Malachi 2:10-12
Summary for Mal 2:10-16: 2:10-16 a Malachi’s third message shows that the failure to keep the covenant extended from the priests to the people as a whole. They did not keep covenant with the Lord or with their fellow countrymen when they married foreign women, and they broke their covenants with their wives when they divorced them. The prophet now speaks to his audience as to fellow citizens, with a striking change in style from adversarial indictment (2:8-9 b) to inclusive plea (2:10 c). 2:10 d children of the same Father ... created by the same God (or by one God): These divine titles underscore the Lord’s uniqueness as Creator and his exclusive role as Israel’s Father. One God echoes the Shema, Israel’s creed of monotheism (Deut 6:4-5 e).• betray: The central thesis of this third message is that divorce is a betrayal.
• covenant of our ancestors: The prophet alludes to the covenant formed at Mount Sinai, reminding the people that the law of Moses stipulated responsibility both to God and to one another.
2:11 f Judah has been unfaithful (or treacherous), and a detestable thing has been done in Israel and in Jerusalem: Men were divorcing their wives for the economic advantage of intermarriage with non-Israelite women who worshiped idols. Through these marriages, Jewish men gained access to the merchant guilds and trading cartels already in place when the Israelites returned from Babylonia. Malachi equates this adultery with idolatry. Israelite history had shown that intermarriage with foreign women went hand in hand with worship of foreign gods. Loyalty was to be the hallmark of Israel’s covenant relationships, whether with God or with a marriage partner. Divorce treats with contempt the oneness of the marriage covenant (2:15 g; see Gen 2:24 h).
2:12 i cut off: The intent was to blot out or destroy evildoers, in contrast to social banishment or religious excommunication.
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