Second Saturday in Advent

Stuff God Wants Us to Honor

When God says he hates something, it’s time to pay attention, right? Notice in the verses in Malachi for today the things God says he hates—plus the command he gives.    

The Hebrew text, from which these verses are translated, uses a word picture. In more literal words underlying “guilty of violence” God says he hates the one who “covers with a garment of violence.” Interestingly, to “cover” is an image we see in the Old Testament for marriage. When a man covered a woman with his garment, he engaged in an act of covenant love—as we read in the Book of Ruth, where the Moabite woman asks Boaz to spread his garment over her. And we understand that in doing so, she was proposing marriage. 

 In the Book of Ezekiel we find the same image. In contrast, there the idea of “covering with a garment of violence” equals doing violence to the covenant marriage relationship. And that is what the divorces described in Malachi consisted of. 

 As you read the verses about the men’s treacherous behavior, notice how their treachery affects their relationship with God.

 After the men in Malachi’s world hooked up with idol-worshipping women, these men who claimed to follow God complained when God refused to answer their prayers. We find the same phenomenon described in the New Testament, where the apostle Peter tells husbands to “show them [wives] honor as fellow heirs of the grace of life.” Peter adds, “In this way nothing will hinder your prayers.” 

 In Malachi’s time, men who broke covenant with their wives experienced unanswered prayer. Centuries later, Peter described the same consequence. 

In Malachi’s day men had more social power; they generally took the initiative in marrying and divorcing. But today especially in the West, women have much more agency. Consequently, the sort of behavior that Malachi addresses is less sex-specific among God’s people today than it was in Malachi’s time. We see professing Christian men and women engaging in relationships of “serial monogamy,” leaving Christ-following spouses for unbelievers, and showing a lack of concern for their spiritual health and testimony, in addition to that of their families. God hates that. 

 And so, we must pray….

Prayer: 

Father, thank you for making man and woman in your image and for making the beautiful unity picture of marriage. Thank you for those who model in their marriages a picture of Christ and the church. Please help me to do to others as I would have them do to me where marriage vows are concerned. Help me to honor marriage and to help others to do so. And help me to be counter-cultural, to reflect your glory, in my attitudes and actions about this covenant you have created. Please strengthen your bride, the church, as she models being united as one with your Son. Help us to hold marriage in such high regard that others will look to Christians as examples for how to live in unity. Help our leaders to model such loyal love, and help me to honor marriage, too. In Jesus’ name, Amen. 

He will come again in glory

to judge the living and the dead

And his kingdom will have no end.

Photo credit:  Denny Müller on Unsplash.