Malachi 2:12-13

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 (Deuteronomy 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 Malachi 4:1, Torrey suggests to read the same words here, completely (see on Amos 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 Malachi 2:13 the prophet passes to the second crime against the covenant (Malachi 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 Deuteronomy 24:1, which permits divorce under certain conditions, toward the words of Jesus (Matthew 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 (Malachi 2:10).

Inasmuch They cry out in despair, because they cannot understand why Jehovah refuses to look with favor upon their religious ceremonies (compare Malachi 1:9).