Malachi chapter 2

vs 10

Father here could be in reference to God, or to Abraham. Since the point is made about God as creator straight afterwards, it's either repetition or making both points. Malachi takes this fact, and puts it starkly against another fact - that the Jews are being unfaithful to each other by not keeping the covenant.

I've got to say I don't think we see the covenant this way very often. We tend to think that individuals will get punished for their individual breaking of the covenant. But that's not how it works. God made Israel swear to covenant as a nation, so they have to keep it all together, or else let down the whole side. If you don't believe me, think of Achan after Ai.

vs 11

See, although we can assume that not every single person has married a foreign woman, the fact is that some have, and that is a blemish against the whole society.

vs 12

It's not good enough to bring offerings to God, to be one who keeps the wheels of the system in motion financially. Offerings are not just a membership fee of the club. Following the covenant is what keeps you separate from everyone else, not the giving of offerings.

Imagine praying this prayer today - "May God remove from our church anyone who brings Christ into disrepute, regardless of how much money they put in the offering each week". There's a lot of churches that are afraid of offending the big money-spinners because they'll lose their funding.

vs 13

So the question that immediately comes to my mind is, "How do they know?" Obviously there is some sort of calamity occuring, and the people of Jerusalem are linking this calamity with the fact that their offerings aren't being accepted. I don't know what it is, perhaps Malachi will give us a clue.

vs 14

At least they ask why! I wonder how many of us are so out of tune with God that we can do sinful things, and not even notice that our relationship with God is going pearshaped?

This could be read two ways. It could be that the Jews were marrying young foreign tarts and disrespecting their Jewish wives. Or it could be a reference to the Jews being unfaithful to another relational covenant, this time between them and God. After all, they have been unfaithful to God, and he stands as witness against them. Of course, it could be both - that God is unhappy with them because they're divorcing their old Jewish wives.

vs 15

Can you believe this is all one verse? I think the numbering monk got tired when he got to Malachi.

It's really mixed up. Has not God made which two one? A person and their wife surely. Or are God and his people one? The next sentence makes it sound like it's talking about the people and God because of the masculine pronoun. But then, what's this about offspring? The truth is that everything up to this point in this verse is in questionable Hebrew, so it is not easily understood.

So what is the focus? I don't actually think it matters. If it is about marriage, then it flows into the more spiritual meaning anyway.

vs 16

I think since God specifically says "I hate divorce" here that there was a problem with divorce at the time. But God also hates injustice altogether. It's possible that vs 15 is a message to the Jews to be on guard and not be unfaithful to their Jewish wives, and this is a message to be on guard and not be unfaithful to God.

vs 17

Again we have this question and answer motif going. This time, they have wearied God not with their actions, but with their words. Apparently, they've been saying that God loves people who do evil, or they have been doubting that God is just, or commenting that God's justice is missing or late.

Before you think it's crazy for anyone to say the first one (because hey, that's what I thought when I read it) remember that people say it now. "God is love, tra la la, he'd never hurt anyone, everyone goes to heaven hurrah!" Bollocks. The second one sounds far more plausible to us, but probably sounds a whole lot less plausible to them.