John Trapp on Malachi 2:13

Verſe 13. And this have ye done againe] Or, in the ſecond place. q. [illegible: 1 letter]. Nor content to have married ſtrange wives, yea have brought them in to your lowfull wives, to their intolerable vexation, ſo adding this ſin to the former, as a greater to the leſſe. This is ſtill the guiſe of graceleſſe men, to add druake[illegible: 3 letters]ſſe to thirſt, rebellion to ſin, to amaſſe and heape up one evill upon another, till wrath come upon them to the ut meſt. For three tranſgreſſions and for ſoxr I will not turn away their puniſhment Am. 1. that is, ſo long as the wicked commit one or two in[illegible: 2 letters]uities, I forbear them: but when it comes once to threes and fours, (how much more to ſo many ſcores, hundreds, thouſands, as one cipher added to a figure makes it ſo many tenns, two ſo many hundreds, three ſo many thouſands &c.) God will bear with them no longer. Of thoſe old Iſraelites it is demanded, not without great indignation on Gods part. How oft did they provoke him in the wilderneſſe, and grieve him in the deſart? Yea they turned ba[illegible: 2 letters] and tempted God &c. Pſal. 78.40, 41. Good men, if they fall once into foule practiſes, they fall not often. Of Judah it is expreſſely recorded that he knew Tamar no more. Lot indeed committed inceſt two night; together: but the orifice of his luſt was not yet ſtopped by repentance. Think the ſame of Solomon, Sampſon, Ionah, &c. their acts were as it were continued acts: and, in the interim, little or no remorſe or regret. Let us that have received merey, be admoniſhed to ſin no more, leſt a worſe thing come unto us. I[illegible: 1 letter]h. 5 There is a woe to ſuch as draw iniquiey with cords of vanity, and ſin as it were with a cartrope Iſa. 5.20. Babylons ſins in the Revelation reached up to heaven, or they were thwacked together thick and threefold one upon another Rev. 18.5. there was a concatenation, or a continued ſeries of them: therefore ſhe fell ſurely and ſuddenly. When wickedneſſe is once ripe in the field, God will not let it ſhed to grow again: but cuts it up by a juſt and ſeaſonable vengeance.

covering the Altar of the Lord with teares] That is, You cauſed your poor wives, when they ſhould have been chearfull in Gods ſervice, as 1 Sam. 1. and in many other places it was required of the Iſraelites to rejoyce whenſoever they appeared before the Lord, Earthly Princes love not the company of mourners Eſth. 4.4. to cover the Lords Altar vith tears, with weeping, and with crying out, to throw themſelves, blubbered and ſwoln with tears, upon the Altar, which was a profanation of it: ſo that God regarded not the offering any more. 'Twere happy if we could be ſo affected with our unkindneſſe to Chriſt, our husband, that wee could cover his Table, when we come to it, with our tears. How ſhould the Lord regard our ſervice ſo much the more? how ſhould it be unto him as Muſick upon the waters, farre more harmonious! What a gracious reſpect had He to the weeping women that followed him to the croſſe; and what an honour was that to one of them, (Mary Magdalen I mean) that ſhe had the firſt ſight of the revived Phoenix,Pſal. 91.13. whom ſhe held faſt by thoſe feet that ſhe had once waſhed with her tears, and that had now lately trod upon the lion, and adder, &c? It was appointed by Moſes law that the bond-woman ſhould bewail her father and mother a full monet before ſhe might become an Iſraelites wife.Deut. 21.13. We, that are ſtrangers to the Commonwealth of Iſrael, as we cannot be preſented a chaſt virgin to Chriſt, but as weeping over him that bled over us, ſo we never pleaſe him better, then when we weep over our tears,Ipſae lachrymae ſunt lachryabiles, &c. ſigh over our ſobbes, mourn over our griefs, as not proportionable to our miſcarriages. But to return to the Text: The Jews as they are noted for a nation overmuch effoeminate, and given to women, (as they ſay) ſo when they have ſatisfied their luſt, and ſerved their own turns, they