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?
Parallel Translations
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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?
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Have we not all one father? hath not one God created us? why do we deal treacherously every man against his brother, by profaning the covenant of our fathers?
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Have we not all one father? Hath not one God created us? Why do we deal treacherously every man against his brother, profaning the covenant of our fathers?
Cross-references (43)
Passages linked to Malachi 2:10 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Psalms 100:3 Know that Yahweh, he is God. It is he who has made us, and we are his. We are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.
- Malachi 2:11 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.
- 1 Corinthians 8:6 yet to us there is one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we for him; and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things, and we live through him.
- Ephesians 4:6 one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all, and in us all.
- Isaiah 63:16 For you are our Father, though Abraham doesn’t know us, and Israel does not acknowledge us. You, Yahweh, are our Father. Our Redeemer from everlasting is your name.
- Isaiah 64:8 But now, Yahweh, you are our Father. We are the clay and you our potter. We all are the work of your hand.
- Micah 7:2-6 The godly man has perished out of the earth, and there is no one upright among men. They all lie in wait for blood; every man hunts his brother with a net. Their hands are on that which is evil to do it diligently. The ruler and judge ask for a bribe; and the powerful man dictates the evil desire of his soul. Thus they conspire together. The best of them is like a brier. The most upright is worse than a thorn hedge. The day of your watchmen, even your visitation, has come; now is the time of their confusion. Don’t trust in a neighbor. Don’t put confidence in a friend. With the woman lying in your embrace, be careful of the words of your mouth! For the son dishonors the father, the daughter rises up against her mother, the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; a man’s enemies are the men of his own house.
- Malachi 2:14-15 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.
- Matthew 3:9 Don’t think to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham for our father,’ for I tell you that God is able to raise up children to Abraham from these stones.
- Acts 7:26 “The day following, he appeared to them as they fought, and urged them to be at peace again, saying, ‘Sirs, you are brothers. Why do you wrong one another?’
- Exodus 19:5 Now therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice, and keep my covenant, then you shall be my own possession from among all peoples; for all the earth is mine;
- Exodus 34:10-16 He said, “Behold, I make a covenant: before all your people I will do marvels, such as have not been worked in all the earth, nor in any nation; and all the people among whom you are shall see the work of Yahweh; for it is an awesome thing that I do with you. Observe that which I command you today. Behold, I will drive out before you the Amorite, the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite. Be careful, lest you make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land where you are going, lest it be for a snare among you; but you shall break down their altars, and dash in pieces their pillars, and you shall cut down their Asherah poles; for you shall worship no other god; for Yahweh, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God. “Don’t make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land, lest they play the prostitute after their gods, and sacrifice to their gods, and one call you and you eat of his sacrifice; and you take of their daughters to your sons, and their daughters play the prostitute after their gods, and make your sons play the prostitute after their gods.
- Joshua 23:12-16 “But if you do at all go back, and hold fast to the remnant of these nations, even these who remain among you, and make marriages with them, and go in to them, and they to you; know for a certainty that Yahweh your God will no longer drive these nations from out of your sight; but they shall be a snare and a trap to you, a scourge in your sides, and thorns in your eyes, until you perish from off this good land which Yahweh your God has given you. “Behold, today I am going the way of all the earth. You know in all your hearts and in all your souls that not one thing has failed of all the good things which Yahweh your God spoke concerning you. All have happened to you. Not one thing has failed of it. It shall happen that as all the good things have come on you of which Yahweh your God spoke to you, so Yahweh will bring on you all the evil things, until he has destroyed you from off this good land which Yahweh your God has given you, when you disobey the covenant of Yahweh your God, which he commanded you, and go and serve other gods, and bow down yourselves to them. Then Yahweh’s anger will be kindled against you, and you will perish quickly from off the good land which he has given to you.”
- Joshua 24:3 I took your father Abraham from beyond the River, and led him throughout all the land of Canaan, and multiplied his offspring, and gave him Isaac.
- Ezra 9:11-14 which you have commanded by your servants the prophets, saying, ‘The land, to which you go to possess it, is an unclean land through the uncleanness of the peoples of the lands, through their abominations, which have filled it from one end to another with their filthiness. Now therefore don’t give your daughters to their sons. Don’t take their daughters to your sons, nor seek their peace or their prosperity forever; that you may be strong, and eat the good of the land, and leave it for an inheritance to your children forever.’ “After all that has come on us for our evil deeds, and for our great guilt, since you, our God, have punished us less than our iniquities deserve, and have given us such a remnant, shall we again break your commandments, and join ourselves with the peoples that do these abominations? Wouldn’t you be angry with us until you had consumed us, so that there would be no remnant, nor any to escape?
- Ezra 10:2-3 Shecaniah the son of Jehiel, one of the sons of Elam, answered Ezra, “We have trespassed against our God, and have married foreign women of the peoples of the land. Yet now there is hope for Israel concerning this thing. Now therefore let’s make a covenant with our God to put away all the wives, and those who are born of them, according to the counsel of my lord, and of those who tremble at the commandment of our God. Let it be done according to the law.
- Nehemiah 13:29 Remember them, my God, because they have defiled the priesthood, and the covenant of the priesthood and of the Levites.
- Job 31:15 Didn’t he who made me in the womb make him? Didn’t one fashion us in the womb?
- Isaiah 43:1 But now Yahweh who created you, Jacob, and he who formed you, Israel, says: “Don’t be afraid, for I have redeemed you. I have called you by your name. You are mine.
- Isaiah 43:7 everyone who is called by my name, and whom I have created for my glory, whom I have formed, yes, whom I have made.’ ”
- Isaiah 43:15 I am Yahweh, your Holy One, the Creator of Israel, your King.”
- Isaiah 44:2 This is what Yahweh who made you, and formed you from the womb, who will help you says: “Don’t be afraid, Jacob my servant; and you, Jeshurun, whom I have chosen.
- Jeremiah 9:4-5 “Everyone beware of his neighbor, and don’t trust in any brother; for every brother will utterly supplant, and every neighbor will go around like a slanderer. Friends deceive each other, and will not speak the truth. They have taught their tongue to speak lies. They weary themselves commiting iniquity.
- Ezekiel 33:24 “Son of man, those who inhabit the waste places in the land of Israel speak, saying, ‘Abraham was one, and he inherited the land; but we are many. The land is given us for inheritance.’
- Malachi 1:6 “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 due me? Says Yahweh of Armies to you, priests, who despise my name. You say, ‘How have we despised your name?’
- Malachi 2:8 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.
- Matthew 10:21 “Brother will deliver up brother to death, and the father his child. Children will rise up against parents, and cause them to be put to death.
- Matthew 22:16 They sent their disciples to him, along with the Herodians, saying, “Teacher, we know that you are honest, and teach the way of God in truth, no matter whom you teach, for you aren’t partial to anyone.
- John 8:41 You do the works of your father.” They said to him, “We were not born of sexual immorality. We have one Father, God.”
- Isaiah 51:2 Look to Abraham your father, and to Sarah who bore you; for when he was but one I called him, I blessed him, and made him many.
- Luke 1:73 the oath which he swore to Abraham our father,
- Luke 3:8 Therefore produce fruits worthy of repentance, and don’t begin to say among yourselves, ‘We have Abraham for our father;’ for I tell you that God is able to raise up children to Abraham from these stones!
- John 8:39 They answered him, “Our father is Abraham.” Jesus said to them, “If you were Abraham’s children, you would do the works of Abraham.
- John 8:53 Are you greater than our father, Abraham, who died? The prophets died. Who do you make yourself out to be?”
- John 8:56 Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day. He saw it, and was glad.”
- Acts 7:2 He said, “Brothers and fathers, listen. The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia, before he lived in Haran,
- Acts 17:25 He isn’t served by men’s hands, as though he needed anything, seeing he himself gives to all life and breath, and all things.
- Romans 4:1 What then will we say that Abraham, our forefather, has found according to the flesh?
- Romans 9:10 Not only so, but Rebekah also conceived by one, by our father Isaac.
- 1 Corinthians 6:6-8 But brother goes to law with brother, and that before unbelievers! Therefore it is already altogether a defect in you, that you have lawsuits one with another. Why not rather be wronged? Why not rather be defrauded? No, but you yourselves do wrong and defraud, and that against your brothers.
- Ephesians 4:25 Therefore putting away falsehood, speak truth each one with his neighbor. For we are members of one another.
- 1 Thessalonians 4:6 that no one should take advantage of and wrong a brother or sister in this matter; because the Lord is an avenger in all these things, as also we forewarned you and testified.
- Hebrews 12:9 Furthermore, we had the fathers of our flesh to chasten us, and we paid them respect. Shall we not much rather be in subjection to the Father of spirits, and live?
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John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain The Prophet accuses the Jews here of another crime…
The Prophet accuses the Jews here of another crime — that they were perfidious towards God and their own brethren, and departed from that pre-eminence into which God had raised them, when they were chosen in preference to other nations to be a holy and peculiar people. This ingratitude the Prophet now condemns by saying, that they all had one father, and that they had been all created by one God
The word Father may be applied to God as well as to Abraham, and some interpreters will have it repeated, which is no uncommon thing in Hebrew: they say then that all had God as their Father, because he created them all; so that the latter clause is taken as an explanation. But it is better, as I think, to apply the word to Abraham, and the passage requires this; for it follows at the end of the verse, that the covenant which the Lord had made with their fathers had been violated; and this will appear still more certain, when we bear in mind the design of the Prophet. Presently a reproof follows, because they had taken many wives; but the Prophet seems not as yet to mention this vice, but speaks generally, that they did not preserve that purity to which they had been called, for they indiscriminately married heathen wives. As then they mingled without distinction with unbelievers and the despisers of God, the Prophet complains that they were unmindful of that dignity to which they had been elevated, when God deigned to adopt them as his holy people. For thus it happened, that the pre-eminence which Moses celebrates in Deuteronomy 4:8, disappeared, “What nation is so renowned, to whom God draws nigh, as thou seest that he is nigh to thee?” When therefore the Jews rendered themselves vile, the Prophet condemns them for ingratitude. He, at the same time, shows that they were become inhuman towards their brethren, with whom they had been united by a most sacred bond. It then seems probable to me, that God and Abraham are mentioned here, because God had chosen the race of Abraham and adopted them as his people, and also, because he had deposited his covenant with Abraham and the fathers: thus Abraham became, as it were, the mediator of the covenant which God made with his whole race. By thus understanding the subject of the Prophet, it is easier for us to see why he mentions Abraham as well as God.
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Is there not one father, he says, to us all? that is, “Did not God select us from the rest of the world, when he promised to our father Abraham to be a God to him and to his seed? Since then God’s favor has flowed to us from that fountain, what sottishness it is to break that sacred bond by which God has joined us to himself in the person of Abraham?” For when the Jews did not consider that they derived their origin from the holy patriarch, the consequence was, that the covenant of God with them became void and of no effect. This then is the reason why he says, that one God was to them all a Father. And as other nations might have claimed the same privilege, he adds, Has not one God created us? He shows that the Jews had descended in no common or ordinary way from their holy father Abraham, but that God was the maker of his race, that he created them. Did not he also create the rest of the world? Not in the same manner; for this creation ought to be confined especially to the Church. God has created the whole human race; but he created also the race of Abraham: and hence the Church is often called in Isaiah the work and the formation of God, (Isaiah 66:21,) and Paul also adopts the same mode of speaking, (Ephesians 2:10.) Our Prophet then does not mean that the Jews had been created by God when born into this world, but that they had become his holy and peculiar people. As then God had thus created the Jews, and had given to them one father, that being mindful of their origin they might remain united in true religion, the Prophet here reprobates their sottishness in casting away from themselves this invaluable favor of God.
Every one dealt falsely with his brother; and thus they violated the covenant of the fathers. As to the verb, נכגד, nubegad, it has been variously explained by grammarians; but as to what is meant it is agreed, that the Jews are here condemned, because they were not only perfidious to God, but also fraudulent as to their neighbors: and thus they doubled their perfidy, the proof which was manifest, because they did not act with sincerity towards their brethren. Why then, he says, do we deal falsely with man, that is, every one with his own brother, so that we pollute the covenant of our fathers? Here the covenant of the fathers is to be taken for that separation or laying apart which we have mentioned, by which God had adopted Abraham and his posterity, that they might be separated from all the nations of the world. Hence under this covenant of the fathers is God himself included; and as this has not been perceived, it is no wonder that this passage has been so frigidly explained, and that Malachi has been as it were wholly buried in darkness; though interpreters have tried to bring light, yet the effect has been to pervert the real meaning of the Prophet. But it appears now plain, I think, that the Jews are here said to be guilty of a twofold perfidy — because they rejected the honor offered to them by God’s gratuitous election, and also because they acted fraudulently towards their own brethren. It hence followed that the covenant of the fathers, that is, what God had deposited with the patriarchs, that it might come from hand to hand to their posterity, had been violated and made void by their wickedness.
We must yet notice what I have already referred to — that the priests are so reproved that the whole people are also included; and this we shall again presently see, and I add also, that the Prophet connects God with Abraham, in order to show that we shall fail to seek God effectually, if we seek him apart from his covenant, and also that our minds ought not to be fixed on men. There are indeed two vices against which we ought carefully to guard. Some, passing by all means, seek to fly upward to God; and so they entertain many vain thoughts and devise for themselves many labyrinths, from which they never emerge. We see how many fanatics there are at this day, who proudly speak against God’s word, and yet touch neither heaven nor earth; and why? because they would be superior to angels, and do not acknowledge that they need any helps by which they might by degrees, according to their weakness, ascend up to God himself. Now this is to seek God without the covenant or without the word. This is the reason why the Prophet here unites father Abraham to God himself; it was done that the Jews might know that they were confined by certain limits, in order that they might in humility make progress in God’s school, and be carried by degrees into heaven: for God, as it has been said, had deposited his covenant with Abraham. But yet as they might have depended on a mortal man, the Prophet adds a corrective — that they had been created by God; for they were not to separate their father Abraham from the very author of the covenant.
This passage then is worthy of special notice; for men from the beginning and in all ages have been inclined to the two vices which I have mentioned; and at this day we see that some indulge their dreams and despise the outward preaching of the word; for many fanatics say, that there is no need of rudiments or of the first elements, since God has promised that the sons of the Church would be spiritual. Hence Satan by such delusions strives to draw us away from pure simplicity of doctrine. It is therefore necessary to set up this shield — that God is not exhibited to us without Abraham, that is, without a Prophet and an interpreter. The Papists are also sunk in the same mud; for they have always the fathers in their mouths, but make no account of God. This is also very preposterous. Let us then remember that God is not to be separated from his word, and that the authority of men is of no account, when they depart from it. And the Prophet confirms the same thing at the end of the verse, when he speaks of the covenant of the fathers; for he does not here simply commend the covenant of the fathers, as the Turks might do, or as it is done by Papists and Jews; but he means the covenant which God had given, and which the holy patriarchs faithfully handed down to their posterity, according to what Paul says in the twenty-second chapter of the Acts, when speaking of his father’s religion; he did not speak of it as heathens might do of their religion, but he took it as granted that the law promulgated by Moses was not his invention, but had God as its author. It now follows-
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 The Prophet accuseth the ingratitude of the Jews toward…
The Prophet accuseth the ingratitude of the Jews toward God and man: for seeing they were all born of one father Abraham, and God had elected them to be his holy people, they ought neither to offend God nor their brethren.
