The Pulpit Commentary — Malachi — Section 32

,ers. 5, 6.-The double .feature o.f a Jehovah-covetiant. The covenant was made with the tribe of Levi; and the precise terms here refuri'Cd to occur iu the -.renewal of covenant with Phinehas, "Behold, I give unto him my covenant of peace c• and he ~ball have it, and his seed after him, even the covenant of an everlasting priestbood" (N nmb. xxv. 12, 13). A covenant is _a mutual eng&gement entered into by two parties. Each party take!! pledges; 11.nd each 1s exonerated from keeping his pledge ff the other party breaks his. Too often the Divine cove □ ant is treated 11.S if it only involved God's potting himself under pledge of service to us. The truth needs to be emphasized that the covenant includes our pledire of faithful service to him. And this is true of the new covenant, sealed with the blood of Jesus Christ. I. JEHOVAH's PLEDGE TO LEVI. "My covenant was with him of life and peace." There is some reason for thinking that, before the Sina.itic revelation was made, the tribe of Le,i pro,ided the moral and religious teachers of the Israelites. They were designated for the special work of the priesthood, but the ,Divine covenant took a special shape in consequence of the loyalty and zeal of the Levites in the matter of the golden calf; and of Phinelms in vindicating the Divine·claim to moral purity. God pledged two thin~: (1) "life," or permanence; and (2) "peace," or prosperity. Security that the honour and usefnlness of the position should be quietly maintained. There is 11. Divine side to every covenant. God condescends to pledge himself to men. He promises his providings, preservings, gnidings, redeemings, sanctifyings. In the new covenant., in the hands of the Mediator, the Lord Jesus Christ, all the. old terms of covenant are renewed, and the special pledge of salvation from sin is added. He who bas begun a good work in us is pledged to perfect it unto-the day:of Jesus Christ; II. LEV'I't. PLEDGE TO JEHOVAH. This side of covenant seldom receives sufficient attention. The Levites gave themselves to Jehovah's service; they pledged themselves to devote their lives to the services of his sanctuary, the teaching of his truth, and the upholding of his honour. So far as the early Levites were. typified in Phinehas, they kept their pledge. Their personal characters honoured the covenant (ver. 6). Their steadfastness in duty, their cherished sense of right, and their active ministry a<rainst all iniquity, maintained the pledge of the covenant. , Then how. striking is the contrast suggested between the Levites of the early times and the Levites of Malachi's d2.ys ! Their broken pledge meant that God was relieved of all obligation to keep his pledge to them.-R. T. Ver. 6.-The active inftv,ence of the 1teadfa8t man. Levi is taken as the type of such a man. The man who walks with God in peace and equity cannot fail to exert e. strong personal influence. He will "turn many from iniquity." The point of this sei:.tence is that active influence for good is exerted by passive goodness. Men are powers by being established characters. Steadfastness is ministry. If it be so, then there are more workers for God than come into usual calculation. Priests and clergy have their power in what they are-in cultured, sanctified charactar-quite as truly as in Divine endowments and in trained efficiencies. I. THE STEADFAST MAN EXERTS ACTIVE POWER OF REPROACH. He need utter no word• his steadfast goodness speaks loudly enough. '!'here is no. reproach comes to the e~il liver like the simple presence of the good liver. Nothing shamed into silence the foulness of old prison scenes like the simple presence of the, saintly Mrs. Fry. And in sublimer ways the truth is illustrated in the case of our Lord, The devils that possessed men felt the reproach of hie simple presence, and cried out in their ~larm. Every one of us who stands firm to righteousness and equi-ty is actively reproving the unsteadiness and evil that are daily around us. • Cll, II. 1-17.] THE BOOK OF MALACHI. 31