Commentary

Malachi Chapter 2 – Solitary Man

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Malachi Chapter 2

11/21/24 9:15 AM
Solitary Man
solitaryman.substack.com

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Mal 2:1  And now, O ye priests (ko-hane), this commandment (mits-vaw – law, ordinance, precept) is for you.

Just so no one thinks that God is done with rebuking the priests, he once again makes it clear exactly whom he is referring to.  We will see in this chapter that God not so much commands, but condemns.  He will summarize for us the original purpose of the Levitical priesthood.  While the function of the priesthood has changed under the new covenant, and indeed is no more limited to a small subset of the family of God, we should still regard the lessons contained within this book as pertaining to God’s spiritual leaders.  God uses very specific language in this opening verse in that what follows is for the priests ears alone, though we have already made it clear that any correction the Lord speaks may be applicable to any heart in which the Holy Spirit is convicting.

Mal 2:2  If ye will not hear (shama – to hear intelligently with the implication of obeying), and if ye will not lay it to heart, to give glory (kaw-bode – weight, honor) unto my name, saith the LORD of hosts, I will even send a curse (meh-ay-raw – an execration) upon you, and I will curse (aw-rar – execrate, bitterly curse) your blessings (ber-aw-kaw – prosperity): yea, I have cursed (aw-rar) them already, because ye do not lay it to heart.

God can just as readily curse as he can bless.  Indeed, he can even make what is good in your life an evil thing.

If there is one thing that the Lord has laid upon my heart above all other things, as he has led me to write these commentaries this year, it is to endeavour to try and restore the fundamental doctrine of the true fear of the Lord back into the remnant church in North America and in the west.  The reason why Jesus wants this restored so urgently is that he wants us to stop sinning so casually.  We sin so easily, so regularly.  We have normalized sin.  We think that 1 John 1:9 takes care of all of that casual sin in a snap.  Just confess, receive forgiveness, rinse and repeat.

Jesus demands that this horrid nonsense be exorcised from his body immediately.  There is no such thing as casual sin, and casual forgiveness.  How long shall we continue to mock God?  Why have we convinced ourselves that this sort of loose lifestyle is in any way acceptable to the Lord of the universe, just because everyone around us thinks it so?  How have our hearts gotten to such a blinded, hardened state?

Sin should be the exception in a believer’s life, not the norm.  If and when you sin, and are made aware of it, you should recoil in revulsion.  We don’t feel that way because we do not truly fear God, at least not in the way that the bible says that we should fear him.

One of the main takeaways from a book such as Malachi is that we should be able to obtain a clearer understanding of what God thinks about a person who truly does not fear God.  Remember that he is talking not to pagans, not to the unsaved, not to the casual believer, and not to the laity.  Rather, he is speaking to the leaders in the church (so to speak).  If anyone on the planet should know God, it should be these people.

But what does he say to these leaders, these priests?  He first accuses them of wilful disobedience.  He says that they will not hear.  Second, they won’t lay it to heart, that is, they won’t internalize the message and make it a part of their lives.  Here is where the word shama is introduced.

When we think of the word ‘hear’, we think of a sound that we pick up with our ears and our brains apply a meaning to the sound or word.  We do not include the idea of obedience to what we hear.  That is a separate concept.  Shama incorporates both ideas in one word.  So, if you see the word ‘hear’ in the bible, and especially if it is the word shama, the meaning is to hear intelligently with the idea of unconditional obedience.  Sort of like a soldier receiving orders from his commanding officer.  Soldiers are not expected to decide for themselves whether or not to obey what is told them.  They are not given the option to ponder, debate, argue, and decide for themselves whether or not they will obey.  They get the order, and as long as they comprehend the meaning, they carry it out.  So it is supposed to be with the child of God.  God speaks, and if you understand, then you are to go and do.

These priests did not shama.  They did not hear with the intent of obedience.  As a result, they failed to give glory to God’s name.  And how did they do that?  By treating with contempt their ministerial duties and obligations.  They snuffed at the offerings given to them, and they treated with disdain the offerings they offered to God.  They became cynical and callous.  Becoming offended, their hearts hardened more and more.  Taking offense, whether at God or man, is always a dangerous path to tread.  Soon your mind will twist down perilous paths of self rationalization, as to why you are being so hard done by, and why you are justified in complaining about your lot as you do.

So what is God’s response to these ungrateful wretches?  Does gentle Jesus show up with a little lamb upon his shoulder, a sorrowful look upon his face, and wave a gentle finger of mild admonishment in their face?  Hardly.  God not only threatens to curse them, but then states that, in fact, I have already begun to curse you.  And what does he specifically say that he will curse?  Their blessings!

This is a strange concept.  We don’t ordinarily think that something could be both a blessing and a curse.  For example, sickness is usually thought to be a curse, healing a blessing.  Poverty a curse, prosperity a blessing.  But if we think about it for a moment, it is not so strange after all.

In this context, especially when we examine the contents of the next verse, God is most likely speaking of their offspring and their offerings, that they have received and are giving back (in a most sinful manner) to God.  In other words, their kids and their wealth.  Do not these two things often turn from a blessing into a curse?  Babies are considered such a great blessing.  Then they become teenagers.  The blessing seems to have morphed into a curse!  Seriously, how many countless parents have spent many a night in sleepless sorrow over the rebellion of their offspring?  How much more in our generation, living in a totally fallen, demonic landscape, where our children have been cursed.  This may seem like too strong a statement, but how else can you explain the loss of sanity by so many young ones in this ‘woke’ generation?  Just yesterday I read of a father who murdered his ex-wife and two children, as he could not envision living in a world where Trump was president once again!  This is the power of media such as MSNBC, who have caused millions to believe in a world that has absolutely no basis in reality.  The internet is full of young woke girls, shaving the hair off their head, protesting the election, claiming that they are now simply property of men, and will be sent away to camps, just because MSNBC told them so.  Beyond delusional, beyond demented, these young people are just like the citizens of North Korea, believing anything and everything their demonic government tells them, whether it has any basis in reality or not.  We have been taken over by communism, it has just been repackaged and relabelled with different terminology.  God help Mr. Trump and everyone else who is called to try and salvage something of the American nation as it once was.  Fully 40% of the nation has been captured and programmed with this sort of nonsensical filth (in Canada, that percentage is higher).  While more and more people wake up out of this dystopian nightmare each and every day, the task set before the president-elect is truly Herculean.  This is how low we have sunk.  You may treat sin casually, but don’t think for one minute that your consequence will be casual.

Let us now speak of prosperity, or wealth.  God says that he will curse their blessing.  Do we need any more convincing evidence than the greed and avarice of the so called prosperity preachers that have infected the church in the last half century or so?  The twisting of the gospel, the seduction of the masses, the allure of money, all these abominations have destroyed the church from within.  How we ever thought for one second that a man’s bank account had anything to do with how much faith he had is a mystery to me.  Chalk it up to the depravity of man, and the utter wickedness of our hearts.

Why is money so alluring?  Why have so many of us fallen under its spell?  We need look no further than the cabal.  All these obscenely wealthy individuals could do anything they wanted with their lives.  Yet many choose to torment, enslave, and depopulate mankind.  They choose to rape children, drink adrenochrome, and sacrifice babies in satanic rituals.  They have everything the world has to offer, and it is never enough.  Indeed, their love of money causes their lusts to spiral totally out of control.  They become insatiably evil.  It is not enough to commit every abomination imaginable, they cannot sleep if there is still one righteous soul out there whom they haven’t tormented and tried to corrupt.  This is what the love of money can lead to.  And yet so many of us dabble with this most dangerous of Babylon’s enticements.  How many of us spend the bulk of our time trying to accumulate more and more of this world’s goods?  What is truly driving us?  We say it is prudence, and wise planning.  Be careful that is all it is, or you too may fall.

1Ti 6:8  And having food and raiment let us be therewith content.

1Ti 6:9  But they that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition (a-po-li-a – eternal damnation).

1Ti 6:10  For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.

1Ti 6:11  But thou, O man of God, flee these things; and follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, meekness.

1Ti 6:12  Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art also called, and hast professed a good profession before many witnesses.

