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Malachi 2

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Condemnation of the Priests 1–3

1
And now, O ye priests, this commandment is for you. ​
2
If ye will not hear, and if ye will not lay it to heart, to give glory unto my name, saith Jehovah of hosts, then will I send the curse upon you, and I will curse your blessings; yea, I have cursed them already, because ye do not lay it to heart. ​
3
Behold, I will rebuke your seed, and will spread dung upon your faces, even the dung of your feasts; and ye shall be taken away with it. ​

The Ideal Covenant of Levi 4–9

4
And ye shall know that I have sent this commandment unto you, that my covenant may be with Levi, saith Jehovah of hosts. ​
5
My covenant was with him of life and peace; and I gave them to him that he might fear; and he feared me, and stood in awe of my name. ​
6
The law of truth was in his mouth, and unrighteousness was not found in his lips: he walked with me in peace and uprightness, and turned many away from iniquity. ​
7
For the priest’s lips should keep knowledge, and they should seek the law at his mouth; for he is the messenger of Jehovah of hosts. ​
8
But ye are turned aside out of the way; ye have caused many to stumble in the law; ye have corrupted the covenant of Levi, saith Jehovah of hosts. ​
9
Therefore have I also made you contemptible and base before all the people, according as ye have not kept my ways, but have had respect of persons in the law. ​

Treachery and Foreign Marriages 10–12

10
Have we not all one father? hath not one God created us? why do we deal treacherously every man against his brother, profaning the covenant of our fathers? ​
11
Judah hath dealt treacherously, and an abomination is committed in Israel and in Jerusalem; for Judah hath profaned the holiness of Jehovah which he loveth, and hath married the daughter of a foreign god. ​
12
Jehovah will cut off, to the man that doeth this, him that waketh and him that answereth, out of the tents of Jacob, and him that offereth an offering unto Jehovah of hosts. ​

God Hates Divorce 13–16

13
And this again ye do: ye cover the altar of Jehovah with tears, with weeping, and with sighing, insomuch that he regardeth not the offering any more, neither receiveth it with good will at your hand. ​
14
Yet ye say, Wherefore? Because Jehovah hath been witness between thee and the wife of thy youth, against whom thou hast dealt treacherously, though she is thy companion, and the wife of thy covenant. ​
15
And did he not make one, although he had the residue of the Spirit? And wherefore one? He sought a godly seed. Therefore take heed to your spirit, and let none deal treacherously against the wife of his youth. ​
16
For I hate putting away, saith Jehovah, the God of Israel, and him that covereth his garment with violence, saith Jehovah of hosts: therefore take heed to your spirit, that ye deal not treacherously. ​

The Lord's Messenger Will Come 17

17
Ye have wearied Jehovah with your words. Yet ye say, Wherein have we wearied him? In that ye say, Every one that doeth evil is good in the sight of Jehovah, and he delighteth in them; or where is the God of justice? ​

Bible text: American Standard Version (1901) · Public domain

Study Notes for Malachi 2

Verse 1

this commandment is for you — 'Commandment' is mitsvah, the warning that vv.2–9 spell out; v.4 calls it 'this commandment' again. 'O ye priests' returns to the men who 'despise my name' in 1:6, and Hosea opens a charge against the priests the same way, 'Hear ye this, O priests' (Hos 5:1).

Verse 2

I will curse your blessings — To 'lay it to heart' is literally to set it upon the heart. The priests were to put the LORD's name on Israel for blessing (Num 6:27); now their blessings fall under the 'curse' (me'erah) of Deut 28:20, 'The LORD shall send upon thee cursing'. 'Glory' (kabod) is the word 'honour' in 1:6.

Verse 3

spread dung upon your faces — 'Corrupt' is ga'ar, to rebuke, the verb of 'I will rebuke the devourer' (Mal 3:11). The 'dung' (peresh) is the waste of the sacrificed animal, carried 'without the camp' and burned (Ex 29:14). Here it is thrown on the priests' own faces, and 'one shall take you away with it'.

Verse 4

my covenant might be with Levi — The Levites were taken for the LORD 'instead of all the firstborn' (Num 3:12), and Moses blessed Levi: 'They shall teach Jacob thy judgments, and Israel thy law' (Deut 33:10). The covenant is named again in v.8 and in Neh 13:29, 'the covenant of the priesthood, and of the Levites'.

