translation_id: net-engnet

book_id: MAL

label: NET study note

text: See Zech 3:3-4 for similar coarse imagery which reflects cultic disqualification.


text: My covenant refers to the priestly covenant through Aaron and his grandson Phinehas (see Exod 6:16-20 ; Num 25:10-13 ; Jer 33:21-22 ). The point here is to contrast the priestly ideal with the disgraceful manner in which it was being carried out in postexilic times.


text: The rhetorical question Do we not all have one father? by no means teaches the “universal fatherhood of God,” that is, that all people equally are children of God. The reference to the covenant in v. 10 as well as to Israel and Judah (v. 11 ) makes it clear that the referent of “we” is God’s elect people.


text: You cover the altar of the Lord with tears . These tears are the false tears of hypocrisy, not genuine tears of repentance. The people weep because the Lord will not hear them, not because of their sin.


text: Though there is no explicit reference to marriage vows in the OT (but see Job 7:13 ; Prov 2:17 ; Ezek 16:8 ), the term law ( Heb “covenant”) here asserts that such vows or agreements must have existed. References to divorce documents (e.g., Deut 24:1-3 ; Jer 3:8 ) also presuppose the existence of marriage documents.


text: The wife he took in his youth probably refers to the first wife one married (cf. NCV “the wife you married when you were young”).