NOTES for Mal 2:1-12

The second chapter of the book of the prophet Malachi begins with a new denunciation of the unfaithful priests of Israel, no longer connected with negligence in offering sacrifices. The Lord says that "the priest's lips should keep knowledge, and they should seek the law at his mouth"; consequently, it is precisely the instruction of the people that is laid upon the priesthood as a duty. However, in the times of Malachi, the priests not only despised this duty, but they themselves set an example in violating the law. The Lord says to this that for people in general and for the Levitical priesthood in particular, the source of dignity can only be the fulfillment of the Creator's will. And from this follows the direct logical conclusion that, when the covenant with the "descendants of Levi", with the priesthood of Israel, is broken, humiliation and disgrace naturally fall to the lot of the unfaithful priesthood.

Chiefly, the priesthood, according to the words of the prophet, causes the people to stumble through "partiality in matters of the law." The Lord laid upon the priests the duty to be interpreters of the law, to explain its essence and to resolve contentious issues in accordance with the spirit of the law and their own experience of life and prayer. But instead of this, the priests of Israel behaved as if someone had appointed them as guards, deciding what could and what could not be permitted, based on the influence and status of each person coming to them with a question. In practice, this led to a situation where the noble and wealthy received permissions not to observe certain provisions of the law, while poor and insignificant people were obliged to fulfill them.

Behind this practice lies an attitude toward the Lord's law as toward optional human ordinances, and not as toward the revelation of the Almighty's will concerning the salvation of people. It is exactly here that the root lies of what the Lord Jesus Christ called "burdens hard to bear"; it is exactly here that a kind of spiritual corruption invades religious life, corroding the very foundation of people's lives — their relationship with God. After all, the priests justified their opinions by the will of the Creator, supposedly expressed in the law.

Further, the prophet turns to the relationships of people with each other, which ought to be built on the foundation of brotherhood before God. Here is one of those rare places in the Old Testament where the prophet dares to call God not Creator and Sovereign, but the Father of everyone. "Have we not all one Father? Hath not one God created us?", asks Malachi. God for him is the One Who pours forth life to all people, from Whom the soul of every person originates. The prophet acutely feels the calling of man to God-likeness, and therefore any manifestation of cruelty and unfaithfulness toward a neighbor is for him a renunciation of this calling. And in exactly the same way, the direct connection of people with the Creator primarily implies for Malachi faithfulness in worshipping the One God. Pagan cults and a pagan attitude toward the faith of the fathers are therefore perceived as a betrayal of life itself.