Malachi 2:11

Judah hath dealt treacherously,.... Not only every man against his brother, by being partial in the law; or against the women of their nation, by marrying others; or against their wives, by putting

Judah hath dealt treacherously, and an abomination is committed in Israel and in Jerusalem; for Judah hath profaned the holiness of the LORD which he loved, and hath married the daughter of a strange god.

Judah: though Judah only is named, yet the rest of the returned captives are included. Dealt treacherously: see . An abomination; such treachery is a very abominable thing, God and all good men abhor it, and yet here it is committed in Israel, who are God’ s peculiar people, and above others should have been holy. And in Jerusalem; under the eye of the governors, the high priest and sanhedrim, nay, under the eye of God, who dwelt at Jerusalem; this could not but greatly provoke God. Profaned the holiness of the Lord: profanely violated the necessary cautionary law of marriage, confining Israel to marry within themselves, and not to endanger themselves and religion by joining affinity with idolaters, who would draw them and their children from the holy law, worship, and temple of God, which are the holiness that he loved. Which he loved; which he, i.e. Judah, once loved; so it was apostacy in Judah. Or which he, i.e. the Lord, loved above all; so it is a neglect of a main duty, it is slighting what God so greatly loved. And hath married the daughter of a strange god: 10:2, mentions what nations they were whose daughters were by these Jews taken for wives, they were idolatrous nations, and the women were idolatresses when the Jews did marry them. This was bad; but these Jews had wives before, and they cast them off, or else took in these strangers and despised their former wives: this is the treachery and abomination that is here committed.

Malachi 2:11 Judah hath dealt treacherously, and an abomination is committed in Israel and in Jerusalem; for Judah hath profaned the holiness of the LORD which he loved, and hath married the daughter of a strange god.Ver. 11. Judah hath dealt treacherously] Judah, the confessor, as his name imports; Judah, that once ruled with God, and was faithful with the saints, Hosea 11:12; Judah, in whom God was known, his name was great in Israel, Psalms 76:1. Prosper’ s conceit was that Iudaei Judah were so called because they received ius Dei, the law from God’ s mouth; whence Josephus calls the commonwealth of Israel Yεοκρατειαν, a God government. For to them pertained (among sundry other precious privileges recited, Romans 9:4-5) the covenants, that is, 1. The moral law in two tables. 2. The giving of the law, that is, the judicial law. 3. The service, that is, the ceremonial law, which was their gospel; whence Judaea is called the glorious land, Daniel 11:41 (or the land of delights, or ornaments, as the Hebrew hath it), a pleasant land, or a land of desire, Jeremiah 3:19, because, as it is Ezekiel 20:6; Ezekiel 20:15, it was the glory of all lands. Jerusalem, the metropolis, was not only the most famous of all the cities of the East, as Pliny confesseth it, but also of the whole world, si insignia Dei spectemus beneficia, as one saith, if we consider God’ s marvellous kindness showed to it in a strong city, as David hath it. But, as ingentia beneficia, flagitia, supplicia, the greater the privileges of any place or people are the more heinous are their offences, and the more hideous their punishments; so it happened with this nation, so advanced, so obliged, so shamelessly, so lawlessly wicked. They were but newly returned from captivity, scarce yet warm in their nests, when they fell afresh to their old trade of treachery, doing wickedly with both hands earnestly. Abomination was committed in Israel and in Jerusalem, even such as God’ s soul abhorred, and was ready to be loosened or disjointed from them, Jeremiah 6:8, because "in the land of uprightness they dealt unjustly, and would not behold the majesty of the Lord," Isaiah 26:10. Judah had profaned the holiness of the Lord, which he loved, that is, the very place that he had espied out for himself, and that was dedicated to his name and service, the holy and separate land, the isle, as it is called, Isaiah 20:6 (though part of the continent), because compassed about with God’ s favour as with a shield, Psalms 5:12. In such a consecrated country to act their villany was no small aggravation of their wickedness; this made it swell like a toad in the eyes of the Almighty, it was an abomination. Filthiness in a cook, in a strumpet, is nothing so odious as in a pretended virgin. A nettle on the waste is better borne with than in a garden.

(11) For the same collocation of “Judah, Israel, and Jerusalem,” comp. Zechariah 1:19. The holiness of the Lord.—That is, their own “holy nation” (Deuteronomy 7:6; Deuteronomy 14:2; comp. Jeremiah 2:3). Daughter of a strange god—i.e., one who worships a strange god, and such they were forbidden to marry (Exodus 24:16; Deuteronomy 7:3; comp. 1 Kings 11:2).

Verse 11. Daughter of a strange god.] Of a man who worships an idol.

11. the holiness of the Lord] Comp. Leviticus 11:44; 1 Thessalonians 4:7. This is better than sanctuary of the Lord, R.V. margin. Comp. ôὰἅ ?ãéá, LXX. which he loved] In like manner Almighty God is said to love righteousness and judgment. Psalms 11:7; Psalms 33:5; Isaiah 61:8. the daughter of a strange god] “As those who acknowledge, worship and serve the true God are called His sons and daughters (Deuteronomy 32:19), so they that worshipped any strange god are, by like reason, here called the daughters of that god. Hence the Jews say, ‘He that marrieth a heathen woman is as if he made himself son-in-law to an idol’.” Pocock.

Treacherously has Judah dealt; an abomination is committed in Israel - The prophet, by the order of the words, emphasizes the “treachery” and the “abomination.” This have they done; the very contrary

OF MIXED AND OF DIVORCE, Malachi 2:10-16.With Malachi 2:10, begins a new section, which, until quite recently, has been universally interpreted as dealing with marriage alliances between Jews and