MALACHI SERIES 4: GOD’S SECOND AND THIRD CHARGES OF SIN (2:10-17) I. GOD’S LOVE FOR JACOB (1:1-5) II. GOD’S FIRST CHARGE OF SIN (1:6-2:9) III. GOD’S SECOND AND THIRD CHARGES OF SIN (2:10-17) A. THE PEOPLE’S SIN OF UNFAITHFULNESS TO THE COVENANT (2:10-16)

1. The Sin of Unfaithfulness Revealed (v. 10) a. Through the sin of mixed marriages (vv )  Read Mal 2:11a. ~ Judah is held up as an example of this polluting betrayal. ~ The concern of this charge is the people’s unfaithful activity in their relationships with one another.

~ The treachery or unfaithfulness Malachi had in mind (v. 10) is called an “abomination”. ~ An “abomination” is something abhorrent to God.  Read Mal 2:11b. ~ “profaned”: to defile, to desecrate, to violate. ~ And what did Judah profane? “The sanctuary of the Lord which He loves.”

~ Whatever it was specifically, this abominable unfaithfulness involved a profaning of holiness “which He (the Lord) loves.”  And the abomination is: Mal 2:11c. ~ This phrase simply means intermarriage with pagans. ~ This verse speaks second breach of Judah’s covenant with God: the people had entered into mixed marriages. ~ This verse speaks of second breach of Judah’s covenant with God: the people had entered into mixed marriages.

~ GOD SAW ALL THIS AS ULTIMATELY UNFAITHFULNESS TO HIM, A TREACHERY AGAINST HIM.  Such marriages had been expressly forbidden because they would lead the people into idolatry and later to apostasy. ~ defeats God’s purpose of having made Israel His chosen people, to whom He would be the Father to the Israelites in a unique sense

 Verses where we would read of this prohibition: ~ Ex 34:11-16 ~ Deut 7:3-4 ~ Josh 23:12-13  Intermarrying continued a big problem after the return from the Exile, and such marriages had been reported in: ~ Ezra 9:2-6; 10:18-19 ~ Neh 10:30 and 13:23-27

 In the NT God has a command that is similar in nature to His prohibition to Israel through the apostle Paul in 2Cor 6: ~ An unequally yoked union with an unbeliever can draw a believer’s heart away from the Lord. ~ This kind of union will expose your life to an unbeliever’s values and influences, and these have a way of making an impact in your life one way or another.

~ How sad that many churches today do not take this NT command seriously! ~ Many seem to think that this is just a “better option”, not a necessary requirement. ~ When we are emotionally moved and tempted to enter into prohibited relationships like this, we must very deliberately choose to be truth- founded in dealing with those emotions.

 Whereas Mal 2:11 contains God’s charge of sin, v. 12 declares God’s threat. “man” – males ~ “man” – males ~ “the tents of Jacob” – a figurative expression for the community of Jews ~ “cut off from the tents of Jacob” – either that the man would die or that he and his line would be completely wiped out and exterminated and, thus, would have no descendants in Israel

~ “who awakes and answers” ( NASB, literal) ~ general intent of the expression: the entirety of the transgressor’s family would suffer the “cutting off” ~ Being passive witnesses to sin does not absolve us from participation in it; there is a reason for God allowing us to sometimes witness the sins of fellow believers, and it is not to turn a blind eye but to be an instrument in addressing that sin to help bring about repentance.

 The threat of being “cut off” extends also to the one “… who presents an offering to the Lord of hosts.” ~ Formal ritual activity and surface religiosity can never atone or make up for willing and flagrant disregard for God’s covenant and shameless disobedience to His laws. ~ What is truly needed is what God requires: TRUE AND PROFOUND CONFESSION OF AND BROKENNESS OVER SIN.