Verse 5

of life and peace — The 'covenant of peace' was given to Phinehas, who was 'zealous for his God' (Num 25:12–13). 'Fear' (mora) is the word of 1:6, 'where is my fear?': Levi gave the fear the priests now withhold. 'Was afraid' is chathath, to be dismayed, in the presence of the name that the priests now despise.

Verse 6

The law of truth — Torah of emet, teaching of truth. 'Iniquity' ('avlah) was not found in his lips, and he 'did turn many away from iniquity'; Daniel gives the same to the wise, 'they that turn many to righteousness' (Dan 12:3). 'Many' (rabbim) is the word used again in v.8 for those the priests now make stumble.

Verse 7

the priest's lips should keep knowledge — The priest taught the statutes (Lev 10:11), so the people 'seek the law at his mouth'. 'Messenger' is mal'ak, the word of 'my messenger' and 'the messenger of the covenant' in 3:1, and of Haggai, 'the LORD'S messenger' (Hag 1:13). The priest's task is to carry the LORD's word.

Verse 8

ye have corrupted the covenant of Levi — 'Corrupted' is shachath, the verb of the 'corrupt thing' in 1:14. 'Stumble' is kashal; the 'many' (rabbim) Levi once turned from iniquity (v.6) now stumble 'at the law'. Nehemiah later found the priesthood again defiled, and prayed over 'the covenant of the priesthood' (Neh 13:29).

Verse 9

contemptible and base — 'Contemptible' is bazah, the verb of 'despise my name' in 1:6: those who despised are made despised. 'Base' (shaphal) is low. To be 'partial in the law' is literally to lift up faces, the idiom of 1:8–9, against the command 'Ye shall not respect persons in judgment' (Deut 1:17).

Verse 10

one father… one God — Echad, 'one', is twice repeated, the word of Zech 14:9. The LORD is called 'father' of Israel in Deut 32:6, and 'created' is bara. The verb 'deal treacherously' (bagad) then sounds in vv.10, 11, 14, 15 and 16, joined here with 'profaning' (chalal) the covenant of the fathers.

Verse 11

the daughter of a strange god — Bat el nekar: a woman belonging to a foreign god. 'The holiness of the LORD which he loved' is qodesh, which Jer 2:3 uses of Israel itself, 'Israel was holiness unto the LORD'; some take it of the sanctuary. The command stood from the entry into the land: 'Neither shalt thou make marriages with them' (Deut 7:3–4; Ezra 9:2).

Verse 12

the master and the scholar — Literally 'him that wakes and him that answers', an expression that takes in every man, whatever his place. He is cut off 'out of the tabernacles of Jacob', and even the one who 'offereth an offering' is not spared. The high priest's own grandson was one such, the son-in-law of Sanballat (Neh 13:28).

Verse 13

covering the altar of the LORD with tears — 'Tears', 'weeping' and 'crying out' are three words. The offering is refused: 'he regardeth not the offering', and 'receiveth it with good will at your hand' recalls 1:10, 'neither will I accept an offering at your hand'. The next verse gives the reason, and Isa 1:11–15 gives the same refusal.

Verse 14

the wife of thy youth — The LORD 'hath been witness' ('ud) between the husband and wife, as God was 'witness betwixt me and thee' in Gen 31:50. 'Companion' (chaberah) occurs only here, and 'the wife of thy covenant' makes marriage a covenant, as Prov 2:17 calls it 'the covenant of her God'.

Verse 15

a godly seed — One of the hardest verses in the book, read in more than one way. One reading, which Matt 19:4–6 bears out, is that God made one man and one woman though he 'had… the residue of the spirit' and could have made more; 'godly' is Elohim, literally 'a seed of God'. 'Take heed to your spirit' is repeated in v.16.

Verse 16

he hateth putting away — 'Putting away' is shalach, to send away; 'hateth' is the verb of 1:3. Moses allowed a 'bill of divorcement' (Deut 24:1), and Christ gave the reason, 'because of the hardness of your hearts… but from the beginning it was not so' (Matt 19:8). 'Violence covereth them as a garment' is the picture of Ps 73:6.

Verse 17

Ye have wearied the LORD with your words — 'Wearied' is yaga, as in Isa 43:24, 'thou hast wearied me with thine iniquities'. Their saying that evil is 'good' is what Isa 5:20 calls the woe; 'Where is the God of judgment?' is answered in 3:1 by the Lord who 'shall suddenly come to his temple', as 2 Pet 3:4 records a like cry, 'Where is the promise of his coming?'