Let us put away this childish Laodicean mindset, where God can only bless, and never curse, his own.  In fact, if you take the time to carefully study all scripture, it may amaze you to realize that the vast majority of judgment texts are written against the people of God, and not the pagan.  If God can curse the Levitical priests, he can certainly curse the Christian, should he find the same heart condition in us as in them.  Don’t deceive yourselves for one moment, thinking that somehow the cross of Christ is a sort of inoculation against the wrath of the Father for wilful disobedience.  As we found out the truth about the covid inoculation, things are not always as we’ve been taught.  The covid jab inoculated you from nothing, in fact, it killed you.  So too, the false Laodicean teaching of a God who is now somehow barred and incapable of displaying wrath toward his own will most certainly kill you spiritually.  Look closely at the above passage.  Pay specific attention to verse 9.  What does it say?  If you will to be rich, you will (not may) fall into temptation and a snare, and into many (not some) lusts.  When this happens, these people are drowned (immersed) into destruction and eternal damnation.

Before we go any further, the Lord has laid another precept upon my heart that I do not wish to forget.  Now is as good a time as any to speak of it.

There are many unique aspects of the Christian life, as opposed to what went on before.  One of the greatest realities is that the Holy Spirit is available to every believer.  God himself, in the person of the Holy Spirit, comes and takes residence in the innermost being of every believer!  How absolutely amazing a reality this is!  In the Old Testament, we read of the Spirit falling upon certain individuals.  We even read of the Spirit being taken from someone such as Moses, and being put upon 70 elders, so that they could share the burden of leadership (Num 11:25).  However, these events were rare exceptions to the rule.  The people were given the law, and were expected to obey it, spirit or no spirit!

Yet even under the old covenant, David knew that the Spirit of the Lord was continually abiding with him, as evidenced in this heartfelt prayer:

Psa_51:11  Cast me not away from thy presence; and take not thy holy spirit from me.

Whether or not this applied to himself alone, as a special anointing because he was chosen king of Israel, or because he was a very devoted servant of the Lord, and thus possibly available to others, I will leave for you to decide.  The point though is that nowhere in the old covenant did God specifically promise to indwell all believers.  In fact, a hint that God planned to drastically change the norm is found in the promise of a new covenant:

Jer 31:33  But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the LORD, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people.

This strongly hints at the promise of the giving of the Spirit to all.

What this all implies is that we are generally taught that we can now have a very real personal relationship with our God, at a much more intimate level than the average Israelites could ever hope for.

And yet, we have conclusively shown in several verses that God is judging these priests’ heart condition, have we not?  God proves that their heart was full of contempt and weariness because of their actions.  They were offering unacceptable offerings, and spoke unacceptable things (see 1:7, 8, 12, 13).  Even though they claimed to be ignorant of their faults (1:6, 7, 2:14, 17, 3:7, 8), God clearly showed them their guilt and charged them with it.

All this sin is the result of direct disobedience of the first commandment:

Deu 6:4  Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD:

Deu 6:5  And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.

So even without the Holy Spirit living within them, like we all have, God still expected the Israelites to choose to love God with all their heart, regenerated or no.

How much more do you think God is requiring of his bride, his body, who have the power of the indwelling Spirit?  If God is so angry at his servants for forsaking him in their hearts who have not the Holy Spirit, what do you suppose he thinks about us, his lukewarm church of the last generation?

There is this misconception in the body of Christ that there is this great chasm between the old testament believers and the new.  That the people of God under the old covenant could not have  possibly known God and his ways even a fraction like we know him.  That God the Father did not deal with their heart condition like Jesus does with us.  That they were so ignorant of how God thought and operated, compared to us.

This misguided idea is due to the fact that we as a body have only spent a fraction of the time studying his word in the old testament as compared to the new.  When you truly commit yourself to a deep dive into all of God’s word, you find that the great story is one continuous grand epic tale, not two separate plots.  I believe that we have lost so much knowledge of God and his ways, simply because we refuse to read and study the first three quarters of the movie!  If you attempt to watch a movie at the three quarter mark, you may find out how the movie ended, but you will have no idea why things occurred the way they did, and you may end up missing the whole point that the director was trying to make.  The Israelites were not so radically different than us.  They were a people who were touched by the same God that we were.  They tried to understand him as best they could.  They experienced the same temptations and failures that we have.  Just because we are ‘born again’, and they were not, does not mean that there are not countless links in our experiences and understandings of the divine.

We can learn much from the experiences of the saints of old.  Instead of ignoring their stories, or writing them off as hopeless rebels, let us humble ourselves and rediscover the eternal truths that they have acquired for the people of God.  Do not let the valuable lessons that they suffered so much to obtain, be wasted.

If you think God is done expressing his true feelings over these cold hearted shepherds of his flock, you ain’t seen nothing yet!

Mal 2:3  Behold, I will corrupt (gaw-ar – rebuke, reprove) your seed (posterity, children), and spread dung (excrement) upon your faces (paw-neem – the face), even the dung of your solemn feasts (sacrifice); and one shall take you away with it (and you shall be taken away along with the excrement).

First off, the commentators seem to think that the seed refers to actual crop seeds.  I don’t agree.  Why would God rebuke physical seeds?  We are talking about the curse of the Lord, and so often one of the primary curses has to do with what he shall do to our children.  We are living in the generation whose children have been raised by godless parents, and we are witnessing the ease by which they are taken away in mind with the most absurd deceptions.  Who would have ever thought that anyone could be made to believe that you could actually choose your own sex?  Or that there are more than 2 genders?  Or that you could choose to be an animal?  Or that there would be butchers (doctors) out there willing to cut off penises and breasts?  Or to mutilate forearms of children, and form a crude caricature of a penis, only to have it rot and fall off?  Or that man, who produces 0.002 % or so of the world’s carbon, could destroy the planet unless we stop producing that 0.002 % of carbon?  Or that people would believe that carbon was a poison, and not essential to all life?  Well, we did embrace evolution, did we not?  One absurdity has led to another, until we come to today, where absurdity is the norm.

Now, let us tackle one of the most shocking truths found in this book.  Have you read the verse carefully?  Has it sunk in yet?  Do you really believe what your mind is telling you?

Religious people are so obsessed with outward appearances that they usually refuse to allow discussion of anything even mildly shocking, offensive, or vulgar.  How many churches even mention the abomination of homosexuality, much less speak the truth about it?  Not just the truth that this behavior guarantees you a front row seat in hell, but how about the disgusting, unclean practices that these demon possessed creatures engage in?  Shoving your member up someone’s anus is not normal.  Do you actually think by any stretch of the imagination that that would ever be considered God’s will for anyone to engage in?  How about transgender mutilation?  Does God ever speak to someone and tell them to cut their penis off by choice, because I made a mistake when I assigned your gender in the womb?  What madness!

Media outlets such as CBN (not CNN), while admirably reporting on many topics of interest to Christians, are completely abysmal when it comes to covering the intentional, worldwide genocide of the covid jab.  Not wanting to offend the multiple millions of Christians who foolishly and cowardly capitulated to these evil mandates, and thus lose much potential viewership (and contributions), they are silent on this topic to this day.  In addition, they are in complete lockstep with the mainstream media on the Ukraine war.  Calling Putin the exact same names as MSNBC, they have the exact same viewpoint as the wicked.  Having done zero research as to the true cause of this war, as to how it is all the CIA’s and NATO’s fault, they are taking the side of the devil unashamedly.  And why is this so?  Because they are cowards, they are ignorant, and they are under the spell of the spirit of this age, that has befallen so much of the western church.  Anything where there is a price to pay, we remain silent.

Is not the church’s and the believer’s role to expose and resist evil?  Are we to remain silent in the face of one atrocity after another?  I am not saying that all are called to stand on a street corner and shout curses at the wicked, but I am saying that many of us have made choices to remain silent when given the opportunity to take a stand against darkness, because it would have cost us something personally.

Now why did I veer off into that rant?  I wanted to get the point across that Christians of today are generally a fearful bunch.  Our fearfulness comes from the feminization of the church.  Not only are men’s testosterone levels dropping precipitously in the last several decades, but the demonic doctrine of feminism has infiltrated and captivated much of the church from within.

One thing that women generally hate is confrontation.  They would rather flee than fight.  Or better yet, just pretend that the elephant in the room is not there.

