YHWH's Cause Against His People As A Whole Because They Have Married Foreign Syncretistic Wives (Malachi 2:10-12).
It should be noted here that Malachi now once again brings not only the priests, but all of Judah, within the condemnation that he has described. He has already stressed that they too had betrayed their Father and Master (Malachi 1:6) and dealt treacherously (Malachi 1:14). They too had broken the covenant of their fathers. Thus they were to recognise in what Malachi has been saying an indictment against them also.
Malachi's indictment against them is that they have not only profaned the holiness, the untainted purity and ‘otherness', of YHWH, as the priests had done, by their blemished offerings, but that they have also done so by marrying those who worship other gods and are not wholly devoted to YHWH. And the result is that they will, as a result, be cut off from the benefits of the covenant.
The people of Judah are, however, then portrayed as not happy with the suggestion that they are profaning the covenant, and are not treating each other rightly. They feel rather that they have a strong bond with each other. They declare:
‘Have we not all one father?
Has not one God created us?
Why do we deal treacherously every man against his brother,
Profaning the covenant of our fathers?'
By this they are portrayed as taking up the description of YHWH in Malachi 1:6. They affirm that they all together have one Father, because one God has created them. Thus they feel that they are united as one by that fact. They have a common faith and are fellow-believers.
They speak in terms of creation, but implied within their question is the fact that He is especially the Father of Israel, and that that especially makes them a united nation. He has created them as Israel. In the words of Isaiah, ‘Thus says YHWH Who created you, O Jacob, and formed you, O Israel, fear not for I have redeemed you. I have called you by My Name, you are Mine' (Isaiah 43:1). Thus they saw themselves as firmly one as His people.
Indeed had He not said, ‘Israel is My son, My firstborn?' (Exodus 4:22). And they cannot see why they should therefore be being portrayed as dealing treacherously every man with his brother, when they felt that they showed each other a good deal of neighbourliness. Nor could they understand the suggestion that they were profaning the covenant of their fathers by the way they lived.
However, as we have already seen, they have been clearly represented by Malachi in Malachi 1:14 as having been brought into the indictment against the priests, for they equally shared in the responsibility for the unsatisfactory offerings and sacrifices that were being offered to YHWH. But seemingly their consciences have not been moved and they are not happy about it. They try to turn the blame on the messenger. They feel rather that it is YHWH Who is failing them (Malachi 2:13).
It is always strange how easily people think that, in spite of how badly they behave towards Him, He should be all sweetness and light towards them, and that really everything is His fault.
Malachi now replies by listing some of their faults. And the first of these lies in the fact that many of them are marrying local women who believed in and worshipped another god, with the result that these are introducing false worship into the community of God's people, and even into Jerusalem.
‘Judah has dealt treacherously,
And an abomination is committed in Israel and in Jerusalem,
for Judah has profaned the holiness of YHWH which he loves,
And has married the daughter of a foreign god.
This is YHWH's reply. How have they dealt treacherously against Him? How have they besmirched and profaned the holiness of YHWH? They have done it by committing an ‘abomination' (a word regularly connected with idolatry) in Israel and in Jerusalem. They have profaned the very holiness of YHWH which is so precious to Him. And they have done it by marrying ‘the daughters of a foreign god'. (This phrase is in contrast with the fact that Israel is ‘God's son, God's firstborn' - Exodus 4:22).
The point here is not that they have married ‘foreigners' as such. Some of the Jews had once been ‘foreigners' before they had become proselytes. (In fact a good proportion of Israel were not direct descendants of Jacob). It was that they had married women who worshipped other gods, and had brought their worship with them. They had introduced idolatry into Israel and Jerusalem. Thus the community of God's holy people was being infiltrated by what was ‘unholy', and this was jeopardising the total commitment of the community to YHWH (compare Deuteronomy 7:4).
It is a warning to us lest we introduce what is ‘foreign' among the people of God. The pathway from true holiness and dedication to having a church in which God comes second, is an easy one to follow, and one not quickly remedied. It is important that even ‘secular' activities are kept ‘holy'.
‘YHWH will cut off,
To the man who does this,
Him who wakes and him who answers,
Out of the tents of Jacob,
And him who offers an offering,
To YHWH of hosts.
So, Malachi says, let them be in no doubt. YHWH will cut off from His covenant every man who does this, no matter who they are. They will be cut off from their fellow Israelites. They will be cut off from the sentries who wake and receive a response from the sentries from whom they take over, in other words, from the security of the community (at some stage each male would probably act as a sentry as they had no army). They will be cut off from those who worship YHWH and make their offerings to Him.
An alternative possible translation is, ‘as for the man who does this, whether it be him who wakes or him who answers, may YHWH cut him off from the tents of Jacob, even though he brings offerings to YHWH of hosts'. Here ‘him who wakes and him who answers' simply means ‘everyone'. And the idea is that he will be cut off from Israel in God's eyes, even though he continues to offer sacrifices to YHWH. Thus men's sacrifices will be seen as unwelcome, not only when they are blemished, but also when they are offered by those whose heart are not right towards God. There is nothing automatic about the effectiveness of sacrifices, as the prophets had constantly made clear (e.g. Isaiah 1:11-15; 1 Samuel 15:22; Micah 6:6-8)