Malachi
2:10-16 (Message #4 in Malachi Series)
INTRODUCTION:
The English word “profane” comes to us directly from the Latin
word “profanus” made up of the preposition “pro” (before, prior
to), and “fanum” (temple). Thus, the literal meaning of the word is, “prior to the
temple,” indicating the state of
something before it is offered up as a sacrifice. The dictionary
definition of the English word “profane” is… “Not sacred, common; not connected with religion
or religious matters; secular; not hallowed or consecrated.”
We also often hear a form of the word used to indicate cussing or
using the Lord’s name in vain. We call that “profanity,” meaning “unholy
speech.” It is the opposite of holy, God-honouring speech.
The idea in both words is that once something is brought to the Temple
and offered to God it becomes sacred, it becomes a holy thing. Ordinary
things are made holy as they come in contact with the Living, Holy God.
TRANSITION:
Some things by their very nature are sacred because they are
forever sacred to God. Some things are inherently
holy because they reflect God’s holy
nature. These things include solemn
covenants, because God is a covenant-keeping God and He expects His
subjects to keep their covenants as well—covenants with Him and covenants with
one another. One such solemn covenant was entered into by the people of
Israel, in which they promised that they would obey God and not marry foreign
idol-worshippers. God made it clear to His chosen people from the
beginning that this would not be tolerated, and they agreed in solemn assembly
to abide by the covenant.
Another
thing that God holds as sacred is the holy covenant of marriage where the
husband and wife swear to one another before God and before witnesses that they
will “take one
another to be their wedded spouse, to have and to hold from this day forward,
for better or for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to
love and to cherish; until death do us part.” The Bible is clear that
holy matrimony is a picture of the relationship between God and His
people. In the OT Israel is referred to as “the Wife of Jehovah.” In
the NT, the Church is called “the Bride of Christ.” Clearly, God intends for covenant marriage to reflect His love for
us, and that is why He takes marriage and divorce so seriously.
In
the verses leading up to today’s text we hear God’s indictment against the
priests of Israel who, in God’s words, had “corrupted, or profaned the covenant” of Levi and had caused many people to stumble because of their bad
teachings and their bad example (verse 8). Now God expands His indictment
to include all the people of Israel for their widespread evil practices that
constitute various forms of “profaning the covenant.”
MAIN BODY:
Verse 10: Do we not all have one father? Has not one God
created us? Why do we deal treacherously each against his brother so as to profane the covenant of
our fathers?
- You
will notice that in this section, Malachi does almost all the
talking. Up until now he has sometimes been more like a megaphone for
God. However, in these verses Malachi, the prophet, sounds more like
God’s lawyer, explaining and clarifying God’s position and point-of-view.
- Starting
out here in verse 10 Malachi seeks to establish the unity of the
children of Israel. “Do we not
all have one father?” God was their “Father” in the sense that He
had chosen them in love to become His children. He had adopted
them. He was also their “Father” by right of creation. And, of
course, if God is their Father then His children are brothers and sisters
and they have a family obligation to do good to one another, and not to “deal treacherously.”
Moreover,
Malachi points out that all the Israelites trace their lineage back to one
earthly “father”—their forefather, Jacob (aka Israel). So, based on
their familial unity he implores his fellow countrymen who have become
covenant-breakers to stop and rethink their attitudes and actions.
- He
says that by profaning and breaking the covenant that their fathers made
with God (Exod. 19:5-6; 24:8), they are really committing an act of treachery
[i.e. treason] against their brothers, because their actions will bring
the judgment of God down upon everyone’s heads.
Verse 11: Judah has dealt treacherously,
and an abomination has been
committed in Israel and in Jerusalem;
for Judah has profaned the sanctuary of the LORD which He loves and has married the daughter of a foreign god.
- Here
Malachi mentions Judah, Israel, and Jerusalem. “Judah” was
the southern area of the country and generally included the tribes of
Judah and Benjamin. “Israel” refers to northern ten
tribes. “Jerusalem” was the holy city, the nation’s capital, which
included “Mount Zion” on which the Temple of the Lord was built. In
other words, these three words take in the whole of the
nation. Malachi was saying that the whole country had “dealt treacherously”
and
had committed an “abomination” against God.
- “Abomination.” That is a harsh
word! What does it mean? It indicates something that causes the
stomach to revolt, that makes a person nauseated. So, God is telling
the people that what they are doing makes Him so sick at
His stomach that He feels like vomiting. He does this in order
to shock them into realizing that the anathema curse He is pronouncing on
the sins mentioned here are every bit as bad in His sight as the gross
sins of idolatry, witchcraft, and homosexuality, which fall under
the same condemnation: they too are called “abominations.”
