“Now, you priests, this commandment is for you. If you will not listen, and if you will not take it to heart, to give glory to my name,” says Yahweh of Armies, “then I will send the curse on you, and I will curse your blessings. Indeed, I have cursed them already, because you do not take it to heart. Behold, I will rebuke your offspring, and will spread dung on your faces, even the dung of your feasts; and you will be taken away with it.
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“Now, you priests, this commandment is for you. If you will not listen, and if you will not take it to heart, to give glory to my name,” says Yahweh of Armies, “then I will send the curse on you, and I will curse your blessings. Indeed, I have cursed them already, because you do not take it to heart. Behold, I will rebuke your offspring, and will spread dung on your faces, even the dung of your feasts; and you will be taken away with it. You will know that I have sent this commandment to you, that my covenant may be with Levi,” says Yahweh of Armies. “My covenant was with him of life and peace; and I gave them to him that he might be reverent toward me; and he was reverent toward me, and stood in awe of my name. The law of truth was in his mouth, and unrighteousness was not found in his lips. He walked with me in peace and uprightness, and turned many away from iniquity. For the priest’s lips should keep knowledge, and they should seek the law at his mouth; for he is the messenger of Yahweh of Armies. But you have turned away from the path. You have caused many to stumble in the law. You have corrupted the covenant of Levi,” says Yahweh of Armies. “Therefore I have also made you contemptible and wicked before all the people, according to the way you have not kept my ways, but have had respect for persons in the law. Don’t we all have one father? Hasn’t one God created us? Why do we deal treacherously every man against his brother, profaning the covenant of our fathers? Judah has dealt treacherously, and an abomination is committed in Israel and in Jerusalem; for Judah has profaned the holiness of Yahweh which he loves, and has married the daughter of a foreign god. Yahweh will cut off, to the man who does this, him who wakes and him who answers, out of the tents of Jacob, and him who offers an offering to Yahweh of Armies. This again you do: you cover Yahweh’s altar with tears, with weeping, and with sighing, because he doesn’t regard the offering any more, neither receives it with good will at your hand. Yet you say, ‘Why?’ Because Yahweh has been witness between you and the wife of your youth, against whom you have dealt treacherously, though she is your companion, and the wife of your covenant. Did he not make you one, although he had the residue of the Spirit? Why one? He sought godly offspring. Therefore take heed to your spirit, and let no one deal treacherously against the wife of his youth. One who hates and divorces”, says Yahweh, the God of Israel, “covers his garment with violence!” says Yahweh of Armies. “Therefore pay attention to your spirit, that you don’t be unfaithful. You have wearied Yahweh with your words. Yet you say, ‘How have we wearied him?’ In that you say, ‘Everyone who does evil is good in Yahweh’s sight, and he delights in them;’ or ‘Where is the God of justice?’
Parallel Translations
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“Now, you priests, this commandment is for you.
If you will not listen, and if you will not take it to heart, to give glory to my name,” says Yahweh of Armies, “then I will send the curse on you, and I will curse your blessings. Indeed, I have cursed them already, because you do not take it to heart.
Behold, I will rebuke your offspring, and will spread dung on your faces, even the dung of your feasts; and you will be taken away with it.
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And now, O ye priests, this commandment is for you.
If ye will not hear, 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.
Behold, I will corrupt your seed, and spread dung upon your faces, even the dung of your solemn feasts; and one shall take you away with it.
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And now, this commandment is for you, O ye priests.
If ye will not hearken, and if ye will not lay it to heart, to give glory unto My name, saith the LORD of hosts, then will I send the curse upon you, and I will curse your blessings; yea, I curse them, because ye do not lay it to heart.
Behold, I will rebuke the seed for your hurt, and will spread dung upon your faces, even the dung of your sacrifices; and ye shall be taken away unto it.
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Questions where the Bible appears to say two different things, with the passages on each side set together.
Cross-references (45)
- Luke 17:18 (v2) Were there none found who returned to give glory to God, except this foreigner?”
- Revelation 14:7 (v2) He said with a loud voice, “Fear the Lord, and give him glory; for the hour of his judgment has come. Worship him who made the heaven, the…
- Psalms 69:22 (v2) Let their table before them become a snare. May it become a retribution and a trap.
- Psalms 81:11-12 (v2) But my people didn’t listen to my voice. Israel desired none of me. So I let them go after the stubbornness of their hearts, that they…
- Nahum 3:6 (v3) I will throw abominable filth on you, and make you vile, and will set you a spectacle.
Show all 45 cross-references
- Leviticus 26:14-46 (v2) “ ‘But if you will not listen to me, and will not do all these commandments, and if you shall reject my statutes, and if your soul abhors…
- Malachi 2:9 (v3) “Therefore I have also made you contemptible and wicked before all the people, according to the way you have not kept my ways, but have had…
- Malachi 3:9 (v2) You are cursed with the curse; for you rob me, even this whole nation.
- 1 Peter 4:11 (v2) If anyone speaks, let it be as it were the very words of God. If anyone serves, let it be as of the strength which God supplies, that in…
- Deuteronomy 28:15-68 (v2) But it shall come to pass, if you will not listen to Yahweh your God’s voice, to observe to do all his commandments and his statutes which…
- Ezekiel 3:7 (v2) But the house of Israel will not listen to you, for they will not listen to me; for all the house of Israel are obstinate and hard-hearted.
- Luke 23:28-30 (v2) But Jesus, turning to them, said, “Daughters of Jerusalem, don’t weep for me, but weep for yourselves and for your children. For behold,…
- Exodus 29:14 (v3) But the meat of the bull, and its skin, and its dung, you shall burn with fire outside of the camp. It is a sin offering.
- 1 Kings 14:10 (v3) therefore, behold, I will bring evil on the house of Jeroboam, and will cut off from Jeroboam everyone who urinates on a wall, he who is…
- Job 20:7 (v3) yet he will perish forever like his own dung. Those who have seen him will say, ‘Where is he?’
- Jeremiah 13:13 (v1) Then tell them, ‘Yahweh says, “Behold, I will fill all the inhabitants of this land, even the kings who sit on David’s throne, the priests,…
- Jeremiah 13:16-17 (v2) Give glory to Yahweh your God, before he causes darkness, and before your feet stumble on the dark mountains, and while you look for light,…
- Jeremiah 25:4-9 (v2) Yahweh has sent to you all his servants the prophets, rising up early and sending them (but you have not listened or inclined your ear to…
- Hosea 5:1 (v1) “Listen to this, you priests! Listen, house of Israel, and give ear, house of the king! For the judgment is against you; for you have been…
- Joel 1:17 (v3) The seeds rot under their clods. The granaries are laid desolate. The barns are broken down, for the grain has withered.
- Zechariah 1:3-6 (v2) Therefore tell them: Yahweh of Armies says: ‘Return to me,’ says Yahweh of Armies, ‘and I will return to you,’ says Yahweh of Armies. Don’t…
- Zechariah 7:11-14 (v2) But they refused to listen, and turned their backs, and stopped their ears, that they might not hear. Yes, they made their hearts as hard…
- Malachi 1:6 (v1) “A son honors his father, and a servant his master. If I am a father, then where is my honor? And if I am a master, where is the respect…
- Revelation 16:9 (v2) People were scorched with great heat, and people blasphemed the name of God who has the power over these plagues. They didn’t repent and…
- Deuteronomy 30:17-18 (v2) But if your heart turns away, and you will not hear, but are drawn away and worship other gods, and serve them, I declare to you today that…
- Joshua 7:19 (v2) Joshua said to Achan, “My son, please give glory to Yahweh, the God of Israel, and make confession to him. Tell me now what you have done!…
- 1 Samuel 2:29-30 (v3) Why do you kick at my sacrifice and at my offering, which I have commanded in my habitation, and honor your sons above me, to make…
- 2 Kings 9:36-37 (v3) Therefore they came back, and told him. He said, “This is Yahweh’s word, which he spoke by his servant Elijah the Tishbite, saying, ‘The…
- Psalms 83:10 (v3) who perished at Endor, who became as dung for the earth.
- Psalms 109:7-15 (v2) When he is judged, let him come out guilty. Let his prayer be turned into sin. Let his days be few. Let another take his office. Let his…
- Isaiah 30:8-13 (v2) Now go, write it before them on a tablet, and inscribe it in a book, that it may be for the time to come forever and ever. For it is a…
- Isaiah 42:25 (v2) Therefore he poured the fierceness of his anger on him, and the strength of battle. It set him on fire all around, but he didn’t know. It…
- Isaiah 47:7 (v2) You said, ‘I will be a princess forever,’ so that you didn’t lay these things to your heart, nor did you remember the results.
