Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Malachi 2:12
The LORD will cut off the man that doeth this, the master and the scholar, out of the tabernacles of Jacob, and him that offereth an offering unto the LORD of hosts.
12. the man ] Rather, to the man, as R.V., i.e. out of his family.
the master and the scholar ] Rather, as A.V. margin and R.V., him that waketh and him that answereth. It is a proverbial expression, like “him that is shut up and him that is left at large” (1Ki 21:21), meaning all without exception. It is taken from sentries or watchmen who as they go their rounds give their challenge and receive the watch-word in reply. In the same sense the Arabs say, ‘no one crying out, and no one answering, i.e. no one alive’. See Gesen. Thes. p. 1004 a.
him that offereth ] nor shall the religious service, whether of priest or layman, avert his doom.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
The Lord will cut off the man that doeth this, the master and the scholar – , literally The Lord cut off from the man that doeth this, watcher and answerer. A proverbial saying apparently, in which the two corresponding classes comprise the whole. Yet so, probably, that the one is the active agent; the other, the passive. The one as a watcher goes his rounds, to see that nothing stirreth against that which he is to guard; the other answereth, when roused. Together, they express the two opposite classes, active and passive sin; those who originate the sin, and those who adopt or retain it at the instigation of the inventor or active propagator of it. It will not exempt from punishment, that he was led into the sin.
From the tabernacles of Jacob – Perhaps he chose the word, to remind them of their unsettled condition, out of which God had brought them.
And him that offereth an offering unto the Lord of hosts – i. e., him, who, doing these things, offereth an offering to God, to bribe Him, as it were, to connivance at his sin. In the same meaning, Isaiah says, that God hateth Isa 1:13. iniquity and the solemn meeting, and Isa 61:8, I hate robbery with burnt-offering; or Solomon Pro 15:8, The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord Pro 28:9; he that turneth away his ear from hearing the law, his prayer shall be an abomination. And God by Amos says , I hate, I despise, your feast-days, and will not accept your solemn assemblies. In one sense the sacrifice was an aggravation, in that the worship of God made the offence either a sin against light, or implied that God might be bribed into connivance in the breaking of His laws. The ancient discipline of removing from communion those guilty of grievous sin was founded on this principle.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Mal 2:12
The master and the scholar.
An interesting relationship
Various renderings have been given of these words. The meaning, however, from the context is clear. The leaders of the people were causing them to err. They had committed the evil themselves of casting off their Jewish wives for heathen women, and were teaching that it was no sin. God threatened that He would cut them off for this, and those whom they misled. An evil teacher works widespread ruin. But intellectual masterships are beneficial as well as evil. It is a Divine arrangement that some minds should control others.
I. The relationship in which the master and the scholar stand to each other. Mastership consists in superior mental ability, knowledge, culture, and character. The possession of such gifts involves heavy responsibilities. Real mastership may ever be distinguished from mere positional authority. Scholars soon detect the difference; they render spontaneous homage to the one, but contemn the other.
1. The relationship is one of mutual benefit. The scholar receives much from the training, instruction, and example of the master; but the master also receives much from the scholar. He is stimulated to mental effort, made watchful over his conduct, and obtains a ready command of knowledge.
2. This relationship has much to do with the shaping of the scholars character and destiny. The work of the master is the chief element in the formation of his being. The minds that mastered him in the formative period of life have shaped him, and will have much to do with fixing his destiny. Illustrate Arnold of Rugby. Masters may be great benefactors. They can–
(1) Awaken latent energies.
(2) Instil noble and life-giving thoughts.
(3) Implant eternal principles.
(4) Save the souls of their scholars from everlasting death.
3. This relationship tends to the general advancement of the race in knowledge and wisdom. The cultured minds of one generation convey, in this manner, its accumulations of knowledge and experience to that which follows it. The young of each age stand on a higher vantage ground than their fathers.
II. The duties which arise to the master and scholar from the relationship in which they stand to each other. Every relationship has its peculiar duties.
1. The masters–
(1) To set a worthy example to his scholars. His own character will be his most influential lesson.
(2) To eagerly impart knowledge to his scholars. He holds his position because of his possession of knowledge, and ability to impart it. He should have an enthusiasm to teach.
(3) To unfold the natures of his scholars. Each one should be separately studied.
(4) To administer correction to them. Some will only learn by the rod.
(5) To seek to ensure their moral and spiritual welfare. To overlook the highest capabilities in education is folly. The work of the master should comprehend the whole nature.
2. The scholars.
(1) To respect his masters authority. Disrespect leads to disobedience, anarchy, and ignorance.
