Malachi Chapter 2 

Memory verses for this week:   Lev 11:45  For I am the LORD that bringeth you up out of the land of Egypt, to be your God: ye shall therefore be holy, for I am holy. 

Introduction:  We continue our study of Malachi this week.  Last week in Chapter 1, we saw God showing displeasure to the priests as they had profaned God’s name and were not serving God out of love, but rather for the love of money.  We continue our study this week as we see Malachi speaking to the priests.  Remember, that according to scripture today, you and I that know Christ are priests.  Keep that in mind in regards to the teachings. 

1 Pet 2:9  But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should show forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light: 

I.  The Message to the Priests

Mal 2:1  And now, O ye priests, this commandment is for you.

Mal 2:2  If ye will not hear, and if ye will not lay it to heart, to give glory unto my name, saith the LORD of hosts, I will even send a curse upon you, and I will curse your blessings: yea, I have cursed them already, because ye do not lay it to heart.

Verse 1 directs this message to the priests of God.  There is a message for every child of God in this lesson.  We notice there are two things in verse 2 that are very important in this verse.  

1.  It is important to hear… “If ye will not hear”

2.  It is important to lay to heart what God has said…  “If ye will not lay it to heart.   If we truly lay something to heart, we will do what the message says.

James 1:22  But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.

James 1:23  For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass:

James 1:24  For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was.

James 1:25  But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.

If they failed to hear and lay to heart the message of God, he would curse their blessings.  He tells them that he has already begun to curse them.

Mal 2:3  Behold, I will corrupt your seed, and spread dung upon your faces, even the dung of your solemn feasts; and one shall take you away with it.

The curse if found in this verse… Their seed should be rejected, and thus the family of Levi set aside from their appointed place of privilege.  From the tribe of Levi came all the priests of Israel.

Mal 2:4  And ye shall know that I have sent this commandment unto you, that my covenant might be with Levi, saith the LORD of hosts.

Mal 2:5  My covenant was with him of life and peace; and I gave them to him for the fear wherewith he feared me, and was afraid before my name.

Mal 2:6  The law of truth was in his mouth, and iniquity was not found in his lips: he walked with me in peace and equity, and did turn many away from iniquity.

There are several things mentioned in these verses concerning the priest.

1.  God covenant is with HIM… He serves a covenant making God.

2.  In verse 5, the covenant was a covenant of life and peace.

3.  This covenant was given to Levi because he feared the Lord.

4.  The Priest has the law of truth in his mouth.

John 8:32  And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.

The truth is what sets us free.

5.  He has the presence of God… “He walked with me.”

To walk with God we need to agree with God.

 Amos 3:3  Can two walk together, except they be agreed?

When we understand this, we have the secret of all spiritual power.  We

Agree with God and He is with us always.

Mat 28:20  Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.

The church received power to be witnesses into all the world.

Acts 1:8  But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.

John 15:5  I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.

6. He was successful in turning many away from iniquity.   Without God’s help, we   can not be truly successful.

Mal 2:7  For the priest's lips should keep knowledge, and they should seek the law at his mouth: for he is the messenger of the LORD of hosts.

Mal 2:8  But ye are departed out of the way; ye have caused many to stumble at the law; ye have corrupted the covenant of Levi, saith the LORD of hosts.

Mal 2:9  Therefore have I also made you contemptible and base before all the people, according as ye have not kept my ways, but have been partial in the law.

The priests were representatives of divine truth. As a representative of the truth, a prerequisite is that we much know the truth.  To do so, we must study the word of God.

2 Tim 3:15  And that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.

Others were to seek the law at his mouth.  He was to be the messenger of the Lord.  

Verses 8 and 9 point out  that the priests were guilty of departing out of the way, causing many to stumble at the law, and to having corrupted the covenant of Levi.   Because they had done these things, God would make them contemptible and base before all the people.

II.  The Sin Against Brothers

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?

This verse is used to teach the so-called Fatherhood of God and the Brotherhood of Man.   Note they asked if the did not all have one father.   They spoke of Abraham as their father.

John 8:39  They answered and said unto him, Abraham is our father. Jesus saith unto them, If ye were Abraham's children, ye would do the works of Abraham.

God is the creator of all men, but not the father of all.

John 8:42  Jesus said unto them, If God were your Father, ye would love me: for I proceeded forth and came from God; neither came I of myself, but he sent me.

