Where Is the God of Justice?
10Don’t we all have one father? Hasn’t one God created us? Why do we deal treacherously every man against his brother, profaning the covenant of our fathers? 11Judah has dealt treacherously, and an abomination is committed in Israel and in Jerusalem; for Judah has profaned the holiness of Yahweh which he loves, and has married the daughter of a foreign god. 12Yahweh will cut off, to the man who does this, him who wakes and him who answers, out of the tents of Jacob, and him who offers an offering to Yahweh of Armies. 13This again you do: you cover Yahweh’s altar with tears, with weeping, and with sighing, because he doesn’t regard the offering any more, neither receives it with good will at your hand. 14Yet you say, ‘Why?’ Because Yahweh has been witness between you and the wife of your youth, against whom you have dealt treacherously, though she is your companion, and the wife of your covenant. 15Did he not make you one, although he had the residue of the Spirit? Why one? He sought godly offspring. Therefore take heed to your spirit, and let no one deal treacherously against the wife of his youth. 16For I hate divorce”, says Yahweh, the God of Israel, “and him who covers his garment with violence!” says Yahweh of Armies. “Therefore take heed to your spirit, that you don’t deal treacherously. 17You have wearied Yahweh with your words. Yet you say, ‘How have we wearied him?’ In that you say, ‘Everyone who does evil is good in Yahweh’s sight, and he delights in them;’ or ‘Where is the God of justice?’
When a man and a woman make their marriage vows before God, they are making an eternal promise not only to each other but to God. It is not easy for two people raised in different circumstances to live under one roof, but if they are considerate of each other in love, they can live well together.
Life brings things we never expected, so we must guard the home with a well-refined character and love, with the generosity of heart to think of each other, and with the responsibility and patience to protect the family. The world is a place where it is hard to keep a home together by the vows of two people alone, but when each fulfills their responsibilities, God will give them wisdom and understanding and protect them.
Genesis 2:23-24
23The man said, “This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh. She will be called ‘woman,’ because she was taken out of Man.” 24Therefore a man will leave his father and his mother, and will join with his wife, and they will be one flesh.
For two people to become one before God is deeply meaningful. As Adam took Eve as his wife, a true husband and wife are one man and one woman joined in marriage. When they respect and love each other and cherish each other as their own bodies, that home will be happy. A happy home is built only when we know that our spouse is a precious person God has given us, and serve them accordingly; but the homes of those who love folly, delight in scoffing, and hate the word, the highest knowledge, cannot help but be unhappy.
God said that a man will leave his father and mother and join with his wife, and the two will be one flesh. For that reason, a married couple must become independent of their parents in every way, financially and emotionally. If they resent their parents’ interference but still lean on them for money, they cannot be fully independent emotionally either. So two people who have formed a home must strive to take responsibility for their own lives.
The calling God gave a man is to protect his wife, who is weaker than he, and to help her raise their children in faith. The wife is to serve her husband, who provides for the family, to raise the children as God’s children, and to make the home a peaceful place of rest. When a man and a woman each fulfill the responsibility God has given them, that home can become a godly family that serves God from generation to generation. Children will learn faith as they watch their parents serve God well, and they will learn how to live rightly in the world as they watch their parents faithfully do their part.
If your home is to be blessed by God, husband and wife must each do their duty well, raise their children in the word, and set an example in all things. God will give perfect wisdom to those who strive to be upright parents and will be a shield to parents who walk rightly.
Deuteronomy 7:6-7
6For you are a holy people to Yahweh your God. Yahweh your God has chosen you to be a people for his own possession, above all peoples who are on the face of the earth. 7Yahweh didn’t set his love on you, nor choose you, because you were more in number than any people; for you were the fewest of all peoples:
God chose Israel to be a holy people not because they were superior to other nations but because he loved them as his children. Though they were weaker than other nations, he became their Father, and for that reason he gave Levi the law so that they would choose the honest and right way; when they kept the law, he gave them the blessing of life and peace. But they did not love one another. They dealt treacherously with their brothers, and by this sin they grieved God. Such sin is precisely the sin of failing to honor the Father.
God said a man must never abandon the wife he is joined to in marriage. Abandoning a wife does not mean legal separation alone. Making her life hard for the sake of his own bad habits and pleasures is a sin too. Conduct like this is a sin that wearies God and insults him. And to give in to Satan’s temptation, leave his wife, and marry a woman who worships a foreign god is likewise a sin that profanes the holiness of Yahweh.
Deuteronomy 7:3
3You shall not make marriages with them. You shall not give your daughter to his son, nor shall you take his daughter for your son.
God commanded the men of Israel never to divorce the wives they had married in their youth, and not to marry the daughters of foreigners. The reason is recorded in Exodus 34:16: God gave this command out of concern that their daughters would play the prostitute after their gods and make the sons of Israel do the same. When the sons of Israel married foreign women, they would come to serve the idols those women brought, without any sense of guilt. Yet for God’s people to serve idols is a grave sin that breaks the commandment You shall have no other gods before me. Their children, too, would be influenced by those foreign women and worship idols, which is why God told them not to cast off their faithful and virtuous wives.
