John Gill Commentary Malachi 2

And now, O you priests That despised and profaned the name of the Lord; that suffered such corrupt and illegal sacrifices to be brought and offered up: this commandment [is] for you : of giving glory to the name of God; of taking care of his worship; of teaching the people knowledge, and directing them in the way in which they should walk; as follows:

If you will not hear
The commandment enjoined them; or the Gospel preached to them by Christ, and his apostles:

and if you will not lay [it] to heart to give glory to my name,
says the Lord of hosts ;
which they had despised and profaned before; if they did not take care of his worship and service, and honour the Messiah sent to them, in whom the name of the Lord was:

I will even send a curse upon you ;
both upon priests and people; those that bring the bad offerings, and those that receive them, as Kimchi; though Abarbinel restrains it to the priests:

and I will curse your blessings ,
either with which the priests blessed the people; or with which both they and the people were blessed; namely, their temporal blessings, such as their corn, and wine, and oil: and what wicked men have of this world, they have it with a curse, and not a blessing, as the righteous have; and therefore a little which they have, is better than much enjoyed by the wicked, (Psalms 37:16) :

yes, I have cursed them already ;
that is, from the time they began to despise his name, and not give him the glory due to him, as Kimchi and Abarbinel explain it:

because you do not lay [it] to heart ;
to glorify God.

Behold, I will corrupt your seed
Or, "the seed for you" ^F18 ; that is, for your sake, as Kimchi and Ben Melech explain it; meaning the seed they cast into the earth, which the Lord threatens to corrupt and destroy; so that it should not spring up again, and bring forth any increase: or, "rebuke" ^F19 it, as the word sometimes signifies; and so the Targum,``behold, I will rebuke you in the increase, the fruit (son) of the seed.'' The sense is the same; corrupting the seed being a rebuke to them; and rebuking the seed being a corruption of that, or hindering it from growing up.

It is a threatening of a sore famine that should be in the Jewish nation; and which Cocceius thinks was that which happened in the days of Claudius Caesar, (Acts 11:28Acts 11:29) . The Septuagint version renders it, "behold, I separate to you the shoulder"; the Arabic version, "the right hand", or arm; and the Vulgate Latin is, "behold, I will cast forth to you the arm"; the right shoulder of the sacrifice, which was given to the priests, and here threatened to be cast to them with indignation, (Leviticus 7:32Leviticus 7:34) (Deuteronomy 18:3) but the former sense is best:

and spread dung upon your faces, [even] the dung of your solemn
feasts ;
that is, the dung of their beasts which were slain for sacrifice at their solemn feasts: so this word (gx) is used for a beast offered for sacrifice at a festival, (Psalms 118:27) . The sense is, that their sacrifices and solemn feasts were so far from being acceptable to God, that he would reject both them and their persons, and would cast the very dung of the creatures brought for sacrifice into their faces, and spread it over them: a phrase expressive of the utmost contempt of them, and of exposing them to the greatest shame and confusion for their sins. So the Targum, ``I will make manifest the shame of your sins upon your faces; and will cause to cease the magnificence of your feasts.'' The Septuagint render it, the ventricle, or "maw"; which was given to the priests, (Deuteronomy 18:3) and in which the dung was contained:

and [one] shall take you away with it ;
with the dung spread upon them; they looking like a heap of dung, being covered with it, and had in no more account than that: or "to it" ^F20 ; that is, as Jarchi explains it, to the dung of the beasts of your sacrifices they shall carry you; or you shall be carried to it, that you may be rejected and despised as that. Kimchi's note is ``the iniquity (you are guilty of) shall carry you to this contempt; measure for measure; you have despised me, and you shall be despised:'' or "with him", or "to himself" ^F21 ; meaning he, or it that shall take them away; either the wind or dung; or the enemy, as Aben Ezra interprets it; by whom the Romans may be designed, who took them away out of their own land, and carried them captive. According to the Septuagint, Syriac, and Arabic versions, this is to be understood of God, who render the words, "I will take you together", or "with it".

