Malachi 2

The original text was written in Hebrew language. This chapter is divided into 17 verses.

NKJV groups this chapter into:

• Malachi 2:1–9 = Corrupt Priests
• Malachi 2:10–17 = Treachery of Infidelity

For the priest's lips should keep knowledge,

and they should seek the law at his mouth:

for he is the messenger of the Lord of hosts.[10]

• "For the priest's lips should keep knowledge": It was the priest's duty to study the Law and to teach it faithfully, as it is said of Aaron, in Ecclus. 45:17, "He gave unto him his commandments, and authority in the statutes of judgments, that he should teach Jacob the testimonies, and inform Israel in his laws."[11]

Therefore have I also made you contemptible and base before all the people,

according as ye have not kept my ways, but have been partial in the law.[12]

• "have been partial in the law": in the observance of it, attending to the lesser, and taking no notice of the weightier matters of it, as the Jews are charged by Christ, Matthew 23:23 and in the interpretation of it, restraining its sense only to outward actions, for which they are reproved, Matthew 5:1 or "received faces", or "accepted persons in the law";[13] in matters of the law they were concerned in, they had respect to the persons of men, by giving the sense of it, and pronouncing judgment, in favour of some, to the prejudice of others, wrongly.[14]

For the Lord, the God of Israel, saith that he hateth putting away:

for one covereth violence with his garment, saith the Lord of hosts:

therefore take heed to your spirit,

that ye deal not treacherously.[15]

• "He hateth putting away": This is another reason against divorce: God hates it. It is contrary to his original institution, and was only allowed for the hardness of men's hearts (see Deuteronomy 24:1, etc.; Matthew 19:3-9). Septuagint, "If thou hate her and dismiss her," etc.; Vulgate, "If thou hate her, put her away," which seems to encourage divorce, whereas in the context divorce is strongly condemned. Hence Jerome considers these words to be spoken by the Jews, quoting in their defence Moses' precept. Others think that they are ironical - Put her away, if you please; but you must bear the consequences.[11]
• "One covereth violence with his garment": or, "and violence covereth his garment," or, it might be, in the same sense, "he covereth his garment with violence" , so that it cannot be hid, nor washed away, nor removed, but envelops him and his garment; and that, to his shame and punishment. It was, as it were, "an outer garment of violence", as Asaph says in Psalm 73:6, "violence covereth them as a garment;" or David in Psalm 109:18, "he clothed himself with cursing as with a garment." It was like a garment with "fretting leprosy," unclean and making unclean, to be burned with fire. Leviticus 13:47-58. Contrariwise, the redeemed saints had Revelation 7:14 "washed their robes and made them white in the Blood of the Lamb." Having declared God's hatred of this their doing, he sums up in the same words, but more briefly; "and this being so, ye shall take heed to your spirit, and not deal treacherously."[16] Maurer translates, "And (Jehovah hateth him who) covereth his garment (that is, his wife, in Arabic idiom; compare Genesis 20:16, 'He is to thee a covering of thy eyes'; the husband was so to the wife, and the wife to the husband; also Deuteronomy 22:30; Ruth 3:9; Ezekiel 16:8) with injury." The Hebrew favors "garment," being accusative of the thing covered (as in Psalm 73:6). Their "violence" is the putting away of their wives; the "garment" with which they try to cover it is the plea of Moses' permission (Deuteronomy 24:1; compare Matthew 19:6-9).[17]

• Related Bible parts: Matthew 5, Matthew 19, Matthew 23, Mark 10, Acts 20

• Collins, John J. (2014). Introduction to the Hebrew Scriptures. Fortress Press. ISBN 9781451469233.
• Fitzmyer, Joseph A. (2008). A Guide to the Dead Sea Scrolls and Related Literature. Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company. ISBN 9780802862419.
• Hayes, Christine (2015). Introduction to the Bible. Yale University Press. ISBN 978-0300188271.
• Shepherd, Michael (2018). A Commentary on the Book of the Twelve: The Minor Prophets. Kregel Exegetical Library. Kregel Academic. ISBN 978-0825444593.
• Ulrich, Eugene, ed. (2010). The Biblical Qumran Scrolls: Transcriptions and Textual Variants. Brill.
• Würthwein, Ernst (1995). The Text of the Old Testament. Translated by Rhodes, Erroll F. Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans. ISBN 0-8028-0788-7. Retrieved January 26, 2019.