Disobedient Heads, Disloyal Hearts, and Divided Homes (Mal. 2:1-16)

In Malachi 2, the prophet addresses three further themes about which God had complaints regarding his people. First, he speaks to the priests and criticises the way that they led or did not lead the people; second, he addresses the people in general and points out the way they were committing spiritual adultery in their worship; third, he focuses on family life and rebukes the men in particular for failing to live up to the marriage commitment. The three problems are Disobedient Heads, Disloyal Hearts, and Divided Homes. 

Disobedient Heads (2:1-10) 

The priests were a privileged group among the people. Their tribe, the tribe of Levi, had been selected by God to function in the work of his temple whether as priests or Levites. Their major concern was with the worship of God. In the previous chapter, the Lord had rebuked them for treating the sacrifices with disdain; in this chapter he rebukes them for failing to teach the people how to live for God.  

The counterpart of the priests here would be pastors in the New Testament period. So it is helpful for us to look at this passage and see what dangers pastors face and what responsibilities they have in order that intelligent prayer can be made for them. 

The first detail that is mentioned is that that the priests have to teach right doctrine. Malachi stresses that they each needed a heart that would honour the name of God (v. 2). What would that involve? In their teaching, they should have informed the people about God’s character, commandments, purposes, promises and warnings. 

The second detail that Malachi mentions is that the priests faced a real danger, which was the curse of God on them and their families (vv. 2-3). The Lord says that he will take the parts of the sacrificed animals that were sent to the dung heap and wipe these remains on the faces of the priests before sending them as part of the waste to the dung heap. It is a warning of public humiliation. They were treating God with contempt, and he would treat them with contempt. 

What is meant by the curse that Malachi mentions? Probably, the infliction of the curses mentioned in Deuteronomy. One commentator describes them as ‘God’s blocking of every normal artery of blessing and his opening of the floodgates of disaster’. And we can see that the judgement would last a long time because it would affect their descendants. 

Malachi then mentions that the current priests had righteous predecessors. He gives a description of previous priests. He is not referring to Levi, the son of Jacob, personally because he does not seem to have functioned as a priest in a special sense. Rather he is referring to the tribe of that name. It was Aaron and his descendants who were to have this role and among them there had been godly priests such as Aaron, Phinehas, Eliezar and others.  

They needed a repentant demeanour. Instead of being proud of their behaviour, these religious leaders were called to repent. This is an example of the gracious patience of God, but there will come a time when he will cease to be patient with them. The teaching of the priests, instead of enabling God’s people to walk surely and safely, caused them to stumble and fall. They were selective in what they taught; perhaps they played to the gallery or were tolerant with regard to those who could give them a reward. Whatever it was, they failed to teach the whole counsel of God, and because of this sin the Lord was threatening to remove them. 

A brief description of a servant 

In verses 5-9, Malachi provides a description of a servant of God and mentions four details. The first is fear of God. We are told in Proverbs that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, which means that without reverence it is impossible for someone to be a wise teacher. Fear, as we know, is not mainly being scared of God, although it is important to appreciate his warnings because he does not make idle threats. Instead, fear is loving reverence. There is admiration and affection for God in the heart of a true messenger of God. In addition, this fear of God removes any fear of humans, no matter who they are. 

The second aspect of a servant’s character as describe by Malachi is faithfulness to God. How would a priest know if he was faithful? The only way of finding out what God wants is to see what his Word says, and adherence to those requirements would mark a faithful priest. While we no longer are to keep many of the instructions connected to the work of a priest in Old Testament times, a faithful pastor still only has one source of information, which is the Bible. There are always two threats to his work – tradition and innovation, both of which are based on human wisdom. Some think the past is better and others think the new is always best. Pastors themselves will be inclined in one way or another and therefore they need to watch that their decisions are based on the Bible. Otherwise, they are not faithful. 

The third feature of a good priest’s outlook was that he enjoyed fellowship with God. By this, Malachi would have meant such details as prayer and meditation on God’s Word. Such a person is God’s companion as depicted in him walking with God in peace and uprightness. Those two blessings point to the possession of assurance (peace) and progress in sanctification in God’s servants. In a sense, such a servant exemplifies to other believers the blessings of knowing God. They should show to others what is possible regarding knowing God. I suppose that is one reason why Paul stresses his own example when he mentions his devotional life. 

