Malachi

OR, THE STATE OF THINGS AT THE END.

By Edward Dennett

Chapter 2

 

THIS chapter is chiefly devoted to the priests. They were formally addressed in the first chapter, but there rather as being the expression of the state of the people, on the principle, "Like priest, like people." Here it is their own fearful degradation that is brought to light, in contrast with what they ought to have been as chosen of God for the communication of His mind and will, and as intermediaries between Himself and His people, Most abrupt and severely solemn is the opening of the chapter: "And now, O ye priests, this commandment is for you." Then, from verses 2 to 4, we have the denunciation of judgment unless they should repent; from verses 5 to 7, what God intended the priest to be; and then, in verses 8 and 9, their actual condition, and God's action towards them Such is the outline of the first part of the chapter, which we now proceed to examine.

Every reader of the Scriptures must have noticed that there is always, so to speak, a period of grace before the visitation of judgment. So here. God first exposes the sorrowful moral state of His people, and then, while warning them that He cannot continue to tolerate their highhanded iniquity, He gives them space for repentance. "If ye will not hear," He says, "and if ye will not lay it to heart, to give glory unto my name, saith the Lord of hosts, I will even send a curse upon you, and I will curse your blessings: yea, I have cursed them already, because ye do not lay it to heart."

This passage is very instructive. It teaches us what God desires from His people while in the place of testimony. It is to give glory unto His name. Thus at the very outset He said to Moses, "Behold, I send an Angel before thee, to keep thee in the way, and to bring thee into the place which I have prepared. Beware of Him, and obey His voice, provoke Him not; for He will not pardon your transgressions: for my name is in Him." (Ex. 23:20-21.) The glory of His name (and this name is now fully expressed in the Lord Jesus Christ; for the divine name signifies the truth of what God is, and all the glory of God shines forth now, as we know, in the face of Christ at the right hand of God), is the one object God has at heart, and the dishonour of that name is consequently the one thing which He cannot overlook. What a lesson to us in this day, brought as we are through the death and resurrection of Christ into God's immediate presence, — and possessing as we do the blessed privilege, while here upon the earth, of being gathered unto the name of Christ! How zealous it should make us, in all the details of our meetings and of our service, to uphold the honour of the name of Christ, to make that our first aim in all connected with the Church of God; for it is only then that we can be in the enjoyment of fellowship with the heart of God. Through all and by all He is working for this one end — the glory of His name; and if we have entered in any measure into His mind and will, His aim and end will also be ours. In this way also we have a certain test for all our own actions and activities as well for all the schemes and work of the professing Church. The simple question, "Is it for the glory of the Lord's name?" will elicit the character of everything that claims our attention.

A second lesson is, that the object of God's ways in government with His people is that they may lay their condition to heart. On this account it is He uses His rod. This is strikingly exemplified in the book of Haggai "Thus saith the Lord of hosts; Consider your ways." For there the remnant were occupied with their own interests, building their own houses, and neglecting the house of the Lord. God therefore, as in Malachi, "cursed their blessings," saying, I smote you with blasting, and with mildew, and with hail, in all the labours of your hands; yet ye turned not to me, saith the Lord." (Haggai 1, 2) On the same principle He still acts in government, and many a chastening which falls upon His people has for its end that they may lay their condition to heart. And nothing proves so distinctly the insensibility of our hearts when, after passing through trials, whether individually or in connection with the Church, we pay little or no heed as to the object God had in view, and flatter ourselves that all is well. Every stroke of God's rod should produce great searchings of heart, and where it does not, it is the sure precursor of the sorer chastenings of His hand. For, as we learn from this scripture, God does not forget; for He says, "If ye will not hear, and if ye will not lay it to heart, I WILL curse your blessings."

