Have we not all one father? Hath not one God created us? Why do we deal unfaithfully every man against his brother, by profaning the covenant of our fathers?
Malachi now turns from the priests to the whole people. He opens with two questions no one would deny, then uses that agreement to expose how they were treating each other.
The prophet argues from two ties that already bind the people. One commentator sets them side by side.
There are two truths here — their common standing before God, on the ground of His covenant (Have we not all one Father?), and their common relationship to God as their Creator (Has not one God created us?). These common ties to God, in creation and (as we might say) redemption, bound them together in shared relationships, interests, and blessings. Knowing this should have kept them from sinning against their brothers. In doing so, they profaned the covenant God made with their fathers, whose second great commandment was, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself."
Chapter 1 and the first half of chapter 2 dealt with polluted offerings and failing priests. Verse 10 moves the charge into everyday life among the people. The two are not separate problems.
Pollution had reached the sanctuary, its ministers, and the offerings. As we shall see, the social life of Israel suffered just as much. There is the deepest connection between a false religion, or no religion at all, and the daily ways of the people.
The prophet asks why they are faithless to each other. One commentator says the answer lies further back.
They were wrong in their relations with one another. "Why then are we faithless to one another?" asks the prophet. Can we not supply the answer? Because they were wrong in their relations with the Lord. As one has said, "Satan first divided men from God, and then one man from another." The prophet seeks to correct this evil by reminding them that they have one Father and one God.
One commentator traces the steps of this decline, and finds the same order in the gospel of Matthew.
The priests had "departed out of the way," and then each man betrays his brother. In the gospel of Matthew we find a very similar thing. The evil servant says in his heart, "My master is delayed," and at once he begins to beat his fellow servants, and to eat and drink with drunkards… This is always the moral order: first, relationships with God ignored, then relationships with our brothers, and finally association with the world.
Commentators differ over what the first question rests on. One reads it of God's covenant with the nation. Another takes the verse to speak of God as Maker of all men.
We agree at once that all men are the offspring of God. Paul's address to the people of Athens makes this clear (Acts 17). That chapter also makes clear that Paul speaks of men as part of God's creation, standing to God as creatures to their Creator… This is the relationship of creature to Creator that Malachi points to, in a book where men have lost their reverence for God.
Another writer grants that God is Father of all men, then shows what that does not do.
But this universal Fatherhood of God only makes man's wickedness and unbelief more inexcusable and ruinous. It has to do with nature only, and that nature is now fallen and sinful. It has proved itself God's enemy by rejecting the Son whom God sent to save. Salvation is found in no one but Christ Jesus, His only Son, our Lord. Only then are we who believe His sons by grace.
One commentator names the root of such treachery in a single word: brother.
They were brothers as common descendants of Abraham, and even in a deeper sense. As God's chosen people they stood alike on the ground of redemption, so all were on the same footing before Him… Yet the rich among them were dealing with the people as if they were not their brothers. They forgot the common relationship in which they stood before God, and treated them as if they were foreigners and pagans. The same evils reappear in varying forms in every age.
- One Father — the appeal rests on two ties: a shared covenant standing before God, and a shared Creator. Both bind the people to God, and so to each other.
- One breach — betraying a brother is never only a wrong against him. It profanes the covenant, whose second great command is to love your neighbor as yourself.
- One root — wrong dealings with each other trace back to wrong dealings with the Lord. Satan divides men from God first, then from one another.
- One slope — God ignored, brothers wronged, the world embraced. That is the order every time, in Malachi and in the parable of the evil servant.
- One remedy — creation makes all men God's offspring, but it does not save. Only faith in Christ makes anyone a child of God by grace.
Judah hath dealt unfaithfully, and an abomination is committed in Israel and in Jerusalem; for Judah hath profaned the sanctuary of Jehovah which he loved, and hath married the daughter of a strange god.
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.