Whereby they had bound themselves to God to be an holy people.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Mal 2:10 Have we not all one father? hath…
Mal 2:10 Have we not all one father? hath not one God created us? why do we deal treacherously every man against his brother, by profaning the covenant of our fathers?
Ver. 10. Have we not all one father?] Here begins a second contestation, viz. with the people (as the former was with the priests), for their unrighteous dealing; where we have so many words, so many arguments. In brevitate verborum est luxuries rerum. If shortness of words is the heart of the matter. How many ones are here, and all to persuade to unity. See the like Eph 4:3-5. Let those that take upon them to persuade others to equity and unanimity learn to marshal their matter handsomely, and to fill their mouths with arguments, such as may fall thick, and prevail, being seconded and set on with intimation of heartiest affection, Job 21:4. Oh that I could somewhere meet with you both together, said Austin to Jerome and Ruffinus (hearing of their differences), I would fall down at your feet with much love and many tears, I would beseech you, for God’s sake, for your own sakes, for weak Christians’ sakes, &c., not to suffer these dissensions to spread further, Hei mihi qui vos alicubi invenire non possum, &c. So Mr Bradford, in a letter to a distressed gentlewoman that was in a despairing condition, I beseech you, saith he, I pray you, I desire you, I crave at your hands with all my very heart; I ask of you with hand, pen, tongue, and mind, in Christ, through Christ, for Christ, for his name, blood, mercy, power, and truth’s sake, that you admit no doubting of God’s final mercy toward you, howsoever you feel yourself. Oh that I could get words, said another holy man to his hearers, to gore your very hearts with smarting pain, that this doctrine might be written in your flesh! By this "one father" in the text is meant Adam, say the most interpreters, who was the common parent of us all, and the very stock and root from whence all mankind did spring. It is, therefore, a sin against nature itself and common humanity to deal treacherously against another, or to hide thyself from thine own flesh, Isa 58:7. This is to be more unreasonable than beasts, birds, and fishes, which love their own kind; and those that feed on flesh will not eat the flesh of their own kind. But our age overly aboundeth with unnatural man eaters, that (not only like a pickerel in a pond, or shark in the sea, devour the lesser fishes of another alloy, but also) eat up God’s people as they eat bread, Psa 14:5, make no more conscience, nay, take as much content in undoing a poor brother as in eating a meal’s meat when they are hungry; they make but a breakfast of a whole representative nation; as those gunpowder papists designed to do. How often are wicked oppressors compared to hunters, for their cruelty, and fowlers, for their craft! to show that they spare none that fall into their nets; young, old, male, female, all go together into the bag, Psa 10:9. This raised a great cry of the people and of their wives against their brethren, those usurious Jews, that had both robbed and ravished them, Neh 5:1. And what could they say for themselves, but the same in effect with this in the text, "Yet now our flesh is as the flesh of our brethren, our children as their children?" &c.
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Have we not all one father? hath not one God created us?] Here the prophet riseth higher, viz. from Adam to God, out of whose mint when man came first, he shone most glorious, for he was God’s own workmanship, created unto love and good works, Eph 2:10 : yea, as iron put into fire seems to be nothing but fire; so Adam, come afresh out of God’s hands, who is perfect love and goodness itself, was none other than a very lump of love to God and kindness to his fellow creatures. But now, alas, we may sit and sing, O quantum haec Niobe, &c., how strangely are we altered, and fallen from our first love! and what great cause have we, with those in Ezra, to think of this temple that was burnt, and lament! yea, write Lamentations, with Jeremiah, and say, as he; "They ravished the women in Zion, and the maids in the cities of Judah. Princes are hung up by the hand: the faces of the elders were not honoured," &c. Lam 5:11-12 The wonder was the less, because these that did all this were of a different religion. But for those that serve the same true God, the Creator of all, to jar and war, as we, alas, do at this day, this is lamentabile bellum, doleful war, and speaks a great decay and defect of the power of godliness; true religion being of a uniting nature; and the strongest tie. Sanatior sane est copula cordis quam corporis. This Joseph’s brethren knew, and, therefore, held it their best plea, Gen 50:17 "And now, we pray thee, forgive the trespass of the servants of thy father’s God." They had one common father; but, as a better string to their bow, they had one common God. The very Turks are found to be much braver soldiers upon the Christian than upon the Persian, because they begin alate to be infected with Persianism, whom they acknowledge better Mahometans than themselves.
Why do we deal treacherously] Or, fraudulently. The prophet puts himself into the number, though innocent, that his reproof might the better take with them. That which he taxeth them for is their wrong dealing in general, one with another; whether it were by force or by fraud (επιβολη επιβουλη), by violence or cunning contrivance, which what is it else, but crimen stellionatus, the very sin of deception, and hath God for an avenger? 1Th 4:6. Now, it is dangerous offending him whose displeasure and revenge is everlasting, and who often calls to reckoning after our discharges. Take heed, therefore, of all sorts of injustice. Curse not the deaf, lay not a stumblingblock before the blind: but fear the Lord Jehovah, Lev 19:14. And considering that to deal treacherously with another, a brother especially, is a sin (as hath been above-said), both against nature and religion; both against race and grace, which teacheth righteousness as well as holiness, Tit 2:12, and turning the leopard into the lamb, causeth that none do harm to, or destroy, another in all God’s holy mountain, Isa 11:6; let us so carry ourselves, as that, with blessed Paul, we may glory, and say, "We have wronged no man, we have consumed no man, we have defrauded no man," &c., 2Co 7:2.
By profaning the covenant of our fathers] i.e. By degenerating from the promises and practices of our pious progenitors. Of this see Mal 2:8. A certain popish prince said, It is not amiss to make covenants; but woe be to him that is necessitated to keep them. He had learned (much like Machiavel), fidem tamdiu servandam esse quamdiu expediat, that covenants are to be kept so long as a man shall see cause. That which was anciently said of the Thracians is now verified of the Papists, that they keep no covenants ( eos foedera nescire), with heretics especially. The Turks, taught by them, say, There is no faith to be kept with dogs, that is, with Christians. Their leagues, grounded upon the law of nations, and solemnly confirmed by oath, have with them no longer force than standeth with their own pleasure and profit. And if Turks and Papists only were truce breakers and perfidious, it were the better to be borne with. But what shall we say to those Christiano categori (as Bellarmine saith a certain sort of heretics were called of old), those blots and botches of Christian religion and holy society, that can say and unsay at pleasure, make vows to God in their distress, and break them as fast when delivered? Just like those Jews in Jer 34:8-12, that set free their servants when the enemy lay before the walls; but reduced them into bondage when the siege was raised, though they had cut the calf in twain, and passed between the parts thereof; a most solemn way of sealing up covenants. So dealt their fathers before them, Psa 78:34-37. And so dealt here their nephews after them. They profaned the covenant of obedience to God’s commandments, that their fathers, for themselves and their successors, entered into. But should men thus play with covenants as children do with nuts? should they slip them at pleasure, as monkeys do their collars? should they snap them in sunder, as Samson did his cords? Had Shimei peace, that brake his oath to Solomon? or Zedekiah, that kept not touch with Nebuchadnezzar? &c.
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 Have we, we Jews,
Have we, we Jews,
not all one father? either Abraham, or Jacob, (not Adam here intended,) with whom God made the covenant by which the posterity was made a peculiar people, separated from other nations, and on very weighty reasons forbid to join and intermix with strange nations. Hath not one God created us? the prophet speaks of that great and gracious work of God, creating them to be a chosen people, a nation formed to show forth his praise, Deu 32:6,18; Isa 43:1,7; and so we Christians are created in Christ Jesus, Eph 2:10, and are in him new creatures, 2Co 5:17.
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Why do we? the prophet was not guilty of the fault, yet speaks as one of the community, partly to take off the envy of the Jews, and to cut off all occasion of quarrelling against his word, and partly to insinuate the sense he had of this thing, and the affection he had for them, though he reproved them.
Deal treacherously; despise, so some, break our faith in the marriage contract engaged, so carry it disloyally, against the duty we owe to God’s law, which equally binds us as our wives to mutual love, honour, and faithfulness; and why then do we take heathen wives, (it is bad if a Jew unmarried do it, but here now the case is worse,) Jewish wives being disliked, rejected, and so greatly despised? Why do we this against the bond of consanguinity? And do we sons of Abraham abuse thus the daughters of Abraham? Why do we so little regard the bond of religion? We are people, sons and daughters, of one God, who hath called us, separated us from the heathen to keep religion pure and unmixed; why then do we transgress thus?
Every man; the fault was very common, among the people and priests too, and since their return out of Babylon.
Against his brother: this wrong was done immediately against the wife, but the father, brothers, or kinsmen of the wronged wife are mediately, and by consequence, wronged; the whole family of the wife thus used is perfidiously abused, but brothers, as principal of the family, are named.
By profaning the covenant; violating the covenant of God, the law, which approves no polygamy, and forbids marrying of idolaters.
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 Corrupt practices are the genuine fruit and product of…
Corrupt practices are the genuine fruit and product of corrupt principles; and the badness of men's hearts and lives is owing to some loose atheistical notions which they have got and which they govern themselves by. Now, in these verses, we have an instance of this; we here find men dealing falsely with one another, and it is because they think falsely of their God. Observe,
I. How corrupt their practices were. In general, they dealt treacherously every man against his brother, Mal 2:10. It cannot be expected that he who is false to his God should be true to his friend. They had dealt treacherously with God in his tithes and offerings, and had defrauded him, and thus conscience was debauched, its bonds and cords were broken, a door was opened to all manner of injustice and dishonesty, and the bonds of relation and natural affection are broken through likewise and no difficulty made of it. Some think that the treacherous dealings here reproved are the same with those instances of oppression and extortion which we find complained of to Nehemiah about this time, Neh 5:3-7. Therein they forgot the God of their fathers, and the covenant of their fathers, and rendered their offerings unacceptable, Isa 1:11. But it seems rather to refer to what was amiss in their marriages, which was likewise complained of, Neh 13:23. Two things they are here charged with, as very provoking to God in this matter - taking strange wives of heathen nations, and abusing and putting away the wives they had of their own nation; in both these they dealt treacherously and violated a sacred covenant; the former was in contempt of the covenant of peculiarity, the latter of the marriage-covenant.
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1. In contempt of the covenant God made with Israel, as a peculiar people to himself, they married strange wives, which was expressly prohibited, and provided against, in that covenant, Deu 7:3. Observe here,
(1.) What good reason they had to deal faithfully with God and one another in this covenant, and not to make marriages with the heathen. [1.] They were expressly bound out from such marriages by covenant. God engaged to do them good upon this condition, that they should not mingle with the heathen; this was the covenant of their fathers, the covenant made with their fathers, denoting the antiquity and the authority of it, and its being the great charter by which that nation was incorporated. They lay under all possible obligations to observe it strictly, yet they profaned it, as if they were not bound by it. Those profane the covenant of their fathers who live in disobedience to the command of the God of their fathers. [2.] They were a peculiar people, united in one body, and therefore ought to have united for the preserving of the honour of their peculiarity: Have we not all one Father? Yes, we have, for has not one God created us? Are we not all his offspring? And are we not made of one blood? Yes, certainly we are. God is a common Father to all mankind, and, upon that account, all we are brethren, members one of another, and therefore ought to put away lying (Eph 4:25), and not to deal treacherously, no, not any man against his brother. But here it seems to refer to the Jewish nation: Have we not all one father, Abraham, or Jacob? This they prided themselves in, We have Abraham to our father; but here it is turned upon them as an aggravation of their sin in betraying the honour of their nation by intermarrying with heathens: "Has not one God created us, that is, formed us into a people, made us a nation by ourselves, and put a life into us, distinct from that of other nations? And should not this oblige us to maintain the dignity of our character?" Note, The consideration of the unity of the church in Christ, its founder and Father, should engage us carefully to preserve the purity of the church and to guard against all corruptions. [3.] They were dedicated to God, as well as distinguished from the neighbouring nations. Israel was holiness to the Lord (Jer 2:3), taken into covenant with him, set apart by him for himself, to be to him for a name and a praise, and upon this account he loved them and delighted in them; the sanctuary set up among them was the holiness of the Lord, which he loved, of which he said, It is my rest for ever, here will I dwell, for I have desired it; but by marrying strange wives they profaned this holiness, and laid the honour of it in the dust. Note, Those who are devoted to God, and beloved of him, are concerned to preserve their integrity, that they may not throw themselves out of his love, nor lose the honour, or defeat the end, of their dedication to him.
(2.) How treacherously they dealt, notwithstanding, They profaned themselves in that very thing which was prescribed to them for the preserving of the honour of their singularity: Judah has married the daughter of a strange god. The harm was not so much that she was the daughter of a strange nation (God has made all nations of men, and is himself King of nations), but that she was the daughter of a strange god, trained up in the service and worship of false gods, at their disposal, as a daughter at her father's disposal, and having a dependence upon them; hence some of the rabbin (quoted by Dr. Pocock) say, He that marries a heathen woman is as if he made himself son-in-law to an idol. The corruption of the old world began with the intermarriages of the sons of God with the daughters of men, Gen 6:2. It is the same thing that is here complained of, but as it is expressed it sounds worse: The sons of God married the daughters of a strange god. Herein Judah is said to have dealt treacherously, for they basely betrayed their own honour and profaned that holiness of the Lord which they should have loved (so some read it); and it is said to be an abomination committed in Israel and in Jerusalem; it was hateful to God, and very unbecoming those that were called by his name. Note, it is an abominable thing for those who profess the holiness of the Lord to profane it, particularly by yoking themselves unequally with unbelievers.
(3.) How severely God would reckon with them for it (Mal 2:12): The Lord will cut off the man that doeth this, that marries the daughter of a strange god. He has, in effect, cut himself off from the holy nation, and joined in with foreigners and aliens to the commonwealth of Israel, and so shall his doom be; God will cut him off, him and all that belongs to him; so the original intimates. He shall be cut off from Israel and from Jerusalem, and not be written among the living there. The Lord will cut off both the master and the scholar, that are guilty of this sin, both the teachers and the taught. The blind leaders and the blind followers shall fall together into the ditch, both him that wakeneth and him that answereth (so it is in the margin), for the master calls up his scholar to his business, and stirs him up in it. They shall be cut off together out of the tabernacles of Jacob. God will no more own them as belonging to his nation; nay, and the priest that offers an offering to the Lord, if he marry a strange wife (as we find many of the priests did, Ezr 10:18), shall not escape; the offering he offers shall not atone for him, but he shall be cut off from the temple of the Lord, as others from the tabernacles of Jacob. Nehemiah chased away from him, and from the priesthood, one of the sons of the high priest, whom he found guilty of this sin, Neh 13:28.
