Malachi 2:1-2:9 A rebuke for the priests: Attempt to restore worship to its rightful place. Worship is an expression of a life lived with God. Job was to instruct the faithful regarding the Lord. Failed on both accounts…were simply indifferent. If they don’t change their ways, their blessings will be cursed. They have violated the covenant he had made with Levi. They will be humiliated and despised among the people.

Malachi 2:10-16 A problem with intermarriages. “Have we not all one father?” How then are we faithless? Intermarriage oftentimes led to integration and acceptance of foreign gods. Some people were aware of God’s displeasure. Wept and wailed at the altar, wondered why they were not blessed. Many of them were divorcing (Israelites wives) and marrying foreigners. (Scholars think having two wives was still permissible at this point. So the problem might have been that Gentile fathers insisted they divorce the Israelite wife before allowing them to marry Gentile daughters. In a sense they were sinning twice…against the wife and against God). Hence, their sacrifices were no longer acceptable to God. The Lord says, “I hate divorce.” Divorce had become commonplace, symptom of society’s decline. Divorce was legal, but took its toll on human relationships (Some scholars think this whole section is a metaphor, not about human relationships but about separation from God). Faithful human relationships reflect faithfulness to God.