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faithless to one another

Malachi 2:10-17

Malachi 2:10 Don’t all of us have one Father? Didn’t one God create us? Why, then, do we act treacherously against one another, profaning the covenant of our fathers?
Malachi 2:11 Judah has acted treacherously, and a detestable act has been done in Israel and Jerusalem. For Judah has profaned Yahveh’s sanctuary, which he cares for, and has married the daughter of a foreign god.
Malachi 2:12 May Yahveh cut off from the tents of Jacob the man who does this, whoever he may be, even if he presents an offering to Yahveh of Armies.
Malachi 2:13 This is another thing you do. You are covering Yahveh’s altar with tears, weeping, and groaning because he no longer respects your offerings or receives them gladly from your hands.
Malachi 2:14 And you ask, “Why?” Because even though Yahveh has been a witness between you and the wife of your youth, you have acted treacherously against her. She was your marriage partner and your wife by covenant.
Malachi 2:15 Didn’t God make you one and give you an equal portion of breath? What is the one seeking? Godly offspring. So watch your breath carefully so that no one acts treacherously against the wife of his youth.
Malachi 2:16 “If he hates and divorces his wife,” says Yahveh, God of Israel, “he covers his garment with injustice,” says Yahveh of Armies. Therefore, watch your breath carefully, and do not act treacherously.
Malachi 2:17 You have wearied Yahveh with your words. Yet you ask, “How have we wearied him?” When you say, “Everyone who does what is evil is good in Yahveh’s sight, and he is delighted with them, or else where is the God of justice?”

faithless to one another

Malachi serves as a kind of go-between in an ongoing conflict between the people and the LORD. He has already brought the LORD’s response to two complaints the people had, and in today’s text he reveals another. The people are asking “Where is the God of justice?” Malachi’s answer is that the God of justice is against his own people, not only because they have forsaken him for other gods, but also because they have been faithless to one another. They have broken their marriage covenants, and divorced the wives of their youth. The LORD intended for those marriages to demonstrate mutual love and faithfulness to him, as part of the divine covenant. Instead, the peoples’ faithlessness has covered their garments with violence, producing cruel, broken homes, further shaming the LORD in the eyes of the nations.

LORD, forgive us for our faithlessness toward one another. Restore our homes and our relationship with you, for your name’s sake.