Malachi 2:1

And now, O ye priests,.... That despised and profaned the name of the Lord; that suffered such corrupt and illegal sacrifices to be brought and offered up: this commandment [is] for you: of giving

And now, O ye priests, this commandment is for you. And now, O ye priests, this commandment is for you.

MALACHI CHAPTER 2 The priests are sharply reproved for profaning the covenant which was given them, ; and the people for marrying strange wives, , and treacherously putting away their former ones, ; and for impiety, . This commandment; either this which he had already minded them of about the sacrifices, what ought to be offered and what refused; if the people brought defective sheep or oxen, they who were priests ought not to have admitted, they ought not to have offered them upon God’ s altar: or this commandment he now brings from God to them, and which is contained in this chapter. Is for you; by especial direction it is sent to you, and look to it that you obey it.

Malachi 2:1 And now, O ye priests, this commandment [is] for you.Ver. 1. And now, O ye priests, &c.] Now, that is, Now again, I must have the other bout with you, besides what I had, Malachi 1:6-11, for as once from the prophets, so now from the priests, in Jerusalem profaneness is gone forth into all the land, Jeremiah 23:15. Their white ephods covered many foul sins; and their evil example proved a public mischief. Hence the prophet is so round with them; for he knew that a wicked priest is the worst creature upon earth. Unsavoury salt is fit for no place; no, not for the dunghill. It is an old proverb, that hell is paved with the shaven crowns of evil priests. The word priest is never used by the apostles for a minister of the gospel; no, not by the most ancient fathers, as Bellarmine himself confesseth. Indeed in Chrysostom I find this piercing passage; Non arbitror inter sacerdotes multos esse qui salvi fiant, I do not think, saith be, that among all our priests, there be many that shall be saved. Bernard comes after him, and complains that in the court of Rome good men failed, bad men grew plentiful; and that the bishops of his time were not doctors, but seducers; not pastors, but impostors; not prelates, but Pilates. Yea, Pope Pius II hath left it in writing, that no villanous act had been for a long time committed in the Catholic Church the first beginning whereof proceeded not from the priests. Cornelius a Lapide, upon this chapter, cries out of the ignorance and wickedness of the Popish clergy as the cause of the contempt cast by us upon them. And I would we had not cause to say, that many of our ministers neither feed liberally by charity, nor soundly by doctrine, nor religiously by life; which opened once the mouth of that dead dog Campian maliciously to bark out, Ministris eorum nihil vilius, Their ministers are most vile and vicious. This commandment is for you] i.e. That curse, Malachi 1:14 implying a commandment; that if you desire to escape that heavy curse you forthwith obey this commandment ( Aut faciendum enim aut patiendum) to procure the purity and integrity of my worships, and to see that there be a present reformation of religion. Reformation is a work that hath ever gone heavily on, and hath met with much opposition. As that made by Elijah, by Josiah, by Nehemiah, and by Hezekiah, who found the priests and Levites very backward; which the good king perceiving, began first himself, and awaked those sluggards with these words. Oh, be not deceived, my sons: God hath chosen you for this service, 2 Chronicles 29:11. The like backwardness was found in the Popish clergy to a general Council, so much urged and called for by the Bohemians, Germans, and other nations, that groaned under the yoke of Papal tyranny.

II. (1-9) The decree against the priests.

CHAPTER II The priests reproved for their unfaithfulness in their office, for which they are threatened to be deprived of their share of the sacrifice, (the shoulder,) and rewarded only with ignominy and ordure, 1-3. The degeneracy of the order is then complained of, and they are again threatened, 4-9. The rest of the chapter reproves the people for marrying strange and idolatrous women; and multiplying divorces, with all their consequent distress, in order to make way for such illicit alliances, 10-17. See Ne 10:30; Ne 13:27-30, &c. NOTES ON CHAP. II

Ch. Malachi 2:1-9. Threatened Punishment of the Priests 1. O ye priests] The discourse turns again in direct appeal to the priests. The exact order of the words is emphatic: And now, for you is this commandment, O priests. this commandment] Some commentators would make “commandment” here mean purpose, or decree, and refer it to the punishment threatened in Malachi 2:2-4. There seems no reason, however, to depart here and in Malachi 2:4 from the usual meaning of the word. The passage (Malachi 2:2-4) is a commandment to reform, with threatened consequences if they disobey it.

And now this is My commandment unto you - , not a commandment, which He gave them, but a commandment in regard to them.

A curse pronounced upon the faithless priests, 1-9.The condemnation of priests and people in Malachi 1:6-14, is followed by the announcement of a curse upon the priests, who have proved disloyal to