But ye are departed out of the way; ye have caused many to stumble at the law; ye have corrupted the covenant of Levi, saith the LORD of hosts.
Ver. 8. But ye are departed out of the way] Heb. From that way, viz. that good old way of your progenitors: you are nothing like Levi, but are woefully degenerated from the practice of your predecessors, and have swerved from your fathers' footsteps, though ye have the same place, and enjoy the same privileges. This is a foul fault, and condemned even by the heathen sages. Seneca tells us, with indignation, that Socrates' sons were more like their mother, a froward woman, than their father, the wisest of men; according to that saying, Partus sequitur ventrem, the birth follows the belly. Young Cicero was, for his intemperance and excess in drinking, surnamed Tricongius. Caligula, that monster, was the son of noble Germanicus (Heroum filii noxae). But we have Scriptural instances not a few. Not to speak of Eli's sons, and of Samuel's, Solomon degenerates from his father David, who had carefully taught him better, Proverbs 4:4, and so had his mother, Proverbs 31:1 (which one calls Bathsheba's catechism; another Lemuel's lesson). Jehoram is taxed for his not walking in the ways of his father Jehoshaphat and his grandfather Asa, as if there had been no intervention of a Hezekiah. "Jonathan, the son of Gershom, the son of Manasseh," that idolatrous priest, mentioned Judges 18:30, is thought to have been the grandson of Moses; so the Hebrews tell us; and that therefore the Nun in Manasseh is suspended above the rest of the letters. Hebrew Text Note Certain it is that Nabal, the fool, was of the line of faithful Caleb, 1 Samuel 25:3, to teach us that virtue is not, as lands, inheritable. All that is traduced with the seed is either evil, or not good. Grace is by gift, and not by descent. Hence that prayer of David's courtiers, 1 Kings 1:47, God make the name of Solomon better than thy name. Agreeable whereunto is Hector's prayer in Homer, for his son - πατρος δ ογε πολλον αμεινων, I wish he may be a better man than his father. And that of Juvenal,
“ Male pater tibi sit Thersites, dummodo tu sis
Aeacidae similis, Vulcaniaque arma capessas,
Quam te Thersitae similem producat Achilles. ”
Ye have caused many to stumble at the law ] Which is a very dangerous thing; like as it is to stumble on a bridge. A bridge is made to give us a safe passage over a dangerous river; but he who stumbles on the bridge is in no small danger to fall into the river. The word is given as a means to carry us over hell unto heaven; but he who stumbles at this means (as by snuffing at it, Malachi 1:13 , chatting against it and contesting with it, as often in this prophecy, casting reproaches upon it, Jeremiah 20:8,9 , gathering odious consequences from it, Rom 3:8-18 ) shall fall in thither, from whence otherwise he had been delivered by it. This mischief many fell into, in Malachi's days, by the means of those ungodly priests, who either taught them not better, or otherwise drew them into sinful courses by their corrupt losses or lewd practices. Evil examples of ministers have a strong influence upon their people; and the sins of teachers are the teachers of sins: The leaders of this people have made them to err, Isaiah 9:16 . Corruption commonly (as in a fish) begins at the head; neque solum obsunt principes, quod illi ipsi corrumpuntur, sed etiam quod corrumpunt: plusquam exemplo quam peccato nocent, saith Cicero: they that are in office do a great deal of mischief by encouraging others in evil, through their evil example. Jupiter's adulteries drew the people to like wantonness. Magis intuentur quid fecerit Iupiter quam quid docuit Plato, saith Austin; They look more what Jupiter did than what Plato taught. I have read of a woman who, living in professed doubt of the Godhead, after better illumination and repentance, did ofton protest that the vicious life of a great scholar in that town did conjure up those damnable doubts in her soul. In the time of Pope Clement V the Church was so ill-governed, and things so corruptly carried at the court of Rome, that Frederick, King of Sicily, doubted much of the truth of the Christian religion; but was confirmed, and his mind better settled, by Arnoldus de Villa Nova, who showed him that "Offences must come, but woe be to them by whom they come." A scandalous priest is a singular mischief; for he falls not alone, but (as when a main stone in a building or a tall cedar falls) he draws many with him into fellowship of errors and enormities; as did Hymenaeus and Philetus, 2 Timothy 2:17,18; and as the dragon, with his long and strong tail, drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and threw them to the earth, Revelation 13:4. When the pastors become brutish all the flocks are scattered, Jeremiah 10:21 .
Ye have corrupted the covenant of Levi] The covenant on God's part with Levi was a covenant of salt, and could not be corrupted, Numbers 18:19, non computrescit vetustate, saith Flaccius, it putrefieth not with age or long standing; as that pillar of salt into which Lot's wife was turned, and of which Josephus saith, that something of it was to be seen till his time. But these degenerate priests had abandoned God's holy fear, they did not humble themselves and tremble before his name, as Levi their father had done, Malachi 2:5; they had falsified with God, and so forfeited his favour. It was with them, as Cajetan complains and confesses of the Popish priests; that whereas by their places they should have been the salt of the earth, they had lost their savour, and were good for little else but looking after the rights and revenues of the Church; therefore God held himself disobliged, and resolved that they should bear the iniquity of their priesthood; Leviticus 19:8. that is, the punishment of their iniquity notwithstanding the priesthood. That should be no protection to them, but an aggravation; because they fell, as if they had not been anointed: and were, therefore, the worse, because they should have been better, Ideo deteriores sumus quia meliores esse debemus (Salvian.). God holds himself not bound to perform covenant with those who break with him; for why should he give the children's bread to dogs? why should he cast away his favours upon those that value them not? We have the covenant, the seals, the ministry (and this is a singular happiness: Isaiah 19:25, Assyria is the work of God's hands, but Israel his inheritance). But, alas, are not these blessings among us as the ark was among the Philistines, rather as prisoners than as privileges? rather in testimonium et ruinam quam in salutem for a testimony against us, and for our further ruin, than for our safety here and salvation here after? Oh consider how God hath cast off the Israelites, notwithstanding his covenant with their fathers; and when in their necessity they would have forced acquaintance with him, he would not look upon them, Judges 10:14. The sword hath broken in pieces those seven golden candlesticks in Asia, merely for their covenantbreaking. See Trapp on " Mal 2:5 "