He goes still further: "Behold, I will corrupt" [see margin] "your seed, and spread dung upon your faces, even the dung of your solemn feasts; and one shall take you away with it." (v. 3.) This passage is somewhat obscure as it stands in our translation, but it is not difficult to ascertain its general meaning.¹ It was ever a characteristic of the Jew, that the farther he had departed in heart from the Lord, the more he prided himself upon the externals of the Mosaic economy, and upon all the ritualistic observances he himself had connected with it. (See Matt. 15) It was so at this time, and Jehovah warns them that He will humiliate them in the very things by which they exalted themselves. Thus, as they had said, "The table of Jehovah is polluted; and the fruit thereof, even His meat, is contemptible" (Mal. 1:12), so He would pollute and make them contemptible by means of the very beasts — blind and lame and sick — wherewith they dishonoured Jehovah's name. But again, in His tender mercy, even this dealing of His hand should have the correction of His priests as its aim; for He says, "And ye shall know that I have sent this commandment unto you, that my covenant might be with Levi, saith the Lord of hosts."

The mention of the name of Levi leads to the introduction of the nature of God's original covenant with him, and the statement of God's own thought of the priesthood when He first established it. Connected with this is a principle of great importance, affirmed everywhere in the Scripture. It is, that in times of apostasy the real state of those in it can only be understood when tested by what it was at the outset, For example, if we would comprehend the condition of the Church at the present moment, we must compare it with Pentecost. So when the Lord sends His message to Ephesus, He says, "I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love. Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen; and repent, and do the first works." To Sardis He also says, "Remember therefore how thou hast received and heard," &c. (Rev. 2, 3) In like manner God, in this scripture, puts alongside the corruption into which the priests had fallen what the priesthood was in its first institution. This principle contains a greatly-needed lesson for this day. We are continually exhorted to go back to the "fathers" for guidance in ecclesiastical matters. Go back by all means, not, however, to the fathers, but to the fountainhead, the apostolic and inspired writings. Only thus can we detect our departure from the truth and our fallen condition.

Let us now examine this beautiful picture of the priesthood as delineated by the Lord Himself through the prophet. It was a sovereign act of God's favour in choosing Aaron and his sons for the priesthood. (Ex. 28:1.)² It was not till afterwards that God made a covenant with "Levi," and then on the ground of their faithfulness in the midst of apostasy and sin. (Read Ex. 32:26-29; Num. 25:10-13; and Deut. 33:8-11) "My covenant" says the Lord, "was with him of life and peace." What a blessed conjunction! Life here would seem to be that generally spoken of under the Jewish dispensation, though doubtless in the mind of God it had a fuller and deeper meaning, which could not then be explained, since life and incorruptibility were to be brought to light by the gospel. Peace could have but one signification — peace with Him who had put "Levi" into the office, not in the divine sense in which it is now enjoyed through the blood of Christ, but still peace. And the same order still obtains — first life, and then peace. Born again through the action of the Spirit by the Word, we have, together with a new nature, life; and then, led to a knowledge of the efficacy of the work of Christ, we have peace. This is ever the divine order, and peace can never be enjoyed — let it be carefully noted — without or before life. The difference between the life and peace covenanted to Levi from that bestowed now on those who believe in Christ may be seen from the fact that they were given to Levi as a reward for fidelity — "And I gave them to him for the fear wherewith he feared me, and was afraid before my name." This is in accordance with the truth of that dispensation, under which life was to be the result of obedience. These distinctions must be observed if we would enter intelligently into the instructions of the Old Testament.

A remarkable description follows. "The law of truth was in his mouth, and iniquity was not found in his lips: he walked with me in peace and equity, and did turn many away from iniquity." In these expressions we cannot fail to see a greater than "Levi;" for they contain God's ideal of the priesthood which was realized only in Christ, Taken absolutely indeed they could only be spoken of Him of whom the priests of old were but the types, of the One who answered every thought of the heart of God, tested too as He was by the perfect standard of His own holiness. Yea, none but He who was the truth ever had the law of truth in His mouth; and hence when asked by the Jews who He was, He replied, "Altogether that which I have said unto you" (John 8:25); i.e., His words were the perfect display of what He was, every one of them being the revelation of His own perfection. Iniquity consequently was not, could not be, found in His lips; and since He always did the things that pleased the Father (John 8:29), He walked with Him in peace and equity, and at the same time turned many from iniquity.³ While, however, bearing in mind that Christ as the perfect priest is here adumbrated, the words are spoken of "Levi," and we may thus learn the perfect standing which God gives to His own in His presence, just as, for example, when Satan attempted through Balaam to curse the people of God, the answer was, "He hath not beheld iniquity in Jacob, neither hath He seen perverseness in Israel." (Num. 23:21.)⁴

