Malachi 2:1-9: You Have Broken the Covenant
Malachi 2:1-9: You Have Broken the Covenant
“Behold, I will rebuke your offspring, and spread dung on your faces, the dung of your festival sacrifices, and you shall be taken away with it.” (Malachi 2:3, ESV)
Malachi delivers a powerful warning to the priests. Because they have not honored God’s name, He will turn their blessings into curses. The most sacred task of a priest is to offer sacrifices that make the people holy. Yet, God says He will smear the dung of their sacrifices on their faces. He will defile the very work meant to bring about holiness. He will disgrace the priests, who should have been maintaining the community’s purity. The priests will lose their reason to exist within the community.
Why is God so enraged? Why has He changed the blessings promised to the Levites into curses?
God made a covenant of peace with the tribe of Levi (the priests) (Numbers 25:12). Through Moses, God blessed them with a priestly portion and prosperity (Deuteronomy 33:8-11). God gave these blessings because the Levites were called to revere God and to bear the responsibility of maintaining the holiness of the people of Israel.
Levi was called to have the law of truth on his lips, to be free from injustice, to walk with God in peace and uprightness, and to turn many from their sin. But the Levite priests have strayed from God. They do not revere Him, do not fear Him, have departed from the right way, and led many others into injustice, breaking God's law. They have lost their value as priests. They have broken their covenant with God. Therefore, their blessings will become curses. Instead of peace and prosperity, they will have dung smeared on their faces (v.3). They will be despised and humiliated in front of all the people (v. 9).
Through Jesus Christ, we have become a chosen people, a royal priesthood (1 Peter 2:9). We are now the priests who are called to keep our community holy. God's knowledge must be on our lips, God's law must be in our mouths, and injustice must not be found in us. We have been given the responsibility to keep our community holy. When we fail in that role, the curses that Malachi pronounced on the priests will fall upon us. We will have the dung of sacrifice on our faces, and we will be despised and humiliated. This is God’s declaration. We must fulfill our responsibilities as a chosen people, as a royal priesthood.
Prayer:
Faithful God, we thank you for calling us, making us your children, and creating us as a royal priesthood. May that blessing be everlasting. Let us fulfill our responsibilities, that our blessings may not become curses. Holy Spirit, lead us into all truth. Amen.