Malachi 2:5-7 My covenant was with him of life and peace; and I gave them to him for the fear with which he feared me, and was afraid before my name.… At first the tribe of Levi officiated in the tabernacle, afterwards in the temple, with purity and profit; but, in the days of Malachi, they had sadly degenerated. I. THE COVENANT MADE BY GOD WITH LEVI. A covenant of life. It endured to the time when the Gospel-dispensation began. 2. A covenant of peace; of temporal prosperity and happiness. A due and fitting sustenance was provided for the Levites, without menial toil or care of theirs. 3. A covenant of spiritual life and peace. The Levites were distributed throughout the whole of the country to instruct and guide the people; they were to show in all their religious services that, without sacrifice, the sinner could never obtain pardon; that, without mediation, guilty man could never approach his God. It was their special business and care to show to the polluted and unclean how life and peace could be procured, how God could be pacified toward them, how holiness of heart could be secured, and eternal glory obtained. The Levitical priesthood, and the Levitical covenant, were typical of the eternal priesthood of Christ and the covenant of grace, and were introductory to them. II. THE REASON OF HIS BEING SELECTED FOR THE SACRED OFFICE. "For the fear wherewith he feared Me." 1. He feared God in a salutary manner, and thus he was always ready to do His commands. 2. "The law of truth was in his mouth." Levi was pious and reverential. He had a rich acquaintance with the law given by Moses. 3. "Iniquity was not found in his lips." Levi was prudent and discreet in his speech as well as in his actions. 4. "He walked with Me in peace and equity." Like Enoch and Noah, he took God for his constant companion: he acted uprightly before men. 5. "I gave them to him," says God. Levi taught the way of righteousness most diligently, by his significant services and typical ceremonies; and many became obedient to the Lord their God. Such should be our clergy. How exemplary should be the conduct, how pure the morals, how disinterested the acts, how heavenly the motives, of those who have to watch for souls and to win them for Christ. III. THE RECIPROCAL DUTIES OF MINISTER AND PEOPLE. 1. "The priest's lips should keep knowledge." The priests were the guardians of the sacred deposit; this was one chief cause of their influence. It was their duty to instruct the people in the moral laws, the judicial precepts, and the ceremonial rites, in all that Israel was bound to know and believe. 2. "They (the people) should seek the law at his (the priest's) mouth." He was the living witness to the power of Divine truth in his own soul, and the authorised expounder of God's Word to the assembled congregation. 3. "He is the messenger of the Lord of hosts," and as such should be attended to and obeyed. A combination of many excellences was requisite for the due execution of the "priest's office"; and so it is now with regard to the Christian minister. He needs a double portion of the Spirit. Happy is that country where the clergy minister for the glory of the Lord their God, and where they strive in all things to be examples to their flocks. (Emanuel Strickland, M. A.) Parallel Verses KJV: 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. |
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