John 8:43  Why do ye not understand my speech? even because ye cannot hear my word.

John 8:44  Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.

Mal 2:11  Judah hath dealt treacherously, and an abomination is committed in Israel and in Jerusalem; for Judah hath profaned the holiness of the LORD which he loved, and hath married the daughter of a strange god.

Notice how they had dealt treacherously against their brother.  By profaning the covenant of our fathers.  The covenant was made with the Jews.  Ephesians 2:12 proves that not all men are under consideration in this verse.  The Gentiles were strangers to the covenants.

Eph 2:12  That at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world:

Eph 2:13  But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ.

J. Vernon McGee has this to say:

“Have we not all one father?” There are some expositors who say that the “father” refers to Abraham since both Israel and Judah are mentioned in the verse that follows. However, I think that the next question makes it clear that Malachi is speaking about God as the Father: “Hath not one God created us?”

He also makes it clear in what way God is the Father. He is the Father by creation. But man lost that relationship. Adam was called the son of God, but after the Fall, he begat a son in his own likeness—not in the likeness of God, but in the likeness of his own fallen nature. Therefore, when the nation Israel comes into view, we do not find God speaking specifically of any individual Israelite as His son. Rather, He speaks of the corporate body of the nation as a son. Never in the Old Testament does God refer to an individual as His son. Even of two men who were outstanding, Moses and David, it was “Moses my servant” and “David my servant.” Never does God say, “Moses my son” or “David my son.” Individuals become sons of God through faith in Jesus Christ. God is the Father of mankind in the sense that He is the Creator.

This is something that has been greatly emphasized in our contemporary society, and I think properly so. On a telecast I heard a man, who was definitely an unsaved man, play up the fact that we are all human beings and that we ought to show respect and consideration for one another. Well, that is true. As far as he went, he was entirely accurate. You are a human being and I am a human being, and I should accord to you the same rights and privileges and respect that I would like to have for myself. “Have we not all one father? hath not one God created us?” We all are the creation of God.

“Why do we deal treacherously every man against his brother, by profaning the covenant of our fathers?” Now here they were, a chosen people, yet breaking God’s covenant and dealing treacherously one with the other. They were not right with God, and so they were not right with each other.   [i]

III.  Sin Against Marrying Outside of their Race

Mal 2:12  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.

Mal 2:13  And this have ye done again, 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.

It was a sin for a Jew to marry a person of another race.  God charged Judah with marrying the daughters of strange Gods.  All nations had their own gods during this time… many countries still do today.

1 Ki 11:1  But king Solomon loved many strange women, together with the daughter of Pharaoh, women of the Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Zidonians, and Hittites;

1 Ki 11:2  Of the nations concerning which the LORD said unto the children of Israel, Ye shall not go in to them, neither shall they come in unto you: for surely they will turn away your heart after their gods: Solomon clave unto these in love.

1 Ki 11:3  And he had seven hundred wives, princesses, and three hundred concubines: and his wives turned away his heart.

1 Ki 11:4  For it came to pass, when Solomon was old, that his wives turned away his heart after other gods: and his heart was not perfect with the LORD his God, as was the heart of David his father.

Solomon’s wives turned away his heart from God. God warns us to not be unequally yoked with non-believers.

2 Cor 6:14  Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness?

2 Cor 6:15  And what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel?

God cut them off and would not receive their offerings because they had married these strange wives.

Mal 2:14  Yet ye say, Wherefore? 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.

Mal 2:15  And did not he make one? 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.

Mal 2:16  For the LORD, the God of Israel, saith that he hateth putting away: for one covereth violence with his garment, saith the LORD of hosts: therefore take heed to your spirit, that ye deal not treacherously.

Mal 2:17  Ye have wearied the LORD with your words. Yet ye say, Wherein have we wearied him? When ye say, Every one that doeth evil is good in the sight of the LORD, and he delighteth in them; or, Where is the God of judgment?

It appears that they had divorced their wives and married these strangers.  God told them that he had made one, and the reason he had made one was to produce a ‘Godly seed”.  “And did not make one” must no doubt refer to man and wife being one flesh.  God is displeased when we put away our wife or husband and divorce. 

God had been wearied with the people.  Everyone that does evil in the sight of God wearies Him.  God help us to be a joy in God’s sight, and to be people who are pleasing to the Lord. 

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Prov 4:18  But the path of the just is as the shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day.

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