Bible Commentaries
Malachi 2

XXXII

THE BOOK OF MALACHI (CONTINUED) PART II

Malachi 2:10-4:6

We continue in this chapter the exposition of the prophecy of Malachi. In the first chapter we examined three of the prophet’s sermons directed against the people; the first one corrected their false and skeptical ideas regarding the love of God toward the nation, the second one attacked their attitude toward his majesty, or holiness, in the matter of their offering blemished sacrifices, and the third one was directed against the priests because of their external delinquencies, their perversion of the truth that they were given to teach, and their general wickedness.

The next evil which the prophet charged against them was the cruel evil of divorce (Malachi 2:10-16). This evil of divorce arose, as we have already seen, from the growing custom on the part of some of the people who wished to belong to the high and rich families, of marrying into families of mixed and foreign bloods. In order to do this they were compelled to put away the wives that they had already. This charge gives the prophet’s view regarding that evil.

The key words in this section are "dealing treacherously." He is addressing the people now, for they, as well as the priests, have indulged in this cruel and wicked custom. In this case he begins with a broad and fundamental principle of a common fatherhood. "Have we not all one father? hath not God created us?" He has in mind Israel as a descendant of Abraham the father of the Jewish nation, and God the common creator of all. "Why do we deal treacherously every man against his brother?" In other words, why do the Israelites sustain such a relation to one another? Why do they "deal treacherously one with another"? For in speaking of brothers here he included men and women, for it was the wrong against the women that he spoke of specifically. In doing this he says that they profane the covenant of their fathers, for a covenant was made between God and Israel at Sinai asserting this one thing, that all the people of Israel were God’s and there should be no dealing treacherously one with another. In dealing thus, they were breaking the fundamental law of the covenant between God and Israel.

In Malachi 2:11-12 he specifies the charges; he says that Judah hath dealt treacherously, and an abomination is committed in Israel, and in Jerusalem. Then he explains what that is: "For Judah hath profaned the holiness of Jehovah which he loveth and hath married the daughter of a foreign god." To marry the daughter of a foreign god meant to an Oriental, to marry a woman who belonged to another race and to another religious cult; in marrying into that other nation or religious cult, he was practically marrying a daughter of the foreign god, for every nation conceived itself as the offspring of its own particular god. They were thus marrying the daughter of the foreign deity.

As the result of this evil (Malachi 2:12), "Jehovah will cut off, to a man," that is, every man without an exception, "that doeth this, him that waketh and him that answereth," a proverbial expression, to include everyone. That was partly fulfilled in the time of Nehemiah. The divorce court was then set up, and nearly all the men that had married foreign wives were compelled to put them away, and those who would not, were excommunicated, and thus cut off from the congregation and life of Israel. In Malachi 2:13 he says, "And this again," or literally, "this a second time ye do." And, in order to make it very vivid, he draws a picture of the divorced wives, weeping and wailing because of the wrongs that have been done to them. He says (Malachi 2:13), "Ye cover the altar of Jehovah with tears, with weeping, and with sighing, insomuch that he regardeth not the offering any more, neither receiveth it with good will at your hand." The weeping wives and punctilious offerings and sacrifices would not to together.

And now to show the carelessness and grossness of the people, he represents them as saying, "Wherefore? Why is it that he hath not received them with good will?" as if they were innocent. Then the prophet answers, "Because Jehovah hath been witness between thee and the wife of thy youth." In marriage vows Jehovah was witness between the two. These vows were taken for life, and now they had dealt treacherously. The prophet recognized the wife as still the wife and companion, although thus divorced.

Malachi 2:15 represents some difficulties. There are many translations of it. The translation given here is, "And did he not make one, although he had a residue of the Spirit? And wherefore one? He sought a godly seed." Now the margin of the American Revised gives a different translation: "And no one hath done so who had a residue of the Spirit. Or what? Is there one that seeketh a godly seed?" which is almost unintelligible. The general meaning seems to be this: Did not God, when he first made man, make one man and one woman, although he had the residue of the spirit of life and might have made a thousand women for one man, if he had chosen to do so. He had all the power, yet he made one man and one woman. And why one? Because he sought a godly seed; because he sought a pure offspring. Therefore he made one man for one woman and one woman for one man, in order that the best results might thereby come.

It enunciates a great and fundamental principle, which is the same as that enunciated by our Lord Jesus Christ himself. When the Pharisees came and asked him the question about divorce, he said, "Moses, because of the hardness of your hearts, suffered you to put away your wives, but from the beginning it was not so." God made one man and one woman and put them together in Eden. That is also Paul’s teaching, that God intended that one man and one woman enter into a union for life.

Now an admonition arises out of that. "Therefore take heed to your spirit, and let none deal treacherously against the wife of his youth. For I hate putting away." The prophet closes with this admonition: "Therefore take heed to your spirit, that ye deal not treacherously."

