COMMENTARY ON MALACHI
LESSON NUMBER 9
Mal 2:1 “And now, O ye priests, this commandment is for you. 2 If ye will not hear, and if ye will not lay it to heart, to give glory unto My name, saith the LORD of hosts, I will even send a curse upon you, and I will curse your blessings: yea, I have cursed them already, because ye do not lay it to heart.” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .(Malachi 2:1-2)
THE IMMINENCE, EVEN PRESENCE, OF THE CURSE
INTRODUCTION
How does God respond to those who refuse to listen to Him, or do not take seriously what He says to them? Men may speculate about this, but the Lord has removed all doubt and questions about the matter.His language may appear offensive, but no individual can really afford to view what God says – anything that He says – as offensive. It is man’s ways and words that are offensive, not those of God. However, when men stop their ears to the word of the Lord, it directly impacts upon the way they think. They cannot process the thoughts of God properly. They cannot see afar off, or consider the outcome of what they are doing. They cannot associate what they are doing with a proper response to God. Sin is like a robber that depletes what few resources men who have been exposed to God may appear to have. There is always a penalty – even an immediate penalty – for being “dull of hearing” (Matt 13:15; Acts 28:27; Heb 5:11), and “slow of heart to believe” (Lk 24:25). Unbelief is always wed to “hardness of heart” (Mk 16:14). When the Lord confronts this condition, he speaks with staggering forthrightness that is designed to jar the soul awake, lest the people perish. This will become very apparent in our text. Something else to consider is the remarkable faithfulness of all of the holy prophets. Rarely were they given good news to deliver – unless it was a word of a coming Savior. Even then, there was an element of mystery about it. The Lord even told them that their words of the coming Messiah and the ministry He would have “was not unto themselves, but unto” those who would come after them (1 Pet 1:12). They would not participate in the blessing while they remained in the earth. Even so, they faithfully delivered the word.
A COMMANDMENT FOR THE PRIESTS
Malachi 2:1 “And now, O ye priests, this commandment is for you.” Other versions read, “the admonition,” NIV “this command,” NRSV “this order,” BBE “this decree,” CJB “this warning,” GWN and “this charge.” TNK The word “commandment” is the proper translation of the Hebrews word used here. Elsewhere it is also translated “precept” and “ordinance.” This speaks of something that is fixed, and is not variable. It is a statement made by God that cannot be bent or reshaped by men. It is a word to which men are obliged to respond, and by which they will be judged.
AND NOW. The words “and now” are a summons to gather all of the thought processes together and focus on what is being said. All distracting and competing considerations are to be subordinated, and the parties addressed are to concentrate on the word that follows. Other words that carry this idea include “Hear!” (Isa 55:3), “hearken” (Isa 46:3), “give ear” (Isa 32:9), and “hear the word of the Lord” (Isa 1:10). Jesus’ words carry this kind of meaning: “He that hath ears to hear, let him hear” (Mat 11:15). And again, “Let these sayings sink down into your ears” (Luke 9:44).
This word – “and now” – means there is something urgent that does not allow for any distracting consideration. This is a word that must be grasped and held, and from which the attention must not be diverted. It is serious beyond measure for God Almighty to speak, and for men not to listen attentively, with focus and determination. Faith will neither “come” nor stay where the words of God are not heard with eagerness and consistency.
O YE PRIESTS. There are times when God speaks generally – to all men. “Let all the earth fear the LORD: let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of Him” (Psa 33:8). “O earth, earth, earth, hear the word of the LORD” (Jer 22:29). “God . . . now commandeth all men every where to repent” (Acts 17:30). “ . . . let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath” (James 1:19). However, God does not always speak in such generalities – although, when He does, everyone is to give heed to what He requires of them. This text particularly has to do with leaders. God can be against those who lead His people, as seen in His words through Ezekiel: “I am against the shepherds, and I will require My flock at their hand” (Ezek 34:10). This same view is expressed to those who are charged with feeding the flock of God today: “they watch for your souls, as they that must give account” (Heb 13:17).
