Malachi 2:8

Mal 2:8 But ye are departed out of the way; ye have caused many to stumble at the law; ye have corrupted the covenant of Levi, saith the LORD of hosts.

Ver. 8. But ye are departed out of the way] Heb. From that way, viz. that good old way of your progenitors: you are nothing like Levi, but are woefully degenerated from the practice of your predecessors, and have swerved from your fathers’ footsteps, though ye have the same place, and enjoy the same privileges. This is a foul fault, and condemned even by the heathen sages. Seneca tells us, with indignation, that Socrates’ sons were more like their mother, a froward woman, than their father, the wisest of men; according to that saying, Partus sequitur ventrem, the birth follows the belly. Young Cicero was, for his intemperance and excess in drinking, surnamed Tricongius. Caligula, that monster, was the son of noble Germanicus ( Heroum filii noxae). But we have Scriptural instances not a few. Not to speak of Eli’s sons, and of Samuel’s, Solomon degenerates from his father David, who had carefully taught him better, Pro 4:4, and so had his mother, Pro 31:1 (which one calls Bathsheba’s catechism; another Lemuel’s lesson). Jehoram is taxed for his not walking in the ways of his father Jehoshaphat and his grandfather Asa, as if there had been no intervention of a Hezekiah. "Jonathan, the son of Gershom, the son of Manasseh," that idolatrous priest, mentioned Jdg 18:30, is thought to have been the grandson of Moses; so the Hebrews tell us; and that therefore the Nun in Manasseh is suspended above the rest of the letters. {Hebrew Text Note} Certain it is that Nabal, the fool, was of the line of faithful Caleb, 1Sa 25:3, to teach us that virtue is not, as lands, inheritable. All that is traduced with the seed is either evil, or not good. Grace is by gift, and not by descent. Hence that prayer of David’s courtiers, 1Ki 1:47, God make the name of Solomon better than thy name. Agreeable whereunto is Hector’s prayer in Homer, for his son - πατρος δ ογε πολλον αμεινων, I wish he may be a better man than his father. And that of Juvenal,

“ Male pater tibi sit Thersites, dummodo tu sis

Aeacidae similis, Vulcaniaque arma capessas,

Quam te Thersitae similem producat Achilles. ”

Ye have caused many to stumble at the law] Which is a very dangerous thing; like as it is to stumble on a bridge. A bridge is made to give us a safe passage over a dangerous river; but he who stumbles on the bridge is in no small danger to fall into the river. The word is given as a means to carry us over hell unto heaven; but he who stumbles at this means (as by snuffing at it, Mal 1:13, chatting against it and contesting with it, as often in this prophecy, casting reproaches upon it, Jer 20:8-9, gathering odious consequences from it, Rom 3:8-18) shall fall in thither, from whence otherwise he had been delivered by it. This mischief many fell into, in Malachi’s days, by the means of those ungodly priests, who either taught them not better, or otherwise drew them into sinful courses by their corrupt losses or lewd practices. Evil examples of ministers have a strong influence upon their people; and the sins of teachers are the teachers of sins: The leaders of this people have made them to err, Isa 9:16. Corruption commonly (as in a fish) begins at the head; neque solum obsunt principes, quod illi ipsi corrumpuntur, sed etiam quod corrumpunt: plusquam exemplo quam peccato nocent, saith Cicero: they that are in office do a great deal of mischief by encouraging others in evil, through their evil example. Jupiter’s adulteries drew the people to like wantonness. Magis intuentur quid fecerit Iupiter quam quid docuit Plato, saith Austin; They look more what Jupiter did than what Plato taught. I have read of a woman who, living in professed doubt of the Godhead, after better illumination and repentance, did ofton protest that the vicious life of a great scholar in that town did conjure up those damnable doubts in her soul. In the time of Pope Clement V the Church was so ill-governed, and things so corruptly carried at the court of Rome, that Frederick, King of Sicily, doubted much of the truth of the Christian religion; but was confirmed, and his mind better settled, by Arnoldus de Villa Nova, who showed him that "Offences must come, but woe be to them by whom they come." A scandalous priest is a singular mischief; for he falls not alone, but (as when a main stone in a building or a tall cedar falls) he draws many with him into fellowship of errors and enormities; as did Hymenaeus and Philetus, 2Ti 2:17-18; and as the dragon, with his long and strong tail, drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and threw them to the earth, Rev 13:4. When the pastors become brutish all the flocks are scattered, Jer 10:21.

