Bible Verses and Early Church Commentary | Historical Christian Faith

[AD 258] Cyprian on Malachi 2:1-2

In which place, dearest brother, we must consider, for the sake of the faith and the religion of the sacerdotal office which we discharge, whether the account can be satisfactory in the day of judgment for a priest of God, who maintains, and approves, and acquiesces in the baptism of blasphemers, when the Lord threatens, and says, "And now, O ye priests, this commandment is for you: if ye will not hear, and if ye will not lay it to heart to give glory unto my name, saith the Lord Almighty, I will even send a curse upon you, and I will curse your blessings." Does he give glory to God, who communicates with the baptism of Marcion? Does he give glory to God, who judges that remission of sins is granted among those who blaspheme against God? Does he give glory to God, who affirms that sons are born to God without, of an adulterer and a harlot? Does he give glory to God, who does not hold the unity and truth that arise from the divine law, but maintains heresies against the Church? Does he give glory to God, who, a friend of heretics and an enemy to Christians, thinks that the priests of God, who support the truth of Christ and the unity of the Church, are to be excommunicated? If glory is thus given to God, if the fear and the discipline of God is thus preserved by His worshippers and His priests, let us cast away our arms; let us give ourselves up to captivity; let us deliver to the devil the ordination of the Gospel, the appointment of Christ, the majesty of God; let the sacraments of the divine warfare be loosed; let the standards of the heavenly camp be betrayed; and let the Church succumb and yield to heretics, light to darkness, faith to perfidy, hope to despair, reason to error, immortality to death, love to hatred, truth to falsehood, Christ to Antichrist!

Source: Epistle LXXIII

[AD 420] Jerome on Malachi 2:1-2

(Chapter 2, verses 1, 2.) Woe to the deceitful one who has a male in his flock and makes a vow, sacrificing something weak to the Lord. For I am a great king, says the Lord of hosts, and my name is feared among the nations. + And now, to you, O priests, I give this command: If you will not listen and if you will not set it on your heart to give glory to my name, says the Lord of hosts, I will send poverty upon you and curse your blessings, yes, I have cursed them, because you have not set it on your heart. LXX: And cursed is the one who is powerful and has a male in his flock, and his vow is upon him, and he sacrifices a weakling to the Lord. For I am a great King, says the Lord Almighty, and my name is renowned among the nations. And now I have this command for you, O priests. If you do not listen and if you do not set your heart to give glory to my name, says the Lord Almighty, I will send a curse on you, and I will curse your blessings. Indeed, I have already cursed them, because you have not set your heart to honor me. This which is written, and I will scatter your blessing, is added in the Septuagint, and is not found in Hebrew. Whatever the human mind can find to excuse its sin and defend itself with false satisfaction, this divine word, foreseeing it, rebukes and condemns. And the meaning is, because you offer the blind and the lame and the sick, and this is not from your own, but from robberies and spoils and the tears of the miserable, and moreover you say, we offer what we have from labor and poverty: therefore I say generally, that your own conscience may accuse you. Certainly you hide poverty and the injustice of captivity, and the weakness of your family affairs: listen to what I say: Cursed is the deceitful one who has a male in his flock, and making a vow he sacrifices an inferior one to the Lord. If you do not have a male, the curse does not harm you. By saying this, he shows that they have what is best and offer what is worst. Therefore, priests, this commandment is for you, you have done what is wicked in contempt of me. But because I prefer the repentance of a sinner to death, I say even now: If you refuse to listen and understand, so as to give glory to my name, which is terrible among the nations, I will send a true plague to you, so that you will not lie; but, compelled by the lack of all things, you will say that you do not possess the best things to offer. And I will curse, he says, your blessings, that is, those things which you now possess through my blessings; whatever is blessed by you will be cursed by me. And I will curse them, implied by your blessings; for you did not want to understand what is being said; for it is said: you have not set it upon your heart. We can receive the curse and deception of the Jewish people, who, although they had in their flock the male Lord Savior, and the spotless Lamb who takes away the sins of the world (John 1), and being warned by the prophecy of all the prophets, to sacrifice and accept the ram, which was caught by its horns in the thicket of Sabec (Genesis 22), they did not want to do this; but instead, they sacrifice the weak to the Lord, crucifying the Savior, and choosing Barabbas, the author of robbery and sedition (John 18), who is interpreted according to mystical understanding as referring to the devil: and for those despising and preferring the devil to the Savior, the name of Christ is horrible among the nations, who have received the passion of the Lord and fearfully honor Him. It can also be said about us: If we, created by God, wise and possessing a nature suitable for sacred disciplines, neglect our own skill and give ourselves to vices and excesses, and having power, we sacrifice the weak to the Lord. However, our prayer is weak and tainted, when it is corrupted by anger, envy, enmities, and other disturbances of the soul: if we offer a gift at the altar and remember that our brother has something against us, we do not proceed and make amends to him (Matthew 5:23). And so the Apostle commands: 'I desire therefore that the men pray in every place, lifting up holy hands without anger and dispute' (I Tim. II, 8). And the shepherd is the one who knows our thoughts and the senses of our virtues, as it is said in the one hundred and second Psalm (Verse 1): 'Bless the Lord, O my soul, and let all that is within me bless his holy name'. If he governs his flock well, he fulfills that blessing: 'Blessed shall be the offspring of your cattle and the produce of your ground' (Deut. XXVIII, 4). But if he who naturally possesses masculinity, that is, strength, rigidity, and robustness, sacrifices lightness or excessive femininity and lasciviousness, or if he is weakened and corrupted by various disturbances of the soul, he will feel within himself that which is written: The powerful endure torments powerfully (Wisdom 6:7). And: To whom much is given, much will be demanded from him (Luke 8). Therefore, it is specifically said to priests that if they refuse to listen and hold it in their hearts, so as to give glory to the name of the Lord through good conduct (Romans 2); but on the contrary, his name is cursed among the nations because of them, he will send upon them poverty of all good things, and will turn their blessings into a curse. Those who abuse their health for pleasure, and turn their wealth into luxury, and tarnish their good reputation with impure conduct, they change the blessings of God into curses. Indeed, it is specifically the priests who are commanded, and their blessings are turned into curses when they do not bless the saints with true heartfelt affection, like Isaac with Jacob, and Jacob with the patriarchs, and Moses with the twelve tribes (Genesis 27 and 49, and Deuteronomy 23), but they deceive the hearts of the innocent with sweet words and blessings (Romans 16), and those who act wickedly are blessed by them, and they flatter sinners as long as they are rich and indulge in their vices, of whom it is said: My people, those who call you blessed are leading you astray and causing you to stumble in your paths (Isaiah 3:11).