- Isaiah 57:11 (v2) “Whom have you dreaded and feared, so that you lie, and have not remembered me, nor laid it to your heart? Haven’t I held my peace for a…
- Jeremiah 6:16-20 (v2) Yahweh says, “Stand in the ways and see, and ask for the old paths, ‘Where is the good way?’ and walk in it, and you will find rest for…
- Jeremiah 8:2 (v3) They will spread them before the sun, the moon, and all the army of the sky, which they have loved, which they have served, after which…
- Jeremiah 34:17 (v2) Therefore Yahweh says: “You have not listened to me, to proclaim liberty, every man to his brother, and every man to his neighbor. Behold,…
- Lamentations 4:13 (v1) It is because of the sins of her prophets and the iniquities of her priests, That have shed the blood of the just in the middle of her.
- Hosea 4:7-10 (v2) As they were multiplied, so they sinned against me. I will change their glory into shame. They feed on the sin of my people, and set their…
- Hosea 9:11-14 (v2) As for Ephraim, their glory will fly away like a bird. There will be no birth, no one with child, and no conception. Though they bring up…
- Haggai 1:6 (v2) You have sown much, and bring in little. You eat, but you don’t have enough. You drink, but you aren’t filled with drink. You clothe…
- Haggai 1:9 (v2) “You looked for much, and, behold, it came to little; and when you brought it home, I blew it away. Why?” says Yahweh of Armies, “Because…
- Haggai 2:16-17 (v2) Through all that time, when one came to a heap of twenty measures, there were only ten. When one came to the wine vat to draw out fifty,…
- Luke 14:35 (v3) It is fit neither for the soil nor for the manure pile. It is thrown out. He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”
- 1 Corinthians 4:13 (v3) Being defamed, we entreat. We are made as the filth of the world, the dirt wiped off by all, even until now.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this passage (25 sources)
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John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain On vv1–3 Though the priests did not sin alone, yet it…
Though the priests did not sin alone, yet it is not without reason, as we have said, that they were regarded as the first in wickedness; for it was their office to correct what the people did amiss. Their dissimulation had the effect of encouraging the common people to sin: hence the Prophet accuses them especially as the authors of impiety; and this is what the words intimate, if they are rightly considered.
To you, he says, O priests. They might have indeed exonerated themselves, or at least transferred a part of their guilt to others: “Oh! what can we do? for we see that the people are growing cold in God’s worship; it is better that imperfect sacrifices should be offered than none at all.” As then they might by evasion have somewhat extenuated their guilt, the Prophet the more sharply reproves them and says, To you especially is addressed this command, as they ought to have shown to others the right way; for when they dissembled, their connivance was nothing else but a consent; and thus they divested the people of God’s fear, and allowed them to corrupt the whole of religion by offering spurious sacrifices. To you then, he says, that is, “Though the whole people is guilty before God, think not that ye are on this account excused; for it behoves you to check this wickedness, for God has set you over the people as their teachers and guides: as then ye have neglected your duty, whatever others have done amiss, falls justly on your heads. For how has it happened that the people have dared to proceed so far in impiety? even because you have no concern for religion; for God has promoted you to the priesthood for this end — to preserve in integrity the worship of his name; but ye know of all the prevailing profanations, and ye hold your peace: To you then is this command.”
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv1–3 He speaketh unto them chiefly, but under them he…
He speaketh unto them chiefly, but under them he containeth the people also.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv1–3 Mal 2:1 And now, O ye priests, this commandment…
Mal 2:1 And now, O ye priests, this commandment [is] for you.
Ver. 1. And now, O ye priests, &c.] Now, that is, Now again, I must have the other bout with you, besides what I had, Mal 1:6-11, for as once from the prophets, so now from the priests, in Jerusalem profaneness is gone forth into all the land, Jer 23:15. Their white ephods covered many foul sins; and their evil example proved a public mischief. Hence the prophet is so round with them; for he knew that a wicked priest is the worst creature upon earth. Unsavoury salt is fit for no place; no, not for the dunghill. It is an old proverb, that hell is paved with the shaven crowns of evil priests. The word priest is never used by the apostles for a minister of the gospel; no, not by the most ancient fathers, as Bellarmine himself confesseth. Indeed in Chrysostom I find this piercing passage; Non arbitror inter sacerdotes multos esse qui salvi fiant, I do not think, saith be, that among all our priests, there be many that shall be saved. Bernard comes after him, and complains that in the court of Rome good men failed, bad men grew plentiful; and that the bishops of his time were not doctors, but seducers; not pastors, but impostors; not prelates, but Pilates. Yea, Pope Pius II hath left it in writing, that no villanous act had been for a long time committed in the Catholic Church the first beginning whereof proceeded not from the priests. Cornelius a Lapide, upon this chapter, cries out of the ignorance and wickedness of the Popish clergy as the cause of the contempt cast by us upon them. And I would we had not cause to say, that many of our ministers neither feed liberally by charity, nor soundly by doctrine, nor religiously by life; which opened once the mouth of that dead dog Campian maliciously to bark out, Ministris eorum nihil vilius, Their ministers are most vile and vicious.
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This commandment is for you] i.e. That curse, Mal 1:14 implying a commandment; that if you desire to escape that heavy curse you forthwith obey this commandment ( Aut faciendum enim aut patiendum) to procure the purity and integrity of my worships, and to see that there be a present reformation of religion. Reformation is a work that hath ever gone heavily on, and hath met with much opposition. As that made by Elijah, by Josiah, by Nehemiah, and by Hezekiah, who found the priests and Levites very backward; which the good king perceiving, began first himself, and awaked those sluggards with these words. Oh, be not deceived, my sons: God hath chosen you for this service, 2Ch 29:11. The like backwardness was found in the Popish clergy to a general Council, so much urged and called for by the Bohemians, Germans, and other nations, that groaned under the yoke of Papal tyranny. Luther truly and trimly compareth the cardinals and prelates that met at Rome about reformation of the Church, to foxes, that came to sweep a house full of dust with their tails; and instead of sweeping it out, swept it all about the house, and made a great smoke for the while; but when they were gone the dust fell all down again (Sleidan Comment.). When nothing could be obtained of the Pope, Luther began to reform in Germany, where he had a great door open, but many adversaries, and none more violent than the Pope, whose triple crown, and the monks, whose fat paunches, he so nearly touched, as Erasmus merrily told the Elector of Saxony. Bucer and Melancthon framed a form of reformation with approbation of the peers and states. But the clergy of Collen rejected it with scorn and slander, saying that they would rather submit to the government of the Great Turk than to a magistrate that followed or furthered such a reformation. Here in England something began to be done in the time of Henry VIII, but it was so envied and opposed by the Churchmen that little could be done to what was expected. There are many (said he, sitting in parliament) that are too busy with their new Sumpsimus, {a} and others that dote too much upon their old Mumpsimus. {b} The new religion, though true, he and his clergy envied; the old, though his own, he despised. Magistrates are to have the main stroke in reformation of religion (though Papists would utterly exclude them from having to do in matters ecclesiastical), but ministers also must move in their own orb, and do their part too (why else are the priests here commanded and menaced?). 1. By teaching. 2. By exercising discipline. And here magistrates must hem ministers in with boards of cedar, Son 8:9, provide for their security while they do their duty, that they may be without fear among them, as Timothy, 1Co 16:10. Envied they must look to be, and hated for their zeal to God’s house, which they seek to purge. But public respects must (like the rapid motion) carry our hearts contrary to the ways of our own private respects or concerns; and consider, that as it is not the tossing in a ship but the stomach, that causeth sickness; the choler within, and not the waves without; so the frowardness of men, that quarrel with reformation, and not the work itself, which is God’s commandment, as here the prophet calls it.
{a} A correct expression taking the place of an incorrect but popular one (mumpsimus). ŒD
{b} One who obstinately adheres to old ways, in spite of the clearest evidence that they are wrong; an ignorant and bigoted opponent of reform ŒD
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv1–3 This commandment; either this which he had already minded…
This commandment; either this which he had already minded them of about the sacrifices, what ought to be offered and what refused; if the people brought defective sheep or oxen, they who were priests ought not to have admitted, they ought not to have offered them upon God’s altar: or this commandment he now brings from God to them, and which is contained in this chapter.
