Biblion Bible Commentary
Read the introduction to Malachi · About this commentary
The Covenant with Levi
Malachi 2:1-9
1 “Now, you priests, this commandment is for you. · WEB
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