2. In contempt of the marriage-covenant, which God instituted for the common benefit of mankind, they abused and put away the wives they had of their own nation, probably to make room for those strange wives, when it was all the fashion to marry such (Mal 2:13): This also have you done; this is the second article of the charge. For the way of sin is down-hill, and one violation of the covenant is an inlet to another.
(1.) Let us see what it is that is here complained of. they did not behave as they ought to have done towards their wives. [1.] They were cross with them, froward and peevish, and made their lives bitter to them, so that when they came with their wives and families to worship God at the solemn feasts, which they should have done with rejoicing, they were all out of humour; the poor wives were ready to break their hearts, and, not daring to make their case known to any other, they complained to God, and covered the altar of the Lord with tears, with weeping, and with crying. This is illustrated by the instance of Hannah, who, upon the account of her husband's having another wife (though otherwise a kind husband), and the discontent thence arising, whenever they went up to the house of the Lord to worship fretted and wept, and was in bitterness of soul, and would not eat, Sa1 1:6, Sa1 1:7, Sa1 1:10. So it was with these wives here; and this was so contrary to the cheerfulness which God requires in his worshippers that it spoiled the acceptableness of their devotions: God regards not their offering any more. See here what a good Master we serve, who will not have his altar covered with tears, but compassed with songs. This condemns those who left his worship for that of idols, among the rites of which we find women weeping for Tammuz (Eze 8:14), and the blood of the worshippers gushing out upon the altar, Kg1 18:28. See also what a wicked thing it is to put others out of frame for the cheerful worship of God; though it is their fault by their fretfulness to indispose themselves for their duty, yet it is much more the fault of those who provoked them to make them to fret. It is a reason given why yoke-fellows should live in holy love and joy - that their prayers may not be hindered, Pe1 3:7. [2.] They dealt treacherously with them, Mal 2:14-16. They did not perform their promises to them, but defrauded them of their maintenance or dower, or took in concubines, to share in the affection that was due to their wives only. [3.] They put them away, gave them a bill of divorce, and turned them off, nay, perhaps they did it without the ceremony that the law of Moses prescribed, Mal 2:16. [4.] In all this they covered violence with their garment; they abused their wives, and were vexatious to them, and yet, in the sight of others, they pretended to be very loving to them and tender of them, and to cast a skirt over them. It is common for those who do violence to advance some specious pretence or other wherewith to cover it as with a garment.
(2.) Let us see the proof and aggravations of the charge. [1.] It is sufficiently proved by the testimony of God himself: "The Lord has been witness between thee and the wife of thy youth (Mal 2:14), has been witness to the marriage-covenant between thee and her, for to him you appealed concerning your sincerity in it and fidelity to it; he has been a witness to all the violations of it, and all thy treacherous dealings in contempt of it, and is ready to judge between thee and her." Note, This should engage us to be faithful both to God and to all with whom we have to do, that God himself is a witness both to all our covenants and to all our covenant-breaches; and he is a witness against whom there lies no exception. [2.] It is highly aggravated by the consideration of the person wronged and abused. First, "She is thy wife; thy own, bone of thy bone and flesh of thy flesh, the nearest to thee of all the relations thou hast in the world, and to cleave to whom thou must quit the rest." Secondly, "She is the wife of thy youth, who had thy affections when they were at the strongest, was thy first choice, and with whom thou hast lived long. Let not the darling of thy youth be the scorn and loathing of thy age." Thirdly, "She is thy companion; she has long been an equal sharer with thee in thy cares, and griefs, and joys." The wife is to be looked upon, not as a servant, but as a companion to the husband, with whom he should freely converse and take sweet counsel, as with a friend, and in whose company he should take delight more than in any other's; for is she not appointed to be thy companion? Fourthly, "She is the wife of thy covenant, to whom thou art so firmly bound that, while she continues faithful, thou canst not be loosed from her, for it was a covenant for life. It is the wife with whom thou hast covenanted, and who has covenanted with thee; there is an oath of God between you, which is not to be trifled with, is not to be played fast and loose with." Married people should often call to mind their marriage-vows, and review them with all seriousness, as those that make conscience of performing what they promised.
(3.) Let us see the reasons given why man and wife should continue together, to their lives' end, in holy love and peace, and neither quarrel with each other nor separate from each other. [1.] Because god has joined them together (Mal 2:15): Did not he make one, one Eve for one Adam, that Adam might never take another to her to vex her (Lev 18:18), nor put her away to make room for another? It is great wickedness to complain of the law of marriage as a confinement, when Adam in innocency, in honour, in Eden, in the garden of pleasure, was confined to one. Yet God had the residue of the Spirit; he could have made another Eve, as amiable as that he did make, but, designing Adam a help meet for him, he made him one wife; had he made him more, he would not have had a meet help. And wherefore did he make but one woman for one man? It was that he might seek a godly seed - a seed of God (so the word is), a seed that should bear the image of God, be employed in the service of God, and be devoted to his glory and honour, - that every man having his own wife, and but one, according to the law, (Co1 7:2), they might live in chaste and holy love, under the directions and restraints of the divine law, and not, as brute beasts, under the dominion of lust, and thus might propagate the nature of man in such a way as might make it most likely to participate of a divine nature, - that the children, being born in holy matrimony, which is an ordinance of God, and by which the inclinations of nature are kept under the regulations of God's command, might thus be made a seed to serve him, and be bred, as they are born, under his direction and dominion. Note, The raising up of a godly seed, which shall be accounted to the Lord for a generation, is one great end of the institution of marriage; but that is a good reason why the marriage-bed should be kept undefiled and the marriage bond inviolable. Husbands and wives must therefore live in the fear of God, that their seed may be a godly seed, else were they unclean, but now they are holy, as children of the covenant, the marriage-covenant, which was a type of the covenant of grace, and the conjugal union, when thus preserved entire, of the mystical union between Christ and his church, in which he seeks and secures to himself a godly seed; see Eph 5:25, Eph 5:32. [2.] Because he is much displeased with those who go about to put asunder what he has joined together (Mal 2:16): The God of Israel saith that he hateth putting away. He hath indeed permitted it to the Jews, for the hardness of their hearts, or, rather, limited and clogged it (Mat 19:8); but he hated it, especially as those practised it who put away their wives for every cause, Mat 19:3. Let those wives that elope from their husbands and put themselves away, those husbands that are cruel to their wives and turn them away, or take their affections off from their wives and place them upon others, yea, and those husbands and wives that live asunder by consent, for want of love to each other, let such as these know that the God of Israel hates such practices, however vain men may make a jest of them.
(4.) Let us see the caution inferred from all this. We have it twice (Mal 2:15): Therefore take heed to your spirit, and let none deal treacherously against the wife of his youth; and again, Mal 2:16. Note, Those that would be kept from sin must take heed to their spirits, for there all sin begins; they must keep their hearts with all diligence, must keep a jealous eye upon them and a strict hand, and must watch against the first risings of sin there. We shall act as we are spirited; and therefore, that we may regulate our actions, we must consider what manner of spirit we are of; we must take heed to our spirits with reference to our particular relations, and see that we stand rightly affected to them and be of a good temper, for otherwise we shall be in danger of dealing treacherously. If our own hearts deal treacherously with us, whom will they not deal treacherously with?
II. Observe how corrupt their principles were, to which were owing all these corrupt practices. Let us trace up the streams to the fountain (Mal 2:17): You have wearied the Lord with your words. They thought to evade the convictions of the word, and to justify themselves by cavilling with God's proceedings; but their defence was their offence, and their vindication of themselves was the aggravation of their crime; they affronted the Lord with their words, and repeated them so often, and persisted so long in their contradictions, that they even wearied him; see Isa 7:13. They made him weary of doing them good as he had done, and stopped the current of his favours; or they represented him as weary of governing the world, and willing to quit it and lay aside the care of it. Note, It is a wearisome thing, even to God himself, to hear people insist upon their own justification in their corrupt and wicked practices, and plead their atheistical principles in vindication of them. But, as if God by his prophet had done them wrong, see how impudently they ask, Wherein have we wearied him? What are those vexatious words whereby we have wearied him? Note, Sinful words are more offensive to the God of heaven than they are commonly thought to be. But God has his proofs ready; two things they had said, at least in their hearts (and thoughts are words to God), with which they had wearied him: - 1. They had denied him to be a holy God, and had asserted that concerning him which is directly contrary to the doctrine of his holiness. As he is a holy God, he hates sin, is of purer eyes than to behold it, and cannot endure to look upon it, Hab 1:13. He is not a God that has pleasure in wickedness, Psa 5:4. And yet they had the impudence to say, in direct contradiction to this, Every one that does evil is good in the sight of the Lord, and he delights in them. This wicked inference they drew, without any reason, from the prosperity of sinners in their sinful courses (see Mal 3:15), as if God's love or hatred were to be known by that which is before us, and those must be concluded good in the sight of the Lord who are rich in the world. Or this they said because they wished it might be so; they were resolved to do evil, and yet to think themselves good in the sight of the Lord, and to believe that he delighted in them, notwithstanding; and therefore, under pretence of making God not so severe as he was commonly represented, they said as they would have it, and thought he was altogether such a one as themselves. Note, Those who think God a friend to sin affront him and deceive themselves. 2. They had denied him to be the righteous governor of the world. If he did not delight in sin and sinners, yet it would serve their turn to believe that he would never punish it or them. They said, "Where is the God of judgment? That God who, we have been so often told, would call us to an account, and reckon with us for what we have said and done - where is he? He has forsaken the earth, and takes no notice of what is said and done there; he has said that he will come to judgment; but where is the promise of his coming? We may do what we please; he sees us not, nor will regard us." It is such a challenge to the Judge of the whole earth as bids defiance to his justice, and, in effect, dares him to do his worst. Such scoffers as these there were in the latter days of the Jewish church, and such there shall be in the latter days of the Christian church; but their unbelief shall not make the promise of God of no effect; for the day of the Lord will come. Behold, the Judge stands before the door; the God of judgment is at hand.
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 Have we not all one father?.... Whether this is…
Have we not all one father?.... Whether this is understood of Adam the first man, of whose blood all nations of the earth are made, and who in the same sense is the father of all living, as Eve was the mother of all living; or of Abraham the father of the Jewish people, of whom, as their father, they used to glory; or of Jacob, as Kimchi and Aben Ezra interpret it, whom the Jews used to call our father Jacob; or of God, who is the Father of all men by creation, and of the Jews by national adoption of them; and who may the rather be thought to be meant, since it follows,
hath not one God created us? either as men, or formed us as a body politic; which may serve to explain what is meant by their having one father: whichever is the sense of these words, the argument from hence is strong; that there ought to be no partiality used in the law, or any respect had to persons, in that the rich and the poor have all one Father and one Creator; see Jam 2:1,
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why do we deal treacherously every man against his brother; by perverting justice, having respect to persons, favouring one to the prejudice of another, as it follows:
by profaning the covenant of your fathers? the covenant made with them at Sinai, as Jarchi explains it; the law that was then enjoined them, particularly such as forbid respect of persons, Lev 19:15 some think, as Aben Ezra, that a new section here begins, and that the prophet proceeds to a new reproof, and for another sin these people were guilty of, in marrying wives of another nation, contrary to the law in Exo 34:15 which was dealing treacherously with one another, and profaning the covenant of their fathers.
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 One father - Abraham, or Jacob, with whom God…
One father - Abraham, or Jacob, with whom God made the covenant by which their posterity were made a peculiar people. Created us - The prophet speaks of that great and gracious work of God, creating them to be a chosen people. And so we Christians are created in Christ Jesus.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 10. Have we not all one Father?] From…
Verse 10. Have we not all one Father?] From this to Mal 2:16 the prophet censures the marriages of Israelites with strange women, which the law had forbidden, De 7:3. And also divorces, which seem to have been multiplied for the purpose of contracting these prohibited marriages.-Newcome.
Why do we deal treacherously] Gain the affections of the daughter of a brother Jew, and then profane the covenant of marriage, held sacred among our fathers, by putting away this same wife and daughter! How wicked, cruel, and inhuman!
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain Mal 2:10. Have we not all one father? —…
Mal 2:10. Have we not all one father? — Here a new section begins, wherein the prophet severely censures the intermarriages of Israelites with women of another country, which Moses had forbidden, Deu 7:3; and also divorces, which seem to have been multiplied for the purpose of contracting these prohibited marriages. The former of these evils was much practised in Ezra’s and Nehemiah’s time, who expressed great detestation of it: Ezr 9:1; Neh 13:23. The prophet begins his expostulation with putting them in mind that they were not only descended from one progenitor, Abraham, or Jacob, with whom God made the covenant by which their posterity were constituted a peculiar people; but they owned one God and Father, in opposition to the idols of the heathen, and therefore should deal with one another as brethren, being nearly allied by a spiritual as well as fleshly relation. Why do we deal treacherously, &c., profaning the covenant of our fathers? — By these marriages with strangers, we deal falsely and injuriously with our countrymen and brethren, by the ill treatment of their daughters or sisters, whom we took to marriage, (see Mal 2:14,) and we violate that covenant which God made with our fathers, whereby he separated us from the rest of the world, and, in order to preserve that distinction, forbade us to intermarry with idolaters.
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 Have we not all one Father? - o
Have we not all one Father? - o
Hath not one God created us? - Malachi turns abruptly to another offence, in which also the priests set an evil example, the capricious dismissal of their Hebrew wives and taking other women in their stead. Here, as before, he lays down, at the outset, a general moral principle, which he applies. “The one Father” (it appears from the parallel), is manifestly Almighty God, as the Jews said to our Lord Joh 8:41, “We have one Father, even God.” He created them, not only as He did all mankind, but by the spiritual relationship with Himself, into which He brought them. So Isaiah speaks (Isa 43:1, Isa 43:7, Isa 43:21, add Isa 44:2, Isa 44:21, Isa 44:24), “Thus saith the Lord that created thee, O Jacob, and He that formed thee, O Israel. Every one that is called by My Name; I have created Him for My glory; I have formed him; yea I have made him. This people have I formed for Myself; they shall show forth My praise.”
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And from the first in Moses’ song Deu 32:6, “Is not He thy Father that created thee? Hath He not made thee and established thee?” This creation of them by God, as His people, gave them a new existence, a new relation to each other; so that every offence against each other was a violation of their relation to God, who had given them this unity, and was, in a nearer sense than of any other, the common Father of all. “Why then,” the prophet adds, “do we deal treacherously, a man against his brother, to profane the covenant of our fathers?” He does not yet say, wherein this treacherous dealing consisted; but awakens them to the thought, that sin against a brother is sin against God, Who made him a brother; as, and much more under the Gospel, in which we are all members of one mystical body 1Co 8:12, “when ye sin so against the brethren, and wound their weak conscience, ye sin against Christ.” He speaks of the sin, as affecting those who did not commit it.