Is for you; by especial direction it is sent to you, and look to it that you obey it.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Matthew Henry 1710 · Public Domain On v1 What was said in the foregoing chapter was directed…
What was said in the foregoing chapter was directed to the priests (Mal 1:6): Thus saith the Lord of hosts to you, O priests! that despise my name. But the crimes there charged upon them they were guilty of as sacrificers, and for those they might think it some excuse that they offered what the people brought, and therefore that, if they were not so good as they should be, it was not their fault, but the people's; and therefore here the corruptions there complained of are traced to the source and spring of them - the faults the priests were guilty of as teachers of the people, as expositors of the law and the lively oracles; and this is a part of their office which still remains in the hands of gospel-ministers (who are appointed to be pastors and teachers, like the priests under the law, though not sacrificers, like them), and therefore by them the admonition here is to be particularly regarded. If the priests had given the people better instructions, the people would have brought better offerings; and therefore the blame returns upon the priests: "And now, O you priests! this commandment is purely for you (Mal 2:1), who should have taught the people the good knowledge of the Lord, and how to worship him aright." Note, The governors of the churches are under God's government, and to him they are accountable. Even for those who command God has commandments. Nay (Mal 2:4), you shall know that I have sent these commandments for you. They should know it either, 1. By the power of the Spirit working with the word for their conviction and reformation: "You shall know its original by its efficacy, whence it comes by what it does." When the word of God to us brings about, and carries on, the work of God in us, then we cannot but know that he sent it to us, that it is not the word of Malachi - God's messenger, but it is indeed the word of God, and is sent, not only in general to all, but in particular to us. Or, 2. By the accomplishment of the threatenings denounced against them: "You shall know, to your cost, that I have sent this commandment to you, and it shall not return void."
Let us now see what this commandment is which is for the priests, which, they must know, was sent to them; and let us put into method the particulars of the charge.
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I. Here is a recital of the covenant God made with that sacred tribe, which was their commission for their work and the patent of their honour: The Lord of hosts sent a commandment to them, for the establishing of this covenant (Mal 2:4), for his covenant is said to be the word which he commanded (Psa 105:8); and he sent this commandment by the prophet at this time for the re-establishing of it, that it might not be cut off for their persisting in the violation of it. Let the sons of Levi know then (and particularly the sons of Aaron) what honour God put upon their family, and what a trust he reposed in them (Mal 2:5): My covenant was with him of life and peace. Besides the covenant of peculiarity made with all the house of Israel, there was a covenant of priesthood made with one family, that they should do the services, and, upon condition of that, should enjoy all the privileges, of the priest's office - that, as Israel was a peculiar nation, a kingdom of priests, so the house of Aaron should be a family of priests, set apart for the service and honour of God, to bear up his name in that nation, as they were to bear up his name among the nations; both the one and the other, in different degrees, were to give glory unto God's name, Mal 2:2. God covenanted with them as his menial servants, obliged them to do his work and promised to own and accept them in it. This is called his covenant of life and peace, because it was intended for the support of religion, which brings life and peace to the souls of men - life to the dead, peace to the distressed, or because life and peace were by this covenant promised to those priests that faithfully and conscientiously discharged their duty; they shall have peace, which implies security from all evil, and life, which comprises the summary of all good. What is here said of the covenant of priesthood is true of the covenant of grace made with all believers, as spiritual priests; it is a covenant of life and peace; it assures all believers of life and peace, everlasting peace, everlasting life, all happiness both in this world and in that to come. This covenant was made with the whole tribe of Levi when they were distinguished from the rest of the tribes, were not numbered with them, but were taken from among them and appointed over the tabernacle of testimony (Num 1:49, Num 1:50), by virtue of which appointment God says (Num 3:12), The Levites shall be mine. It was made with Aaron when he and his sons were taken to minister unto the Lord in the priest's office, Exo 28:1. Aaron is therefore called the saint of the Lord, Psa 106:16. It was made with Phinehas and his family, a branch of Aaron's, upon a particular occasion, Num 25:12, Num 25:13. And there the covenant of priesthood is called, as here, the covenant of peace, because by it peace was made and kept between God and Israel. These great blessings of life and peace, contained in that covenant, God gave to him, to Levi, to Aaron, to Phinehas; he promised life and peace to them and their posterity, entrusted them with these benefits for the use and behoof of God's Israel; they received that they might give, as Christ himself did, Psa 68:18. now, for the further opening of this covenant, observe, 1. The considerations upon which it was grounded: It was for the fear wherewith he feared me, and was afraid before my name. The tribe of Levi gave a signal proof of their holy fear of God, and their reverence for his name, when they appeared so bravely against the worshippers of the golden calf (Exo 32:26); and for their zeal in that matter God bestowed this blessing upon them and invited them to consecrate themselves unto him. Phinehas also showed himself zealous in the fear of God and his judgments when, to stay the plague, he stabbed Zimri and Cozbi, Psa 106:30, Psa 106:31. Note, Those, and those only, who fear God's name, can expect the benefit of the covenant of life and peace; and those who give proofs of their zeal for God shall without fail be recompensed in the glorious privileges of the Christian priesthood. Some read this, not as the consideration of the grant, but as the condition of it: I gave them to him, provided that he should fear before me. If God grant us life and peace, he expects we should fear before him. 2. The trust that was lodged in the priests by this covenant, Mal 2:7. They were hereby made the messengers of the Lord of hosts, messengers of that covenant of life and peace, not mediators of it, but only messengers, or ambassadors, employed to treat of the terms of peace between God and Israel. The priests were God's mouth to his people, from whom they must receive instructions according to the lively oracles. This was the office to which Levi was advanced; because, in his zeal for God, he did not acknowledge his brethren, nor know his own children, therefore they shall teach Jacob God's judgments, Deu 33:9, Deu 33:10. Note, It is an honour to God's servants to be employed as his messengers and to be sent on his errands. Angels have their name thence. Haggai was called the Lord's messenger. This being their office, observe, (1.) What is the duty of ministers: The priests' lips should keep knowledge, not keep it from the people, but keep it for them. Ministers must be men of knowledge; for how are those able to teach others the things of God who are themselves unacquainted with those things or unready in them? They must keep knowledge, must furnish themselves with it and retain what they have got, that they may be like the good householder, who brings out of his treasury things new and old. Not only their heads, but their lips, must keep knowledge; they must not only have it, but they must have it ready, must have it at hand, must have it (as we say) at their tongue's end, to be communicated to others as there is occasion. Thus we read of wisdom in the lips of him that has understanding, with which they feed many, Pro 10:13, Pro 10:21. (2.) What is the duty of the people: They should seek the law at his mouth; they should consult the priests as God's messengers, and not only hear the message, but ask questions upon it, that they may the better understand it and that mistakes concerning it may be prevented and rectified. We are all concerned fully to know what the will of the Lord is, to know it distinctly and certainly; we should be desirous to know it and therefore inquisitive concerning it. Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? We must not only consult the written word (to the law and to the testimony), but must have recourse to God's messengers, and desire instruction and advice from them in the affairs of our souls as we do from physicians and lawyers concerning our bodies and estates. Not but that ministers ought to lay down the law of God to those who do not enquire concerning it, or desire the knowledge of it (they must instruct those that oppose themselves, Ti2 2:25, as well as those that offer themselves), but it is people's duty to apply to them for instruction, not only to hear, but to ask questions. Watchman, what of the night? Thus if you will enquire, enquire you; see Isa 21:8, Isa 21:11, Isa 21:12. People should not only seek comfort at the mouth of their ministers, but should seek the law there; for, if we found in the way of duty, we shall find it the way of comfort.
II. Here is a memorial of the fidelity and zeal of many of their predecessors in the priest's office, which are mentioned as an aggravation of their sin in degenerating from such honourable ancestors and deserting such illustrious examples, and as a justification of God in withdrawing from them those tokens of his presence which he had granted to those that kept close to him. See here (Mal 2:6) how good the godly priest was, whose steps they should have trod in, and what good he did, God's grace working with him. 1. See how good he was. He was ready and mighty in the scriptures: The law of truth was in his mouth, for the use of those that asked the law at his mouth; and in all his discourses there appeared more or less of the law of truth. Every thing he said was under the government of that law, and with it he governed others. He spoke as one having authority (every word was a law), and as one that had both wisdom and integrity - it was a law of truth, and truth is a law, it has a commanding power. It is by truth that Christ rules. The law of truth was in his mouth, for his resolutions of cases of conscience proposed to him were such as might be depended upon; his opinion was good law. Iniquity was not found in his lips; he did not handle the word of God deceitfully, to please men, to serve a turn, or to make an interest for himself, but told all that consulted him what the law was, whether it were pleasing or displeasing. He did not pronounce that unclean which was clean, nor that clean which was unclean, as one of the rabbin expounds it. And his conversation was of a piece with his doctrine. God himself gives him this honourable testimony: He walked with me in peace and equity. He did not think it enough to talk of God, but he walked with him. The temper of his mind, and the tenour of his life, were of a piece with his doctrine and profession; he lived a life of communion with God, and made it his constant care and business to please him; he lived like a priest that was chosen to walk before God, Sa1 2:30. His conversation was quiet; he was meek and gentle towards all men, was a pattern and promoter of love; he walked with God in peace, was himself peaceable and a great peace-maker. His conversation was also honest; he did no wrong to any, but made conscience of rendering to all their due: He walked with me in equity, or rectitude. We must not, for peace-sake, transgress the rules of equity, but must keep the peace as far as is consistent with justice. The wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable. Ministers, of all men, are concerned to walk with God in peace and equity, that they may be examples to the flock. 2. See what good he did; he answered the ends of his advancement to that office: He did turn many away from iniquity; he made it his business to do good, and God crowned his endeavours with wonderful success; he helped to save many a soul from death, and there are multitudes now in heaven blessing God that ever they knew him. Ministers must lay out themselves to the utmost for the conversion of sinners, and even among those that have the name of Israelites there is need of conversion-work, there are many to be turned from iniquity; and they must reckon it an honour, and a rich reward of their labour, if they may but be instrumental herein. It is God only that by his grace can turn men from iniquity, and yet it is here said of a pious laborious minister that he turned men from iniquity as a worker together with God, and an instrument in his hand; and those that turn many to righteousness shall shine as the stars, Dan 12:3. Note, Those ministers, and those only, are likely to turn men from iniquity, that preach sound doctrine and live good lives, and both according to the scripture; for, as one of the rabbin observes here, When the priest is upright many will be upright.