This attitude causes all to be artificially nice.  We are much more worried about feelings than about truth.  We may see something obviously wrong in someone’s life, or in the church body in general, but we refuse to speak up, because we know that feelings will be hurt, and we just don’t want to deal with the subsequent drama.  So we let things slide.  Truth is abandoned for the illusion of harmony.  All the while, the moral rot begins to set in, defiling each and every one of us from within, until what we are left with is in no way recognizable to the virgin bride that Jesus shed his precious blood to redeem.

Thus verses such as Malachi 2:3 are never spoken of.  God says that he is going to spread shit (yes, I said it), upon the priest’s faces.  This is God talking!  Our holy, sinless, spotless, most perfect Father!  Who would’ve ever thought that God would say such a thing, much less preserve it in his holy, infallible word for all eternity?

God is so disgusted with his priests that, not only does he promise to curse what was once their blessings, not only does he promise to corrupt their seed, but now he gets exceedingly visual in his promise.  He says that, unlike what normally occurs when the excrement of the sacrificial offerings are set aside and taken away to an unclean place, I will take that excrement and spread it all over your face!  Not only that, but I did it so that you will be taken away to that same unclean place, outside the camp, where all excrement is taken.  In other words, I am marking you with crap in order that all the world will know that I think that you and crap are one and the same, and that you will be taken away, along with all the crap, to a place where crap belongs!

Phew!  I will take a moment to pause here while the more delicate of you recover from your fainting spell and compose yourself.  Take your time.  I am sure you have never heard a sermon such as this, so don’t feel bad.  But the word is the word.  I see this verse as a stark example that God is willing to go to any length to wake his people up!  If I have to curse and use the most uncomfortable language imaginable, if I have to paint a picture for you so gross and vile that you recoil in utter revulsion, but if it finally touches and shakes that stone cold heart of yours to real self examination and true repentance, then it is definitely worth it!  Now I am not saying that we are to go around and use the most profane language ourselves, just because we have discovered one verse where God, in his wisdom, has decided to do so.  But I am saying that we need to grasp the mind of God that he is exhibiting for us here.  This is no trivial matter.  And what is God so steamed about, that he is willing to defile his servants in the most humiliating fashion?  Have they raped a child?  Had sex with a goat?  Worshipped an idol?  Practised live organ harvesting?  All those are true abominations.  Yet what got God so steamed up was the inner heart condition of his most intimate servants, reflected in their performance of their duties.  What a chilling concept!  How can we ever again approach the tabernacle of the living God with a casualness, a tepidness, a general indifference, now that we know what he thinks of one who exhibits such traits!

May God have mercy on our sick, sinful, slothful souls.

Mal 2:4  And ye shall know that I have sent this commandment (mits-vah) unto you, that my covenant (ber-eeth – cutting) might be with Levi, saith the LORD of hosts.

God makes himself known in his judgments.  By the mouth of two or three witnesses let every matter be established:

Deut 32:4  He is the Rock, his work is perfect: for all his ways are judgment: a God of truth and without iniquity, just and right is he.

Dan 4:37  Now I Nebuchadnezzar praise and extol and honour the King of heaven, all whose works are truth, and his ways judgment: and those that walk in pride he is able to abase.

Is it not fascinating, that a most heathen king (Nebuchadnezzar), was given the same foundational revelation as Moses (though it took 7 years of madness sent by God for it to sink in!)?

This new law, this new ordinance, or rather this new pronouncement of doom upon these priests is to be the proof that what I say is true.  We may read God’s word, we may come across his warnings and admonitions, but unless and until we experience the direct, chastening hand of our loving Father, we often go astray and stay off the narrow path until his hand of correction brings us back.

The purpose of this harsh word is to show his people that God has a special relationship with the tribe of Levi.  They were the ones chosen by him to approach his presence closer than any other tribe.  The next verse even gives a reason as to why they were chosen.  The main point of this verse is that those closest to God are subject to the more severe corrections, as James confirms for us:

Jas 3:1  My brethren, be not many masters, knowing that we shall receive the greater condemnation.

Jesus says the same thing:

Luk 12:47  And that servant, which knew his lord’s will, and prepared not himself, neither did according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes.

Luk 12:48  But he that knew not, and did commit things worthy of stripes, shall be beaten with few stripes. For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required: and to whom men have committed much, of him they will ask the more.

This flies in the face of typical church doctrine.  We have conjured up all sorts of heretical nonsense that directly contradicts the clear teaching of the word, such as the doctrine of eternal security.

Christian pilgrim, beware!  Maybe you weren’t told when you came to Christ, but in some ways, your soul is in more peril than before you were saved, at least as far as the responsibility you now carry.  Look at the words of Peter:

2Pe 2:20  For if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein, and overcome, the latter end is worse with them than the beginning.

2Pe 2:21  For it had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than, after they have known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto them.

Judgment will be more severe for those who knew the way of life, and embraced it, but then decided with their own free will (which is never taken away by the Lord), to go back and walk away from the cross.

That does not mean that the Christian is in more eternal danger than the sinner, that is ridiculous!  As Paul would say, God forbid!  But we do need to at least entertain the idea that eternal salvation is not so freely dispensed to any and every one, just because they happened to recite some formulaic sinner’s prayer.

1Pe 4:17  For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?

1Pe 4:18  And if the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear?

I think the above passage gives us the template as to the right kind of attitude that we should all hold toward the eternal things of God.  Let cockiness and presumption be banished from the body of Christ!

Mal 2:5  My covenant (ber-eeth) was with him of life and peace (shalom); and I gave them to him for the fear (mo-raw – dread, terror) wherewith he feared (yaw-ray – to frighten, be in dread of) me, and was afraid (khaw-thath – to prostate, to be scared, terrified) before my name.

God chose Levi to be the one tribe that could approach his presence regularly primarily for one reason and one reason only.  Was it their faith?  Their confession of faith?  Their virtue?  Their good looks?

No, it was their fear of the Lord.  Not a revelation of God’s love, or his mercy, or even his grace.  God knew that the person with the best chance of staying alive in his presence was one who was terrified of him.

Note I said terrified.  And the reason I used that word is because that is what the Hebrew word(s) said.  Note also that God uses three different words for fear.  He did not use three words that mean love.  He did not even use one.  He wants to ensure that we grasp the centrality of the fear of the Lord.  All three words have the idea of terror embedded within them.

We are so nonsensical in some of the things that we say and believe.  The way many preachers portray the Father, is that it is no big deal just to waltz into his presence, at any time, in any way we so choose.  Who cares if our hearts are prepared to meet God, who cares if we walk into his throne room grumbling and complaining and whining, just go and pray, as God just wants to hear you yap so badly, that he’ll tolerate any attitude that you bring with you!

Garbage!  Nonsense!  When will we put away the babblings of dead men, and fully turn to the word of the living God?  Levi was chosen to approach God, Levi did not choose to approach him.  If we would but read a little of Exodus, we would know the people learned some terrifying lessons at Sinai.  After seeing the terrible presence of God, they begged that they not have to come near him anymore.  Let Moses take the risk, and they would obey whatever Moses heard.  That statement pleased God well (Deut 5:26-28).

Now I know what the book of Hebrews teaches.  That we have not come to mount Sinai, but through the blood of Jesus we may boldly approach the throne of grace.  And all of that is true, true, true!  But is it not a good thing to meditate on books such as Malachi as well, so that we may learn what sort of heart attitude pleases God, and what displeases him?  Is it not well past time to put away our childish ideas of our Father, and dare to embrace all the truth about him, and not just those parts that babes in Christ love to dwell upon, but who choke on the meat of the word, not being able to digest it, due to their spiritually immature state?

If we truly desire to go on unto perfection, then these truths of the heart must be sought out and embraced.

Mal 2:6  The law (torah) of truth (eh-meth – stability, certainty, trustworthiness) was in his mouth, and iniquity (eh-vel – perverseness, moral evil, wickedness) was not found in his lips: he walked with me in peace (shalom) and equity (mee-shore – concord, straightness, justice), and did turn many away (shoob – to turn back, turn away from, rab – abundance) from iniquity (aw-vone – perversity, sin, moral evil).

Here God continues to give more reasons as to why he covenanted with Levi.  The torah of certainty was found on his lips, while wickedness was not.  I love the fact that God uses the word eh-meth to describe the torah.  It means certainty.  All of god’s word is certain, that is, inerrant.  You do not have to worry about discerning what is true and what is false in the bible, as you may have to do with other books.  We have bet our eternity on the certainty of God’s word, and that is as sure as bet as can be found in all of creation.