are as willing to be rid of them as Amnon was of Tamar. Hence thoſe many cautions in the law to put bounds to their petulancy: and that politick permiſtion of a divorce, for the relief of the poor deſpiſed woman, leſt ſhe ſhould come to a miſchief, by the hatred of the churl her husband, Deut. 22.13, 14 with chap. 24.3. At this day they look upon women, as not having ſo divine a ſoul as men, but are of a lower creation, made onely for the propagation and pleaſure of man. They uſe them as their drudges, lay upon them with their unmanly fiſts, are ready to cut out their tongues (as the Welſh-men dealt by their French wives,Heyl. Geng. pag. 93. leſt they ſhould corrupt the language of their children) put them away upon every ſlight occaſion, covering that violence with the garment of the law, as verſe 16. Or if they kept them, they took other wives to them, to vex them, and to make them to ſr[illegible: 1 letter]t, 1 Sam. 1.6. or (as the word there ſigniſies) to thunder: not onely tabring upon their breaſts, with the voyce of doves, (as Nahums expreſſion is) but filling the air, yea covering the altar (as it is here) with their laments and l[illegible: 1 letter]wings, Nah. 2.7. Lamentis gemituque & foeminco ululatu Tecta fremunt-Virg. Aeneid. fl[illegible: 1 letter]ctu & mugitu, (ſo the Vulgar rendreth it) for their husbands harſhneſſe, and their concubines inſolencies, and indignities. Hierom tells us, that theſe returned captives ſlighted their old wives brought with them from Babylon, (as being by that tedions journey become infirm and deformed) and matched with ſlrangers, who were freſh, fair, rich, &c. this he gathers out of Ezra 9. and 10. whereas they ſhould rather have nouriſhed and cheriſhed them as their own fleſh, Epheſ. 5.29. they ſhould have handled them gently, becauſe of their weakneſſe, as ſo many chryſtall-glaſſes. They ſhould have given them all lawfull content, as Abraham did Saral, his faithfull fellow-traveller. They ſhould have given all honour unto them, ſaith Saint Peter; and why?1 Pet. 3.7. Mark his many reaſons. 1. They are the weaker veſſels, and are therefore to be handled with all tenderneſſe. Some tranſlate it the weaker inſtrument: and (as Luther ſpeaks of it) as a knife with a tender edge men will not cut ſtones, braſſe, or iron with it: ſo here. 2. They are heirs together of the grace of life, that is, of the life of grace, and of glory too: for ſouls have no ſexes, and as every one is in Chriſt, all are equall, ſo that the husband is bound, in this reſpect, to make his wives yoke as eaſie as may be, ſith ſhe draws even with him, though on the left ſide. 3. That your prayers be not hindered, as they will be, where there is not ſo much conjugium, as conjurgium. How can they pray together comfortably, that live ſo diſcontentedly? How can they bring their gift to that altar that is covered with the tears, and moans of their juſtly aggrieved and abuſed wives? Or, if they do, will God regard their offering any more, or receive it with good will at their hands? Will not the tears and groans of their diſtreſſed wives (who yet hold out their devotion, and will not be hindered by their juſt grief, from praying to God, and pouring out their ſouls before him) move God more then their ſacrifices can do? Eſpecially if they bring them with a wicked mind, as Solomon hath it: and as Lyra maketh it to be the ſence of this Text:Prov. 21.27 Ye have covered the Altar of the Lord with tears, &c. but he regardeth not the offering any more, &c. that is, (ſaith Lyra, and he hath it from Chryſoſtom) you are reſolved to retain your idolatrous wives, though God have declared againſt it: And that ye may expiate this wickedneſle, and make amends by your good deeds for your bad; you run to the Temple, and there with many tears, and groans you beg pardon. But all in vain, becauſe you have no purpoſe at all to break off your ſins, but will needs perſiſt in your unlawfull marriages. See more of this in the Note on chap. 3.16. doct. 4. uſe 1.