Source: Commentary on Malachi

[AD 420] Jerome on Malachi 2:3-4

(Vers. 3, 4.) Behold, I will cast the branch to you, and I will scatter the refuse of your solemnities upon your faces, and it shall take you away with it. And you shall know that I have sent this commandment to you, that my covenant might be with Levi, says the Lord of hosts. LXX: Behold, I will separate for you the shoulder, and I will scatter the belly upon your faces, the belly of your solemnities, and I will take you together: and you shall know that I have sent this commandment to you, that my testament may be with the Levites, says the Lord Almighty. Because he speaks to the priests, he says: I will cast in your faces those things which you consider holier in the Law, and which have been forgiven to you by God as a gift of virtues from sacrifices: The arm, which the Seventy translated as shoulder, that is, the right arm of the animal. And I will scatter, he says, the dung, that is, the abdomen; or according to the Hebrews, excrement, that is, Phares, metaphorically using the term to refer to what contains, calling that which is contained, for the priests received both the arm and the chest, as well as the tongue and the abdomen, and those things which are described in Leviticus (Lev. VII and IX) from sacrifices. He testifies that all these things are cast away for their sins, and that they are sent upon the faces of the priests (Num. 18; Deut. 18), so that those who offer may be such as those things that are offered. And He says that He will take you with Him, that is, the dung of your solemnities, so that the filthy faces may be defiled by the mixture of foul dung, and from that which I cast away from you, you may understand that I am He who once chose your father Levi, and through Levi Aaron, and granted you the glory of the priesthood, so that it might be My covenant or testament with Levi, and he might minister to Me in an eternal priesthood. Note that 'Brit' in Hebrew is translated as 'pact' or 'covenant' by Aquila, 'testament' by the LXX, and in many places in Scripture, 'testament' does not mean the will of the deceased, but a covenant of the living. God desired that all people, especially priests, not have any blemish and adorn their shoulder or arm with good works. A good conscience is signified by the heart, holy confession by the tongue, so that what we believe in our hearts for righteousness, we confess with our mouths for salvation (Romans 10). In the stomach, there is nothing deadly; but rather that which sustains and nourishes our life: for if food is not digested in the stomach and its juice irrigates the body, it becomes weak and leads to death. However, we turn everything the opposite way, so that the Lord may reject us or separate our works from the works of the saints, and it is prescribed for us to anoint our heads (Matt. VI) and to wash our faces from the filth of sins while fasting, and to contemplate the glory of the Lord with unveiled face (III Cor. III). Now we say: Confusion covers my face (Ps. XLIII, 16) and like Cain, our face falls (Gen. IV), and we cannot fulfill what is commanded: Lift up your eyes and see (Jer. XIII, 20); but we have faces covered with the filth of vices and we say: My wounds have putrefied and have become corrupt, because of my foolishness (Ps. XXXVII, 6). Wherefore all these things are turned into dung, as the Scripture saith: And he shall take you with him as dung, even the faces of our sacrifices which ought to have come full and clean to the solemnities of God, and to eat the flesh of the lamb shod with shoes (Exod. XII), or after seven weeks, to offer the fruits of our works to God (Lev. XXIII), or to live passing through in the tabernacles of this world, and to say: I am a stranger and a pilgrim, as were all my fathers (Ps. XXXVIII). And because for this reason we translate: He will take you with himself to the dung, the Septuagint translated it as: I will take you together, intelligence is added, that after the priests have been covered with disgrace and ignominy, and have recognized their sin and repented, then they shall be taken by the Lord, and it is fitting for this meaning what follows: And you shall know that I have sent this commandment to you. But the interpretation that seems true to me is superior, lest between the words of threat, he may have inserted words of flattery, especially since even the things that follow sound like God's indignation.

