Malachi Chapter Two, The Genuine Article

 

Malachi 2:6 The law of truth was in his mouth, and injustice was not found on his lips. He walked with Me in peace and equity, and turned many away from iniquity.

 

God’s word, the law of truth, was always in the heart and mind of the loyal priesthood. The Psalmist writes about Scripture: “I will meditate on Your precepts, and contemplate Your ways. I will delight myself in Your statutes; I will not forget Your word,” Psalm 119:15, 16. The wording indicates an apt pupil. Levi was an avid student of the word of God. Like Peter, he was ready to give an answer for the hope that was in him. The people sought the priests for answers, knowledge, and solace. In turn, the priests needed to be prepared to give themselves in ministry, first to God (the great commandment) and then selflessly to their neighbor (the second which was like it).

Injustice was not found in the speech of the priesthood who were devoted to the Lord. How do we know the difference between devotion and a lack of it? The Bible actually furnishes us with two very different examples of the varying state of the priesthood.

 

In 1 Samuel chapter 2 we learn more details regarding the priesthood beneath Eli’s sons. They would take unlawfully from the sacrifices, including the fat of it, which God stated was His alone, Leviticus 3:16, 17. If the worshiper refused to give the priests the fat of the offering, Eli’s sons threatened them, “but you must give it now, and if not, I will take it by force,” 1 Samuel 2:16. They also took to the habit of having casual sexual relations with the women that congregated at the tent in Shiloh, 1 Samuel 2:22. The priesthood was to have the law of truth in his mouth, at the ready. His language should be adorned with it. Eli’s sons showed great contempt for God’s offering and broke numerous laws from the Torah by laying with the women at Shiloh, e.g. Exodus 20:14, 17, 22:16. A title doesn’t change one’s character. One can be called priest or Christian in our day, but look no different (or sometimes worse) than the unsaved people we live among. Nothing brings reproach on God’s name more quickly than hypocritical followers, zealous to preach God’s judgment upon a fallen world without looking in the mirror to realize that we’re part of that fallen world. Grace separates us from the unsaved. Nothing else. John Bradford once declared, “There but for the grace of God goes John Bradford,” when he watched a procession of criminals being led to execution. He knew, as we should know, that God’s grace is the divide between the world and the church. If we have God’s grace we are a part of His church. If we lack it we are lost, no matter how moral, principled, optimistic or wise we may otherwise be. Paul, whom John Bradford was clearly paraphrasing, once wrote, “But by the grace of God I am what I am,” 1 Corinthians 15:10. Eli’s sons are a vivid depiction of those who believe titles create privilege.

 

Naming oneself Christian doesn’t make you one. Reality differs from one’s efforts to distort it. Just as I can’t simply identify as the Pope and be him, someone who claims to be Christian but does not grasp the fundamental necessities of the faith fools no one, except perhaps himself. Ezra suffered a similarly disastrous situation when he was informed, “The people of Israel and the priests and the Levites have not separated themselves from the peoples of the lands…for they have taken some of their daughters as wives for themselves and their sons…indeed, the hand of the leaders and rulers has been foremost in this trespass,” Ezra 9:1, 2. The priests and Levites were leading the way, making the common people comfortable while they violated the Law; which had been the very reason they had until recently suffered 70 years of exile. Small wonder Ezra was astonished at the news.

 

The second example can be found in a different Phinehas, the sons of Eleazer, the son of Aaron. After Balak, king of Moab, failed to curse Israel through Balaam, he determined to entice them. After Balaam’s blessings, Israel stayed in Acacia Grove and mingled with Moabite women. They committed harlotry not in the typical sexual way (but this was occurring as well), but rather in a spiritual sense. We read, “the people ate and bowed down to their gods…Israel joined to Baal of Peor,” Numbers 25:2, 3. If Balak could not destroy Israel with a frontal assault, he would defile them from within. How many professing Christian pastors and teachers have done just this very thing? It was a clever maneuver, really. Balak knew that God would not curse Israel, for, “He has not observed iniquity in Jacob, nor has He seen any wickedness in Israel,” Numbers 23:21. God’s anger was aroused against Israel since they had once more broken His covenant by worshiping other gods. When the congregation was weeping in front of the tabernacle one of their peers presented a Midianite woman to them, and he took her to wife inside a tent, Numbers 25:6, 8. Phinehas, filled with zeal for God’s name and glory, took a javelin, chased them down, and ran them through, Numbers 25:7, 8. He cared nothing for compromise or religious plurality. Sin, the unwelcome leaven, was working its way through the entire community of Israel, and Phinehas knew what had to be done.