III. Here is a high charge drawn up against the priests of the present age, who violated the covenant of the priesthood and went directly contrary both to the rules and to the examples that were set before them. Many particulars of their sins we had in the foregoing chapter, and we find (Neh. 13) that many corruptions had crept into the church of the Jews at this time, mixed marriages, admitting strangers into the house of God, profanation of the sabbath-day, which were all owing to the carelessness and unfaithfulness of the priests; here it is charged upon them in general, 1. That they transgressed the rule: You have departed out of the way (Mal 2:8), out of the good way which God has prescribed to you, and which your godly ancestors walked before you in. It is ill with a people when those whose office it is to guide them in the way do themselves depart out of it: "You have not kept my ways, not kept in them yourselves, nor done your part to keep others in them," Mal 2:9. 2. That they betrayed their trust: "You have corrupted the covenant of Levi, have violated it, have contradicted the great intentions of it, and have done what in you lay to frustrate and defeat them; you have managed your office as if it were designed only to feed you fat and make you great; and not for the glory of God and the good of the souls of men." This was a corrupting of the covenant of Levi; it was perverting the ends of the office, and making it subservient to those sensual secular things over which it ought always to have dominion. And thus they forfeited the benefit of that covenant, and corrupted it to themselves; they made it void, and lost the life and peace which were by it settled upon them. We have no reason to expect God should perform his part of the covenant if we do not make conscience of performing ours. Another instance of their betraying their trust was that they were partial in the law, Mal 2:9. In the law given to them they would pick and choose their duty; this they would do and that they would not do, just as they pleased; this is the fashion of hypocrites, while those whose hearts are upright with God have a respect to all his commandments. Or, rather, in the law they were to lay down to the people; in this they knew faces (so the word is); they accepted persons; they wilfully misinterpreted and misapplied the law, either to cross those they had a spleen against or to countenance those they had a kindness for; they would wink at those sins in some which in others they would be sharp upon, according as their interest or inclination led them. God is no respecter of persons in making his law, nor will he in reckoning for the breach of it; he regards not the rich more than the poor, and therefore his priests, his ministers, misrepresent him, and do him a great deal of dishonour, if, in doctrine or discipline, they be respecters of persons. See Ti1 5:21. 3. That they did a great deal of mischief to the souls of men, which they should have helped to save: You have caused many to stumble at the law, not only to fall in the law (as the margin reads it) by transgressing it, taught and encouraged to do so by the examples of the priests, but to stumble at the law, by contracting prejudices against it, as if the law were the minister of sin and gave countenance to it. Thus Hophni and Phinehas by their wickedness made the sacrifices of the Lord to be abhorred, Sa1 2:17. There are many to whom the law of God is a stumbling-block, the gospel of Christ a savour of death unto death, and Christ himself a rock of offence; and nothing contributes more to this than the vicious lives of those that make a profession of religion, by which men are tempted to say, "It is all a jest." This is properly a scandal, a stone of stumbling; there is no good reason why it should be so to any, but woe to those by whom this offence comes. 4. That, when they were under the rebukes both of the word and of the providence of God for it, they would not hear, that is, they would not heed, they would not lay it to heart; they were not at all grieved or shamed for their sin, nor affected with the tokens of God's displeasure which they were under. What we hear does us no good unless we lay it to heart and admit the impressions of it: You will not lay it to heart, to give glory unto my name, by repentance and reformation. Therefore we should lay to heart the things of God, that we may give glory to the name of God, may praise him in and for all that whereby he has made himself known. It is bad in any to rob God of his honour, but worst in ministers, whose office and business it is to bear up his name and to give him the glory due to it.
IV. Here is a record of the judgments God had brought upon these priests for their profaneness, and their profanation of holy things. 1. They had lost their comfort (Mal 2:2): I have already cursed your blessings. They had not the comfort of their work, which is the satisfaction of doing good; for the blessings with which they, as priests, blessed the people, God was so far from saying Amen to that he turned them into curses, as he did Balaam's curses into blessings. That profane people should not have the favour of receiving God's blessings, nor those profane priests the honour of conferring and conveying them, but both should lie under the tokens of his wrath. Nor had they the comfort of their wages, for the blessings with which God blessed them were turned into a curse to them by their abuse of them; they could not receive them as the gifts of his favour when they had made themselves so obnoxious to his displeasure by not laying to heart the reproofs given them. 2. They had lost their credit (Mal 2:9): Therefore have I also made you contemptible and base before all the people. While they glorified God he dignified them and supported their reputation, and a great interest they had in the love and esteem of the people while they did their duty and walked with God in peace and equity; every one had a value and veneration for them; they were truly styled the reverend, the priests; but when they forsook the ways of God, and corrupted the covenant of Levi, they thereby made themselves not only mean, but vile, in the eyes even of the common people, who, the more they honoured the order, the more they hated the men that were a dishonour to it. Their conduct, their misconduct, had a direct tendency to this, and God owns his hand in it, and will have it looked upon as a just judgment of his upon them, and not only produced by their sin but answering to it; they put dishonour upon God, and made his table and the fruit thereof contemptible (Mal 1:12), and therefore God justly put dishonour upon them and made them contemptible; they exposed themselves, and therefore God exposed them. Note, As sin is a reproach to any people, so especially to priests; there is not a more despicable animal upon the face of the earth than a profane, wicked, scandalous minister.
V. Here is a sentence of wrath passed upon them; and this the prophet begins with, Mal 2:2, Mal 2:3. But it is conditional: If you will not lay it to heart, implying, "If you will, God's anger shall be turned away, and all shall be well; but, if you persist in these wicked courses, hear your doom - Your sin will be your ruin." 1. They shall fall and lie under the curse of God: I will send a curse upon you. The wrath of God shall be revealed against them, according to the threatenings of the written word. Note, Those who violate the commands of the law lay themselves under the curses of the law. 2. Neither their employments nor their enjoyments, as priests, shall be clean to them: "I will curse your blessings, so that you shall neither be blessed yourselves nor blessings to the people, but even your plenty shall be a plague to you and you shall be plagues to your generation." 3. The fruits of the earth, which they had the tithe of, should be no comfort to them: "Behold, I will corrupt your seed; the corn you sow shall rot under ground and never come up again, the consequence of which must needs be famine and scarcity of provisions; so that no meat-offerings shall be brought to the altar, which the priests will soon have a loss of." Or it may be understood of the seed of the word which they preached; God threatens to deny his blessing to the instructions they gave the people, so that their labour shall be lost, as that of the husbandman is when the seed is corrupt; and so it agrees with that threatening (Jer 23:32), They shall not profit this people at all. 4. They and their services shall be rejected of God; he will be so far from taking any pleasure in them that he will loathe and detest them: I will spread dung in your faces, even the dung of your solemn feasts. He refers to the sacrifices that were offered at those feasts. Instead of being himself pleased with the fat of their sacrifices, he will show himself displeased by throwing the dung of them in their faces, which he does, in effect, when he says, Bring no more vain oblations; your incense is an abomination to me. Note, Those who rest in their external performances of religion, which they should count but dung, that they may win Christ, shall not only come short of acceptance with God in them, but shall be filled with shame and confusion for their folly. 5. All will end, at last, in their utter ruin: One shall take you away with it. They shall be so overspread with the dung of their sacrifices that they shall be carried away with it to the dunghill, as a part of it. Any one shall serve to take you away, the common scavenger. Reprobate silver shall men call them, and treat them accordingly, because the Lord has rejected them.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv1–3 And now, O ye priests,.... That despised and profaned…
And now, O ye priests,.... That despised and profaned the name of the Lord; that suffered such corrupt and illegal sacrifices to be brought and offered up:
this commandment is for you: of giving glory to the name of God; of taking care of his worship; of teaching the people knowledge, and directing them in the way in which they should walk; as follows:
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On vv1–3 The priests reproved for profaning the holy things of…
The priests reproved for profaning the holy things of God, ver. 1-9. The priests and people for various abuses with regard to marriage, ver. 10-17.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv1–3 The priests reproved for their unfaithfulness in their office,
CHAPTER II
The priests reproved for their unfaithfulness in their office,
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for which they are threatened to be deprived of their share of
the sacrifice, (the shoulder,) and rewarded only with ignominy
and ordure, 1-3.