God wants us to not just know the word and believe the word, but also to share the word.  He does not want to hear perversion of truth of any kind to fall from our lips.  Not only are we to speak truth, but our walk should reflect the fact that we are at peace with God.  And how are we to find peace with God?  Of course, we initially find peace by being reconciled to God by the cross.  But we remain in continual peace by speaking truth, and not lies.  This is reflected by walking in equity.  This is an unfortunate word that is used in the King James translation (through no fault of the translators of that era), as equity has morphed into something evil in today’s culture.  At the time it meant integrity of life.  He was a straight shooter.  He was in concord, or full agreement, with the revealed will of God.

To cap it all off, these favored men of God turned many away from perversity and all sorts of moral evil.  How did they do this?  By warning them from the laws and precepts found in the Torah, or the first 5 books of the word of God, the bible that they had at that time.  The bible is not just to guide us, but should be used as the measure of everyone’s life.  To those who claim to be disciples of Christ, we should always be open to correction, reproof, and rebuke, if it comes from the Word.  Sadly, too many in the body use the Word as a cloak for their own maliciousness, in trying to cut a brother or sister down to size, because of jealousy, envy, and the like.  Often it is because they are simply delusional.  They think God has set them in the office of chief church fixer, puffed up in their own fleshly minds, self appointed eccentric imbeciles who have armed themselves with only enough ammunition of sacred text to blow themselves up, and those who stray too close in their zone of detrimental influence.

Do you want to be called into God’s inner circle?  You could do worse than follow the formula of these last two verses.

Mal 2:7  For the priest’s (ko-hane) lips should keep (shaw-mar – to hedge about, guard, protect) knowledge (dah-ath – to keep one’s wits about them), and they should seek (baw-kash – to search out, strive after) the law (torah) at his mouth: for he is the messenger (mal-ak – can mean angel, king, teacher) of the LORD of hosts.

God lays out one of the chief roles of his leaders in the church (again, applying the pattern to the church).  The pastor should guard knowledge, or truth.  Specifically, the truths found in the word of Almighty God.  God says it is the responsibility of the pastor to place a hedge around the truth found in the word.  You do not allow the enemy to make a breach.  You make a breach by compromise, or even by silence.  Keeping silent in the face of obvious evil is letting the hedge down.  If you knew that what the government was doing was evil, and you said nothing, but even agreed with and participated in it, then you have disobeyed your duty.  If the pastor will not set the example, then how will the sheep know what is right and what is wrong?  Indeed, the tragic thing is that many sheep were kicked out of churches for speaking up against the demonic, freedom stealing, health destroying, mandates.  In retrospect, it was probably the best thing that happened to them, as too many refuse to leave the open sepulchres of supposed houses of divine worship.

Who are the ‘they’ that is spoken of here?  Why, everyone else, of course!  If God has placed you in a leadership position, then others will be looking to you for spiritual guidance.  You are to be God’s mouthpiece, in a sense, to those whom God has placed in your care.  Never to lord over, but to nurture and protect.  The torah should be found on the pastor’s lips.  That means the laws and commandments of Yahweh.  Most pastors couldn’t find their way to the Torah even if you gave them GPS!  All they know is the Roman road, and not much more than that (oh yes, the part about being a cheerful giver, they will be an expert on that too, won’t they?).

Mal 2:8  But ye are departed (soor – turn off, depart, eschew) out of the way (deh-rek – the road or course of life); ye have caused many to stumble (kaw-shal – totter, waver, falter, faint, to decay, fail, be weak, be overthrown) at the law (torah); ye have corrupted (shaw-khath – ruined, decayed, destroyed, spoiled, to perish) the covenant (ber-eeth) of Levi, saith the LORD of hosts.

God has laid out what priests should be like.  Now, he states the bleak reality of Malachi’s day.  Here we encounter our old friend – deh-rek.  Readers of my Jeremiah commentary will be very familiar with this word.  It means a course or path of life, the righteous path that you should follow.  Jesus spoke in a similar manner of the narrow way.  These priests have turned off the path, just as poor pilgrim did on several occasions in the Pilgrim’s Progress.

When a believer turns out of the way, it rarely just affects him (or her).  As in this verse, others see and stumble, because of your example.  The word here says that they totter, waver, falter, faint, decay, fail, become weak, and are overthrown.  When a Christian stumbles, others lose faith and fall away also.  How much worse is it when a leader falls?  Remember all of the scandals of the 80’s?  So many prominent names fell away in one type of scandal or another.  This trend continues to this day.  I wonder how many potential souls, beginning to show an interest in Christianity, were immediately drawn away by the devil from the gospel message, never to pay attention to it again, by the awful example of these fallen ones in the pulpit!  How much blood is on their hands?

Let it never be said of any of us that our departure off the narrow path caused any soul to permanently turn away from the life giving gospel of Christ.

I want to touch on the particular wording here.  The priests’ personal example have caused many to stumble at the law.  Not only because of their lifestyle and terrible example in worship and performing the ministry at the altar, but of the false teaching that they spoke from their corrupted hearts.  If your heart becomes cold and cynical, soon you will find ways to twist the word to justify your sin.  The law will become your stumbling block.  Jesus himself, the Word of God made flesh, was said to be a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense (1 Pet 2:7-8).  A corrupted heart can never grasp the true meaning of scripture.  Their depraved minds will interpret the word in such a way as to make sin virtuous, and virtue as sin.  I am sure we can all think of many examples of liberal churches, and some supposedly not so liberal, that have taken the word to make their compromise and silence and refusal to take a stand for good and made it seem like their rebellious ideas came straight from the bible!

The covenant of Levi was based on the fear of God, and the fact that the Torah was found on his lips.  But now, these descendants of Levi have turned everything around.  Their contempt for the offerings showed their utter lack of fear of God.  Their false teaching hid the Torah from the multitude.  Have we ever seen such biblical illiteracy as we do this day in our lands?  Has not the true word of the Lord been hid by dead men walking around in the pulpits of our day?

Do not presuppose that we, who should be inheriting the privileges of the covenant of Levi, will be treated any differently by the Lord, should we fall into the same sinful lifestyles.

Mal 2:9  Therefore have I also made you contemptible (baw-zaw – despised, scorned) and base (shaw-fawl – depressed or brought very low) before all the people, according as (from my mouth) ye have not kept (shaw-mar – hedge about, guard) my ways (deh-rek), but have been partial (cast from the face of) in the law (torah).

Your sin shall find you out.  Continue in wilful disobedience, and God will humiliate you.  Try to hide your real character, and the Lord will expose you in front of all.  Sooner or later your day of reckoning will be at hand.

And why did God choose to do this?  Because they were partial in the law.  They picked and chose what to preach and what not do.  Instead of keeping a guard on their souls, hedging themselves with the truth of God’s word, they decided for themselves what to retain, and what to cast off.

During covid, the 99% of the corrupt, cowardly churches decided to retain Romans 13:1-2 but cast off Acts 5:29.  And Daniel 3:18.  And Exodus 1:17.  And Daniel 6:10.  And 2 Kings 1:9-12.  And 2 Chronicles 19:2.

Rom 13:1  Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God.

Rom 13:2  Whosoever therefore resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God: and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation.

Act 5:29  Then Peter and the other apostles answered and said, We ought to obey God rather than men.

Dan 3:18  But if not, be it known unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up.

Exo 1:17  But the midwives feared God, and did not as the king of Egypt commanded them, but saved the men children alive.

Dan 6:10  Now when Daniel knew that the writing was signed, he went into his house; and his windows being open in his chamber toward Jerusalem, he kneeled upon his knees three times a day, and prayed, and gave thanks before his God, as he did aforetime.

2Ki 1:9  Then the king sent unto him a captain of fifty with his fifty. And he went up to him: and, behold, he sat on the top of an hill. And he spake unto him, Thou man of God, the king hath said, Come down.

2Ki 1:10  And Elijah answered and said to the captain of fifty, If I be a man of God, then let fire come down from heaven, and consume thee and thy fifty. And there came down fire from heaven, and consumed him and his fifty.