Why do we deal treacherously? So Isaiah, before his lips were cleansed by the mystical coal, said Isa 6:5, “I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips,” and the high priest Joshua was shown in the vision, clothed with defiled garments; (Zec 3:3-4. See ab. pp. 354, 355) and the sin of Achan became the “sin of the children of Israel” Jos 7:1, Jos 7:11, and David’s sinful pride in numbering the people was visited upon all. 2 Sam. 24. He teaches beforehand, that 1Co 12:26, “whether one member suffer, all the members suffer with it, or one member be honored, all the members rejoice with it.” They “profaned” also “the covenant of their fathers,” by marrying those whom God forbade, and who would seduce, as pagan wives had Solomon, from His worship. Paul in sanctioning the remarriage of widows, adds, “only 1Co 7:39. in the Lord,” i. e., Christian husbands. “He who treated as null the difference between the Israelites and a pagan woman, showed that the difference between the God of Israel and the God of the pagan had before become null to him, whence it follows.”
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 Brother, in distress, 2 Esdras v. 1. St. Jerome…
Brother, in distress, 2 Esdras v. 1. St. Jerome mentions the tradition of the Jews, which supposed that the captives at their return dismissed their wives, and married young ones, though strangers, ver. 11. But this is not probable. Such women were ordered to be dismissed, 1 Esdras ix. 1., and 2 Esdras xiii. 23. (Calmet)
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).
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures 1864 · Public Domain Against unlawful Divorce, and Marriages with Heathen Wives
SECTION III
Against unlawful Divorce, and Marriages with Heathen Wives
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Mal_2:10-16
10Have we not all one father? hath not one God created us? why do we deal treacherously every man against his brother, by profaning the covenant of our fathers? 11Judah hath dealt treacherously, and an abomination is committed in Israel and in Jerusalem; for Judah hath profaned the1 [holy people] of the Lord, which he loves, and hath married the daughter of a strange god. 12The Lord will cut off the man that doeth this, the master and the scholar2 [the waker and the answerer], out of the tabernacles of Jacob, and him that offereth an offering unto the Lord of Hosts. 13And this have ye done again3 [as a second thing], covering the altar of the Lord with tears, with weeping, and with crying out, insomuch that he regardeth not the offering any more, or receiveth it with good will at your hand. 14Yet ye say, Wherefore4 [doth he not accept]? Because the Lord hath been witness between thee and the wife of thy youth, against whom thou hast dealt treacherously; yet is she thy companion, and the wife of thy covenant. 15And did not he make one [flesh]? Yet had he the residue of the spirit. And wherefore one? That he might seek a godly seed. Therefore take heed to your spirit, and let none deal treacherously against the wife of his youth. 16For the Lord, the God of Israel, saith that he hateth [I hate divorce] putting away; for one covereth violence with his garment [covers his garment with cruelty], saith the Lord of Hosts: therefore take heed to your spirit, that ye deal not treacherously.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
We have here a new subject without any connection with what precedes. The Prophet, in the name of Jehovah, rebukes their marriages with foreigners, and their divorce of their lawful wives. As his manner is, he first lays down an indisputable axiom as the basis of his reproofs.
Mal_2:10. Have we not all one Father? Jerome, Calvin, and others understand by one father here, Abraham: Pocock, Scott, and Henry, Jacob. The obvious objection to this view is that Abraham was the father not of the Jews only, but of the Ishmaelites and Edomites. The best recent Commentators understand by it Jehovah. This makes it parallel with Mal_1:6, where Jehovah styles himself the Father of Israel.
Divorce is a violation of the relation sustained to Jehovah, as a common father, and it is dealing treacherously with our fellow creature, one against another (literally, a man against his brother); it is further a profanation of the covenant which Jehovah made with his chosen people, out of which there grew specific duties and obligations not to marry idolatresses, or the daughters of a strange God. The Prophet classes himself with the offenders, as it was a national sin. The Septuagint has changed the suffixes here, “Has not one God created you? Why have ye forsaken,” etc.
The law of Moses prohibited all marriages with the heathen, lest the Israelites should be led into idolatry (Exo_34:11; Deu_7:1-4).
Mal_2:11. Judah hath dealt treacherously. He now proceeds to specify their sins. Judah, Israel, and Jerusalem are here only different designations of the same persons. Jerusalem is probably mentioned, to show that the sin was aggravated by being committed in the holy city.
The Prophet stigmatizes their unlawful divorce as an abomination, and as such to be classed with idolatry, witchcraft, and adultery. In the last clause he characterizes their intermarriages with the daughters of a strange god (or worshippers, by a well-known Hebrew idiom), as a profanation of the holy seed (Ezr_9:2), for Israel was holiness to the Lord (Jer_2:3).
Mal_2:12. Jehovah will cut off, etc. The Prophet denounces the judgment of Jehovah upon every one out of the tents of Jacob, who commits this sin. We must connect “out of the tents of Jacob” with cut off.”
The apocopated form of the future expresses a wish that such may be the case. To express the universality of this judgment that no one should escape, not even in their posterity, we have a proverbial phrase, which has been variously interpreted. Our version has translated it, the master and the scholar, as the Vulgate, magistrum et discipulum. This too is the Rabbinical explanation followed by Luther, Pocock, Henry, Scott. Gesenius, Rosenmüller, Maurer, Reinke, Keil, Noyes, Henderson, De Wette, J. D. Michaelis, translate it, the watcher and the answerer. Calvin understands it of the master and servant: “Every one who was in power, and could command others,” and by the answerer, “the servant, who received and obeyed orders.” The Targum, Syriac, Ewald, son and grandson. Fürst, Munster, Hitzig, Dietrich, the caller and the answerer.
Mal_2:13. And this ye do as a second thing. Henderson understands this of time, that the people had relapsed into their old sins in the time of Ezra, but it is better to understand it of a second sin, in addition to marrying heathen wives, of divorcing their Jewish wives. The Septuagint reads it, I hated, and mistook the word.
The greatness of their sin is enlarged upon Their divorced wives repair to the altar of Jehovah, there to pour out their hearts before Him, and to complain of their cruel treatment, and to seek his help. The last clause of Mal_2:13 shows that Jehovah will not accept the sacrifice, nor bless the worshipper.
Mal_2:14. Yet ye say, wherefore? That is, wherefore doth He not accept?
The people addressed refusing to be ashamed, and to confess their guilt, shamelessly ask the reason of their rejection. The Prophet now addresses each one personally. Jehovah has been a witness. Köhler understands this, as in Mal_3:5, of an avenging witness, but as we have in Gen_31:48 a similar expression. “This heap is a witness between me and thee,” where the same words occur in Hebrew, we must regard it with Keil, Henderson, and others, as meaning that God was a witness to the marriage, or to the covenant made between the parties. The divorced wife is now tenderly called the wife of thy youth, who has been the choice of thy youth, the partner of thy joys and sorrows, and the wife of thy covenant, with whom thou didst make a covenant for life.
Mal_2:15. But did not he make one only. And yet had he a residue of the spirit. And wherefore one? He sought a godly race. We come now to the most difficult verse of all others in the prophecy. There has been an extraordinary difference of opinion as to its construction and sense. Köhler styles it most justly a crux interpretum. The Septuagint translator seems to have given his understanding a holiday, and made his pen supply its place. Not a spark of light can be struck from the words, and nothing but words. The subject under discussion is divorce. In the preceding verse, to add sanctity to the marriage tie, Jehovah is said to have been a witness of it, and the wife is to be regarded as bound by a solemn covenant to the husband. What more natural now than that the prophet should recall the institution of marriage in the beginning, as of divine sanction? This would be a conclusive argument, and is the very one our Saviour made use of, when speaking of divorce, “Have ye not read, that He which made them at the beginning made them male and female, And said, For this cause shall a man leave father and mother and shall cleave to his wife, and they twain shall be one flesh, wherefore, they are no more twain, but one flesh.” The argument is introduced abruptly. Did not Jehovah make one? The word אֶחָד, to a Jew, perfectly familiar with בָּשָר אֶחָד in Genesis, would immediately suggest the one flesh, the one pair, of Gen_2:24.
And wherefore one? In the Hebrew, one has the article, הָאֶחָד, and must be understood of the same subject with the preceding, אֶחָד. And wherefore did he make one pair? Yet had he the residue of the Spirit? This applies most naturally to the life-giving spirit of God—his creative power, not exhausted, for He might have made many women for one man.
That he might seek a godly seed. The design of God was to perpetuate a godly seed. This is counteracted by frequent divorce.
Most English commentators adopt this interpretation. Another view has been advocated by Jerome, Ewald, Reinke, Böttcher, and others, which makes Jehovah the subject, instead of the object. They are led to this view by Mal_2:10, “Hath not one God created us?” They therefore translate it, “And did not one (the same God) create them, And what did the one seek?”
Another class of commentators refer the one to Abraham, and translate the clause, But did not the single one do it? And yet a divine Spirit remained to him. But what did the single one do? They regard the one as a designation of Abraham, and found their opinion on Isa_51:2, I called him alone, and Eze_33:24, where Abraham is spoken of as one in opposition to the many of the people. In both these passages there is an express mention of Abraham, which is not the case here. They consequently understand, Yet had he the residue of the Spirit as meaning, that he remained a good man.
Still another interpretation is adopted by a considerable number of commentators, that there is no question but a simple affirmation: לֹא אֶחָד is to be translated no one, that the object of made is to be supplied from the previous sentence, that by the residue of the spirit is meant, any portion of reason, any sense of right and wrong. The one of the second clause they refer to Abraham. The whole verse would then be translated, “No one, who has a sense of right and wrong, has done what you are doing. And what did the one do?” They suppose that the guilty parties were wont to appeal to the case of Abraham to justify their conduct, and that the answer shows that his case was no precedent. There are very serious objections to this view. We have to supply the object of עָשָה, made, and the predicate of הָאֶחָד in the second clause. The position of וְלֹא, and the question in the second clause, render it probable that it is a question. Had the Prophet meant to say, that no one ever did so, he would have used אֵין אִיש, as Gen_39:11, or simply אֵין.
Further, to understand the residue of the spirit of any reason, or moral sense, is strained, and lastly, אֶחָד refers to two different subjects, according to this view, first, to “no one,” and, secondly, to Abraham, though the article is used, referring it back to the former.
There is an interpretation adopted by Fairbairn and Moore, which refers the one to the one chosen seed, the holy nation, but this strikes us as by no means so consistent and forcible as the one which refers it to the one flesh.
Mal_2:15. Therefore take heed. Then follows a warning against the sin rebuked. The perfect with vav must be translated as imperative, as is often the case. To take heed to your spirit is to take heed to yourself (Deu_4:15; Jos_23:11).
Let no one deal treacherously. The third person is here used for the second in the previous clause. This is often the case where there is no change of subject. There is no advantage in following the LXX. and retaining the second person.
Mal_2:16. For I hate divorce. The Prophet here gives the reason of the warning. Jehovah says, “I hate divorce.” The LXX., Vulgate, and Luther, construe this very differently as a permission of divorce; If thou hate her put her away. But this is inconsistent with the context, which condemns divorce; it is in opposition to the law which permits divorce only for some great misconduct, “some unclean thing,” and which (Deu_21:15) requires the husband to maintain a hated wife. In favor of the translation, adopted by Köhler, Keil, Henderson, I hate divorce, may be urged, that the form may be considered as a participle, that the first person is often understood before participles, that, saith Jehovah, God of Israel, which follows in the Hebrew, implies that Jehovah is speaking directly in his own person.
Mal_2:16. And him who covers with violence his garment. The design of this clause, parallel to and coördinate with, I hate divorce, is to express more emphatically the consequences and enormity of the sin, that it is exceedingly heinous, and the height of cruelty. We read in Psa_109:18; Psa_109:29, of being clothed with cursing as with a garment, of being clothed with shame. We find the same construction of כִּסָּה with עַל in Num_16:33; Psa_106:15; Hab_2:14, where the object covered is preceded by עַל as here. “The earth covered them,” “And covered the company of Abiram,” “As the waters cover the sea.” We therefore understand the relative, which is frequently omitted, and regard this clause as the continuation of the preceding, “I hate divorce,” only with a more emphatic statement. Most of the recent commentators understand by his garment, his wife. This, says Köhler, is a very uncertain and rare Arabic idiom, and contrary to all Hebrew usage. Nor is it at all necessary, as the interpretation we have given does not introduce a different idea, and is confirmed by the following, “saith the Lord of Hosts.”
DOCTRINAL AND PRACTICAL
The frequency of divorce in the United States, so that in one of the States divorce is allowed for “misconduct,” reveals the same state of things existing now, as was here condemned by Jehovah, and must bring with it the same evils, and the same punishment. What tongue can adequately tell, what heart conceive, the untold misery from this cause, especially to the deserted wives, and the children left without a mother’s care! How little is the indissoluble nature of the marriage relation regarded! and the fact, that the Lord was the witness of it, and will be a swift witness against those who violate it! The Saviour only allows of one cause of divorce, and regards divorce for any other as adultery.
Matthew Henry: “The poor wives were ready to break their hearts, and not daring to make their case known to any other, they complained to God, and covered the altar of the Lord with tears, with weeping, and with crying. This is illustrated by the case of Hannah, who, upon the account of her husband’s having another wife (though otherwise a kind husband) and the discontent thence arising, fretted and wept, was in bitterness of soul, and would not eat. It is a reason given why husbands and wives should live in holy love, that their prayers be not hindered. The Lord has been witness to the marriage covenant between thee and her, for to Him you appealed concerning your sincerity in it and fidelity to it; He has been a witness to all the violations of it, and is ready to judge between thee and her. It is highly aggravated by the consideration of the persons wronged and abused. First, she is thy wife, thy own, bone of thy bone, and flesh of thy flesh; the nearest to thee of all the relations thou hast in the world, and to cleave to whom thou must quit the rest, Secondly. She is the wife of thy youth, who had thy affections when they were at the strongest, was thy first choice, and with whom thou hast lived long. Let not the darling of thy youth be the scorn and loathing of thy age. Thirdly. She is thy companion; she has long been an equal sharer with thee in thy cares and griefs and joys. Fourthly, she is the wife of thy covenant, to whom thou art so firmly bound, that, while she continues faithful, thou canst not be loosed from her, for it was a covenant for life. Married people should often call to mind their marriage vows, and review them with all seriousness, as those that make conscience of performing what they promised.
Moore: The phrases, “wife of thy youth,” and “companion” are thrown in to show the aggravated nature of this offense. “She whom you thus wronged was the companion of those earlier and brighter days, when in the bloom of her young beauty she left her father’s house, and shared your early struggles, and rejoiced in your later success; who walked arm-in-arm with you along the pilgrimage of life, cheering you in its trials by her gentle ministry; and now, when the bloom of her youth is faded, and the friends of her youth have gone, when father and mother whom she left for you are in the grave, then you cruelly cast her off as a worn-out, worthless thing, and insult her holiest affections by putting another in her place.” There is something very touching in these allusions to the aggravations of this wrong, arising from the tender associations and memories of youth.