Source: Commentary on Malachi

[AD 1781] Richard Challoner on Malachi 2:3

I will cast the shoulder to you: I will cast away the shoulder, which in the law was appointed to be your portion, and fling it at you in my anger: and will reject both you and your festivals like dung.

[AD 420] Jerome on Malachi 2:5-7

(Verse 5 onwards) My covenant with him was one of life and peace, and I gave him fear, and he feared me, and trembled at the presence of my name. The law of truth was in his mouth, and iniquity was not found on his lips. He walked with me in peace and equity, and turned many away from iniquity. For the lips of the priest preserve knowledge, and people seek instruction from his mouth, for he is the messenger of the Lord of hosts. LXX: My covenant with him was one of life and peace, and I gave him fear to fear me, and he was in awe of the presence of my name. The law of truth (also called truth itself) was on his lips, and iniquity was not found on his tongue. He walked with me in peace and turned many away from wickedness. For the lips of a priest should guard knowledge, and people should seek instruction from his mouth, because he is the messenger of the Almighty. It is described from the perspective of God, the perfect duty of a priest, what he should be like, and how God wanted him to be, whom he commanded to be. For He had said above, 'On account of the pact between Me and Levi,' says the Lord of Hosts, 'and it was through Levi the Patriarch that the pact reached his descendants, Aaron, Eleazar, Phinehas, and others who were generated from his lineage. But now in the end, He says, 'You have made void the pact with Levi,' says the Lord of Hosts. From this, it is clear that everything that is said about Levi pertains to the priests and specifically to the high priest. We read in Numbers about Phinehas, who killed Zimri and the Midianite woman with a sword. Phinehas, son of Eleazar, son of Aaron the priest, caused My fury to rest upon the Israelites because he was zealous for My honor and did not let Me destroy the Israelites in My anger. Therefore, I said, 'Behold, I will give him the covenant of peace, and it shall be for him and his descendants after him a covenant of eternal priesthood.' This is because he was zealous for his God and made atonement for the Israelites.' (Numbers 25:11) But let us not consider the testament or pact of life to be that which is common to us with animals and all living creatures, but that which says: I am the life (John 14:7). For indeed our life is hidden with Christ in God (Colossians 3:3): of whom we can say that he himself is our peace, as the Apostle affirms: For he himself is our peace (Ephesians 2:14). Therefore, the Lord gave to Levi and through him to his descendants, that they might fear him; for the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom (Psalm 111:10), and they should fear and withdraw themselves from his presence, showing the fear of the mind by the horror of the body, according to what is written: On whom shall I rest, except on the humble and quiet and trembling one who keeps my words? (Isaiah 66:2) The law of truth was on his lips, that is, the teaching of the peoples, which in the priest should not be defiled by any falsehood; but should proceed entirely from the fountain of truth. And injustice was not found on his lips, so that he might imitate his Lord, of whom it is said: 'He committed no sin, and no deceit was found in his mouth' (1 Peter 2:22). He walked with me in peace and equity, so that he himself may have peace within him and may bring peace to others, and may show no partiality in judgment, and therefore he walks with God as Enoch walked, who was taken up by God and was found no more (Genesis 5); and he turned many away from iniquity. Whoever is a priest and does not correct wrongdoers, passes over the duty of the priest. The lips of the priest shall keep knowledge: they shall not say, pronounce, but shall keep, so that they may speak at the proper time, and give food to the servants in due season, and seek the law from his mouth. The same is written in Haggai: 'Ask the priests about the law of the Lord' (Haggai 2:12). It is the duty of the priest to respond to the disciplined inquiry about the law. If someone is diligent in ignorance of other things, but negligent in the Holy Scriptures, they boast in vain of a dignity whose works they do not exhibit. This is what the apostle Paul writes to Titus: That he may be able to exhort in sound doctrine and to refute those who contradict (Titus 1:9). And to Timothy: Since from childhood you have known the sacred writings, which are able to instruct you for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus, so that the one who sins in the presence of all may be rebuked (2 Timothy 3:13). It follows: Because the angel of the Lord of hosts is. He explains his name as Ezra, the priest of God, that is, Malachi, which is interpreted as the angel of the Lord; however, an angel, that is, a messenger, is truly called a priest of God, because he is the mediator between God and men, and he announces God's will to the people: and therefore in the priest's breastplate it is the rational (Exodus 29), and in rational learning and truth is placed, so that we may learn that a priest must be learned and a proclaim of the Lord's truth. Some falsely think that what is said about Levi and through Levi to the priests should be understood about Christ, not considering the things that follow, which are contrary to the person of Christ.

Source: Commentary on Malachi

[AD 430] Augustine of Hippo on Malachi 2:5

A little further on Malachi speaks of Christ, again in the person of God: “My covenant was with him of life and peace, and I gave him fear; and he feared me, and he was afraid before my name. The law of truth was in his mouth, and iniquity was not found on his lips. He walked with me in peace and equity and turned many away from iniquity. For the lips of the priest shall keep knowledge, and they shall seek the laws at his mouth because he is the angel of the Lord of hosts.” No one should be astonished to hear Christ spoken of as “the angel of the Lord of hosts.” He was called his servant because he came to humanity in the form of a servant; similarly he was called an angel because of the evangel, which he brought to humankind.

