Malachi 2

Unfaithful Priests

And now, you priests, this warning is for you. Malachi 2:1

We saw how Malachi boldly charged the priestly class in 1:6 and following. Here he continues. The priests were very powerful in Israel as we later see in the trial of Jesus. We have said before that it took a brave man to boldly charge them. Wiersbe says, “‘Like people, like priests’ (Hos. 4:9; Jer. 5:30-31), for no ministry rises any higher than its leaders…the priests were ‘toxic’ and defiled everything and everybody they touched (Matt. 23:15; 25-28). A false minister is an awful weapon in the hands of Satan.” [1] In the Jeremiah 5:31 passage above, the prophet made a serious charge saying: “The prophets prophesy lies, the priests rule by their own authority, and my people love it this way. But what will you do in the end?” Unfortunately, Jeremiah had to live through the awful end of what he prophesied.

C. W. Slemming comments: “The offerings required by God for the priest and the whole congregation were equal, or, in the sight of God the sin of a priest was as large as the sin of a whole congregation, because if a man in an official capacity sins, he can lead a whole nation astray. It was Trapp, one of the old divines, who said: ‘if a teacher sins he teaches sin.’” [2]

This surely has some message for Christians today. In 1 Peter 2:9, we read: “But you [Christians] are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.” We are to be a royal priesthood and a holy people. Other believers are watching us and in fact, the world is watching us. We can bring either glory or shame to the name of God.

“‘If you do not listen, and if you do not resolve to honor my name,’ says the LORD Almighty, ‘I will send a curse on you, and I will curse your blessings. Yes, I have already cursed them, because you have not resolved to honor me” (2:2). A curse is one thing but a curse upon one’s blessings seems to be something worse. Both mentions of the verb “curse” in this passage are in the Hebrew intensive and are not to be taken lightly.

When Israel crossed the Jordan and possessed the land they were to write the laws of God boldly so that all could see. Then on Mt. Gerizim, some tribes were to recite the blessings and on Mt. Ebal, other tribes were to recite the curses (Deut. 27:15-26). It is interesting that the Levites led in the curses (v. 14). They were cursing themselves and their priesthood if they had accepted a bribe (v. 25) or failed to uphold the law (v. 26). The curses are more clearly spelled out in Deuteronomy 28:15-68, and they likely included many of the offenses of which the current priests were guilty.

Already the curse was falling on them because of their sins. Probably one of their greatest sins was that of not requiring perfect animals for sacrifice. Perhaps they were taking bribes in order to accept blemished animals. In all probability, the crops were beginning to fail because of their own sin, and this was beginning to result in fewer tithes and offerings. “The heavy hand of God had already begun to fall.” [3]

“Because of you I will rebuke your descendants; I will smear on your faces the dung from your festival sacrifices, and you will be carried off with it” (2:3). For the Hebrew word ze-ra meaning “seed” we see that most of the translations have children or descendants. Children of evil priests would not do well according to God. Not only that, but the priests themselves would have their faces smeared with the dung of sacrificial animals. Phillips says, “No greater contamination and disgrace could be imagined.” [4] The dung and inward parts of the animal were to be burned outside the camp according to the law (Exo. 29:14). The implication is that these priests too would have to be disposed of outside the camp.

“‘And you will know that I have sent you this warning so that my covenant with Levi may continue,’ says the LORD Almighty” (2:4). This verse is somewhat disputed however most modern translations agree with the NIV here. In Deuteronomy 10:8-9, God consecrated the whole tribe of Levi to the ministry. This choice is also mentioned in Jeremiah 33:21.

“My covenant was with him, a covenant of life and peace, and I gave them to him; this called for reverence and he revered me and stood in awe of my name” (2:5). The covenant of peace with the priesthood and with Israel is mentioned in several passages (e.g. Num. 25:12; Isa. 54:10; Ezek. 34:25; 37:26). This covenant required a great deal of fear, reverence and awe before God. Many of the modern translations use the word “awe” here in the translation of the Hebrew yir-ah (cf. NIV, NAS, ESV, NET, NRS).

