Summary
It should not surprise us that the poor teaching of the priests led to a lax morality amongst the people. The priests had turned religion to ritual, and the people’s lack of belief in God’s love had led to cold hearts and empty worship. The priests failed to teach God’s love, and God’s promises symbolised in the rebuilt temple. The people did not follow God’s commands, and so corruption was rife, and justice was absent.
One place justice was absent was in the marriages of Israel. In his fourth message, Malachi takes aim at the men of Israel (chapter 2:10-16). The men of Israel were unfaithful in two ways: by marrying foreign women, and by divorcing their wives.
Oue passage explained
v10-12
The first complaint against the men of Israel was that they were unfaithful to God by marrying foreign wives. If God was their Father (their covenant king) and their creator, why Malachi asks “are we faithless to one another, profaning the covenant of our fathers?” (v.10) God’s people had offended against the covenant by marrying foreign wives – “the daughter of a foreign god” (v.11).
Why do this? God’s people were lacking in influence and wealth. The men were marrying into the families of foreigners who had the ear of the authorities or wealth to make their problems go away. They were forsaking God to solve their problems themselves, and opening themselves to being led astray to follow foreign gods, as their ancestors (like Solomon, see 1 Kings 11:4) did. Years earlier, many of the returned exiles were rebuked by Nehemiah for their foreign wives (Nehemiah 13:23-29).
God’s people, whom he loves (1:1-5), had not shown love and faithfulness to God by marrying each other, but had ritually defiled themselves by marrying foreign women, who were not part of the covenant but worship other gods. Malachi prays that God would bring judgment on all who profane the covenant in this way (v.12).
v13-16
Not only have the men been unfaithful to God, they have also been unfaithful to their wives. The people act out tears in front of God’s temple (more a ritual than actual repentance) because of lack of blessing (v.13), but God’s lack of blessing on them is because they have left the “wives of their youth” – their God-given companion – to marry foreign wives (v.14). Marriage is more than a contract to dissolve when convenient, but described here as a covenant which God is a party to (as a witness).
In verse 15, Malachi references God’s original intent for marriage (Gen 2:23-24) by describing God’s role in marriage as making the husband and wife one, “with a portion of the Spirit in their union” so it is not merely physical but also spiritual. The goal of marriage being to bring “Godly offspring”; that is children brought up in the love and fear of God, not foreign idols.
Malachi closes his rebuke of the mens’ unfaithfulness to God by telling them to guard their hearts and be faithful to their wives (vv.15, 17). If they do not do this and divorce their wife, they cover “his garment with violence” – metaphorically staining themselves so that they are not fit to come into God’s presence (v.16).
Our passage applied
We are reminded with this passage of the importance God places on marriage, and of remaining faithful in it. God is faithful to his covenant, caring for his people and showering them with his love and mercy. Marriage is also a covenant, between two humans with God as a witness, in its ideal a lifelong physical and spiritual union which makes space for the raising of covenant children. We ought to pray that those of us yet to marry may find Christian spouses, and those of us married may continue in love and faithfulness.
This is the ideal which Christians ought to seek for their own marriages, and is spoken of in this way in the New Testament too (eg, Mark 10:1-12, 1 Corinthians 7). As any parent or child of a “mixed” marriage can attest, it is certainly easier when both parties are rowing in the same direction! So we should also pray for those where only one party trusts in Christ, that God will soften hearts and fulfil his covenant promises, by the witness of the believing spouse (1 Cor. 7:14).
But we must also recognise that we live in a sinful, messy world. Sometimes, divorces happen. Some of us know the pain personally, or through loved ones. When divorce happens, we ought to encourage the suffering believer with the faithfulness of God. God knows what it is like to have another party break covenant, yet we can rely on God because he is always faithful.
God desires faithfulness – to each other, to our spouses, and to him. We can be thankful that even as we are not faithful to our loved ones and to God as we ought to, God is faithful, merciful, and forgiving to us. A true faithful loving husband to his bride, the Church.
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