Malachi 2:3 - Coke's Commentary on the Holy Bible

Behold, I will corrupt your seed, &c.— Behold, I am about to take away the shoulder from you [namely, the right shoulder, which, by the law, was the peculiar portion of the priests]; and to throw the fat into your faces, even the fat which is offered in your sacrifices [meaning the fat which covered the intestines, and which was burnt upon the altar]; and it shall take you away with it. God threatens that he will not accept this gift, but will reject it, and throw it with disdain into the faces of the priests, and by that stroke repulse or drive them from the altar. He goes on, Malachi 2:4. And ye shall know, that I have sent this commandment or statute concerning you, [that is to say, to drive you from mine altar, Malachi 2:1.] that it may be instead of the covenant with Levi, saith the Lord of Hosts. That is, "this shall be established, that Levi be driven from the priesthood;" for ברית berith, is here taken in a bad sense, as this passage is full of threats, and not of promises; and therefore the word signifies here, not covenant, properly speaking, but that which is ratified, certainly fixed and determined, as in many other places. This is Houbigant's interpretation.