Fritz Rothschild interpreting the great Abraham J. Heschel says: “Awe is an intuition for the creaturely dignity of all things and their preciousness to God; a realization that things not only are what they are but also stand, however remotely, for something absolute…Awe precedes faith; it is at the root of faith. We must grow in awe in order to reach faith.” [5]

The priests were to eat daily from the Tree of Life or the word of God, just as Adam was to eat of this tree. These two trees in the Garden of Eden perfectly describe the human plight and God’s provision (Gen. 2:9). The priests were to be unlike the masses who ate from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. Many are bloated from the fruit of that tree today. That later tree is the “I think tree,” the “I feel tree,” the “My truth tree,” and “I’ll do it my way tree.” What a wreck and ruin that tree has brought us at present. Isaiah 8:12-13 says, “…do not fear what they fear, and do not dread it. The LORD Almighty is the one you are to regard as holy, he is the one you are to fear, he is the one you are to dread.” Oswald Chambers once said, “The remarkable thing about fearing God is that when you fear God you fear nothing else, whereas if you do not fear God you fear everything else.”

Israel’s priests were not only to eat from the Tree of Life but they were to be teachers of the word of God (e.g. 2 Chron. 31:4; Neh. 8:7-9). They were to do so with fear and awe. Those who make up the modern and postmodern royal priesthood of God need to remember the verse in Philippians 2:12-13: “…continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose.”

“True instruction was in his mouth and nothing false was found on his lips. He walked with me in peace and uprightness, and turned many from sin” (2:6). In Psalm 37:30-31, the righteous are described: “The mouths of the righteous utter wisdom, and their tongues speak what is just. The law of their God is in their hearts; their feet do not slip.” In Deuteronomy 33:8-11, we see Levi’s ideal priesthood described. While Levi was a model priest, “the Levitical priests of Malachi’s time were in total violation of every obligation.” [6]

“For the lips of a priest ought to preserve knowledge, because he is the messenger of the LORD Almighty and people seek instruction from his mouth” (2:7). In our society today we have an abundance of knowledge. Google chairman Eric Schmidt says: “Between the birth of the world and 2003, there were five exabytes of information created. We [now] create five exabytes every two days.” [7] We have too much knowledge and are almost drowning in it. But much of it is from the useless and deceptive Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. However, we have very little knowledge of God which can bring blessing, salvation and life – even eternal life. It is the job of the priest to preserve and distribute this true knowledge or the knowledge of God. While our society wildly seeks knowledge it scoffs at the knowledge of God, as well as at the priest who brings it.

“‘But you have turned from the way and by your teaching have caused many to stumble; you have violated the covenant with Levi,’ says the LORD Almighty” (2:8). The National Catholic Reporter says: “Nothing chases a person out of the Catholic Church and away from Christ faster than a bad priest. The priest does not have to be a child molester. He may simply be arrogant, patriarchal, insensitive or just stupid. More people leave the church because of bad priests than because of disagreements over dogma.” [8]

Of course, the Catholic Church has had terrible problems with child-molesting priests in recent years. No doubt, Protestants have had a few problems too. We do not have to think too hard to remember some other priests who have led people astray. Charles Darwin, who helped bring about the spiritual ruin of multiplied millions, started out as an Anglican priest. Even Joseph Stalin trained as a priest at the Tiflis Seminary from 1894–1899. After that, he became a revolutionary and is responsible for the destruction of close to 100 million people.

“So I have caused you to be despised and humiliated before all the people, because you have not followed my ways but have shown partiality in matters of the law” (2:9). Baldwin puts the finger on the serious problems, “failure to walk with God and the desire to curry favor with men.” [9] It is easy for people in high places to be guilty of high crimes. When leaders become compromised by currying favor they also become despised and humiliated at the same time.

Unfaithful People

Do we not all have one Father? Did not one God create us? Why do we profane the covenant of our ancestors by being unfaithful to one another? Malachi 2:10

Baldwin comments: “There is scriptural precedent for ‘Abraham your father’ (Is. 51:2)…Malachi intended we to mean fellow Jews, so, even if he had in mind God as the one father, he was not thinking in terms of the universal brotherhood of man…the nation was meant to reflect the character of the Father, who had taught it to walk in his way (Ho.11:1).” [10]

Of course, because we are all made in the image of God it should cause us to honor and respect our fellow human beings. It is because we have lost this biblical concept that we are beginning to see humans abused on a massive scale through the horrors of “active shooters” who gun down droves of people, through sex trafficking of children and such things. We are now seeing workplace violations of all sorts, where people are treated like “things” or “slaves” and often abused sexually as well.