Solomon committed this very sin. He was chosen by God, heard God’s voice directly, and built a beautiful temple with the wealth his father David had gathered, offering a thousand burnt offerings. Yet when that same Solomon married foreign women to gain worldly power, they brought with them the idols they had worshiped in their own lands. These women captured his heart, and Solomon helped them prostitute themselves to the idols they had brought, right beside the temple. For that sin the kingdom was judged and divided into Israel in the north and Judah in the south. Though they had seen their forefathers bring God’s anger on themselves by marrying idol-worshiping foreign women, Judah and Israel still committed the sin of leaving their wise wives and marrying foreign women.
Because Solomon’s son Rehoboam grew up watching his father’s dissolute and faithless ways, he was not afraid to sin. Rehoboam’s mother, Naamah, was a woman who worshiped Molech, the god of the Ammonites. Under her influence Rehoboam committed the sin of serving the Asherah poles, for which he suffered the pain of losing his kingdom. Here we see how deeply the faith of parents shapes their children.
Malachi 2:12
12Yahweh will cut off, to the man who does this, him who wakes and him who answers, out of the tents of Jacob, and him who offers an offering to Yahweh of Armies.
When the verse speaks of the man who does this and those who belong to him, it means Jews who left their first wives to marry foreign women, or who took part in such things. Even if they were Israelites, God would not accept the sacrifices of those who commit such sins, and he said he would cut them off from the tents of Jacob. In other words, God not only refuses worship offered without faith; those with a hollow faith will not be saved even if they attend church all their lives.
When the people sinned, the priests were to teach them the law, help them turn from their sin, and offer sacrifices so that they would be forgiven. Yet the priests who had received this weighty calling, and the people as well, were content with the act of sacrifice while their lives remained unchanged. So God was angry with them all, declaring that they had committed the sin of despising his holiness. Whoever disregards God’s law like this will certainly be reproved.
Proverbs 2:16-17
16To deliver you from the strange woman, even from the foreigner who flatters with her words; 17who forsakes the friend of her youth, and forgets the covenant of her God:
A husband who casts off the wife he ought to love, for the sake of lust and pleasure, betrays the God who joined them as husband and wife. A man who forsakes the wife he met in his youth and struggled alongside has forgotten God’s covenant. For that reason his house leads down to death and his paths to the departed spirits, and so he will lose his life. A husband who speaks and acts carelessly toward his wife affects the whole family, so God does not forgive the one who destroys a home of faith.
The home that God regards as godly is one in which the wife, loved by her husband, is always at peace; the husband, loving his family sincerely, shows a mature character; and the children, following the faith of such parents, grow up to be good. The husband must do his part too, but the wife must open her mouth with wisdom. Kind instruction should be on her tongue, and she should look after her household and work so that her family may be healthy in spirit and in body. That is why the word says that a worthy wife is the crown of her husband, but a foolish wife is rottenness in his bones. Children will be grateful to so wise a mother, and the husband will praise the wife who fears Yahweh. And it was the husbands who forsook such virtuous wives that God rebuked.
My prayer is that you will make this God of great love the Master of your home and honor and love one another sincerely. Then a home with a husband who goes out and works with all his heart and a wife who cares for the children with gratitude will be heaven itself. Proverbs records that it is better to live in the desert than with a quarrelsome and angry woman, which tells us how important it is for a wife to make her home peaceful in God. God commanded those who had divorced their first wives and married foreign women to send those women away, and when they disobeyed, he said he would curse them. When their sins were pointed out, they felt no shame; they had the gall to demand, “Why don’t you regard the offerings we bring, and why don’t you receive what we give?” Then God answered that he had not accepted them because they had abandoned the wives of their youth. Though God had told them so earnestly not to send away their first wives, so that he might have offspring of the covenant, they disregarded and mocked him, and so they were not afraid to marry foreign women. He had told the Israelites who came out of Egypt that when they entered the land of Canaan they must never worship idols or marry Canaanite women. He had told them not to marry idol-worshiping women so that they would have holy children, yet they mistreated their wives in order to divorce them and took foreign women.
In Israel it is said that a child is Jewish only if the mother is Jewish. Whatever the father’s nationality, the child of a Jewish mother is recognized as a Jew, and that is how much weight the mother’s role carries. Because the mother raises the children, and they grow up watching her words, her actions, and her attitude toward life, her faith and character matter. Anyone who mistreats or abandons such a virtuous wife in order to marry a foreign woman will not be forgiven by God.
Revelation 2:4-5
4But I have this against you, that you left your first love. 5Remember therefore from where you have fallen, and repent and do the first works; or else I am coming to you swiftly, and will move your lamp stand out of its place, unless you repent.
The church in Ephesus put on a show of faith to prove how well they were doing as Christians, and failed to offer God a sincere faith. Because they thought that deeds were faith, they kept up works of faith, labor, and perseverance beyond their strength, and they even tested false apostles and drove them out of the church. It was to their credit that they knew the Bible well enough to drive out false teachers, and that they showed labor and perseverance in order to serve diligently. Yet the church in Ephesus came under God’s rebuke because they had lost the pure love they had at first and mistook zeal in deeds for faith. Zeal in deeds is necessary in the Christian life, but faith in Christ matters more and must come first. When that faith is revealed in deeds, it becomes a faith God commends.
