Malachi Chapter Two, Corrupted Leadership

 

Malachi 2:1 “And now, O priests, this commandment is for you. [2] If you will not hear, and if you will not take it to heart, to give glory to My name,” says the LORD of hosts, “I will send a curse upon your blessings. Yes, I have cursed them already, because you do not take it to heart.

 

The commandment in question that God is calling the priests to task on is the translated from the Hebrew, “mitsvah.” A precept, law or ordinance, the word is associated with the Torah, or book of the Law. To get a more intimate view of the nature of the term, we learn about presumptuous sin, and what it means in the eyes of the Law. “But the person who does anything presumptuously, whether he is native-born or a stranger, that one brings reproach on the Lord, and he shall be cut off from among his people. Because he has despised the word of the Lord, and has broken His commandment (mitzvah), that person shall be completely cut off; his guilt shall be upon him,” Numbers 15:30, 31. I cite this passage because of how readily it harmonizes with the issues Malachi is currently addressing. There is a definite cause-and-effect relationship happening in Jerusalem. However, Malachi (led by the Holy Spirit) opted to diagnose and condemn the effect before addressing the cause: the priests. Chapter one describes the pitiful state of worship Israel demonstrated at the time.

We all know what it means to take something to heart. Generally, the phrase means that we are internalizing and meditating on something that we’re told. Sometimes this has a negative connotation. If it’s someone you care about, you may take their words to heart; not that you’re considering them thoughtfully, but that their callous treatment has wounded you emotionally and you’re nursing the injury. The more positive aspect of the phrase indicates serious consideration of something said. In this instance, God’s commandment. Malachi predicates taking the matter to heart with the simple insistence of hearing. “If you will not hear,” God says, and then take what is told to you to heart there will be consequences. God, who is the Father (Malachi 1:6), is reprimanding His peevish children. Paul writes, “Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God,” Romans 10:17. To reach this crucial conjunction the apostle said a little prior, “How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher?” Romans 10:14. Before there is faith, there is hearing. Before one can accept or reject a message, that message must be clearly articulated by the messenger that bears it. “For if the trumpet makes an uncertain sound, who will prepare for battle?” 1 Corinthians 14:8.

 

What then is the priesthood meant to clarify? What message are they to convey to the people, and what is the commandment? To give glory to God’s name. The Aaronic priesthood was to minister day and night to the Lord, and tend to the things of God. Before the kingship, before David’s dynasty, Israel was always a theocratic state. Its power was not derived from the throne of Jerusalem, but from its temple, and the God whose unique presence, the Shekinah glory, resided within it. The resident judges that reigned over certain portions of Israel between the days of Joshua and Saul were men and women filled with Holy Spirit. Though not kings, the people listened to them because God chose them to act and judge on His behalf. God likewise divinely ordained the monarchy of Israel. Saul, Israel’s first king, was chosen because he was asked for: literally what his name meant, 1 Samuel 9:2, 16, 17. Saul fit the desired picture the Jews must have collectively carried of what a king ought to be. Tall, rugged and handsome, Saul was chosen by God, but his heart was not fully with Him. In that respect Israel’s first king reflected their own spiritual state: they wanted a visible head for their people to unite them because they did not wholly rely on the One who is Spirit. “They have not rejected you [Samuel], but they have rejected Me, that I should reign over them,” 1 Samuel 8:7.