Source: City of God 18.35

[AD 380] Apostolic Constitutions on Malachi 2:7

For neither may we address ourselves to almighty God, but only by Christ. In the same manner, therefore, let the laity make known all their desires to the bishop by the deacon, and accordingly let them act as he shall direct them. For there was no holy thing offered or done in the temple formerly without the priest. “For the priest’s lips shall keep knowledge, and they shall seek the law at his mouth,” as the prophet somewhere says, “for he is the messenger of the Lord God almighty.”

Source: CONSTITUTIONS OF THE HOLY APOSTLES 2:4.28

[AD 407] John Chrysostom on Malachi 2:7

See the apostle’s wisdom; to obviate the objection that he was prompted by vainglory to applaud his own doctrine, he includes himself also in his anathema. And as they betook themselves to authority, that of James and John, he mentions angels also, saying, “Tell me not of James and John; if one of the most exalted angels of heaven corrupt the gospel, let him be anathema.” The phrase “of heaven” is purposely added, because priests are also called angels. “For the priest’s lips should keep knowledge, and they should seek the law at his mouth, for he is the messenger angel of the Lord of the hosts.”

Source: COMMENTARY ON GALATIANS 1

[AD 542] Caesarius of Arles on Malachi 2:7

For this reason we ought to fear lest the harsh rebuke of the prophet be directed toward us: “Dumb dogs are not able to bark.” By the barking of dogs and the shepherd’s staff the fury of wolves is to be warded off. Now it is certain that priests are not only ordained to be stewards of fields and cultivators of land but also to exercise the spiritual cultivation of souls, that of which the apostle surely spoke when he said, “I have planted, Apollos watered.” Again he said, “We are God’s helpers, you are God’s tillage.” With great fear these facts ought to be considered by all the priests, who cannot be ignorant of the divine law and canonical regulations, according to what the apostle says: “If anyone belongs to the Lord, he knows what I say; but if anyone ignores this, he shall be ignored.” For this reason, what the Lord says through the prophet is to be feared exceedingly: “Therefore my people are led away captive, because they had knowledge”;8 moreover, “He that turns away his ears from hearing the law of the Lord, his prayer shall be an abomination”; “the lips of the priest shall keep knowledge.” Now it is written concerning the garments of priests that when entering the temple they should have gold bells on the edge of their vestments. What else does this mean but that when entering the church all priests of the Lord should not stop shouting, that is, preaching about the last things, namely, the end of the world and the future judgment. By ceaselessly proclaiming the rewards of the just and the punishments of sinners, they may arouse the good to better things and recall the wicked from their sinful actions through fear of the future judgment.

Source: SERMON 1:5

[AD 604] Gregory the Dialogist on Malachi 2:7

For in sacred language teachers are sometimes called prophets in that, by pointing out how fleeting are present things, they make manifest the things that are to come. And such the divine discourse convinces of seeing false things, because, while fearing to reprove faults, they vainly flatter evildoers by promising security; neither do they at all dissolve the iniquity of sinners, since they refrain their voice from chiding. For the language of reproof is the key of discovery, because by chiding it discloses the fault of which even he who has committed it is often unaware. Hence Paul says, “That he may be able by sound doctrine even to convince the gainsayers.” Hence through Malachi it is said, “The priest’s lips keep knowledge, and they shall seek the law at his mouth.” Hence through Isaiah the Lord admonishes, saying, “Cry aloud to spare not, lift up your voice like a trumpet.” For it is true that whosoever enters on the priesthood undertakes the office of a herald, so to walk, himself crying aloud, before the coming of the judge who follows terribly.

Source: PASTORAL CARE 2:4

[AD 1781] Richard Challoner on Malachi 2:7

The angel: Viz., the minister and messenger.

[AD 420] Jerome on Malachi 2:8-9

(Vers. 8, 9.) But you have departed from the way, and have caused many to stumble in the law: you have made void the covenant of Levi, says the Lord of hosts. Therefore I also have made you contemptible and base before all the people, because you have not kept my ways, and have had respect of persons in the law. LXX: But you have turned aside from my way, and have made many weak in the law, you have corrupted the covenant of Levi, says the Almighty Lord. And I gave you contemptible and dissolute ones to all nations, because you did not keep my ways, but showed partiality in the law. This does not pertain to the person of Christ, nor to those who are dedicated to his worship, even if I remain silent, the wise reader understands. And the meaning is: I wanted to make you do what is contained in the previous chapter, and what I spoke through Moses in Deuteronomy: Give his teaching and truth to the righteous man (Deut. XXXIII, 8, sec. LXX), and the rest: but you have departed from the straight path, or deviated, as I said: Do not turn to the right or to the left (Deut. V, 32); and you have made many weak in the law, or caused them to stumble, as Aquila and Symmachus translated. To turn to the right is to abstain from the foods that God created for use; to condemn marriage and to fall into that which is written in another place: Do not be overly righteous (Eccl. 7:17). To turn to the left is to give oneself over to luxury and lust, and to cause scandal to many in the law. It is better for such a person to have a millstone tied around their neck and be thrown into the sea, than to cause one of the least of these to stumble. But many make the weak, who, having received the strength of faith in Christ, make them weak by their negligent behavior, of whom rightly it is said: You have made void the covenant of Levi, the covenant of life and peace, and other things which we have said pertain to the priest's duty. For this reason, I too have made you contemptible and lowly to all the people, so that they would despise you and trample upon your honor and glory: Because you have not kept my ways and have shown partiality in the law. Among all the sins of Levi, or those who are from Levi, the priests of God, that one is placed last and greatest, why they receive faces in the law, so that they consider not causes, but persons, despising the just poor, receiving and honoring unjust rich. To whom it is said in the eighty-first psalm: How long will you judge unjustly and accept the faces of sinners (Psalm 81:2)? And Paul says to the Galatians: God, he says, does not accept the person of man (Galatians 2:6). The apostle James more fully argues this sin and condemns it (James 2). However, whatever is said to the previous people, let us consider it also said to us, so that we may be more cautious in avoiding vices and not adopt a face against the law, nor prefer falsehood to the truth as worshippers of God.

