The Covenant with Levi
1 “Now, you priests, this commandment is for you. 2 If you will not listen, and if you will not take it to heart, to give glory to my name,” says Yahweh of Armies, “then I will send the curse on you, and I will curse your blessings. Indeed, I have cursed them already, because you do not take it to heart. 3 Behold, I will rebuke your offspring, and will spread dung on your faces, even the dung of your feasts; and you will be taken away with it. 4 You will know that I have sent this commandment to you, that my covenant may be with Levi,” says Yahweh of Armies. 5 “My covenant was with him of life and peace; and I gave them to him that he might be reverent toward me; and he was reverent toward me, and stood in awe of my name. 6 The law of truth was in his mouth, and unrighteousness was not found in his lips. He walked with me in peace and uprightness, and turned many away from iniquity. 7 For the priest’s lips should keep knowledge, and they should seek the law at his mouth; for he is the messenger of Yahweh of Armies. 8 But you have turned away from the path. You have caused many to stumble in the law. You have corrupted the covenant of Levi,” says Yahweh of Armies. 9 “Therefore I have also made you contemptible and wicked before all the people, according to the way you have not kept my ways, but have had respect for persons in the law.
The priesthood is measured against its own founding charter, and what condemns it is a portrait of what a priest was supposed to be.
The sentence on the priests is deliberately humiliating: the dung of their festival sacrifices spread on their faces. What was carried out of the sanctuary as refuse is put where the honor should have been.
Then the charter is read out, and it is the most attractive passage in the book. The covenant with Levi was of life and peace. He stood in awe of the name. The law of truth was in his mouth and no wrong on his lips; he walked with God in peace and uprightness, and turned many away from iniquity Malachi 2:5–6. Nothing there is ritual. It is a description of character that made teaching credible.
Verse 7 states the office in one line: the priest's lips should guard knowledge, and people should seek the law at his mouth, for he is the messenger — malak H4397 — of Yahweh of Armies. That is the book's own title word, applied to the men who failed at it. And verse 8 is the indictment: you have caused many to stumble in the law. Not merely failing personally, but taking others down by the failure.
settled What this mark means