Malachi 2:13-16 meaning

Malachi 2:13-16 begins with the transitional statement, This is another thing you do, to let the reader know he was about to deal with a second major problem faced by the covenant people (v. 13). In the previous section, God chastised the people for defiling His sanctuary by engaging in pagan practices.

Then, he disclosed the sin he will now deal with and said, you cover the altar of the LORD with tears, with weeping, and with groaning because He no longer regards the offering or accepts it with favor from your hand (v. 13).

The idea here is that the people are weeping and groaning because God is disregarding their offering. They are doing this while defiling His sanctuary with abominable practices (Malachi 2:11). This shows a profound disrespect of the LORD. The people made a covenant vow to follow the LORD by obeying His commands (Exodus 19:8). Now they are breaking their covenant then wondering why God is not blessing them. Their answer is spelled out clearly in their covenant agreement with God. That covenant/treaty states that they will be blessed if they make life-giving choices as spelled out by the LORD (Deuteronomy 30:19). They are not being blessed because of their own choices.

Instead of making life-giving choices the people of Judah are making death-giving choices. They are marrying a foreign god in the sanctuary, likely meaning they are practicing pagan immorality, and they are practicing partiality against their brothers (Malachi 2:10-11). These two practices violate the two great commandments. They are not loving God with all their hearts, and they are not loving their neighbors as themselves (Matthew 22:37-39).

The term for LORD (“Yahweh” in Hebrew) is the covenant name of God. That name speaks of God’s character and His relationship with His chosen people (Exodus 3:14, 34:6). The altar of the LORD was a structure upon which the Israelites offered sacrifices to Him (Genesis 8:20, Exodus 40:29). It was a place of consecration and was located at the entrance to the Temple.

The prophet used the phrase “You cover the altar of the LORD with tears, with weeping, and with groaning” as a word picture that describes the lament of the Jewish men when they realized their worship and sacrifices did not receive approval. They wanted it both ways. They wanted God’s blessing while practicing the sexual lust of the foreign god and exploiting their fellow Jews.

God did not take pleasure in their tears and weeping. They were like children whining to get to eat dessert when their parents told them, “You can’t have dessert unless you eat your meal.” The weeping and tears are trying to get God to bless them while they are violating their covenant vows to Him by disobeying His law.

God now no longer regards the offering or accepts it with favor from your hand because the people are violating their covenant vow to love and follow Him. They are also abusing and exploiting their brothers by showing partiality (Malachi 2:10) thus breaking God’s command to love their neighbors as themselves (Leviticus 19:18). And they are marrying a foreign god in His sanctuary, which probably means they are defiling God’s temple with pagan sexual immorality. The point of worship is to align the heart of the people with God’s life-giving ways. In this case the people are trying to twist the worship to manipulate God into condoning their death-giving ways, and He will not accept it.

Throughout the Bible, God tells His people He will relieve them of their tears: “Call upon Me in the day of trouble; I shall rescue you, and you will honor Me” (Psalm 50:15, 56:8-11, Isaiah 25:8, Jeremiah 29:12; 33:3, Revelation 21:4). However, in Malachi’s day, God rejected the cries of the Jewish men because they were not really seeking God’s help in the spirit of following Him. Rather they were seeking to manipulate God to follow them.

God delights in “a broken and a contrite heart” (Psalm 51:17). This is a heart that seeks to learn and follow. If we have a heart that wants to follow, then God can lead us to the ways of life and benefit. When we follow His ways, He can lead us to our greatest fulfillment. But these people wanted to follow their own ways and have God’s blessing in doing so. So they found no favor in His eyes.

Meanwhile, the people were not willing to accept their guilt. Rather than taking responsibility and turning from their wicked deeds and asking God for forgiveness, they challenged the prophet’s message: Yet you say for what reason? has God ceased answering their prayers (v. 14).

They were puzzled that God was not honoring their prayers. While they are in violation of God’s commands they express an attitude of entitlement, “We are God’s people, so why won’t He bless us?” But Malachi answers them plainly why God is not blessing them: Because the LORD has been a witness between you and the wife of your youth, against whom you have dealt treacherously though she is your companion and your wife by covenant (v 14).

It was inferred in Malachi 2:11 that the people were performing pagan worship practices of sexual immorality in His sanctuary. Thus, the men would be dealing treacherously against their wives. The pagan god would give them a moral justification for their treachery against their wives, as the pagan religions claimed these sexual practices brought spiritual blessings. But this is untrue. It is just rationalizing self-seeking behavior. It is a self-seeking behavior that is treachery against their wives who is their companion and your wife by covenant.

