Malachi Chapter Two, Defiling God's Institution

 

Malachi 2:11 Judah has dealt treacherously, and an abomination has been committed in Israel and in Jerusalem, for Judah has profaned the LORD’s holy institution which He loves: He has married the daughter of a foreign god. [12] May the LORD cut off from the tents of Jacob the man who does this, being awake and aware, yet who brings an offering to the LORD of hosts!

 

For the second time in as many verses Malachi accuses Judah of treachery. The practice of treachery, or deceit, or sedition is in reference to what the prophet calls the Lord’s holy institution. Above being treacherous, the Israelites committed abomination, once more in direct reference to this institution “which He loves.” The word “abomination” is the Hebrew word, “towebah” or “toebah.” Toebah defines “someone or something as especially unique in the sense of being dangerous, sinister, and repulsive to another individual.” The same term is used in Genesis 43:32 where we read, “the Egyptians could not eat food with the Hebrews, for that is an abomination to the Egyptians.” Malachi accuses the Jews responsible for profaning this institution of being dangerous seditionists. Why? For one, there have been covenants made for the preservation of this divinely ordained institute. Secondly, such people that rebel against the ordinance are not contesting man’s rule, but God’s immutable word. They are rebels in the King’s country, inciting others to lapse and to forget their God’s commandments.

Judah has profaned the Lord’s holy institution, which He loves. First, men are still marrying daughters of foreign gods. Sacrificing to foreign gods is akin to worshiping demons. The gods of the Gentile nations are fronts for demonic powers, of whom God commanded that the Jews should not follow after, as did the nation of Canaan:

 

“They shall no more offer their sacrifices to demons, after whom they have played the harlot,” Leviticus 17:7.

 

“They provoked Him to jealousy with foreign gods; with abominations they provoked Him to anger. They sacrificed to demons, not to God, to gods they did not know, to new gods, new arrivals that your fathers did not fear,” Deuteronomy 32:16, 17.

 

“They did not destroy the peoples, concerning whom the Lord had commanded them, but they mingled with the Gentiles and learned their works…they even sacrificed their sons and their daughters to demons and shed innocent blood, the blood of their sons and daughters,” Psalm 106:34, 35, 37, 38.

 

The New Testament only expounds the teaching regarding demons as invisible powers, fallen angelic majesties that serve God’s adversary, Satan. Idolatry then was not merely seen by the Jews as the foolish and useless worship of idols of wood, stone or gold. Rather, the icons served as a focal point for demon worship. The Jewish state hardly needed provocation to slip into idolatry. They did so at the foot of Mount Sinai while waiting for Moses. They likewise did so at Acacia Grove when they mingled with Moabite women. Again they sought alien wives, choosing from the residue of the people they were once meant to utterly exterminate, as explained in Psalm 106.

 

A contemporary to Ezra, Nehemiah wrestled with this same issue extensively. Unlike Ezra, however, he was far more zealous, in the spirit of Phinehas. We read, “In those days I also saw Jews who had married women of Ashdod, Ammon, and Moab. And half their children spoke the language of Ashdod, and could not speak the language of Judah,” Nehemiah 13:23, 24. Ezra, when he had learned of the infidelity to Yahweh sat in amazement and fasted due to great sorrow. Nehemiah, however became angry on the Lord’s behalf. “So I contended with them and cursed them, struck some of them and pulled out their hair, and made them swear by God, saying, “You shall not give your daughters as wives to their sons, nor take their daughters for your sons or yourselves,” Nehemiah 13:25. The Israelites played the harlot. They were in a covenant with God, not unlike the institution of marriage between husband and wife. The New Testament again expands on this topic, informing us that Christians are espoused to Christ like a bride waiting for her groom to return for her so they might at last consummate the marriage. Idolatry is the spiritual equivalent of adultery because it does violence to a covenant that is meant to remain for life.

 

Malachi calls down a curse upon such treacherous men. He wishes them cut off from the tents of Jacob. He would rather that they be expelled, that such dangerous seditionists be put to death rather than risk them infecting even more people with the desire to rebel. It is a proud spirit that foments rebellion against authority. Because back of the rebellion is always the preconception that the rebel has a better grasp of what it means to govern than the power he seeks to overthrow. One way of rebelling is to topple that which God has erected. God loves the institution of marriage, so marriage comes under attack. Today this is a hot topic because marriage has been redefined to be many things: homosexual, polygamous, etc. But there is a defined reality as to what constitutes marriage, and the only type of marriage God recognizes as genuine. In a few verses we will return to this topic and explore it in detail.

 

 The NIV translates verse 12 this way: “As for the man who does this, whoever he may be, may the Lord remove him from the tents of Jacob—even though he brings an offering to the Lord Almighty.” The Tanakh, or the Jewish Bible, renders the verse, “May the Lord leave to him who does this no descendants dwelling in the tents of Jacob and presenting offerings to the Lord of Hosts.” The NKJV emphasizes awareness in its rendering as the rationale for wishing such a man cut off. “Being awake and aware,” indicates that this is not a sin of ignorance. Awareness means that we are mindful and alert. Being awake is to have perfect consciousness of what we are doing. Hence Malachi says such a man that marries a pagan wife knowing why he should not ought to be cut off from Jacob. To add insult to injury, knowing that he is rebelling against the clear command of his God he continues to bring an offering to atone for (cover) his sin. Such a person is a willful, deceitful hypocrite. People have various reasons for seeming to pursue God. Many do not want Him for anything but whatever benefit they might receive from at least nominally being associated with Him. Jesus entered into a debate with His own disciples early in His ministry, being so bold as to tell them, “But there are some of you who do not believe.” For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were who did not believe,” John 6:64. Our Lord isn’t interested in lip service. He never has been, and never will be. Churchianity is doomed to failure because church isn’t a social club, and its adherents are not free to determine how much of Scripture they wish to keep, and what portions they want to jettison. How many people today deliberately sin against God, think nothing of it, and still believe they are in His good graces?

 

The NIV and Tanakh focus on the worshiper’s actions, but not his mental or spiritual state. The NKJV contributes the additional comment of the worshiper’s awareness of being in the wrong and showing no remorse. Our Lord once told the Pharisees something very much applicable to this scenario when He said, “If you were blind, you would have no sin; but now you say, ‘We see.’ Therefore your sin remains,” John 9:41.