 but have been partial H5375 H6440 in the law. H8451 Have we not all one H259 father? H1 hath not one H259 God H410 created H1254 us? why do we deal treacherously H898 every man H376 against his brother, H251 by profaning H2490 the covenant H1285 of our fathers? H1
For both prophet H5030 and priest H3548 are profane; H2610 yea, in my house H1004 have I found H4672 their wickedness, H7451 saith H5002 the LORD. H3068 Wherefore their way H1870 shall be unto them as slippery H2519 ways in the darkness: H653 they shall be driven on, H1760 and fall H5307 therein: for I will bring H935 evil H7451 upon them, even the year H8141 of their visitation, H6486 saith H5002 the LORD. H3068 And I have seen H7200 folly H8604 in the prophets H5030 of Samaria; H8111 they prophesied H5012 in Baal, H1168 and caused my people H5971 Israel H3478 to err. H8582 I have seen H7200 also in the prophets H5030 of Jerusalem H3389 an horrible thing: H8186 they commit adultery, H5003 and walk H1980 in lies: H8267 they strengthen H2388 also the hands H3027 of evildoers, H7489 that none H376 doth return H7725 from his wickedness: H7451 they are all of them unto me as Sodom, H5467 and the inhabitants H3427 thereof as Gomorrah. H6017 Therefore thus saith H559 the LORD H3068 of hosts H6635 concerning the prophets; H5030 Behold, I will feed H398 them with wormwood, H3939 and make them drink H8248 the water H4325 of gall: H7219 for from the prophets H5030 of Jerusalem H3389 is profaneness H2613 gone forth H3318 into all the land. H776
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible » Commentary on Malachi 2
Commentary on Malachi 2 Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
CHAPTER 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 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 (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).