- So,
what had they done, specifically? It is there in
the last part of the verse: “…you have profaned the sanctuary
of the LORD which He loves and have
married the daughter of a foreign god.” So why is that such a big deal? By “the daughter of a foreign god” He means a pagan
woman, dedicated to the worship of a heathen god. Such mixed
marriages were strictly forbidden because God knew that this would
inevitably lead to apostasy and idolatry (cf. Exodus 34:15-16; Deut.
7:3-4; 1 Kings 11:1-6; Ezra 9:1-2; Nehemiah 13:23-29). Multiple times
God forbade the Jews from intermarrying with the pagan people of
Canaan. Moreover, every Jew knew that it was forbidden, but they had
been doing it anyway, essentially thumbing their noses at God.
Verse 12: As for the man who does this, may the LORD cut off from the tents of Jacob everyone who awakes and
answers, or who presents an offering to the LORD of Hosts.
- In
the OT, the term “cut off” sometimes refers to banishment or even
death. It is also often used to mean that God will deprive the sinner
of posterity, of descendants. Malachi says here that those who have
committed this abomination of taking pagan brides will be “cut off” from
the people or Israel. On top of this, the text indicates that God
will also inflict the same punishment on anyone who speaks up in defence
of such a sinner,
or who might be moved to offer a sin offering on behalf of such a sinner
in order to try and atone for their sin. God views such misguided
help as “aiding and abetting” an unrepentant rebel.
Verse 13: This is another thing
you do: you cover the altar of the LORD with tears, with weeping and with
groaning, because He no longer regards the offering or accepts it with favour
from your hand.
- “This is another thing you do…” The first thing
is the one Malachi identifies in verses 11-12; namely, intermarrying with
idolatrous heathens. Now he brings up a second issue, one that is
related to the first but somewhat different. In verses 13-16 he deals
with the sin of unjustified divorce. The sin that
was occurring was two-sided, however. Jewish men were divorcing their
Jewish wives without any moral justification (explained in vs. 14-16), and
they were marrying pagan women who were leading them into worshipping
false gods (explained in vs. 11-12). God says that both things are
wrong, in fact, an abomination, and constituted a profaning of their
covenant with Him.
- However,
the people did not think that they were sinning! In fact, they
thought that God was just being mean and unreasonable in His
demands. They were grieved and unhappy that God was not accepting
their sacrifices and was not blessing them. They cried and wailed and
groaned because God was, “…no longer regarding their offering or accepting it with favour
from their hand.” You see their tears were what we call, “crocodile
tears.” They were hypocritical tears coming from insincere
repentance. The people were unhappy, to be sure, but they were not
truly repentant. They were sad that God was unhappy, but they were
clueless about WHY He was unhappy with them. It is the difference
between a lawbreaker being sad that he got caught, versus having genuine
sorrow for his guilt and for the harm he has caused. The Israelites
were sad, but they were not sorry.
Verse 14: Yet you say, “For what reason?” Because
the LORD has been a witness between you and the wife of your youth, against
whom you have dealt treacherously, though she is your companion and your wife by
covenant.
- Yet you
say, “For what reason?” They sound shocked that God would be
unhappy with them. After all, they were doing so many things
right. Why was Jehovah being so rigid and unreasonable? They did
not get it!
- So,
in verse 14 God, through His prophet, Malachi, brings His second
indictment against Israel. They have been divorcing their wives
without grounds, thus ignoring the covenant they made with “the wives of
their youth.” God calls this “dealing
treacherously” with their wives.
- “The LORD
has been a witness…” Covenant marriage, the way God intended is always between two believers, with no
exceptions. For you see, holy matrimony is a covenant between three,
not just two. In Christian marriage God is the third partner in the
relationship. And when the husband and wife exchange their vows God
is listening. He is the Witness to every word they say: “I take you to be my lawfully wedded wife, to
have and to hold from this day forward, for better or for worse, for
richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish; until death do us part.” These men had not only married heathen wives,
but they had callously divorced their first wives to make room for these
new ones that they liked better. “Out with the old; in with the new,”
was their motto.
Verse 15: But not one has done so who has a remnant of the
Spirit. And what did that one do while he was seeking a
godly offspring? Take heed then to your spirit and let no one deal treacherously against the
wife of your youth.
- This
is an interesting verse. God seems to be saying through Malachi that
these bums would not do such a heinous thing if they had even a scintilla
of the Holy Spirit at work in them, because the Holy Spirit convicts of
sin. However, these guys seemed to have no feelings of remorse
whatsoever.
- The
last sentence in this verse is an obvious warning, a threat, if you
will. And once again, for the fourth time in these seven verses we
hear God warning against “dealing treacherously” with our wives.