In the next verse we have the responsibility side, together with the character of the office — "For the priest's lips should keep knowledge, and they should seek the law at his mouth; for he is the messenger of the Lord of hosts." This is what Jehovah intended His priests to be in the midst of Israel; that is, in the aspect of their office towards the people. They represented the people before God, and they were charged to represent God to the people. The apostle therefore in writing to the Hebrews says, "Consider the apostle and High Priest of our profession, Jesus;" and the first chapter of the epistle exhibits Him as the apostle or the messenger of God — the One coming out from God, while the second sets Him forth as going in on behalf of the people to God — as the merciful and faithful High Priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people, thus laying the efficacious foundation on which He could take up and exercise His office in the holiest of all. Doubtless in the wilderness it was Moses rather who acted as the "apostle;" while Aaron filled the functions of the priesthood Godward, the two together being in this way a type of Christ. (Compare Lev. 9:23-24) Still the two aspects were combined in the instructions given to Aaron. We accordingly read, "And the Lord spake unto Aaron, saying, Do not drink wine nor strong drink, thou, nor thy sons with thee, when ye go into the tabernacle of the congregation, lest ye die: it shall be a statute for ever throughout your generations: and that ye may put difference between holy and unholy, and between unclean and clean; and that ye may teach the children of Israel all the statutes which the Lord hath spoken unto them by the hand of Moses." (Lev. 10:9-11) We thus see that the priest's lips should keep knowledge, and they (the people) should seek the law at his mouth; for he is the messenger of the Lord of hosts. But the priest could only be this when he was occupied with the mind of God, as embodied in His law and statutes, when he treasured it up in his heart so that his own life might be the outflow of the power of the Word within. Thus "keeping" knowledge with his lips, he would be the ready instructor of those who sought counsel at his mouth. Alas! instead of this the priests in this book were the leaders in transgression, falsifying the holy position in which they had been placed, and the seducers of those of whom they ought to have been the guides in right paths. On this account it is that the Lord says, "Ye are departed out of the way; ye have caused many to stumble at the law: ye have corrupted the covenant of Levi, saith the Lord of hosts. Therefore have I also made you contemptible and base before all the people, according as ye have not kept my ways, but have been partial in the law." (vv. 8, 9.)

We see exemplified here the same thing as obtains everywhere in the Scriptures; viz., that responsibility is increased by position and privilege. Thus if the priest or a ruler sinned, he had to bring a larger sacrifice than one of the common people. (Leviticus 4) So in this chapter the priests, being the appointed instructors of the people, are dealt with more severely — with unsparing judgment. Instead of guiding the people aright, as we have seen, they caused many to stumble. Whenever leaders go astray, the consequences are more grave, for they are more influential, both for good and for evil. Many illustrations of this may be found in the history of the Church of God. A private Christian falling into error or immorality exerts an influence only upon his own circle; but if a teacher, prominent in the Church, departs from the way of truth, he oftentimes draws away thousands after him in his own evil path. On the other hand, just as we read here, "I have made you contemptible and base before all the people, according as ye have not kept my ways," etc., so will it be when such are guilty of glaring inconsistencies. If the walk of those who assume "sacred" offices, or of those who are really gifts to the Church, be not according to godliness, they will soon be despised and regarded as contemptible. Even a man of the world has no respect for those whose lives belie their profession.