Source: Commentary on Malachi

[AD 202] Irenaeus on Malachi 2:10

The Scripture declares the truth, which says, “First of all believe that there is one God, who has established all things and completed them, and having caused that from what had no being, all things should come into existence”: he who contains all things, and is himself contained by no one. Rightly also Malachi said among the prophets: “Is it not one God who has established us?” In accordance with this too does the apostle say, “There is one God, the Father who is above all, and in us all.” Likewise does the Lord also say, “All things are delivered to me by my Father,” manifestly by him who made all things; for he did not deliver to him the things of another but his own.

Source: AGAINST HERESIES 4:20.2

[AD 373] Athanasius of Alexandria on Malachi 2:10

But this is God’s kindness to humanity, that of whom he is the maker, of them according to grace he afterwards becomes Father also. He becomes, that is, when people, his creatures, receive him into their hearts, as the apostle says, “the spirit of his Son, crying, ‘Abba, Father.’ ” And these are they who, having received the word, gained power from him to become sons of God; for they could not become sons, being by nature creatures, otherwise than by receiving the spirit of the natural and true Son. Wherefore, that this might be, “the word became flesh,” that he might make humans capable of godhood. This same meaning may be gained from the prophet Malachi, who says, “Has not one God created us? Have we not all one Father?” For first he puts “created” next to “Father” to show, as the other writers, that from the beginning we were creatures by nature. And God is our Creator through the word, but afterwards we were made sons, and thenceforward God the Creator becomes our Father also.

