Malachi’s message moves on from the people to, specifically the priests. The people have been at fault in their worship, but the priests have also been corrupt (v1-8). God’s message is firstly a reminder of their position. To revere the Name of the Lord (v5); To teach truth and render justice (v6), be an example; Be The Lord’s messenger and have deep knowledge that people need to hear (v7).
They get their authority from God’s covenant with Levi. It was a Covenant of life and peace (v5), This refers us to the role of the priest – ” The lips of a priest should keep knowledge” (v7). He was God’s representative to the people and the People’s representative before God. He is “The messenger of The Lord of Hosts”, So much so that “The people should seek the law from his mouth”. His wisdom and understanding should be such that the people seek out what he has to say. These priests were failing in their duty, “You have departed from the way” (v8). We are only told specifically of one aspect of their departure from the way – “You have shown partiality in the law” (v9) They had evidently been inconsistent, showing partiality, making exceptions for some, turning a blind eye to some.
However, there is reference to another. Whether they knew about the deceitful sacrifices and were turning a blind eye to them thus showing partiality, Iam not sure. May be that was it in part, but I think that there was more to it than that. God said He would send a curse on them, in fact had already done it (v2); He would rebuke their descendants (v3) and would spread on their faces the offal from their festival sacrifices and they would be carried off with it (v3) thus shaming them before all, including their own people and their enemies. There should not have been any offal in the sacrifices at all – it should have been removed beforehand In Micah 3v11 the prophet condemns the rulers and the prophets – “Her heads judge for a bribe, the priests teach for pay, and her prophets divine for money, yet they lean on The Lord and say “Is not the Lord among us? No harm can come upon us.” “ It is apparent that they are blatant in their disobedience, even to the point of stating that God is with them so they can do what they like
The priests were teaching for money – this indicates that the rich could afford it, the poor couldn’t – thus they were showing partiality. Does this remind of the modern-day tele-preachers who crave your money with the false promise that if you sow you will reap; that you will be guaranteed health, wealth and all will go well without any worries.
In Jeremiah 6:13-15 from the least even to the greatest, everyone is given to covetousness, and from the prophet even to the priest everyone deals falsely, They have healed the hurt of my people slightly (superficially), saying, “Peace, peace! when there is no peace,” “Were they are ashamed when they had committed abomination? No, they were not at all ashamed, nor did they know how to blush.”
Isn’t that a graphic description of our world today – even the Church? We sin and don’t even blush at it. We’ve become hardened to it. We can make our excuses and explanations even to justify sin. It must not be! We’ll have no peace so long as we stay like that. We can speak about peace, even shout it from the rooftops, but if we continue in sin, we will have none – we only deceive ourselves and others along with us.
Firstly – Infidelity
God’s people marrying unbelievers.
Back to Malachi 2:10. Here we have one of the very things that the world, and sadly, more and more Christians are falling into, infidelity in marriage. We have seen an alarming increase over the last few years of the break-up of Christian marriages. Very few families are exempt from it. If statistics are to be believed, 1 in 2 marriages are ending in divorce. Non-Christian marriages are bad enough and very sad; but Christian marriages, where both parties are professing Christians. It is tragic, a tragedy indeed. Malachi even uses the word “treachery” from the root word ‘treason’.
‘Treason’ is betrayal of a person or cause; an act of disloyalty; to impair the well-being of a state to which one owes allegiance; betrayal of trust.
He commences (v 10) “Have we not all one Father? Has not one God created us?” This must be read in context – he is speaking to the chosen people of Israel. We cannot use this to say that all are Christians, as the world would have people think. It is a fact that we are all created by God, and we all come from one father, Adam, but it doesn’t mean that we automatically are all Christians, in fact the opposite, it means that we are all sinners. We are not all Children of God. We only become a child of God when we are born again. A Christian is someone who is born again by The Spirit of God, having come to God in repentance and faith. Scripture is very clear about that and yet at the same time – because we are all God’s creations and can trace our ancestry to one father, we should treat each other better than we do. We should love one another, and do to others, we would have them do to us. So what is this treachery?
Make no mistake about it – God instituted marriage and He loves it (v 11).
Judah married the daughter of a foreign god – God calls it abomination, profanity strong words! God obviously thinks it to be serious. God cares deeply about marriage. He takes it seriously even though mankind may not. The man who marries the daughter of a foreign god – an unbeliever, shall be cut off from the family and from the worship of God (v 12) – that’s serious!