They have not only violated their covenant vow against the LORD by following pagan gods and exploiting their brothers, they have also violated their covenant of marriage. They owe faithfulness to their wives because biblical marriage is a covenant that demands sexual fidelity.

The word for companion (“chabhērāh” in Hebrew) denotes an alliance. It comes from the verb “to join” or “to ally.” In Exodus, Moses told the Israelite workers to “make fifty clasps of gold and join [“chabherah”] the curtains to one another with the clasps so that the Tabernacle will be a unit” (Exodus 26:6). In the same manner, God unites a man and a woman permanently through marriage. The husband would cling to his wife and “become one flesh” (Genesis 2:24; Mark 10:8). Sadly, in Malachi’s day, the Jewish men did not honor their marital union.

Companion is translated into Greek in the Septuagint (the Greek translation of the Old Testament) with the Greek word “koinonos.” The root of this word appears in 1 John 1:3 as “fellowship”:

“what we have seen and heard we proclaim to you also, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ.”

A wife is an intimate companion, intwined in soul with her husband. Biblical marriage is a picture of the intimate relationship believers are to have with God in their daily walk. This fellowship is disrupted by sin and self-seeking. Just as the men of Judah have forsaken walking in fellowship with their covenant God, they are also forsaking walking in fellowship with their covenant wives.

The verb translated as deal treacherously is “baghadh” in Hebrew. It means to act faithlessly. Old Testament writers often used this verb to describe how someone fails to honor an agreement (Exodus 21:8; Jeremiah 3:20). The phrase wife of your youth speaks of the early period of a marriage. In Malachi, the Jewish men forgot their early commitments and broke faith with their wives.

God established marriage as a binding covenant between a man and a woman, a lifetime commitment to each other (Proverbs 2:17). He instituted it as part of His will for human beings (Genesis 2:24). The oneness of marriage reflects the Oneness of God. This passage shows that God is aware of the vows a couple takes during their wedding ceremony and that there will be an accounting to Him for whether that vow is kept. Scripture warns against taking vows then not keeping them (Ecclesiastes 5:4-5).

However, not all men broke their marital vows. Malachi now adds But not one has done so who has a remnant of the Spirit. And what did that one do while he was seeking a godly offspring? Take heed then to your spirit, and let no one deal treacherously against the wife of your youth (v 15).

The phrase done so refers to the prior verses discussing breaking the marital vow through sexual immorality. There is considerable variation among translators for verse 15. An example is the NKJV,

“But did He not make them one,
Having a remnant of the Spirit?
And why one?
He seeks godly offspring.
Therefore take heed to your spirit,
And let none deal treacherously with the wife of his youth.”

What is clear is that God desires marriages to be permanent and stable, as He says in verse 16, For I hate divorce. The main points to take from verse 15 seem to be as follows:

• Marriage is a spiritual union. God makes two into one.
• Adam said this of Eve (Genesis 2:24).
• Jesus quoted Genesis 2:24 to describe marriage (Matthew 19:5-6) where He also stated that divorce was not in God’s original design.
• Paul asserts that a believer that has sexual intercourse with a harlot joins the Holy Spirit to her, supporting the spiritual nature of sexual intercourse (1 Corinthians 6:15-17).
• Sexual intercourse creates oneness, and through that God seeks that oneness to produce godly offspring. 
• Godly offspring are more prone to be godly when marital vows are kept.
• Sexual infidelity in marriage is to deal treacherously. 

The verb take heed means to watch out or to be alert; that is, to pay close attention. The men were to be vigilant —like a watchman guarding a city —to protect their marriage relationship. They were to prevent any situations that could potentially cause them to cheat on the Jewish women they married when they were young. They were not to break faith in marriage. This infers that maintaining sexual fidelity is a matter of constant vigilance.

In the next verse, the LORD gave the reason for the warning: For I hate divorce (v. 16). Marriage is a covenant relationship that requires faithfulness and loyalty from the man and the woman who is his companion. Thus, it would be sinful to compromise that union.

Malachi inserted the formula, says the LORD, the God of Israel, to confirm the source of his revelation and add credibility to it. Then, he wrote the remaining part of the statement in verse 16.

