My covenant was with him life and peace; - literally “the life and the peace;” that, which alone is true “life and peace.” The covenant was not with Levi himself, but with Aaron, his representative, with whom the covenant was made in the desert, as is indeed here expressed; and, in him, with all his race after him, who succeeded him in his office; as, when it is said, that 1 Chronicles 6:49, “Aaron and his sons offered upon the altar of burnt-offering,” it must needs be understood, not of Aaron in person alone and his sons then living, but of any of his race that succeeded in his and their room. So our Lord promised to be with His Apostles Matthew 28:20, “always to the end of the world,” i. e., with them and those whom they should appoint in their stead, and these others, until He should Himself come. God promised, if they would keep the law, that they should live in peace on the earth; yea, that they should have peace of mind and a life of grace. “Life” is an indefectible being, which man does not forfeit by sin, to which death is no interruption, changing only the place of the soul’s life.
And I gave them to him - , in, or as, “fear,” “Fear, not servile but filial and pure, as Paul bids Christians Philippians 2:12, ‘work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.’” God gave them an awful gift, to be held with fear and awe, for its very preciousness, as one would hold anxiously what is very precious, yet very fragile and easily marred.
And he feared Me, and was afraid before My Name - Malachi unites two words, the second expressive of strong fear, by which a man is, as it were, crushed or broken. They are often united in Hebrew, but as expressing terror, which men are bidden not to feel before men. Toward man it is ever said Deuteronomy 1:21; Deuteronomy 31:8; Joshua 1:9; Jos 10:25; 1 Chronicles 22:13; 1 Chronicles 28:20; 2Ch 20:15, 2 Chronicles 20:17; 2 Chronicles 32:7; Isaiah 51:7; Jeremiah 23:4; Jeremiah 30:10; Jeremiah 46:27; Ezra 2:6; Ezra 3:9, “fear not, neither be ye dismayed;” toward God Alone, it is a matter of praise. Man’s highest fear is too little, for he knows not, who God is. So Isaiah says Isaiah 8:12-13, “Fear ye not their fear (the fear of this people), nor be afraid. Sanctify the Lord of hosts Himself, and let Him be your fear and let Him be your dread.” “What can be more precious (than this fear)? For it is written Proverbs 13:13, ‘He who feareth the Lord will be rewarded.’ (Ecclesiasticus 1:11), ‘The fear of the Lord is honor and glory and gladness and a crown of rejoicing.’ He saith, “the fear, wherewith he feareth Me and was afraid,” i. e., he received the fear of God in his whole heart and soul. For these reduplications and emphases suggest to the hearer how rooted in virtue are those thus praised.”