Malachi 2:1 Now, O you priests, this commandment is for you. If you
will not obey me and honor me with sincerity, says the Eternal of hosts, I
will send the curse upon you – even the source of your blessings will be
cursed. In fact, you are cursed already because of your lack of sincerity.
In these two verses, the Eternal continues to reprimand the
priests for their lack of sincerity in properly worshipping Him.
He sends a commandment to them, warning them that if they do
not worship, obey and honor Him from the heart that He will
send the curse upon them. This is probably a reference to the
curses of Leviticus 26 and Deuteronomy 28, the curses
pronounced upon Israel and upon their sources of life if they
turned their backs on God and His way. Anyone who does not
worship God from the heart is sowing seeds of corruption and
that alone is curse enough. However, the commandment went
even deeper than that. God would curse the very source of their
blessings – if they continued, in the direction they were going.
If the people who brought sacrifices did not prosper, if their land
did not give its increase, then the curse would be upon them and
the priests. It was most important that the priests properly
teach the people so they would live their lives in such a way that
God would favor them with good weather and rebuke the
predators upon their crops, flocks and herds. Otherwise, the
priests would suffer as well as the people, for there would be no
sacrifices or first fruits to bring to the temple!
Malachi 2:2 Behold, I will rebuke the seed for your sake, and scatter
dung upon your faces, even the dung of your festival sacrifices; you with
the dung shall be removed from my presence.
The curse sent upon the priests of Malachi’s day could have
been that the rebuking of their source of livelihood. The fields
of the Israelites when sown would yield a poor crop. Their flocks
and herds would meet with famine and not have offspring due to
poor health. As a result, the curse would extend to the priests
who received tithes and offerings of the people.
However, it could be that the word <seed> is a figurative
reference to their children, and descendants. If that were the
perspective we are to understand, then the curse would be to
their descendants through the means of the one supreme
sacrifice, the Messiah. While He and those who follow in His
footsteps are blessed, the descendants of the priests of His day
and afterwards were as though dung had been flung in their
faces. For from the time of the resurrection of the Messiah and
forward, the sacrifices they offered were not even worth dung!
It seems that the curse of dung is a figure of speech. God would
remove the priests from His presence. This seems to be a
prophecy referring to the time of the coming Messiah.
Perhaps we can see the fulfillment of this curse in what
happened to the priests of the temple in 70 AD. The
descendants of these priests in Malachi’s day were slain or
removed from the Holy Land! The Romans destroyed the
temple, putting the priests out of a job. Therefore, the priests of
70 AD did not do service in the presence of God – even in the
sense of a facade. The temple was the place where God’s
presence had resided in past time. After the destruction of the
temple, there was no question about whether the priests were
standing in God’s presence or to the contrary.
The destruction of the temple was a most humiliating defeat to
the priests of 70 AD, the descendants of the priests of Malachi.
It was as though Rome had buried the priests and the dung of
their sacrifices were scattered over their graves – figuratively
speaking.
Of course, even with the death of the Messiah and His
resurrection, the priests were out of business. For the Messiah
had become the sacrifice to end all sacrifices. This was a bitter
gall for the priests to swallow. Even today, the priests find the
Jewish Messiah as Savior of the world a very odious matter
before their faces.
Malachi 2:4 You will then know that I have given you this commandment
so that my covenant administered by the Levites will not be broken says
the Eternal of hosts.
The “commandment of curse” for the priests resulted because
they did not obey, respect, and worship the Eternal in a way that
reflected honor toward Him. There is some vagueness about
which covenant is being referenced here. There was a
“covenant of priesthood” with the Levites, but it is obvious to us
at this point that at the resurrection of the Messiah the spiritual
effectiveness of the priesthood ceased. Then after 70 AD, the
Levitical Priesthood ceased altogether as a form of temple
worship because of the destruction of the temple and the
scattering of the Jews.
If the curse was to the descendants of the priests, finally
accomplished in 70 AD, then the covenant mentioned here would
be the covenant of God, which God required the Levitical
Priesthood to administer – in other words, the Ten
Commandments.
Exodus 34:28 And he was there with the LORD forty days and forty
nights; he did neither eat bread, nor drink water. And he wrote upon the
tables the words of the covenant, the Ten Commandments.
The Messiah would uphold the covenant of the Ten
Commandments rather than break them. The next verse seems
to support this second understanding. God gave the
“commandment of curse” to the priests in Malachi’s day because
they did not uphold the Covenant of God, the Ten
Commandments, which God required the Priesthood to
administer.
Malachi 2:5 My covenant was of life and peace. Moreover, I gave my
covenant of life and peace for him to administer because he respected me
and was humble before me.
God’s covenant was one of life and peace. The commandments,
the terms of the covenant, were to promote life as opposed to
death. Physical life and eternal life would result by keeping the
commandments and physical death and eternal death would
result by disobeying them.
Deuteronomy 8:1 All the commandments which I command thee this day
shall ye observe to do, that ye may live, and multiply, and go in and
possess the land which the LORD swear unto your fathers.
Some understand the covenant mentioned here as the one God
made with the Levites. God is not making a promise here to
continue the priesthood of Levi. For we see that from the time
of the Messiah’s resurrection, the Levitical Priesthood
diminished into destruction and its predecessor, the Melchisedec
Priesthood, expanded beyond Judea into the entire world. God
called the Messiah a High Priest after the Melchisedec order.
The Messiah carries on the job of upholding the Ten
Commandments, the terms of the Covenant of God.
Hebrews 5:10 Called of God a high priest after the order of
Melchisedec.
