Malachi 2:1-9

The priests are cursed

Refusing to repent VERSES 1-2a

Refuse to listen

Refuse to take it seriously

Refuse to bring glory to God’s name

Results in discipline VERSES 2b-3

A curse will be sent personally upon the priests (; )

The priestly blessings upon the people will be turned into a curse )

The priests’ sin impacted the people they were called to serve

The priests judgment had already begun because they did not take it seriously

The priests’ seed will be rebuked

Children?

Crops?

Defilement (excrement) placed on their face

The sacrifices unclean organs and dung were to be burned outside the city

Exodus 29:14 NKJV

But the flesh of the bull, with its skin and its offal, you shall burn with fire outside the camp. It is a sin offering.

Exodus 29

Humiliation

Guilt and shame

The priestly line is to be protected

The discipline of the Lord carried out will verify He meant what He decreed VERSE 4A

The purpose was to keep the line of Levi, the priestly tribe pure so the covenant God made with them would remain intact VERSE 4B

Levi the Father of the priests VERSES 5-6

God made a covenant with Phineas because of his actions in Numbers

Numbers 25:10–13 NKJV

Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: “Phinehas the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, has turned back My wrath from the children of Israel, because he was zealous with My zeal among them, so that I did not consume the children of Israel in My zeal. Therefore say, ‘Behold, I give to him My covenant of peace; and it shall be to him and his descendants after him a covenant of an everlasting priesthood, because he was zealous for his God, and made atonement for the children of Israel.’ ”

Numbers 25:

God instituted the covenant so the tribe of Levi would fear Him

Phineas actions showed his fear of the Lord and the reverence he had for His name

His speech spoke the truth of God (law of Moses

He did not speak with partiality or make judgements unfairly

What was in his heart and mind was revealed in his speech

Deuteronomy 17:8–9 NKJV

“If a matter arises which is too hard for you to judge, between degrees of guilt for bloodshed, between one judgment or another, or between one punishment or another, matters of controversy within your gates, then you shall arise and go up to the place which the Lord your God chooses. And you shall come to the priests, the Levites, and to the judge there in those days, and inquire of them; they shall pronounce upon you the sentence of judgment.

Deuteronomy

Deuteronomy 19:17–18 NKJV

then both men in the controversy shall stand before the Lord, before the priests and the judges who serve in those days. And the judges shall make careful inquiry, and indeed, if the witness is a false witness, who has testified falsely against his brother,

Deuteronomy

Isaiah 11:3–5 NKJV

His delight is in the fear of the Lord, And He shall not judge by the sight of His eyes, Nor decide by the hearing of His ears; But with righteousness He shall judge the poor, And decide with equity for the meek of the earth; He shall strike the earth with the rod of His mouth, And with the breath of His lips He shall slay the wicked. Righteousness shall be the belt of His loins, And faithfulness the belt of His waist.

Isaiah 11:

His daily fellowship with the Lord showed he not only spoke the truth but lived the truth

He refused to sin

The priests failed the people

The priest was to preserve the law of the Lord by guarding it’s knowledge and teaching it to the people for it was his responsibility VERSE 7

The messenger of the LORD of hosts

Matthew 28:19 NKJV

Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,

Matthew 28:18-20

Acts 1:8 NKJV

But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”

Romans 10:14 NKJV

How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher?

Romans 10:17 NKJV

So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.

The priests of Malachi’s day did not live it, caused the people to stumble, and dishonored the covenant they had made with God VERSE 8

Our works will be judged

The priests would suffer the consequences for their disobedience VERSE 9

They reaped what they sowed

Galatians 6:7 NKJV

Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap.