malachi“major” thoughts

from a “minor” prophet

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A Recap of Malachi 2:1-9 • We spoke about the need for proper teaching and

the requirement to be on guard against false teaching.

• At the time of Malachi, the priests were not teaching the people of Israel in an adequate way, causing many to stumble and fall into sin.

• God strongly urged the priests to change their ways or suffer some pretty significant consequences.

Marriage and Divorce

Is the Scriptural position on marriage and divorce irrelevant or is there something substantial and consequential to a Christian understanding of marriage and divorce?

Malachi 2:10-16“Do we not all have one Father? Did not one God create us? Why do we profane the covenant of our ancestors by being unfaithful to one another? Judah has been unfaithful. A detestable thing has been committed in Israel and in Jerusalem: Judah has desecrated the sanctuary the LORD loves by marrying women who worship a foreign god. As for the man who does this, whoever he may be, may the LORD remove him from the tents of Jacob —even though he brings an offering to the LORD Almighty.

 Another thing you do: You flood the LORD’s altar with tears. You weep and wail because he no longer looks with favor on your offerings or accepts them with pleasure from your hands.  You ask, “Why?” It is because the LORD is the witness between you and the wife of your youth. You have been unfaithful to her, though she is your partner, the wife of your marriage covenant. Has not the one God made you? You belong to him in body and spirit. And what does the one God seek? Godly offspring. So be on your guard, and do not be unfaithful to the wife of your youth. The man who hates and divorces his wife,” says the LORD, the God of Israel, “does violence to the one he should protect,” says the LORD Almighty. So be on your guard, and do not be unfaithful.”

Introductory Comments• It is really important that we read these verses in their

complete context. • The context of Malachi 2:16 is rich; encasing the issue

of divorce in a discussion about marriage, covenant faithfulness, unity and integrity of worship and behaviour.

• Our passage today contains some of the most difficult to translate verses in Scripture. Getting a firm solid translation to this text is almost like herding cats …

Digging into Malachi 2:10-16

• It is God who both fathered and created the people of Israel by choosing them and calling them out of the peoples of the earth.

• A covenant is an agreement made in love and trust where no obligations are placed upon either party. A covenant sounds like this: “I will do X and you will do Y”.

• A contract contains obligations from both parties and allows the contract to be broken by either party if these obligations are not met. In simple terms, a contract sounds like this: “If you do X, I will do Y”.

• When God entered into a covenant with Israel He promised to love them and in turn Israel promised to be His people – obedience to God is inherent in the covenant. He would be their God and they would be His people.

• God’s relationship with His people is a covenantal, not a contractual, relationship.

• The Danger of “Sound Bite” Theology• Our passage this morning emerges from a discussion

of unacceptable offerings or improper worship. • Over the next few verses we are presented with

three specific situations:1. a man who brings offerings, yet marries a foreign

woman2. a man who floods the altar of God with

tears but divorces his wife3. a man who zealously sacrifices to God, yet

hates his wife.

• Marriage is something instituted by God … therefore it is He who makes the ground rules.

• Marriage is a lifelong covenant relationship between one man and one woman, based on a choice to love. It is not a contract.

• Marriage is also a covenant before God that together as one flesh, the married couple will remain faithful to God.

• Because marriage is instituted by God, He is in essence the object of the marriage – in all aspects of one’s marriage, glory should be brought to God.

Marriage

• The first circumstance that God addresses involves Israelites who are marrying those who actively worship foreign gods.

• The apostle Paul touches on a similar issue in 2 Corinthians 6:14 saying: “Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common?”.

• The Yoke of Marriage• When both animals are pulling in the

same direction, the forward momentum created is amazingly powerful. But as soon as one of the animals pulls unequally in one direction or the other, we encounter a problem. One of two things occurs … either the second animal is pulled off track or the oppositional force causes the yoke to splinter to pieces.

• As a married couple – one yoked together in marriage – we ought to pull in the same direction, to the same end.

• Because marriage is a covenantal relationship established between the couple and God and the covenant people are attached to one another through faith in the one true God, the introduction of a “foreign” element is a fundamental violation of this intimate bond.

• When worship of the One True God is not a common aim, oppositional forces come into play. The result is that one of the partners is either pulled off track or the yoke splinters …

• Traditionally within Judaism, a divorce could be granted for nearly any reason, including disobedience.

• The material of the New Testament makes it evidently clear that marriages were to remain intact, except in the case of marital unfaithfulness.

• Divorce is also permissible in the case of abandonment or abuse – our passage makes it clear that spouses are to protect each other, not do violence unto one another.

• When the oppositional forces in an unequally yoked marriage get to the point where the yoke is set to splinter, it is better allow the yoke to be broken peaceably, than to be pulled off track in one’s relationship with God.

• Divorce is obviously never God’s intention for a married couple.

• God includes this exception clause not to legitimize divorce, but to offer protection.

• What began to happen among the men of Israel at the time of Malachi, specifically, was that they began sending their Israelite wives away, abandoning them to the life of a widow, in order to marry exotic foreign women.

• I believe the best translation of verse 16 looks like this: “for I hate, says the God of Israel, when you send your wives away and yet cover your garment with violence”.

• God’s ire is drawn by these men who callously hate and divorce their wives and then piously approach the altar of God, questioning why God seems to be so reluctant to accept their offerings.

• These men treat their marriage covenants with flippancy, yet demand God’s faithfulness to His covenant with His people.

• This passage helps us to see that it is the whole of our lives that matters to God, not simply some subset of religious behaviours.

• The way we treat our spouses is important and does affect our relationship with God. And this is why God desires access to our marriages – He desires to create new life within our marriages.

• The new life generated by God’s presence in the marriage relationship, should spill out in the form of Godly children, as well as in proper worship of God – a one-flesh life devoted wholly to God.

• Our worship of God is only as good as our relationship with others. We are to remain in right relationship with others as we seek to remain in right relationship with God.

• We cannot divorce our earthly relationships from our worship of God … it’s all part of the same package.

• Let us offer our marriages and our other human relationships to God as objects of worship, bringing glory, praise and honour to God through them.