2.19.17 ~ Malachi 2:13-17, “Marital Monogamy.”

Bible Text: Malachi 2:13-17 | Pastor: Pastor Mike Hale | Series: Malachi | Last week we studied God’s intent for His people to worship the Only True God: Himself. Today we will focus on God’s desire that a man be the husband of but one wife, faithful to her singularly; just as we are to be faithful to the Only True God, and to Him alone.
Read Malachi 2:13… All the weeping and wailing of the priests and the people accomplished nothing! Why? They weren’t repenting of their sins; they were simply whining about the loss of God’s blessings, because of their own disobedience, i.e., marrying foreign wives!
The Jews had violated their vows to God and were worshiping the pagan gods of their foreign wives. God didn’t want to hear their “oh me, oh my’s,” He wanted them to repent of their sins and then direct their worship toward Him.
Read Malachi 2:14-15… Not only were the Jews committing spiritual adultery, but they also were sinfully divorcing “the wives of their youth.” Marriage was a covenant not only between the husband and wife, but between the couple and God. The Jews were committing marital adultery and God was not pleased!
Marriage is the first covenant, the very first institution in the Bible ordained by God, and the Jews were defiling it (see Genesis 2:15-18, 21-25; Mark 10:6-9). God made the two (man and woman) to become one flesh, one unit, one marriage; and God’s intent was that there be one woman and one man, not multiple wives.
Malachi urges the husbands to remember the binding nature of the marriage contract, a covenant made before God, with God as witness. Husbands were to act honorably, to keep God’s covenant by loving their own wives, being faithful to her, and to God. Malachi warns them not to deal treacherously with their wives through divorce or polygamy.
About 500 years before Malachi, Solomon married multiple wives, outside of Israel, in order to ratify treaties with pagan nations (see 1Kings 10:23-25; 11:1-6).
Although it was a common practice in the ancient Near East, multiple wives were forbidden by God and Solomon’s sin resulted in his heart being turned away from God, causing him to abandon his loyalty to God by worshiping other gods.
If you go back another 500 years, to the days of Moses, you’ll find Israel committing both spiritual and marital adultery (see Exodus 34:10-16).
God’s desire from the beginning was that His people be monogamous and faithful in both their worship and their marriages.
Read Malachi 2:16… God hates divorce (along with lying, envy, murder, injustice, fornication), but there are times in the OT in which God commanded divorce. Ezra, writing about the same time as Malachi, confronted the people’s sin against God (see Ezra 10:10-12, 19).
What about divorce and NT believers? Divorce is never God’s best plan, but He does allow it when a spouse commits continuous sexual sin without repentance or any effort of restoration (see Matthew 19:3-10).
Divorce is also justified when an unbelieving partner leaves the marriage (see 1Corinthians 7:10-17) and desires to be freed of the believing spouse. The believer is free to let him or her go, for God doesn’t require us to live in a state of war with such a partner, but neither does God command divorce!
According to the Scriptures, marriage is ordained by God, and is to be convened upon those who commit themselves to a personal and intimate relationship with God through Christ [Christians].
If people heed the Word of God and repent of their sins, God will forgive them and bless them. God wants to restore relationships, not destroy them, for God’s way is the only fulfilling, prospering and everlasting way.
Read Malachi 2:17… God was tired of Israel’s complacency and indifference it was time for His judgment. They became calloused in their hearts, complacent in their worship, and self-righteous to the point of implying that the God of righteousness was somehow favoring the wicked (v. 17b).
Next week we will pick up with the announcement of the coming of God’s Messenger who will proclaim judgment upon Israel, and ultimately, upon all who reject God’s provision of forgiveness and eternal life.
Pastor Mike