2Ki 1:11  Again also he sent unto him another captain of fifty with his fifty. And he answered and said unto him, O man of God, thus hath the king said, Come down quickly.

2Ki 1:12  And Elijah answered and said unto them, If I be a man of God, let fire come down from heaven, and consume thee and thy fifty. And the fire of God came down from heaven, and consumed him and his fifty.

2Ch 19:2  And Jehu the son of Hanani the seer went out to meet him, and said to king Jehoshaphat, Shouldest thou help the ungodly, and love them that hate the LORD? therefore is wrath upon thee from before the LORD.

As you can see, over 99% of the church committed this very same crime, and the true remnant now fully realizes exactly how contemptible these so called leaders truly were.  Willing to allow the slaughter of their sheep, just so they could obtain a portion of the ill gotten filthy lucre that the authorities were offering, they shut their doors, told the sheep to stay home, encouraged those that showed up to be injected, and barred those who refused to poison themselves.

And all because they picked one scripture to their liking, and rejected the whole counsel of God, which would have clearly showed them the wickedness of their ways, such as is found in 2 Chr 19:2 above.

Mal 2:10  Have we not all one father? hath not one God created us? why do we deal treacherously (baw-gad – covertly, deceitfully) every man against his brother, by profaning (khaw-lal – pollute, prostitute, to break one’s word) the covenant (ber-eeth) of our fathers?

We now are faced with an abrupt shift in the conversation.  No longer does God specifically say that he is speaking exclusively to the priests.  Most commentators state that this section now shifts the audience to all the people of Judah, though the minority opinion still believe the priests are foremost in Yahweh’s mind, mainly due to the examples of wrongdoing in the following verses that will be discussed.  I tend to favor that view.  Although one can comfortably believe that all believers are being spoken to equally, it seems an awkward turn of phrase when Malachi begins to speak of we.  Who is we?  One could claim that Malachi is indicting himself, along with the priests, and even all the congregation.  However, he is the messenger, not the recipient of this judgment.  The ‘we’ could then be viewed as a rather clumsy way of switching the audience from priest to the entire nation.  Or the ‘we’ could simply be a continuation of all the priests (leaders) combined.  God has given no indication that he has ended his indictment of the priests’ transgressions.  I believe the best way going forward is to assume that the priests are still first and foremost in Yahweh’s mind, as setting the most wretched example, but the following indictments by no means applies just to them alone.

The second issue is, exactly what treachery is the prophet referring to here?  The most probable interpretation is to look at the rest of the chapter, and see that treachery is also mentioned in verses 11, 14 and 15.  In those verses, the treatment of their wives is spoken of, providing the strongest basis for the most probable topic under discussion.

Let us now examine this verse in proper order.  The first sentence leads to yet another question.  Which father?  Is it God?  Perhaps it is Adam, the father of all mankind.  Or Abraham, the father of the covenant that the Hebrew’s special relationship with God is ultimately based on.  Or perhaps it is Jacob, which was the last patriarch most commonly referred to that uniquely bound the Jewish people together, excluding the other offspring of Abraham and Isaac that did not fall under the lineage of Jacob specifically.

The second sentence may help obtain the answer.  But then again, the third sentence provides even more clues that the second does not.  The first and second sentences are rhetorical questions.  However the answers to us today are not so obvious.  Exactly who has one father?  Which group has this one god created?  The third sentence speaks of the covenant of our fathers.  This would seem to exclude everyone outside the Abrahamic covenant, that was realized through Jacob, and no one else.  Thus, I don’t think Malachi is speaking of Adam and all mankind, for starters.

Now, what sort of treason is God referring to?  We see treason as the central theme right to the end of the chapter.  As we continue to read these verses, the exact treachery should begin to take shape before our eyes.  Sometimes you need to keep reading in order to find the answers to questions that previous verses raise.

Before we depart, some of us may be wondering why God allowed his word to be written in such a way as to leave us with several sincere questions such as was raised above.  Why didn’t God have the prophet write things in such a manner that there would be no room left for several seemingly equally valid interpretations?  Why would God allow the subject, the topic, the recipient, the various identities mentioned to be open to conjecture?  Perhaps the biggest reason is to remind us that we need to keep reading, and discover the entire context of a passage before rendering our best judgment.  Perhaps he also wants us to rely on revelation, that is fought for in the prayer closet, even as Jacob had to wrestle with the angel all night to obtain the blessing that he sought (Gen 32:24-28).  Perhaps it is also to teach us to pay extra attention when we are trying to communicate what God is saying to us.  I am sure Malachi knew exactly who and what he was speaking of.  Many centuries later, his readers are not so sure.  Let us try to take care not to make too many assumptions when we are writing, and take the time to make things crystal clear, so none shall stumble in misinterpretation.

Mal 2:11  Judah hath dealt treacherously (baw-gad), and an abomination (to-ay-baw – something disgusting, an abhorrence) is committed (done) in Israel and in Jerusalem; for Judah hath profaned (khaw-lal – prostituted, polluted) the holiness (kodesh) of the LORD which he loved, and hath married the daughter of a strange (nay-kawr – foreign, heathen) god (el).

God reiterates the theme of treachery.  They are said to be committing an abomination, one of the strongest words of condemnation found in the bible.  Stop and take a close look at who is said to be committing this worst of crimes.  Judah, Israel and Jerusalem are all mentioned.  Now all three may simply be synonyms of each other, all referring to the exact same group.  But I believe God still remembers Israel, though it has not existed for 300 years.  The remnant who remain alive in the nation of Judah, and in the city of Jerusalem, are still expected to follow the commandments of the Lord.  Men may have wiped Israel off the map, but God never has.  The land promised to Abraham and his seed will never be revoked.  It may be taken away for a season, a year, or even an age.  But ultimately, Israel will regain Israel.  Not just what they have today, but every inch that God has promised them.

The first hint we get of what abominable treachery God is speaking of is that the holiness of God has been profaned, or prostituted.  Something to do with unfaithfulness.  Something to do with marriage.  It seems God is saying that like an unfaithful wife, who goes out and plays the whore, so Judah has broken the covenant with God by joining himself to a daughter of a strange god.

Worshippers of a god can be called that god’s children.  Thus, it seems that these Jews have joined themselves in marriage to daughters who worship a god other than Yahweh.  That is the traditional consensus as to what this passage means.  This is supported by the fact that the rest of the chapter will deal with the topic of divorce, one of the two hot button issues that I spoke of in the introduction.

A confirmation of that view may be found in this passage:

Deu 32:12  So the LORD alone did lead him, and there was no strange god (heathenish el) with him.

In this, in what is known as the song of Moses, God instructs Moses to teach the Israelites a song that recounts their deliverance from Egypt, but is mostly about the certainty of future judgments once they stray.  It was said that when God selected the Hebrews apart from all other tribes of men, Yehovah, and Yehovah alone, did lead them.  There was no other heathenish el (god) that helped Yehovah do so.

I would like to make the case that a shadow lurks in this phrase of a possible deeper meaning, that of a shepherd’s heart that was specifically married to the Lord, going astray to follow after some idol that has drawn him away.  Remember that there is a strong case to be made that God is still primarily indicting the sins of the priesthood.  As we shall see, the marrying of foreign wives is the particular manifestation of this whorish heart that God will indict them on.  Who do we know had committed this sin beforehand?

Ezr 9:1  Now when these things were done, the princes came to me, saying, The people of Israel, and the priests, and the Levites, have not separated themselves from the people of the lands, doing according to their abominations, even of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Jebusites, the Ammonites, the Moabites, the Egyptians, and the Amorites.

Ezr 9:2  For they have taken of their daughters for themselves, and for their sons: so that the holy seed have mingled themselves with the people of those lands: yea, the hand of the princes and rulers hath been chief in this trespass.

Ezr 9:3  And when I heard this thing, I rent my garment and my mantle, and plucked off the hair of my head and of my beard, and sat down astonied.

Ezr 9:4  Then were assembled unto me every one that trembled at the words of the God of Israel, because of the transgression of those that had been carried away; and I sat astonied until the evening sacrifice.

