Turned From the Way I. Questions A. How had the priests and the Jewish people turned from the way and the covenant? B. What consequences did the Jewish people experience because they had turned from the way? C. Why is covenant loyalty so important? II. Base Text: Malachi 2:1-16 III. Context A. The "burden" or oracle of YHWH through "Malachi" (Malachi 1:1) 1. Malachi: Hebrew for "my messenger"; likely a description/title 2. Proclaimed God's message to the people in Jerusalem ca. 420 BCE; last among the prophets of the Hebrew Bible B. God displayed His love toward Israel inasmuch as He chose Israel and rejected Esau; Edomites would suffer from God's hostility (Malachi 1:2-5) C. Israel has dishonored and disrespected God by not offering their best animals; God would be glorified and magnified among the nations (Malachi 1:6-14) D. Malachi would continue to upbraid the priests and the men of Israel (Malachi 2:1-16) IV. Interpretation A. Turned From the Way (Malachi 2:1-9) 1. "Now, you priests, this commandment is for you. If you do not listen and take seriously the need to honor my name," says YHWH of Heaven's Armies, "I will send judgment on you and turn your blessings into curses - indeed, I have already done so because you are not taking it to heart. I am about to discipline your children and will spread offal on your faces, the very offal produced at your festivals, and you will be carried away along with it" (Malachi 2:1-3) a. Malachi continued the denunciation of the priests begun in Malachi 1:6-14 b. The blessings which God would give to the descendants of Levi would be turned to curses since they dishonor God by improper sacrifice c. "Discipline your children": some textual confusion; the versions understood it as referring to taking away one's arm (zeroa' as opposed to zera', seed), but no such curse language is found otherwise; best to read with the Hebrew with the expectation that the consequences of the curse will come upon the descendants of these priests, akin to Deuteronomy 28:18, 32, 41, 53, 55, 57 d. "Offal": Hebrew peresh, the entrails removed in preparing a sacrifice; a visceral, gripping image of devastation and death 2. Then you will know that I sent this commandment to you so that my covenant may continue to be with Levi," says YHWH of Heaven's Armies. "My covenant with him was designed to bring life and peace. I gave its statutes to him to fill him with awe, and he indeed revered me and stood in awe before me. He taught what was true; sinful words were not found on his lips. He walked with me in peace and integrity, and he turned many people away from sin (Malachi 2:4-6) a. Malachi framed the curses which the priests would suffer as a demonstration of God's covenant loyalty to Levi b. The priesthood given to provide life and peace for Levi, and thus for Israel; the covenant here God's covenant with Aaron regarding the priesthood more than the covenant with all Israel (cf. Exodus 6:16-20, Numbers 25:10-13, Jeremiah 33:21-22) c. Idealized portrait of Levi, again less about Levi the person, but the ideal for the priest: teaching the truth, avoiding sin, walking with God, turning people from sin d. Part of said covenant was the curses for disobedience; thus God continues to display covenant loyalty even in calamity 3. "For the lips of a priest should preserve knowledge of sacred things, and people should seek instruction from him because he is the messenger of YHWH of Heaven's Armies. You, however, have turned from the way. You have caused many to violate the law; you have corrupted the covenant with Levi," says YHWH of Heaven's Armies. "Therefore, I have caused you to be ignored and belittled before all people to the extent to which you are not following after me and are showing partiality in your instruction" (Malachi 2:7-9) a. Priests should transmit the knowledge of the sacred and the people should look to the priest as the "Malachi" (messenger is Hebrew mal'ak) of God; yet the priests have proven unfaithful b. They have induced many to violate torah; in so doing they have corrupted the covenant God made with the descendants of Levi c. Thus the priests are disgraced in the sight of the people B. Jewish Disloyalty (Malachi 2:10-12) 1. Do we not all have one father? Did not one God create us? Why do we betray one another, in this way making light of the covenant of our ancestors? Judah has become disloyal, and unspeakable sins have been committed in Israel and Jerusalem. For Judah has profaned the holy things that YHWH loves and has turned to a foreign god! May YHWH cut off from the community of Jacob every last person who does this, as well as the person who presents improper offerings to YHWH of Heaven's Armies! (Malachi 2:10-12) 2. Malachi 2:10 as a question by Israel; in context, not an affirmation of the universal fatherhood of God, but specifically about Israel 3. The people wonder why there is such betrayal and dishonoring of covenant among them 4. "Turned to a foreign god," in Hebrew, "has married the daughter of a foreign god"; idolatry often spoken of in marital/sexual imagery (cf. Ezekiel 16:1-63, Hosea 1:1-3:5); the illustration will prove important in terms of Malachi 2:13-16 5. Thus Malachi directly connects laments about betrayal among the covenant community to how members of the covenant community have betrayed and proven disloyal to the covenant with their God: some have turned to foreign gods while others have been making inappropriate