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Malachi 2 (ESV)

Judah Profaned the Covenant

¹⁰ Have we not all one Father? Has not one God created us? Why then are we faithless to one another, profaning the covenant of our fathers? ¹¹ Judah has been faithless, and 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. ¹² May the Lord cut off from the tents of Jacob any descendant of the man who does this, who brings an offering to the Lord of hosts!

¹³ And this second thing you do. You cover the Lord’s altar with tears, with weeping and groaning because he no longer regards the offering or accepts it with favor from your hand. ¹⁴ But you say, “Why does he not?” Because the Lord was witness between you and the wife of your youth, to whom you have been faithless, though she is your companion and your wife by covenant. ¹⁵ Did he not make them one, with a portion of the Spirit in their union? And what was the one God seeking? Godly offspring. So guard yourselves in your spirit, and let none of you be faithless to the wife of your youth. ¹⁶ “For the man who does not love his wife but divorces her, says the Lord, the God of Israel, covers his garment with violence, says the Lord of hosts. So guard yourselves in your spirit, and do not be faithless.”

 

REFLECTION:

• The sins of the Israelites were threefold:

1. Forsaking the covenant (10) of God (their heavenly Father). This affects the entire nation, just as Adam’s sin affected the entire human race; Achan’s sin caused the Israelites to be defeated at the hands of Ai.
2. The sin of marrying the daughter of a foreign god (11). This is not racism, but because God does not want His people to be infected with idolatry and other terrible sins of the Gentiles.
3. Uncleanness in marriage (14). Divorce is an abomination to God; the original meaning of verse 15 is: God could have made many wives for Adam, but He made only one Eve in order to bring forth godly offspring.

• At the time, only the man could file for divorce (14-15). They are unfaithful to their partners, and they don’t care about God’s intentions—the husband and wife become one flesh, and they educate their offspring to fear God. In fact, they not only abandoned their wives, but also ignored their relationship with God and ignored the true meaning of spiritual communication with God.
• The words “guard yourselves in your spirit” (15-16) remind us to take marriage as seriously as God takes His promises to His people. A marriage relationship needs to be maintained by affection, so that both parties can be satisfied, and this affection should only be concentrated on the spouse.

 

PRAYER:

Dear God! Thank You for establishing marriages where husbands and wives are fulfilled in loving relationships; and for building spiritual families that produce godly offspring. Lord, keep me holy in my relationship with the opposite sex, so that my marriage may glorify Your name.

 

HYMN: