THE PROPHET
MALACHI

Malachi 2

1The priests are sharply reproved for profaning the covenant which was given them; 10and the people for marrying strange wives, 13and treacherously putting away their former ones; 17and for impiety.


1AND now, O ye priests, 1this commandment 2is for you.

1 Namely, the commandment of keeping God’s worship in honor, and reforming the abuses which were crept in, spoken of in Malachi 1.

2 Or, is sent; see verse 4.

2If ye will not hear, and if ye will not lay 3it 4to heart, to give glory unto my name, saith the LORD of hosts, I will even send a cursea upon you, and I will curse 5your blessings: yea, I have cursed them already, because ye do 6not lay it to heart.

3 Namely, the commandment.

4 Hebr. lay it upon the heart.

a Lev. 26:14; Deut. 28:15.

5 That is, the goods and enjoyments, which through My blessing you have gotten; or, the blessing which the priests utter over the people.

6 As before in this verse.

3Behold, 7I will corrupt your seed, and 8spread dung upon your faces, even the dung 9of your solemn feasts; and one shall take you 10away with it.

7 That is, I shall cause the seed, which you throw into the ground, to corrupt and to spoil there. See further of the signification of the Hebrew word, Psalm 9 on verse 5, the annotation. Some understand here by the seed the posterity, in this sense: I will curse your posterity.

8 That is, I will make you so vile and contemptible, that every one shall loath and turn away from you.

9 That is, the dung of the beasts, which you bring to your solemn feast days. See Psalm 118 on verse 27, the annotation. See Exod. 23:18; Isa. 29:1.

10 The sense is: you shall be so covered over with filth and ordure that the scavengers shall make riddance of you as of noxious carrion. Other, the punishment shall take you away.

4And ye shall 11know that I have sent this commandment unto you, 12that my covenant might be with Levi, saith the LORD of hosts.

11 That is, experience indeed and become aware of it, that you bear this punishment because you transgressed My commandment. See verse 1.

12 That is, that My grace together with the priestly dignity, which by a special promise and covenant I gave unto the tribe of Levi (of which ye priests are descended) may continue among you, and you, by your unfaithfulness and wickedness, be not utterly deprived of it.

5My covenant was 13with him 14of life and peace; and I gave 15them to him 16for the fear wherewith he feared me, and 17was afraid before my name.

13 Namely, with Levi, that is with the tribe of Levi; or, with him, namely, with Aaron and his posterity.

14 That is, I promised unto the tribe of Levi, together with the priesthood, all manner of prosperity, temporal and spiritual. Or, of life and of peace; or, unto life, etc.

15 Namely, life and peace, that is, all prosperity.

16 That is, in order that he would fear Me, as also he did.

17 See an example of the zeal of the Levites, Exod. 32:26, etc. and Num. 25:7, 8, 12. Others understand this such that the Levites served the Lord with all submission and humility. Other, he (namely, Levi) is bruised for my name’s sake, that is, he has undergone and suffered all kinds of troubles and hardship for My Name’s sake.

6The law of truth was in his mouth, and iniquity was 18not found in his lips: 19he walked with me 20in peace and equity, and 21did turn many away from iniquity.

18 That is, no false doctrine or unrighteous judgment. Understand this also, namely, to do this as much as is humanly speaking possible; for to speak properly, this phrase, of having no guile found in his mouth, belongs to none but only to our Lord Christ Jesus, Isa. 53:9.

19 See Gen. 5 on verse 22.

20 That is, obediently, without rebellion, so that we could very well agree together.

21 Namely, Aaron, or Levi, verse 4, that is, the entire tribe of Levi.

7For the priest’s 22lips should keep knowledge, and they should seek the law at his mouth: for he is 23the messenger of the LORD of hosts.

22 A good teacher ought to be as the treasury in God’s house, and he must not keep the treasures of the Divine mysteries for himself alone, but impart them freely and faithfully to his hearers. See Lev. 10:11; Deut. 33:10; Hag. 2:12.

23 That is, an angel, ambassador. See Hag. 1:3, 13; 2 Cor. 5:20.

8But ye are departed out 24of the way; 25ye have caused many to stumble at the law; ye have corrupted 26the covenant of Levi, saith the LORD of hosts.

