In the early days of my first pastorate, the deacons would lead devotion, go outside to smoke cigarettes, then rejoin the service when the sermon began. I told my aunt about my plans to put an end to it. She gave me good and wise reasons why I should leave the matter alone for now. I was undeterred and determined to ban leaders from smoking. My aunt advised me that I may have the right to tell the deacons not to smoke on church premises, but I could not tell them what to do at home. “That’s the problem,” I mumbled. “What we do at church does not follow us home.” 

This is the prophet’s burden in Malachi 2:10-16.

Malachi begins with a declaration of God’s loyal love. Then Malachi addresses the sad fact that Israel did not reciprocate God’s covenant faithfulness. Their unworthy worship despised and dishonored the Lord’s name. While priests and people were guilty, the burden of responsibility lay with the priests. If the priests gave true instruction, Israel would know better and do better. Now the focus of Malachi’s prophetic rebuke shifts from priests to people. 

Malachi 2:10-15 is the third disputation in Malachi. Like the prophetic speeches that precede and follow, the tension is between true and false worship. Malachi confronts their worship practices here in an unexpected way. He condemns Israel for divorcing their Jewish wives and marrying pagan women. The key term of the text is “faithless,” which occurs five times in these seven verses. Intentionally blurring the lines, Malachi uses the term to describe how the Israelites treat God and one another. Their faithfulness to God is measured by the state of their marriages, not their offerings of worship. Their offerings were rejected because their families were dysfunctional. 

• It is faithful when what we are in worship is what we are at home. 
• It is faithless when what we are in worship is different than what we are at home.. 

That’s the take-home truth of the text: The Lord judges what you do at his house by what you do at your house.

Walter Kaiser wrote, “Few texts of scripture are as forthright and theological in their handling of the various consequences of deviation from God’s norm for marriage as this text is.” The wife is mentioned in this text, but not addressed. The text directly addresses the attitudes and actions of the men. The first step to changing society for the better is for men to be what God has called us to be as husbands and fathers. So goes the man, so goes the family.

Our culture is overly consumed with politics. Politics does not change the culture; it reflects the culture. The home is the foundational unit of society. What happens with husbands, wives, and children is infinitely more important than what happens at City Hall, the state house, or the Oval Office. As Christians, the stakes are even higher. Marriage is a parable of the gospel. It is a miniature picture of the relationship between Christ and the church. Thus, the Lord judges what you do at his house by what you do at your house. To be faithful to God is to be faithful to your family.

Are you faithful or faithless? Malachi 2:10-16 warns us to avoid two forms of spiritual faithlessness. 

The Faithlessness of Mixed Marriages 

Malachi confronts and condemns mixed marriages. The issue here is not racial. The Old Testament records multi-ethnic or interracial marriages. 

• Moses married a Cushite. 
• Salmon married Rahab. 
• Boaz married Ruth. 

Rahab and Ruth are listed in the genealogy of Jesus in Matthew 1. Yet many Old Testament passages denounce mixed marriages. The issue is idolatry, not ethnicity. That’s Malachi’s concern here. What does the text say about the faithlessness of mixed marriages?

The Probing Question. The two previous disputations begin with the Lord speaking. The Lord does not speak until the end of this prophetic speech. In verse 10, Malachi starts the conversation with three questions. First, he asks, “Have we not all one Father?” This rhetorical question assumes an affirmative answer. Malachi 1:6 insists that God is a father worthy of honor. Then Malachi asks, “Have not one God created us?” This rhetorical question also assumes a positive response. Isaiah 43:1 says, “But now thus says the Lord, he who created you, O Jacob, he who formed you, O Israel: ‘Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine.” 

Iain M. Duguid wrote: “A rhetorical question is a more intense way of making a statement.” Verse 10 bears that out. Israel would have readily acknowledged God as their Father and Creator. They may not have recognized they were being set up by the double use of the term “one.” They all had one Father and one Creator. Those two facts introduce the burden of the text: “Why then are we faithless to one another, profaning the covenant of our fathers?”

Using inclusive language, Malachi indicts Israel for being “faithless.” The term means to be unfaithful, deceitful, or even treacherous. Their faithlessness was seen in how they treated “one another.” Yet it was a spiritual issue of “profaning the covenant of our fathers.” Malachi asks, “Why?” This sad indictment reveals and reminds us that faith is personal, not private. God is your heavenly Father through faith in Christ. But you are not an only child! Your vertical relationship with God is connected to your horizontal relationship with others.

The Backdoor Idolatry. Verse 11 shifts from indictment to conviction: “Judah has been faithless, and abomination has been committed in Israel and in Jerusalem.” By using both names for God’s people – Judah and Israel – Malachi lets no one off the hook. The nation as a whole has been faithless. In the holy city of Jerusalem, they have committed an abomination. “Abomination” is the strongest word in the Bible for that which is wicked, unclean, or disgusting before God. It expresses God’s hatred of idolatry and immorality. The people’s behavior was reprehensible. Verse 11 explains why: “For Judah has profaned the sanctuary of the Lord, which he loves, and has married the daughter of a foreign god.” 

The “sanctuary of the Lord” refers to the temple in Jerusalem. Judah, whom the Lord loves, had profaned the holy temple. How had they defiled and desecrated the sanctuary? They “married the daughter of a foreign god.”Malachi does not say Judah married “foreign women.” The prophet’s language presents who you marry as a Who Judah married was a matter of worship. Verse 10 asks, “Have we not all one Father?” The men answered yes; their wives answered no. The daughters of a foreign god worshiped an idol that compromised Israel’s devotion to God. Solomon, the wisest man in the Bible, played the fool by falling in love with women who did not love God. It can happen to you! 

