Honoring the Lord - Part 2 (Malachi 2:1-9)
INTRODUCTION:
Last Sunday we began looking at the LORD’S charge against the priests. The charge was that they were despising the name of the LORD. They were doing this by bringing polluted animals to the LORD’S altar, in fact we learned that it went farther than that, they held the altar and the whole sacrificial system in contempt. Instead of regarding the temple service as an undeserved honor, they regarded it as a distasteful, miserable job.
This morning we will see that this contempt that the priests had for God’s glory would bring God’s pronouncement of judgment on them. Their contempt for God’s glory also led them to have contempt for God’s Law and because of this God’s judgment was coming. This message is really a message for anyone who is in ministry that we be careful to practice what we preach. To be careful to give God the glory for all that He does. This is a message for me, but it is a message for anyone who teaches or preaches God’s Word. Let’s pray and then get into God’s Word this morning.
--PRAY--
Turn in your Bibles this morning to Malachi 2:1-9. These verses are just a continuation of the verses we looked at last week, the LORD of hosts is still speaking to the priests. This is another instance when the chapter break should not have been here. Please stand if you are able for the reading of God’s Word and follow along as I read.
Malachi 2:1-9,
“’And now this commandment is for you, O priests. If you do not listen, and if you do not take it to heart to give honor to My name,’ says the Lord of hosts, ‘then I will send the curse upon you and I will curse your blessings; and indeed, I have cursed them already, because you are not taking it to heart. Behold, I am going to rebuke your offspring, and I will spread refuse on your faces, the refuse of your feasts; and you will be taken away with it. Then you will know that I have sent this commandment to you, that My covenant may continue with Levi,’ says the Lord of hosts. ‘My covenant with him was one of life and peace, and I gave them to him as an object of reverence; so he revered Me and stood in awe of My name. True instruction was in his mouth and unrighteousness was not found on his lips; he walked with Me in peace and uprightness, and he turned many back from iniquity. For the lips of a priest should preserve knowledge, and men should seek instruction from his mouth; for he is the messenger of the Lord of hosts. But as for you, you have turned aside from the way; you have caused many to stumble by the instruction; you have corrupted the covenant of Levi,’ says the Lord of hosts. ‘So I also have made you despised and abased before all the people, just as you are not keeping My ways but are showing partiality in the instruction.’” (Malachi 2:1–9, NASB95)[1]
JUDGMENT ANNOUNCED FOR NOT HONORING GOD (Malachi 2:1-4)
Because the priests despised the LORD’S altar which was the same as despising the LORD, they deserved punishment or judgment. This announcement of judgment is called a commandment in verse one of chapter two, it is a commandment from God who ordained and issued orders for it to be carried out and it is for the priests.
The LORD of hosts says that if they do not listen and if they do not take it to heart to give honor to the LORD then judgment is coming, a curse, the honor and glory that is due Him as their Father and their Master, so within this commandment is a conditional clause, what the priests must do if they want to avoid the judgment that is coming. To avoid the judgment that is coming they must change their attitudes and their actions and give God the glory and honor due Him. The priests would have to conform to the requirements laid out for them in the Law in regard to the kind of sacrifices that would be acceptable to bring to the altar, they would have to honor God in their attitude and view this not as a job, but a ministry given to them by the LORD. Failure to change and begin honoring the LORD in their service would result in the LORD’S curse coming upon them, they would experience God’s wrath against them for their sin.
