Jason's Exegetical Workflow | Malachi 2:10–3:5

An Imperative

A Difficult Topic

We will be in the book of Malachi today, and I will warn you now that it is not an easy subject that is addressed in our passage. I must be a glutton for punishment because the last time I preached, it was on the subject of disciplining children, a very difficult and controversial subject, and today as we look at marriage it is going to be no different. I have heard many times that preaching on divorce is one of the most dangerous things you can do, so I just ask that you measure anything I have to say this morning against the word of God before you run me out of the church! I promise I will give you other opportunities later. — But we are going to start heavy this morning on a heavy topic, so please bare with me.

A Contemporary Topic

I believe numbers tell a story and I am going to be sharing several statistics with you this morning. I’ll start with these: Today in the United States 41% of first marriages end in divorce. For professing christians the rate is 33-38%. But I would like to balance that with a little good news for you, if you are here this morning, only 25% of regular evangelical church attenders have a probability of being in a divorce over their lifetime. Still not a great number, but at least it is better than our culture as a whole.

In 1950 the probability that a marriage would end in divorce was around 20%, in 1920 it was around 12% and in 1890 it was only around 6%. From 1890 until 1950 the percentage of marriages that would fail doubled every 30 years. What at least seems good is that the percentage of marriages that end in divorce has dropped 10% since 1970, until you realize that it is because fewer people are getting married and when they do it tends to be later in life.

Legitimate Reasons

There are biblical grounds for divorce. In Matthew 19:3-9 we pick up with the Pharisee questioning Jesus on this subject:

Matthew 19:3–9 ESV

3 And Pharisees came up to him and tested him by asking, “Is it lawful to divorce one’s wife for any cause?” 4 He answered, “Have you not read that he who created them from the beginning made them male and female, 5 and said, ‘Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’? 6 So they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate.” 7 They said to him, “Why then did Moses command one to give a certificate of divorce and to send her away?” 8 He said to them, “Because of your hardness of heart Moses allowed you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it was not so. 9 And I say to you: whoever divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another, commits adultery.”

And Paul addresses the subject of divorce in 1 Cor 7:10-15

1 Corinthians 7:10–15 ESV

10 To the married I give this charge (not I, but the Lord): the wife should not separate from her husband 11 (but if she does, she should remain unmarried or else be reconciled to her husband), and the husband should not divorce his wife. 12 To the rest I say (I, not the Lord) that if any brother has a wife who is an unbeliever, and she consents to live with him, he should not divorce her. 13 If any woman has a husband who is an unbeliever, and he consents to live with her, she should not divorce him. 14 For the unbelieving husband is made holy because of his wife, and the unbelieving wife is made holy because of her husband. Otherwise your children would be unclean, but as it is, they are holy. 15 But if the unbelieving partner separates, let it be so. In such cases the brother or sister is not enslaved. God has called you to peace.

So we do have 2 allowances in the bible, and only 2, where divorce is permissible:

First, in the case of adultery. But understand that this is only allowable as a concession to our fallen humanity. The example of God is of forgiveness and reconciliation and I would recommend you to read the book of Hosea for the godly example. — And while I don’t know if my heart would be strong enough to endure that sort of betrayal with grace, I do know that those I have known to take the higher path are examples of the character of Christ, and I admire their faithfulness.

Secondly, there is the case of being divorced by a non-believing spouse, and really there just isn’t anything the innocent party can do in that situation, so they aren’t held accountable.

— For situations outside of those two exceptions I will says this: Colossians 3:18-19 states:

Colossians 3:18–19 ESV

18 Wives, submit to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord. 19 Husbands, love your wives, and do not be harsh with them.

Any behavior that falls outside of those boundaries, can justifiably be brought to the church elders for intervention.

Our passage

If you will follow along with me, I will read the first part of this mornings passage. Malachi 2:10-16

Malachi 2:10–16 ESV

10 Have we not all one Father? Has not one God created us? Why then are we faithless to one another, profaning the covenant of our fathers? 11 Judah has been faithless, and abomination has been committed in Israel and in Jerusalem. For Judah has profaned the sanctuary of the Lord, which he loves, and has married the daughter of a foreign god. 12 May the Lord cut off from the tents of Jacob any descendant of the man who does this, who brings an offering to the Lord of hosts! 13 And this second thing you do. You cover the Lord’s altar with tears, with weeping and groaning because he no longer regards the offering or accepts it with favor from your hand. 14 But you say, “Why does he not?” Because the Lord was witness between you and the wife of your youth, to whom you have been faithless, though she is your companion and your wife by covenant. 15 Did he not make them one, with a portion of the Spirit in their union? And what was the one God seeking? Godly offspring. So guard yourselves in your spirit, and let none of you be faithless to the wife of your youth. 16 “For the man who does not love his wife but divorces her, says the Lord, the God of Israel, covers his garment with violence, says the Lord of hosts. So guard yourselves in your spirit, and do not be faithless.”