But in the application of these solemn truths to ourselves, it must not be forgotten that the priests under the Mosaic dispensation typify the whole Church as the priestly family. We may all, therefore, well enquire whether these charges could be sustained against ourselves; whether we, whose boast, by the grace of God, it is that we have been made kings and priests to God and the Father, are stumbling-blocks to others because we have not kept the ways of the Lord, and have been "partial" in His word.⁵ Would that this word of God might prove, as we read it, living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and be a discerner of the thoughts and intents of our hearts; that we might truly take the place of self-judgment before God as to our state and ways, and so receive restoring grace and blessing at His hands!

In the second section of the chapter (vv. 10-12), the offences of God's people against their brethren, and their sin in uniting themselves with idolaters, are exhibited. It is no longer the priests especially, except indeed their conduct might be taken as indicative of that of all, that are addressed, but the Spirit of God now includes both Judah and Israel. The first sin mentioned is that of dealing treacherously every man against his brother by profaning the covenant of their fathers. (v. 10.) And how does the prophet meet it? or rather, what are the truths he adduces to show the evil of their conduct? They are two — their common standing before God, on the ground of His covenant (Have we not all one Father?), and their common relationship to God as their Creator (Hath not one God created us?). Knit thus by common ties to God, both in creation and (as we might say) redemption, they were bound together by common relationships, interests, and blessings, the knowledge of which should have guarded them from thus sinning against their brethren. In doing so, they profaned the covenant which had been made with their fathers, the second great commandment of which was, "Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself." The apostle Paul, it will be remembered, uses a similar argument in writing to the Ephesians. "Wherefore," he says, "putting away lying, speak every man truth with his neighbour; for we are members one of another." (Eph. 4:25.) The moment, indeed, we realize that we are bound up together with our fellow-Christians by imperishable ties as members of the same body, and also as members of the same family, we shall look upon their welfare and interests as our own. But when all sense of the oneness of God's people is lost, as in the case before us, every. man will seek after his own things; self and selfishness will predominate and rule, to the destruction of all brotherly care and love.

Another thing may be observed as arising out of the connection. The priests had "departed out of the way," and then they are found dealing treacherously every man against his brother. In the gospel of Matthew we find a very similar thing. The evil servant says in his heart, "My Lord delayeth His coming," and he immediately begins to smite his fellow-servants, and to eat and drink with the drunken. In both cases alike, losing all sense of the divine claims and of the nature of their position is followed by evil conduct towards their brethren. The comparison indeed goes further; for as the next thing the evil servant does is "to eat and drink with the drunken," so here, after the dealing treacherously every man with his brother, we have union with "the daughter of a strange god" — in both cases alliance with the world. And this is ever the moral order: first, relationships with God ignored, then with our brethren, and finally association with the world. There are four terms employed in this passage to indicate this grievous form of the iniquity of God's people: dealing treacherously (not, as in the preceding verse, with their brethren, but with God — compare Jer. 3:6-10), committing abomination — a frequent expression in the Scriptures for idolatry (see Jer. 4:1; Dan. 9:27; Matt. 24:15, etc.), profaning the holiness of the Lord which he had loved, and marrying the daughter of a strange god. (v. 11)

Almost from the time that God redeemed Israel out of Egypt, this last sin is mentioned as that into which they were continually falling. Balak, under the advice of Balaam, succeeded in tempting them into it at Baalpeor. (Num. 25:1-9) It was the head and front of Solomon's offending, and the cause of the alienation of his heart from God. It was the difficulty that Ezra had to contend with almost immediately after God in His mercy had brought the remnant from Babylon and set them again in their own land. And may we not say that it is the prevailing sin of the Church? Satan is the god of this world (2 Cor. 4), and those who worshipped idols really worshipped demons (1 Cor. 10:20); so that alliance with the world partakes of the same character as marriage with the daughter of a strange god. We see how the apostle Paul lifts up his voice against this besetting sin when he cries, "Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel [unbeliever]? And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God," etc. (2 Cor. 6:14-16.) The same apostle also explains the only way by which we may overcome the attractions of the world when he says, "God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom [or whereby] the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world." (Gal. 6:14.) But judgment swift and sure, if there be no repentance, will be visited in such a case; for the prophet says, "The Lord will cut off the man that doeth this, the master and the scholar, out of the tabernacles of Jacob, and him that offereth an offering unto the Lord of hosts." No position, neither age nor youth, nor any external religiousness, should shield the offender; for the God who had redeemed them out of Egypt was holy, and He required holiness on the part of His people. (See Lev. 11:44-45; 1 Peter 1:15-16.)

