MALACHI LESSON 2


     We will begin this lesson in Malachi 2:1 "And now, O ye priests,
this commandment [is] for you."

     This message is addressed specifically to the priests. The
priests were to represent God to the people, and the people to God. It
appears, they had failed to do the job God had for them to do.

     Malachi 2:2 "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."

     They were supposed to be God's agents to carry out the spiritual
things on this earth. God had given the priests the authority to bless
the people, but now their blessing will be turned to a curse. They
will be cursed themselves, because of their unfaithfulness to God. We
spoke in the last lesson, how the priesthood was no longer because of
a call in their life, but a way of making a living. They did not have
their heart in doing the will of God. They were just going through the
motions to get what they could for themselves out of it.

     Malachi 2:3 "Behold, I will corrupt your seed, and spread dung
upon your faces, [even] the dung of your solemn feasts; and [one]
shall take you away with it."

     God has lost all respect for the priests. He is speaking of them
being treated like filth, that they deserve to be treated like.

     Malachi 2:4 "And ye shall know that I have sent this commandment
unto you, that my covenant might be with Levi, saith the LORD of
hosts."

     God had called the tribe of Levi to work in the temple. The
priests and high priest were to come from this tribe. They were to eat
of the offerings of the temple. Their job was to see that the
offerings and sacrifices were continued, in the way God would have
them done. Now, the priesthood had become polluted with those who were
not called, but seeking a way of making a living. They had broken
covenant with God, by the way they were performing their duties.

     Malachi 2:5 "My covenant was with him of life and peace; and I
gave them to him [for] the fear wherewith he feared me, and was afraid
before my name."

     God had promised them life and peace, if they obeyed Him and
reverenced Him. They had broken the covenant. They no longer feared,
or reverenced, God.

     Malachi 2:6 "The law of truth was in his mouth, and iniquity was
not found in his lips: he walked with me in peace and equity, and did
turn many away from iniquity."
     They were the guardian of God's law. They spoke truth. They lived
holy before their Lord. The anointing of God was upon the Levi. God
spoke to the people through the Urim and Thummim, which the high
priest wore. His job was to keep God's people in right standing with
God.

     Malachi 2:7 "For the priest's lips should keep knowledge, and
they should seek the law at his mouth: for he [is] the messenger of
the LORD of hosts."

     This is speaking of the Lord speaking through the priest's lips.
He was an ambassador, or a messenger, to take the message of God to
His people. The priests should have never spoken their own words,
while they were ministering. The Words of the LORD should be the Words
they ministered.

     Malachi 2:8 "But ye are departed out of the way; ye have caused
many to stumble at the law; ye have corrupted the covenant of Levi,
saith the LORD of hosts."

     The priests had not lived before the people the holy life, that
should have been an example for the others. They, too, had been
involved in idol worship. The poor example they set, had caused others
to stumble and fall. This, again, should speak to our leaders in our
churches today. They must set an example of holy living. There are
some new Christians who need an example to follow.

     Malachi 2:9 "Therefore have I also made you contemptible and base
before all the people, according as ye have not kept my ways, but have
been partial in the law."

     The people had lost respect for them. Their partiality in their
judgements had caused the people to actually hate them. The had one
set of rules for the people, and another for themselves. They were
supposed to set a good example for the people, and instead, they were
sinners themselves.

     Malachi 2:10 "Have we not all one father? hath not one God
created us? why do we deal treacherously every man against his
brother, by profaning the covenant of our fathers?"

     God created all men. Some men had chosen heathen gods. The Jews
worshipped the One True God. God did not want the Hebrews mixing in
marriage with the heathen nations around them. The priests had married
outside the Hebrews themselves.

     Malachi 2:11  "Judah hath dealt treacherously, and an abomination
is committed in Israel and in Jerusalem; for Judah hath profaned the
holiness of the LORD which he loved, and hath married the daughter of
a strange god."

     It seems, that the whole nation had become involved in this
treachery. The women of the heathen nations introduced their husbands
to the worship of these false gods. God had set His people aside to be
a holy nation. They are now mixing with the heathen. We are warned
ourselves, if we are Christians, not to be unequally yoked with those
of unbelief. This was the very thing that destroyed Solomon's
relationship with God. Solomon married women of the heathen nations
around them, and they brought idols into God's holy land.

     Malachi 2:12 "The LORD will cut off the man that doeth this, the
master and the scholar, out of the tabernacles of Jacob, and him that
offereth an offering unto the LORD of hosts."