The LORD declares that this curse will not only come upon them, but that their blessings will also be cursed. What does this exactly mean? It can mean one of two things, or it refers to both. I believe that it refers to both. First, it refers to the blessing they received being ordained to the priesthood, which included spiritual as well a material blessing. The material would be in the form of the tithes and offerings of the people which made up the income of the priest, the spiritual was part of the covenant and it was life and peace. Second, it refers to the blessing that the priests would pronounce over the people. In Numbers 6:23-27 we read about this, Moses writes, “Speak to Aaron and to his sons, saying, ‘Thus you shall bless the sons of Israel. You shall say to them: The Lord bless you, and keep you; The Lord make His face shine on you, And be gracious to you; The Lord lift up His countenance on you, And give you peace.’ So they shall invoke My name on the sons of Israel, and I then will bless them.” (Numbers 6:23–27, NASB95)[2] If the LORD was referring to both of these blessings then the priests would not receive their full income, and life and peace would be in jeopardy, but also the blessing of the people would be more of a curse, because God would not bless them, because the priests were not honoring Him by giving Him the glory due Him. The LORD declares that He has already cursed their blessings because the priests had not taken to heart the announcement of judgment to change their ways and their attitudes to bring honor and glory to the LORD.
There are three results that come from this curse upon the priests. The first result of the curse would be against their seed, this is the word in Hebrew and it can refer either to seed that you plant, and it grows, or it can refer to offspring or descendants. My Bible translates it as offspring which is the more probable since it then speaks of the removal of the priests from their office. It may refer to them not being able to have anymore children, not having anyone to follow in their footsteps and become priests after them.
The second result of these priests being cursed would be dishonor. God speaks of spreading refuse on their faces, the word in Hebrew refers to dung or what was in the bowels of the animals that were sacrificed. This action would render the priest unclean and unable to perform his duties at the altar during their great feasts and holidays. Most understand this to be figurative for the contempt that the priests would come to have in the eyes of the people. It is significant that the LORD refers to the feasts as your feasts and not My feasts. The sin of the priests in not honoring the LORD in despising God’s altar had canceled out the spiritual value of the feasts.
The third result of the curse was like what that was not burned on the altar, the skin, entrails, the dung, all this was carried outside the city and burned, because they had dung spread on their faces they would be carried out with the rest, in other words the priests would be treated as filth by the people and they would be swept out of their position, out of the office of priest.
The design of the curse or the reason that it would be brought upon the priests who refused to give glory to the LORD of hosts was to shake them up, to bring them out of their complacency and to wake them up to their sin. The LORD says that when this curse comes upon them, when they begin to experience the effects of the curse, they will know that it is sent from the LORD of hosts, they will understand that this commandment was spoken to them by the very One whom they were not honoring, the One who was their Father and their Master.
Secondly, this curse was designed to purge or purify the priesthood so that His covenant with the tribe of Levi would continue. Remember God had chosen the tribe of Levi out of all the tribes of Israel to have the ministry of the temple. The family of Aaron was chosen to be the priests, but each of the other families in the tribe of Levi had roles in the ministry of the temple. The LORD when He speaks of Levi here is specifically referring to the priestly line that came from Aaron and was passed down through his descendants. The LORD of hosts is willing to send this curse to purge and purify the priestly line that His covenant with the tribe of Levi as the ministers of the temple would continue. If they would repent and give God the glory that was due Him they would be purified from the evil they were doing, if not the LORD would remove their family from the priesthood.
THE IDEAL PRIEST UNDER THE COVENANT (Malachi 2:5-7)
In verses 5-7 the LORD describes the ideal priest under the covenant, this description is so that these priests realize how they have not upheld the covenant that the LORD made with Aaron and his sons. The LORD’S description cannot be traced to any one priest that is mentioned in the Bible, except for Jesus Christ Himself who is our perfect High Priest.