Although the people in general were mentioned, the priests and Levites are specifically singled out.  Thus, it is reasonable to believe that although all the people may be in mind beginning from verse 10, the priests and Levites, having been specifically singled out in the entire first half of this book, are the ones that God is most upset with.  The echoes of the sin in the book of Ezra would have rung in the hearer’s ears, as Malachi now condemns the ministers of the same crime that caused Ezra such shame and grief.  Though Ezra had obtained the agreement of the elders to take action to correct this transgression (Ez 10:1-19), apparently God was not totally pleased with the result.  Maybe it was a one time thing, and the priests quickly reverted to their old ways once Ezra was gone, or maybe not all obeyed.  In any event, this was still an extremely significant infraction in Yahweh’s eyes.

Some things never change.  Man keeps returning to the same polluted hole to drink from.  History is there to teach us.  Few ever learn.

One thing the bible teaches us is that sins against God are viewed as far more serious than sins against man.  So one would think that marrying a foreign wife should not be the worst thing in the world.  Yet God calls it treachery and abomination.  Why?  Not so much the improper marriage, but in who they married, and what they brought to the table.  These women were labelled as the daughters of a strange god.  In other words, their devotion to their own god was an established fact.  And these Jews, who were said to be married to Yahweh, were willing to in essence divorce him, in order to be joined to one alluring woman or another, regardless of what evil spirits she brought along with her.  Their lust trumped their loyalty to their God.

Mal 2:12  The LORD will cut off (kaw-rath – to cut, as in a covenant) the man that doeth this, the master and the scholar, out of the tabernacles of Jacob, and him that offereth an offering (min-khaw) unto the LORD of hosts.

The master and the scholar is, in my opinion, an incorrect interpretation of this unique Hebrew phrase.  It would imply a small subset of the Jews are being indicted here, which is clearly not the case.  Most like to render it something like, ‘both the watcher and the one that answers’.  When I look at Strong’s, I would translate it as, ‘so open your eyes and pay attention’.  In other words, Yehovah will cut off anyone that does this, so open your eyes and pay attention to that!  And exactly what do you mean by cutting off?  God will cut that person out from his tabernacle.  And who is associated with the tabernacle, and the activities thereof?  The priests who offer the offering.

This is another reason why I believe that this whole section is primarily still talking to the priests.  Not only does it parallel the same sin spoken of in Ezra, but if we translate this verse properly, the last ‘and’ should be removed.  A possible rendering could go something like this:

The Lord will cut off the man that does this, so open your eyes and pay attention – he will cut him out of Jacob’s tabernacle, that priest that offers offerings unto the Lord of hosts.

Because God speaks of cutting this person out of the tabernacle, where the offerings are offered, I believe that makes for a pretty strong case that the priests are who God has in mind.

When God speaks of cutting off, it is the same word used as when a covenant is being cut.  These are serious, permanent things.  If God cuts a covenant with you, he will never break it (but of course most covenants can be broken by one side or the other, so man can break his side).  Certain covenants, such as the Abrahamic and the Davidic covenants, are said to be eternally permanent, and cannot be broken, since God essentially cut it with himself, but that is a topic for another day.  The point I wish to make is that the opposite is also true.  If God can cut you in, God can cut you out.  And if you are out, you are out.  This does not mean loss of some undefined reward.  It means you are cut off from the family of God.  Cut off from heaven.  Forever.  God does not play games.  There are many instances in the Torah where God warns his people that if they do such and such, they risk being cut off from the covenant, and thus, the family of God.

Mal 2:13  And this have ye done again (or, this, a second thing that ye do), covering the altar of the LORD with tears, with weeping, and with crying out (shrieking, groaning), insomuch that he regardeth not the offering (min-khaw) any more, or receiveth it with good will (delight, pleasure) at your hand.

There were several types of offerings proscribed in the book of Leviticus.

Lev 7:37  This is the law of the burnt offering, of the meat offering, and of the sin offering, and of the trespass offering, and of the consecrations, and of the sacrifice of the peace offerings;

Here is the expanded translation:

This is the torah of the olah (burnt offering), of the min-khaw (a bloodless and voluntary food offering), of the khat-ta-wah (sin and its punishment offering),  and the aw-shawn (the trespass or guilt or fault offering), and of the mil-loo (the consecration, the setting of gems),  and of the zeh-bakh (the slaughter of a sacrifce) of the sheh-lem (requital or peace or thanks offering).

As you can see, those poor Hebrews had it tough!  So many offerings, for so many different purposes, all commanded to be offered in a certain way, for a certain thing.  Aren’t you extremely grateful that Jesus offered himself once for all time, and did away with all these temporary ordinances on our behalf?

I think the alternate translation in brackets is the better one for the first part of the verse.  Instead of an indictment of some same infraction a second time, God is piling on a second sin, in addition to the first one of marrying foreign wives, onto the priests’ tally.  Again, the common man would not be said to be covering the altar of the Lord with tears, as only the priests were appointed and allowed by God to minister at the altar.  I believe this is the final nail in the coffin, so to speak, that this last half of chapter two is still speaking to the priests.  Do you see how if one reads the entire story, the story becomes clearer as we go along?  Do not trust any preacher that loves to quote one verse, then off he goes!  I know that was a preaching style that was made popular in various Protestant circles, but it can be very misleading, especially in the hands of the unlearned and the unscrupulous.

Here is a perfect example of why it is unwise to rely overmuch on academic commentaries.  I was scanning several of them, and every one stated that it was the divorced wives who were fleeing to the altar and covering it with their tears.  Yet the very next verse tells you that this is not true, as God answers the priests who are asking the question in this verse, who are the same people weeping.  When I got to the final commentary, there was finally one who seemed to have gotten it right, in that it was these sinful souls who had married these foreign wives who were doing all this weeping and wailing.  Then he quoted some famous rabbi, who claimed that it was the shunned Jewish wives that were doing the weeping!

Here was the clue that I needed.  It looks like most commentators were not certain about who is doing what, so they went to the Jewish rabbis to get their answer.  Now, I don’t think there is anything wrong with referencing great Jewish sages on occasion, as they can sometimes provide great insight into Jewish customs and ways of thinking that would not be available to us in any other way.  But I have noticed that more than once, these commentators keep quoting some rabbi or another, even though what they are saying at times directly contradict the actual text, or, at the very least, do notable injury to the plain meaning of the words themselves!

I do not care how famous or what sort of reputation a rabbi or any Christian theologian has, if they are clearly contradicting the plain meaning of the text, then move on.  Do not be intimidated by someone’s supposedly great reputation, they are all men, just like you and me.  God is the one who gives the interpretation.  From evidence available, many of these men were in no way Spirit filled.  They at times  exhibited more degrees than common sense.  How many truly had meaningful prayer lives?  They are certainly useful, if for nothing else than having done certain historical research that saves you the trouble of having to do it yourself.  I am sure that most of them were truly sincere, studying and trying to interpret God’s word for the edification of all.  But their main failing was an over reliance on the intellect, rather than the Spirit.  I believe that God unlocks hidden treasures in his word by the Holy Spirit to the truly diligent.  As the times and seasons change, so God releases revelation to his people, in order to provide instruction that we must have, that previous generations may not have needed.

So what do we really have here?  We have hypocritical pastors who are knowingly defying scripture.  Yet they expect the blessing of the Lord upon their life and when it does not come, they weep and wail and are genuinely bewildered as to why.  Why doesn’t God hear us?  Why doesn’t he answer us?  Either they are lying to themselves, convincing themselves that they are doing all that God is asking of them, or more likely, they have made themselves blind through their disobedience and now cannot realize that they are really far away from God and the performance of his will.

Mal 2:14  Yet ye say, Wherefore? Because the LORD hath been witness between thee and the wife of thy youth, against whom thou hast dealt treacherously (baw-gad): yet is she thy companion (khab-eh-reth – consort), and the wife of thy covenant (ber-eeth).

First off, God sees all.  Everything.  Nothing is hid from his eyes.  Why do we engage in so many activities, that we would never do if Jesus was actually standing there?  Would you be comfortable with Jesus sitting next to you as you watch TV?  How about the jokes that you find funny?  What about all those unclean thoughts you indulge in from time to time?  And if God calls you out on some sin, are you like these priests of old, who bewilderingly ask ‘wherefore’, or ‘why’?

Yahweh tells them why.  God has watched everything that has gone on between you and your spouse, especially all those things done behind closed doors, where your church friends cannot see.  You, Mr. Pastor, are specifically being spoken to here.  You fight with your wife on Saturday night, then get up and tell your congregation to give it all to Jesus on Sunday morning.