In Malachi 2:17 he brings his charge without enunciating his general fundamental principles: "Ye have wearied Jehovah with your words." They returned the question to him. "Wherein have we wearied him?" And the prophet gives his answer, "In that ye say, Every one that doeth evil is good in the sight of Jehovah, and he delighteth in them." Or, "Where is the God of justice?" It is a very dangerous kind of skepticism; they are saying, "Jehovah delights in the wicked more than in the righteous. He is blessing the unrighteous more than the righteous. His pleasure is with the man who is of the world. Where is the God of justice?" The application is that God is not just in the administration of the affairs of this world; it is not according to the principles of righteousness. Many a man, in adversity, has asked the question, "Where is the God of justice?"

In Malachi 3:1-6, the prophet gives his answer to that question, and it is complete: "Men may think that the evil doer is God’s delight, and that God is not a God of justice, but the time will come, when they will see that he is a God of justice, for, "Behold, I send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me." Justice is coming, God is going to manifest himself, he is going to discriminate between the righteous and the wicked. He will come in a day of judgment; he will send a messenger before him, who shall prepare the way, that he may carry on his work of judgment and of righteousness in the world, and not only will the messenger come to prepare his way, but when he has prepared the way before him, then "the Lord, whom ye seek, will suddenly come to his temple.”

As in the days of Amos, they sought the day of Jehovah, now in the days of Malachi they look for the day of Jehovah. Then he raises the question, "Who can abide the day of his coming? . . . for he is like a refiner’s fire, and like fuller’s Soap; and he will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and he will purify the sons of Levi," their priests and leaders, and when he has done that, they shall offer unto Jehovah offerings in righteousness. Then when the priests are made pure and are refined, there will be a revival of religion in Israel. Then will the offerings of Judah and Jerusalem be pleasant to Jehovah.

The fulfilment of this we are told by Jesus, occurred when John the Baptist came preparing the way for him. He himself was the Lord; he was the messenger of the covenant; he came to refine and purify the people. His first public act was to cleanse the Temple, drive out the sellers of oxen and sheep, and the money changers, and every word he said, every sermon he preached, every truth he taught, every act he did, tended to refine and purify the world, and all his life was as a winnowing fan separating the chaff from the wheat, dividing mankind into two great classes.

"Ye are cursed with a curse; for ye rob me, even this whole nation." Here is a reference to the law of tithes, or the custom of giving one tenth, which appears first in the Bible in the days of Abraham, long before it was given by Moses on Mount Sinai. Really it is coincident with the religious practice and customs of the human race. It appeared in religious observances from the very beginning, long before Moses honored it by embodying it in the law received on Mount Sinai. As the law of the sabbath is a fundamental requirement in the physical and moral constitution of mankind, so the law of tithes is also a fundamental requirement of religion.

Now we come to a great text: "Bring ye the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house, and prove me now herewith, saith the Lord." People who are giving their tenth prove God, and those who faithfully give the tenth find that God blesses them for doing so. Spurgeon used that same text and applied it to the sinner: Prove me now, come and test my gospel and salvation. Find out for yourself if what I say is true. Prove me and see if I will not bring abundant blessings to you, if I will not open the windows of heaven and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it. "Windows of heaven" is an Oriental expression for great blessings from heaven, which of course refers to the source of all blessings.

Then he goes on to say, "I will rebuke the devourer," the locusts that had been eating up their crops, "for your sakes,’ that is, "I will bring to pass certain things in the administration of physical elements of this world, and will so take care of the order of nature that the devourers shall not destroy the fruits of your vineyards; neither shall your vine cast forth its fruit before the time. Then all nations shall call you happy, for ye shall be a delightsome land, saith Jehovah of hosts," and that has been literally fulfilled many a time as God’s people have met the conditions herein prescribed.

Malachi 3:13-4:3. In Malachi 3:13 we have set forth another dangerous phase of their skepticism. The charge is this: "Your words have been stout against me, saith Jehovah." Again the people say, "Wherein have we spoken against thee? What have we said? Ye have said it is vain to serve God. What profit is it that we have kept his charge and walked mournfully before Jehovah of hosts? What good is it to serve God? It doesn’t pay; there is no profit in it." That is a different phase of the problem from what we find in the book of Job. Satan said, "Job is a good man because he finds that it pays to be good." Then God brought Job through that suffering and trouble, in order to prove that a man might serve him for his own sake and not for the profit of this life. Now, because these people received no profit, they therefore said, "It is no use; if God is not going to make us rich, we will not serve him; we don’t make any money by it." That is the modern commercial idea which underlies this skepticism.