24 Namely, of the way of the true knowledge and godliness, wherein your predecessors, the holy men of God, have walked.

25 Ye became to many a stone of offence, and have caused many to stumble by your evil example and course of action.

26 That is, the covenant made with the tribe of Levi and all the priesthood. See verse 5.

9Therefore have I also made you contemptible and 27base before all the people, 28according as ye have not kept my ways, but have been 29partial in the law.

27 Hebr. low, humble.

28 Hebr. according to the mouth that ye are not keeping my ways, that is, the course of life which I have prescribed you in My law, and which becomes all godly persons.

29 That is, in matters of the law, in the exposition of the law; or, against the law, that is, whereas ye ought to judge according to the law, ye judge according to the appearance of persons, as ye affect or disaffect them. See Ezek. 22:26; Zeph. 3:4. See of this manner of speaking Gen. 19 on verse 21; Lev. 19 on verse 15. Others take the words of this text thus: ye lift up the face against the law, that is, whiles ye pervert the true sense of the law, ye bear it out with much insolence and arrogance.

1030Have we not all one father? hath not one God created us? 31why do we deal treacherously 32every man against his brother, by profaning 33the covenant of our fathers?

30 Some understand this to be the words of Malachi, and take them in this sense: Are we not the people, whom the Lord chose out of all nations, and who have proceeded all from Abraham? Why then do some among us break the law of God, by marrying idolatrous women? This Abraham, Isaac, Jacob etc. never did. Others take these words as spoken by them who would defend such heathenish marriages, as if they would argue thus: Are we not all together descended from Adam? And is it not one and the same God, Who has created us all? How or, for what reason should we despise those who are of one and the same nature with ourselves, and have all one and the same Father, or cast off the wives we have taken out of other nations?

31 For, why then do ye treat treacherously the one toward the other, … ? That is, ye Jews among yourselves, marrying over and above the lawful Jewish wives, heathenish ones besides. If one takes it in this sense, then they are the words of the prophet.

32 Heb. the man with his brother.

33 By which the Jewish people had bound themselves, who should be a holy people.

11¶Judah hath dealt treacherously, and an abomination is committed in Israel and in Jerusalem; for Judah hath profanedb34the holiness of the LORD which 35he loved, 36and hath married the daughter of a strange god.

b to dishonour

34 That is, the holy wedlock instituted by God.

35 Namely, the Lord. Other, which he (namely, Judah) ought to have loved.

36 Thereby he profanes the holiness of the Lord by marrying the daughter of a strange god, that is, a foreign woman outside the commonwealth of Israel, one who serves a strange god. See Ezra 9; 10; Neh. 13:23, etc. And observe here, that as the godly are called the children of God, so wicked idolaters are called the sons and daughters of idols, or of strange gods.

12The LORD will 37cut off the man that doeth 38this, the master and the 39scholar, out of the tabernacles of Jacob, and him that offereth an 40offering unto the LORD of hosts.

37 While this is conceived to have been spoken to the priests and the Levites, who had likewise defiled themselves with their marriage of strange women, therefore the words cut off seem here to imply a casting out of the temple or from the altar, in order that they would not be permitted to serve the Lord anymore.

38 Such an abomination of which is spoken in verse 11.

39 Or, him that waketh, and him that answereth, that is, not only him who does it eagerly, seriously or industriously, but also the one who wants to justify and defend the same. Yet others understand here by the master the doorkeepers of the temple, and by the scholar the priests, who were appointed to teach the people, and being asked about matters of religion or divine worship, to give answers. See verse 7. Others hold them to be the singers in the temple, who were wont to sing by turns, interchangeably answering one another; the prophet’s intent being here, only to show, that all conditions and degrees of ecclesiastical persons had also defiled themselves with these sins.

40 Namely, to appease God, knowing that He must needs be offended for having married a foreign wife.

13And this have 41ye done again, 42covering the altar of the LORD with tears, with weeping, and with crying out, insomuch that 43he regardeth not 44the offering any more, or receiveth it with good will at your hand.

41 Who marry strange women.

42 Not with your own tears of contrition, but with the tears of your lawful wives, giving them cause to complain to the Lord of the wrong you do them, by marrying, besides them, other or foreign wives. See Lev. 18:18; 1 Sam. 1:6.

