Malachi 02
Malachi 2:1 “Now, you priests, this commandment is for you.
Malachi offered a warning to the priests of Israel.
2 If you do not listen and take seriously the need to honor my name,” says the Lord who rules over all, “I will send judgment on you and turn your blessings into curses—indeed, I have already done so because you are not taking it to heart.
If the priests continued to dishonor the name of God by accepting sick and weakly sacrifices, then God would curse the priesthood.
3 I am about to discipline your children and will spread offal on your faces, the very offal produced at your festivals, and you will be carried away along with it.
If the priests continued to accept sick and weakly sacrifices, then Jehovah would spread the dung of the sacrifices on the faces of the priests.
4 Then you will know that I sent this commandment to you so that my covenant may continue to be with Levi,” says the Lord who rules over all.
God made a separate covenant with the Levites. They were to become the teachers of Israel. They would teach about God by instruction, ritual, and song.
5 “My covenant with him was designed to bring life and peace. I gave its statutes to him to fill him with awe, and he indeed revered me and stood in awe before me.
When God made the original Levitical covenant with Aaron, then Aaron feared and respected God. The modern Levites did not possess this same awe and respect for this special relationship with God. The purpose of this covenant was to bring survival and peace to Israel. Without strong leadership from the Levitical priesthood, the nation would slip into apostasy.
6 He taught what was true; sinful words were not found on his lips. He walked with me in peace and integrity, and he turned many people away from sin.
This is a very interesting verse. The Bible only mentions three men who ever walked with God. They were Enoch, Noah, and Levi.
7 For the lips of a priest should preserve knowledge of sacred things, and people should seek instruction from him because he is the messenger of the Lord who rules over all.
The Levitical priests were to preserve the knowledge of the Lord and instruct the people. The Levites preserved the Scriptures with their strict copyist methods. Notice also that the Levites were the second messenger listed in this book. Just as Malachi was a messenger from the Lord, the Levites were given this same responsibility. Because the Levites were refusing to fulfill their role as instructors, God had to send prophets in their place.
8 You, however, have turned from the way. You have caused many to violate the law; you have corrupted the covenant with Levi,” says the Lord who rules over all.
Levi kept God’s commandments, but his descendants had turned away from the Mosaic Covenant. The Levites were breaking the Law, not teaching their people the Law, and causing people to break the Law.
This Levitical negation of Biblical instruction is very similar to teaching methods inside of the modern church today. Pastors are not teaching the entire counsel of the Word of God to their congregations. This is causing the electorate to become biblically ignorant. The biblically ignorant electorate is voting into office godless politicians who are passing godless laws.
9 “Therefore, I have caused you to be ignored and belittled before all people to the extent to which you are not following after me and are showing partiality in your instruction.”
Instead of being respected as Israel’s teachers, God caused the priesthood to be contemptible to the people.
10 Do we not all have one father? Did not one God create us? Why do we betray one another, in this way making light of the covenant of our ancestors?
The people believed that since God was their Father, He would forgive them no matter what they did.
Malachi responded with a question, “If this is true, then why does every Jew deal treacherously with each other? Why does every Jew have so little regard for the Mosaic Law?”
11 Judah has become disloyal, and unspeakable sins have been committed in Israel and Jerusalem. For Judah has profaned the holy things that the Lord loves and has turned to a foreign god!
It was against the Mosaic Law for Jews to marry Gentiles, unless the Gentiles first converted to the worship of Jehovah, such as Rahab and Ruth. The problem with Gentile marriage was that the spouse would be seduced into worshipping demonic gods. The children would be exposed to the worship of demonic gods. The spouses were adding Satan as a father-in-law to the family. Israel could not teach the Gentiles to leave these demonic gods if they were intermarrying with them. God does not allow His chosen people to compromise with the devil.
12 May the Lord cut off from the community of Jacob every last person who does this, as well as the person who presents improper offerings to the Lord who rules over all!
Since the religious and political leaders were not enforcing capital punishment upon those who violated this Mosaic Law, then God Himself would enforce capital punishment on any Jew who intermarried with Gentile spouses. The purpose of this Law was to protect the community from worshipping demons.
Homosexuality was listed as a capital offense sin in the Old Testament. The punishment was death by stoning. The purpose was to protect the community from a sin which God called an abomination.
In the New Testament, Paul listed homosexuality and lesbianism as a great sin of humanity. Since modern nations have refused to protect their communities from the dangers of homosexuality by neglecting capital punishment, it is interesting to note that God has sent an AIDS epidemic upon this rebellious community. Is it possible that God is inflicting the death penalty Himself, just as He did during the days of Malachi? Is it possible that Satan has created “hate crime laws” to protect homosexuals from pastors who teach exactly what the Word of God says on these issues?
Everyone must choose to follow God’s laws or the laws of the satanic world system. Baby Christians will compromise. Mature believers who have studied the entire counsel of the Word of God at the deepest level will not.
13 You also do this: You cover the altar of the Lord with tears as you weep and groan, because he no longer pays any attention to the offering nor accepts it favorably from you.
The Jews were divorcing their Jewish wives in order to marry these pagan wives. Therefore, God would not accept the offerings of His people, even though they offered them with tears and weepings.
14 Yet you ask, “Why?” The Lord is testifying against you on behalf of the wife you married when you were young, to whom you have become unfaithful even though she is your companion and wife by law.
The Jews asked “why?” they could not divorce their Jewish wives. First, the wives were their lifetime companions, because they were one flesh. Second, the husband and wife had entered into a lifetime covenant. To divorce a Jewish wife who was loyal to God and loyal to the marriage covenant was spiritual high treason against God.
15 No one who has even a small portion of the Spirit in him does this. What did our ancestor do when seeking a child from God? Be attentive, then, to your own spirit, for one should not be disloyal to the wife he took in his youth.
If couples are led by the Spirit of God, then they would not divorce. The purpose of marriage is to produce a godly seed who will follow and honor God. When parents divorce, they are not being a good example for their children. God warned these Jewish men not to be disloyal to their wives.
16 “I hate divorce,” says the Lord God of Israel, “and the one who is guilty of violence,” says the Lord who rules over all. “Pay attention to your conscience, and do not be unfaithful.”
When a Jewish man married his wife, then he placed his garment over her to claim her as his wife. When a man divorces his wife, he was covering her with a garnet of violence.
17 You have wearied the Lord with your words. But you say, “How have we wearied him?” Because you say, “Everyone who does evil is good in the Lord’s opinion, and he delights in them,” or “Where is the God of justice?”
God was tired of hearing the whining of His people. The people asked, “How have we wearied the Lord with our words?” They wearied God with their words by claiming that God was allowing evil in Israel and doing nothing about it. The truth was that God allowed the evil to go unpunished, because this is what the people deserved.