Ye have corrupted the covenant of Levi] The covenant on God’s part with Levi was a covenant of salt, and could not be corrupted, Num 18:19, non computrescit vetustate, saith Flaccius, it putrefieth not with age or long standing; as that pillar of salt into which Lot’s wife was turned, and of which Josephus saith, that something of it was to be seen till his time. But these degenerate priests had abandoned God’s holy fear, they did not humble themselves and tremble before his name, as Levi their father had done, Mal 2:5; they had falsified with God, and so forfeited his favour. It was with them, as Cajetan complains and confesses of the Popish priests; that whereas by their places they should have been the salt of the earth, they had lost their savour, and were good for little else but looking after the rights and revenues of the Church; therefore God held himself disobliged, and resolved that they should bear the iniquity of their priesthood; Lev 19:8. that is, the punishment of their iniquity notwithstanding the priesthood. That should be no protection to them, but an aggravation; because they fell, as if they had not been anointed: and were, therefore, the worse, because they should have been better, Ideo deteriores sumus quia meliores esse debemus (Salvian.). God holds himself not bound to perform covenant with those who break with him; for why should he give the children’s bread to dogs? why should he cast away his favours upon those that value them not? We have the covenant, the seals, the ministry (and this is a singular happiness: Isa 19:25, Assyria is the work of God’s hands, but Israel his inheritance). But, alas, are not these blessings among us as the ark was among the Philistines, rather as prisoners than as privileges? rather in testimonium et ruinam quam in salutem for a testimony against us, and for our further ruin, than for our safety here and salvation here after? Oh consider how God hath cast off the Israelites, notwithstanding his covenant with their fathers; and when in their necessity they would have forced acquaintance with him, he would not look upon them, Jdg 10:14. The sword hath broken in pieces those seven golden candlesticks in Asia, merely for their covenantbreaking. {See Trapp on "Mal 2:5"}

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Mal 2:8. "But ye have departed from the way, have made many to stumble at the law, have corrupted the covenant of Levi, saith Jehovah of hosts. Mal 2:9. Thus I also make you despised and base with all the people, inasmuch as ye do not keep my ways, and respect person in the law." הדּרך is the way depicted in Mal 2:6 and Mal 2:7, in which the priests ought to have walked. הכשׁלתּם בּתּורה does not mean "ye have caused to fall by instruction" (Koehler); for, in the first place, hattōrâh (with the article) is not the instruction or teaching of the priests, but the law of God; and secondly, ב with כּשׁל denotes the object against which a man stumbles and which causes him to fall. Hitzig has given the correct explanation: ye have made the law to many a מכשׁול, instead of the light of their way, through your example and through false teaching, as though the law allowed or commanded things which in reality are sin. In this way they have corrupted or overthrown the covenant with Levi. הלּוי, with the article, is not the patriarch Levi, but his posterity, really the priesthood, as the kernel of the Levites. Hence Jehovah also is no longer bound by the covenant, but withdraws from the priests what He granted to the Levi who was faithful to the covenant, viz., life and salvation (Mal 2:5), and makes them contemptible and base with all the people. This is simply a just retribution for the fact, that the priests depart from His ways and have respect to men. Battōrâh, in the law, i.e., in the administration of the law, they act with partiality. For the fact itself compare Mic 3:11.

Keil & Delitzsch — Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament (1861–1891) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API. (Old Testament only.)

out of the way--that is, from the covenant.

caused many to stumble--By scandalous example, the worse inasmuch as the people look up to you as ministers of religion (Sa1 2:17; Jer 18:15; Mat 18:6; Luk 17:1).

at the law--that is, in respect to the observances of the law.

corrupted . . . covenant--made it of none effect, by not fulfilling its conditions, and so forfeiting its promises (Zac 11:10; Neh 13:29).

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 8. But ye are departed out of the way] Ye are become impure yourselves, and ye have led others into iniquity.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

He shows here how far were the priests of his time from fulfilling that compact which he had mentioned. He hence concludes that they were unworthy of the honor of which they were so confidently proud, and under the shadow of which they sought to cover their vices, as though they were not bound to God, and were at liberty to tread the Church under foot with impunity. He then shows that it was an extremely foolish arrogance in them to seek to be exempt from all law, and yet to regard God and the whole Church bound to them.

He says first, that they deviated from the way, that is, they exhibited nothing suitable to their office, on account of which they were counted priests. He then amplifies their guilt — that they made many to stumble in the law He had before said that Levi walked in peace and uprightness; what he now says is very different — that the priests, forgetting religion, had first shaken off the yoke. He had said that Levi restored many from iniquity; but he now says that the priests made many to stumble.

He adds in the last place — Ye have therefore corrupted the covenant. An illative is to be put here, for so ought the sentence to be explained — “As ye have deviated from the way, and perverted the whole worship of God, ye have thus violated the compact which had been sanctioned with Levi; ye have then no reason to boast of your title of honor, for succession failed when ye fell away from the faithfulness of your father Levi.” At length it follows —

John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.

(8) But ye.—Priests of the present day have done in every respect the reverse.