A covenant is an agreement between two parties, in this case it was between the LORD and the tribe of Levi, specifically the line of Aaron with whom the covenant of the priests was made. God’s part of the covenant was to grant life and peace. To Aaron’s line God gave the undisturbed enjoyment of life, abundance and prosperity. The priests under the covenant were to enjoy God’s peace in their lives. My version then says, “… and I gave them to him as an object of reverence; so he revered Me and stood in awe of My name.” (Malachi 2:5b, NASB95)[3] I think the ESV is a better translation when it says, “…and I gave them to him. It was a covenant of fear, and he feared me. He stood in awe of my name.” (Malachi 2:5b, ESV)[4] God gave to them the life and peace that He promised, but for the priesthood it was a covenant of fear, the thought of losing the high privilege of priesthood by showing contempt for God or by being careless in caring out the requirements of the Law concerning the altar and the work of the temple was horrifying to Levi, the priestly line. The priestly line of Levi responded on His part of the covenant by fearing God and before God’s name he was afraid. In other words, the priestly line was to show reverence for the LORD standing before Him in humility and being afraid or in awe of God’s name. They were to give the LORD the honor and glory that was due Him. The priests of Malachi’s day had forgotten that the covenant with the LORD was a covenant of fear, that life and peace could be lost, forfeited by not showing the LORD the fear, the reverence and honor that are His, by not constantly standing in awe of His name because of who He is, the Creator, the Sustainer, the Sovereign Ruler of the universe, the mighty God who had chosen Israel to be His people. They had forgotten that the high privilege of the priesthood could be lost by breaking the covenant. The LORD is reminding these priests that the original priests, Aaron and his sons and grandsons, took their responsibilities as priests to the LORD seriously and carried out their roles reverently.
In verses 6-7 the LORD describes the high standard of the priestly covenant, what a priest should be like under the covenant. First, the priest was to be trustworthy and morally pure in doctrine. The LORD says, “True instruction was in his mouth…” (Malachi 2:6a, NASB95)[5] What this means is that the priests were to know the Law and they were not to teach their own views or human theories, or interpretations, or speculations. They were to teach the infallible and unchangeable Word of God as they had written for them in the Law, the history and poetry and the prophets.
Second, the priest was to be unswerving in his judgments. The LORD says, “…and unrighteousness was not found on his lips…” (Malachi 2:6b, NASB95)[6] The word translated “unrighteousness” is literally “iniquity” and is from the root meaning crookedness. This phrase means that they were not to twist the law to meet their own means, their legal decisions were to be based only on the law and were not to be prejudiced in any way.
Third, the priest was to be pure and righteous in his conduct. The Lord says, “…he walked with Me in peace and uprightness…” (Malachi 2:6c, NASB95)[7] In other words, his life was to be an example of godly living. His life as well as his teaching was to be pure and good. He was to be a friend of God, walking in peace with Him. This life of purity and godliness was his way of life both publicly and privately.
Fourth, the priest was to be focused in his work for the Lord. The LORD says, “…and he turned many back from iniquity.” (Malachi2:6d, NASB95)[8] The priest was to turn people to the Lord, their way of life and their faithful teaching of God’s Word would cause many to turn from sin and to seek the Lord.
Fifth, the priest should be immersed in knowledge and the preserver of it. The LORD says, “For the lips of a priest should preserve knowledge…” (Malachi 2:7a, NASB95)[9] It was the responsibility of the priest to study the Word of God and to teach it faithfully. This knowledge included the correct ritual and the ceremonial rules, but also the true knowledge of God that brings about right living and spiritual growth. The priest was also the appointed interpreter of the law, and the people needed to have confidence in the priest to teach the Word of God accurately and to judge justly so that they would seek instruction from his mouth.
Sixth, the priest was to be honored in his position. The LORD says, “…for he is the messenger of the Lord of hosts.” (Malachi 2:7c, NASB95)[10] The priest was to be honored because he spoke the words of the LORD of hosts, he was the chosen messenger of God’s Word to the people. This was an honor bestowed on him by God who had chosen Aaron’s line from the tribe of Levi to serve the Lord as priests before Him. This may have been a play on words, remember Malachi means “my messenger” and Malachi wrote that the priests were to be the messengers of the LORD of hosts.
This passage teaches us and was to teach the priests of Malachi’s day what the ideal priest was to look like, how he was to conduct himself in his office.