The degeneracy of the order is then complained of, and they are
again threatened, 4-9.
The rest of the chapter reproves the people for marrying
strange and idolatrous women; and multiplying divorces, with
all their consequent distress, in order to make way for such
illicit alliances, 10-17.
See Ne 10:30; Ne 13:27-30, &c.
NOTES ON CHAP. II
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On v1 Mal 2:1-4. O ye priests, this commandment is for…
Mal 2:1-4. O ye priests, this commandment is for you — Or decree, rather, for properly speaking no commandment is here given to the priests, only punishment is denounced upon them if they did not repent. If ye will not hear, &c., to give glory unto my name — Which you have despised and dishonoured, by your irreverent performance of my service, Mal 1:6. I will send a curse upon you — I will send poverty and affliction upon you, and you shall not prosper in any thing. And I will curse your blessings — I will turn your blessings into curses, or rather, remove your blessings and send curses and calamities in their stead; behold, I will corrupt your seed — The seed wherewith you sow your ground: I will cause it to rot so that it shall bring forth little or nothing. And spread dung upon your faces — I will make you as contemptible and vile as if some one had covered your faces with filth and dung. And one shall take you away with it — You shall be cast out of the temple as so many nuisances, only fit to be removed out of sight. And ye shall know that I have sent this commandment unto you — By the punishment which will follow upon your neglecting to lay what hath been said to heart, and to give glory unto my name, as you are here enjoined: see Mal 2:1-2. That my covenant might be with Levi —
That the covenant which I made with the tribe of Levi, that they should be mine, and employed in my service, might continue firm to their posterity. Some render the clause, Because my covenant was with Levi, for the breach of which you are accountable.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain On vv1–3 And now this is My commandment unto you -…
And now this is My commandment unto you - , not a commandment, which He gave them, but a commandment in regard to them. As God said of old, upon obedience , “I will command My blessing unto you,” so now He would command what should reach them, but a curse. “He returns from the people to the priests, as the fountain of the evil, whose carelessness about things sacred he had rebuked before. Let the priests of the new law hear this rebuke of God, and conceive it dictated to them by the Holy Spirit to hear, from whom God rightly requires greater holiness, and so will punish them more grievously, if careless or scandalous in their office.” All Christians are, in some sense 1Pe 2:9, “a royal, holy priesthood,” over and above the special “Christian priesthood;” as the Jews, over and above the special priesthood of Aaron, were a Exo 19:6, “kingdom of priests.” What follows then belongs, in their degree, to them and their duties.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On vv1–3 Priests. Such, hoarding up riches, dishonour God and his…
Priests. Such, hoarding up riches, dishonour God and his sacraments, as if they were temporal things to be purchased, and so they scandalize the weak. It would be well for them if they were reduced to poverty, (ver. 2.) and would repent, as they will otherwise be deprived of eternal goods, having received their wages in this world, like hirelings, John x. (Worthington)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On vv2–3 lay . . . to heart--My commands.
lay . . . to heart--My commands.
send a curse--rather, as Hebrew, "the curse"; namely, that denounced in Deu 27:15-26; Deu. 28:15-68.
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curse your blessings--turn the blessings you enjoy into curses (Psa 106:15).
cursed them--Hebrew, them severally; that is, I have cursed each one of your blessings.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On v1 A curse pronounced upon the faithless priests, 1-9.
A curse pronounced upon the faithless priests, 1-9.
The condemnation of priests and people in Mal_1:6-14, is followed by the announcement of a curse upon the priests, who have proved disloyal to Jehovah and to their high calling.
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Mal_2:1 is introductory, announcing to the priests that the succeeding oracle is intended in a special manner for them. The order of the words in the original makes the announcement more emphatic: “And now, this commandment is for you, O priests.”
And now — Your guilt having been established.
O ye priests — The message is addressed directly to the priests.
This commandment — Includes the entire message contained in Mal_2:2-9. No command of any sort is found in these verses, not even an exhortation to repentance, though such exhortation is implied in Mal_2:2; hence the word cannot be understood in the narrow sense of commandment, but as meaning purpose or decree. The divine decree, shown by the succeeding verses to be one of destruction, is for the priests.
The case is put very clearly in Mal_2:2. Either they must give glory to the name of Jehovah or destruction will be their portion.
If ye will not hear — That is, pay attention to the words of warning already spoken or to any that may yet be spoken.
Lay to heart — The same message of warning; so as to profit by it.
Give glory unto my name — As the result of laying the message to heart. How they may give glory to the name of Jehovah may be seen from Mal_1:6-14, by rendering to him the service which is his due. If they fail to reform, and reform quickly; disaster will overtake them.
I will even send a curse — R.V., “then will I send the curse.” The article is emphatic; the curse threatened for such disobedience (compare Deu_27:15-26; Deu_28:15 ff.).
I will curse your blessings — The blessings are not those “pronounced by the priests upon the people by virtue of their office,” which God will make ineffective or turn into the very opposite; nor are they the priestly income, the sacrificial portions belonging to the priests; but, in a more general sense, the blessings, favors, and privileges bestowed upon their order and tribe by Jehovah; from their honorable position he will reduce them and their posterity and make them “contemptible and base before all the people” (Mal_2:9). LXX. reads “your blessing” (singular), and since the pronoun in the next clause is in the singular in Hebrew, it (Eng. them), it is not improbable that LXX. has preserved the original.
I have cursed them already — The curse has already been decided upon in the divine mind, because Jehovah knows their stubbornness. Some commentators consider the latter part of Mal_2:2, beginning, “I have cursed them already,” a later addition, because (1)
LXX. does not agree with the Hebrew text, (2) they think Mal_2:3 would make a better continuation of 2a. The arguments are inconclusive.
Mal_2:3 continues the threat.
I will corrupt — Better, R.V., “rebuke,” and so destroy (compare Zec_3:2). Wellhausen changes the verb into “I will cut off” (see next comment).
Your seed — LXX, and other ancient versions read, with a different vocalization, “thy arm,” which many commentators, even the conservative Keil, consider original, “because the priests did not practice agriculture.” Wellhausen and those who accept his emendation of the verb read the clause, “I will cut off thine arm.” Since the arm is used in the performance of priestly duties, Keil explains the expression to rebuke the arm as signifying “the neutralizing of the official duties performed at the altar and in the sanctuary”; that is, though they will continue their ministries, Jehovah will make them of no effect. However, if the reading of LXX. is accepted, the threat seems to imply more than a neutralizing of their ministrations; it means the rebuke (destruction) of the arm, so that they can no longer perform their unacceptable service; in other words, the withdrawal of their authority, office, and power. The testimony of LXX., and especially of the literal translation of Aquila, cannot be disregarded, and it is not impossible that these ancient versions have preserved the original; nevertheless, the Hebrew text, as it now stands, also gives a satisfactory sense. Certainly seed cannot be understood of the seed sown by the priests, which God will curse and thus cause a failure of the crops; little better is the suggestion of Pusey, that it is the seed sown by the people. “Since the tithes,” says he, “were assigned to them (the priests and Levites), the diminution of the harvest affected them.” But in the Old Testament seed is used very frequently in the sense of posterity, and this would give good sense here. The covenant with Levi (Mal_2:4-5; Mal_2:8) was to hold good also for his posterity, but the corruption of the present generation of priests had gone so far that the entire tribe deserved to be cut off; those who are priests now as well as their descendants will be affected by the curse.
Their own persons, which should be considered sacred, will receive the most shameful treatment.
Spread dung upon your faces — A figure of the most ignominious treatment.
The dung of your solemn feasts — For solemn feasts see on Hos_2:11. The dung is that which is left in the fore-courts by the animals used for sacrifice on the feast days. This dung was unclean, and was to be carried to an unclean place and burned (Exo_29:14; Lev_4:11; Lev_16:27). Marti and others consider these words as well as the last clause a later addition, and the text of the latter they consider hopelessly corrupt; Nowack does not even attempt a translation.
One shall take you away with it — R. V., more idiomatically, “ye shall be taken away with it.” The obscurity of the clause can be seen best from the various interpretations given to the same even by those who express no doubts as to its originality. If the words are original, the following seems the most satisfactory interpretation: The Hebrew reads “unto it” (so margin), not “with it,” and this should be retained; unto it can refer only to the dung spoken of in the preceding clause. Not only will dung be cast into their faces, but they will be taken up bodily and cast upon the dung heaps; in the words of Hitzig, “Dung shall be cast upon them, and they on the dung.” Such treatment would be impossible while people looked upon the priests as mediators between them and God; it presupposes the dishonoring of the priests by Jehovah himself.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv1–3 Ch. Mal_2:1-9. Threatened Punishment of the Priests
Ch. Mal_2:1-9. Threatened Punishment of the Priests
1. O ye priests] The discourse turns again in direct appeal to the priests. The exact order of the words is emphatic: And now, for you is this commandment, O priests.