Here, God specifically addresses the priests. He will speak to them in view of their responsibilities, and they are to give ear to Him. God speaks in this manner – to particular people. Sinners are commanded to repent (Acts 17:31). Shepherds are commanded to feed the flock (1 Pet 5:2). Evangelists are commanded to preach the word (2 Tim 4:2). Fathers are commanded to raise their children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord (Eph 6:4). Stewards are required to be faithful (1 Cor 4:2). There are special words for husbands (Col 3:19), wives (Col 3:18), children (Eph 6:1), masters (Eph 6:9), servants (Eph 6:5), the young (1 Tim 4:12), and the aged (Tit 2:2-3). All people must learn to hear what God has to say to them specifically, particularly in the function in which they find themselves. No person is free to ignore what the Lord has to say to them.
The “priests” occupied a key role among the people of God. They were not mere figureheads. They were “ordained for men in things pertaining to God” (Heb 5:1). As they came to the Lord, they were to “sanctify themselves,” ridding themselves of anything that contaminated (Ex 19:22). They were to teach the people what God required (Lev 10:11). They were to value the offerings brought to the Lord (Lev 27:8-12). They were to distinguish between the unclean and the clean (Lev 11:47).
THIS COMMANDMENT IS FOR YOU. The commandment is what the Lord will do, not what men should do. When men institutionalize religion – something that was done in Judaism and in the professing church as well – a sense of the responsibility of spiritual leaders is lost. In such a case, devotion to the institution and the pleasing of the people drown out the awareness of one’s responsibility to the Lord. Thus it was with the priests of Malachi’s day, and the scribes and Pharisees of Jesus’ day (Matt 23). Notwithstanding the loss of this awareness, the fact of responsibility to God had not changed. Now, God breaks through the crust of formalism and tells the priests, “This commandment is for you!” They will no longer be able to hide behind the trappings of mere routine, or be hidden beneath the empty form. They are the spiritual leaders, whether they remember it or not, and they will be held to the standard God Almjghty has imposed upon them. This is the logic behind the statement, “judgment must begin at the house of God” (1 Pet 4:17). The prophet Jeremiah also pronounced this principle: “For, lo, I begin to bring evil on the city which is called by my name” (Jer 25:29). Also, when Ezekiel was told of the judgment of God against His people, he heard the Lord say, “begin at My sanctuary” (Ezek 9:6).
This is what God is doing in this text: beginning with His sanctuary. He does not begin with the outer court, or with the throne of the king. When the people have proved deficient, the Lord goes straight to the cause of spiritual deficiency – the priests! They were the ones who were charged with maintaining purity and awareness among the people. When it was lacking, the Lord took up the matter with the ones who were responsible for the care of the people.
IF YOU WILL NOT HEAR OR LAY IT TO HEART
2:2a “If ye will not hear, and if ye will not lay it to heart, to give glory unto My name, saith the LORD of hosts, I will even send a curse upon you . . .”
IF YE WILL NOT HEAR. Other versions read, “do not listen,” NASB and “will not give ear.” BBE The word “hear” has the following meaning: “listen to, obey . . . hear with attention or interest.” STRONG’S Legitimate hearing involves willingness and preference. The picture here is that of the priests having contradicting thoughts in their minds, and hearts tuned to the frequency of selfish interests. It is also concerns a body of men who had given undue attention to the will of an ungodly people, and their willingness, and even preference, to offer to the Lord what was really unacceptable to Him. Speaking through Malachi, the voice of the Lord is raised up above all of these competing sounds – and yet, it does not drown them out until the attention of the hearers is focused upon the Lord and His will. Technically speaking, God can, so to speak, outshout every competing voice. In fact, there is an appointed day when He will do this, shaking everything that is temporal down to the ground. Thus it is written, “Therefore I will shake the heavens, and the earth shall remove out of her place” (Isa 13:13). And again, “Yet once, it is a little while, and I will shake the heavens, and the earth, and the sea, and the dry land” (Hag 2:6). The promise goes out to the body of Christ, “Yet once more I shake not the earth only, but also heaven” (Heb 12:26). At that time, the mighty voice of the exalted Christ will sound, and all of the graves will empty, as the dead are raised (John 5:28-29). At that time, no competing voice will be heard! The devil and all of his hosts will be silenced. All false teachers and false prophets will cease to speak, and only the voice of the Lord will even be heard.