THE BETRAYAL OF THE COVENANTAL IDEAL (Malachi 2:8-9)
The closing verses of this passage show us that the priests of Malachi’s day had broken every standard of the covenant with the LORD. First, they lived the opposite of the ideal. The LORD says they had turned from the way, they are not leading godly, pure lives. Their lives were full of sin and impurity before God. Second, they were not the example that they were to be to the people, instead of their lives leading people to the LORD, the LORD says that they have caused many to stumble by the instruction that was not true, instead of teaching God’s Word faithfully they were teaching false instruction in their words and by example. Third, the priest was unfaithful in commitment. The LORD says they have corrupted the covenant of Levi, they have broken the covenant by not fearing the LORD and giving Him the glory and honor due Him.
Because they had broken the covenant, because they had despised the LORD, He says He will punish them by making them despised and humiliated before all the people. The Lord would do this because they were not keeping His ways, because they disregarded the law concerning what was an acceptable sacrifice and what was not, because they were causing the people to stumble and sin by their teaching and example. They were showing contempt for God’s law by showing partiality in judging the people, they despised God’s law by not upholding it the same for all.
CONCLUSION:
The LORD had pronounced His commandment on the priests of Malachi’s day because they had broken the covenant of Levi. They had failed to fear the LORD of hosts and stand in awe of His name. They complained that God was not holding up the covenant by granting them life and peace without realizing that it was their own sin that had brought about the breach in the covenant. The holiness of God demanded that the priests be judged for their sin. They were the spiritual leaders of the day, they were to honor God in every way before the people and they instead had despised Him by having contempt for the sacrificial system, by having contempt for His glory thinking He was not being faithful to the covenant when it was them who were unfaithful and by having contempt for the Law by not teaching it faithfully and truthfully and by perverting its justice in judging the people.
What does this say to us? I said this was a message for me as your pastor, or for anyone who teaches or preaches God’s Word. We have a high standard to uphold, we must be faithful and accurate in what we teach, but we must also live our lives by the same standards that we teach. We must direct all glory to the Lord. We must be faithful to the Lord Jesus Christ, we must seek to obey God’s Word and live lives of purity and godliness, both publicly and privately. James wrote in James 3:1, “Let not many of you become teachers, my brethren, knowing that as such we will incur a stricter judgment.” (James 3:1, NASB95)[11] As pastors, as Bible study teachers, as Sunday School teachers we must accurately handle the Word of God. We must allow the Holy Spirit to teach us and mold us as we renew our minds through the Word of God. May each of us be able to echo the words of Paul from our Scripture reading this morning because we have allowed God to teach us and we have allowed God to use us to minister His Word to others. Paul wrote in 2 Timothy 4:7-8, “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith; in the future there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day; and not only to me, but also to all who have loved His appearing.” (2 Timothy 4:7–8, NASB95)[12]
[1]New American Standard Bible : 1995 Update. La Habra, CA : The Lockman Foundation, 1995
[2]New American Standard Bible : 1995 Update. La Habra, CA : The Lockman Foundation, 1995
[3]New American Standard Bible : 1995 Update. La Habra, CA : The Lockman Foundation, 1995
[4]The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016.
[5]New American Standard Bible : 1995 Update. La Habra, CA : The Lockman Foundation, 1995
[6]New American Standard Bible : 1995 Update. La Habra, CA : The Lockman Foundation, 1995
[7]New American Standard Bible : 1995 Update. La Habra, CA : The Lockman Foundation, 1995
[8]New American Standard Bible : 1995 Update. La Habra, CA : The Lockman Foundation, 1995
[9]New American Standard Bible : 1995 Update. La Habra, CA : The Lockman Foundation, 1995
[10]New American Standard Bible : 1995 Update. La Habra, CA : The Lockman Foundation, 1995
[11]New American Standard Bible : 1995 Update. La Habra, CA : The Lockman Foundation, 1995
[12]New American Standard Bible : 1995 Update. La Habra, CA : The Lockman Foundation, 1995