Verse 16: “For I hate divorce,”
says the LORD, the God of Israel, “and him who covers his garment with wrong,”
says the LORD of hosts. “So, take heed to your spirit, that you do not deal treacherously.”
- Surprisingly
in the Bible there are only a few things that God says He hates. My point is
that here in Malachi 2:16 God comes right out and says, “I HATE DIVORCE!”
Moreover, He says that He hates those who do it in an unjustified way,
without grounds, just to trade one wife in for a newer model. “…and him who covers his garment
with wrong.” In other words, God looks at this guy in his
$3,000 silk Armani suit and all He sees is a guy in an orange prison
jumpsuit. The guy is guilty whether or not he admits it.
- The
verse ends with yet another dire warning: “Take heed to your spirit, that
you do not deal treacherously [against the wife of your youth].” There is that
phrase again: “deal treacherously.” This is the
fifth time it has appeared in our text. You see in God’s eyes an
attitude of indifference and disrespect toward our marriage vows and
obligations are the actions of a traitor.
CONCLUSION:
So far, I have just been telling you what the text says. Now in
conclusion I want to help put this into perspective in terms we can wrap our
minds around. There are two big issues here:
(1) believers marrying unbelievers; and, (2) believers divorcing without
grounds. Let’s look at these separately.
First, the question
of believers marrying unbelievers. The OT is just as much the Word of God
to us as the NT. In the OT God absolutely forbade His people from marrying
unbelievers because He knew that it would result in His people wandering away
from Him into sin and idolatry. And that is exactly what happened, every
time. Now in the NT this principle is repeated. We read in 2
Corinthians 6:14-18 the following: “Do not be bound together with unbelievers; for
what partnership have righteousness and lawlessness, or what fellowship has light
with darkness? Or what
harmony has Christ with Belial [Satan], or what has a believer in common with
an unbeliever? Or what
agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the
living God; just as God said, “I will dwell in them and walk among them; and I
will be their God, and they shall be My people. Therefore, come out from their
midst and be separate,” says the LORD, “and do not touch what is unclean; and I
will welcome you. “And I will be
a Father to you, and you shall be sons and daughters to Me,” says the LORD
Almighty.”
You see God has not changed His mind about this. It is never OK for a
Christian to marry a non-Christian. It has always been a grievous sin and
it still is. It is an act of treason against God. Therefore, I must also conclude that it is wrong
for a Christian to date a non-Christian because dating is part of the courtship
process leading to marriage. There is no such thing as “evangelistic
dating” in the hopes of leading the person to Christ.
Let me say it one more time just in case you did not hear it
before: there is never a case where God will give His permission for a Christian to marry
an unbeliever. Never! Do not even bother to ask Him. The answer
is always going to be “NO!”
The second issue that I
need to address briefly is this question of divorce. The Scriptures only
clearly lay out two justifications for divorce: (1) “immorality” [Gr. porneia = adultery, sexual impurity, child molestation, pornography
addiction, etc.]; and (2) abandonment = the
unbelieving spouse wants to bail out of the marriage and will not be dissuaded,
leaving the Christian spouse no option but to let them go. [Note: I
believe this category also includes both physical and mental abuse, and
attempted murder. These are alternate forms of abandonment and are
covenant breakers in my opinion]. Outside of these two categories the door
is tightly closed and locked for Christians wanting to divorce their mate and
marry someone else.
We live in an age when the divorce rate among self-proclaimed
“Christians” is slightly higher than the national average. Christians
are getting divorced every time we turn around. But here is the takeaway:
most of those divorces are not for
Biblical reasons. Most are the result of looking for the easy-out rather than
digging in and with God’s help fighting to save the
marriage. Statistically, most divorces are granted on the grounds of
“irreconcilable differences.” I am sorry to have to tell you, but that is
not biblical grounds for a Christian abandoning his or her marriage to go off
and find somebody else.
God told the Israelites that to throw away the wife of their youth
was an abomination. It made Him
sick at His stomach. So, do you think that it is going to be OK for you or
for me to do it, just because we live a few hundred years further down the line
of history? Probably not.
So here it is in a nutshell: If it was wrong back then to divorce
your spouse and marry an unbeliever, it is still a terrible sin today, and one
that God promises that He will judge. If back then God considered these
sins that the Israelites were committing to be a gross breaking of their
covenant with Him, then He is not going to change the rules for us today just
because we think we are more modern and more enlightened about these things.
May God grant us the courage to take a hard look at our attitudes
and actions in the light of His Word. And may we rely on Him for the
strength to do the hard thing rather than the easy thing—to take the narrow
road of obedience that leads to everlasting joy, rather than the wide road of
convenience and expediency that leads to judgment and death.
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