(2) To give attention to his masters instructions. Attention is generally the measure of attainment.
(3) To possess a teachable disposition. He should seek to remove prejudice, conceit, and obstinacy, and yield himself to his masters guidance.
(4) To remember that the results of his masters teaching will affect his future life in this world, and in the world to come. The future rests upon the present; eternity, on time. He is placed under instructors for his good; but neglect may rob him of all benefit, and send him forth unprepared for lifes struggles, and unmeet for the solemn realities of eternity. (W. Osborne Lilley.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 12. The master and the scholar] He who teachers such doctrine, and he who follows this teaching, the Lord will cut off both the one and the other.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
The Lord will cut off the man that doeth this; the family of those who do this shall be destroyed utterly by the hand of God, he will punish this crime.
The master and the scholar; him that calleth and him that answereth; there shall be left neither any to teach nor any to learn, none to call nor any to answer, all the living cut off.
Out of the tabernacles of Jacob: this points to the people, or laity, who dwelt in the cities of Jacob, they shall be rooted out of the land.
And him that offereth an offering; the priests that are guilty of this fault shall be put out of the office of priest, and minister no more before the Lord.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
12. master and . . .scholarliterally, “him that watcheth and him thatanswereth.” So “wakeneth” is used of the teacheror “master” (Isa 50:4);masters are watchful in guarding their scholars. The referenceis to the priests, who ought to have taught the people piety, but wholed them into evil. “Him that answereth” is the scholarwho has to answer the questions of his teacher (Lu2:47) [GROTIUS]. TheArabs have a proverb, “None calling and none answering,”that is, there being not one alive. So GESENIUSexplains it of the Levite watches in the temple (Ps134:1), one watchman calling and another answering.But the scholar is rather the people, the pupils of thepriests “in doing this,” namely, forming unions withforeign wives. “Out of the tabernacles of Jacob” proves itis not the priests alone. God will spare neither priests nor peoplewho act so.
him that offerethHisofferings will not avail to shield him from the penalty of his sin inrepudiating his Jewish wife and taking a foreign one.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
The Lord will cut off the man that doeth this,…. That is guilty of such treachery, wickedness, and idolatry: or “to the man that doeth this” y; all that belong to him, his children and substance: it denotes the utter destruction, not of a single man and his family only, but of the whole Jewish nation and its polity, civil and ecclesiastical, as follows:
the master and the scholar out of the tabernacles of Jacob; the Targum paraphrases it,
“the son, and son’s son, out of the cities of Jacob;”
agreeable to which is Kimchi’s note,
“it is as if it was said, there shall not be left in his house one alive; that there shall not be in his house one that answers him, that calls by name.”
In the Hebrew text it is, “him that is awake, and him that answers” z; which the Talmudists a explain, the former of the wise men or masters, and the latter of the disciples of the wise men; to which sense our version agrees: but by “him that waketh or watcheth”, according to Cocceius, is meant the civil magistrate, who watches for the good of the commonwealth, and so may design the elders and rulers of the people; and by him that “answereth”, the prophet, who returns answers when he is consulted in things belonging to the law of God, and such were the scribes and lawyers.
And him that offereth an offering unto the Lord of hosts; the priests, that offered sacrifice for the people; so that hereby is threatened an entire destruction, both of the civil and ecclesiastical polity of the Jews, that there should be no prince, prophet, and priest among them; all should be removed out of the tents of Jacob, or cities of Israel; see Ho 3:4.
y “viro”, Drusius, Cocceius, Burkius, De Dieu; “filius et qui fecerit istud”, Piscator. z “vigilantem et respondentem”, Montanus, Vatablus, Drusius, Grotius; “vigilantem et responsantem”, Junius Tremellius “vigilem et respondentem”, Burkius. a T. Bab. Sanhedrin, fol. 82. 1.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
The Prophet here teaches us, that neither the priests nor the people would go unpunished, because they had mingled with the pollutions of the heathens, and profaned and violated the covenant of God. God then says, Cut off (the word means to scrape off or to blot out) shall God the man who has done this, the mover, or prompter, as well as the respondent (230) Jerome renders the last words, the master and the disciple; and interpreters vary. Some indeed explain the terms allegorically, and apply them to the dead; but by the mover, I have no doubt, he understands every one who was in power, and could command others, and by the respondent the man who was subject to the authority of his master. The masters then prompted or roused, for it belonged to them to command; and the servants responded, for it was their duty to receive orders and to obey them. It is the same as though the Prophet had said, that God would punish this perfidy, without passing by any, so that he would spare neither the common people nor the chief men: and he also adds the priests, intimating, that the priests themselves would not be excepted.