The fourth feature of a true priest was that through his work he turned people away from sin. At that time, his influence was usually within Israel, so he was dealing with those who were not fulfilling their obligations to God. Today, we could say that a pastor does this by teaching the need for repentance and growing in grace, as well as in evangelism. 

It is easy to see a parallel between these priests and ministers. We should pray that the marks that are mentioned in this passage would be true of all ministers known to us. 

Disloyal hearts (vv. 10-12) 

Malachi now addresses the people in general and repeats part of what he had said in the previous chapter about worship. He reminds them that they were failing to honour God as their Father and their Creator. In the previous chapter, God’s complaint was about the quality of their sacrifices; in this chapter his complaint is about their inclusiveness of false religion into God’s worship. 

The way that this had taken place was through marriage to non-Israelite women. This was the sin that caused Solomon’s problems. The problem here is not that they married these women, but that these women had retained their pagan faith. They were not like Ruth who left the gods of Moab and turned to follow the God of Israel. These women are called daughters of ‘foreign gods’. We can read about this situation in Ezra 9 and 10. This is a reminder of the importance of who one marries. 

Divided homes (vv. 13-16) 

Yet the people still worshipped in an emotional manner: ‘You cover the Lord’s altar with tears, with weeping and groaning because he no longer regards the offering or accepts it with favour from your hand.’ They sensed that something was wrong, but they were not willing to put the matter right. This was not the prayer of repentance but the cries of regret. 

It is not clear if there is a connection between the marriages with pagan wives and the divorces that Malachi mentions. Some think that many men had divorced their Israelite wives in order to marry foreign women. In any case, it is clear that they had divorced their wives for no valid reason. 

Malachi makes it clear that their treatment of their wives prevented the men from having acceptable worship. This is still the case today. For example, Peter says in 1 Peter 3:7: ‘Likewise, husbands, live with your wives in an understanding way, showing honour to the woman as the weaker vessel, since they are heirs with you of the grace of life, so that your prayers may not be hindered.’ 

This chapter reminds us that all of religion is a matter of the heart. This is the case when we are speaking about our relationship with God, with our fellow worshippers, and with our spouses. Love is central to the Christian faith and we can see that the Lord takes its expressions very seriously. 

Remember covenant commitments 

The chapter also stresses that we are to remember covenant commitments. This is an aspect of life that has been forgotten today. There are three areas of covenant commitment mentioned in the text. 

First, there is the covenant between the Lord and his servants, which they are expected to keep. This is true of ministers and elders, because they make a covenant through their ordination vows. It is very serious for a person to break these vows which are connected to doctrines and behaviour. I would suggest that those of us who are elders should review that covenant weekly. 

Of course, all believers should realise that they are in covenant with God, and not only from the divine side. It is wonderful that God calls us, ‘My people,’, but it is also a reality that we call him, ‘My God.’ This commitment requires us to be totally devoted to God every day of our lives. It was common in the past for believers to write out a covenant with God, promising to be his and to serve him wholeheartedly, which they then signed. They would often take out this covenant and review it, repenting when they had to of their failures. 

Second, there is the covenant bond between believers, which means that one of them is not to do something that will affect adversely other believers. The obvious example from the Old Testament is Achan whose sin brought defeat to all the people of God. By joining the church, we are making a covenant commitment. This happens at baptism, when those present stand as sign of commitment that they will help bring up the child in the Christian faith. Each person who stands is resolving not to do anything that would hinder faith developing in that child. 

Of course, baptism is not the only occasion of making a covenant commitment as far as the church is concerned. The Lord’s Supper is also an event where we publicly identify ourselves with the people of God. We are saying that this people is our people. In a sense, every church service is a renewal of this covenant commitment. 

Third, there is the covenant that is made at a wedding. Two individuals promise to be united with one another for the rest of their lives at every level. The important level here is the spiritual one. The men of Malachi’s day did not respect their wives and the Lord withheld blessings from them. It is a solemn reality that the home can be the cause of unanswered prayers in the church.