“Judah has been unfaithful. A detestable thing has been committed in Israel and in Jerusalem: Judah has desecrated the sanctuary the LORD loves by marrying women who worship a foreign god” (2:11). Now the prophet brings up a very big and longstanding problem, that of marrying pagan and idolatrous women. “Those who entered into such marriages were in direct violation of the first commandment.” [11] Early in Israel’s history, idolatrous women from Moab were taken as wives, thus bringing a curse upon the nation with some 24,000 being put to death (Num. 25:1-9). “Wise” King Solomon still married many pagan wives who led him into idolatrous practices (1 Ki. 11:1-10). King Ahab married the idolatrous Jezebel who led Israel into great evils (1 Ki. 16:29-33). [12]

Later the prophets Ezra and Nehemiah had struggled with this same problem (Ezr. 9:10-12; Neh. 13:23-31). Even the priestly office was involved in this sin (Neh. 13:29). God’s covenant with Israel had clearly forbidden marriage to pagans or non-Israelites (Exo. 34:15, 16; Deut. 7:3-4). God was not trying to discriminate against the pagans. He knew that pagan wives and their families would draw Israelites away into idolatry, which was ever-present at the time.

We surely need to make an application here to Christians in modern and postmodern times. Many Christians end up marrying unbelievers. Likely, some hope that their sweetheart will eventually convert. By the way, that makes for a very poor start in marriage when one partner marries with the idea of changing the other partner. Paul tells us that Christians cannot just marry anyone they please but they must marry other Christians (1 Cor. 7:39). The popular Christian writer, Max Lucado says: “ If you are a child of God and you marry a child of the Devil, you’re going to have trouble with your father-in-law.” [13]

“As for the man who does this, whoever he may be, may the LORD remove him from the tents of Jacob – even though he brings an offering to the LORD Almighty” (2:12). Barnes notes that the discipline of removing people from communion for grievous sins was founded on this principle. [14] Pett comments: “…the idea is that he will be cut off from Israel in God’s eyes, even though he continues to offer sacrifices to YHWH. Thus men’s sacrifices will be seen as unwelcome, not only when they are blemished, but also when they are offered by those whose hearts are not right towards God.” [15]

The whole ideas of religious discipline and especially excommunication have become strange ones in our postmodern churches. In Israel’s day and especially at the time of the early church one’s membership was prized and often came at great cost. It was usually disastrous socially and economically for one to leave a congregation. Today in our “seeker-friendly” churches there is little cost and discipline is hardly mentioned. If it is, people will likely bolt and find a new church that suits them better somewhere down the street.

“Another thing you do: You flood the LORD’s altar with tears. You weep and wail because he no longer looks with favor on your offerings or accepts them with pleasure from your hands” (2:13). The Hebrew word she-nit speaks of doing something again or for the second time as we see also in other versions (ESV, NKJ). [16] Faussett mentions that the “second time” could be a relapse of those who had sinned in Ezra chapter 9, or the “second time” could be the sin against their wives. [17] Obviously, the guilty ones making offerings were the men. However, the Lord may well have been speaking about the prayers and tears of the poor rejected women that we will see in the next verse. The people have expressed a flippant attitude by asking “How?,” “How?,” and “Why?,” to the Lord’s questions and charges. Phillips says, “Their question revealed how eroded was their moral sense and how corroded were their consciences.” [18] God was not pleased with their offerings but they apparently were not realizing or understanding that. With the next verse, God nails down the charges so there can be no misunderstandings.

“You ask, ‘Why?’ It is because the LORD is the witness between you and the wife of your youth. You have been unfaithful to her, though she is your partner, the wife of your marriage covenant” (2:14). In Israel during Bible times people married while very young, even in their early teens (cf. Pro. 5:18; Isa. 54:6). Marriage was very serious since God was a witness to it. Pfeiffer & Harrison say: “Since contracts, marriage or other, were consummated with God as a witness (see Gen. 31;49; Prov. 2:17), he deemed guilty the Israelites who had taken to themselves Jewish wives but who now had put them away.” [19]

We see something else in this verse that many are not too familiar with today. Marriage is a covenant relationship that includes God, and it is a relationship for life. It reminds us of the older marriage ceremonies where people traditionally said things like this: “I take you to be my lawfully wedded (husband/wife), to have and to hold, from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, until death do us part.”

