Malachi Chapter Two, Why Marriage Matters

 

Malachi 2:13 And this is the second thing you do: you cover the altar of the LORD with tears, with weeping and crying; so He does not regard the offering anymore, nor receive it with goodwill from your hands. [14] Yet you say, “For what reason?” Because the LORD has been witness between you and the wife of your youth, with whom you have dealt treacherously; yet she is your companion and your wife by covenant.

 

Judah profaned the Lord’s holy institution by marrying pagan women; that was his first sinful act that the Holy Spirit describes as treacherous and abominable. The second thing the men of Israel had done is to divorce their original wives. The altar of the Lord is covered in tears. Divorce creates hardship, duress and emotional fluctuations galore, speaking from experience. The Jewish women God recognized as the original and only legitimate marriage partners wept bitterly over what had been done to them. Because of their perpetual lamentation God no longer accepted the offering. Hosea wrote that God is more interested in mercy than He is in sacrifice, Hosea 6:6. Why? Mercy, in its action, requires sacrifice. If you are merciful you are sacrificing yourself for the sake of others. With such sacrifices God is well pleased.

Furthermore, Jesus explained that God will not accept an offering from His worshipers if they are entrenched in sin they were aware of. “If you bring your gift to the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar, and go your way. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift,” Matthew 5:23, 24. God values mending the relationship with an offended brother more than the gift presented at the altar. This is not entirely unlike spouses fighting, with one party at fault, but rather than admit wrong and apologize they come bearing a gift as if it’s a bribe. Unwilling to admit that they erred and hurt their spouse, they offer the gift like a sacrifice in place of their apology to make their offended partner forget. No spouse would appreciate a gift of that nature, knowing why it was given and what it represents. Maturing in a relationship requires acknowledging our faults and owning them. When we recall the wrongs we have done to others we ought to seek forgiveness, so that we in turn may make things right with God as well. Our fellowship will remain out of joint until we love our neighbor as ourselves and practice humility.

 

More than the offended brother, Peter writes about how husbands ought to treat their God-given wives. “Husbands, likewise, dwell with them with understanding, giving honor to the wife, as to the weaker vessel, and as being heirs together of the grace of life, that your prayers may not be hindered,” 1 Peter 3:7. Husbands, if we mistreat our wives, we have hindered our prayers. God will not listen because we have wounded our helpmeet. Paul adds, “Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her…so husbands ought to love their own wives as their own bodies; he who loves his wife loves himself,” Ephesians 5:25, 28. Of the bonds formed on earth, none seems to possess more sanctity, or to represent God’s relationship with mankind more than marriage. As Christ is the head and we are the bride (1 Corinthians 6:17), men are to take a wife with the awareness that she is our priority above family and other human relations, Genesis 2:24, Matthew 19:5, 6, Ephesians 5:31, 32.

 

Malachi rhetorically asks, “For what reason?” in response to the offerings no longer being regarded. There is a certain incredulous feeling here; the prophet informed his audience how the temple is veritably flooded with the tears of lamentation. Willfully ignorant and determined to proudly stay the course, the Jewish men guilty of what God called “abomination,” play at innocence. They have doubly violated the institution that God loves by marrying pagan wives and casting off the wife of their youth. Paul writes of such a travesty, warning us, “Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? And what communion has light with darkness? And what accord has Christ with Belial? Or what part has a believer with an unbeliever?” 2 Corinthians 6:14-16. I have read some books that teach this means in business and the like but the outlook here is purely spiritual. Paul, while defending his ministry, cautions the Corinthians not to involve the saints in spiritual ties with the unsaved. As mentioned previously, the covenant of marriage conducts itself in Scripture with great sanctity. God loves the institution because it is an earthly shadow of an immense spiritual reality. Believers are not meant to marry the unsaved, because our worldviews differ and our loyalties are extremely divided. This is accentuated by Paul’s comment toward widows that desire to marry. He tells us they are free to do so, “only in the Lord,” 1 Corinthians 7:39. Part of a believer’s ministry will involve their children. The house will become a battlefield when you and your partner espouse differing, conflicting beliefs. And the home, which should be a sanctuary, becomes a mission field.