Jehovah will cut off from the tents of Jacob the man that doeth this, him that calleth and him that answereth; and him that offereth an oblation unto Jehovah of hosts.
Judah had married "the daughter of a foreign god," and this verse is the sentence that follows. Why is the penalty so severe — and why does the man's offering at the altar give him no cover?
The verse sits at a hinge. The prophet has just dealt with polluted sacrifices and corrupt priests. Now he turns to homes and marriages. One writer shows how closely what a people believe is tied to how they live.
There is the deepest connection between a false religion, or no religion at all, and the way people live. … So, though they were not idolaters, they had formed the closest relationship in life with the pagan nations.
They had not bowed to an idol. They had simply married into families where idols were at home, and that alone brought the sentence.
No one arrives at this sin in a single step. The order never changes.
This is always the moral order. First, relationships with God are ignored. Then relationships with our brothers. Last of all comes association with the world.
So a worldly marriage is the last symptom, not the first. The man had already let go of God's claims long before the wedding.
The sentence names "the man who does this." Older translations read the next phrase as "the master and the scholar" — teacher and pupil alike. Both ends of the community fall under it, and the failure began at the top.
The order of these charges is solemn and instructive. First the leaders were wrong with the Lord — they turned aside from the way. Then they were unfaithful to one another. And last, while the shepherds were quarrelling the sheep were wandering. The quarrels of the leaders let the people of God drift into the world and form unholy ties.
The most startling clause is the last: the one being cut off is still presenting his gift at the altar. Religion had become a routine emptied of God, and a routine like that does not hold.
Such a religion must end sooner or later by seeming pointless to those who practise it. What is the good of it? "What a weariness this is!" they say. And if a man does not become an idolater himself underneath his religious boredom, he soon returns to the idolatrous world and joins himself to it. He "marries," as the prophet says, "the daughter of a foreign god," and becomes one flesh with her in the eyes of an avenging God, who will execute judgment on both.
Nothing about the man's age or his religious record holds that judgment back.
If there is no repentance, judgment in such a case will be swift and sure. … No position, neither age nor youth, nor any outward show of religion, should shield the offender. The God who had redeemed them out of Egypt was holy, and He required holiness from His people.
This was not a new failure for Israel, and the writers do not leave it in the past.
Scripture mentions this sin again and again, almost from the time God redeemed Israel out of Egypt, as one they kept falling into. … Ezra faced the same difficulty. It came almost as soon as God in His mercy brought the remnant out of Babylon and set them in their own land. And may we not say that it is the prevailing sin of the Church? Satan is the god of this world, and those who worshipped idols really worshipped demons. So alliance with the world has the same character as marriage with the daughter of a foreign god. … "Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers." (2 Cor. 6:14.)
So what breaks the pull of the world?
Paul explains the only way we can overcome the attractions of the world: "Far be it from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world."
- Drift. The sin starts long before the wedding. God's claims go first, brothers next, the world last. The marriage is the symptom, not the start.
- Alliance. They were not bowing to idols. They were marrying into idolatry — the closest bond in life, formed with pagan households.
- Leaders. While the shepherds quarrelled, the sheep wandered. Master and scholar are both named, because both had gone.
- Exposure. The offering at the altar buys no exemption. Neither age nor youth nor outward religion shields the offender, and God judges the man who joins himself to the world along with it.
- Separation. Commentators apply it straight across. Alliance with the world has the same character today, and only the cross breaks its attraction.
And further ye do this ye cover the altar of Jehovah with tears, with weeping, and with sighing, insomuch that he regardeth not the oblation any more, nor receiveth [it] with satisfaction at your hand.
Israel's altar was loud with weeping, and God refused the offerings on it. Malachi 2:13 raises two hard questions. Whose tears were these? And why does God turn away from worship that looks so sincere?
The setting is a wave of divorces. Men were sending away their Israelite wives to marry foreign women. One writer reads the flooded altar as the grief of the wives they discarded.
