Message to the Traitors
Malachi 2:10-16
Two kinds of traitors are disclosed in this passage of Scripture:
- Those who married a daughter of a strange God, and
- Those who divorced their first wife, taken from their own nation.
In both cases they dealt treacherously and violated a sacred covenant; the former was a betrayal against their own people, in contempt of the covenant of peculiarity; the latter was a betrayal of their wives in contempt of the marriage-covenant.
The first case is stated like this: "we have all one father, one God created (or prepared) us, and we deal treacherously with one another by profaning the covenant of the fathers."
The prophecy is addressed to the Jewish people, and they are reminded of the unity of the people as sons of one father, created or prepared by one God, with whom there was a solemn covenant of the fathers - Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
Many translators have understood "father" to be God himself, in agreement with chapter 1:6, so they use a capital "F". Others understand it as Abraham which seems to fit better with the argument that they are one nation descending from one man (Genesis 17:5) The Israelites didn't call God "Father" nor called themselves "children of God": in the old Testament the only place where God was called Father is where it refers to the Lord Jesus (Isaiah 9:6), and "children of God" was reserved for the righteous (Genesis 6:2,4) and for angels (Job 1:6, 2:1, 38:7).
Created or prepared by one God has to do with the nation itself, which originated through the miraculous conception of Isaac, and was taken from Egypt and preserved miraculously by God to be His people.
The covenant required, among other things, faithfulness to the Lord God of Israel, and forbade marriages between Israelites and Canaanites (Deuteronomy 7:3). All the people would suffer if some disobeyed, so any who disobeyed were dealing treacherously with the rest.
In contempt of the covenant some Jews had married the daughter of a strange God, a euphemism for an idolatrous heathen. As a nation united in one common ancestor and created specially by God, they ought to have united in order to preserve the honour of their status. They profaned the covenant of their fathers because they lived in disobedience to the command of the God of their fathers.
Israel was holiness to the Lord (Jeremiah 2:3), taken into covenant with Him, set apart by Him for Himself, to be to Him for a name and a praise, and upon this account He loved them and delighted in them; the sanctuary set up among them was the holiness of the Lord, which He loved, of which He said, "This is my rest for ever: here will I dwell; for I have desired it." (Psalm 132:14); but by marrying strange wives they profaned this holiness, and despised the honour of it.
They committed an abomination in Israel and in Jerusalem because Judah had married the daughter of a strange god. The harm was not so much that she was the daughter of a strange nation, as there are some non-Israelite women mentioned with great honour in the Old Testament, such as Ruth and even Rahab. The abomination was marrying the daughter of a strange god, trained up in the service and worship of idols, at their disposal, as a daughter at her father's disposal, and having a dependence upon them.
Such unholy marriages appear time and time again in the Bible, with disastrous consequences to the people concerned and to the nation of Israel, for example, Samson, Solomon, Ahab, Jehoram.
In the Book of Revelation we read of the church at Pergamos which means much wedding and is typical of an unfaithful church, one of whose characteristics is the encouragement of compromises and alliances with the world, with its false religions and apostates of the Christian faith, resulting in immorality and idolatry. The consideration of the unity of the church in Christ, its founder and Father, should cause us carefully to preserve the purity of the church and to guard against all such corruption.
On an individual level we are warned against being yoked with unbelievers, whether in marriage or other joint undertakings where our standards of holy Christian conduct are likely to be compromised. If we love our Saviour, knowing how we are loved by Him, we shall be concerned to preserve our integrity, and to avoid any alliances which may jeopardise the fellowship we have with Him.
To preserve the holiness of His people, the LORD is asked to cut off from the tents of Jacob the man who enters this evil marriage, fully conscious of the sin he is committing, yet presuming to bring an offering to the LORD of hosts! God is asked not to count him any more among his people so that they are not subjected to punishment because of him.
The second case is stated like this: "You have dealt treacherously with the wife of your youth, who is your companion and your wife by covenant."
It concerns divorce: in contempt of the marriage-covenant, which God instituted for the common benefit of mankind, they treacherously abused and put away their first wife they had of their own nation.
God required them to follow His principles, and one of them is found at the very beginning, after the creation of woman from man: "therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh" (Genesis 2:24). The Lord Jesus explained that no man should separate what God had joined together (Matthew 19:4-9).
In marriage the man enters a covenant with his bride, where he vows to give her permanent protection, fidelity and love, and she vows permanent devotion, fidelity and life to him. They become an indivisible unit and the foundation of the family.
A man who divorces his wife is a traitor to her, dishonouring the marriage vow he made, and breaking his covenant with her. The tears of the betrayed wife are seen by God, who has been witness between the man and the wife of his youth, with whom he has dealt treacherously. He will not accept the man's offering at the altar.
Man (Adam) had a residue of the spirit of God, who blew in his nostrils to give him life (Genesis 2:7) . God did not do this to Eve, but she became one flesh with Adam so their children would come from godly seed. The wife has to be like the husband, spiritually as well as physically, for the sake of the family. A home where there is divorce or where there is polygamy is not a fit place in which to raise children.
A man must take heed to his spirit, and not deal treacherously against the wife of his youth, for God hates it. When a man married a girl in those days, he took his garment, his outer garment, and put it over her. This lovely custom was to signify that he was going to protect her. God says the garment covers violence when the man divorces his wife.
Spiritually, divorce came when Israel left their Lord God to commit adultery with idols. He divorced them because of this (Jeremiah 3:8).
R David Jones
10 Have we not all one Father? Has not one God created us? Why do we deal treacherously with one another by profaning the covenant of the fathers?
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!
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.
15 But did He not make them one, having a remnant of the Spirit? And why one? He seeks godly offspring. Therefore take heed to your spirit, and let none deal treacherously with the wife of his youth.
16 "For the LORD God of Israel says that He hates divorce, for it covers one's garment with violence," says the LORD of hosts. "Therefore take heed to your spirit, that you do not deal treacherously."