In short, he denounces punishment on the Jews universally, and shows that however prevalent had this impiety become everywhere, and that though every one thought that whatever was commonly practiced was lawful, yet God would become an avenger, and would include in the same punishment both the masters and the servants, and would not exempt the priests, who considered themselves safe by peculiar privilege. The rest tomorrow.
(230)
Him that teacheth and him that answereth. —Newcome
or,
Him that passeth out and him that returneth. —Ib.
Him that watcheth and him that answereth. —Henderson
The teacher and the scholar. —Drusius and Grotius
The most literal rendering is, —
The rouser and the respondent, ער ועגה
It seems to mean the leader in the faction and his assistant, the bold answer of his wickedness and his timid follower. Such we find to be in all factions. — Ed.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(12) The man.Better, to the man.
The master and the scholar.This is the Talmudic interpretation of the Hebrew expression, which occurs only in this passage, but it is unsuitable (besides being philologically precarious), for the passage refers to the whole nation rather than to those who were their appointed scholars and teachers. It is better to render it, watchman and answerer: i.e., the watchman who cried in the city, Who comes there? and him who answers, Friend, which is an exhaustive expression for all living persons, and so, in this context, all posterity. This is the interpretation of Gesenius, who quotes in support of it an Arabic expression from the life of Tmr-lang (Timur the lame, Tamerlane):When he left the city, there was not a crier or an answerer in iti.e., there was not a person left alive. Neither root nor branch is another exhaustive term used by our prophet (Mal. 4:1). The Chaldee paraphrase gives the sense of the words in son and sons son.
And him that offereth an offering . . .Some refer this to the case in which the offender is a priest (Neh. 13:28); others understand it as any one who might offer a sacrifice for him in expiation of his sin. But since the highest privilege of the Jew was to bring offerings to the Sanctuary, the words may be merely a repetition of the former expression in different terms, and mean a descendant enjoying religious privileges. The intermarriage with heathens referred to here is that mentioned in Neh. 13:23-28, not the earlier case recorded in Ezra 9, 10.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
12. Jehovah must punish this desecration with destruction. The entire verse is more or less obscure, but the translation of R.V. is to be preferred: “Jehovah will cut off, to the man that doeth this, him that waketh and him that answereth, out of the tents of Jacob, and him that offereth an offering unto Jehovah of hosts.” A more literal rendering would be in the form of a wish, “May Jehovah cut off”; but, since the wish is born of the conviction that Jehovah will do it, the translation of R.V. is permissible.
To the man (R.V.) The judgment will fall upon the criminal, but it will not stop with his own destruction; his offspring also will be slain.
Him that waketh and him that answereth (R.V.) A.V., “the master and the scholar,” a translation that is based upon ancient rabbinical tradition. Of these words Torrey says, “The phrase has always been, and is still, a riddle.” All interpreters agree that an expression including the entire family or posterity of the condemned man is expected, and various attempts have been made to get this meaning from the present Hebrew text. It is easy to call the phrase “a proverbial expression for every living member of the transgressor’s family”; but to prove the assertion is more difficult. That the Hebrew does at times express “totality by opposites” is true (Deu 32:36), but is wake the opposite of answer? Von Orelli renders the first verb “that calleth,” but this translation is without support in Hebrew usage. Perowne says, “It is taken from sentries or watchmen who as they go their rounds give their challenge and receive the watchword in reply.” Then, following Gesenius, he calls attention to the Arabic expression, “no one crying out and no one answering,” that is, no one alive; but again, wake is not the same as cry out. And yet if the text is correct, some such meaning must be given to the words. Following LXX., Wellhausen, by changing a single consonant, gets “witness and defender”; G.A. Smith, “champion”; as if the prophet meant to say that everyone who might take the part of the criminal would be cut off. It may be questioned whether this is really an improvement over the present text, for the introduction of legal terms and a judgment scene seems unexpected and out of place in this context. Peshitto reads, “his son and his son’s son,” which expresses the right idea, but, as Torrey remarks, may be only a sensible guess. On the basis of “root branch” in Mal 4:1, Torrey suggests to read the same words here, completely (see on Amo 2:9). If an emendation is needed, which is by no means certain, since the present reading may embody an idiomatic saying whose full force is no longer understood, that of Torrey is the most satisfactory offered thus far. The tents of Jacob (R.V.) A poetic designation of the entire Jewish community.
Him that offereth an offering These words are not to be limited to the priests, but include everyone “who is willing to offer a gift upon the altar for men of this description” (Jerome).
