John Trapp on Malachi 2:14

Verſe 14. Yet ye ſay wherefore?] A ſenſeleſſe queſtion: but there is nothing more ſtupid, and ſtubborn then an hypocrite: he will not yeeld, though never ſo clearly convinced, but will have ſtill ſomewhat to ſay though to ſmall purpoſe, as had Saul to Samuel, 1 Sam. 15. and theſe Queſtioniſts here to God, whom (as before oft, and again after) they put to his proofs. (See the Note on chap. 1. verſe 2, 6.) and his anſwer is ready:

Becauſe the Lord hath been wineſſe between thee and the wife of thy youth] The Heathen could ſay, Maxima debetur pueris reverentia ſiquid Turpe paras: — And again, Turpe quid acturus te, ſine teſte, time. We ſhould not do wickedly if but a child be by. And, when thou art about to do ought amiſſe, fear thine own conſcience, which is a thouſand witneſſes. But if God be by as a witneſſe, ſhould not men fear to offend him? Tremble thou earth, at the preſence of the Lord, at the preſence of the God of Jacob. He that dares ſin, though he know God be an eye-witneſſe, is more impudent in ſinning then was Abſalom, when he ſpred a tent upon the top of the houſe, and went in to his fathers concubines, in the ſight of all Iſrael, and of the Sunne. Theſe treacherous husbands could not but know that they had entred into a covenant of God, Prov. 2.17. when they married: that the bond was made to God, and that upon the violation of it, he would be ready enough to take the forfeiture: for whoremongers and adulterers God will judge, Heb. 13.3. That God had been witneſſe, Proteſtatus eſt. or had proteſted (ſo Montanus renders it) and withall had, by interpoſing of his own authority, confirmed the contract and compact, ſaying, verbis concept is, as Hoſ. 3.3. Thou ſhalt not be for another man, ſo will I alſo be for thee, and not for another woman, till God ſhall ſeparate us by death. Indeed if the husband or the wife be dead,Rom. 7.2. the ſurviving party is at liberty to marry again (whatſoever the Canoniſts ſay againſt bigamy.) Hierome tells us of an old man in Rome that had buried twenty wives, which hee had married one after the death of another: and that he had taken to wife the one and twentieth, who alſo had buried nineteen husbands. And that,Hier. apud Lonicer in Theat. hiſtor. p. 734. burying that wife too, he followed the corps to the Church (ſo his neighbours would needs have it) with a garland of bayes upon his head in manner of a triumpher. But againſt Polygamy (which is, when a man or woman couples himſelf or her ſelf in marriage to more then one) here are an heap of arguments in the text, which we ſhall take as they lie in order. Mean-while it is worthy our obſervation, that the firſt Authour of Polygamy was that Thraſonicall Lamech, noted for a profane and wicked perſon: as was likewiſe Eſan another Polygamiſt. Laban though he had cheted Jacob into the having of his two daughters to wife, yet he could not but confeſſe it to be a ſinne againſt the light of Nature. Hence at parting he takes a ſolemne oath of Jacob, Gen. 31.50. If thou ſhalt afflict my daughters, or if thou ſhalt take other wives beſides my daughters: no man is with us: ſee God is witneſſe betwixt me and thee. Some of the Fathers were herein faulty, as Abraham, David, &c. and ſome ſay it was their priviledge: but that's not likely. Rather it was their ignorance or incogitancy, (they conſidered not that it was a breach of the firſt inſtitution of marriage) or, as ſome conceive, it was their meer miſtake of that Text, Lev. 18.18. Thou ſhalt not take a wife to her ſiſter, to vex her, Confer Ezek. 1.9. to uncover her naked eſſe, beſides the other, in her life time. Here they took the word (ſiſter) for one ſo by blood, which was ſpoken of a ſiſter by nation, as thoſe clauſes to vex her, and da[illegible: 2 letters]ghter life, do evince. One thing was, the commonneſſe of the ſinne, and the [illegible: 1 word] cuſtome of it. So long had it continued, and was grown ſo faſhionable, that it ſeemed to be no ſinne. But debt is debt, whether a man know of it, or not: And ſin, as a debt, may ſleep a long time, and not be called for of many years, as Sauls ſin in killing the Gibeonites ſlept fourty years; and Joabs killing of Abner ſlept all David's dayes, &c. Another thing that might cauſe deſire of many wives, was want of love and chaſt affection to the wife of their youth. Iſaac is noted for a moſt loving husband to his Rebecca: and he never deſired more wives then her. Re oyce in the wife of thy youth: Let her be as the loving Hind, and pleaſant Roe, &c. This will keep thee from being raviſhed with a ſtrange woman, or ombracing the boſomc of a ſtranger, Prov. 5.18, 19, 20. The Hind and the Roe are moſt loving to their mates, and therefore moſt faithfull to them. So, among birds, are the turtledove, and the ſtork. The former, they ſay, as he keeps cloſe to his mate, while ſhe lives; ſo when ſhe dies, he groans and moans continually, and never ſits upon a green bough. The later are chaſt, and ſevere, in puniſhing thoſe of the kind that are not. It iscredibly reported by ſome that have ſeen it, that whole flocks of Storks meeting in a medow, they have ſet in the middeſt of them two of their company that have been found diſloyall,Sphi[illegible: 2 letters]. Philoſ. pag. 231. and runnning upon them with main force have killed them with their beaks. So that the company breaking up, and all the reſt flying away, the two offending Storks onely have been found dead in the place.