However, until that appointed time, the only way the voice of the Lord can be heard is to turn toward the Lord, focus upon Him, and determine not to listen to anyone else. It is only then that any clarity is realized. In this text, the Lord is addressing a word to the “priests.” Because it is not coming directly out of heaven with earth-shattering magnitude, but is rather coming from the mouth of Malachi, the priests may be prone to disregard it. They may choose NOT to listen to what God is saying, viewing Malachi as one of their peers instead of God’s spokesman. God will not overlook such insolence, and will make that quite clear.
IF YE WILL NOT LAY IT TO HEART. Other versions read, “take it to heart.” NKJV “set your heart,” NIV “pay attention,” CJB “consider it in your heart,” GENEVA “take seriously,” NET “make up your minds,” NLT and “change your ways.” LIVING
The heart is the deepest and most central part of the human makeup. That is where preferences are formed and choices are made. That is where seriousness, determination, and commitments are made. It is where pondering, meditation, and cogitation take place. To lay something “to heart” is, so to speak, to move the matter from the mind to the heart, where it can be more thoroughly ingested, and godly determinations can be made. This movement is what compels the individual to soberly consider what has been heard, pondering its implications, and shining the light of truth upon everything proceeding from self. A kind of searchlight is turned on when truth is taken into the heart, so that truth can do its work within. When truth is taken into the heart, empty routine is dismissed, and thoughtless religion is expelled.
Isaiah associated not laying a matter to heart with not knowing what God had said and was doing: “Therefore he hath poured upon him the fury of his anger, and the strength of battle: and it hath set him on fire round about, yet he knew not; and it burned him, yet he laid it not to heart” (Isa 42:25). It is also related to not remembering: “And thou saidst, I shall be a lady for ever: so that thou didst not lay these things to thy heart, neither didst remember the latter end of it” (Isa 47:7). And again, “and hast not remembered Me, nor laid it to thy heart” (Isa 57:11). In such a posture, the word of the Lord is soon forgotten, because the heart never embraced it.
TO GIVE GLORY INTO MY NAME. Other versions read, “to give honor to My name,” NASB “to honoring My name,” CJB and “to glorify My name.” NJB Here the idea is that God is glorified, or honored, when men take His word seriously, letting it “sink down” into their ears (Lk 9:44), and taking it into their hearts. Where this is not done, God will not be glorified by the individual. So far as the inattentive person is concerned, the only glory God receives is when that person is overcome and removed, like Pharaoh (Ex 9:16; Rom 9:17).
I WILL SEND A CURSE UPON YOU. Other versions read, “I will send the curse upon you,” NRSV “I will send a curse among you,” CSB “I will send poverty among you,” DOUAY “send judgment upon you,” NET and “bring a terrible curse against you.” NLT That is, nothing will work for their good or benefit. Everything will be turned against them. They will be powerless to correct their condition. This judgment can only be averted if they are willing to listen to the Lord, make a hearty determination to do what He says, and set themselves to give glory to Him. If they do not do this, they will dry up like the fig tree that Jesus cursed (Mk 11:20). To be cursed by God is to rejected by Him and doomed to futility. The flood of Noah’s day was a curse. The dispersion of the workers at Babel was a curse. The destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah was a curse. God Almighty can minister the curse as well as the blessing!
I WILL CURSE YOUR BLESSING!
2:1b “ . . . and I will curse your blessings: yea, I have cursed them already, because ye do not lay it to heart.”
I WILL CURSE YOUR BLESSINGS. Other versions read, “put a curse on your blessing,” BBE “turn your blessings into curses,” CJB “I'll curse the blessings you give,” GWN “bring a curse upon your blessing,” SEPTUAGINT and “curse even the blessings you receive,” NLT Most versions read, “I will curse your blessings.”