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this commandment] Some commentators would make “commandment” here mean purpose, or decree, and refer it to the punishment threatened in Mal_2:2-4. There seems no reason, however, to depart here and in Mal_2:4 from the usual meaning of the word. The passage (Mal_2:2-4) is a commandment to reform, with threatened consequences if they disobey it.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv1–3 (1) Commandment.—Better, decree. (Comp. the use of the verb…
(1) Commandment.—Better, decree. (Comp. the use of the verb from which this substantive is derived in Nah_1:14; Psa_7:6; Psa_42:8.)
II.
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(1-9) The decree against the priests.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv1–3 Vers. 1-4. For these derelictions of duty the priests…
Vers. 1-4. For these derelictions of duty the priests are threatened with punishment.
This commandment. The threat or announcement is called a commandment, because God ordains it and imposes its execution on certain instruments. (For the expression, comp. Lev_25:21) The threat is contained in vers. 2, 3.
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HOMILIES BY D. THOMAS Vers. 1-3. Spiritual reformation.
"And now, O ye priests, this commandment is for you," etc. The grand subject we gather from these words is spiritual reformation. "Now, O ye priests." The priests are specially addressed and reproved, for they, whose mission it was to raise the people to true worship and to holiness, led them into sin. Notice
I THE NATURE OF THE SPIRITUAL REFORMATION REQUIRED. "If ye will not hear, and if ye will not lay it to heart, to give glory unto my Name, saith the Lord of hosts." From this language it would appear that true spiritual reformation involves two things.
1. A practical application of the Word of God. There should be right attention to it. That Word is not only to be heard, earnestly listened to, but to be laid to heart, which means practical attention. It is to be applied to correct the wrong that is in us, and to generate and develop the true.
2. An entire dedication to the glory of God. "To give glory unto my Name: All genuine spiritual reformation is implied in this right attention to the Divine Word, right application of the Divine Word, and an entire dedication to the glory of God. This is a reformation not of parchment but of principle, not of systems but of souls. It is in truth the only reformation worth having.
II THE URGENCY OF THE SPIRITUAL REFORMATION REQUIRED. The neglect thereof incurs:
1. A curse. "I will even send a curse upon you, and I will curse your blessings." "I will curse your benedictions." Not the personal advantages and perquisites enjoyed by the priests, but the blessings they pronounced upon the people. The service had been merely formal without any sort of reverence in it; the blessings they uttered should retributively be evacuated of all efficacy and should be a mere formula" (Dr. Dods). What an awful thing to have blessings turned into curses I and yet if we are unregenerate and unrenewed this takes place by the very laws of our moral constitution. As hemlock turns even the sunbeam into poison, corrupt souls turn God"s blessings into maledictions.
2. A rebuke. According to Keil, Ewald, and others, the expression, "Behold, I will corrupt your seed," should be, "Behold, I will rebuke your arms." Perhaps the idea is I will wither your power, I will check the growth of your posterity. There is no true prosperity without spiritual reformation.
3. Contempt. "I will spread dung upon your faces, even the dung of your solemn feasts." "The dung in the maw of the victims sacrificed on the feast days. The maw was the perquisite of the priests, (Deu_18:3) which gives peculiar point to the threat here. You shall get the dung of the maw as your perquisite instead of the maw. And one shall take you away with it, i.e. you shall be taken away with it, it shall cleave to you wherever you go" (Moore). "Dung shall be thrown in your faces, and ye shall be taken away, i.e. removed out of the way, as dung would be, dung begrimed as ye shall be" (1Ki_14:10 Jer_16:4 Jer_22:19) (Fausset).
CONCLUSION. Are we the subjects of this spiritual reformation? Have we been renewed in the spirit of our minds? "Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again. D.T.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain On vv1–2 And now, O ye priests, this commandment is for…
Mal_2:1-3
And now, O ye priests, this commandment is for you.
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Spiritual reformation
1. The nature of the spiritual reformation required. It involves two things, a practical application of the Word of God: and an entire dedication to the glory of God.
2. The urgency of the spiritual reformation required. The neglect thereof incurs a curse, and a rebuke, and contempt. (Homilist.)
To give glory unto My name.
Duty and threatening
I. The duty enjoined.
1. Repentance glorifies God as an omnipresent and omniscient God.
2. Repentance glorifies God as a just and holy God.
3. Repentance glorifies God as a merciful and gracious God.
4. Repentance glorifies God as a true and faithful God.
II. The evil threatened.
1. He will curse the personal blessings of the impenitent.
2. He will curse their domestic blessings.
3. He will curse their national blessings.
4. He will curse their religious blessings. (G. Brooks.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Expositor's Bible 1887 · Public Domain On v1 In the third section of his book "Malachi" addresses…
3. THE PRIESTHOOD OF KNOWLEDGE
Mal_2:1-9
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In the third section of his book "Malachi" addresses himself to the priests. He charges them not only with irreverence and slovenliness in their discharge of the Temple service-for this he appears to intend by the phrase "filth of your feasts"-but with the neglect of their intellectual duties to the people. "The lips of a priest guard knowledge, and men seek instruction from his mouth, for he is the Angel" the revealing Angel-"of Jehovah of Hosts." Once more, what a remarkable saying to come from the legal age of Israels religion, and from a writer who so emphasizes the ceremonial law! In all the range of prophecy there is not any more in harmony with the prophetic ideal. How needed it is in our own age!-needed against those two extremes of religion from which we suffer, the limitation of the ideal of priesthood to the communication of a magic grace, and its evaporation in a vague religiosity from which the intellect is excluded as if it were perilous, worldly, and devilish. "Surrender of the intellect" indeed! This is the burial of the talent in the napkin, and, as in the parable of Christ, it is still in our day preached and practiced by the men of one talent. Religion needs all the brains we poor mortals can put into it. There is a priesthood of knowledge, a priesthood of the intellect, says "Malachi," and he makes this a large part of Gods covenant with Levi. Every priest of God is a priest of truth; and it is very largely by the Christian ministrys neglect of their intellectual duties that so much irreligion prevails. As in "Malachis" day, so now, "the laity take hurt and hindrance by our negligence." And just as he points out, so with ourselves, the consequence is the growing indifference with which large bodies of the Christian ministry are regarded by the thoughtful portions both of our laboring and professional classes. Were the ministers of all the Churches to awake to their ideal in this matter, there would surely come a very great revival of religion among us. "And now this Charge for you, O priests: If ye hear not, and lay not to heart to give glory to My Name, saith Jehovah of Hosts, I will send upon you the curse, and will curse your blessings-yea, I have cursed them-for none of you layeth it to heart. Behold, I you and I will scatter filth in your faces, the filth of your feasts And ye shall know that I have sent to you this Charge, to be My covenant with Levi, saith Jehovah of Hosts. My covenant was with him life and peace {Num_25:12} and I gave them to him, fear and he feared Me, and humbled himself before My Name. The revelation of truth was in his mouth, and wickedness was not found upon his lips. In whole-heartedness and integrity he walked with Me, and turned many from iniquity. For the lips of a priest guard knowledge, and men seek instruction from his mouth, for he is the Angel of Jehovah of Hosts. But ye have turned from the way, ye have tripped up many by the Torah, ye have spoiled the covenant of Levi, saith Jehovah of Hosts. And I on My part have made you contemptible to all the people, and abased in proportion as Ye kept not My ways and had respect of persons in delivering your Torah."
William Robertson Nicoll, ed., The Expositor's Bible (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1887–1910) — public domain. 65 of 66 books (1 Corinthians is not separately keyed, as that volume carries no machine-parseable verse references); section-level commentary keyed to the opening verse. Introductory and overview sections not keyed to a specific passage are excluded.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary 1892 · Public Domain On v1 CRITICAL NOTES.] The charge is still urged against the…
CRITICAL NOTES.] The charge is still urged against the priests, who are warned if they do not reform they will be deprived of enjoyments, and made objects of shame.
Mal_2:2. A] Lit. the curse denounced (Deu_27:15-26). Have oursed] Lit. have cursed them severally. The curse has already begun in each one of their blessings. Blessings pronounced by the priests upon the people are intended, say Keil and others, and not tithes, revenues, and portions of sacrifices. The word may be taken generally.
