This study is part of our series of verse by verse studies of Malachi, the 39th book in the Bible. Taught by Sim Forder, one of our pastors, at our Sunday evening service on the 25th April 2021. You can listen to the audio on this web page or save it for later listening.

The summary of chapter two, which we looked at in this study is:

• The responsibility of Godly leadership
• Our response to Godly leadership and His Word
• Ungodly relationships
• Broken marriages

In this study we focussed on the final 6 verses, where God rebukes those that had married daughters of a foreign god. The issue was not that they were daughters of a foreigner, but of a foreign god – and that introduced idolatry to Israel. The parallel is clear – Christians are not to marry non Christian’s. Not because they aren’t nice, kind, considerate people – but because their priorities will never be the same.

Second, these final verses rebuked the men for how they were treating their wives in divorcing them when they should have been protecting them, modelling Jesus relationship with His church. Of course, this is a warning for today as well – with too many marriages ending through divorce.

How we treat our wives, is important, and well summarised by Matthew Henry:

The woman was made of a rib out of the side of Adam; not made out of his head to rule over him, nor out of his feet to be trampled upon by him, but out of his side to be equal with him, under his arm to be protected, and near his heart to be beloved.

Matthew Henry