offerings, and all such people will be cut off from Israel C. Covenant Faithlessness in Marriage (Malachi 2:13-16) 1. You also do this: You cover the altar of YHWH with tears as you weep and groan, because he no longer pays any attention to the offering nor accepts it favorably from you. Yet you ask, "Why?" YHWH is testifying against you on behalf of the wife you married when you were young, to whom you have become unfaithful even though she is your companion and wife by law. No one who has even a small portion of the Spirit in him does this. What did our ancestor do when seeking a child from God? Be attentive, then, to your own spirit, for one should not be disloyal to the wife he took in his youth. "I hate divorce," says YHWH God of Israel, "and the one who is guilty of violence," says YHWH of Heaven's Armies. "Pay attention to your conscience, and do not be unfaithful" (Malachi 2:13-16) 2. The Israelites weep and mourn because God does not regard their offerings or prayers and Israel wonders why 3. Malachi upbraids the men of Judah for proving faithless to the wives they married in their youth: ostensibly they are divorcing their wives at some point and marrying others 4. "By law": Hebrew "covenant," testifying that marriage is indeed a covenant and presuming some kind of sharing of vows 5. "No one who has even a small portion of the Spirit in him does this": Hebrew, "and not one has done, and a remnant of the spirit to him"; what to make of it? 6. ASV considers Malachi 2:1a as "and did he not make one, although he had the residue of the Spirit? And wherefore one? He sought a godly seed;" ESV, "Did he not make them one, with a portion of the Spirit in their union? And what was the one God seeking? Godly offspring;" NRSV, "Did not one God make her? Both flesh and spirit are his. And what does the one God desire? Godly offspring"; underscoring the textual confusion 7. The textual options for Malachi 2:15-16 are to understand "the one" to most likely refer to Abraham and expecting Israel to think about what Abraham and Sarah did with Hagar compared to God's purposes made evident in the birth of Isaac, thus disassociating from the statement about the Spirit (so NET, possibly ASV; cf. Genesis 16:1-12, 21:1-21) or to understand Malachi as making a kind of gnomic statement regarding what God wants out of marriage, with ESV and NRSV understanding "the one" to be God, and incorporating the statement about the Spirit 8. The idea of any Israelite having a portion of the Spirit might be seen as problematic in light of the hope of Joel 2:28-32, but does better comport to the literal Hebrew; it would be hard to argue Malachi would consider Abraham as having but a residue of the Spirit when the Genesis author reckoned him as a prophet (cf. Genesis 20:7) 9. Malachi 2:16 has some textual challenges; a possible reading would suggest "he who hates his wife and divorces her is guilty of violence"; such requires emending the text in one way, while the above reading suggests the first person pronoun has dropped from the text and is more likely 10. From what we can gain from Torah and its Second Temple Jewish expositors, along with some archaeological evidence, divorce was allowed for a multitude of reasons, with the expectation that a woman would be given the certificate of divorce; both parties would be able to marry others, although the woman would be at a significant disadvantage, especially if she is older and has already borne many children (cf. Deuteronomy 24:1-4) 11. We should note well that Malachi does not condemn them for having broken the law or their covenant with God; instead, he foreshadows Jesus' critique of Matthew 19:4-8, etc., that divorce is not according to God's purpose, the concession to divorce was not God's goal, and God commends covenant loyalty to one's wife 12. God established His hatred for divorce and violence D. Thus Malachi upbraided the Jewish people in their turning from the way and practicing disloyalty in covenant V. Application A. Covenant Disloyalty and Its Consequences 1. The consistent theme of Malachi 2:1-16 involves covenant disloyalty: the priests have been disloyal to God's covenant with Levi through Aaron, for they are not appropriately teaching and practicing according to Torah; some have committed idolatry and prove disloyal to God; men have divorced their wives and proven disloyal to the covenant made with them 2. Malachi directly connected the people's present dismay and unfavorable circumstances to this covenant disloyalty 3. Furthermore, such consequences are not evidence of God's faithlessness, but in fact His covenant loyalty: they are suffering the curses of the covenant 4. Similar warnings are given to Christians (cf. James 3:1, 1 Peter 3:7); sometimes we suffer very present consequences if we prove disloyal to our covenant with our spouse or with God 5. Even if we do not suffer temporal consequences, covenant disloyalty will lead to our eternal alienation from God in condemnation (cf. Hebrews 10:26-31)! 