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Mal_2:3. Corrupt] Lit. rebuke the seed] i.e. forbid its growth, and bring failure in crops (cf. Joe_1:17; Hag_1:11). Though priests did not cultivate land, yet they would suffer from dearth. Some give, rebuke the arm, i.e. dry up the strength, neutralize the duties performed by priests at the altar. Dung] of victims, which should be burned outside the camp (Exo_29:14; Lev_16:27), would be spread upon their faces; a sign of ignominy and contempt. One] Lit. they (indefinite) will carry you away to it (where it is deposited); and treat you as dung (1Ki_14:10).
Mal_2:4. Know] by experience, that this commandment] i.e. the decree to punish, shall henceforth be substituted for my covenant with Levi, or the priesthood. They forfeited the blessing, and turned the covenant of peace into woe. Better understand, that they were warned to take heed that the covenant] might continue with the priestly tribe as in the beginning, and not become null or void.
Mal_2:5.] Nature of the covenant described. Life and peace] Nouns not in the genitive case. “Peace” is the sum of all the blessings requisite for well-being. Jehovah granted life and salvation to Levi, i.e. to the priesthood, for fear, viz. as the lever of the fear of God; and Levi, i.e. the priesthood of the olden time, responded to this Divine intention. “He feared me” [Keil]. Afraid] Often united to fear, expressing terror, which men are forbidden not to feel before men (Isa_8:12-13) [Pusey].
HOMILETICS
PRIESTLY BLESSINGS TURNED INTO A CURSE.—Mal_2:1-5
The rebuke to the priests is followed by an admonition to hear the Word and reverence the name of God, lest he curse their blessings and dishonour their persons.
I. The nature of the curse upon the blessings. In whatever sense the curse may be taken, it is an awful judgment, a solemn warning to all.
1. Their own persons were cursed. “I will even send a curse upon you.” This was a reversal of the original promise for obedience, “I will command my blessing upon you.”
2. Their blessings were cursed. “He does not say, I will send you curses instead of blessings, but I will make the blessings themselves a curse” [Pusey]. (a) Spiritual blessings may be cursed; the ministry of the Word, and the means of grace; Sundays and sermons may be despised, increase the guilt and aggravate the condemnation of men. (b) Temporal blessings may be cursed. “Corrupt your seed.” Riches, children, and the very food we eat may do us no good. The curse from heaven may fall upon them. “Let their table be made a snare before them, and that which should have been for their welfare, let it become a trap.”
II. The reason for the curse upon the blessings.
1. They neglected the Word of God. “If ye will not hear, and if ye will not lay it to heart.” The Word was personal in appeal; “this commandment is for you;” and solemn in authority, yet they heeded not. The Word must not simply be heard, but pondered in the mind. God’s authority must be seen and felt in it. It is a matter of life or death, and must not be trifled with. “Ye do not lay it to heart.”
2. They despised the Name of God. “Give glory unto my Name.” Glory is due to God, and should be the aim of priestly and Christian conduct—the rule of life for the house of Aaron and the house of Israel. But God is dishonoured by despising the ordinances of his house and living heedless of his Word. “To the greater glory of God,” was the motto of Ignatius Loyola.
III. The design of the curse upon the blessings. “Ye shall know that I have sent this commandment unto you” (Mal_2:4.).
1. They were admonished to return to God. God desired to keep his covenant with them, and punishment was intended to reform them. This would they feel, and bitterly confess. God ever designs to make men happy, and keep them from misery.
2. They were admonished for the sake of others. “God willed to punish those who at that time rebelled against him, that he might spare those who should come after them. He chastised the fathers, who showed their contempt towards him, that their sons, taking warning thereby, might not be cut off. He continues to say what the covenant was, which he willed to be if they would repent” [Pusey]. Every warning given to men concerning their sins, is a proof of God’s mercy, and will convince them that their destruction results from their own ways. “I have sent this commandment unto you.”
FAILURE IN OFFICIAL DUTIES.—Mal_2:2-3
By cursing blessings, God means that he will render the instructions and efforts of the priests ineffective. When they raised the hand to bless, he would manifest displeasure. He would neutralize their duties performed at the altar [cf. Keil].
I. By rendering them incapable of official duties. “He will rebuke their arm,” i.e. dry up their powers, like the waters of the sea. The arm is the symbol of strength and active labour. From him that hath may be taken away what he hath, if abused. God can wither the force and fervour of ungodly ministers. Power is lost by continuance in office for which men are not qualified. Their prayers are sin, their knowledge hardens, and their “arm shall be clean dried up.”
II. By righteous punishment in discharging official duties. God threatens sore evils.
1. They would be treated with contempt. As they had despised him, so they would be repaid in ignominy and shame—be made as the refuse of their sacrifices.
2. They would be swept out of office. As mere cumber, and unworthy of the temple, “One shall take” them away with the dung. “I will take away the remnant of the house of Jeroboam, as a man taketh away dung, till all are gone” (1Ki_14:10).
HOMILETIC HINTS AND SUGGESTIONS
Mal_2:2. Curse. Things which should bless, become an occasion of falling; to the proud, the things which lift them up; to the gluttonous, their abundance; to the avaricious, their wealth; which, if used to the glory of God, become blessings, do, when self, not God, is their end, by God’s dispensation and providence, become a curse to them [Pusey]. I have cursed them, Lit. it, i.e. each blessing. Hence—
1. The minuteness of the curse.
2. The gradual operation of the curse. “Cursed already;” and will continue until you repent.
3. The insensibility under the curse. “Ye do not lay to heart.”
4. The severity of the curse. “Curse blessings.”
“Whom oils and balsams kill, what salve can cure?”
Mal_2:5. The covenant.
1. Its blessings. “Life and peace;” i.e. of being and well-being; for all the blessings that make up human welfare, were summed up for the Hebrew in one word—peace [Cox].
2. Its conditions. “Forbear.” Jews claimed its privileges, while neglecting its conditions—thought God would bless them, while they were free from obligations to obey him.
3. Its influence. “He feared” me, had great reverence, and was afraid; had profound and holy terror before me. “He received the fear of God in his whole heart and soul. For these reduplications and emphases suggest to the hearer how rooted in virtue are those thus praised” [Pusey]. It is better to fear too much than to presume but a little [Abp. Abbot]. “Sanctify the Lord of Hosts himself (venerate his glorious majesty), and let him be your fear (be not dismayed at man), and your dread (lest ye provoke him by distrust)” (Isa_8:13).
ILLUSTRATIONS TO CHAPTER 2
Mal_2:1-4. Curse blessings. Those who despise the upper springs of grace, shall find the nether springs of worldly comfort prove their poison. To the rejecters of Christ even those things which are calculated to work their spiritual and eternal good become occasions for yet greater sin. Wretched are those men who not only have a curse upon their common blessings, but also on their spiritual opportunities [Spurgeon].
Mal_2:5. Fear. “All fear but fear of heaven betrays guilt, and guilt is villany” [Dr. Lee].
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Sermon Bible 1900 · Public Domain On v1 As we think upon this text, we can discern…
Mal 2:2
As we think upon this text, we can discern two different shades of sense in which we may understand it. We see two ways in which a blessing may be cursed.
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I. Blessings may be said to be cursed, if God deprives us of the power of enjoying them. You know that when a blind man looks at the most beautiful scene, he sees nothing of it. The blue of the sky and the green of the earth to him are one great blank. Worldly blessings have a natural and great power to make a man cheerful and happy. It does tend to make any one pleased and cheerful when his circumstances are prosperous, his friends kind, his home comfortable, and his character respected. But in one moment God can make an end of all this. In one moment, without changing in the least our outward aspect, or our outward circumstances, God can make our souls as incapable of feeling happiness in the possession of our outward blessings as the blind man’s eyes are of discerning the light of day.
II. Blessings may be said to be cursed if God suffers them to have an evil tendency upon our souls. All the blessings which God bestows upon us are sent with a specific purpose. They have all a natural tendency, and this tendency, generally expressed, is to lead men to think seriously about their souls, and earnestly to turn to Christ. But it is possible they may have quite an opposite effect; they may do us harm spiritually. They may make it more and more unlikely—they may even make it impossible—that we should find our home in heaven at last. And whenever this comes to be their tendency and result, then we say that God has cursed these blessings. This is true, (1) of such earthly blessings as wealth, comfort, friends, (2) of spiritual blessings, such as (a) the means of grace, (b) the regenerating, comforting, sanctifying, Holy Spirit of God.
A. K. H. B., Sunday Afternoons in the Parish Church, p. 109.
References: Mal 2:5.—J. Irons, Thursday Penny Pulpit, vol. iv., p. 361. Mal 2:6.—Homiletic Quarterly, vol. i., p. 99. Mal 2:17.—Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xxiv., No. 1415. Mal 3:1.—Ibid.,vol. viii., No. 470; H. Melvill, Penny Pulpit, No. 2611; Clergyman’s Magazine, vol. xii., p. 332; vol. xvi., p. 24; A. J. Griffith, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xix., p. 299; Expositor, 3rd series, vol. iv., p. 183.