Pressel, on Mal_2:10 : Have we not all one Father? No faith without love, arid no love without faith. He who keeps the Father and Creator of all men before his eyes must love all men as his brethren, and he who recognizes in other men his brethren must in the Creator of all men love the Father. The prophet’s mode of reasoning is not unlike that of the Apostle John in his First Epistle, Joh_3:17; Joh_4:11; Joh_4:20-21. The reference of the prophet to the Heavenly Father is a glimpse in the Old Testament of a doctrine which was not fully brought to light till the time of the New Testament.
On Mal_2:14. Jehovah is witness between thee and the wife of thy youth. This might be made use of as a solemn warning by a minister against divorce, whether intended or accomplished, as it represents to us the sanctity of marriage, and at the same time awakens in the hearts of the married all lovely and sweet recollections.
On Mal_2:15. He who regards the divine Spirit within us will be proof against the lusts of the flesh. He who indulges these lusts drives away from his heart more and more the residue of the divine Spirit.
Footnotes:
[1]Mal_2:10.—בּגַד to deal treacherously, to be unfaithful, is used in Mal_2:11; Mal_2:14-16.
[2]Mal_2:11. בַּת—is used here, as often, in the sense of worshipper, or servant. קֹדֶש means here, holy seed, not holiness, as Henry, Scott.
[3]Mal_2:12.—יַכְרֵת jussive form. The master and the scholar. So Vulgate. A proverb like: none shut up or left (Deu_32:36); the deceicer and deceived (Job_12:16; Job_18:19); son nor nephew, to express totality by opposites. Out of the tents, is to be connected with “cut off.”
[4]Mal_2:16.—The perfect with vav con. must here be translated as imperative, as in 1Ki_2:6.
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures (Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical), ed. John Peter Lange, English translation edited by Philip Schaff (1864–1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain Reproof of those who contracted marriages with foreigners and…
Reproof of those who contracted marriages with foreigners and repudiated their Jewish wives.
Have we not all one father?--Why, seeing we all have one common origin, "do we deal treacherously against one another" ("His brother" being a general expression implying that all are "brethren" and sisters as children of the same Father above, Th1 4:3-6 and so including the wives so injured)? namely, by putting away our Jewish wives, and taking foreign women to wife (compare Mal 2:14 and Mal 2:11; Ezr 9:1-9), and so violating "the covenant" made by Jehovah with "our fathers," by which it was ordained that we should be a people separated from the other peoples of the world (Exo 19:5; Lev 20:24, Lev 20:26; Deu 7:3). To intermarry with the heathen would defeat this purpose of Jehovah, who was the common Father of the Israelites in a peculiar sense in which He was not Father of the heathen. The "one Father" is Jehovah (Job 31:15; Co1 8:6; Eph 4:6). "Created us": not merely physical creation, but "created us" to be His peculiar and chosen people (Psa 102:18; Isa 43:1; Isa 45:8; Isa 60:21; Eph 2:10), [CALVIN]. How marked the contrast between the honor here done to the female sex, and the degradation to which Oriental women are generally subjected!
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 CONDEMNATION OF MIXED MARRIAGES AND OF DIVORCE, Mal_2:10-16.
CONDEMNATION OF MIXED MARRIAGES AND OF DIVORCE, Mal_2:10-16.
With Mal_2:10, begins a new section, which, until quite recently, has been universally interpreted as dealing with marriage alliances between Jews and heathen women (Mal_2:10-12), and the putting away of Jewish wives by their husbands (Mal_2:13-16). Torrey (Journal of Biblical Literature, 1898, pp.
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1ff.) declares this interpretation to be untenable: “To treat these expressions literally, as referring to an actual marriage and divorce, involves one in insuperable difficulties.” And again: “There is one, and only one, admissible interpretation of the passage; namely, that which recognizes the fact that the prophet is using figurative language. Judah, the faithless husband, has betrayed the wife of his youth, the covenant religion, by espousing the daughter of a strange god, that is, a foreign cult. The whole passage from beginning to end is a telling rebuke of unfaithfulness to Jehovah, which would prove the suicide of the nation.” Adopting this interpretation, he gives the following summary of contents: “The unfaithfulness of part of the people threatens to forfeit for all the covenant of the fathers (Mal_2:10). Judah has dealt falsely with the wife of his youth, the covenant religion, and is wedding a strange cult. The sanctuary of Jehovah is profaned (11, 12). The worshipers (who, of course, insist that they are still worshiping Jehovah) lament, because their offerings fail to bring a blessing, and are strangely unable to see why ill fortune has come upon them (13, 14a). Such sin merits the severest punishment, and Israel may well be warned (12, 15, 16).” Winckler agrees with Torrey in interpreting the passage figuratively, but he differs from him in dating it. Arguing along different lines, he attempts to show that the verses are directed against the innovations introduced in the temple by Antiochus Epiphanes during the early part of the second century B.C. This position he can establish only by means of unwarranted emendations of the text, a fact which in itself makes the view improbable. Torrey’s view is not open to the same objection, and the example of Hosea (see p. 21f) shows that the marriage relation did serve to some of the prophets as a symbol of spiritual relations.
The chief argument of Torrey against the literal translation is expressed in these words: “To assume, in the first place [there seems to be no second], that divorce of Israelitish wives stood in any necessary or even probable connection with the wedding of women from other nations is ridiculous.” The reply may be made: (1) Is it really improbable to suppose that in many cases there did exist a close connection between the two abuses? (2) There is nothing to prevent us from understanding the verses as a condemnation of two distinct crimes, practiced during the same general period, though by different individuals. The objection raised against the literal interpretation can hardly be regarded as conclusive.
All scholars admit that the passage is one of the most difficult in the entire book, and it is quite certain that the text has suffered in the course of transmission. As a result many emendations have been attempted (see comments); even entire verses have been omitted as later additions. G.A. Smith, for example, omits 11-13a, not because he considers the condemnation of heathen alliances unsuitable in the days of Malachi, but “because they disturb the argument,” which, he thinks, deals exclusively with the divorce question. “To him [the prophet] the fatherhood of God is not merely a relation of power and authority, requiring reverence from the nation. It constitutes the members of the nation one close brotherhood, and against this divorce is a crime and unnatural cruelty.” Marti agrees with him; on the other hand, Nowack and Wellhausen among recent commentators retain the whole section, interpreting it literally of marriages with heathen women and divorces of Jewish wives. Whether or not this interpretation will involve us in “insuperable difficulties” will be seen as we proceed.
Mal_2:10 stands at the head of the entire discussion. The prophet adheres to his custom (see on Mal_1:2) of commencing with a general statement, which he applies to the individual cases as he proceeds. In Mal_2:10 he emphasizes the generally accepted truth that Jehovah is the father of all Israelites and the related truth that all Jews are brothers and sisters. Every crime against this fraternal relation, be it the marrying of foreign women or the putting away of Jewish wives, is an offense against Jehovah and against the covenant which binds Israel to Jehovah as son to father.
Have we not all one father? — That is, Jehovah. He was the father of Israel in a sense in which he was not the father of other nations, and this the people would readily admit (see on Mal_1:6, and references there, especially Hos_11:1).
Hath not one God created us? — The prophet is not concerned here with the creation of all mankind — it also he would have ascribed to Jehovah — but only with that of the Jews. One and the same God has created all of them. This again no one would deny. But if the two propositions stated are correct, then the individual Israelites are bound to one another in a close bond of brotherhood. In Mal_1:6, the prophet inquires why they do not meet the obligations toward Jehovah which this peculiar relation imposes upon them; here, why they disregard the obligations toward one another which grow out of this same relation.
Deal treacherously every man against his brother — Better, one against another, since offenses against women receive chief condemnation.
They are dealing with one another in a manner contrary to the spirit of brotherhood. Wherein the treacherous dealings consisted is stated in the succeeding verses (11, 14, 15, 16).
By profaning the covenant of our fathers — The covenant meant is that made by Jehovah with the ancestors of the Jews, when he chose them to be his own peculiar people (compare, for example, Exo_19:5-6; Lev_20:24; Lev_20:26). They desecrated this covenant when they entered into foreign marriage alliances and when they treated one another in an unfair spirit.
Mal_2:11-12 give the first specification under the general indictment in Mal_2:10. They have desecrated the covenant by marrying “the daughter of a strange god.”
Judah — The postexilic community, which settled chiefly in the territory formerly occupied by Judah.
Hath dealt treacherously — Repeated from Mal_2:10, to emphasize the accusation about to be uttered.
An abomination is committed — Everything contrary to the spirit of his covenant with Israel is an abomination to Jehovah.
In Israel — If original, Israel is identical with Judah in the preceding clause. After the exile the distinction between north and south disappeared, hence the two names might be used interchangeably. Some commentators, however, consider Israel an interpolation; its omission would produce a more satisfactory parallelism: “Judah hath dealt treacherously, and an abomination is committed in Jerusalem.” The latter is named as a poetic variation; it is practically equivalent to Judah and denotes the entire postexilic community; perhaps it is meant to emphasize the idea that the abomination has been committed in the very dwelling place of Jehovah.
Profaned the holiness — Better, margin R.V., “sanctuary,” meaning the chosen people itself, which is holy because it is set apart for the service of Jehovah (see on Zec_14:20). Judah has become desecrated through the conduct of its own individual members, hence it is no longer a fit dwelling place for Jehovah.
Which he loved — The contrast between the loving attitude of Jehovah toward the people and the rebellion of the people toward their God brings out more forcibly the baseness of their conduct (compare Isa_1:2-4; Hos_11:1 ff.; Amo_2:6 ff.). How they have profaned the sanctuary of Jehovah is stated in the last clause.
Hath married the daughter of a strange god — The Jews, the sons of Jehovah, marry women who are worshipers of other deities; in doing this they introduce into their own nation impure blood and impure religious ideas, the holy seed is mingled with the seed of the land (Ezr_9:2), and thus they desecrate it in the sight of their God. For the prevalence of mixed marriages in the days of Malachi see Ezr_9:1 ff; Ezr_10:1 ff.; Neh_13:23 ff.
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 10. one father] i.e. God, as the parallelism suggests.…
10. one father] i.e. God, as the parallelism suggests. Comp. Joh_8:41. The reference to Abraham, though of course admissible (Mat_3:9; Joh_8:39), is less satisfactory.
his brother] Out of the common Fatherhood springs a common brotherhood which intensifies the wrong. So St Paul writes, with reference to a similar subject, 1Th_4:6. It may however only mean “one against another.”
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the covenant of our fathers] Exo_34:10-16; Deu_7:1-4.
Ch. Mal_2:10-16. Rebuke of the People for Heathen Marriages and Divorce
The transition from the former section is less abrupt than at first sight it seems to be. The people at large are now addressed directly, and not merely incidentally as before (Mal_1:14); but the priests are still clearly in view, both as probably themselves guilty of the sin denounced (comp. Ezr_10:18; Neh_13:28), and as conniving at it by withholding or wresting the sentence of the Law against it (Mal_2:8-9). From the Covenant too with Levi (Mal_2:8) the transition is natural to the wider Covenant with the fathers (Mal_2:10). The prophet lays down (Mal_2:10) the principle on which the whole rebuke rests; and then deals with their transgression of it, first by heathen marriages (Mal_2:11-12), and secondly, as a consequence of this, by the divorce of their lawful wives (Mal_2:13-16).
The word deal-treacherously is a key-word to the section. See Mal_2:10-11; Mal_2:14-16.
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 (10) One father—i.e., not Adam, Abraham, or Jacob (as…
(10) One father—i.e., not Adam, Abraham, or Jacob (as various commentators have held), but God Himself (Mal_1:6; Deu_32:6; Deu_32:18), who is the spiritual Father of the nation, and in whom they are all brothers and sisters; so that when an Israelite married a heathen woman, or divorced an Israelitish wife, it was an offence against God, a “profaning the covenant of the fathers,” and a violation of the fraternal relation. Moreover, “one God created” them for His glory (Isa_43:7), for the special purpose of being a witness to His unity. The admission of idolatresses into their families would be fatal to this object.
(10-17) The prophet now rebukes the two great sins of the nation at this time: (1) marriage with idolatresses; (2) divorce of the first (Israelitish) wife. He introduces this rebuke by a general statement, similar to that of Mal_1:2.
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The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain Vers. 10-16Part II CONDEMNATION OF PRIESTS AND PEOPLE FOR…
Vers. 10-16Part II CONDEMNATION OF PRIESTS AND PEOPLE FOR ALIEN MARRIAGES AND FOR DIVORCES.
Have we not all one Father? In proceeding to his new subject, the violations of the law of marriage, the prophet pursues his habitual method. He starts with a general principle, here assuming an interrogative form, and on it builds his rebuke. The priests were guilty, if not of profane marriages, at any rate of sinful neglect in not warning the people against them. Many take the "one father" to be Abraham, (Isa_51:2) and it is no objection to this view that he was also the progenitor of Ishmaelites, Edomites, etc., because there was at this time no question about marriage with these nations, but with Canaanites, Moabites, Egyptians, and so on. But the parallelism with the following clause shows that by the Father is meant Almighty God. (comp. Mal_1:6 Deu_32:6 Isa_63:16) Hath not one God created us? Hath not God taken us as his peculiar people, so as to call us his sons and his firstborn? (comp. Exo_4:22, 23 Deu_32:18 Isa_1:2 Jer_3:19) Of course, God created all men; but the Jews alone recognized him as Creator. The prophet"s proposition is that all Israelites were spiritual brothers and sisters, equally loved and chosen by God. From this he argues that in sinning against one another, they offended their common Father, and broke the family compact. Deal treacherously. Act faithlessly against one another. He does not yet say in what this treachery consists, but adds, by profaning the covenant of our fathers. He unites himself with them, because he suffered in their sin. They violated the covenant by which God chose them to be his peculiar people and placed himself in mysterious relation to them, on condition that they should keep themselves aloof from the evil nations around them, and avoid all connection with them and their practices. By intermarriages with the heathen, they profaned this covenant. This evil was one which Ezra had done his best to eradicate, using most stringent measures for its suppression; (Ezr 9 Ezr 10) Nehemiah, too, contended against those who had contracted these marriages, when he found on his return to Jerusalem many such transgressors; (Neh_13:23-28) and now the prophet lifts up his voice in the cause of purity and obedience. The warning against throe mixed unions is found in Exo_34:16 Deu 7:3Jo Deu_23:12, Deu_23:13.
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Vers. 10-16. The sin of conjugal unfaithfulness.
We here use the term "unfaithfulness" in its widest sense, extending far beyond the sin of unchastity. We note
I UNFAITHFULNESS TO GOD IS THE ROOT SIN OF ALL OTHER FORMS OF INFIDELITY. The sins denounced in the earlier verses of this book are quite sufficient to account for the criminality here exposed. Those who profane the "covenant" and the "holiness" of God in their hearts, and who do not seek "to give glory" to his Name (ver. 2), are easily betrayed into glaring acts of wrong against the nearest and dearest on earth. "The backslider in heart shall be filled with his own ways," and those ways are all downward ways. The first sin of Adam and Eve led to mutual recrimination. Disobedience towards the heavenly Father paves the way for discord in the earthly home. "Therefore take heed to your spirit" (ver. 16).
