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"Judah hath dealt faithlessly, and an abomination is committed in Israel and in
Jerusalem, for Judah hath profaned the holiness of the Lord which He loved, and hath
married the daughter of a strange god" (Mal. 2: 11).
The man that did this, whether he be master or scholar, should be treated as a
Canaanite:--
"The Lord will cut off the man that doeth this . . . . . out of the tabernacles of Jacob"
(2: 12).
Their offerings were not acceptable:--
"The Lord hath been witness between thee and the wife of thy youth, against whom
thou hast dealt treacherously: yet she is thy companion, and the wife of thy covenant"
(2: 14).
Verse 15 is variously translated and interpreted. The A.V. reads:--
"And did not He make one? Yet had He the residue of the spirit. And wherefore one?
That He might seek a godly seed. Therefore take heed to your spirit, and let none deal
treacherously against the wife of his youth."
The margin reads for "residue", excellency, and for "a godly seed", a seed of God.
The R.V. scarcely differs from the A.V. in the text, but in the margin the following is
found, "And not one hath done so who had a residue of the spirit. Or what? is there one
that seeketh a godly seed?" This seems to give a truer rendering. To act treacherously in
this way was not possible while one retained a residue of the spirit. So profane had the
priesthood become that the prophet asks, "Is there one that seeketh a seed of God?" The
words seem to echo those of Gen. 6: 3, "My spirit shall not always rule (or abide) in
man, for that he also is flesh".
Marriage ceases with this life. In the resurrection there is neither marrying nor giving
in marriage. Man lost the true purpose of God, and ceased to seek a godly seed.
However, blessed be God, in the fulness of time Christ was born, "not of blood, nor of
the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God". Of Him the angel could say
"That holy thing that shall be born of thee". Christ was pre-eminently the Seed of the
woman, and the conception of Scriptural redemption limits that redemption to His own
kin--in other words, to those others who are also the seed of the woman. The world
to-day is peopled by those who are the seed of God and the seed of the wicked one. Both
are sinful and under the dominion of sin and death. The works of the Devil however are
to be destroyed (I John 3:). Satan himself is to be destroyed (Heb. 2:). The children of
the wicked one are to be gathered in the time of harvest--like bundles of weeds to be
burned. If their names are not in the book of life, they must be cast into the lake of fire,
which is the second death. The principle that seems to underlie the teaching of the
Scriptures on this subject is expressed in the following two statements:--
Rom. 11: 26. "So ALL ISRAEL shall be saved."
Rom. 9: 6-8. "They are not ALL ISRAEL, which are of Israel, neither, because they
are the seed of Abraham, are they all children: but in Isaac shall thy seed be called. That