Malachi 2:1- 17
1 “And now, you priests, this warning is for you. 2 If you do not listen, and if you do not resolve to honor my name,” says the Lord Almighty, “I will send a curse on you, and I will curse your blessings. Yes, I have already cursed them, because you have not resolved to honor me.
3 “Because of you I will rebuke your descendants; I will smear on your faces the dung from your festival sacrifices, and you will be carried off with it. 4 And you will know that I have sent you this warning so that my covenant with Levi may continue,” says the Lord Almighty. 5 “My covenant was with him, a covenant of life and peace, and I gave them to him; this called for reverence and he revered me and stood in awe of my name. 6 True instruction was in his mouth and nothing false was found on his lips. He walked with me in peace and uprightness, and turned many from sin.
7 “For the lips of a priest ought to preserve knowledge, because he is the messenger of the Lord Almighty and people seek instruction from his mouth. 8 But you have turned from the way and by your teaching have caused many to stumble; you have violated the covenant with Levi,” says the Lord Almighty. 9 “So I have caused you to be despised and humiliated before all the people, because you have not followed my ways but have shown partiality in matters of the law.”
10 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?
11 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. 12 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.
13 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. 14 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.
15 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.
16 “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.
17 You have wearied the Lord with your words.
“How have we wearied him?” you ask.
By saying, “All who do evil are good in the eyes of the Lord, and he is pleased with them” or “Where is the God of justice?”
The priests of Malachi's time were admonished for failing to do their duties as priests...If the priests were not showing the proper respect to God, others would see this, especially the younger generation and no good would come out of this...The corruption among the priests might filter down to many more believers...And God through Malachi wants it stopped...Faithful men should seek instruction through their nearby priests...Priests must be faithful...
God is faithful...God is our Father...He created us...So we have only Father and He has been with man from the beginning...And in the beginning God created Adam and Eve...In one of the earliest of covenants God tells us that He made man, and them made Eve out of Adam...He made Eve from Adam's personal rib...The husband and his wife, being from the rib, are to be at each other's side...That is why a man leaves his father and mother and is united to his wife, and they become one flesh...
God has seen many husbands and wives break their faith with their spouses...And man is to stay with his wife, and the wife with her husband...God hates divorce...When we do our vows in His church and over His words then the LORD is a witness over these things...The LORD joins the husband and wife and they become one...Husband and wife become one in Spirit and in one flesh after they are married...We must guard our Spirit and we must guard our faith...We are not to take our Spirit and our faith and our vows lightly...Husband and wives are to be and remain faithful...