Malachi 2 · The Lantern

A Warning to the Priests

And now, to you is this commandment, the priests.

If you will not listen, and if you will not set it on the heart to give honor to my name, says the LORD of hosts, then I will send the curse among you, and I will curse your blessings — and indeed I have cursed them, because you are not setting it on the heart.

See, I am rebuking the seed for you, and I will scatter dung on your faces, the dung of your festivals; and one will carry you away to it.

And you will know that I sent this commandment to you, so that my covenant might be with Levi, says the LORD of hosts.

My covenant with him was life and peace, and I gave them to him as fear, and he feared me; and before my name he was shattered.

The instruction of truth was in his mouth, and injustice was not found on his lips. In peace and in uprightness he walked with me, and he turned many back from iniquity.

For the lips of a priest guard knowledge, and instruction is sought from his mouth; for he is the messenger of the LORD of hosts.

For neither may we address ourselves to almighty God, but only by Christ. In the same manner, therefore, let the laity make known all their desires to the bishop by the deacon, and accordingly let them act as he shall direct them. For there was no holy thing offered or done in the temple formerly without the priest.

(Verse 7) For the lips of the priest preserve knowledge, and people seek instruction from his mouth, for he is the messenger of the Lord of hosts. LXX: For the lips of a priest should guard knowledge, and people should seek instruction from his mouth, because he is the messenger of the Almighty.

For in sacred language teachers are sometimes called prophets, in that, by pointing out how fleeting are present things, they make manifest the things that are to come.

But you — you have turned aside from the way, you have made many stumble at the instruction, you have ruined the covenant of Levi, says the LORD of hosts.

And I also have made you despised and low before all the people, according as you are not guarding my ways and are lifting up faces in the instruction.

Judah’s Unfaithfulness

Is there not one father for all of us? Did not one God create us? Why do we deal treacherously, each with his brother, profaning the covenant of our fathers?

Truly, then, the Scripture declared, which says, "First of all believe that there is one God, who has established all things, and completed them, and having caused that from what had no being, all things should come into existence:" He who contains all things, and is Himself contained by no one.

But this is God's kindness to humanity, that of whom he is the maker, of them according to grace he afterwards becomes Father also.

(Verse 10 and following) Is not the Father one of us all? Is not God one who created us? Why then does each one of us despise his brother, violating the covenant of our fathers? Judah has transgressed, and abomination has been made in Israel and in Jerusalem: because Judah has defiled the sanctification of the Lord, which he loved, and has taken the daughter of a foreign god.

Judah has dealt treacherously, and an abomination has been done in Israel and in Jerusalem; for Judah has profaned the holiness of the LORD, which he loved, and has married the daughter of a foreign god.

May the LORD cut off from the tents of Jacob the man who does this — the one who is awake and the one who answers — and the one bringing an offering to the LORD of hosts.

And this, a second thing, you do: covering the altar of the LORD with tears, with weeping and with groaning, because there is no longer any turning to the offering or taking favor from your hand.

And you say, On what account? On this: that the LORD has testified between you and the wife of your youth, with whom you have dealt treacherously — and she is your companion and the wife of your covenant.

And did not one make them, and a remnant of spirit is his? And what does the one seek? Offspring of God. So guard yourselves in your spirit, and let no one deal treacherously with the wife of his youth.

For he hates divorce, says the LORD, the God of Israel, and covers his garment with violence, says the LORD of hosts. So guard yourselves in your spirit, and do not deal treacherously.

You have wearied the LORD with your words. And you say, In what have we wearied him? In your saying, Everyone doing evil is good in the eyes of the LORD, and in them he delights — or, Where is the God of judgment?

Malachi2

A Warning to the Priests

Judah’s Unfaithfulness