Source: Discourses Against the Arians 2.21.59

[AD 420] Jerome on Malachi 2:10-12

(Verse 10 and following) Is not the Father one of us all? Is not God one who created us? Why then does each one of us despise his brother, violating the covenant of our fathers? Judah has transgressed, and abomination has been made in Israel and in Jerusalem: because Judah has defiled the sanctification of the Lord, which he loved, and has taken the daughter of a foreign god. The Lord will destroy the man who does this, the master and the disciple from the tents of Jacob, and the one who offers an offering to the Lord of hosts. LXX: Is not the Father of you all one? Did not one God create you? Why have you each forsaken his brother, making the abominable testament of your fathers? Judas has been abandoned, and abomination has been made in Israel and in Jerusalem, because Judas defiled the holy things of the Lord, in which he loved, and he discovered foreign gods. May the Lord destroy the man who does these things, until he is driven out from the tents of Jacob, and from those who offer sacrifice to the Almighty Lord. Before we discuss the current chapter, the tradition of the Hebrews must be presented, indeed the truth of the Scriptures must be explained. We read in a volume titled Ezra, spoken in the person of Ezra himself: The leaders approached me, saying: The people of Israel, as well as the priests and Levites, have not separated themselves from the peoples of the lands and from their abominations, namely the Canaanites, Ethiopians, Persians, Jebusites, Ammonites, Moabites, Egyptians, and Amorites. For they have taken of their daughters for themselves, and for their sons: and the holy seed is mixed with the people of those lands. Moreover the hand of the princes and magistrates hath been first in this transgression. And when I had heard this thing, I rent my mantle and my coat, and plucked off the hair of my head and of my beard, and sat down mourning (1 Esdras 9:1). And again in the following: And there were found of the sons of the priests that had taken strange wives: of the sons of Jesus, the son of Josedec, and his brethren, Maasia, and Eleazar, and Jarib, and Godolia: and they gave their hands to put away their wives, and to offer for their offence a ram of the flock (1 Esdras 10:18-19). At the end of the chapter, after listing those who had taken foreign wives ((or had taken)), the Scripture states: All of these took foreign wives, and there were women among them who gave birth to sons. Therefore, upon their return from the Babylonian captivity, both the leaders, priests, and Levites, as well as the rest of the people, rejected their wives of Israelite descent, who, due to poverty and the injustice of a long journey, as well as the frailty of their gender, could not bear the labor and had become worn out, and had contracted physical weakness and deformity. And they had entered into matrimony with foreigners, who were either in the prime of life or possessed more attractive physical appearances, or were the daughters of the powerful and wealthy. So Ezra the prophet rebukes them and challenges them to reject their new wives and take back the wives they had divorced. He says, 'Is not Abraham our father? Didn't Isaiah write about him: Look to Abraham your father, and to Sarah, who bore you; for he was one, and I called him.' Isn't it one God who created us, who chose our lineage from Abraham? Why then do we despise our old wives and cast aside the daughters of our brothers, in order to abandon the covenant of our fathers and not take wives according to the Law? Juda transgressed (for this tribe alone returned from Babylon with the priests and Levites, and abomination was committed in Israel and in Jerusalem. Not from the ten tribes which were held by the Assyrians did this happen, but from those who returned under the authority of King Cyrus, Zerubbabel, Ezra, and Nehemiah from Babylon. Because Judah defiled the sanctification of the Lord, which he loved, and took a daughter of a foreign god, mixing Israel's seed with foreigners and the daughters of the nations, that is, with non-Israelite women who served idols, by marrying them. Therefore, the word of the prophets is directed towards them, and they are drawn away from sin by curses. May the Lord destroy the man who does this. How beautifully he does not pardon the error, nor does he say, 'May the Lord curse the one who did this,' but the one who does it, stretching the curse towards the future, in order to provoke sinners to repentance. The teacher, he says, the disciple from the tents of Jacob, whether he be a priest or a layperson, they shall be struck with the same curse, and there shall be no difference in punishment for those in whom the sins are equal. And the one offering a gift to the Lord of hosts: it is understood that the Lord will destroy him as well, who wishes to offer a gift at the altar for men of this kind, whose only remedy is not to do what they have done. Some, not understanding this passage, nor knowing the truth of history, understand what he says: 'Is not the father of us all one?' concerning Abraham, so as to also mention Abraham as the father of the Gentiles, according to what is written: 'God is able from these stones to raise up children of Abraham' (Matt. 3:9). Certainly they affirm one God the Father according to what we read in Deuteronomy: Is not this the same Father who possessed you, and made you, and created you (Deut. XXXII, 6)? And again: You have deserted the God who created you (Ibid., 18). And elsewhere: I have begotten sons and exalted them, but they have forsaken me (Isaiah I, 2). And in the Book of Psalms: The sons of strangers have lied to me: the sons of strangers have grown old and stumbled from their paths (Ps. XVII, 46). 964 From this one father, who sinned, departing, they made many fathers of their vices: For everyone who commits sin is born of the devil. And this is what follows: Therefore each one of us despises his brother, violating the covenant of our fathers, they interpreted it in such a way as to say: We who are all generated from one father ought to be one, and to have one confession of faith; but afterwards by pride and the building of the tower against God, they were divided into many languages and opinions (Gen. XI). They also refer to acts of charity, saying: Let us despise our brothers when we do not share with them what we have received from God for sustaining life. And they further allege that our brother is called Lord according to the Scriptures, who commanded Mary Magdalene to announce to his brothers that the Lord has risen (John 20), and he speaks in the Psalm: I will declare your name to my brothers, in the midst of the Church I will sing praise to you (Psalm 22:23). So the Jews deserted their brother and contaminated the covenant of their fathers, which God had made with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, that in their descendants, who is interpreted as Christ, all the nations would be blessed. They suspect these things in various ways because they do not find a certain way. Finally, even this which follows according to the Septuagint: Judas has been forsaken, and abomination has been made in Israel and in Jerusalem, they explain thus: The Jews have been deserted because they have blasphemed the Lord Savior and have endured what is written: According to the multitude of their wickedness, drive them out, for they have provoked you, O Lord (Ps. 5:11), so that they would be scattered as wanderers and fugitives into all the provinces. For they have polluted the holy things of the Lord, being devoted to the Son of God, and approaching foreign gods: For whoever does not accept the Son, does not accept the Father who sent him (Luke IX, 43). And because they have done this, they will continue to be destroyed until they are humbled, either by the injustice of captivity, or by the guilt of their conscience: and they will be cast out from the tents of Jacob, so that with the temple and altar destroyed, no sacrifices may be offered among them (or by them). Not content with this explanation (because Judas is interpreted as the confession of the Lord), they transfer understanding to the penitent, who, after confessing the Lord, if he sins, commits an abomination in Israel, and in Jerusalem, in the sense of seeing God, and in the vision of peace. For he pollutes the mysteries of Christ, unworthily receiving his body and blood (I Cor. XI), because he loves vices and finds for himself foreign gods, having the number of gods according to the number of sins. According to the Apostle Paul: God is a voracious belly (Phil. III), and according to Peter (also James). Whoever is conquered by him, is subjected to him (II Petr. II, 19). And whoever does this, will be exterminated from the Church, and from the tents of Jacob, who supplants vices and sins, until he is humbled for his own good, and a victim is offered for him to the Almighty Lord.

