Malachi 2:14-15

Malachi 2:14-15. Yet ye say, Wherefore Ye will, perhaps, still inquire wherefore God regards not your offerings; if so, the answer is ready, namely, because the Lord hath been witness between thee and the wife of thy youth Because the Lord sees how you act toward your wives; that when you have enjoyed the flower of their youth, and they begin to grow old, you contemn them, and use them ill. Yet is she thy companion, and the wife of thy covenant Yet didst thou thyself make choice of her to be thy companion through life; and didst enter into covenant or contract with her, to live with her in true love and affection. And did not he make one, &c. “Among various interpretations of the words,” says Lowth, “this seems the most probable, that the prophet puts the Jews in mind of the first institution of marriage in paradise, (as Christ did afterward upon a like occasion, Matthew 19:5,) and tells them God made but one man at first, and made the woman out of him, when he could have created more women if he had pleased; to instruct men that this was the true pattern of marriage, ordained for true love and undivided affection, and best serving the chief end of matrimony, namely, the religious education of children, whereas in polygamy, the children are brought up with more or less care in proportion to the affection men bear to their wives.” Therefore take heed to your spirit Do not give way to an inordinate and irregular passion.