6. Malachi 2:1-16 exemplifies how important covenants are to God, both covenants between God and man and the covenants people make with one another, especially that of marriage; we should not trifle with them or take them lightly B. Turning From the Way 1. Malachi 2:1-9 continued the condemnation of the priests from Malachi 1:6-14, and particularly excoriated the priests for not teaching the Torah appropriately and not honoring it through appropriate sacrifice 2. They should have been seen as God's messengers, teaching and practicing faithfully; yet they failed, and Malachi was given the burden instead 3. All in Christ are reckoned as priests (cf. 1 Peter 2:8-9, Revelation 1:6), and Christians are also expected to faithfully teach what has been handed down to them (2 Timothy 2:2, 15) 4. Do people learn of Jesus as the Christ on the basis of what we teach and do? Are we faithfully embodying Him, or are we failing in that duty? 5. We have no reason to expect God will raise up another "Malachi" to receive the burden instead; we must prove faithful to God and His purposes in how we teach and live! C. Betrayal 1. Israel wondered why there was so much betrayal among fellow covenant people; Malachi pointed to the covenant faithlessness of many in Malachi 2:10-12 2. Such exemplifies an important principle, seen throughout Malachi 2:1-16 and also in the New Testament: covenant faithlessness to some will lead to covenant faithlessness toward all 3. Thus if one is not faithful in what he or she does with fellow human beings, and does not love his or her brother, how can they love God or show Him covenant faithfulness when they have not seen Him (e.g. 1 John 4:7-21)? 4. Likewise, if one does not honor his or her covenant with God in Christ, why would we expect him or her to prove faithful in dealings among people? 5. How seriously do we take our covenant obligations and responsibilities? D. God Hates Divorce 1. Malachi 2:13-16 in general, and specifically Malachi 2:16, represent powerful exhortation about the importance of covenant loyalty in marriage 2. Jesus of Nazareth aligned with Malachi's exhortation and went further in Matthew 19:4-9: divorcing and marrying another is adultery, unless the divorce is for sexually deviant behavior 3. Such a doctrine strikes many today as excessively strict and demanding, and yet is Malachi wrong? Why would God not hate divorce? 4. Is divorce not an ugly and terrible thing for all involved? While some are fleeing abusive contexts, many others have simply elevated themselves and what they think they want or need above loyalty to the one to whom they committed 5. How many have been impoverished because of a divorce? 6. Is divorce ever ideal? Absolutely not! 7. Covenant loyalty and honor should be prized by all, and such should be displayed in marriage E. God's covenant loyalty has always been contrasted with man's covenant faithlessness; may we uphold covenant loyalty toward God in Christ, prove faithful in our covenants in life, and obtain the resurrection of life! F. Invitation Scripture, Meditation, and Application 1: "You, however, have turned from the way. You have caused many to violate the law; you have corrupted the covenant with Levi," says YHWH of Heaven's Armies (Malachi 2:8). God made a covenant with the descendants of Levi. They received blessings and were to teach God's instruction and to provide appropriate sacrifices. The priests of Malachi's day proved unfaithful to that covenant: they did not provide proper instruction, and they made inappropriate offerings. They had turned from God's way, and God would bring covenant curses upon them. We do well to make sure we do not follow in their ways but prove faithful to our covenants with God and one another. Why is it important for us to honor the covenants we make? 2: Do we not all have one father? Did not one God create us? Why do we betray one another, in this way making light of the covenant of our ancestors? (Malachi 2:10) The Israelites of Malachi's day lamented how they betrayed one another. Malachi wondered how they would expect loyalty from one another when so many proved unfaithful to God. So it is to this day: if we do not honor our covenant with God, why should we expect people to prove faithful to one another? If people cannot be faithful to one another, how can they honor their covenant with God? How can we embody covenant faithfulness in a world full of betrayal? 3: "You also do this: You cover the altar of YHWH with tears as you weep and groan, because he no longer pays any attention to the offering nor accepts it favorably from you" (Malachi 2:13). Why was God not paying attention to the offerings of His people? Malachi indicted them for their faithlessness to the covenants they made with their wives in their youth. They took advantage of the opportunity to divorce them, leaving their wives at a great disadvantage. God was not pleased with or honored by their lack of commitment to their spouses. If we are not faithful to the spouse of our youth, we should also not expect for God to hear us or to pay attention to what we would offer. Why would God be so concerned about how the Israelites treated their wives? 4: "I hate divorce," says YHWH God of Israel, "and the one who is guilty of violence," says YHWH of Heaven's Armies (Malachi 2:16). God hates divorce and violence; both have become commonplace and endemic in our society. Divorce is never a good thing; it always comes with pain and trauma, even in those circumstances under which divorce is allowed. Far too many divorces come as a result of one or both spouses elevating their view of self and their desires over the commitment they made. We do well to do all we can to display covenant loyalty and honor to our spouses. Should divorce ever be celebrated? How can we hate divorce but show appropriate love, grace, and mercy to those who have endured divorce?