Malachi 2:3

3 Behold, I will corrupt^[a] your seed, and spread dung upon your faces, even the dung of your solemn feasts; and one shall take you away with it.

Malachi 2:3 Meaning and Commentary

Malachi 2:3

Behold, I will corrupt your seed
Or, "the seed for you" ^F18; that is, for your sake, as Kimchi and Ben Melech explain it; meaning the seed they cast into the earth, which the Lord threatens to corrupt and destroy; so that it should not spring up again, and bring forth any increase: or, "rebuke" ^F19 it, as the word sometimes signifies; and so the Targum,

``behold, I will rebuke you in the increase, the fruit (son) of the seed.''

The sense is the same; corrupting the seed being a rebuke to them; and rebuking the seed being a corruption of that, or hindering it from growing up. It is a threatening of a sore famine that should be in the Jewish nation; and which Cocceius thinks was that which happened in the days of Claudius Caesar, ( Acts 11:28 Acts 11:29 ) . The Septuagint version renders it, "behold, I separate to you the shoulder"; the Arabic version, "the right hand", or arm; and the Vulgate Latin is, "behold, I will cast forth to you the arm"; the right shoulder of the sacrifice, which was given to the priests, and here threatened to be cast to them with indignation, ( Leviticus 7:32 Leviticus 7:34 ) ( Deuteronomy 18:3 ) but the former sense is best: and spread dung upon your faces, [even] the dung of your solemn
feasts;
that is, the dung of their beasts which were slain for sacrifice at their solemn feasts: so this word (gx) is used for a beast offered for sacrifice at a festival, ( Psalms 118:27 ) . The sense is, that their sacrifices and solemn feasts were so far from being acceptable to God, that he would reject both them and their persons, and would cast the very dung of the creatures brought for sacrifice into their faces, and spread it over them: a phrase expressive of the utmost contempt of them, and of exposing them to the greatest shame and confusion for their sins. So the Targum,

``I will make manifest the shame of your sins upon your faces; and will cause to cease the magnificence of your feasts.''

The Septuagint render it, the ventricle, or "maw"; which was given to the priests, ( Deuteronomy 18:3 ) and in which the dung was contained: and [one] shall take you away with it;
with the dung spread upon them; they looking like a heap of dung, being covered with it, and had in no more account than that: or "to it" ^F20; that is, as Jarchi explains it, to the dung of the beasts of your sacrifices they shall carry you; or you shall be carried to it, that ye may be rejected and despised as that. Kimchi's note is

``the iniquity (you are guilty of) shall carry you to this contempt; measure for measure; you have despised me, and ye shall be despised:''

or "with him", or "to himself" ^F21; meaning he, or it that shall take them away; either the wind or dung; or the enemy, as Aben Ezra interprets it; by whom the Romans may be designed, who took them away out of their own land, and carried them captive. According to the Septuagint, Syriac, and Arabic versions, this is to be understood of God, who render the words, "I will take you together", or "with it".

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FOOTNOTES:

F18 (Mkl) "propter vos", Munster, Drusius.
F19 (reg) "increpabo", Tigurine version; "increpo", Drusius, Cocceius; "increpans", Burkius.
F20 (wyla) , (eiv to auto) , Sept.; "ad istud", so some in Vatablus, De Dieu.
F21 "Ad se", Pagninus, Montanus, Munster, Tigurine version: Junius & Tremellius, Piscator, Drusius, Calvin, Burkius.

Malachi 2:3 In-Context

1 And now, O ye priests, this commandment is for you.

2 If ye will not hear, and if ye will not lay it to heart, to give glory unto my name, saith the LORD of hosts, I will even send a curse upon you, and I will curse your blessings: yea, I have cursed them already, because ye do not lay it to heart.

3 Behold, I will corrupt your seed, and spread dung upon your faces, even the dung of your solemn feasts; and one shall take you away with it.

4 And ye shall know that I have sent this commandment unto you, that my covenant might be with Levi, saith the LORD of hosts.

5 My covenant was with him of life and peace; and I gave them to him for the fear wherewith he feared me, and was afraid before my name.

Footnotes

• [a]. corrupt: or, reprove