The full verse reads: For I hate divorce,” says the LORD, the God of Israel, “and him who covers his garment with wrong,” says the LORD of hosts. “So take heed to your spirit, that you do not deal treacherously” (v. 16).

Jesus strengthens this statement about divorce and the treachery of sexual infidelity by saying:

“but I say to you that everyone who divorces his wife, except for the reason of unchastity, makes her commit adultery; and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery.”
(Matthew 5:32)

The term translated as wrong in the phrase him who covers his garment with wrong is “hamas” in the Hebrew text. It means “violence” and often refers to societal injustice (Habakkuk 1:3; Obadiah 1:10). It is used similarly in Psalm 73 together with another Hebrew word that is also translated to English as “garment”:

“Therefore pride is their necklace;
The garment of violence covers them.”
(Psalm 73:6)

Translators have different takes on verse 16. It could be God is saying that He hates divorce as well as hating him who covers his garment with violence. The point would be that violence against another person is in the same category of sin as divorce. Physical violence destroys social bonds of fellowship within the community and divorce destroys the bonds of fellowship within the family.

This could also tell us that the LORD considers divorce an act of violence against His created order. In His created order, God desired that man not be alone, but rather that two become one, and raise godly offspring (Genesis 2:18, 2:24, Malachi 2:15). Both would seem to fit the passage as well as the broader context. The prophet added the formula, says the LORD of hosts, to confirm the nature and source of his message as being from God.

The term host (“Sabaoth” in Hebrew) means “armies” and often refers to the angelic armies of heaven (1 Samuel 1:3). In prophetic literature, the phrase LORD of hosts often describes God’s power as a warrior leading His army to defeat His adversaries (Amos 5:16, 9:5; Habakkuk 2:17). Here in Malachi, it demonstrates God’s power as the supreme warrior who has complete control over all human affairs. It is the Supreme Ruler of All who desires the men among His people to remain faithful to their wives. God wants His people to care for one another and remain faithful in their marriages. Accordingly, He asserts So, take heed to your spirit, that you do not deal treacherously (v 16).

The root of the word translated treacherously appears five times in Malachi, all in Chapter 2 (Malachi 2:10, 11, 14, 15, 16). The immediate application to God’s warning to avoid behaving treacherously is in marriage (Malachi 2:14) and in the community (Malachi 2:11). It would make sense that the warning would apply to every sort of treachery mentioned:

• The treachery of treating those of lesser earthly status with partiality (Malachi 2:10)
• The treachery of engaging in pagan worship practices, likely sexual immorality, and even bringing such practices into the LORD’s sanctuary (Malachi 2:11)
• The treachery of divorcing the wives of their youth (Malachi 2:14, 15)

The treachery would be against God because they broke their covenant vow to Him, to obey His commands to love Him and love their neighbors as themselves (Exodus 19:8, Matthew 22:37-39). The treachery would also be against their neighbors and their wives. They are following the pagan ways of exploiting rather than the LORD’s ways of serving their communities and families.

The way to avoid dealing with God and others treacherously is to take heed to your spirit. The phrase so take heed translates a single Hebrew word that is also translated as “keep,” “observe,” “watch,” or “beware.” The word spirit here would refer to the life within, in this case with emphasis on our inner thought life. It is in our spirit that we make decisions about the three things we control:

• Who to trust. In this case, God or self.
• What perspective to choose. In this case, a perspective that God knows what is best for us or we know better than God.
• What actions to take. Our actions will be shaped by the decision we make about what perspective to choose and who to trust.

The idea seems to be to take heed of what decisions we make because if we choose to trust self we will end up dealing treacherously. In this passage the treachery applies to God, our families, and our neighbors. God’s ways lead us to seek intimate fellowship with God, our spouses, and our neighbors through serving and loving them. The world’s ways, the ways of “self,” lead us to deal treacherously with others.

As we saw in Malachi 2:10, every human has the same Father because we all have the same creator. Therefore, when we exploit others it is treacherous because we are abusing our own family members whom we should be dealing with in love. It is obvious that a society that embraces the idea that “I am entitled to exploit others” will become abusive and violent, which will lead to impoverishment.

God’s desire is to see people thrive, which is why He exhorts them to adopt ways that lead to human flourishing. In this case, the Judeans are adopting exploitative ways while continuing to observe religious practices, and expecting God to bless them. Malachi points out to them that they are merely engaging in rationalization and are in need of repentance.