FOOTNOTES:

• F18: (Mkl) "propter vos", Munster, Drusius.
• F19: (reg) "increpabo", Tigurine version; "increpo", Drusius, Cocceius; "increpans", Burkius.
• F20: (wyla) , (eiv to auto) , Sept.; "ad istud", so some in Vatablus, De Dieu.
• F21: "Ad se", Pagninus, Montanus, Munster, Tigurine version: Junius & Tremellius, Piscator, Drusius, Calvin, Burkius.

And ye shall know that I have sent this commandment unto
you (See Gill on Malachi 2:1):

that my covenant might be with Levi, saith the Lord of hosts ;
not that the ceremonial law might be confirmed and established, on which the Levitical priesthood was founded; for it was the will of God that that should be abolished, because of the weakness and unprofitableness of it; but that the covenant of grace made with Christ, the antitype of Levi, with whom the true Urim and Thummim are, (Deuteronomy 33:8) , who has a more excellent ministry and priesthood than his, might take place, be made manifest, and be exhibited under the Gospel dispensation; of which, and of the person with whom it is, an account is given in the following verses.

My covenant was with him of life and peace
Not with Aaron, nor with Phinehas; nor is it to be understood of a covenant, promising temporal life and outward prosperity to either of them; Aaron living a hundred and twenty three years, (Numbers 33:39) and Phinehas, according to some Jewish writers, above three hundred years, which they gather from (Judges 20:28) but of the covenant made with Christ from everlasting, called "a covenant of life", because it was made with Christ the Word of life, who was with the Father from all eternity, and in time was made manifest in the flesh; and was made in behalf of persons ordained to eternal life, and in which that was promised and given to them in him; and in which it was agreed that he should become man, and lay down his life as such, that they might enjoy it: and it is called a "covenant of peace", because the scheme of peace and reconciliation was drawn in it, and agreed unto; Christ was appointed in it to be the Peacemaker; and in consequence of which he was sent to procure peace, and he has made it by the blood of his cross: and this covenant may be said to have been and to be "with him"; because it was made with him from all eternity, as the head and representative of his people, and he had all the blessings and promises of it put into his hands; and it stands fast with him, and will do so for evermore.

And I gave them to him ;
namely, the blessings of life and peace; eternal life is the gift of God; and not only the promise of it, but that itself, was given to Christ in covenant for his people, and a power to give it to as many as the Father gave to him, (Psalms 21:4) (2 Timothy 1:1) (1 John 5:12) (John 17:2) he gave him also peace to make, put this work of peacemaking into his hand; and he allows it to be made by him, and that it is rightly effected; and from his blood and righteousness peace springs to his people; and they enjoy peace in him and through him, yea, all prosperity and happiness:

[for] the fear wherewith he feared me ;
because of his obedience to the precept and penalty of the law; because of his righteousness, and sufferings, and death, by means of which life and peace came to his people, and in which he showed great fear and reverence of God, (Hebrews 5:7) the word "for" is not in the original text, and may be left out in a version, or supplied with "and"; and the sense be, besides the blessings of life and peace, I also gave him the fear with which he feared me; which must be understood of the grace of fear bestowed on him as man: so the Septuagint version, "I gave unto him in fear to fear me"; and the Vulgate Latin version, "and I gave him fear, and he feared me": and the Arabic version, "I gave him fear, that he might fear me": the Targum is,``I gave him the perfect doctrine of the law, or the doctrine of the perfect law (see (James 1:25) ) that he might fear before me.''

And was afraid before my name ;
frightened, and put into consternation, as he was when in the garden, and he began to be heavy and sore amazed, (Mark 14:33) or he was broken and bruised, as Kimchi interprets the word here used, because of the name of the Lord, to satisfy his justice, fulfil his law, and glorify all his perfections.