The Ephesians left the love of God they first received. A man who leaves the wife he met in his youth, with whom he struggled and built a home, betrays his first love in the same way. God called you when you lay in the midst of death, showed you that there is an eternal Kingdom, and told you that he loves you. Understanding that love, giving thanks, and confessing your faith: that was your first love. God told you not to forget the pure first love you once had. Yet if, as time passes and life settles down, a man forsakes the wife he met in his youth, with whom he struggled to build a home, he will be judged by God. God said that he hates the one who mistreats his wife in order to live with a foreign woman, and he told them to take heed to their spirit and not deal treacherously.
When Malachi 2:16 warns against hiding violence under a garment, it is describing a double life. A man who acts before others as if he treats his wife well and has strong faith, while in reality he fails to provide for his family and torments his wife, is hiding violence under a garment. God said that abandoning one’s wife to lust after a foreign woman, or failing to provide for one’s family while worshiping the pleasures and idols of the world, is the sin of abusing one’s family. It is usually selfish people who think only of themselves who behave this way.
I want to say this to husbands and fathers. Being good to others is a fine thing, but first you must see whether your own family has enough to eat and is living with peace of mind. I say this because, while caring only for your own is a serious failing too, what matters is that you show a mature character for your family’s peace and surround them as a strong hedge of faith. A family whose head is steady in temper and good in character has no cause for anxiety, so you can see their faces shining. If a husband mistreats his wife and treats her carelessly, her unhappiness passes straight to the children, and they cannot grow up rightly. Children who see parents who do not revere God do not trust them, and so they lack the ability to discern the right path. Husbands and fathers who cannot govern and restrain themselves will in the end make their families miserable and cannot raise children of holy faith.
Malachi 2:17
17You have wearied Yahweh with your words. Yet you say, ‘How have we wearied him?’ In that you say, ‘Everyone who does evil is good in Yahweh’s sight, and he delights in them;’ or ‘Where is the God of justice?’
They asked how they had ever wearied Yahweh, but the very fact that Israel did not live rightly as God’s children was what wearied him. They were leaving their wives, offering sick animals, and taking foreign women, and yet they asked how they could possibly weary Almighty God. In the end, they did not understand the pain of a Father watching such children.
God wanted to restore the people who had suffered in exile, but he could give nothing to those who sinned without even knowing it was sin. Not knowing that God had been patient to the very end so as to give them a chance, even in their wickedness, they claimed they had done nothing wrong against him. That God did not judge them immediately, numb to sin as they were, did not mean he had forgiven their sin; he was waiting for the time of judgment.
Judah and Israel had grown numb to sin, like hearts branded as with a hot iron. When God says he will judge, the right response is not to ask where the God of justice is, but to take the grace of his delayed judgment as an opportunity and turn back. Because he did not judge them the moment they sinned, they thought God had changed, though Yahweh’s law still stood. They said that everyone who does evil is good in Yahweh’s sight and that he delights in them, and because they sinned and still prospered, they mistook it to mean that God does not act with justice.
God is almighty, yet he made only one, Adam, because he had a purpose: to have godly offspring. Therefore a man must take only one woman as his wife, and a Jewish woman at that, so as to raise godly offspring. Those who cast aside God’s will and committed the grievous sin of marrying foreign women for the sake of worldly riches and glory may perhaps never be given the opportunity to repent.
Friends, if God does not judge you when you sin, that does not mean he has forgiven you. He holds back because he is waiting patiently for the right time, painful as it is for him to watch. Do not take advantage of God’s patience; repent. For God’s judgment is beyond anything a human being can bear.
When you see your own children doing wrong, you know it will not end well, so you would give them chance after chance to turn back and offer them counsel. It pains you to watch, but you wait patiently for the time when they will turn around. Yet if that time stretches on longer than you expected, you will eventually give up; you will withdraw the love you had shown and rebuke them. Rebuke has nothing to do with how great your love for your child is. Because you know that love lavished on a child who will not turn back ends up thrown away like refuse, you will stop being patient and withdraw even your affection. The moment a parent’s love is withdrawn, the child cannot escape hardship. In the same way, if we do not give thanks for God’s grace but take it for granted, God will withdraw that grace and take up the rod of judgment. He gave us a good law to help us live uprightly, so we must live good lives. If we throw away our opportunity to repent, evil spirits and evil people will pour in like a flood, and even if we repent too late, there will be no opportunity left.
When parents complain, their children grow up thinking negatively; when parents are anxious, their children lose confidence; and when parents indulge in drinking, smoking, and pleasure, their children live the same kind of life. It is God’s will that we help our children become God’s people. Falling away takes a moment, but raising one of God’s good people takes a long time, so we must always take care and live by the law. Living a holy life like this is the way to receive God’s eternal blessing and the way to be kept under his protection in a harsh world.
May you raise godly children, love the wife who is your first love, honor the husband who is the hedge around your home, and build a healthy family.