In Mal 2:13 the prophet passes to the second crime against the covenant (Mal 2:10), the divorcing of Jewish wives, which in many cases though by no means always may have been closely connected with the marrying of heathen women, a fact which may explain the joining of the two accusations. The utterance of Malachi marks an advance from Deu 24:1, which permits divorce under certain conditions, toward the words of Jesus (Mat 19:3 ff.), due, perhaps, to the fact that in his day the divorce evil had become prevalent enough to prove a menace to the integrity of the community, so that it was necessary to take stringent measures against it.
And this have ye done again R.V., “And this again ye do.” The words introduce the second accusation and might be rendered freely, “And, secondly, ye do this.” The rest of the verse is explanatory of this.
Covering Though this is a literal translation, R.V. expresses the thought more idiomatically, “ye cover.”
Tears. weeping, crying out R.V., “sighing.” Not the weeping and sighing of the cast-off wives, but the weeping of the treacherous and profane in the community (Mal 2:10).
Inasmuch They cry out in despair, because they cannot understand why Jehovah refuses to look with favor upon their religious ceremonies (compare Mal 1:9).
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Mal 2:12. The Lord will cut off, &c. Whosoever doeth this, the Lord will cut off for him both boy and girl, from the tabernacle of Jacob, that he may not offer an offering, &c. Houbigant.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Mal 2:12 The LORD will cut off the man that doeth this, the master and the scholar, out of the tabernacles of Jacob, and him that offereth an offering unto the LORD of hosts.
Ver. 12. The Lord will cut off the man that doth this ] Though the magistrate be careless and corrupt; though he either cannot punish this evil, it being grown so universal, or will not (and so impunity in the magistrate maketh impenitence in the offenders), God will take the sword in hand, and cut off every mother’s child that doth this, nisi currat poeniteatia; as a surgeon cutteth off a rotten member, so will God destroy such for ever, Metaphora est a Medicis ducta (Polan.): he will take them away, and pluck them out of their dwellingplaces, and root them out of the land of the living, Psa 52:5 . Neither shall this be done to himself only, but to his wretched posterity (such a legacy, like Joab’s leprosy, leaves every graceless man to his children), for so the Chaldee here rendereth and interpreteth that proverbial expression in the text, both the master and the scholar, filium et filium filii, his son, and his son’s son, though he teach never so well by wholesome instruction, and political advisement, to prevent the mischief. Agreeably hereunto for sense Piscator rendereth this text thus, The Lord will cut off his children that doth thus, the children that he begets of the daughter of a strange god. A heavy curse, surely, and frequently inflicted, as upon Ahab; though he, to avoid it, so followed the work of generation, that he left seventy sons behind him; which yet would not do.
And him that offereth an offering, &c.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Malachi
A DIALOGUE WITH GOD
Mal 2:12
It is obvious from the whole context that divorce and foreign inter-marriage were becoming increasingly prevalent in Malachi’s time. The conditions in these respects were nearly similar to that prevailing in the times of Ezra and Nehemiah. It is these sins which the Prophet is here vehemently condemning, and for which he threatens to cut off the transgressors out of the tents of Jacob, and to regard no more their offerings and simulated worship. They might cover ‘the altar of the Lord with tears,’ but the sacrifice which they laid upon it was polluted by the sins of their daily domestic life, and therefore was not ‘regarded by Him any more.’ Malachi is true to the prophetic spirit when he denounces a religion which has the form of godliness without its power over the practical life. But his sharp accusations have their edge turned by the question, ‘Wherefore?’ which again calls out from the Prophet’s lips a more sharply-pointed accusation, and a solemner warning that none should ‘deal treacherously against the wife of his youth,’ ‘for I hate putting away, saith the Lord.’ We may dismiss any further reference to the circumstances of the text, and regard it as but one instance of man’s way of treating the voice of God when it warns of the consequences of the sin of man. Looked at from such a point of view the words of our text bring before us God’s merciful threatenings and man’s incredulous rejection of them.
I. God’s merciful threatenings.
No sin can stay our reception of a multitude of good gifts appealing to our hearts and revealing the patient love of our Father in heaven, but every sin draws after it as certainly as the shadow follows the substance, evil consequences which work themselves out on the large scale in nations and communities, and in the smaller spheres of individual life. And surely it is the voice of love and not of anger that comes to warn us of the death which is the wages of sin. It is not God who has ordained that ‘the soul that sinneth it shall die,’ but it is God who tells us so. The train is rushing full steam ahead to the broken bridge, and will crash down the gulph and be huddled, a hideous ruin, on the rocks; surely it is care for life that holds out the red flag of danger, and surely God is not to be blamed if in spite of the flag full speed is kept up and the crash comes.