2 Corinthians 6:14-16 says, “Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? Or what fellowship has light with darkness? What accord has Christ with Belial? Or what portion does a believer share with an unbeliever? What agreement has the temple of God with idols?

The Reverse Benediction. A benediction announces the blessings of God on the people of God by the word of God. Verse 12 is a reverse benediction: “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!” “Cut off” is graphic language. It may refer to excommunication or execution. You should be more concerned about being cut off by God than being cancelled by people. Malachi asks the Lord to cut off from the tents of Jacob any descendant of the man who does this. Scholars are unsure how to translate the Hebrew idiomMalachi uses in this verse. It is agreed that Malachi is speaking of the fathers and their children. Faithless people who knowingly marry unbelievers imperil their children.

When I teach preaching, I warn that someone is going to have to work hard on Sunday’s sermon. Either the preacher works hard to prepare it, or the people will have to work hard to listen to it. The same applies to parents and children. The world tells you to do what makes you happy. What about the children? Fatherlessness, abortion, porn addiction, transgenderism, and violence are often the result of grown-ups who choose their own happiness and leave the hard work to the children. 

Verse 12 applies this reverse benediction to the ones “who bring an offering to the Lord of hosts!” You cannot bribe or buy God off with offerings of worship. That’s how King Saul got fired! God told Saul to destroy all the Amalekites – man and beast. When Samuel heard the sound of animals, Saul explained that he had spared some animals to sacrifice to God. 1 Samuel 15:22 says, “Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to listen than the fat of rams.” 

The Faithlessness of Failed Marriages 

Verse 13 begins: “And a second thing you do.” It’s terrible to have God call something in your life faithless. It’s worse to have him point out a second thing before you can deal with the first thing. That’s what happens in our text. The two issues seem to have a cause-and-effect relationship. The mixed marriages were the result of failed marriages. Verses 13-16 teach us how to view the family from a God-centered perspective.

God Loves Marriage. How does Malachi express God’s love for marriage? Verse 13 says, “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.”

• This is not a statement about priests who ministered at the altar. 
• This is not a statement about spurned wives who wept at the altar.

It is another statement about the men who married the daughters of a foreign god. The Lord promised blessings to those who returned from the Babylonian Captivity. They were not experiencing those blessings. They made offerings and sacrifices to no avail. They covered the Lord’s altar with tears, weeping and groaning for God’s favor. But the Lord did not regard or accept their offerings. Passionate worship cannot make up for sloppy living. You cannot praise your way out of the consequences of spiritual rebellion. 

Verse 14 states Israel’s objection to God’s withdrawn favor: “But you say, ‘Why does he not?’” They were oblivious to their spiritual condition. Malachi explains, “Because the Lord was witness.” God and others witness the exchange of marital vows. But God is no passive observer. “Witness” here means “enforcer.” God holds you accountable for your marriage vows. 

“The wife of your youth” commends getting married early in life. Young men, don’t wait to get married. Proverbs 18:22 says, “He who finds a wife finds a good thing and obtains favor from the Lord.” Follow Christ. Get married. Have children. Lead well. Be faithful. “Companion” is used for a political or military alliance. It is a band of brothers. Verse 14 is the only place it is used for a wife. Marital solidarity should not be abandoned because you prefer a newer or younger model. “Your wife by covenant” emphasizes that marriage is more than a piece of paper. It is a three-way covenant between husband, wife, and God.

God Hates Divorce. Verse 15 is notoriously difficult to translate. But the main idea is clear. Malachi asks, “Did he not make them one, with a portion of the Spirit in their union?” Genesis 2:24 says God makes two persons one flesh in marriage. He does so by the work of the Spirit. This is an affirmation of monogamy. God could have given Adam many wives. God ordered marriage to be between one man and one woman for life. Malachi asks, “And what was the one God seeking?” Note the answer: “Godly offspring.” 

God ordained heterosexual and monogamous marriage to be the place for procreation. It is God’s will for children to be reared in the safety and stability of a home with father and mother. The traditional family structure does not guarantee a happy home. Yet the home in which father and mother are husband and wife who love and respect one another is the best way to nurture godly offspring. F.B. Meyer wrote, “One man for one woman is the secret of a happy home life and of a godly seed.”

Verse 15 concludes, “So guard yourselves in your spirit, and let none of you be faithless to the wife of your youth.” “Guard” is military language. A godly home involves spiritual warfare. To avoid faithlessness, guard yourselves in your spirit. Proverbs 4:23 says, “Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life.”God has the last word in this text. Verse 16 says, “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.” This is another difficult verse to translate. The NKJV reads: “For the Lord God of Israel says that he hates divorce.” God does not hate divorced people. God hates divorce, even under the conditions where he permits it. 

• The Bible permits divorce for sexual immorality. 
• The Bible permits divorce for desertion by an unbelieving spouse. 

The person who is divorced on biblical grounds should feel no guilt and is free to remarry. The person who is faithless in their marriage “covers his garment with violence.” Imagine a person commits an act of violence and walks around with the victim’s blood on their clothes with no guilt, shame, or fear. What should your response be to this text? Verse 16 answers: “So guard yourselves in your spirit, and do not be faithless.” Repent of your sins. Trust the blood and righteousness of Christ for forgiveness. Submit every sphere of your life to the Lordship of Christ.

Adopt the testimony of Joshua 24:14-15: “Now therefore fear the Lord and serve him with sincerity and in faithfulness. Put away the gods that your fathers served beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the Lord. And if it is evil in your eyes to serve the Lord, choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your fathers served in the region beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”