Malachi 2:16

For the LORD, the God of Israel, saith that he hateth putting away: for one covereth violence with his garment, saith the LORD of hosts: therefore take heed to your spirit, that ye deal not treacherously. FOR THE LORD, THE GOD OF ISRAEL, SAITH THAT HE HATETH PUTTING AWAY - i:e., divorce. FOR ONE COVERETH VIOLENCE WITH HIS GARMENT. Maurer translates, 'and (Yahweh hateth him who) covereth his garment (i:e., his wife, in the Arabic idiom: cf. Genesis 20:16, "He is to thee a covering of thy eyes;" the husband was so to the wife, and the wife to the husband; Ruth 3:9; Ezekiel 16:8) with injury.' In the English version, their "violence" is the putting away of t...

Here again the Prophet exaggerates the crime which the priests regarded as nothing; for he says, that they sinned more grievously than if they had repudiated their wives. We indeed know that repudiation, properly speaking, had never been allowed by God; for though it was not punished under the law, yet it was not permitted. (236) It was the same as with a magistrate, who is constrained to bear many things which he does not approve; for we cannot so deal with mankind as to restrain all vices. It is indeed desirable, that no vice should be tolerated; but we must have a regard to what is possible. Hence Moses has specified no punishment, according to the heinousness of the crime, if one repudiated his wife; and yet it was never permitted. But if a comparison be made, Malachi says, that it is a lighter crime to dismiss a wife than to marry many wives. We hence learn how abominable polygamy i...

10-17 Corrupt practices are the fruit of corrupt principles; and he who is false to his God, will not be true to his fellow mortals. In contempt of the marriage covenant, which God instituted, the Jews put away the wives they had of their own nation, probably to make room for strange wives. They made their lives bitter to them; yet, in the sight of others, they pretend to be tender of them. Consider she is thy wife; thy own; the nearest relation thou hast in the world. The wife is to be looked on, not as a servant, but as a companion to the husband. There is an oath of God between them, which is not to be trifled with. Man and wife should continue to their lives' end, in holy love and peace. Did not God make one, one Eve for one Adam? Yet God could have made another Eve. Wherefore did he make but one woman for one man? It was that the children might be made a seed to serve him. Husbands...

Verse Malachi 2:16. _FOR THE LORD - HATETH PUTTING AWAY_] He abominates all such divorces, and _him_ that makes them. _COVERETH VIOLENCE WITH HIS GARMENT_] And he also _notes_ those who frame idle excuses to _cover_ the _violence_ they have done to the wives of their youth, by putting them away, and taking others in their place, whom they _now_ happen to like better, when their own wives have been worn down in domestic services....

HE HATETH PUTTING AWAY - o He had allowed it “for the hardness of their hearts,” yet only in the one case of some extreme bodily foulness discovered upon marriage, and which the woman, knowing the law, concealed at her own peril. Not subsequent illness or any consequences of it, however loathsome (as leprosy), were a ground of divorce, but only this concealed foulness, which the husband “found” upon marriage. The capricious tyrannical divorce, God saith, “He hateth:” a word Naturally used only as to sin, and so stamping such divorce as sin. ONE COVERETH VIOLENCE WITH HIS GARMENT - o or, “and violence covereth his garment,” or, it might be, in the same sense, “he covereth his garment with violence” , so that it cannot be hid, nor washed away, nor removed, but envelopes him and his garment; and that, to his shame and punishment. It was, as it we

EXPOSITION MALACHI 2:1 _§ 4. For these derelictions of duty the priests are threatened with punishment._ MALACHI 2:1 THIS COMMANDMENT. The threat or announcement is called a commandment, because God ordains it and imposes its execution on certain instruments. (For the expression, camp. Leviticus 25:21.) The threat is contained in Malachi 2:2, Malachi 2:3. MALACHI 2:2

FOR THE LORD THE GOD OF ISRAEL SAITH, THAT HE HATETH PUTTING AWAY,.... The divorcing of wives; for though this was suffered because of the hardness of their hearts, it was not approved of by the Lord; nor was it from the beginning; and it was disagreeable, and even hateful to him, Matthew 19:8 in the margin of some Bibles the words are rendered, "if he hate her, put her away"; and so the Targum, "but if thou hatest her, put her away;'' to which agree the Vulgate Latin, Septuagint, and Arabic versions; and this sense made mention of in both Talmuds, and is thought to be agreeable to the law in Deuteronomy 24:3 though the law there speaks of a fact that might be, and not of what ought to be; wherefore the former sense is best; and this other seems to have been at first calculate

THE REBUKE OF THE PRIESTS CHAPTER 1:6-2:9 The priests, the religious leaders of the people, are described first in their evil ways, and rebuked. But the rebuke includes the entire people, for it is true, “like priests like people.” The Lord called Israel to be His firstborn son, and therefore, nationally, He is their Father. He is the Lord, and Israel called to be His servant. But they had not honored Him, as a son should honor the father by obedience; they did not fear Him, but despised His Name. This charge brought forth from the side of the priests another brazen statement, the result of their hypocritical self-righteousness. They answered back, demanding proof of the charge by saying, “Wherein have we despised Thy Name?” They seemed to be hardened in their consciences, though they kept up outward appearances. Such, too, is the religious condition in much of Christendom. Another char...

MALACHI 1:6 TO MALACHI 2:16. ISRAEL'S DISREGARD OF THIS LOVE. This section falls into two parts, one dealing with the priesthood (Malachi 1:6 to Malachi 2:9), the other with the people (Malachi 2:10). Yahweh has not received the honour due to a father from a son, or to a master from a servant. The priests (note the sudden application, Malachi 1:6) have brought His service into contempt by offering polluted bread (an archaic expression for sacrificial flesh) upon His altar. They bring

FOR, &c.. For [as] hating putting away, hath Jehovah, Israel's God, spoken; and [as hating him that] hath carried violence concealed in his clothing, hath Jehovah Sabaioth spoken, therefore, &c. GOD. Heh. _Elohim_. App-4. SAITH. hath said. THAT HE HATETH, &c.. I hate. PUTTING AWAY. divorce. Reference to Pentateuch (Deuteronomy 24:1). WITH HIS GARMENT. Compare Pas. Mal 73:6. Psalms 109:18; Psalms 109:29 Proverbs 28:13; Isaiah 30:1....