We may not cut people off who marry unbelievers but inevitably we find that they usually cut themselves off. They lose their commitment to The Lord and their interest in spiritual things. There may be the exception but even then it puts a terrific strain on their marriage. How vital it is that Christians marry Christians and it is not enough to simply say that “l am marrying a Christian”, “it must be the right one”. We must seek God’s guidance, and if He is so concerned about it, there is no doubt that He will lead us to the right one. I’ve said it before -and I’ll keep on saying it “If you go into the world to look for a mate, Satan will make sure you find one”.
Secondly
There’s something wrong with your worship. (v 13) “You cover the altar of The Lord with tears, with weeping and crying”. No amount of tears will cover up the abominable offerings you are making and your dealings with others, particularly your spouse.
God will not accept your offering – why? (v 14) gives the answer – “Because The Lord has been a witness between you and the wife of your youth, with whom you have dealt treacherously”. That really is a serious consideration – God is a witness! There is nothing He doesn’t know and see, even in the privacy of our hearts and homes. And as a witness, HE CAN DO NO OTHER THAN TELL THE TRUTH.
He reminds us of the oneness of the marriage bond – the two become one (v 15) and one of the reasons for that is to raise godly children. In Ezra 9 – this relates to the situation – Israel had disobeyed God who had commanded them not to take wives of the occupants of the land that they were to possess – “The holy seed is intermingled with the peoples of these lands, indeed, the hand of the rulers and leaders has been foremost in this trespass”, (Ezra 9:2)
Coming forward in time Paul applied this in 1 Corinthians 7:10-16. Time has moved on and here we have two unbelievers married to each other, one is later converted to Christ and gloriously saved. Does he/she leave their unsaved spouse? No! (This situation does not seem to exclude a marriage of an existing Christian to a non-Christian). “The believer is not to divorce the unbeliever if the unbeliever is willing to stay (verse 12, 13) for the unbelieving husband is sanctified by the wife, and the unbelieving wife by the husband, otherwise your children would be unclean, but now they are holy”
This is not saying that the unbeliever is counted as a believer simply because the spouse is a believer. It is referring to the children that the believer makes the children clean and holy, otherwise they would be classed as unclean or to use the words correctly “bastards” or “illegitimate” words which our law has rendered unlawful or obsolete. Children of mixed marriages did not have the same rights and advantages in Old Testament times. However, if the unbeliever departed, the believer could let them go – (1 Corinthians 7:15). (The situation was completely opposite in Ezra as in chapter 10 the people are told to put away their pagan wives: That seems to have been unique to that situation.) “If the unbeliever departs the believer is not under bondage in such cases” (verse 15). I believe this to mean “the marriage bond” thus remarriage is permitted (but not ordered) if the unbeliever should divorce the believer.
I’m not convinced that the believer could divorce the unbeliever if the unbeliever ‘departed’ solely on that ground of desertion. Reconciliation should be sought.
v16 “For the Lord God of Israel says that He hates divorce.” You can’t have it plainer than that ! It is not God’s will at all. In fact Jesus referred back to the beginning, “A man shall leave his father and mother and cleave to his wife, and they shall become one flesh” (Genesis 2:24).
But, beware, don’t put divorce in a special category. God also hates other things which most, if not all of us, are guilty of even though we may not be involved in divorce. Proverbs 6:16 says “There are six things The Lord hates, seven things which are detestable to Him …. haughty eyes, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked schemes, feet quick to rush into evil, a false witness, a man who stirs up dissension.” So let’s not look down upon those who have been divorced. “The blood of Jesus cleanses us from all sin”. Divorce It is not the unpardonable sin.
Divorce is a big subject and, in some aspects, a difficult one to fathom. I am not going into great detail here as it may well be that the context is solely believers marrying unbelievers.
Briefly, It has become increasingly more complicated by successive laws which have been passed right up to our present day, usually to make divorce easier and less acrimonious. We’ve even got to ‘no fault divorce’ which in effect means one can just walk away from a marriage without felling any guilt. The epitome of a throwaway society. The very fact that a court of law has to be involved at all is an additional complication.
In Matthew 19:6 Jesus said, “What God has joined together let not man separate”. Christians down the years have often interpreted that as meaning “no divorce” – no man has any right to confer a divorce on a couple. But we need to read on and put this in context. Before we do, it is not the judge who separates, he or she is merely making legal something which has already happened. A spouse who commits adultery has already “divided” from the other.