Source: Commentary on Malachi

[AD 420] Jerome on Malachi 2:11

And if you wish to see more clearly how utterly unlawful it is for a Christian woman to marry a Gentile, consider what the same apostle says, “A wife is bound for so long time as her husband lives. But if the husband be dead, she is freed to be married to whom she will, only in the Lord,” that is, to a Christian. The one who allows second and third marriages in the Lord forbids first marriages with a Gentile. Whence Abraham also makes his servant swear upon his thigh, that is, on Christ, who was to spring from his seed, that he would not bring an alien-born as a wife for his son Isaac. And Ezra checked an offense of this kind against God by making his countrymen put away their wives. And the prophet Malachi thus speaks, “Judah has dealt treacherously, and an abomination is committed in Israel and in Jerusalem; for Judah has profaned the holiness of the Lord which he loves and has married the daughter of a strange god. The Lord will cut off the man that does this, him that teaches and him that learns, out of the tents of Jacob, and him that offers an offering to the Lord of hosts.” I have said this that they who compare marriage with virginity may at least know that such marriages as these are on a lower level than digamy and trigamy.

Source: Against Jovinianus 1.10

[AD 420] Jerome on Malachi 2:13-16

(v. 13 ff.) And you have done this again, covering the altar of the Lord with tears, weeping and groaning, so that I will no longer look upon your sacrifices or accept anything pleasing from your hands. Yet you ask, 'Why?' Because the Lord has been witness between you and the wife of your youth, whom you have despised, though she is your companion and your wife by covenant. Did not one God create us all? Did not one God give us life and breath? And what does one seek, except the seed of God? Therefore, guard your spirit and do not despise the wife of your youth. When you have hatred, let it go, says the Lord God of Israel; but iniquity will cover its clothing, says the Lord of hosts: guard your spirit and do not despise. LXX: And you have done these things that I hated: you covered the altar of the Lord with tears, weeping and groaning, looking for a sacrifice still worthy of labor, or to receive something acceptable from your hands. And you said, why? Because the Lord has testified between you and the wife of your youth, whom you have abandoned, and she is your companion, and the wife of your covenant, and no other person has done this, and the remainder of your spirit. And you said, what else does God seek besides offspring? And guard in your spirit, and do not abandon the wife of your youth. But if you hate her and divorce her, says the Lord God of Israel, he will cover your thoughts of wickedness, says the Almighty Lord. And guard in your spirit, and do not abandon. Let us interpret the story, and connecting short sentences to each verse, let us discuss what has been handed down to us from the Hebrews. The abandoned wives of the Israelites, contemplating the women of foreign nations in the beds of their husbands, sought refuge only in God's help, prostrating themselves before the altar of the Lord for 966 days and nights with tears, groans, and wails, causing envy towards His providence; because He did not regard human affairs and did not alleviate their miseries. Where God says that he cannot accept sacrifice and offering from the hands of priests who have committed these things, being hindered by the weeping and lamentations of their wives, and moreover, he asks why he does not accept sacrifice from their hands, and immediately he declares: Because the Lord has testified between you and the wife of your youth, whom you have despised, saying: Because of this, a man will leave his father and mother and cling to his wife, and the two will become one flesh (Gen. II, 24): and therefore she is called a partner and wife of union and covenant, who was made from the rib of man by God. And the remainder of his spirit, whether of God, as some suppose, or of the husband, as others suspect, because on this account it seems that, in a certain manner, one soul exists in two (persons), with the spirit and mind united. Therefore, when one (person) has made both the man and the woman, on this account the conjunction of both was made by God, so that children would be born. For there is only one God, what does he seek except the seed of God, that is, children generated from the Israelite stock? So when you have fruitful wives and rejoice in children, why do you seek the beauty of women, which is suitable for prostitutes, not for wives? Therefore, God commands through the prophet and says: Guard your spirit; do not be led astray by desire, so that you are not overcome by the love of strangers. And do not despise the wife of your youth, who was first joined to you in virgin marriage, let her remain with you until old age. But it could happen that the rulers, priests, Levites, and people would respond: God commanded through Moses that when we hate our wives, we should divorce them. And it is written: You say to me that it is written: When you hate your wife, divorce her, says the Lord God of Israel (Deut. XXIV). And immediately he replied: Indeed, this is a commandment in the Law, but because of the hardness of your hearts. Which the Lord further expounds in the Gospel: But whoever, except for the cause of fornication, unjustly divorces his wife (Mat. V, 52), his garment of iniquity will cover him, that is, the body in which the soul is clothed, says the Lord of hosts: so that he may be punished in the same way he sinned. Therefore, in this dissolved question, it inculcates and repeats what it said above: Guard your spirit, and do not despise, either the guardianship of your spirit, or certainly a wife, if she is poor or ugly. What we specifically explained according to the book of Ezra concerning abandoned wives, some people believe this statement is generally against those who plunder the possessions of others and unjustly amass wealth, daring to offer gifts to God, which it says it cannot accept, forbidden by the tears of those who have been devastated, and by weeping and groaning. And it is fitting to apply this testimony to that place: Honor God from your just labors (Prov, III, 9). But they also mix in this feeling, those who on account of the loss of family property, the death of their children, shipwreck, and other things that pertain to the loss of worldly possessions, are turned to weeping, and give themselves wholly to mourning and lamentation: not with the strength of mind and hope in God, and disregard everything for the rewards of the future; even if they direct their prayers to God, they are not received by him, because they are defiled by unseemly and incongruous lamentations for a man. But as for what follows: Because the Lord has testified between you and the wife of your youth, whom you have despised; and she is your partner, and the wife of your covenant or testament; and no other has done so; and the remnants of your spirit are interpreted in such a way that they say the natural understanding of the wife of your youth, and the law written in the heart, which is inherent in all human beings. Therefore, even the nations without the law of God do the things that are of the law. And about this wife, it is preached in Proverbs: A wife is joined to a man by God (Prov. XIX, 24); and we are commanded to drink from our own wells and fountains, and let no one share in drinking, and to take delight in the wife of our youth. This wife even impels us to say to the gullible: God will judge, and God will see (Judges VII, 13); and I leave all things to be judged between me and you, about which even Ecclesiastes speaks: And live your life with the woman whom you have loved all the days of your vanity, which have been given to you under the sun (Eccl. IX, 9). This wife is the remaining spirit of ours, because she is always joined to our perception: and if she departs from us, we immediately offend God, and our impiety covers us. Hence it is again suggested: Keep your spirit (Galatians 6), not the flesh in which those who are cannot please God, not the soul: For the animalistic man does not receive those things which are of the spirit (1 Corinthians 2:14); but the spirit: for the Spirit intercedes for us with unspeakable groanings (Romans 8:16).