Caused many to stumble at the law.—Or rather, in the Law; and ye have given them false instruction in the Law, and allowed those things which were forbidden, and so ye have corrupted the covenant of the (tribe of) Levi: ye have turned the Law, which ought to have been a light to their feet and a lamp to their path, into a stumbling-block.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

8. at the law] This rendering is quite defensible (Lev_26:37; Nah_3:3); and the idea of the Law itself being made the stumbling-block of the people, by the tortuous interpretations put upon it by the priests and by their inconsistent conduct, is forcible, and is in keeping with the representation of Christ Himself as a “stumbling-stone” (Isa_8:14; Rom_9:32-33). As however the figure of the Law as a road or path in which men should walk smoothly and safely is of very constant occurrence in the Old Testament, it is possible to render “in the law”, with R.V. and A.V. margin.

corrupted the covenant of Levi] Compare Nehemiah’s complaint, and the example he gives, Neh_13:28-29.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

But ye are departed out of the way,.... Of truth and righteousness, of life and peace, of eternal salvation and happiness, pointed to by Christ and his forerunner, and by his apostles and ministers that followed him, and which was clearly showed in the preaching of the Gospel: this was the character of the chief priests, Scribes, and Pharisees, in Christ's time, to which the prophet seems to have respect; who not only failed in their observance of legal sacrifices, complained of in the former chapter Mal 1:1, but left that way of atonement and salvation they directed to, and led others out of the way with them:

ye have caused many to stumble at the law; at the doctrine of justification by the righteousness of Christ; which was the stumbling stone they fell at, seeking for righteousness, and directing others to seek for it, not by faith, but as it were by the works of the law, Rom 9:32,

ye have corrupted the covenant of Levi, saith the Lord of hosts: that which was foreshadowed by the Levitical priesthood and covenant, namely, the covenant of grace, dispensed under the Gospel dispensation by the ministry of the word and ordinances; which they rejected, despised, and set at nought, and as much as in them lay endeavoured to make void, by not attending to these things, nor suffering others, but doing all they could to bring them into disuse, contempt, and disgrace.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

But ye - o are departed out of the way “of knowledge, truth, equity, fear of God, which I appointed to Aaron and the Levites.” “Ye have caused many to stumble at the law.” He does not simply say, “in the law,” but “at” it. The law was what they stumbled at. They did not only misunderstand the law, through the false teaching of the priests, as though it allowed things which in truth were sins (although this too); itself was their source of stumbling. As Jesus Himself was “a rock of offence” whereon they stumbled, because through His divine holiness He was not what they expected Him to be, so contrariwise the law became an offence to them through the unholiness and inconsistency of the lives and ways of those who taught it; much as we now hear Christianity spoken against, because of the inconsistency of Christians. So Paul saith to the Jews Rom 2:24, “The name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles through you, as it is written;” and, for the sins of Eli’s sons (1Sa 2:17, Pococke) “men abhorred the offering of the Lord.”

And have corrupted the covenant of Levi - as it is said in Nehemiah, Neh 13:29, “They have defiled the priesthood, and the covenant of the priesthood and of Levi, that covenant which was life and peace” Mal 2:5, and, therefore, forfeited them.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

But ye, priests that now are in office, now live, when I, Malachi, am sent to preach, are departed, have shamefully degenerated and turned away from your duty, are apostates,

out of the way of God’s law, and of those holy priests your predecessors; out of the way of truth, holiness, peace, and equity.

Ye have caused many to stumble at the law; your expositions of the law, your manner of worshipping God, and your manner of living, all together were great scandals to very many; and too many of these, that were offended by these things, these faults of yours, fell to sinning with you.

Ye have corrupted the covenant of Levi, the covenant of priesthood, Neh 13:29, chargeth them with this sin, and therefore they have no reason to expect the blessings of this covenant, viz. life and peace, since their making the covenant void on their part had cut off all claim and right to the blessings promised in that covenant, and had exposed them to the curses God threatened them with.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

But ye are departed out of the way. The priests of this time had far declined from the high ideal set forth in vers. 6, 7, the "way" in which God would have had them to walk. Ye have caused many to stumble at (in ) the law. By their example and teaching they had made the Law a stumbling block, causing many to err, while they fancied they were not infringing God"s commandments. Septuagint, Hsyenhsate polloumw , "Ye made many weak equivalent to hsyenwsate in the Law." Ye have corrupted the covenant of Levi (see ver. 5). They broke their part of the covenant, therefore Jehovah held himself no longer bound by it. They did not pay him due reverence and obedience; he withdrew the blessings promised to Levi, as threatened (ver. 2).

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

But ye - Priests. Stumble at the law - By your false expositions of it. Have corrupted - You have violated it, have contradicted the great intentions of it, and done what in you lay, to defeat them.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

you have turned away from the true path

The right way to behave is spoken of as if it were the right path to follow, and abandoning right conduct is spoken of as if it were turning away from that path. (See: Metaphor)

You have caused many to stumble

Disobeying God is spoken of as if it were stumbling. (See: Metaphor)

You have caused many to stumble with respect to the law

The expression "with respect to the law" gives the context for the "stumbling." AT: "You have caused many to disobey the law"

before all the people

This spatial idea stands for the people's awareness of the priests' evil behavior. (See: Metaphor)

kept my ways

Here "ways" stands for "desires" and "behavior." These ways are spoken of as if they were things that could be kept by people. AT: "followed my desires in how you should live" (See: Metaphor)

shown partiality with regard to the instruction

"set easy standards of behavior for people you like and difficult standards of behavior for people you do not like"

shown partiality

Here the habit of favoring some people more than others is spoken of as if it were a thing that could be shown to others. AT: "made people aware that you favor some people more than others (See: Metaphor)

translationWords

stumble

corrupt

law

covenant

Yahweh of hosts

partial

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.