What happensPermalink
Because the priests dishonor God, He threatens to curse and humiliate them. They have corrupted His covenant with Levi, turning aside from the faithful instruction expected of priests. Malachi then accuses Judah of covenant faithlessness: they marry women devoted to foreign gods and betray the wives of their youth through divorce. God therefore rejects their offerings. The chapter ends by beginning another disputation: Israel has wearied God by claiming that evildoers prosper and asking, “Where is the God of justice?”
Why it mattersPermalink
The priests’ punishment fits their contemptuous worship: those who dishonor God will themselves be dishonored. The same covenant faithlessness appears in Israel’s marriages. God is witness to their marriage covenants, so worship cannot compensate for betrayal at home. Israel’s final complaint about divine justice leads directly into chapter 3, where God answers that He is coming to judge and purify.
Key versePermalink
Have we not all one Father? Has not one God created us? Why then are we faithless to one another, profaning the covenant of our fathers?