God had honored Aaron and his descendants because Aaron had
properly worshiped God and taught reverence for His Ten-
Commandment Covenant of Life and Peace. However, in the
time of Malachi, the Levitical descendants of the priesthood had
shown contempt for God and His commandments.
There could also be a historical reference in this verse to the
covenant made with Aaron’s son, Phinehas for his respect of
God and reverence in upholding His commands. God gave him a
covenant of peace, and an everlasting priesthood.
Numbers 25:11 Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest,
hath turned my wrath away from the children of Israel, while he was
zealous for my sake among them, that I consumed not the children of
Israel in my jealousy.
12 Wherefore say, Behold, I give unto him my covenant of peace:
13 And he shall have it, and his seed after him, even the covenant of an
everlasting priesthood; because he was zealous for his God, and made an
atonement for the children of Israel.
Even though the priesthood has devolved upon all who would be
a part of the Kingdom of God, the descendants of Levi could still
be priests before God. In one sense, God has extended the
Levitical priesthood to include all the first fruits in His plan of
salvation. However, the High Priest is the Messiah, after the
order of Melchisedec. The Messiah was of the tribe of Judah
and not of the tribe of Levi. Today, those who are followers of
the Messiah are Jews, they are Israelites, and they are the
Levitical Priesthood of God.
Malachi 2:6 The law of truth was in his mouth, and unrighteousness was
not found on his lips. He walked with me in peace and equity, and
turned many away from iniquity.
Certainly, verse 6 makes a direct reference to the Ten
Commandments. Aaron and his descendants upheld the Law of
Truth. They taught the Law or Covenant of Truth and did not
mix it with error, as was the case with the priests of Malachi’s
day. Aaron and his early descendants lived the way of peace and
administered the law with equality. He did not weave to the
right or to the left in order to favor a friend. He stood by and
upheld the law regardless of who the worshiper was that he
served. As a result, he turned many away from iniquity.
Of course, we have the record of Aaron’s weakness concerning
the golden calf in the wilderness. However, we do not have any
further incidents of such faithlessness on his part. As a whole, it
seems that Aaron and the Levitical Priesthood were careful to
accomplish their duties after Aaron’s two son were slain by God
for offering strange fire on the altar.
As James shows in the following verse, we have this priestly duty
even today, for we too are of a royal priesthood!
James 5:20 Let him know, that he which converteth the sinner from the
error of his way shall save a soul from death, and shall hide a multitude
of sins.
1 Peter 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 marvelous light:
Malachi 2:7 For the priest’s lips should preserve knowledge and men
should seek the understanding of the law at his mouth, for he is the
messenger of the Eternal of hosts.
The duty of a priest is to thoroughly understand the law. Those
who would know truth are to seek that understanding from the
priests. As we are a part of a royal priesthood, we see what our
duties are. We are to saturate ourselves in the knowledge of the
Bible, rightly dividing the word of truth. Then if anyone asks us,
we can answer him according to the knowledge that we have
acquired from the word of God. Moreover, the knowledge we
disseminate should be mature and filled with wisdom. We should
not be as the priests of Malachi who watered down the truth and
twisted it into a lie!
1 Peter 3:15 But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and [be] ready
always to [give] an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the
hope that is in you with meekness and fear:
Verse seven also points out a principle that many overlook
today. The priests did not go to the people to understand. The
people came to the priest to understand the word of God. This
means that those who would understand should go to those who
have the knowledge of the truth. One should pay particular
attention to the gift of an individual. For in the NT
administration of the priesthood, God has given some the gift of
understanding (prophecy). God gave others the gift of teaching.
God does not give everyone the same gift nor does God give all
of the gifts to one person. Nevertheless, all should have the gift
of discernment in order to understand where God employs His
gifts.
1Co 12:27 Now ye are the body of Christ, and members in particular.
28 And God hath set some in the church, first apostles, secondarily
prophets, thirdly teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings,
helps, governments, diversities of tongues.
29 Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Are all workers
of miracles?
30 Have all the gifts of healing? Do all speak with tongues? Do all
interpret?
31 But covet earnestly the best gifts: and yet show I unto you a more
excellent way.
There is the work of an evangelist who must go out to preach the
word to those who are not yet a part of the body of the Messiah
– the Church of God. However, when the members of the
church begin to go to those who are of the world for knowledge,
they are ignoring the principle given here in Malachi that one
should go to the priests for knowledge! Malachi is not speaking
of the priests of Baal. Malachi is speaking of the priests of God.
One other point to notice in this verse is that the priest is the
<messenger> of God. Remember that Malachi means <my
messenger>. This small book is about several different
messengers, as we will see. By extension then, if we are part of
the royal priesthood, we are messengers of God.
Malachi 2:8 But you have turned aside – out of the way. You have
caused many to fall from the law. You have corrupted the covenant of
Levi, says the Eternal of hosts.
The priests of Malachi’s day had turned aside from the truth.
They had corrupted the law of God. Oh, it was very similar to
the truth, but it was not the truth! Just because something looks
like the truth does not make it the truth. We should always keep
that principle in mind. Are we, as the priesthood of God, turning
aside from the word of God? Are we willing to compromise just
a little?
Galatians 1:6 I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called
you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel:
7 Which is not another; but there be some that trouble you, and would
pervert the gospel of Christ.
They had caused many to fall away from the law of God. The
word means to overthrow when used with the Hiphil stem as it is
here. Many modern Church of God priests are today following
in the footsteps of these priests of Malachi’s day. They are
causing many to stumble and they are overthrowing many by
their watering down of the law. The law is not an option! The
law is a requirement.
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