The last part of the chapter is comprised in verses 13-16. The seventeenth verse really belongs to Mal. 3. From verse 13 we learn that, together with all the moral corruption which we have considered, there were all the outward signs of devotion to the service. of Jehovah. And what would seem so strange, did we not know the immense amount of deception it is possible to practise upon ourselves, is, that knowing how they had departed from the living God, they yet could not, or professed that they could not, understand why the Lord did not accept their offerings. "This," says Malachi, "have ye done again, covering the altar of the Lord with tears, with weeping, and with crying out, insomuch that He regardeth not the offering any more, or receiveth it with good will at your hand. Yet ye say, Wherefore?" How often is this the case with God's people even now — cleaving to their sins, and yet surprised that He does not hear their cries, forgetful of the truth uttered by the apostle, "If our hearts condemn us, God is greater than our hearts, and knoweth all things." (1 John 3:20.) But if they say, "Wherefore?" the answer is at hand; and it reveals another form of evil existing at that time amongst this poor degraded people: "Because the Lord hath been witness between thee and the wife of thy youth, against whom thou hast dealt treacherously: yet is she thy companion, and the wife of thy covenant." (v. 14.) We learn, from the answer of our Lord to the Pharisees, that divorce was permitted to the Jew, under the Mosaic dispensation, "because of the hardness of their hearts;" but He expressly adds, "from the beginning it was not so." (Matt. 19:3-9) And the farther they departed in heart and ways from God, not only did they the more frequently avail themselves of this permission, but they also so abused it that the marriage bond became relaxed on every side, and they separated from their wives at their own will and pleasure.

This is the evil which the prophet here denounces, and from which he takes occasion to show the oneness of man and wife according to the original institution of marriage. There could be no greater evidence of moral corruption than what has been termed the levity of divorce. Even now, when a people or nation make it easy for man and wife to obtain a legal separation, it is a sure sign of the decay of public morals. And we cannot but again call attention to the order of the sins here enumerated. First, there was the corruption of the covenant of Levi, and then the dealing treacherously every man against his brother, dealing treacherously with God in the matter of idolatry, and lastly, dealing treacherously with the wife of their youth. It is religious, social, and domestic corruption; and let it be carefully observed that the last two flow from the first. The modern doctrine is that an atheist even may perform the duties of this life. It is utterly impossible; for where the conscience is not in exercise before God there is no guarantee for fidelity to man, or even, as in this scripture, to those who are united by the closest of all ties. Dissolve the tie between man and God, and you dissolve every other tie that unites man to man. These of whom the prophet speaks were the professing people of God, and were still punctilious in the observance of their sacrificial ritual, and yet they were unfaithful in every relationship in which they stood (compare Micah 7:1-6); and the flesh is the same in every age, and, though social restraints may vary in different ages, it will ever find its outlet in corrupt channels. If, therefore, there be no fear of God before the eyes of men, sin and iniquity must continually and increasingly abound.

Moreover, the object of the oneness of man and wife, the inviolability of the marriage bond (save for the one sin specified by our Lord (Matt. 19) — the sin itself being, in fact, its violation) is declared by the prophet. "And wherefore one? That He might seek a godly seed." The Lord thus looks to find His people among the children of His servants; and it is on this account indeed that the apostle enjoins believing parents to bring up their children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. The Lord's interest in, and His care and love for the children of His people, have not been sufficiently remembered, nor that the godliness of the children — "a godly seed" — is divinely connected with the maintenance of the indissoluble sanctity of the marriage relationship. We have even further light now, because the Lord has been pleased to show us that the union of husband and wife is a figure of that between Him and the Church, and hence our responsibility is the greater, both to understand the nature of marriage, and also God's attitude of grace and blessing towards the offspring of His saints.