The message this morning is entitled “______”

Let’s Pray

A Broken Covenant

Faithlessness

The book of Malachi is almost entirely a commentary on the faithlessness of God’s people. In this passage it focuses on the covenant of marriage, and we have to appreciate the severity of what is being said here.

In verse 10 the word faithless is used “…Why then are we faithless to one another”

In verse 11 we read that “…Judah has been faithless”

And in verse 14 we see the word faithless again “…the Lord was witness between you and and the wife of your youth, to whom you have been faithless.

If you grew up, like I did, reading the King James Version of the bible you probably remember this passage using the word treacherousl instead of faithless. That isn’t a bad translation of the Hebrew word, in fact the NASB maintains that word in it’s rendering of this passage. — The Hebrew word is בָּגְדָ֣ה bgd (buh-guh-d). And I know that this is going to be a bit anti-climatic but it means faithlessly or treacherously — Maybe you have something different going on in your life, but I don’t really use the word treachery very often, or even hear it much, unless someone is being dramatic in a movie. What it means is that someone has committed a betrayal of trust. In other words I could say that they hadn’t acted faithfully towards something, or as our ESV renders it, they have been faithless.

I point out the implication of a betrayal of trust here because in each of these two example of faithlessness in marriage it is in relationship to a covenant, a binding agreement, involving God.

Marriage outside of the Faith

The book of Malachi was written around the same time as the book of Ezra. Around 4-500 years before the birth of Christ. They both seem to be addressing some of the same events. We read this in Ezra 9:1-2

Ezra 9:1–2 ESV

1 After these things had been done, the officials approached me and said, “The people of Israel and the priests and the Levites have not separated themselves from the peoples of the lands with their abominations, from the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Jebusites, the Ammonites, the Moabites, the Egyptians, and the Amorites. 2 For they have taken some of their daughters to be wives for themselves and for their sons, so that the holy race has mixed itself with the peoples of the lands. And in this faithlessness the hand of the officials and chief men has been foremost.”

And this aligns with what we rad in v11 of Malachi 2

Malachi 2:11 ESV

11 Judah has been faithless, and abomination has been committed in Israel and in Jerusalem. For Judah has profaned the sanctuary of the Lord, which he loves, and has married the daughter of a foreign god.

If you remember, back in Deuteronomy 7 God made a covenant with the Israeilites on how they were to conduct themselves when they went into the promised land let me read through verse 4.

Deuteronomy 7:1–4 ESV

1 “When the Lord your God brings you into the land that you are entering to take possession of it, and clears away many nations before you, the Hittites, the Girgashites, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, seven nations more numerous and mightier than you, 2 and when the Lord your God gives them over to you, and you defeat them, then you must devote them to complete destruction. You shall make no covenant with them and show no mercy to them. 3 You shall not intermarry with them, giving your daughters to their sons or taking their daughters for your sons, 4 for they would turn away your sons from following me, to serve other gods. Then the anger of the Lord would be kindled against you, and he would destroy you quickly.

There is a tendency to get deceived by this notion that “love conquers all” when a relationship is starting out. But being in a marriage where only one person is Christian creates many challenges: First, that 25% divorce rate for regular church attenders spikes to 63%. Second, you will eventually want children. Remember what Malachi 2:15 said?

Malachi 2:15 ESV

…. what was the one God seeking? Godly offspring.

And here is something awful, that we acknowledge far too seldomly: Hell is real.

What faith, if any will the children be raised in? Best case scenario the mother is the Christian and has the stronger religious conviction, but still only 48% of children in that home will end up following Christ. — If it’s the father that number drops to 35%

And we have all heard the proclamation “We are going to let our children decide” — And I have to conclude upon hearing that, that the person saying doesn’t actually believe in Christ! How can you possibly believe what Jesus said in John 14:6

John 14:6 ESV

…. “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

And be anything other than desperate that your children put their faith and trust in Christ for their eternal salvation!

Divorce

But, Malachi doesn’t address just inter-faith marriages. He also addresses divorce.