God says that he has seen treachery.  Betrayal.  You married her, a good Jewish virgin, when she was young and beautiful.  You entered into a covenant with her, til death do us part.  Years have passed.  Perhaps she has gained some weight.  Maybe she isn’t as interested in ‘servicing’ you as often as she was in the past.  Maybe those little personality quirks are now getting on your nerves.

Your service at the temple has become ritualistic and meaningless.  The offerings are down this year.  Looks like I won’t be able to get the latest model of donkey that I had my eye on.  God does not talk to me.  He doesn’t seem to talk to anyone anymore, as we haven’t had a real prophetic word for quite some time.  You get bored.  Your eyes begin to stray.  You spot this young, exotic woman at the market.  Suddenly, your heart starts racing.  She gives the eye.  You smile back.  Soon you can’t stop thinking about her.  You start searching the scriptures, and viola, you find exactly what you need:

Deu 24:1  When a man hath taken a wife, and married her, and it come to pass that she find no favour in his eyes, because he hath found some uncleanness in her: then let him write her a bill of divorcement, and give it in her hand, and send her out of his house.

Well, I can certainly testify to not only some, but much ‘uncleanness’ about her!  Before you know it, you are writing out the divorcement bill.  You know you have kids.  You know they’ll be devastated.  You also know that you are most likely consigning her to a life of poverty and misery, as who will want to marry used goods, especially one so old?  But you solace yourself with the idea that God understands.  After all, why was Deuteronomy 24:1 in the torah, if not for situations like this?  No, I have done nothing wrong.  I have obeyed the law.  All is well.

Traitor!  Betrayer!  Liar!  Wicked soul!

Here is the perfect example of finding something in the word of God to justify your behavior.  Yet Jesus asks all of us, how come you can’t even discern the most basic issues of wrong vs right?

Luk 12:57  Yea, and why even of yourselves judge ye not what is right?

I have heard so many sob stories as to why Christians just had to get a divorce.  Of course, some are valid.  This teaching is for those that the Holy Spirit is specifically speaking to.  Yet many a time in our Laodicean age, selfishness drives all of our decisions.  Discomfort and pain must be eliminated in our lives at all costs.  That is why so many turn to drugs and alcohol.  An inability to endure anything unpleasant.

God says that these priests had good wives.  Wives of the covenant.  Faithful to the one true God.  Not only was it bad enough that they threw them aside when they tired of them, but they then married someone who was a known daughter of a foreign god.  This is where the true treachery and abomination takes place.  It is one thing to betray your spouse, it is a whole other level when you betray God by joining yourself with one who is a follower of another god, which is simply one evil spirit or another.

2Co 6:14  Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness?

2Co 6:15  And what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel?

It is beyond insane how so many believers start going out with a non believer, and somehow think that they will be able to eventually convert them!  Rebelling against the clear command of God, these lonely souls (and they are mostly women), give in to their youthful lusts, thinking that any man is better than no man.  Betraying the Christ that bought them, even if their mate does not openly worship any false god, yet in our culture we worship many things besides demons.

How can two walk together except they be agreed (Am 3:3)?

If you find yourself in this situation, I beg of you to cut it off now.  Regardless of the temporary discomfort, the word of God does not lie.  What of real importance do you really have in common with the pagan?

Notice that God says that your wife is supposed to be your companion.  It is the only place in the bible that this word is found.  She is not your drudge, or your slave, or your sex toy.  She is not the one to take out the day’s frustrations on.  A companion is someone equal to you.  Equal in the Lord.  Treat her right, and you will reap a bountiful harvest of harmony and peace.

Mal 2:15  And did not he make one (echad)? Yet had he the residue of the spirit (ruach). And wherefore one? That he might seek (baw-kash – search, procure, obtain) a godly (elohim) seed. Therefore take heed (shaw-mar – hedge about, preserve, protect) to your spirit (ruach), and let none deal treacherously (baw-gad) against the wife of his youth.

There is disagreement once again as to the proper rendering of this verse (as we have witnessed, Malachi has several passages that are not as clear and straightforward as we would like).  As an example, Ellicott’s commentary translates it thus:

For did He not make [man and his wife] one? and has he [the husband] any superiority of spirit [that he should divorce at will]? And what is this [pair which is become] one? [Answer.] It seeketh a godly seed. Therefore take heed to yourselves [literally, your spirit], and with respect to the wife of thy youth—Let none be faithless.

I don’t quite see the verse that way, but include it, as an alternate rendering for your perusal.

God is speaking of a man’s wife.  Specifically, these treacherous priests’ wives, of whom they have so casually tossed aside in favor of some pagan, Yehovah denying wench.  So God is now saying, did I not make one wife for Adam?  Why not two, or three?  Because the main reason I did this was so that one man and one woman would be joined together and produce a godly offspring.

God wants a family.  He wants an extended family.  He did not create man so that he could go and have sex with as many women as his loins desired.  The heathen are obsessed with that.  God’s people are different.  We don’t marry to primarily satisfy our lusts, but to raise a family.  A godly one.  If the father dumps his wife for a younger woman, especially one that cares nothing for his God, then what sort of example will that set for his children?  You can basically forget about hoping your kids will turn out well, as you are setting yourself up to be cursed by your rebellious behavior.

Therefore, or the conclusion of the matter, is that we need to take heed to our spirits, or our hearts.  Our hearts are easily deceived (Jer 17:9).  How many times have we heard someone say that I have prayed about it, and I know God wants me to marry this one, even though doing so would be in direct violation of his commandments.  I’ve prayed about it!  These are some of the most ridiculous words that have come out of the backslider’s mouth!  And you are backslid, when you knowingly, wilfully, violate a clear commandment of the Lord.

Let us now go back and try to figure out what the second sentence means.  Yet had he the residue of the spirit.  Most commentaries think this refers to God.  God still had enough spirit left that he could have made multiple women from Adam’s side, but he chose to make only one.  This was to show all men that one wife was his will, not several.  While that principle may be true, I cannot agree with that interpretation.  Since when would God be left with a residue of anything, as if he could run out of something?  About the only thing I do know that God can run out of is patience with me, and sometimes even with you!

Perhaps God is saying to these two timing priests that you too, have at least some trace of my spirit still somewhere within you.  The spark of life is placed in all men.  You may choose right, or you may choose wrong, but I have placed something of myself in each and every one of you, so use at least a modicum of intelligence and look to my original example of Adam and Eve.  Did I not make one of each?  Is this not my eternal pattern for mankind?  How can you raise up a godly lineage, if your house if full of women, especially idol worshipping women, all vying for prominence, scheming behind your back, like Jacob’s wives of old?

I have to confess that I am not totally sold on the above idea, but it’s the best I’ve got for you, so seek the Lord for yourselves and see what witnesses in your heart.

Mal 2:16  For the LORD (Yehovah), the God (elohim) of Israel, saith that he hateth (saw-nay – finds utterly odious) putting away (shaw-lakh – send away, push away, cast out): for one covereth (clads oneself in) violence (khaw-mawce – cruelty, oppression, injustice) with his garment, saith the LORD of hosts: therefore take heed (shaw-mar) to your spirit (ruach), that ye deal not treacherously (baw-gad).

So here we finally come to the first of the two great verses in Malachi that even many old testament phobic pansy preachers dare to preach on, though this first one far less than the second, which we will encounter in chapter three.  I like the nuance in the Hebrew for the word shaw-lakh, what we call divorce in modern translations.  It has the implication of pushing away, sending away.  Even if you have not divorced as of yet, are you pushing away your spouse by your actions and your attitude?  Is there a reason why your spouse does not want to spend any time with you?  Why he fills his (or her) time with other interests?  It does no injury to the text to apply this to both sexes.

In context, these priests cast out the Jewish wives of their youth for a young pagan one.  If God is said here to hate all divorce, he most especially hates one where you are throwing off a believing wife for an unbelieving one.  God sees these priests as covering themselves in violence, as one who clad themselves with a cloak.  What sort of violence?  It could be the violence done to your first wife.  By cruelly tossing her aside, you do violence to her soul, spiritually speaking.  One may also interpret this as cladding yourself in unjust gain by clothing your sin with this second wife.  I kind of like that idea as a way to make the passage clearer to our 21st century sensibilities.  We are certainly finding many sentences that are not so very cut and dried, are we not?