They had put away their own Israelite wives to enter into these unholy alliances. The Jew acted faithlessly toward his brother, both when he made a marriage with a heathen woman and when he put away his lawful wife... Verse 13 describes the weeping and the tears of the abandoned Jewish wives; it is the same condition, only worse, that Ezra and Nehemiah record.
Commentators differ here. Another reading takes the tears as the men's own. They wept over the trouble their sin had brought on them, not over the sin itself.
Their sin brought down God's judgment on them. There was much outcry, and they covered the altar with tears. But this was not real repentance. It was only a protest against their troubles. So God paid no regard to it.
Either way, the outward religion was still running. That is what makes the verse unsettling. Corruption and devotion stood side by side, and the people could not see why God was silent.
From verse 13 we learn that, alongside all the moral corruption we have considered, there were all the outward signs of devotion to the service of Jehovah. They knew they had departed from the living God. Yet they still could not, or claimed they could not, understand why the Lord did not accept their offerings. This would seem so strange, if we did not know how much a person can deceive himself.
The answer to their "Why?" comes in the next verse. God Himself had witnessed the marriage they broke.
Nor was the moral insensibility any less now — it was greater. "But you say, 'Why does he not?'" They could not see where they were to blame. "Because the LORD was witness between you and the wife of your youth, to whom you have been faithless, though she is your companion and your wife by covenant." They were both placed on a common footing with God.
The law of Moses did allow divorce. But Jesus set a limit on that permission.
We learn, from our Lord's answer to the Pharisees, that the law of Moses allowed the Jew to divorce his wife because their hearts were hard. But He expressly adds, "from the beginning it was not so." (Matthew 19:3-9) And the farther they drifted from God in heart and ways, the more often they used this permission. They also abused it, until the marriage bond was loose on every side and they separated from their wives whenever they pleased.
Malachi lists the sins in order, and the order matters. What happens at the altar and what happens at home are not separate worlds.
Notice again the order of the sins listed here. First came the corruption of the covenant of Levi. Then every man betrayed his brother. Then they betrayed God in the matter of idolatry. Last of all, they betrayed the wife of their youth. This is religious, social, and domestic corruption. Note that the last two flow from the first... Dissolve the tie between man and God, and you dissolve every other tie that binds man to man.
Rejected tears are not the whole story. The God who passed over this weeping delights in tears of another kind. The difference is not how loud the weeping is, but whether the heart is truly broken.
It is possible for people to confess and shed tears without any true sense of sin in the presence of God. This is very solemn. It is really mocking God. We know, blessed for ever be His Name, that a truly contrite heart is His delight... "The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise." Tears that flow from a repentant heart are far more precious to God than the cattle on a thousand hills. They prove that there is room in that heart for Him.
- Treachery first. Broken marriages came before the tears. Men discarded the wives of their youth to marry outsiders. Ezra and Nehemiah record the same crisis.
- Then the noise. Weeping and crying filled the altar. But it was a protest against the trouble, not repentance for sin. So God gave it no regard.
- Then the blindness. They kept every outward sign of devotion and still asked "Why?" Self-deception can carry a person far, even when he knows he has left God.
- The chain. Religious corruption came first, then social, then domestic. Cut the tie between a person and God, and every other tie gives way.
- The exception. God is not deaf to tears. He refuses the ones shed without any real sense of sin. He never despises a broken and contrite heart.
Yet ye say, Wherefore? Because Jehovah hath been a witness between thee and the wife of thy youth, against whom thou hast dealt unfaithfully yet is she thy companion, and the wife of thy covenant.
Malachi's hearers flooded the altar with tears. They could not see why God turned away from their offerings. The prophet answers by naming someone they did not expect: the wife they had betrayed. God Himself stood at that wedding as a witness.