againſt whom thou haſt dealt treacherouſly] viz by ſuperinducing another wife contrary to thy covenant, This is not a ſimple injury againſt thy lawfull wife; but ſuch as is joyned with contumely, which the Greeks call [non-Latin text not transcribed]: and the children that come of ſuch copulation they call [non-Latin text not transcribed], becauſe they are ſubject to contumelies. The Hebrews call them brambles; A[illegible: 1 letter]imelech was ſuch an one, Iudg. 9.14. a right bramble indeed, who grew in the baſe hedge-row of a concubine; and ſcratcht and drew blood to purpoſe. Lo, this is the Prophets firſt argument againſt Polygamy: it is treachery againſt both God, who is deeply intereſted in the marriage-covenant, and againſt the true wife, who is hereby extremely deſrauded, and defeated. Follows not the ſecond:

yet ſhe is thy companion] thy compeer, and copartner, thy conſort, and fellow-friend, ſuch another as thy ſelf (ſo the woman is called, Gen. 2.18.) a ſecondſelf, a mate meet for thee, a piece ſo juſt cut out for thee, as anſwereth thee rightly in every point, in every joynt. A wife is not a ſlave, (ſaith One) but a companion: a yoke-fellow, ſtanding on even ground with thee, though drawing on the left ſide. From the left ſide (ſay ſome) ſhe was taken where the heart is, to teach, that hearty love ſhould be betwixt married couples. Made ſhe was of a rib, a bone of the ſide; not of the head, (the wife muſt not uſurp authority over her husband) nor yet of the foot, ſhe may not be trampled upon, or diſregarded as an underling. A bone, not of any anterior part; ſhe is not [illegible: 1 letter]raela[illegible: 1 letter]a, preferred before the man: neither yet of any hinder-part, ſhe is not poſtpoſita, ſet behind the man: but a bone of the ſide, of the middle, of the indifferent part, to ſhew that ſhe is thy companion and the wife of thy covenant. A bone ſhe is from under the arm: to put man in mind of protection, and defence to the woman. A bone, not far from his heart; to put him in mind of dilection and love to the woman. Neither can the rib challenge any more of her, then the earth can do of him. And as he was ignorant when himſelf was made, ſo he knew as little when his ſecond-ſelf was made out of him: both that the comfort might be greater then was expected; as alſo that he might not upbraid his wife with any great dependance or obligation; he neither willing the work, nor ſuffering any pain to have it done. Shine ſhe muſt with the beams of her husband: Share ſhe muſt with him, in his maſterly government of the family, as Sarah did with Abraham by Gods allowance, Gen. 16. and as the Roman Ladies were wont to ſay to their husbands, Ʋbi tu Caius, ibi ego Caia, where you are Lord, I am Lady. That over-lordly carriage of husbands towards their wives, and that uſage of them as drudges, is condemned by the Heathen Philoſophers, in the very Barbarians themſelves, as a great ataxy, and diſorder in the family.

and the wife of thy covenant] And is it nothing to be covenant-breaker with a wife; eſpecially where God alſo is ingaged, as above ſaid? Foedus [non-Latin text not transcribed]. [non-Latin text not transcribed], ab eadem radice, perform your truſt, make good the troth you have plighted. Otherwiſe, if the fruits of the fleſh grow out of the trees of your hearts, ſurely,Ser. of Rep. p. 70. ſurely, ſaith Maſter Bradford Martyr, the devil is at inne with you: you are his birds, whom when he hath well fed, he will broach you, and eat you, chaw you, and champ you world without end, in eternall wo and miſery.