The miseries and sufferings which follow our sins are self-inflicted, and for the most part automatic. ‘Whatsoever a man soweth, that’-and not some other crop-’will he also reap.’ The wages of sin are paid in ready money; and it is as just to lay them at God’s door as it would be to charge Him with inflicting the disease which the dissolute man brings upon himself. It is no arbitrary appointment of God’s that ‘he that soweth to the flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption’; nor is it His will acting as that of a jealous despot which makes it inevitably true that here and hereafter, ‘Every transgression and disobedience shall receive its just recompense of reward,’ and that to be parted from Him is death.
If then we rightly understand the connection between sin and suffering, and the fact that the sorrows which are but the echoes of preceding sins have all a distinctly moral and restorative purpose, we are prepared rightly to estimate how tenderly the God who warns us against our sins by what men call threatenings loves us while He speaks.
II. Man’s rejection of God’s merciful threatenings.
The ‘Wherefore?’ of our text is widely asked in the present day as an expression of utter bewilderment at the miseries of humanity, both in the wide area of this disordered world and in the narrower field of individual lives. There are whole schools of so-called political and social thinkers who have yet to learn that the one thing which the world and the individual need is not a change of conditions or environment, but redemption from sin. Man’s sorrows are but a symptom of his disease, and he is no more to be healed by tinkering with these than a fever-stricken patient can be restored to health by treating the blotches on his skin which tell of the disease that courses through his veins.
But sometimes the question is more than an expression of bewilderment; it conceals an arraignment of God’s justice, or even a denial that there is a God at all. There are men among us who hesitate not to avow that the miseries of the world have rooted out of their minds a belief in Him; and who point to all the ills under which humanity staggers as conclusive against the ancient faith of a God of love. They, too, forget that that love is righteousness, and that if there be sin in the world and God above it, He must necessarily war against it and hate it.
Our right response to God’s merciful threatenings is to ask this question in the right spirit. We are not wise if we turn a deaf ear to His warnings, or go on in a headlong course which He by His providences declared to be dangerous and fatal. We use them as wise men should, only if our ‘Wherefore?’ is asked in order to learn our evil, and having learned it, to purge our bosoms of the perilous stuff by confession and to seek pardon and victory in Christ. Then we shall ‘know the secret of the Lord’ which is ‘with them that fear Him’; and the mysteries that still hang over our own histories and the world’s destiny will have shining down upon them the steadfast light of that love which seeks to make men blessed by making them good.
Fuente: Expositions Of Holy Scripture by Alexander MacLaren
man. Hebrew. ‘ish. App-14.
the master and the scholar = wakener and answerer. Referring to the Temple watchers (Psa 134:1).
tabernacles = tents.
offereth = bringeth near. Hebrew. nagash, as in Mal 1:7, Mal 1:8, Mal 1:11; Mal 3:3. App-43.
offering = a meal-offering. Hebrew. minchah. App-43.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
cut: Lev 18:29, Lev 20:3, Num 15:30, Num 15:31, Jos 23:12, Jos 23:13, 1Sa 2:31-34
the master and the scholar: or, him that waketh, and him that answereth, 1Ch 25:8, Ezr 10:18, Ezr 10:19, Neh 13:28, Neh 13:29, Isa 9:14-16, Isa 24:1, Isa 24:2, Eze 14:10, Hos 4:4, Hos 4:5, Mat 15:14, 2Ti 3:13, Rev 19:20
out: Num 24:5, Zec 12:7
and him: Mal 2:10, Gen 4:3-5, 1Sa 3:14, 1Sa 15:22, 1Sa 15:23, Isa 61:8, Isa 66:3, Amo 5:22
Reciprocal: Exo 12:15 – that soul Jam 3:1 – be
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Mal 2:12. Master means the man who originates these unlawful practices and scholar means the one who cooperates by using them and both classes were to be condemned.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
2:12 The LORD will cut off the man that doeth this, the master and the scholar, out of the tabernacles of Jacob, and him that {q} offereth an offering unto the LORD of hosts.
(q) That is, the priest.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
In a curse formula, Malachi pronounced judgment on any Israelite who married such a woman. The judgment would be that he would die or that his line would die out (be "cut off"). The difficult idiom translated "who awakes and answers" (NASB) evidently means "whoever he may be" (NIV). This curse would befall him even though he brought offerings to almighty Yahweh at the temple. Worshipping God did not insulate covenant violators from divine punishment then, and it does not now.