A covenant can be defined as "an agreement, bond, commitment, contract, or trust". The Lord made a covenant with Israel and He made a covenant with the church. He will never be unfaithful to either of these covenants. As the children of God, we should be enough like Him to honor our promises, but the prophet Malachi tells us that many of his people were covenant-breakers. We look at two areas in which the people were breaking covenants. Some of them were unfaithful to their spouses and were divorcing them in order to marry someone else. Others were unfaithful to the word of God by judging matters of the law unfairly.
Our section today begins with a series of questions. "Do we not all have one Father? Did not one God create us? Why do we profane the covenant of our ancestors by being unfaithful to one another?" (Malachi 2:10) The prophet asks, "We are all believers in God and part of the same family. Why do we hurt our brothers and sisters? Mistreating each other goes against everything we believe in. It blasphemes the name of our God when we behave unrighteously toward one another. If we do not follow God's word in our interactions with each other, then we start to look just like the pagan people in the nations around us." The Apostle John had something similar to say about how we, as the children of God, must treat each other, "Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother or sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen. And He has given us this command: Anyone who loves God must also love their brother or sister." (1 John 4:20-21)
When we think of "covenant" the first thing that comes to mind is probably the covenant God made with Abraham or the covenant Christ made with the church. Another form of "covenant" is marriage, and many of the men of Judah in Malachi's time had violated it. The Lord will first rebuke these men for marrying pagan women, which was against the law of God set forth in Exodus 34:16 and Deuteronomy 7:3-4. Then He will rebuke the men for divorcing their first wives in order to take pagan brides. "Judah has been unfaithful. A detestable thing has been committed in Israel and in Jerusalem: Judah has desecrated the sanctuary the Lord loves by marrying women who worship a foreign god. As for the man who does this, whoever he may be, may the Lord remove him from the tents of Jacob---even though he brings an offering to the Lord Almighty." (Malachi 2:11-12) Nehemiah, who lived at the same time as Malachi, returned to Judah after having been called back to the Persian king's court for what must have been several years. He was appalled to see the things that had taken place during his absence. We can find a detailed description of these things in Nehemiah 13, but one of these things is that men of Judah had begun to marry women from Ashdod, Ammon, and Moab. Like Samson who couldn't get enough of pagan Philistine women, and like King Solomon who married a thousand foreign wives and concubines, the men of Judah had begun to lust for the forbidden. It was bad enough that they chose brides who were bowing down to false idols, but some of the men divorced their first wives in order to do so, as we learn in our next section below.
"Another thing you do: You flood the Lord's altar with tears. You weep and wail because He no longer looks with favor on your offerings or accepts them with pleasure from your hands. You ask, 'Why?' It is because the Lord is the witness between you and the wife of your youth. You have been unfaithful to her, though she is your partner, the wife of your marriage covenant." (Malachi 2:13-14) These verses should be a comfort to anyone who has ever been betrayed by the infidelity of a spouse. The Lord God Almighty witnessed the vows this person made to you. He also witnessed this person breaking these vows. It may seem like the world doesn't care much anymore what anyone does, but God's laws are still God's laws. It's clear in verses 13 and 14 that God is taking the side of the betrayed spouse. He is taking the side of the wounded one and He is shutting His ears to the prayers of the one who did the wounding. When a person is living in unrepentant sin, the Lord will accept no prayer except the prayer of repentance. He will accept no sacrifice except "a broken and contrite heart". (Psalm 51:17) For an example of a sincere and broken-hearted prayer the Lord will hear, Psalm 51 is the perfect example. In it we find David repenting of his adultery and of the actions he took that led to the death of an innocent man. Repentance is more than simply saying "sorry". Repentance is saying, "No, I don't want this in my life. I refuse to keep going in the wrong direction."
In Malachi's era only the men could initiate a divorce, so this is why the judgment in our passage today falls only on the men. They were leaving their wives for other women, but in our times it could just as easily be women who are leaving their husbands for other men. The same principle applies: God is not pleased with the breaking of vows. He reminds the people that, as His children, they are supposed to look and behave like Him. "Has not one God made you? You belong to Him in body and spirit. And what does the one God seek? Godly offspring. So be on your guard, and do not be unfaithful to the wife of your youth. 'The man who hates and divorces his wife,' says the Lord, the God of Israel, 'does violence to the one he should protect,' says the Lord Almighty. So be on your guard, and do not be unfaithful." (Malachi 2:15-16) King Solomon, a man who broke God's law of Deuteronomy 17:17 by taking many wives (and pagan wives at that), teaches this lesson that he learned the hard way, "Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it." (Proverbs 4:23) Malachi agrees, saying, "Be on your guard! Temptations may come, but you have to be strong. Behave like the children of God. Guard your hearts so you won't be unfaithful to your spouses."
The people have also been unfaithful in judging matters of the law. We learned yesterday that the priests were judging with partiality. This too violates God's covenant. God does not judge unfairly and He does not expect His children to judge unfairly. Malachi points out, "You have wearied the Lord with your words. 'How have we wearied him?' you ask. By saying, 'All who do evil are good in the eyes of the Lord, and He is pleased with them,' or, 'Where is the God of justice?'" (Malachi 2:17) The same attitude is present during the days of the prophet Malachi as was present during the days of the prophet Isaiah, who said, "Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter. Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes and clever in their own sight." (Isaiah 5:20-21) Isaiah preached his message before the fall of Jerusalem and before the Babylonian captivity. Malachi is preaching his message after the return from captivity and after the rebuilding of the city, the temple, and the walls. We might expect things to have changed, but it appears they have not. Praise be to God that all is not lost! Praise be to God that this is not the end of the story! After the book of Malachi is finished, and after four hundred years pass in which no vision or prophecy is given, something happens that is able to change hearts in a way the law never could. Someone happens! Someone comes along who is able to make new creatures of us all. (2 Corinthians 5:17)
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