II THIS INFIDELITY SHOWED ITSELF IN TWO FORMS.
1. In unlawful marriages. (Ver. 11) This was a proof of unfaithfulness both to the national covenant (Ezr_9:10-12) and to God"s purpose in marriage. Similar unfaithfulness shows itself under the Christian covenant when such precepts as 1Co_7:39 ("only in the Lord") and 2Co_6:14-18 are set at naught. For a Christian to marry an enemy of Christ, "a covetous person who is an idolater," or a slave of "the god of this world," is a breach of the sanctity of marriage. It tends to degrade it into a carnal union; it certainly grossly neglects its object as a spiritual bond, in which all material considerations are to be held as subordinate to that "great mystery," typical of the Divine union of Christ and his Church. By such sin a professed disciple of Christ virtually cuts himself off from the commonwealth of the saints, that he may join the congregation of the aliens. He thus exposes himself to the judgment of God, who will be impartial in his treatment of all classes, of those that lead into sin and those that are led, (ver. 12; Job_12:16) and who will accept no "offering," no outward service, that might be regarded as a blind to the eyes of the Judge, presented by a man who sought thus to compound for his sin. (Pro_21:27 Pro_28:9 Isa_1:13-17 Amo_5:21-24)
2. In ill treatment of their lawful wives. This is the second form of unfaithfulness, and reminds us that "the way of sin is downhill, and one violation of the covenant is an inlet to another" (M. Henry). Unfaithfulness to the marriage vow in any form (unkindness or neglect as well as adultery or divorce) is here condemned by the following considerations.
(1) Religious services are marred by moral delinquencies (ver. 13). It is a terrible thing to send any soul weeping in its prayer to God, and really, if not intentionally, appealing to him for avengement. How much worse if that soul should be the partner of thy life! God seeks songs, not groans, in our services. He desires unity in the home, "that your prayers be not hindered". (1Pe_3:7) How, then, must he regard the prayers of a wife deprecating the unkindness of her husband!
(2) God was a witness of every word and vow at the marriage ceremony. Through the following years he notes how those promises are kept. He is still a witness of every act of wrong on the part of either husband or wife. And he is "the avenger of all such". (1Th_4:6)
(3) The tender relations cruelly violated. Aggravations of this sin are suggested by each of the terms, "companion," "wife of thy youth," "wife of thy covenant.
(4) God"s design in marriage (ver. 15). Polygamy is fatal to godly family life and training, and discord most perilous to it.
(5) The infectious influence of sins. If we deal treacherously against our "brother" (ver. 10), we tempt him to act in a similar way. This is applicable to the influence of an unfaithful husband on his wife, or on other husbands or on the unmarried whom by his example he may debauch and destroy.
The master and the scholar, the blind leader of the blind, all shall fall into the ditch.
(6) The Divine hatred which such sins incur (ver. 16). There are several things which we are expressly told in Scripture God hates. (cf. Deu_12:31 Deu_16:22 Pro_6:16-19 Pro_8:13 Jer_44:4) Among these things divorce and every other form of conjugal treachery and unfaithfulness are included. Men may make light of many of these sins, may patronize the criminals, and deride their censors. But see Luk_16:14, Luk_16:15, and the lesson it suggests. What God hates may we dread, and seek never to be unjust in the least, lest we be unjust also in much!
The brotherhood of men.
"Liberty, equality, fraternity," are Divine ideas, though men have sometimes striven to embody them in crude or even repulsive and brutal forms. Men are equals, inasmuch as they are all the creatures of the one God who created them. The revelation of that Creator as "the Father of spirits" constitutes those created spirits into a brotherhood. From this fraternal relation the claim to liberty and more than liberty follows.
I SOUND ETHICS MUST BE BASED ON A TRUE THEOLOGY. Our relations to men depend on our relation to God. Our treatment of them will vary with our conceptions of those relations. False views of God are fatal to consistent conduct towards our brethren. And though our ethics may be partially true, they will be practically powerless unless supported by "the knowledge of the truth which is according to godliness." Hence the practical impotence of heathen ethics, whether those of Socrates or of Confucius. We must recognize such truths as these: that we are creatures of the one God, "in whose hand our breath is, and whose are all our ways;" that we are pensioners on his bounty; that we are sinners dependent on his mercy; and that, nevertheless, we are children entitled to claim our place in his family. We shall then recognize that we are bound to treat all our fellow creatures as members of the same family, sharing with us in the same bounty and mercy of the Father of all, "who willeth that all men should be saved." Jesus Christ, in whom that will is revealed, is the bond of unity, for "the Head of every man is Christ.
II THERE IS A "COVENANT OF OUR FATHERS" MORE EXTENSIVE THAN THAT WHICH GOD MADE WITH THE JEWS. We can trace it back beyond Moses or Abraham to "our first father;" "for God hath made of one blood all nations of men;" "for we are also his offspring." The terms of this covenant are found in "the law written in our hearts." Hence moral law and Divine retribution are found beyond the limits of an inspired revelation. We see in the Bible illustrations of God"s judgments denounced on:
1. The sins of the Hebrews against their own brethren; e.g. the re-enslavement of the freedmen. (Jer 34)
2. The crimes of Hebrews towards strangers, though they were heathens; e.g. Saul"s massacre of the Gibeonites, (2Sa 21) Zedekiah"s perjury against Nebuchadnezzar. (2Ch_36:13)
3. The outrages of heathens upon their brother heathens, as when the King of Moab "burned the bones of the King of Edom into lime". (Amo_2:1)
III A SIN AGAINST A BROTHER IS A SIN AGAINST GOD, WHO MADE HIM A BROTHER. The warning of 1Co_8:12 is applicable beyond the limits of the Christian Church. It was a fearful prediction that "the brother shall betray the brother to death." Give to the term "brother" its Divine significance, and every act of treachery or unfaithfulness is seen to be odious to the Father of all Hence the claims of truth towards our "neighbour, for we are members one of another;" of "all good fidelity" on the part of servants towards masters, "that they may adorn the doctrine of God;" of standing to our word, though it may be to our own hurt, that we may stand in the holy place of the Lord; of loving our enemies, that we may be children of our Father who is in heaven.
IV THE FATHERHOOD OF GOD IS ONE GREAT MOTIVE FOR THE RIGHT TREATMENT OF HIS CHILDREN. Cruelty, tyranny, slavery, and every form of social wrong would then he banished from the family of God, the brotherhood of men. War would be as intolerable as fighting in the family circle. Punishment of offending brothers would only be inflicted under a grave sense of our responsibility towards their Father and ours. Practical benevolence would be inspired by God s love to us. (1Jn_3:17) And as Abraham interceded for the preservation of the heathen Sodomites, so should we, by prayers and labours, seek the salvation of the whole nature ("spirit end soul and body," 1Th_5:28) of those children of God who are still lost to the Father"s home.
Notice, in conclusion, how the fuller revelation of the Fatherhood of God in Jesus Christ, and our adoption in him, gives power and pathos to all the truths we have mentioned and the motives to brotherly kindness we have enforced. (1Jn_4:9-11) The knowledge of such a Father should inspire our hearts with the most tender compassion towards our brethren who know him not.
Unfaithfulness to God involves injury to our brethren.
This verse begins a new subject, and it might have headed a new chapter. Answering to the indifference shown in regard to Divine worship was an indifference in regard to moral and family relations. Loose worship and loose social morality usually go together. Let men become careless about God"s claims, and they will be found careless about marriage relations, and will lightly do wrong by the wives of their youth, in the mastery of their self-indulgence. Ezra and Nehemiah had to deal very sternly with the social evils arising from the ready divorce of Jewish wives for the sake of heathen wives. Malachi begins his expostulations on this matter by putting the people in mind that they owned one God and Father, in opposition to the idols of the heathen, and therefore should deal with one another as brethren. By the marriages with strangers they were dealing falsely and injuriously with their brethren and countrymen, by ill treating their daughters whom they had taken in marriage.
I BREAKING GOD"S COVENANT BREAKS IT FOE OTHERS. Illustrate by the case of the golden calf. Those who took no part in the sin had to take part in the penalty. It is the bitterness of all wrong doing that we can never keep its consequences to ourselves. "The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children"s teeth are set on edge.
II UNFAITHFULNESS TO GOD MAKES INJURY TO OUR BROTHER BY BEING A BAD EXAMPLE. Every man is bound to help his brother to be good. It is often shown that every man is bound to aid his brother in distress. It is not so often shown that every man has a claim on his brother, that he should help him to goodness. If a man does wrong, is unfaithful to God, he actually injures his brother by depriving him of his rights in his good example. Constantly we find wrong doing excused by examples of wrong doing. Sinners defraud their neighbours of their rights.
III UNFAITHFULNESS TO GOD MAY LEAD TO POSITIVE ACTS OF INJURY TO OUR BRETHREN. The man who is strong enough to oppose God is usually masterful enough to injure his fellow. He who does not regard God is not likely to regard man. The love of God carries the love of man; the revolt against God is sure to involve the loosening of humanities. R.T.
Vers. 10-12. "One Father.
"Have we not all one Father," etc..? "This section," says Keil, "does not stand in any close connection with the preceding one. It does not furnish an example of the stumbling upon the Law mentioned in ver. 8; nor of the violation of the covenant of the fathers (ver. 10); or of the marriage covenant (ver. 14), appended to the neutralizing of the covenant of Levi on the part of the priests (vers. 8 and 4). For there is no indication in vers. 10-16 that the priests gave any impulse through their bad teaching to the breaches of the Law which are here condemned; and the violation of the covenant of the fathers and of the marriage covenant forms no more a thought by which the whole is ruled, than the violation of the covenant with Levi, in the previous section. The prophet rather passes over with ver. 10 to a perfectly new subject, viz. the condemnation of marriages with heathen women." From this passage the three following truths are deducible.
I THAT THE GREAT GOD IS NOT ONLY THE CREATOR BUT THE COMMON FATHER OF MANKIND. "Have we not all one Father? hath not one God created us?" It is clear that the one Father does not mean either Adam the progenitor of the race, or Abraham the Father of the Israelitish nation, but Jehovah himself. He is the Creator of all things, but not the Father of all things. We could not regard him as the Father of the mountains, the valleys, the rivers, the oceans, the stars, though he is the Creator of all these. All things are created by him; but he is the Father of human souls. "We are all his offspring." This relationship implies two things.
1. A resemblance in nature. Children resemble their parents in nature and attributes. All intelligent moral beings bear a resemblance to the Infinite. They are spiritual in essence, moral in sentiment, free in action; they are formed in his image.
2. The existence of parental sympathy. While a human father has the ordinary sensibilities of a man, he has the peculiar affections of a parent, a tender interest in his offspring, which he feels for no other object in the world. So God is a Father. Whilst he has an interest in all the works of his hands, he has a special interest in a human soul.
3. The obligation of filial devotion. Filial love and loyalty raise and bind the souls of children to their parents. Such is the feeling that human spirits should cherish and develop in relation to God. Man is the only creature on this round earth that has the capacity, and consequently the obligation, to feel, entertain, or develop this filial affection. He then who is the Creator of all things in the world is the Father of man; all are his creatures, but men are his children. Sublime distinction this!
II THAT THE FACT OF THIS UNIQUE RELATIONSHIP IS A MIGHTY ARGUMENT WHY MAN SHOULD DO NO WRONG AGAINST EITHER HIS FELLOW CREATURE OR HIS GOD. "Why do we deal treacherously every man against his brother, by profaning the covenant of our fathers?" Two remarks are suggested concerning the wrong with which the Israelites are here charged.
1. It was a wrong committed against mankind. The special wrong referred to is the contraction of marriage with a heathen woman, and the putting away the Israelitish wife. This is the treachery and the "abomination" referred to. The repudiation of Jewish wives and the adoption of heathen.
2. This wrong against mankind was a wrong against God himself. "Judah hath profaned the holiness of the Lord which he loved, and hath married the daughter of a strange god." God"s law with the Jewish people was that they were to be a separate people, separate from all the other people of the earth, and they were to sustain their distinction by not intermarrying with other peoples. But now, at the period when the prophet wrote, they were doing so, and that to a great extent. (see Neh_13:23-29 Ezr_9:1-4) It is a universal truth that a wrong against man is a wrong against God; to sin against our fellow creatures is to sin against God himself; and this is an outrage against the relationship which we all sustain to him, not only as our common Creator, but our common Father. We are all children of the same Father, and therefore we should be fair in our dealings one With another. We should love one another, and cooperate with one another for our mutual advantage in all that is virtuous and noble. "Have we not all one Father?" Wherefore, then, should we cheat, hate, deceive, oppress, murder one another? How monstrous!
III THAT THE PERPETRATION OF WRONG EXPOSES THE DOER TO THE MOST LAMENTABLE RESULTS. "The Lord will cut off the man that doeth this, the master and the scholar, out of the tabernacles of Jacob, and him that offereth an offering unto the Lord of hosts. And this have ye done," etc. This, perhaps, means utter extermination. "The master and the scholar," some translate, "him that watcheth and him that answereth." In "master" the special reference is to the priest who ought to have taught the people piety, but who led them into evil; in "scholar," to the people themselves, who were the pupils of the priests. The idea is that both the priests and the people will suffer on account of the wrong they were committing. Great distress had come upon them already. "This have ye done" (see Ezr 10 Neh_13:10-13) Again, this is only a shadowy picture of the evils that ever flow from wrong. "Sin brought death into our world, and all our woe." It is sin that kindles and feeds the flames retribution.
CONCLUSION. Haste the time when men shall realize the fact that they are all children of one Father, so that all wrongs against one another shall cease, and the spirit of universal brotherhood prevail!
"A happy bit hame this auld world would be, If men when they"re here could make shift to agree, An" ilk said to his neighbour, in cottage an ha", "Come, gi"e me your hand we are brethren a".
"I ken na why ane wi" anither should fight, When to "glee would make a" body comie an right; When man meets wi" man, "tis the best way ava, To say, " Gi"e me sour hand we are brethren a
"My coat is a coarse ane an yours may be fine, And I maun drink water while you maun drink wine; But we both ha"e a leal heart, unspotted to shaw, "Sae gi"e me your hand we"re brethren a".
"Ye would scorn to do fausely by woman or man; I haud by the right, aye, as well as I can. We are ane in our joys, our affections an a", Come, gi"e me your hand we are brethren a". (R. Nicol.) 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 Have we not all one Father?
Mal_2:10-12
Have we not all one Father?
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One Father
I. God is not only the Creator, but the common Father of mankind. This relationship implies two things: a resemblance in nature; and the existence of parental sympathy; and also the obligation of filial devotion.