One writer notes how far self-deception can go. People who have left God still expect Him to accept their worship:
This would seem very strange, if we did not know how much we can deceive ourselves. They knew how far they had left the living God. Yet they still could not — or claimed they could not — understand why the Lord did not accept their offerings... How often this happens with God's people even now. They cling to their sins, and yet are surprised that He does not hear their cries. They forget the truth the apostle spoke: "whenever our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and he knows everything." (1 John 3:20)
The verse gives the reason God refused their worship. He was there at the wedding as a witness.
How little people care that the marriage relationship cannot be dissolved! How little they care that the Lord was the witness of it, and will be a swift witness against those who violate it! The Saviour allows only one cause for divorce. Divorce for any other reason He treats as adultery.
Moses did allow divorce. Another writer sets out on what terms:
We learn from the Lord's answer to the Pharisees that the law of Moses permitted divorce to the Jew because of their hardness of heart. But He adds plainly, "from the beginning it was not so." (Matthew 19:3-9) And the farther they went from God in heart and ways, the more often they used this permission. They also abused it, until the marriage bond became loose on every side, and they separated from their wives at their own will and pleasure.
The verse does not call the wife a possession. It calls her his companion and his wife by covenant.
They were both placed on a common footing with God... What alienation from God's mind and ways! They were given up to self.
The word translated "faithless" is not used only here. It keeps coming back through the chapter.
As we read these solemn charges, one word keeps striking us: "treacherously." It occurs in verses 10, 11, 14, 15, and 16. In each case a better translation is "unfaithfully." Having turned out of the way, they were unfaithful in every circle. They were unfaithful to one another, brother with brother. They were unfaithful in relation to the world. They were unfaithful in the home. They were unfaithful in their discipline.
The sins in this chapter come in an order.
Notice again the order of the sins listed here. First came the corruption of the covenant of Levi. Then men dealt unfaithfully with their brothers. Then they dealt unfaithfully with God in the matter of idolatry. Last, they dealt unfaithfully with the wife of their youth. It is religious, social, and home corruption. Note it well: the last two flow from the first... Where the conscience is not exercised before God, there is no guarantee of faithfulness to anyone. That includes, as in this passage, those bound by the closest of all ties. Dissolve the tie between man and God, and you dissolve every other tie that binds man to man.
There is a reason God made husband and wife one.
The prophet declares the purpose of the oneness of man and wife, the unbreakable nature of the marriage bond... "And what was the one God seeking? Godly offspring." The Lord looks to find His people among the children of His servants... God Himself ties the godliness of the children — "godly offspring" — to keeping the marriage relationship sacred and unbroken.
Some people treat home duties as beneath a truly spiritual life. One writer answers that directly.
In this way the Lord puts great weight on keeping natural relationships in a godly way. Wherever people treat these lightly, under any excuse, spiritual or otherwise, the door is already open to the worst forms of loose living and corruption. It is worth pressing this in a day when so many try to free themselves from natural claims, under the plausible excuse of a higher spirituality.
- Witness. The God who witnessed the wedding vow now testifies against the man who broke it.
- Companion. The wife is not a lesser party. Husband and wife stand on common ground before God.
- Unfaithful. One word covers the chapter: unfaithful with God, with the brother, with the world, and at home.
- Order. The chain runs downward — cut the tie with God, and every human tie loosens, the closest one first.
- Offspring. God guards the marriage bond because He is seeking godly children through it. Keep it, and you serve His purpose.
And did not one make [them]? and the remnant of the Spirit was his. And wherefore the one? He sought a seed of God. Take heed then to your spirit, and let none deal unfaithfully against the wife of his youth,
Here God charges men who divorced the wives they married in their youth. They protest, and He answers with a question about creation: why did God make husband and wife one? Two phrases carry the argument — "a portion of the Spirit" and "godly offspring", which older translations render "the residue of the Spirit" and "a godly seed".
One writer takes the reasoning step by step. He reads the words about the Spirit as a statement of God's creative power:
The hard fifteenth verse is about marriage, where God makes two into one. He made the woman for the man, though He had the residue of the Spirit — the creative power by which He could have made many women for one man. And why one? That is, one woman for the man. It was so that He might seek a godly seed, and keep godly people continuing. Divorce, such as they practised, works against this.
