Mai. ii. 5 — 7. My covenant was tvith him of life and peace ; and I gave them to him for the fear wherewith he feared me, and was afraid before my name. The law of truth was in his mouth, and iniquity was not found in his lips : he ivalked with me in peace and equity, and did turn many away from iniquity. For the priest's lips should keep knowledge, and they should seek the latv at his mouth : for he is the messenger of the Lord of hosts.
THE priests, in the days of Malachi, were ex- tremely degenerate. It was to them principally that
the prophet addressed himself, because to them prin- cipally was owing the degeneracy of the people. In the preceding chapter he complains of them as despis- ing God, and polluting his altar, and offering to him such worthless sacrifices as they would not have dared to offer to an earthly governor ; yea, and as so venal, that " not one amongst them would shut the doors of the temple for nought, or kindle a fire on his altar for nought*." In this chapter, after calling them to repentance b, he contrasts their conduct with that of those to whom the priesthood was first committed ; such as Aaron, and Eleazar, and Phinehas, whom he designates by the name of Levi, from whom they sprang. The piety of those early priests he describes in the words of my text ; and then, with a special re- ference to the terms used in that description, he addresses the priests of his day, saying, " But ye are departed out of the way : ye have caused many to stumble at the law : ye have corrupted the covenant of Levi, saith the Lord of hosts."
The description given of the Jewish priesthood, at the period of their first appointment, will serve to shew us what the Christian priesthood should be. In it we see the minister of the Gospel drawn, as it were, at full length. We see,
I. His obligations —
With Levi, the Jewish priesthood, " God had made a covenant of life and peace" —
[At the time that the people turned aside to worship the golden calf, Moses gave commandment, that they who were on the Lord's side should gird on their swords, and go through the camp, slaying every one, even his nearest relatives, if he should find them in the act of idolatry : and the tribe of Levi in particular obeyed with promptitude this trying injunction, and executed without any partiality this severe decree0. As a reward for this ("for this fear wherewith Levi feared him"), God gave to that tribe the priesthood in perpetuity : "Of Levi he said, Let thy Thummim and thy Urim be with thy holy one; who said unto his father and to his mother, I have not seen him ; neither did he acknowledge his brethren, nor
a Mai. i. 7—11. b ver. 1, 2. c Exod. xxxii. 26—28.