This text does not say that God will send them curses instead of blessings, as the Living Bible states: “instead of giving you blessings as I would like to, I will turn on you with curses.” Nor, indeed, is He saying He will curse the blessings the priests receive, as represented by the New Living Translation. These are the blessings that the priests themselves pronounced upon the people. One of those blessings was first given to Aaron, who was commanded to pronounce it over the people: “Speak unto Aaron and unto his sons, saying, On this wise ye shall bless the children of Israel, saying unto them, The LORD bless thee, and keep thee: The LORD make His face shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee: The LORD lift up His countenance upon thee, and give thee peace” (Num 6:23-26). Although the blessing was promised by God, it was conferred upon the people by the priests. Now, however, because of their failure to duly honor the Lord, their words would induce a curse rather that a blessing. That is, their religious service would invoke a curse from the Almighty rather than a blessing.
David spoke of this kind of judgment when he wrote, “Let their table become a snare before them: and that which should have been for their welfare, let it become a trap” (Psa 69:22). The Amplified Bible reads, “their own table [with all its abundance and luxury].” Their religious service would be nothing more than an exercise in vanity, and would be the occasion of Divine indignation. Their songs would become nothing more than offensive “noise” to God (Amos 5:23), and all of their worship would be “vain” (Matt 15:9). Their religious activity would become the occasion of their fall, because God turned it into a curse. The words of the priests would be powerless, their prayers would be ineffective, and their sacrifices the cause of Divine indignation.
Peter spoke of a similar circumstance, referring Jesus Christ as “a Stone of stumbling and a Rock of offense to them that stumble at the word” (1 Pet 2:8). Thus the Savior, who was sent “To bless you, in turning away every one of you from his iniquities” (Acts 3:26), actually becomes the basis of cursing. This is not because this is why He was sent, but I rather owing to the refusal of the people to receive Him in His God-ordained capacity.
I HAVE CURSED THEM ALREADY. God informs the priests that the cursing has already begun. Yet, they were completely unaware of it. Their state of deterioration was proof of the curse being upon them. When theLord confounded the builders of Babel, “they ceased building the city” NKJV (Heb 11:8). The curse was upon them, When He judged Israel for their waywardness, “they could no any longer stand before their enemies” (Judges 2:14). The curse was upon them. During the time of Jesus, the scribes and Pharisees were aggressive recruiters, compassing “sea and land to make one proselyte.” However, when they finally made a proselyte, they made “him twofold a child of hell” than themselves (Matt 23:15). The curse was upon them – even upon their religion.
During the time of Malachi, the Israelites, under the leadership of the priests, were going through the mechanics or religion. However, there was no commensurate blessing that attended their activities. They assessed their own religion by saying, “Behold, what a weariness it is” (1:13). And why was it wearisome and burdensome? It is because the curse of God was upon it. God would not allow them to extract anything truly beneficial from it.
BECAUSE YOU DID NOT LAY IT TO HEART. Again, the case is stated. God had withered the whole structure of their activities “because ye do not lay it to heart,” or “because you have not set your heart to honor me.” NIV They simply did not take God seriously – and that was because of an incorrect understanding of Him. As a direct result of this, their religion, regardless of how energetically it was carried out, made them no better. The curse of God was upon it.
THE APPLICATION TO OUR DAY. Jesus taught us to evaluate people by their fruit, not their profession, or in accordance with their appearance (Matt 7:16-20). What if the promised blessing is not found in those professing faith? What if they are not overcoming the world, living by faith, or walking in the Spirit? What are we to think if they do not seek the things that are above, even though they are told by the Lord to do so? Precisely how can we assess the perpetual presence of spiritual immaturity, the lack of a hunger and thirst for righteousness, and the absence of an increasing change into the glory of God? Or, are such things to simply be ignored? When people maintain a “form of godliness,” while rejecting its power, the curse of God is upon their religion. This is not an innocent matter, for it only occurs when people refuse to listen to the Lord, and take His word seriously. Is there any person of sound mind who is willing to affirm that God would not allow Israel to go through an empty form or religion, but will allow those in Christ Jesus to do so? Will He send a curse upon those who failed to lead His people properly, yet bless professing Christian leaders who do the same? The answer ought to be apparent to everyone.