Malachi 2:9

9 Therefore have I also made you contemptible and shefalim before kol HaAm because ye have not been shomrim of darkhei of Me, but have shown partiality in torah.

Malachi 2:9 Meaning and Commentary

Malachi 2:9

Therefore have I also made you contemptible and base
When their city and temple were destroyed by the Romans, and they were carried captive by them, and became a taunt and a proverb in all places where they came: before all the people;
the nations of the world, among whom they were scattered: according as ye have not kept my ways;
neither those which the law directed to, either moral or ceremonial; nor what the Gospel directed to, the ordinances and institutions of Christ, particularly baptism, which the Jews rejected against themselves, ( Luke 7:30 ) : but have been partial in the law;
in the observance of it, attending to the lesser, and taking no notice of the weightier matters of it, as the Jews are charged by Christ, ( Matthew 23:23 ) and in the interpretation of it, restraining its sense only to outward actions, for which they are reproved, ( Matthew 5:1-48 ) or "received faces", or "accepted persons in the law" F24; in matters of the law they were concerned in, they had respect to the persons of men, by giving the sense of it, and pronouncing judgment, in favour of some, to the prejudice of others, wrongly.


FOOTNOTES:

F24 (hrwtb Mynp Myavwnw) "et accepistis faciem in lege", Pagninus; "assumentes facies", Montanus; "suscipitis faciem", Piscator; "accipitis faciem", Cocceius; "et ferentes faciem in lege", Burkius.

Malachi 2:9 In-Context

7 For the kohen’s lips should preserve da’as, and they should seek torah at his mouth: for he is the malach Hashem Tzva’os.
8 But ye are departed out of HaDerech; ye have caused rabbim to fall into a michshol (stumbling block) at the torah (teaching); ye have corrupted the Brit of Levi saith Hashem Tzva’os.
9 Therefore have I also made you contemptible and shefalim before kol HaAm because ye have not been shomrim of darkhei of Me, but have shown partiality in torah.
10 Have we not all Av Echad? Hath not El Echad created us? Why do we commit chillul Brit Avoteinu by every man breaking faith with his brother?
11 Yehudah hath broken faith, and a toeva (abomination) is committed in Yisroel and in Yerushalayim; for Yehudah hath committed chillul against the Beis Hamikdash Hashem loves, by marrying the bat el nekhar.
The Orthodox Jewish Bible fourth edition, OJB. Copyright 2002,2003,2008,2010, 2011 by Artists for Israel International. All rights reserved.