II. This relationship is an argument why man should do no wrong either against his fellow-creature or his God. The wrong with which the Israelites were charged was--
1. A wrong committed against mankind; and--
2. Against God Himself.
III. The perpetration of wrong exposes the doer to the most lamentable results. This is only a shadowy picture of the evils that ever flow from wrong. It is sin that kindles and feeds the flames of retribution. Then haste the time when men shall realise the fact that they are all children of one Father, so that all wrongs against one another shall cease, and the spirit of universal brotherhood prevail! (Homilist.)
God our Father
I once said to a young person, Well, Elizabeth, do you love God? And what do you think her answer was? Ah, Ive been trying, sir; but its hard, its hard. That was how she answered. Then I said to her, Im afraid you dont know who and what God is. Try and find that out, I continued, and then I think youll love Him and have no difficulty in doing so. And it was just as I said it would be. Elizabeth went home, and before she slept that night she made one of the grandest discoveries any one ever made. What do you think it was? Why, she discovered that there was One up in heaven who felt for her all a fathers love. She found out by reading her New Testament that God was her Father. (A. Scott.)
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 In his fourth section, upon his countrymens frequent divorce…
4. THE CRUELTY OF DIVORCE
Mal_2:10-17
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In his fourth section, upon his countrymens frequent divorce of their native wives in order to marry into the influential families of their half-heathen neighbors, "Malachi" makes another of those wide and spiritual utterances which so distinguish his prophecy and redeem his age from the charge of legalism that is so often brought against it. To him the Fatherhood of God is not merely a relation of power and authority, requiring reverence from the nation. It constitutes the members of the nation one close brotherhood, and against this divorce is a crime and unnatural cruelty. Jehovah makes the "wife of a mans youth his mate" for life "and his wife by covenant." He "hates divorce," and His altar is so wetted by the tears of the wronged women of Israel that the gifts upon it are no more acceptable in His sight. No higher word on marriage was spoken except by Christ Himself. It breathes the spirit of our Lords utterance: if we were sure of the text of Mal_2:15, we might almost say that it anticipated the letter. Certain verses, Mal_2:11-13 a, which disturb the argument by bringing in the marriages with heathen wives, are omitted in the following translation, and will be given separately.
"Hate we not all One Father? Hath not One God created us? Why then are we unfaithful to one another, profaning the covenant of our fathers? Ye cover with tears the altar of Jehovah, with weeping and with groaning, because respect is no longer had to the offering, and acceptable gifts are not taken from your hands. And ye say, Why? Because Jehovah has been witness between thee and the wife of thy youth, with whom thou hast broken faith, though she is thy mate and thy wife by covenant. And what is the one seeking? A Divine Seed. Take heed, then, to your spirit, and be not unfaithful to the wife of thy youth. For I hate divorce, saith Jehovah, God of Israel, and that a man cover his clothing with cruelty, saith Jehovah of Hosts. So take heed to your spirit, and deal not faithlessly."
The verses omitted in the above translation treat of the foreign marriages, which led to this frequent divorce by the Jews of their native wives. So far, of course, they are relevant to the subject of the passage. But they obviously disturb its argument, as already pointed out. They have nothing to do with the principle from which it starts that Jehovah is the Father of the whole of Israel. Remove them and the awkward clause in Mal_2:13 a, by which some editor has tried to connect them with the rest of the paragraph, and the latter runs smoothly. The motive of their later addition is apparent, if not justifiable. Here they are by themselves:-
"Judah was fruitless, and abomination was practiced in Israel and in Jerusalem, for Judah hath defiled the sanctuary of Jehovah, which was dear to Him, and hath married the daughter of a strange god. May Jehovah cut off from the man who doeth this witness and champion from the tents of Jacob, and offerer of sacrifices to Jehovah of Hosts."
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 Mal_2:10.] A fresh section, “the condemnation of marriages with…
CRITICAL NOTES.
Mal_2:10.] A fresh section, “the condemnation of marriages with heathen women (Mal_2:10-12), and of the frivolous dissolution of marriages with Israelitish women, which was the natural consequence of the former” (Mal_2:13-16) [Keil]. The same course as in previous rebukes adopted (cf. Neh_12:23-31 with this section). One] Common origin, which gave them a new relation to each other. Treacherous] A violation of duty to God was an offence against each other, on account of this common relationship. Covenant] (Exo_19:6; Exo_19:6; Exo_24:8; Deu_14:2.)
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Mal_2:11. Holiness] Profaned or desecrated by marriages expressly forbidden. Judah] i.e. the whole nation, commits this abomination in Israel] a holy nation!—and in Jerusalem] the capital of the nation.
Mal_2:12. Cut] Punish. Master and scholar] Lit. him that watcheth, and him that answereth. The watcher goes his rounds by night to keep guard, the other answers, i.e. responds to his cry (cf. Illus. end of ch.).
Mal_2:13. This] A second sin performed. Tears] By ill treatment their wives were driven to weep at the altar. Hence God will not accept the offering] nor bless the offerer.
Mal_2:14. Say] Why does he not accept? Witness] The people are not ashamed, and wickedly ask why? Jehovah declares himself (an avenging witness, some) of the marriage which took place (cf. Pro_2:17), which should have been sacred. The divorced wife tenderly called a wife and companion of joys and sorrows of youth, and a wife of the covenant for life made between them.
Mal_2:15.] Most difficult verse of all prophecy. Taken by many as recalling the institution of marriage, of Divine sanction from the beginning. Did Jehovah not make one flesh (Gen_1:27), why only one pair? Had he not the residue of the Spirit? His creative power was not exhausted; he might have created many women for one man. That he might seek to perpetuate a godly seed], a design counteracted by frequent divorce [Lange]. Others say, that the Jews defended their conduct by the precedent of Abraham, who took Hagar to the injury of Sarah, his lawful wife. To this the prophet replies: “No one (ever) did so in whom there was a residue of intelligence (discriminating between good and evil): and what did the one] (Abraham, to whom you appeal for support) do, seeking a goodly seed? His object (viz. not to gratify passion, but to obtain the seed promised by God) makes the case inapplicable to defend your position” [Hengs.]. Many explain it according to Mal_2:10. He made (us Israelites) one. Our isolation from other nations was not because there was no residue of the Spirit left for the world. Why, then, did he thus isolate us? One] (Heb. the one) people? That he might have a goodly seed, i.e. have a nation, the repository of his will, and a witness for him among idolatrous peoples.
Mal_2:16. Putting away] Divorce. Covereth] They wrap up or cover their sins as with a garment.
Mal_2:17.] This verse really belongs to the following chapter. A class of murmurers addressed (Jewish sceptics, or wicked heathens), who enjoyed prosperity, excused themselves (wherein?) declared, that God delighted in evil doers, and sneer, Where is the God of judgment?
UNLAWFUL MARRIAGES.—Mal_2:10-12
Reproof is now administered to the people, especially the priests, for flagrant violation of law in marrying foreigners, and divorcing their wives when married. This was—
I. A violation of God’s law. Marriage with the Canaanites and with all idolaters was forbidden (Exo_34:16; Deu_7:3; 1Ki_11:1-2). The high priest was to take a virgin of his own people (Lev_21:14-15); and the priests who married strange wives defiled “the covenant of the priesthood” (Neh_13:29). “Be not unequally yoked together with unbelievers.”
II. A desecration of the community. Israel was a holy people, but this was an “abomination committed in Israel.” If they allied themselves with those from whom God had set them apart, they broke the national league, and profaned the covenant of their fathers. Hence—
1. They polluted the temple. The very seat and centre of God’s presence. “In Jerusalem.”
2. They polluted the people. They fell from their lofty dignity, and tainted others by their influence. “Why do we treacherously every man against his brother?”
III. A condition of hopeless calamity. The imprecation or menace is severe.
1. Posterity will not escape the punishment. In whatever sense these words be taken, the master and the scholar, or (as marg.) him that waketh and him that answereth—the camp would be silent. The posterity of him that violated the marriage law would be cut off, and not one left in “the tabernacles of Jacob.”
2. Sacrifice will not atone for the sins. There will be none to offer a sacrifice for the sinner, or if there were, they could not shield from the penalty. “Insomuch that he regardeth not the offering any more.”
A COMMON FATHERHOOD.—Mal_2:10
God was the Father, the Creator of Israel in a special sense (Isa_63:16). But all men have a common relation to God, who is our common Father and Creator. God is looked upon as Judge and Ruler of men, but the Fatherhood of God is forgotten. Hence the evils which afflict society.
I. In the Fatherhood of God we have an argument for personal piety. As dependent creatures, we should acknowledge him. “Hath not one God created us?” We are not simply God’s creatures, but his offspring, children in paternal likeness (Act_17:28). Hence—
1. A motive to obedience. As children, we should seek to know and practise God’s will.
2. A protest against idolatry. Material, intellectual, and spiritual idolatry should be forsaken. Our filial relation should teach us the spirituality of the Godhead, and the folly of atheism. “Be ye, therefore, followers (imitators) of God, as dear children” (Eph_5:1).
II. In the Fatherhood of God we have a bond of human brotherhood. He “hath made of one blood all nations of men.” In the common origin we have the unity of the human race—a natural tie to cement them together in their migrations and settlements. But nations have broken asunder, set up divinities, and forgotten God’s purpose in organizing them. Science and philosophy, treaties and commerce, have failed to unite them again. Wars, selfishness, and lusts still prevail. Only when men are taught that a Father in heaven rules their interests, and settles their rights and wrongs, will they cease to hate. “O foolish people and unwise, is he not thy Father that hath bought thee?—hath he not made thee and established thee?”
III. In the Fatherhood of God we have a motive to philanthropy. In our creation we have a natural, in Christ a spiritual, relation to God; every offence is a violation of these relationships to God, and an injury to our fellow-men. Sin against the brethren is sin against Christ (1Co_8:12). “Why deal treacherously every man against his brother?” Social sins are treachery against the community, violations of faith and confidence. “Did not he that made me in the womb make him?—and did not one fashion us in the womb?” “Love one another.”
UNHOLY MARRIAGES.—Mal_2:11
The Jews commanded to keep themselves separated from nations around them—to maintain their position as custodians of revelations, and abiding witnesses of God’s existence. But they often disobeyed, and formed idolatrous connections. Thus, the holiness of Jehovah was profaned, and Judah became an abomination. Nehemiah and Ezra sought to remove the evil which Malachi condemns.
I. This evil may now be committed literally. Strange gods are worshipped in every community. Names and shapes of idols have changed, but in essential characters remain the same. Every woman not truly devoted to Jehovah is “a daughter of a strange god,” under the influence of the god of this world. Christian men, for the sake of sensual and worldly considerations, sometimes marry such. 1. They marry women who sacrifice their noblest feelings for wealth.
2. Women who have bound themselves upon the altar of fashion.
3. Women who sacrifice their holiest impulses for pleasure.
4. Women who are devoted to the triumphs of ambition. Christians should never violate their union with Jehovah to unite themselves with idolaters. This, under even the most plausible circumstances, is—
(1) to disobey a Divine command;
(2) to lose the Divine blesssing;
(3) to incur the Divine displeasure.
II. This evil may be committed spiritually. Union to God often represented in Scripture as marriage—the closest of bonds. God has right to our devotion, service, and love. From this celestial marriage spring all virtues and graces. But the worship of strange gods has been most prolific in pernicious customs, degrading vices, and dangerous errors. These evils abound, captivate, and allure, as heathen women did the Jews. Men marry the daughters of a strange god spiritually:
1. When they join themselves with popular customs which have emanated from the spirit of idolatry.
2. When they embrace false and erroneous systems of religion.
3. When they associate themselves freely with unholy religionists. God requires his people to separate themselves from all fascinating forms of evil, and to be wholly his. He has no agreement with idols, nor must his people with evils arising out of idolatry. All unholy unions are breaches of a marriage covenant—a voluntary preference of evil to God.
III. This evil, whether committed literally or spiritually, will produce disastrous results.
1. Literally. It results in—
(1) domestic unhappiness;
(2) a divided household;
(3) ill-trained children—probably generations of evildoers;
(4) neglect of true religion on the part of both. “If David marry Maacah,” says Adams, “their issue proves an Absalom. If Solomon love idolatrous women, here is enough to overthrow him, with all his wisdom; by joining his heart to theirs, he shall disjoin it from God. One religion matching with another not seldom breeds an atheist—one of no religion at all.”
2. Spiritually. It results in—
(1) blindness in spiritual things;
(2) loss of Divine favour;
(3) wandering in deceptive errors;
(4) loss of religious influence;
(5) being given up by God. “Ephraim is joined to idols; let him alone.” Learn to guard against uniting with anything which separates us from God. An evil association has often been a devil’s chain, binding the soul to everlasting wretchedness (The Study and The Pulpit).
UNLAWFUL DIVORCE.—Mal_2:13-16
“This have ye done again;” a second accusation is brought against them. To marry strange women, they divorced their lawful wives, drove them in tears to the sanctuary, and brought contempt upon their worship. Men add one sin to another, until the wrath of God is poured out upon them.
I. Divorce shamefully cruel. They afflicted their own wives so cruelly that they fled to the altar, and covered it “with weeping and loud cries.” Those who are wronged and insulted may obtain redress before God’s throne. He hears the cries of the helpless. The tears of the innocent rise above the incense and worship of their persecutors.
II. Divorce strangely aggravating. The offence was committed against constant warning, was most aggravating in its nature and results.
1. They broke the tenderest ties of humanity. “The wife of thy youth,” who plighted her troth to thee in the freshness of life. “Thy companion,” sharing thy joys and sorrows, hopes and interests, thy associate and help-meet in all the circumstances of life. Above all, “the wife of thy covenant,” given and taken with most solemn pledges, yet now cast away in scorn and lust! Even the heathen believed marriage to be a sacred act, and guarded it by solemn sanctions: what, then, must be the guilt of divorce under such circumstances!
2. They defied the witness of God.” The Lord hath been witness “to the solemn engagement between them. To him the appeal was made. To violate this covenant is to deal treacherously, and God will avenge the transgressors. “Which forsaketh the guide of her youth, and forgetteth the covenant of her God.”
III. Divoroe boldly defended. Some take Mal_2:15 as alluding to the example of Abraham, who sinned against Sarah the wife of his youth, by taking Hagar. This seemed to sanction their sin, and the prophet meets the objection or defence, “What did that one?” God promised Abraham seed, a child who should be the hope of the chosen people, and the blessing of the world. He mistakenly followed the counsel of his wife, instead of the counsel of God, and sought that seed by marrying the Egyptian. But you have not the promise of Abraham, nor are you actuated by the same motives. If you were pure in motive, you are sinful in act; for God hates divorce, and acts of cruelty which you commit. “Therefore, take heed to your spirit;” have no light thought of this offence; for you cannot excuse yourselves by the errors of great men.
IV. Divorce which frustrated the design of lawful marriage. Others take Mal_2:15 as referring to the first pair, between whom and between all others born after them, God willed that there should be one indivisible union. This law should not therefore be broken. But “wherefore one?” That he might see a godly seed. From lawful marriage, religious offspring may be secured by God’s blessing. Divorce and polygamy counteract the interests of piety, and have even been unfavourable to the education and godly training of children.