The people had drifted far from this pattern. The pattern itself did not move:
There was much marital unfaithfulness. Men were putting away their wives treacherously, ignoring God's original purpose in making a man and his wife one. Here once more we see that God's original design stands unshaken, no matter how far people forsake and forget it. We also see that when people ignore God and forget His things, confusion soon follows about our own things.
The oneness of marriage has a purpose, and that purpose reaches the next generation:
The prophet states why man and wife are one, and why the marriage bond must not be broken — apart from the one sin our Lord named in Matthew 19, a sin which is itself the breaking of that bond. "And why one? That He might seek a godly seed." So the Lord looks to find His people among the children of His servants… We have not remembered enough how much the Lord cares for the children of His people and loves them. Nor have we remembered that the godliness of the children — "a godly seed" — is tied by God to keeping the marriage relationship holy and unbroken.
The remedy falls on the parents:
To counteract this unfaithfulness, the prophet reminds them that marriage makes husband and wife one, so that among His people there would be "a godly seed." How deeply important this principle is. If the children are to be holy, let the parents be holy.
One writer adds that we now know something Malachi's hearers did not:
We have even further light now, because the Lord has been pleased to show us that the union of husband and wife is a picture of the union between Him and the Church. So our responsibility is greater — both to understand what marriage is, and to know God's attitude of grace and blessing toward the children of His people.
One word keeps coming back through this passage, and it reaches into circle after circle:
As we read these solemn charges, we cannot miss how often the word "treacherously" comes back. It occurs in verses 10, 11, 14, 15, and 16. In each case it may be better translated "unfaithfully." Once they had turned out of the way, they were unfaithful in every circle: each man with his brother, in relation to the world, in the family, and in their discipline.
The order of those failures matters. It shows how one failure feeds the next:
Notice the order of the sins listed here. First came the corruption of the covenant of Levi. Then men dealt treacherously with their brothers, then treacherously with God in the matter of idolatry, and last of all treacherously with the wife of their youth. This is corruption in religion, in society, and in the home. Note carefully that the last two flow from the first… If a man's conscience is not active before God, there is no guarantee that he will be faithful to man… Dissolve the tie between man and God, and you dissolve every other tie that unites man to man.
The verse ends with a command about the inner man, not just conduct. The danger can wear a religious disguise:
In this way the Lord puts great weight on keeping natural relationships in a godly way. Whenever people push these aside under any excuse, spiritual or otherwise, the door is already open to the worst kinds of licence and corruption. This is worth pressing today, when so many try to escape natural claims under the plausible excuse of a higher spirituality… One of the plainest signs that a person wants to please the Lord is doing his duties at home faithfully and carefully.
- One by design. God had the power to make many, and made one. The single marriage bond is His choice.
- One for a reason. The purpose of that oneness is godly offspring. God looks for His people among the children of His servants.
- One demands holiness. If the children are to be holy, the parents must be holy.
- Unfaithfulness travels. One word covers their dealings with God, with the world, and with their wives. Break the tie with God, and every other tie loosens.
- Guard the spirit. Watch your own spirit. Any excuse for neglect at home, even a claim to higher spirituality, opens the door to corruption.
(for I hate putting away, saith Jehovah the God of Israel;) and he covereth with violence his garment, saith Jehovah of hosts take heed then to your spirit, that ye deal not unfaithfully.
Malachi speaks to men who ended their marriages on light grounds while still bringing offerings to God's altar. God gives His verdict on that, then warns each man to guard his own spirit.
One writer counts how often this charge returns in the chapter, and how far it reaches.