Source: Commentary on Malachi

[AD 1781] Richard Challoner on Malachi 2:13

With tears: Viz., by occasion of your wives, whom you have put away: and who came to weep and lament before the altar.

[AD 220] Tertullian on Malachi 2:15

For in the Gospel of Matthew he says, “Whosoever shall put away his wife, saving for the cause of fornication, causes her to commit adultery.” He also is deemed equally guilty of adultery who marries a woman put away by her husband. The Creator, however, except on account of adultery, does not put asunder that which he himself joined together, the same Moses in another passage enacting that he who had married after violence to a damsel should thenceforth not have it in his power to put away his wife. Now if a compulsory marriage contracted after violence shall be permanent, how much rather shall a voluntary one, the result of an agreement! This has the sanction of the prophet: “You shall not forsake the wife of your youth.” Thus you have Christ following spontaneously the tracks of the Creator everywhere, both in permitting divorce and in forbidding it. You find him also protecting marriage, in whatever direction you try to escape. He prohibits divorce when he will have the marriage inviolable; he permits divorce when the marriage is spotted with unfaithfulness. You should blush when you refuse to unite those whom even your Christ has united, and repeat the blush when you disunite them without the good reason why your Christ would have them separated.

Source: AGAINST MARCION 4.34

[AD 1781] Richard Challoner on Malachi 2:16

Iniquity shall cover his garment: Viz., of every man that putteth away his wife without just cause; notwithstanding that God permitted it in the law, to prevent the evil of murder.

[AD 420] Jerome on Malachi 2:17

(Verse 17.) You have wearied the Lord with your words, and you say: in what way have we wearied Him? In that you say: everyone who does evil is good in the sight of the Lord, and such please Him; or certainly where is the God of justice? LXX: You have provoked the Lord with your words, and you say: in what way have we provoked you? In that you say: everyone who does evil is good in the sight of the Lord, and in these things he delights; and where is the God of righteousness? This place is more fully described by the seventy-second psalm, the beginning of which is: How good is God to those who are upright in heart! But my feet were almost moved: my steps were almost poured out: for I was jealous of the wicked, seeing the prosperity of sinners: For there is no regard for their death, nor is there a firm foundation in their affliction. They are not troubled by the toil of men, and they will not be scourged with men (Ps. 72, 1 seqq). And then I said, therefore I have justified my heart without cause: and have washed my hands among the innocent. So when the people returned from Babylon and saw all the nations around them, and saw them serving the idols of Babylon, and abounding in wealth, and flourishing in their bodies, and possessing all the things that are considered good in this world; but as for me who have knowledge of God, I am covered in squalor, hunger, and servitude, and I am scandalized and say: There is no providence in human affairs, everything is carried by uncertain chance, and is not governed by God's judgment, but rather evil pleases Him, and good displeases Him. Or surely if God judges all things, where is His fair and just judgment? This kind of question, unbelievably, is continually raised to God regarding the future, and when He sees the wicked powerful, He sees the humble saints abounding in all things, even not having those things necessary for sustenance; and sometimes with deaf ears and blind eyes, and with sores in every part of their bodies, and burdened by weakness, like Lazarus in the Gospel (Luke 16) who, covered in purple, desired to be nourished by the crumbs that were thrown from the remnants of tables; but the rich person, in such great cruelty and brutality, does not have compassion on a fellow human, whom even the tongue of dogs has compassion on, not understanding the time of judgement, nor that those things which are eternal are the true goods, saying: Evil things please him, and where is the judgement of God?

Source: Commentary on Malachi

[AD 430] Augustine of Hippo on Malachi 2:17

Wherefore now we call the proud people happy, for they that work wickedness are built up. It was such complaints as these that compelled the prophet to anticipate, as it were, the last judgment in which the wicked will be so far from even a pretense of happiness that their misery will be apparent to all, whereas the good, untroubled by even transitory sorrow, will enjoy a manifest and unending blessedness. Malachi had already given a similar illustration of the kind of murmurings that wearied the Lord: “Everyone who does evil is [thought to be] good in the sight of the Lord and as such pleases him.” The only point I want to make is that such murmurings against God were the result of an unspiritual interpretation of the law.

Source: City of God 20.28