The Sermon Bible, ed. William Robertson Nicoll (1888–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
J. R. Dummelow 1909 · Public Domain On v1 The Degeneracy of the Priesthood
2
The Degeneracy of the Priesthood
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1. A reminder to the priests that they are to blame for the laxity denounced in Mal_1:13, Mal_1:14. They are responsible for the offering of fit victims, which in some cases it was their duty to provide.
3. I will corrupt your seed] RV 'I will rebuke the seed for your sake'; but the threat of a curse on the crops does not appear to be specially applicable to the priests. A very slight change in the Heb. which has been suggested, gives the admirable sense, 'I will cut off your arm' (cp. 1Sa_2:31); i.e. I will make you powerless: cp. Psa_37:17.
The dung of your solemn feasts (RV 'sacrifices')] the offal of the animals slain for sacrifices, which at the three great feasts of the year would be very numerous, and a source of great gain to the priests.
The words rendered upon your faces do not necessarily mean more than 'in your presence.' To scatter offal and filth in a person's presence would be an insult to him: cp. Deu_23:14. Malachi seems to mean that the fastidious priests, who now hold aloof while the Temple servants clear away the offal of the sacrifices, will no longer meet with outward respect from the people who even now despise them (Mal_2:9), and who will treat them with less reverence than the humblest of Temple servants. The last words of the v. are obscure and possibly corrupt. They perhaps mean, 'You shall be taken away from your place of honour in the Temple to the place where the offal is taken.'
4. Cp. Mal_2:1. This charge is given to the priests that they may repent, and that so the covenant with Levi may be confirmed to them.
5. Lit. 'My covenant was with him; the life and the peace I gave unto him; fear and he feared me.'
6. Cp. the ideal priesthood described in Deu_33:8-11.
7. To Malachi, as to Haggai (Hag_2:11), the law is not yet completely crystallised into a book, but means the priests' decisions on points submitted to them. Messenger] cp. Hag_1:13.
8. Ye have caused many to stumble] i.e. by giving unjust decisions the priests have brought many to ruin. With the charge of partiality in Mal_2:9 contrast the ideal of Deu_33:9, where it is represented as a priest's duty to give his decisions without regard to his nearest relatives: cp. Mat_10:37.
9. Cp. the whole section, 1Sa_2:28-36, which was probably written about this period.
10. Malachi seems to have in view mainly such evils as are described in Nehemiah 5. His argument here seems somewhat inconsistent with his argument in Mal_1:2., since one God had created both Esau and Jacob; but it is an inconsistency natural enough in the as yet undeveloped teaching. A man must learn to love his brother before he can love his enemy.
11. The mention of Israel is quite out of place in this v. The word has probably arisen by a scribe's blunder from Jerusalem, which it somewhat resembles in Hebrew. The daughter of a strange god must mean either a foreign nation with which Judah has entered into some compact, whether political or religious (by which some alliance or understanding with the Samaritans might be intended); or the text must be corrected by the insertion of one letter, so that for 'daughter' we should read 'daughters.' In either case Malachi denounces the tendency of his people to fuse with the neighbouring nations.
12. The master and the scholar] RV 'him that waketh and him that answereth.' A very slight change in the Hebrew gives the better antithesis, 'plaintiff and defendant;' two opposites being frequently used in Hebrew to denote all. Cp. 'going out and coming in,' etc. Tabernacles] better, 'homes.'
13. Insomuch that he regardeth] better, 'because he regardeth.' The people are regarded as covering the altar with their tears in the intensity of their desire for the favours He is withholding.
14. The wife of thy youth] i.e. the wife married in youth. The evil here denounced is the divorce of an old wife in favour of a younger woman. The wife of thy covenant] The thought that there is a solemn compact between husband and wife is stated definitely here only in the OT; but it is the natural inference from the representation of Israel as Jehovah's wife, for though Israel was false to Jehovah, He remained faithful. 15. The text, as it stands, is unintelligible. A simple correction has been suggested, which gives the following sense: 'Did not one (God) make and continue life to us? And what does the one (God) seek? A sacred seed. Therefore take heed to your life, and deal not treacherously against the wife of thy youth': i.e. One God (cp. Mal_2:10) has created a life to which He has given continuance through marriage. The object of marriage—God's object in its institution—is to obtain, children, 'seed of God.' When children are born, the object of marriage is attained. Therefore let not a man put away his wife, because she has grown old and lost her attraction.
16. Putting away] i.e. divorce. Covereth violence with his garment] The reference is probably to the illtreatment of the wife; but the Hebrew is obscure.
17. An address to those who are losing faith, through their inability to solve the riddle of the prosperity of the ungodly: cp. Psalms 37, 73.
J. R. Dummelow, A Commentary on the Holy Bible (Macmillan, 1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
C. I. Scofield 1917 · Public Domain On v2 Cf. Deu 28:3-14 and Deu 28:15-35. Israel’s distinctive blessings…
curse
Cf. Deu 28:3-14 and Deu 28:15-35. Israel’s distinctive blessings should turn to curses.
The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain On v1 Conclusion of the Rebuke to the Priests
Conclusion of the Rebuke to the Priests
v. 1. And now, O ye priests, this commandment Is for you, they must be aware of the seriousness of the situation and accept the Lord’s rebuke and threat accordingly.
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v. 2. If ye will not hear, and if ye will not lay It to heart, if they persisted in their callousness over against His commands, to give glory unto My name, saith the Lord of hosts, by a worship in agreement with His commands, I will even send a curse upon you, and I will curse your blessings, His own gifts to them turning into the opposite and bringing harm upon them; yea, I have cursed them already because ye do not lay it to heart, presenting an indifferent front to the Lord’s admonitions.
v. 3. Behold, I will corrupt your seed, rebuking that which had been sowed in the fields, thus reducing also the amounts which the priests received as tithes, and spread dung upon your faces, as an expression of His extreme contempt, even the dung of your solemn feasts, that of the sacrificial animals, which was ordinarily dumped outside of the city; and one shall take you away with it, treating them as though they were themselves dung, to be thrown out in disgraceful heaps.
v. 4. And ye shall know, by the token of this punishment, that I have sent this commandment unto you, this decree of punishment, which they thought they might so calmly disregard, that My covenant might be with Levi, all the priests, saith the Lord of hosts. The Lord’s sentence of punishment upon all those who despised His worship was included in the original covenant with the members of the tribe of Levi.
v. 5. My covenant was with him of life and peace, with the promise of life and peace attached; and I gave them, namely, life, deliverance, and salvation, to him for the fear wherewith he feared Me, as a reward for this attitude, and was afraid before My name, Cf Num 25:12.
v. 6. The Law of Truth was in his mouth, so that everything which he did and taught was in agreement with the divine truth, and iniquity was not found in his lips, he was in no way guilty of perverseness in his ministry; he walked with Me in peace and equity, in a communion of peace, integrity, and righteousness, and did turn many away from iniquity, this being the praise which the Lord bestowed upon the members of the tribe of Levi.
v. 7. For the priest’s lips should keep knowledge, preserving the right understanding of Jehovah among the people as a precious treasure, and they, the people, should seek the Law at his mouth, to be instructed in it; for he Is the messenger of the Lord of hosts. That is what the Lord found praiseworthy in the members of the tribe of Levi in the early days; that is as it should he.
v. 8. But ye, the present members of the tribe, are departed out of the way, leaving the path shown them by the Law of the Lord; ye have caused many to stumble at the Law, so that they became guilty of transgressing the Law; ye have corrupted the covenant of Levi, that which their fathers had kept so faithfully, saith the Lord of hosts.
v. 9. Therefore have I also made you contemptible and base, an object of contempt and loathing, before all the people, according as ye have not kept My ways, in the same degree as they had transgressed, but have been partial in the Law, in applying the Law to the conduct of the people. The conduct of the spiritual leaders of people is particularly reprehensible if it misleads others and plunges them into sin and guilt.
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv1, 3 lay it on your heart
lay it on your heart
This refers to considering something to be very important. AT: "consider it to be very important" (See: Idiom)
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give honor to my name
The abstract noun "honor" can be stated as a verb. AT: "honor my name" (See: Abstract Nouns)
my name
Here this expression refers to God. (See: Metonymy)
I will send a curse on you
The abstract noun "curse" can be stated as a verb. AT: "I will curse you" (See: Abstract Nouns)
you are not laying my command on your heart
This refers to considering God's command to be very important. AT: "you are not considering my command to be very important" (See: Idiom)
translationWords
priest
command
heart
Yahweh of hosts
curse
bless
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On v2 2:2 make up your minds: This was an issue…
2:2 make up your minds: This was an issue of the will, not the emotions. • terrible curse: Malachi had in mind the utter destruction of those who violated God’s covenant (see Deut 28:20).
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.