Malachi 2:4

"And ye shall know that I have sent this commandment unto you, that my covenant may be with Levi, saith Jehovah of hosts."

"That my covenant may be with Levi ..." This clause was rendered by Keil thus: "I have sent this commandment to you, that it may be my covenant with Levi."[4] Both the New English Bible and the Jerusalem Bible render this passage as follows: "It is I who have given you this warning of my intention to abolish my covenant with Levi" (New English Bible); "My covenant with Levi falls to the ground" (Jerusalem Bible). Keil's rendition was paraphrased by him as follows:

"They will perceive that just as Jehovah has hitherto regulated his conduct toward Levi by the terms of His covenant, which was made with it at the time of its departure from Egypt, so will he henceforth let it be regulated by the decree of punishment which He has resolved upon now, so that this decree of punishment takes the place, as it were, of the earlier covenant."[5]

This is a disputed verse, and not all scholars and translations give the negative cast of the passage in the manner of these cited; nevertheless, we believe that the negative import of these words is clearly revealed in the whole passage and throughout Malachi. What is seen here is the annulment and abrogation of the Levitical covenant of the Jewish priesthood, a cancellation due to the persistent and total violation of it by Levi himself (in the person of the priests), from whom all priests were derived. Deane also agreed with this: "This commandment (threat) ... will take the place of the old covenant."[6] The judicial hardening of Israel by God Himself has either already happened, or is in the process of happening. Such a condition was prophesied by Isaiah 6:9,10; and that passage is one of the most frequently quoted from the Old Testament to be found in the entire New Testament. (Matthew 13:14,15; Mark 4:12; Luke 8:10; John 12:37-vi, and Acts 28:25-27). It was to this condition that Paul referred in Romans 11:25,26.