Based on this revelation which God makes through Malachi is the exhortation, already enforced by these solemn considerations, "Therefore take heed to your spirit, and let none deal treacherously against the wife of his youth." The Lord lays, in this way, great stress upon, attaches great importance to, the godly maintenance of natural relationships;⁶ and wherever these are slighted under whatever pretence, whether spiritual or otherwise, the door is already opened to the worst forms of licence and corruption. It is well to press the importance of this subject in a day when so many, under the specious pretext of a higher spirituality, seek to emancipate themselves from natural claims, and in many cases from the irksomeness of home duties or parental control. One of the plainest evidences of a desire to please the Lord is the faithful and diligent discharge of our responsibilities in the domestic circle.

But not only has God made man and his wife one, He also hates putting away. The prophet introduces this in a most solemn way: "For the Lord, the God of Israel, saith that He hateth putting away." If therefore His people are in communion with His own mind, they will do so also. And how abundantly, through the whole history of Israel as a nation, is it proved that the Lord does hate putting away! If He had not done so, Israel would long since, and many times, have been renounced. They broke His covenant again and again, thereby forfeiting all claims upon His favour and love; but He endured them with much long-suffering, for His gifts and calling are without repentance. And in the prophets He continually reminded them of His union with them, that He was married to them, and that, therefore, He could not cast them off. (See Isa. 50; Jer. 3:1-14, &c.) It was this same spirit He would have them show in their relationships, insteadof covering violence with their garment; and "therefore" the prophet repeats, closing up this part of his subject, "take heed to your spirit, that ye deal not treacherously."

There is little doubt that verse 16 contains a general principle, and one, therefore, that has been rightly applied to discipline in the Church; for the heart of God must be expressed in discipline as much as in brotherly fellowship. If this were borne in mind there could be no room for haste or harshness, no forgetting the object of true and divine discipline, no satisfaction felt in the cutting off of the offender; but every step would be taken in tenderness, yea, in divine pity, identifying ourselves with the one over whom Satan had obtained a temporary advantage; and we should thus proceed with many searchings of heart, taking his burden on our own shoulders, considering ourselves lest we also be tempted. Discipline thus administered, having solely for its object the honour of the Lord, the glory of His name, would become a means of grace to all who took part in it, and would be far more frequently used for the restoration of the one who had sinned, as. well as to reveal to all the terrible nature of the evil, which could not otherwise be reached than by putting away from fellowship with the saints. It would then be seen that the offender was put away only because he could no longer be retained if the saints themselves would continue in fellowship with the Lord. The sentence, "The Lord, the God of Israel, saith that He hateth putting away," should therefore be deeply graven upon all our hearts, and especially upon the hearts of those who have the place of lead and government in the assembly.

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1) Some translate, "I will rebuke the seed for your sake i.e. that it should not grow. In this way, since the priests received the tithes, God would deprive them of a considerable part of their means of subsistence.

2) All the Levites were taken for the service of the tabernacle, given unto Aaron and his sons for this purpose, sanctified to God on the day that He smote the firstborn of Egypt (Numbers 8); but the priesthood was confined to the family of Aaron.

3) Compare as to this last expression Isaiah 53:11 — "By His knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many;" more truly rendered, "by His knowledge turn many to righteousness."

4) See also 2 Sam. 7 as an example of how the Lord could take up Solomon as a type of Christ, using expressions which will only find their complete fulfilment in the Prince of Peace.

5) In the margin "accepted faces" is given instead of "partial," and this indeed is the literal rendering. The priests therefore were guilty of interpreting the law to please persons, and it may be for the sake of advantage.

6) See Mark 10: on the whole subject.