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Selected Verse: Malachi 2:14 - King James
Verse |
Translation |
Text |
Mal 2:14 |
King James |
Yet ye say, Wherefore? Because the LORD hath been witness between thee and the wife of thy youth, against whom thou hast dealt treacherously: yet is she thy companion, and the wife of thy covenant. |
Summary Of Commentaries Associated With The Selected Verse
A Commentary, Critical, Practical, and Explanatory on the Old and New Testaments, by Robert Jamieson, A.R. Fausset and David Brown [1882] |
Wherefore?--Why does God reject our offerings?
Lord . . . witness between thee and . . . wife--(so Gen 31:49-50).
of thy youth--The Jews still marry very young, the husband often being but thirteen years of age, the wife younger (Pro 5:18; Isa 54:6).
wife of thy covenant--not merely joined to thee by the marriage covenant generally, but by the covenant between God and Israel, the covenant-people, whereby a sin against a wife, a daughter of Israel, is a sin against God [MOORE]. Marriage also is called "the covenant of God" (Pro 2:17), and to it the reference may be (Gen 2:24; Mat 19:6; Co1 7:10). |
Notes on the Bible, by Albert Barnes, [1834] |
And ye say, Wherefore? - They again act the innocent, or half-ignorant. What had they to do with their wives' womanly tears? He who knows the hearts of all was Himself the witness between them and the wife of youth of each; her to whom, in the first freshness of life and their young hearts, each had plighted his troth having been entrusted by her with her earthy all. Gen 31:49-50. "The Lord," said even Laban, when parting from his daughters, "watch between me and thee, when we are absent, the one from the other; if thou shalt afflict my daughters, or if thou shalt take wives beside my daughters, no man is with us; see, God is witness between me and thee."
And he dealt treacherously against her - , violating his own faith and her trusting love, which she had given once for all, and could not now retract. "And she is thy companion;" she has been another self, the companion of thy life, sharing thy sorrows, joys, hopes, fears, interests; different in strength, yet in all, good and ill, sickness and health, thy associate and companion; the help meet for the husband and provided for him by God in Paradise; and above all, "the wife of thy covenant," to whom thou didst pledge thyself before God. These are so many aggravations of their sin. She was the wife of their youth, of their covenant, their companion; and God was the Witness and Sanctifier of their union. Marriage was instituted and consecrated by God in Paradise. Man was to leave father and mother (if so be), but to cleave to his wife indissolubly. For they were to be Mat 19:6, "no more twain, but one flesh." Hence, as a remnant of Paradise, even the pagan knew of marriage, as a religious act, guarded by religious sanctions. Among God's people, marriage was a Pro 2:17 "covenant of their God." To that original institution of marriage he seems to refer in the following: |
Explanatory Notes on the Whole Bible, by John Wesley [1754-65] |
The wife of thy covenant - To whom thou art so firmly bound, that while she continues faithful, thou canst not be loosed. |
Adam Clarke Commentary on the Whole Bible - Published 1810-1826 |
Ye say, Wherefore? - Is the Lord angry with us? Because ye have been witness of the contract made between the parties; and when the lawless husband divorced his wife, the wife of his youth, his companion, and the unite of his covenant, ye did not execute on him the discipline of the law. They kept their wives till they had passed their youth, and then put them away, that they might get young ones in their place. |
10 And unto the married I command, yet not I, but the Lord, Let not the wife depart from her husband:
6 Wherefore they are no more twain, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder.
24 Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.
17 Which forsaketh the guide of her youth, and forgetteth the covenant of her God.
6 For the LORD hath called thee as a woman forsaken and grieved in spirit, and a wife of youth, when thou wast refused, saith thy God.
18 Let thy fountain be blessed: and rejoice with the wife of thy youth.
49 And Mizpah; for he said, The LORD watch between me and thee, when we are absent one from another.
50 If thou shalt afflict my daughters, or if thou shalt take other wives beside my daughters, no man is with us; see, God is witness betwixt me and thee.
17 Which forsaketh the guide of her youth, and forgetteth the covenant of her God.
6 Wherefore they are no more twain, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder.
49 And Mizpah; for he said, The LORD watch between me and thee, when we are absent one from another.
50 If thou shalt afflict my daughters, or if thou shalt take other wives beside my daughters, no man is with us; see, God is witness betwixt me and thee.