     Look at the seriousness of this in the following Scriptures.
Joshua 23:12 "Else if ye do in any wise go back, and cleave unto the
remnant of these nations, [even] these that remain among you, and
shall make marriages with them, and go in unto them, and they to you:"
Joshua 23:13 "Know for a certainty that the LORD your God will no more
drive out [any of] these nations from before you; but they shall be
snares and traps unto you, and scourges in your sides, and thorns in
your eyes, until ye perish from off this good land which the LORD your
God hath given you." It really does not make any difference about
their station in life. God will punish them all.

     Malachi 2:13 "And this have ye done again, covering the altar of
the LORD with tears, with weeping, and with crying out, insomuch that
he regardeth not the offering any more, or receiveth [it] with good
will at your hand."

     They had not only married heathen women, but they divorced their
Hebrew wives. It seems, this sin had gone on over and over. Men who
are mean to their legitimate wives cannot get their prayers heard. God
will not receive anything at their hand, because they have broken His
commandments.

     Malachi 2:14  "Yet ye say, Wherefore? Because the LORD hath been
witness between thee and the wife of thy youth, against whom thou hast
dealt treacherously: yet [is] she thy companion, and the wife of thy
covenant."

     They are so caught up in this sin, that they do not repent, and
ask God what He is displeased with them about. Sin has a way of
causing us to have hardened hearts. The more sins we commit, the less
guilty we feel. The Lord is very displeased, that they have left the
wives of their youth and married heathen women. God does not like
divorce. He will not tolerate divorce for the reason these people got
their divorces. Marriage is a covenant with the two partners, but it
is, also, a covenant with God.

     Malachi 2:15 "And did not he make one? Yet had he the residue of
the spirit. And wherefore one? That he might seek a godly seed.
Therefore take heed to your spirit, and let none deal treacherously
against the wife of his youth."

     God did not want them to marry heathens, because He wanted their
children to be Hebrew, as well. Had they followed the leading of the
Spirit, they would have remained with their Hebrew wives of their
youth. They listened to the call of their flesh to sin, instead. This
is displeasing to God.

     Malachi 2:16 "For the LORD, the God of Israel, saith that he
hateth putting away: for [one] covereth violence with his garment,
saith the LORD of hosts: therefore take heed to your spirit, that ye
deal not treacherously."

     The warfare for a man's soul is between the spirit, which wants
to obey God, and the flesh which wants to sin. Galatians 5:17 "For the
flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh:
and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the
things that ye would."  Romans 8:13 "For if ye live after the flesh,
ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the
body, ye shall live."

     Malachi 2:17  "Ye have wearied the LORD with your words. Yet ye
say, Wherein have we wearied [him]? When ye say, Every one that doeth
evil [is] good in the sight of the LORD, and he delighteth in them;
or, Where [is] the God of judgment?"

     God has lost patience with this evil generation. They say one
thing, and do another. This reminds me so much of those who will stand
before Jesus on judgement day. Matthew 7:21  "Not every one that saith
unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he
that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven."  Matthew 7:22
"Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied
in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name
done many wonderful works?" Matthew 7:23 "And then will I profess unto
them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity."  You
see, it is not what you say with your mouth, but what you believe in
your heart that pleases God. They have gone so far into sin, they do
not even believe God is coming to judge. II Peter 3:3 "Knowing this
first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after
their own lusts,"  II Peter 3:4 "And saying, Where is the promise of
his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as
[they were] from the beginning of the creation."  God is the all-
seeing eye. Nothing escapes Him. He is coming, and He will judge each
person on the earth.















                         Malachi 2 Questions


1.  Who is this addressed to?
2.  What was the purpose of the priests?
3.  Why is God putting a curse upon them and their blessings?
4.  What special privilege had God given the priests?
5.  Instead of being a call, the priesthood had become what to them?
6.  What does God say, He will do to them in verse 3?
7.  God's covenant had been with ________.
8.  My covenant was with him of _______ and _________.
9.  _____________ was found in his mouth.
10. How had God spoken to the people?
11. The priest was an ___________, or a _________, to take the message
    of God to His people.
12. Beside sinning themselves, what had they done?
13. Preachers should set an ________ for others.
14. Why had the people lost respect for them?
15. If God created all men, why did some not get saved?
16. Who had married heathen women?
17. The whole _________ had become involved in this treachery.
18. What hurt Solomon's relationship with God?
19. Quote Joshua chapter 23 verses 12 and 13.
20. Who was covering the altar with tears?
21. Why will God not receive their offerings.
22. Why did God not want them to marry heathens?
23. What is the warfare we are in?
24. Quote Galatians chapter 5 verse 17.
25. Quote Romans chapter 8 verse 13.
26. God has lost __________ with this evil generation.
27. Quote Matthew chapter 7 verses 21 through 23.
28. Quote 2 Peter chapter 3 verses 3 and 4.