Malachi 2:10

Judah's Marital Unfaithfulness

10 Don't all of us have one Father?[a] Didn't one God create us?[b] Why then do we act treacherously against one another, profaning the covenant of our fathers?[c]

Malachi 2:10 Meaning and Commentary

Malachi 2:10

Have we not all one father?
&c.] Whether this is understood of Adam the first man, of whose blood all nations of the earth are made, and who in the same sense is the father of all living, as Eve was the mother of all living; or of Abraham the father of the Jewish people, of whom, as their father, they used to glory; or of Jacob, as Kimchi and Aben Ezra interpret it, whom the Jews used to call our father Jacob; or of God, who is the Father of all men by creation, and of the Jews by national adoption of them; and who may the rather be thought to be meant, since it follows, hath not one God created us?
either as men, or formed us as a body politic; which may serve to explain what is meant by their having one father: whichever is the sense of these words, the argument from hence is strong; that there ought to be no partiality used in the law, or any respect had to persons, in that the rich and the poor have all one Father and one Creator; see ( James 2:1-8 ) : why do we deal treacherously every man against his brother;
by perverting justice, having respect to persons, favouring one to the prejudice of another, as it follows: by profaning the covenant of your fathers?
the covenant made with them at Sinai, as Jarchi explains it; the law that was then enjoined them, particularly such as forbid respect of persons, ( Leviticus 19:15 ) ( Deuteronomy 16:19 ) some think, as Aben Ezra, that a new section here begins, and that the prophet proceeds to a new reproof, and for another sin these people were guilty of, in marrying wives of another nation, contrary to the law in ( Exodus 34:15 ) which was dealing treacherously with one another, and profaning the covenant of their fathers.

Malachi 2:10 In-Context

8 "You, on the other hand, have turned from the way. You have caused many to stumble by your instruction. You have violated the covenant of Levi," says the Lord of Hosts.
9 "So I in turn have made you despised and humiliated before all the people because you are not keeping My ways but are showing partiality in [your] instruction."
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?
11 Judah has acted treacherously, and a detestable thing has been done in Israel and in Jerusalem. For Judah has profaned the Lord's sanctuary, which He loves, and has married the daughter of a foreign god.
12 To the man who does this, may the Lord cut off any descendants from the tents of Jacob, even if they present an offering to the Lord of Hosts.

Footnotes 3

  • [a]. Mal 1:6; Isa 63:16; Hs 11:1
  • [b]. Dt 32:6; Isa 43:1-7; 64:8
  • [c]. Mal 1:12; Ps 55:20; 89:34
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