V. Divorce which ended in serious consequences. The unity of marriage faithfully kept is in harmony with God’s will, but violated is pernicious to society.
1. It is treachery to society. “Deal not treacherously” (Mal_2:16).
2. It is insulting to God. “The Lord God of Israel saith, that he hateth putting away.” God permitted Israel, on account of hardness of heart, to divorce (Mat_19:8; Mar_10:5). But the legislation of Moses was in advance of the common morality of the time, and taught that marriage was not “a mere natural tie and temporary alliance,” but a solemn covenant to be dissolved only in cases of adultery (1Co_7:15) and flagrant infidelity, and by a legal bill given into the hands of the offender (Deu_24:1).
3. It is detrimental to Christian worship. “Insomuch that he regardeth not the offering any more” (Mal_2:13). God rejects the gift when the heart of the giver is wrong. He does not “receive it with good will” at his hand. Family discords and family quarrels hinder worship, and prevent access to God. Let parents and children take heed, and dwell in peace, “that your prayers be not hindered.”
PRACTICAL INFIDELITY.—Mal_2:17
The prophet’s words are directed against the spirit of discontent and murmuring which prevailed among the people, who lost faith in all the promises of God, because the expected manifestation of the glory of the Lord for the good of his people did not take place at once, and in their despair called even the holiness and justice of God in question, and began to deny the coming of the Lord to judge the world [Keil].
I. They had perverted views of God’s character. Men, impatient under affliction, murmur. Because God prospers the wicked, and does not help them, they think that he approves of sin, and delights in the sinner. “Every one that doeth evil is good in the sight of the Lord, and he delighteth in them.”
II. They had perverted views of God’s providence. God had no concern for men at all, or, if he had, he was not just and impartial. “Where is the God of judgment?” Men carve out a providence of their own reason, as they would like things to be. They do not see Divine justice; sentence is not executed upon wicked men, therefore they say God will not punish. They see the prosperity of the wicked, and conclude that God delights in them. First, men quarrel with God’s dispensations, and then deny his providence. Thus are they proud under the rod, and tempted to atheism. When they cherish this evil disposition, and break out into blasphemous expressions, God is offended, and will make them feel that he is of purer eyes than to behold sin, and cannot endure to look upon it with pleasure (cf. Hab_1:13; Psa_5:4). “Ye have wearied the Lord with your words.”
HOMILETIC HINTS AND SUGGESTIONS
Mal_2:11. Scandalous sin in the Church. 1. Belies Christian profession.
2. Violates sacred obligation.
3. Profanes distinguished privileges.
Mal_2:12. Master and scholar. Unfit for their place, sent out of the school, and Divinely punished. “The Lord cuts off,” and sends them “out of the tabernacles of Jacob,” where he deals impartially with sin, and without respect of persons with men.
Mal_2:14-15. The sanctity of marriage.
1. Undertaken in solemn covenant. Both parties mutually bound to love and help each other. So sacred the obligation, that it is termed “the covenant of God” (Pro_1:7).
2. Witnessed by a Holy God. If undertaken in his fear, the knot is tied by his hand. “What, therefore, God hath joined together, let not man put asunder.”
“Speak it not lightly! Oh! beware, beware;
’Tis no vain promise, no unmeaning word;
Lo! men and angels list the faith ye awear,
And by the High and Holy One ‘tis heard.
O, then, kneel humbly at his altar now,
And pray for strength to keep the marriage vow. [Anon.]
Mal_2:16. Garment. Violence, like an outer garment, as in Psa_73:6.A garment hiding sin, and exposing to shame and punishment. The livery of the devil—opposed
(1) to the garment of the meek, by which the godly cover themselves (Eph_4:24; Col_3:10);
(2) to the white robes of the redeemed saints in heaven (Rev_7:14). “The figurative expression may be explained from the idea that the dress reflects the inward part of a man, and therefore a soiled garment is a symbol of uncleanness of heart” (cf. Zec_3:4; Isa_64:5; Rev_3:4) [Keil].
“The soul of this man is in his clothes” [Shaks.]
“The apparel oft proclaims the man” [Shaks.].
Mal_2:17. Wearying God. Spoken after the manner of men. God is said to be tired, fatigued—
1. With their formal worship.
2. With their blasphemous words; and
3. with the justification of themselves in sin. God is infinitely patient with our infirmities and prayers, but wearied with our sins and impenitent hearts. “Thou hast made me to serve (burdened, overcome by labour) with thy sins, thou hast wearied (disgusted) me with thine iniquities” (Isa_43:23-24).
ILLUSTRATIONS TO CHAPTER 2
Mal_2:10. Father. Man is thy brother, and thy father is God [Lamartine]. The universe is but one great city, full of beloved ones, Divine and human, by nature endeared to each other [Seneca].
Mal_2:12. Master. To a single teacher, the hope of an entire city is often entrusted [Scriver]. Scholar. The greatest scholars are not the wisest men [Regnier]. Men must be taught, as though you taught them not [Pope].
Mal_2:13-16. Marriages are styled matches, yet amongst those many that are married, how few there are that are matched! Husbands and wives are like locks and keys, that rather break than open, except the wards be answerable [W. Secker].
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.
C. I. Scofield 1917 · Public Domain Have we not all one
Have we not all one
Cf. Act 17:24-29. In both instances the reference is to creation, not the new birth.
The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Arno C. Gaebelein 1922 · Public Domain The Rebuke of the Social Conditions
The Rebuke of the Social Conditions
CHAPTER 2:10-17
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The priests were corrupt, and with their bad example the people were likewise corrupt. It is the prophet who speaks in verse 10. The One Father was Jehovah, with whom the nation was in covenant relation. They had one Father, and they were one as a nation. By profaning that covenant they dealt treacherously every man against his brother. The abomination in social life, by which the covenant was profaned, and the holiness of the Lord outraged, was the marriage with the daughters of the heathen. They had put away their own Israelitish wives in order to enter into these unholy alliances. The Jew acted faithlessly toward his brother, both when he contracted a marriage with a heathen woman, and when he put away his legitimate wife, and thereby desecrated the covenant of the fathers, i.e., the covenant that Jehovah made with their fathers when He chose them to be a separated people. Those who have done this will surely be cut off. Mal 2:13 describes the weeping and the tears of the abandoned Jewish wives; it is the same condition, only worse, which is recorded in Ezra and Nehemiah. All was an abomination unto the Lord. Over fifty years ago a writer called attention to the divorce evil in the United States. He wrote then:
The frequency of divorce in the United States, so that in one of the States divorce is allowed for “misconduct,” reveals the same state of things existing now, as was here condemned by Jehovah, and must bring with it the same evils, and the same punishment. What tongue can adequately tell, what heart conceive, the untold misery from this cause, especially to the deserted wives, and the children left without a mother’s care! How little is the indissoluble nature of the marriage relation regarded! and the fact, that the Lord was the witness of it, and will be a swift witness against those who violate it! The Saviour only allows of one cause of divorce, and regards divorce for any other as adultery.
Since then this evil has increased a hundredfold or more among professing Christians, so that it threatens to undermine the home and all family life. It is the sign of the rapid disintegration of our nation.
And yet rebuked for these social conditions and wicked deeds, they could ask another, “Wherefore?” They were so hardened that they could not see why they were to blame. The difficult fifteenth verse refers to the marriage relation, in which God makes of twain one. He made the woman for man, though He had the residue of the Spirit, the creative power by which He might have made many women for one man. And wherefore one? that is, one woman for the man--that He might seek a godly seed, to perpetuate those who are godly, which is counteracted by divorce, such as they had practiced. It seemed as if the remnant who feared Him were being influenced by these corrupt practices, hence the warning. “Therefore take heed to your spirit, and let none deal treacherously against the wife of his youth.”
Arno C. Gaebelein, The Annotated Bible (1913–1922) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain Against Divorces and Marriages With Heathen Wives
Against Divorces and Marriages With Heathen Wives
v. 10. Have we not all one Father? Hath not one God created us? These questions, with the statement they contain, the prophet places at the head of his discussion, to remind the Jews that they were still, in a peculiar sense, the Lord’s people and should keep themselves unspotted from the Gentiles. Why do we deal treacherously, faithlessly, every man against his brother, by profaning the covenant of our fathers? The action on the part of the people which the prophet found it necessary to censure was a violation of the relation sustained to Jehovah as a common Father and as the Author of the covenant which governed all their lives.
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v. 11. Judah hath dealt treacherously, with a calm disregard of the covenant faithfulness, and an abomination is committed In Israel, throughout the nation, and in Jerusalem, the capital, which should have led in the observance of the Law; for Judah hath profaned the holiness of the Lord which He loved, namely, the people as a body, whom the Lord had chosen as His holy people, and hath married the daughter of a strange god, by the fact that numerous members of the nation had entered into the marriage relationship with women addicted to idolatry, an act which was distinctly prohibited in the Law of God, Exo 34:11; Deu 7:1-4.
v. 12. The Lord will cut off the man that doeth this, since it was a profanation of the sacred position of the people, the master and the scholar, or "the watcher and the answerer,". out of the tabernacles of Jacob, and him that offereth an offering unto the Lord of hosts, so that there would be a complete extermination of all those who had transgressed.
v. 13. And this have ye done again, as the second transgression which the Lord found it necessary to rebuke, covering the altar of the Lord with tears, with weeping, and with crying out, namely, by causing their divorced wives to come to the Sanctuary and there register their lament over the injustice received, insomuch that He, the God of the covenant, regardeth not the offering any more or receiveth it with good will at your hand, He wanted nothing of their worship while the conditions were such. "Their divorced wives repair to the altar of Jehovah, there to pour out their hearts before Him, to complain of the cruel treatment accorded them, and to seek His help. " (Lange. )
v. 14. Yet ye say, apparently surprised that the Lord should repudiate their prayers, Wherefore? Because the Lord hath been witness between thee and the wife of thy youth, every true marriage being entered into with His sanction and the Lord therefore being the witness for the rights of the wife, against whom thou hast dealt treacherously, in breaking the promised faith, the troth which had been plighted; yet Is she thy companion, the partner of her husband’s joys and sorrows, and the wife of thy covenant, she with whom the husband had entered into the relation controlled by a mutual promise.
v. 15. And did not he make one? Yet had he the residue of the spirit, literally, "And not one acted so who still had a particle of reason," that is, this manner of acting was unknown among men of reason. Of course, the people might raise the objection, And wherefore one? What did Abraham do when he repudiated Hagar? But the prophet cuts off the objection short, That he might seek a godly seed. The object of Abraham in going in to Hagar was not to gratify the lust of the flesh, but he honestly thought that he might thus get the son whom God had promised him. Therefore, so the prophet concludes, take heed to your spirit, watching over themselves with the greatest care, and let none deal treacherously against the wife of his youth, namely, by lightly dismissing her.
v. 16. For the Lord, the God of Israel, saith that He hateth putting away, Cf Deu 24:1; for one covereth violence with his garment, or, "iniquity covers his garment,". saith the Lord of hosts, so that it would cling to him forever; therefore take heed to your spirit that ye deal not treacherously. The same thought is found in the New Testament, not only in various sayings of Jesus concerning the sanctity of the marriage covenant, but also in the words of Peter regarding the living together of a man with his wife according to reason. Cf 1Pe 3:7.
v. 17. Ye have wearied the Lord with your words, with their dissatisfied grumbling over recent events. Yet ye say, Wherein have we wearied Him? the same disobedient people again standing out in opposition to God, in resenting the rebuke of His prophet. When ye say, Every one that doeth evil is good in the sight of the Lord, and He delighteth in them, this being the statement of godless insolence in direct opposition to the rebuke of the prophet, or, Where is the God of judgment? The great mass of the people boldly declared that there was no foundation for the prophet’s threat, that the talk of the coming Judgment was unfounded. Cf 2Pe 3:4. Over against this question of doubt and unbelief the Lord places a very definite statement.
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 General Information:
General Information:
Here the prophet Malachi begins to speak to his fellow Israelites.
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Is there not one father for us all? Has not one God created us?
Malachi asks these questions in order to remind his fellow Israelites about what they already know. AT: "You know that we all have one father, that our God has created a nation out of us." or "You all know that God is the father of all us Israelites, because he is the one who made our nation." (See: Background Information and Rhetorical Question)
Has not one God created us?
This question is meant to express a statement. AT: "Certainly it is the same God who has created us." (See: Rhetorical Question)
created us
This probably refers to God forming the Hebrews into a nation.
Why are we faithless each man against his brother, profaning the covenant of our fathers?
Malachi asks this question in order to rebuke his fellow Israelites. This question may be expressed as a statement. AT: "We should certainly not mistreat our brothers and disrespect God's covenant by disobeying his commands, as you have been doing." (See: Rhetorical Question)
Judah has been faithless
Here "Judah" stands for the people in the region of Judah, and the fact that they have been faithless to Yahweh is spoken of as if they were one man named "Judah." AT: "The people of Judah have been faithless" (See: Metonymy)
A disgusting thing has been committed in Israel and in Jerusalem
This can be expressed in active form. AT: "People have done disgusting things in Israel and in Jerusalem" (See: Active or Passive)
For Judah has profaned the holy place of Yahweh
Here "Judah" refers again to the people of Israel. AT: "For the people of Judah have profaned the holy place of Yahweh" (See: Metonymy)
has married the daughter of a foreign god
The people of Judah are again referred to as if they were one man named "Judah." AT: "have married women from other nations, women who worship idols" (See: Metonymy)
May Yahweh cut off from the tents of Jacob the man who
Destroying something is often spoken of as it were cutting it off from something else. AT: "May Yahweh destroy anyone in the tents of Jacob who" or "May Yahweh kill anyone in the community of Israel who" (See: Metaphor)
the tents of Jacob
Here "tents of Jacob" stands for the community of Israel. (See: Metaphor)
Jacob
Here "Jacob" stands for all the Israelites, because Jacob was one of the patriarchs from whom the Israelites were descended. (See: Metonymy)
the one who is awake and the one who answers
This expression seems to mean "absolutely everyone." (See: Idiom)
translationWords
ancestor
God
profane
Judah
Israel
Jerusalem
holy place
Yahweh
Jacob
sacrifice
Yahweh of hosts
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 2:10-16 Malachi’s third message shows that the failure to…
2:10-16 Malachi’s third message shows that the failure to keep the covenant extended from the priests to the people as a whole. They did not keep covenant with the Lord or with their fellow countrymen when they married foreign women, and they broke their covenants with their wives when they divorced them. The prophet now speaks to his audience as to fellow citizens, with a striking change in style from adversarial indictment (2:8-9) to inclusive plea (2:10).
2:10 children of the same Father . . . created by the same God (or by one God): These divine titles underscore the Lord’s uniqueness as Creator and his exclusive role as Israel’s Father. One God echoes the Shema, Israel’s creed of monotheism (Deut 6:4-5). • betray: The central thesis of this third message is that divorce is a betrayal. • covenant of our ancestors: The prophet alludes to the covenant formed at Mount Sinai, reminding the people that the law of Moses stipulated responsibility both to God and to one another.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.