In reading these solemn charges we cannot help being struck by how often the word "treacherously" comes back. It occurs in verses 10, 11, 14, 15, and 16. In each case it may be more correctly translated "unfaithfully." Having wandered out of the way, they were unfaithful in every circle. They were unfaithful each man with his brother. They were unfaithful in relation to the world. They were unfaithful in the home. And they were unfaithful in their discipline.
The order of the sins in this chapter carries its own lesson.
Nothing shows moral corruption more clearly than the light view people take of divorce. Even now, when a people or nation makes it easy for husband and wife to get a legal separation, it is a sure sign that public morals are decaying. Notice again the order of the sins listed here. First came the corruption of the covenant of Levi. Then each man dealt treacherously against his brother. Then they dealt treacherously with God in the matter of idolatry. Last, they dealt treacherously with the wife of their youth. This is corruption in religion, in society, and in the home. Note carefully: the last two flow from the first… Dissolve the tie between man and God, and you dissolve every other tie that unites man to man.
These writers quote an older translation of this verse, which reads, "He hates putting away." One of them finds the reason for that hatred in how God has treated His own people.
God has made husband and wife one. He also hates putting away. The prophet introduces this in a most solemn way: "For the LORD, the God of Israel, says that He hates putting away." So if His people share His own mind, they will hate it too. And how abundantly the whole history of Israel as a nation proves that the Lord does hate putting away! If He had not hated it, Israel would long ago, and many times over, have been renounced. They broke His covenant again and again. By that they forfeited every claim on His favour and love. But He bore with them with much patience, for His gifts and calling are without repentance. In the prophets He kept reminding them of His union with them — that He was married to them, and so could not cast them off.
Yet God's hatred of putting away is not a promise that He never separates from anyone. One writer points to the names God gave the children of the prophet Hosea.
The LORD hates putting away (Mal. 2:16). Yet He is the same One who said "Lo-ammi, not my people," to her whom He had called "Ammi, my people." He said "Lo-ruhamah, not pitied," to her whom He had called "Ruhamah, pitied." (Hosea 1 and 2) He ought to put people away from Himself, and He can, and He will, if they do not put away their sin and their bad ways.
The verse then tells each man to guard his own spirit. That guard starts at home.
In this way the Lord lays great stress on keeping natural relationships in a godly way, and attaches great importance to it. Wherever people treat these ties lightly, under any pretext, whether spiritual or otherwise, the door is already open to the worst forms of licence and corruption. It is worth pressing this subject today. So many, under the plausible excuse of a higher spirituality, try to free themselves from natural claims. In many cases they want out of the tiresome duties of home or the control of parents. One of the plainest evidences of a desire to please the Lord is the faithful and diligent discharge of our responsibilities in the home circle.
The verse also pictures a man covering his garment with violence. That image carries the principle beyond marriage.
They dealt treacherously with their wives, putting them away on trivial pretences. But the prophet says, "the LORD, the God of Israel, says that He hates putting away" (verse 16). … Under the appearance of keeping order, they acted with the greatest violence. This passage speaks directly of men who wrongly put away their wives. But the principle reaches wider. We may well think of it in connection with "putting away" an offender from among the company of God's people. It is a solemn warning against violently getting rid of a brother without proper, scriptural grounds.
- Treachery — the key word of the chapter means unfaithfulness. It spreads: with a brother, with the world, in the home, and in discipline.
- Root — religious corruption came first; social and domestic collapse followed. Cut the tie with God and every other tie loosens.
- Hatred — God hates putting away, and Israel's history proves it. They forfeited every claim, yet He bore with them patiently.
- Balance — He still puts people away from Himself when they refuse to put away their sin.
- Heed — the remedy is personal. Watch your own spirit. Start with the duties of home, and never use a show of order to cover violence.
Ye have wearied Jehovah with your words, and ye say, Wherein have we wearied [him]? In that ye say, Every one that doeth evil is good in the sight of Jehovah, and he delighteth in them; or, Where is the God of judgment?
