Malachi Chapter Two, Fearing the Lord

 

Malachi 2:5 “My covenant was with him, one of life and peace, and I gave them to him that he might fear Me; so he feared Me and was reverent before My name.

 

God’s covenant was with Levi. Not the individual son of Jacob, mind you. No, God through Jacob didn’t necessarily bless Levi when they last spoke. Levi, along with Simeon, murdered the male residents of Shechem over the issue of their sister Dinah, Genesis 34:25, 26. Jacob recalled that heartless, barbaric act and cursed them for it in the final moments of his life. “Simeon and Levi are brothers; instruments of cruelty are in their dwelling place…for in their anger they slew a man…cursed be their anger, for it is fierce…I will divide them in Jacob and scatter them in Israel,” Genesis 49:5-7. Levi in life was apparently a fierce man. Though he was humbled enough to acknowledge his wrong and return to defend Benjamin from wrongful imprisonment Jacob’s benediction certainly entailed nothing flattering for him. Perhaps this is where, in embryo, God’s plan for the Levites truly began. Jacob told his son that he and Simeon would be “divided” and “scattered.” That was elegantly fulfilled when Levi was later chosen by God to serve as priests through the Aaronic priesthood and as Levites tending to the tabernacle. Levi couldn’t be more scattered than by not having any designated plot of land. Instead they had Levitical cities, and the cities of refuge. “The Levites have no part among you, for the priesthood of the Lord is their inheritance,” Joshua 18:7.

So as Israel in general was the chosen people of God, selected out from among the nations, the tribe of Levi was the priestly tribe, and only through the mediation of Levi could the children of Israel approach their God. This was a tremendous responsibility to uphold, but also a great honor. Unfortunately people can grow numb to the blessings we are given and take them for granted. We may even start to despise them and pervert their intention. Work is a blessing, but how many people hate their employment and pine for their “dream job,” never pausing to consider that simply having a job is a dream for many people. How many of us marry, only to become disenchanted with our spouse? The good life is apparently not as good as we were told, and seeing this person at their worst as well as their best day in and day out becomes dull and numbingly repetitive. One reason divorce has become so easy is because we lack the will to acknowledge that love is a blessing, more than sentiment or fleeting emotion. Not even the divine is sacred, so to speak. To preserve the blessing we must be renewed by likeminded people, making fellowship essential. Prayer and Scripture are vital. We need to be reminded over and over again about the importance of glorifying God in our life; and one important aspect of that would be having the eyes to recognize and cherish the blessings He’s seen fit to visit us with.

 

The blessings mentioned in verse 2 appear to be life (long, healthy life) and peace. Again this indicates that the curse sent to overturn the blessings may indeed be premature death for the sin of disobedience and misleading the people. God bestows blessing upon Levi to the end that the priestly tribe fears Him: a term denoting reverential awe and respect. This is not servile fear. Servile fear is like a criminal hiding in a house while the police are on his trail. He is afraid of capture, afraid of jail, afraid of judgment. The Levites fear God in the sense that they esteem His name. This entails His nature and divine qualities that are applied by its invocation. When we speak of President Joe Biden we don’t generally mean the man; we infer his office and all that his title entails. Joe Biden becomes the representative of the office of the American president. In this way God’s name is invoked. Levi did indeed fear the living God, and as God blessed the priestly tribe with health and peace, they in turn were reverential in their treatment of Yahweh’s house.