And now they begin to say some rather strange things, depicting the anomalies that are to be found in the religious life: "Now we call the proud happy." When they saw these proud and yet happy people, they said, "The happy ones are they that work wickedness; they that do unrighteousness, they are the ones that eacape." Many people now envy the rich and think that the wicked are the ones that are being built up; that the people that tempt God escape, whereas they are loaded down with troubles and difficulties. It is the old problem discussed in the book of Job and in Psalm 73. In answer to this complaint, the prophet says, "There is going to be a separation between you and the others when the time comes for the great judgment." When that day comes, they that fear Jehovah, that speak one with another are heard: "And Jehovah hearkened, and heard, and a book of remembrance was written before him, for them that feared Jehovah, and thought upon his name."

The picture is taken perhaps, from a custom observed by the Persian Empire with great scrupulousness. Whenever a man did a deed or conferred a favor upon the empire worthy of remembrance, the Persian emperor always had that fact recorded in a book kept for that purpose. Mordecai, when he saved the life of the king, had his name and deed written in the book, officially recorded) and afterward he received his reward. Every man who did something worthy of reward had his name recorded in that book. The Persian dominion was over Israel at that time, and this custom was seized upon by the prophet Malachi, and made use of by way of an illustration. Jehovah is going to have a book of remembrance, and in that is recorded the names of all those that remember him and speak to one another. The time is coming when he is going to reward them.

This thought we find wrought out more in detail in the book of Revelation, where the Book of Life is mentioned more than once. (See author’s sermon on "The Library of Heaven"). "And they shall be mine in that day," when this judgment comes, when the separation takes place, they shall be "mine own possession," my peculiar possession, my own dear ones not my jewels), "in the day that I do this thing; when I bring this judgment and create this separation. I will spare them, as a man spareth his own son that serveth him." They will be spared as a man spares his own beloved boy. When that time comes they shall also have moral discernment and shall be able to discern distinctly between the righteous and the wicked, between him that serveth God and him that serveth him not.

Now we have one of the finest descriptions of the judgment day, of the coming of Jehovah in Malachi 4:1-3: "For, behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be a stubble; and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith Jehovah of hosts, and shall leave them neither root nor branch. But unto you that fear his name, ye righteous ones, you true Israelites, you that speak often one with another, you that are yet faithful, for you shall see the Sun of Righteousness arise with healing in his wings." As the great sun suddenly springs up above the Plains of Moab, spread his rays of light over all the country, and flashes them over Judah and Jerusalem, giving life and light, so the Sun of Righteousness, the messenger of the covenant shall come and shall send his rays of divine righteousness which shall burn up the wicked and bring its blessings to his own. "Ye shall go forth, and gambol as calves of the stall," i.e., be happy and prosperous and blessed. "And ye shall tread down the wicked; for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet in the day that I do this thing, saith Jehovah of hosts." This passage is paralleled in Matthew 3:11-12.

In Malachi 4:4-6 we have God’s last great effort to have the people do right and to save them; he promises to send his greatest and best prophet in order that he might, if possible, bring all back to himself. In the meantime, "Remember ye the law of Moses my servant, which I commanded unto him in Horeb." Keep my statutes and ordinances, observe those carefully and I will send Elijah the prophet before that great and terrible day of Jehovah, and Elijah shall turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers. If that is not done, I will come and smite the earth with a curse. How was it fulfilled? We know that Elijah came, not the real Elijah, the former prophet, the most powerful personality of all the prophets, but John the Baptist with the spirit and power of Elijah, the most powerful personality of all those centuries, except Jesus Christ. We know the story of how he came, how he preached and how there was a great turning of hearts and when Jesus came a great separation, refining and purifying process was begun and now goes on through the centuries, and Jesus Christ will finally separate the evil from the good forever.

QUESTIONS

1. What charges against the people in Malachi 2:10-16, how introduced, and what the judgments denounced?

2. What was his charge in Malachi 2:17, what was their reply, and what was the point of their question?

3. What was the annunciation of Malachi 3:1 and what was the fulfilment?

4. What was the process of the Messiah’s administration as described in Malachi 3:2-6 and what attribute of God is here declared to be the basis of his mercy to Israel?

5. What appeal to the nation in Malachi 3:7, what charge following this appeal and what great lessons of God’s providence in this passage?

6. What was the charge in Malachi 3:13 and how does the prophet here show their skepticism?

7. What optimistic note in Malachi 3:16 and what picture here presented?

8. What is the "Book of Remembrance" here spoken of and what other references to such books in the Scriptures?

9. What was the blessed relation between God and his people pictured in Malachi 3:17 and what was the result?

10. What day is here spoken of and what great revelation shall be made on that day?

11. What was the picture presented in Malachi 4:1-3 and what is the correspondent New Testament teaching?

12. What of the beauty and force of "Sun of Righteousness," etc., what is meant by treading down the wicked?

13. In closing this book what reminder is given and what special fitness of it here?

14. What promise in this connection and what is the New Testament proof of its fulfilment?

15. What was to be the great work of this Elijah and what was the significance of it?