Malachi's last word in chapter 2 is about speech: the people have talked in a way that wears God out. They shrug the charge off — "How have we wearied him?" — and God's reply exposes two sayings that put Him in the wrong. (Where ESV reads "the God of justice," the writers quoted below use the older rendering "the God of judgment.")
This charge caps a run of accusations the people refuse to receive.
Having read this far, the last verse of Malachi 2 does not surprise us. They had indeed wearied the Lord with their words. They refused to admit any charge that had to be brought against them, and challenged the accusation in a very insolent way. They met even this protest in the same self-satisfied way, asking, "How have we wearied Him?" They were not prepared to admit anything. They would rather cast a slur on God Himself.
This counter-question runs right through the book. Here is one link in the chain.
If God reminds them of His love, they say, "How have You loved us?" (Mal. 1:2). If He rebukes them for despising His name, they say, "How have we despised it?" (Mal. 1:6)… If He accuses them of wearying the Lord, they say, "How have we wearied Him?" (Mal. 2:17)… If He begs them to return to Him, they say, "How shall we return?" (Mal. 3:7).
Their surprise is genuine, and that is the diagnosis.
They had departed from God. They drew near to Him with their mouth and honoured Him with their lips, but their heart was far from Him. They did not know their own condition — or else claimed not to. And so they are surprised to hear that they had wearied the Lord. The truth was, they were on the path of self-justification. They excused themselves and laid the blame for everything on God — sure evidence of their own backsliding… Notice also that it was their words that had wearied the Lord. How often we forget that our words are recorded, and brought up for rebuke or judgment! (See Matt. 12:36-37.)
The first saying enlists God on the side of what the speakers are already doing.
First, some tried to make God a partner in their evil, as though He approved of it. They treated as good what was evil. This is a religious trick, not uncommon, we fear, in our day. Far too many claim they are serving God and pleasing Him while doing things completely astray from His truth. The priests and people Malachi addressed were religious people. This evil shows up above all among the religious.
The second saying is blunter. It attacks God's record, not His approval.
They apparently challenged God's judgment, when He through the prophet challenged them. Their question, "Where is the God of judgment?" may not have hinted that He had no right to judge. The hint was rather that He had not used His right of judgment in the matters under discussion. Whatever their exact meaning, they clearly tried to push God, and His word, out of the whole matter. The spirit behind this form of self-defence is not dead in our day.
People still ask this question. The answer does not depend on judgment arriving on our schedule.
The judgment of the sinner is certain, though God bears long with him in his rebellion and unbelief. "Where is the God of judgment?" men ask today, as they unbelievingly asked long ago (Mal. 2:17). We answer, He is bearing long with man's refusal to repent, but His Word declares He "will by no means clear the guilty!"
This taunt opens the door to the promise of chapter 3.
This last bold question comes from their arrogant pride and their security in themselves. It opens the way for the prophetic message in this chapter. They ask, "Where is the God of judgment?" The answer is: "Behold, I will send My messenger, and he shall prepare the way before Me; and the Lord, whom you seek, shall suddenly come to His temple"… John the Baptist fulfilled this prophecy as the herald of His first coming.
Getting what they demanded would not have comforted them.
They cry out, "Where is the God of judgment?"… "But," the prophet asks, "who may abide the day of His coming? and who shall stand when He appears?" And the Lord Himself adds, "I will come near to you to judgment."
- Words weary. Their talk wore God out. They refused every charge, and met each one with an innocent-sounding question.
- Excuse breeds accusation. Self-justification never stops at self. It ends by laying the blame on God. So the verse slides from "How have we wearied Him?" to a charge against His character.
- Two ways to misname God. One saying makes Him a partner in evil; the other says He has failed to act. Both push God out of the matter under discussion.
- His silence is patience. He bears long with rebellion, but He "will by no means clear the guilty" — the delay they mock is mercy, not absence.
- The answer is a Person. God answers "Where is the God of justice?" with a messenger, and then with the Lord Himself coming to His temple. The question back is who will stand when He appears.