Barely a couple of months before writing this, my precious wife Betsy went to be with Jesus. We had been married almost 65 years. Including the year of dating, we had been acquainted for well over 65 years. Our marriage was always blissfully happy. The Lord blessed us with three children and a dozen grandchildren. There were even three great-grandchildren. We always considered our marriage to be a covenant that must not be broken. In fact, on our wedding night, we bowed at our bedside and asked Jesus to come in and be the third party to our marriage. I believe that made all the difference.

“Has not the one God made you? You belong to him in body and spirit. And what does the one God seek? Godly offspring. So be on your guard, and do not be unfaithful to the wife of your youth” (2:15). Verse 11 indicates that the problem with Israel’s leadership was not just in divorcing their Jewish wives. They were doing this so that they could marry pagan wives who were certainly steeped in idolatry. “This is not so much an inter-racial marriage as an inter-faith marriage.” [20] James Burton Coffman, prolific author and teacher, says: “Evil husbands who marry the young and the beautiful, and then, when the bloom of life has faded, shamefully and heartlessly divorce their wives to marry younger women do indeed deal ‘treacherously’ with their wives.” [21] By marrying pagan women they were also dealing treacherously with God and with Israel.

This verse makes clear that marriage is an extremely complex arrangement. It is really built into creation and itself becomes a part of the creation process. Marriage was not invented by judges and lawyers but by God. Pagan people for ages have realized that marriage is special. Barnes says: “…even the pagan knew of marriage, as a religious act, guarded by religious sanctions.” [22] Today, our secular thinkers have happily cast away these thousands of years of good traditions as they have lauded their own recent and crazy ideas of what they think marriage should be. They have even lauded homosexual marriage.

Verse 15 is a little difficult to translate in Hebrew. God did not make only one but he made two who would be bound body and spirit (Gen. 2:18-24; Mk. 10:2-9). His purpose was to bring forth godly children. While God wants husband and wife to be bound together in marital bliss, his ultimate purpose is to bring forth believing children. We have come very near to losing this great purpose in our society today. In a recent Pew Report, it was estimated that a quarter of Millennials will never get married at all. [23] Not only are many young people not marrying, they are marrying much later in life and are not focusing so much on building families. For instance, US birth rates in 2020 indicated a 20 percent decline from 2007. [24] Of course, homosexual marriages are powerless in themselves to bring forth children.

“‘The man who hates and divorces his wife,’ says the LORD, the God of Israel, ‘does violence to the one he should protect,’ says the LORD Almighty. So be on your guard, and do not be unfaithful” (2:16). Here it seems that the NIV makes an unfortunate translation that is disputed by most other versions (cf. NAS, KJV, NET, NKJ, NRS). To this Hebrew speaker, the language of this verse seems quite simple and not at all opaque. It says, God hates divorce or putting away. Perhaps it would help if we used the NRS version which says: “For I hate divorce, says the LORD, the God of Israel, and covering one’s garment with violence, says the LORD of hosts. So take heed to yourselves and do not be faithless” (Mal. 2:16).

In the Old Testament, Moses allowed divorce (Deut. 24:1-4). But Jesus in Matthew 19:3-9 gave the reason for this allowance. Moses allowed it because of the hardness of people’s hearts. Divorce was not in God’s original intentions and those who divorced and remarried became adulterers in God’s sight. In the above Matthew passage, Jesus gives one of the two allowances for divorce and that is marital unfaithfulness. The other allowance that would be given later was desertion by an unbelieving spouse (1 Cor. 7:10-16). Baldwin comments: “Only when both parents remain faithful to their marriage vows can the children be given the security which provides the basis of godly living. The family was intended to be the school in which God’s way of life was practiced and learned (Ex. 20:12; Dt. 11:19).” [25]

Malachi 2:16 reflects an ancient custom regarding marriage. The Israelite would place a corner of his garment over the one to be his wife (Ezek. 16:8; Ruth 3:9). Here in Malachi, that custom is referred to, but the garment turns out to be one of violence (cf. Psa. 73:6; 109:18).

It is rather amazing in the prophets to see how rapidly people fell away from godly patterns and even from great revival movements. Sin is of such a nature that it exerts a constant downward pull on people, much like gravity. The time frame of this downward pull seems to be entirely predictable. In the natural world carbon dating is based on a predictable formula. It appears that all living things absorb radioactive carbon 14 while they live. When the plant or animal dies that absorption ceases. However, the radioactive carbon they have accumulated continues to decay at a steady rate that can be measured accurately over time – hence, carbon dating.

