Malachi 2:10-16

10 Have we not all one Father? Has not one God created us? Why then are we faithless to one another, profaning the covenant of our fathers? 11 Judah has been faithless, and abomination has been committed in Israel and in Jerusalem. For Judah has profaned the sanctuary of the Lord, which he loves, and has married the daughter of a foreign god. 12 May the Lord cut off from the tents of Jacob any descendant[e] of the man who does this, who brings an offering to the Lord of hosts!

13 And this second thing you do. You cover the Lord's altar with tears, with weeping and groaning because he no longer regards the offering or accepts it with favor from your hand. 14 But you say, “Why does he not?” 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. 15 Did he not make them one, with a portion of the Spirit in their union?[f] And what was the one God[g] seeking?[h] Godly offspring. So guard yourselves[i] in your spirit, and let none of you be faithless to the wife of your youth. 16 “For the man who does not love his wife but divorces her,[j] says the Lord, the God of Israel, covers[k] his garment with violence, says the Lord of hosts. So guard yourselves in your spirit, and do not be faithless.”

Questions:

1. In a passage that is mostly about faithlessness between people, why do you think Malachi starts it by mentioning that they have “one Father” and “one God”? (v10) How does our faithfulness to our fellow members of the covenant of God indicate our relationship with God? (See 1 John 4:7-21)

2. Why does honouring God above all else benefit our brothers and sisters in Christ and how does it benefit both partners in marriage? (See John 13:31-35; Ephesians 5:22-33)

3. Why do you think marrying the daughter of a foreign god profanes the sanctuary of God? (By sanctuary I am referring to the temple of God.) Do you think the same applies to God’s covenant people, the church, today? Why? (Consider 1 Cor 7:12-16 & 2 Cor 6:14-18) What advice would you give to a Christian who is contemplating dating and/or marrying an unbeliever?

4. Malachi says, “the Lord [is] witness between you and the wife of your youth” (v14); what does that tell you about the seriousness of the promises given in the marriage covenant? If you are married, how does it make you feel about the seriousness of your relationship with your spouse?

5. From this passage and from others in scripture it is clear that God is against divorce and yet divorce is not an unforgivable sin (consider how Jesus speaks to the woman at the well in John 4) and God does give permission for divorce in some instances (Matthew 19:8-9; 1 Cor 7:12-16). Why do you think God allows divorce even though He hates it?

6. Why do you think God does not “regard the offering or accept it with favour” (v13) from a man who is faithless to his wife? (see also 1 Peter 1:7)