God ends the verse by repeating this most solemn of warnings.  Take heed to your spirit, so you don’t end up committing treason.  How many millions in the west have not heeded this warning, and have committed treason against mankind by joining the antichrist’s anti human crusade to wipe us all out and replace us with some sort of alien AI hybrid!

Note that it is up to us to watch over our spirits.  We do have free will.  Never assume that God will do for you what he has demanded that you do for yourself.

Mal 2:17  Ye have wearied (yaw-gah – exhausted) the LORD with your words (daw-bawr) Yet ye say, Wherein have we wearied him (yaw-gah)? When ye say, Every one that doeth evil (rah) is good (tobe – good in the widest sense) in the sight (eye) of the LORD, and he delighteth (khaw-fates – is pleased with) in them; or, Where is the God (elohim) of judgment (mishpat)?

Once more God brings down another indictment on these priests.  I think I have made a strong case that God is still addressing his priests throughout the entire second chapter, just as he did in the first, and there is no reason to think that he is changing audiences here.

Yah-gah, yah-gah, yah-gah.  Are you guilty of wearying God with the abundance of your words?  Does your prayer life solely consist of bending God’s ear with your complaints, gripes, moanings, bellyaches, and grievances?  Has your store of goodly nature run dry?

These priests are something else.  Clueless as the woke mob, those disciples of MSNBC.  They still have no clue what the prophet is talking about.  So he has to explain it to them.

Basically, they have fallen into the most common cynical trap that people use to justify rejecting God.  Because the wicked prosper and are unpunished, God must think the wicked are really the good guys.  Or at the very least, you are tiring God with your doubt that God will ever address the punishment of the wicked.  It has become too easy from 2020 onward to fall into this melancholy, when the whole world has gone mad.  God is watching, as to who will persevere and endure.

So we in America have finally seen the winning streak of the cabal broken with the election of Trump.  While there is still a very long way to go before any real change can take place, to prolong the time before the total judgment completes its inevitable course, we should all be very grateful for what God has just accomplished within our midst.  If nothing else, it is causing tremendous angst and grief in the enemy’s camp and for that alone, it is well worth it!

What I also see is that this may be the extension of time needed in order to pull in the final harvest before all is destroyed.  That prospect should excite all of us!  Are we not seeing prominent people openly speak about God, Jesus, and prayer, like we have not seen for quite some time?  Are not notable personalities finally thinking twice about the madness they have been adhering to, and reconsidering?  If someone like RFK has openly said that he prays for a half hour at the start of every day for the past 19 years, asking that God would help him to save the health of the children, and that God answered by giving him Donald Trump, is not God most high so very gracious and wonderful, hearing the honest cry of a human heart that wants to do right, even if they do not know him?  Have we not seen at least the beginnings of a spiritual transformation amongst those whom we would’ve never thought possible?  Instead of being the wet blanket and pointing out that they are not Christians, can we not rejoice whenever anyone moves towards the good, and away from the evil?  Do we so quickly forget about how many of us took many, many years before we finally saw the light in its entirety, and truly gave our hearts to Jesus?  Can we not pray, pray, pray, instead of bitch, moan, and complain for once (believe me, I am preaching as much to myself as to anyone else out there!)?

There were confirmed reports that during election night, several dozen trucks, filled with millions of fraudulent ballots, left their locations and headed to polling places where they were most needed.  I have seen video evidence of them pulling up in front of one battleground state’s polling place.  However, when they saw the amount of watchers and scrutineers observing and recording everything that was going on, someone made the decision to pull back, and not try the same tactic that was used so successfully in 2020.

Now, how did this miracle happen?  God, and God alone, orchestrated it.  He moved upon many people’s hearts to get involved, and provided the natural reason for why it seemed the Democrats were unwilling to try the same scheme.  But the wicked have been so bold since 2020.  They have acted in a manner that says that they fear no consequence, from man or God.  Yet, on this night, they ran away.  Why?  Because God chose it that way.  He had decided to help us with a little help.

Dan11:34  Now when they shall fall, they shall be holpen with a little help: but many shall cleave to them with flatteries.

Why do you think the president has been preserved, despite two known assassination attempts?  Really, if you stop and think about it, why did the cabal choose to use a couple of mk-ultra mind wiped morons to try and accomplish this task?  What caused their reasoning to think that the priority was to ensure that a deranged, lone gunman would solely be blamed, rather than hiring a true professional, who would never have missed?  What caused them to make such a decision?

God, of course.  God has his reasons as to why things have turned out as they have.  You can rest assured it all has to do with God’s ways, which are the ways of judgment (Deut 32:4, Dan 4:37).

God is not sharing the next immediate steps of his plan with us in detail, but does let us know what season we are in.  We are still in the season of total judgment.  That has not changed.

Let us not for one moment think that the wicked will now crawl back into their dark, dank holes, out of which they have sprung.  They will not take this election lying down.  What will happen next, only God knows.  I do know that if he has given us something good, then please, please, please, let us not waste this opportunity.  Let us pray as never before, that good triumphs over evil.  Put aside your pride and your prejudice, and let us pray as never before that good does indeed grab a foothold one more time in our lands.  And why do we wish to see that?  So that we can return to our life of leisure and wealth, ignoring God and his commandments?  God forbid!  So that we may have the time and the opportunity to bring in the final harvest, before the last winter sets in, when all potential future crops will be wiped out by the retribution of a holy God, pushed into wrath beyond measure by the wilful, rebellious, actions of wicked men and women.

So we come to the end of chapter two.  We have encountered a God who is not shy about telling us exactly how he feels about certain things.  He saves some of his harshest language for the leaders of his people.  The leaders have a higher standard to live up to.  He especially hates the poor example they set for all the world to see, especially God’s own children.  He ends up condemning them for their casual, cavalier attitude towards divorce and remarriage.  I know many have condemned organizations such as the Catholic church in prior years, for their inflexible stance on divorce and remarriage.  People were denied communion, if they left an intolerable marriage, where their lives were in constant danger.  There seemed to be little room for common sense, or justice for the poor women.  Either they were left to rot in a horrible relationship, or if they left, they received no support and comfort.

Yet how we have jumped from one side of the ditch to the other!  Now, Christians in the west divorce at the same rate as the heathen.  What sort of witness does this give to the world?  The wicked think: ‘If your God is not even strong enough to keep your home from flying apart, then what use is he to me’?  How can we tell people about the saving love of Christ, when he can’t even save our marriage?

Here we learn that God hates it when a spouse is put away.  I believe this not only refers to divorce, but can also mean pushing them away in your heart.  The book of Malachi does extensively address the sins of the heart, when you take the time to look at the text closely.  But before preachers use this one verse to condemn all divorce, let them temper their understanding with the fact that God is condemning a specific type of divorce that was taking place.  It was a putting away of a wife that belonged to the covenant people of God, and joining with a woman of a strange God, representing a treacherous, abominable betrayal by the man who did this.  And these men were priests – leaders and supposed examples to the flock.  While God has made allowance for divorce, he only did so due to the hardness of men’s hearts, as Jesus made clear (Mat 19:8).  If anyone has married correctly in the Lord, and then ends up in divorce, not due to infidelity or apostasy by one or the other, then you can be sure that it is due to some hardness of heart by one or the other or both that is causing this sin to take place.  And sin it is.  Sin is falling short of the mark.  So is divorce.  But as with almost all sin, there is forgiveness at the cross.

Preachers, let us not use one or two verses alone to beat people without ceasing, without also offering them some hope, unless they are truly unrepentant and wicked, in which case the word tells us that there is no hope to be had.  Let us study passages such as found in Malachi carefully, and grasp the context before going off and misrepresenting the word of life.

Finally, I don’t know if I have ever encountered a chapter in the writing of commentaries where so many sentences cannot be deciphered with a confident level of certainty.  We have seen several instances where many honest souls have come up with several possible renderings of the text, and subsequent interpretations.  So God continues to humble us, and challenges us to continue to seek him earnestly, until the day arises when all things will be made clear.

May the Lord Jesus Christ give us the illumination and the revelation that we need to be able to navigate the treacherous waters successfully and triumphantly in these last of the last days.

Solitary Man

Photos courtesy Depositphotos

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