Religious faith is much like that. Whether it be a revival movement, a new denomination, religious reform, religious activity or religious organization, it depreciates at a given and measurable rate. Wiersbe quotes Dr. Vance Havner who has tried to put all this into a formula. He says, “First there is a man, then a movement, then a machine, and then a monument.” [26]

“You have wearied the LORD with your words. ‘How have we wearied him?’ you ask. By saying, ‘All who do evil are good in the eyes of the LORD, and he is pleased with them’ or ‘Where is the God of justice?’” (2:17). In all likelihood, they had wearied the Lord by their stupid and repetitive questions of “How?” It is true that these people were discouraged and they were murmuring against their God. Augustine (354-430 AD) said that “such murmurings against God were the result of an unspiritual interpretation of the law.” [27] One thing that obviously discouraged them was the appearance that the wicked prospered while they did not. Such thoughts once almost destroyed the Psalmist. He envied the wicked until his feet had just about slipped. Then he finally entered God’s sanctuary and realized their terrible end (Psa. 73:17). These people probably had spent a lot of time murmuring but not enough time worshipping God in their new temple.

Baldwin sums up their situation by saying: “Disillusionment had followed the rebuilding of the Temple because, though decade followed decade, no supernatural event marked the return of the Lord to Zion…His delays were being taken as an excuse for atheism. The question ‘Where is the God of justice?’ was tantamount to doubting his existence.” [28]

Footnotes

1. Wiersbe, The Wiersbe Bible Commentary, OT, pp. 1526-1527.

2. C. W. Slemming, Thus Shalt Thou Serve (Fort Washington, PA: Christian Literature Crusade, 1966), p. 42.

3. Pfeiffer, et. al. The Wycliffe Bible Commentary, p. 915.

4. Phillips, Exploring The Minor Prophets, p. 325.

5. Fritz A. Rothschild, ed., Between God and Man, An Interpretation of Judaism, from the writings of Abraham J. Heschel, (NY: The Free Press, 1959), pp. 52-53.

6. Coffman, Commentary on Malachi, Coffman Commentaries on the Bible, v. 2:6.

7. Scott Cleland with Ira Brodsky, Search & Destroy, Why You Can’t Trust Google Inc. (St Louis MO: 2011), p. 148.

8. https://www.ncronline.org/news/opinion/signs-times/bad-priests-all-kinds-chase-people-away-christ-and-church

9. Baldwin, Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi, p. 237.

10. Ibid.

11. Phillips, Exploring The Minor Prophets, p. 327.

12. Guzik, Enduring Word Bible Commentaries, vs. 11-12.

13. Max Lucado, Max on Life, (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 2010), p. 135.

14. Barnes, Commentary on Malachi, Barnes’ Notes on the Whole Bible, v. 2:12.

15. Pett, Commentary on Malachi, Peter Pett’s Commentary on the Bible, v. 2:12.

16. Brown, et. al. A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament Brown, p. 1041.

17. Jamieson, et. al., Commentary on Malachi, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible, v. 2:13.

18. Phillips, Exploring The Minor Prophets, p. 32.

19. Pfeiffer, et. al. The Wycliffe Bible Commentary, p. 916.

20. Utley, Free Bible Commentary, v. 2:15.

21. Coffman, Commentary on Malachi, Coffman Commentaries on the Bible, v. 2:14.

22. Barnes, Commentary on Malachi, Barnes’ Notes on the Whole Bible, v. 2:14.

23. Matt Walsh, The Unholy Trinity, Blocking the Left’s Assault on Life, Marriage, and Gender (New York: Crown Publishing Group, 2017), p. 97.

24. https://www.google.com/search?q=us+birth+rate+falling

25. Baldwin, Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi, p. 241.

26. Quoted in Warren W. Wiersbe, The Wiersbe Bible Commentary, NT (Colorado Springs: David C. Cook, 2007), p. 486.

27. Alberto Ferrekiro, ed., Ancient Christian Commentary of Scripture, XIV, The Twelve Prophets (Downers Grove, Intervarsity Press, 2003), p. 298.

28. Baldwin, Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi, p. 242.