The people asked Jesus “Why then did Moses command to give a certificate of divorce, and to put her away” Jesus said, “Moses because of the hardness of your hearts, permitted you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it was not so”. “And I say to you, whoever divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another, commits adultery; and whoever marries her who is divorced commits adultery”.
Thus we see that Jesus recognised divorce and remarriage. The exception clause as it has become known, is vital evidence to support that. Jesus said that if you divorce and marry another you commit adultery, EXCEPT if you divorce on the ground of sexual immorality (fornication – AV.).
Thus divorce on the ground of incompatibility is not Scriptural, There could have been no greater incompatibility than that in 1 Corinthians 7 – a believer and an unbeliever, but the believer is instructed that under no circumstances must he/she divorce the unbeliever simply for that reason. It must also be said that the word “fornication” is not only adultery but it includes that. The Greek word is ‘porneia’ which is habitual immorality.
Bible Dictionary – ‘fornication’ – a crime of impurity between unmarried persons. And ‘adultery’ – Hebrew Law – unchastity wherein a man (married or single) had illicit intercourse with a married or betrothed woman, not his wife. Divorce is a big subject and needs careful consideration.
Why does God hate divorce? “For it covers one’s garments with violence” (verse 16)in NKJV ‘for’ seems to explain divorce, but in NIV the word “and” is used instead of “for” possibly indicating two things God hates. Remember, God hates all sin.
There has been a sad increase in the rate of divorces amongst Christians. It should not be, and it is a poor example to the world. v 16 says “Take heed to your spirit that you do not deal treacherously-.- ” It is indeed perilous to go down that route.
None of us would be proud to be found guilty of ‘treason’, especially against The Lord, but that is what we are if we do not keep faithful towards our marriage partner.
Thirdly – Good, evil and justice.
v17 says that we have wearied The Lord with our words in that we say “Everyone who does evil is good in the sight of The Lord and He delights in them”, or, “Where is The God of justice?”
We have failed to recognize evil and distinguish it from good, We major on God being a God of love, but not a God of justice. Yes God is love, but He cannot overlook sin. Sin has to be recognised and confessed. God thinks seriously about evil, so seriously that He sent His Son to die to save us from the consequences of it. “For the wages of sin is death”. (Romans 6:23). The Lord Jesus Christ came to conquer Satan, sin and death; to rescue us because we couldn’t save ourselves. It is dangerous to take the phrase “God hates our sin but loves the sinner” too far. It is true, but there is more to it than that. Repentance is needed (as we said earlier).
“Everyone who does evil is NOT good in the sight of The Lord”, In Isaiah 5:20 we have similar words – “Woe unto them that call evil good and good evil.” We live in a day when people think that God will overlook evil; many go further and say that evil is good and good is evil. Values are turned on their heads. The wicked get the praise and the accolade today, the good are often downtrodden and of no repute. 
The world honours sinners.
And this is often no different in the church. Woe to us! We are failing to deal with sin and evil. We are allowing it to happen in the church and often we are too scared to deal with it.
There is a danger of discipline becoming domination (which is dangerous), but discipline must not be thrown out because of that. Yes, we are human – (our usual excuse for failure and sin), but we must obey God’s Word and deal with sin and evil. If we don’t, God becomes wearied by our words. Our words and actions should be at one, otherwise we are no different to any others, those who Jesus called hypocrites. The world often uses the excuse for not coming to Church, that there are too many hypocrites there. Excuse – yes, but are they right? Sadly, often, yes.
Before we leave this chapter we must ask the question – could this be why we do not see souls saved, soundly saved?
The picture is blurred – the fastest growing churches (numerically) at the moment are the charismatic-style-worship churches, but in most, (though not all) of these “anything goes”, however, some of them are very disciplinarian to the extent of domination over the members.
The churches which appear to be declining (numerically) are those who rigidly teach The Word of God, but are bound by tradition and legalism. So we cannot simply pattern ourselves on others – God blesses where He will – all we can do is teach God’s Word unwaveringly, and be prepared to study it thoroughly. We may find that our traditions are not always in line with God’s Word as I have found by studying the 
subject of divorce. If they are not, we should carefully consider whether we should keep them. It is possible to have the Truth but no love, we must be consistent.
What is taught from our pulpits should be correct, but read it for yourself and study and check it. The Holy Spirit inspired the writing of it, we must ask God to help us understand it and to interpret it to us, and most of all, “Practise what we preach” otherwise The Lord will be “Wearied by our words”. Jesus gave us the prime example of teaching the truth and putting it into action. We must follow His example.