43 Namely, the Lord.

44 Which ye offer Him.

14¶Yet ye say, 45Wherefore? Because the LORD hath been 46witness between thee and 47the wife of thy youth, against whom thou hast dealt treacherously: yet is she thy companion, and 48the wife of thy covenant.

45 Namely, may or will the Lord not regard our meat offering?

46 Namely, a Witness of the promise, which thou hast made to thy first wife in marrying her, being requested thereto from thee.

47 That is, whom ye have married in your youth. Other, thy young wife.

48 That is, with whom, by solemn covenant and obligation of wedlock and by calling upon the Name of God, you have firmly joined and indissolubly united. See Prov. 2 on verse 17.

15And did not 49he make 50one? Yet had 51he the residue of the spirit. And wherefore 52one? That 53he might seek a godly seed. Therefore take heed 54to your spirit, and let none deal treacherously against the wife 55of his youth.

49 Namely, the Lord.

50 To wit, man, namely, Adam, out of whom He made Eve. Implying that it is against the first institution of marriage that one man should have more then one wife, for God would have one man and one woman to be one flesh. See Gen. 1:27; 2:24; Mat. 19:4, 5; Mark 10:6, 7, etc.; 1 Cor. 6:16; Eph. 5:31.

51 God could truly, if so it had pleased Him, have created more female bodies, and breathed a living breath into them, lacking no power to provide more wives for Adam. Since He has not done as such, it is evident that it was not His will that one man should have more than one woman as his wife.

52 Namely, man.

53 Or, he sought a divine seed, that is, a lawful marriage of one man and one woman. Some translate it thus: But hath not the single one (namely, Abraham) done that, and he had an excellent spirit? What did the single one? He sought the seed of God. As being first an objection of the Jews: Has Abraham, our father, not done that, while being single and childless, he took Hagar to wife also, beside Sarah, the wife of his youth? Nevertheless, he had an excellent spirit. The answer is: He has done no such thing. But what then has he done that single one, namely, Abraham? He sought the seed of God, which was promised him, and married Hagar, one who knew God, not to affect sorrow and grief to Sarah, etc.

54 That is, beware and look well that you despise not, nor cast off your lawful wife with your senses and understanding, nor take any other beside her, and bridle your carnal lusts. Compare Mat. 19:4.

55 Hebr. thy youth.

16For the LORD, the God of Israel, saith that he hateth 56putting away: for 57one covereth 58violence 59with his garment, saith the LORD of hosts: therefore take heed to your spirit, that ye deal 60not treacherously.

56 Namely, the forsaking of lawful wives by a bill of divorce. See Mat. 5:31. Though some take it thus: when he (namely, the man) hates, (namely, his wife) let him forsake her; not by way of command, but by permission and connivance because of the people’s hardness, as God formerly permitted it by Moses, Mat. 19:8.

57 Namely, who unlawfully forsakes his wife.

58 That is, violence done to his wife, sending her away without any lawful cause.

59 That is, with such excuses or that cloak, which Moses permitted it to men, that they might forsake their wives by a bill of divorce (see Deut. 24:1), or with any other pretences which may serve to his blamelessness.

60 Namely, with your lawful wives, by sending them away thus by a letter of divorce.

17¶Ye 61have wearied the LORD with your words. 62Yet ye say, Wherein 63have we wearied him? When ye say, Every one that doeth evil 64is good in the sight of the LORD, and he delighteth 65in them; or, Where is 66the God of judgment?

61 Or, Ye make him weary. The sense is: Ye murmur against God, Who does not right away answer you, as soon as ye call upon Him. It is spoken after the manner of men. See Isa. 43 on verse 24.

62 Other, if you did say.

63 Or, make we him weary.

64 That is, he pleases the Lord and is acceptable to Him. From this they concluded that they saw many wicked prosper much on earth and many godly suffer much. See Psalm 37:1.

65 Namely, to such a people who do evil.

66 Or, the God that punisheth? As if they said: He is far from us; we cannot see that He punishes lightly those who offend Him; therefore, it is in vain that you threaten us with Him, say they.