As the Lord God addressed
the priests of Israel through the prophet Malachi, He told them if
they did not hear Him, lay His commandments their hearts, and give
glory to Him, He would curse them and their blessings. In chapter two
and verse three of Malachi's prophecy we gain more insight into what
that curse would be. We read:
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.
The
verse begins, “Behold, I will corrupt your seed, ...”
The first action the Lord would
take is to “corrupt”
which means “to rebuke or reprove” their “seed”
or their “offspring, descendants, posterity, or children”.
Whether this refers to the “seed”
such as for food or for their posterity, there is no doubt that the
Lord will affect a nefarious in their “seed”.
The
verse goes on to say, “and spread dung upon your faces,
even the dung of your solemn feasts;” The
second action the Lord would take against the unheeding priests would
be to “spread dung”
which refers to the “fecal matter, excrement or offal” of the
animals which were offered. Rather than being burned outside the
sanctuary as instructed in the law, this “dung”
of their “solemn feasts”
or “festival, festival-gathering or pilgrim-feast” was going to
be “spread” or
“scattered and dispersed” upon their “faces”.
Finally
the verse says, “and one shall take you away
with it.” Because the “dung”
of their sacrifices would be rubbed in their faces, they, like the
animal sacrifices were done normally, would have someone
“take” them “away
with it”. In other words, as
the animal sacrifices were to be burned outside of the sanctuary,
they too would be taken out of the house of worship because of their
filthiness.
When
we consider the harshness of this reaction from the Lord, we may be a
little surprised at His actions against the priests. Let it be known
that the Lord is very serious about the manner in which His spiritual
leadership represents Him to people. These priests were simply going
through the motions without thought and care to what the Lord said
and the manner in which their offerings were to be implemented. We
can learn from their mistakes, and “Behold”
the Lord's reaction to their flimsy approach to spiritual things. May
the Lord help us to hear Him, and when we hear Him, let us lay it to
our hearts and worship Him with all our heart, soul, mind and
strength lest He find us worthy to receive corruption and dung in our
faces as well.
Next
time we see God speaking about His commandment and the tribe of Levi,
so read ahead, and we shall join together then.
Until
tomorrow...there is more...
Look
for the daily devotional book “Equipped for Battle – From
Generation to Generation”, the marriage book “So, You Want to Be
Married”, and the new devotional “One Year in the Sermon on the
Mount” in all major bookstore sites, www.amazon.com ;
www.barnesandnobles.com ; download to e-books, and find it locally at
www.mrzlc.com/bookstore.
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