John Trapp on Malachi 2:5

Verſe 5. My covenant was with him of life and peace] Now Gods covenant (ſaith an expoſitour here) is of four ſorts.

1. General made with all creatures Gen 9.2.

2. With the Church in general Gen. 17.

3. With the Church of the Elect Jer. 31.33.

4. With ſome particulars of ſome ſpecial graces, as here with Levi, of life and peace. So then to miniſters (above others) hath the Lord bound himſelf by ſpecial covenant to be their mighty Protectour, and rewarder: to give them life and peace! that is, long life and proſperous. See Num. 25.12, 13. Life of it ſelf, though peſtered with many miſeries, is a ſweet mercy, and highly to be prized. Better is a living dog then a dead lion, Eccleſ. 9.4. And why is the living man ſorrowful, a man for the puniſhment of his ſins? Lam. 3.39. As who ſhould ſay, let a man ſuffer never ſo much, yet if he be ſuffered to live, he hath cauſe to be contented. It is the Lords mercy he is not conſismed. When Baruc ſought great things for himſelf, Jeremy tels him he may be glad (in thoſe dear years of life,Jer. 45.5. Gen. 45.26. when the arrows of death came ſo thick whisking by him) that he had his life for a prey. Jacob took more comfort of his ſon Joſephs life, then of his honour. Joſeph is yet alive &c. Quis vitam non vult? ſaith Auſtin, who is it that deſires not life? When David moveth the queſtion, what man is he that deſireth life, and loveth many dayes, that he may ſee good? Auſtin brings in every man anſwering I do, and I do. Long life and happy dayes is every mans deſire. If God give theſe bleſſings to thoſe that are graceleſſe, it is by vertue of a providence onely, and not of a promiſe, and that's nothing ſo comfortable; life in Gods diſpleaſure is worſe then death, ſaid that Martyr, if wicked men live long, it is that they may make up the meaſure of their ſins; and by heaping up ſin, increaſe their torment. If godly men die ſoon, God taketh them away from the evil to come: as when there is a fire in an houſe or town, men ſecure their Jewels: And though they fall in wars, yet they die in peace, 2 Chron. 34.28. Hieren. as good Joſiah did: who alſo in brevi vitae ſpacio tempora vir[illegible: 1 letter]utum multareplevit, lived quickly, lived apace, lived long in a little time. For life conſiſts in action Eſay 38.15, 16. The Hebrews call running water living water. Now Gods faithful Miniſters, if they work hard, and ſo wear out themſelves to do good to others, (as a lamp waſteth it ſelf to give light, or as that herb mentioned by Pl[illegible: 1 letter]y, that cures the patient but rots the hand that adminiſtreth it) if like clouds they ſweat themſelves to death to bring ſouls to God, yet ſhall they be ſure to finde it a bleſſed way of dying: they ſhall mori vitaliter die to live for ever. God will not ſend any of his to bed, till they have done their work. The two witneſſes could not be ſlain, till their teſtimony was finiſhed. No malice of man can antedate their ends a minute. The dayes of mourning for my father will come ſaid Eſae, and then Hek[illegible: 1 letter]ll my brother Jacob, Gen. 27.41. Here Eſ[illegible: 1 letter]u[illegible: 1 letter], that rough reprobate, threateneth his father alſo, as Luther conceiveth. For it is as if he ſhould have ſaid, I will be avenged by being the death of my brother: though it be to the breaking of my fathers heart. But what's the proverb? Threatened falk live long: for even Iſaac who died ſooneſt, lived above forty yeers beyond this. My times are in thy hands ſaith David, and that's a ſafe hand; And bleſſed be God that Chriſt liveth and reigneth, alioqui tot us deſperaſſem, or elſe I had been in ill caſe, ſaid Miconius in a letter of his to Calvin. Ren. 1. Miniſters are ſtars in Chriſts right hand, and it will be hard pulling them thence; They muſt carry their lives in their hands, and be ready to lay them down, when it may be for the glory of their Maſter: but they ſhall be ſure not to dye (whether by a natural or by a violent death) till the beſt time; not till that time when, if they were but rightly informed, they would deſire to die. But whether their death be a burnt-offering (of Martyrdome) or a peace-offering, (whether they die in their beds as Eliſha, or be carried to heaven in a fiery chariot as Elijah) let it be a free-will-offering, and then it ſhall be a ſweet ſacrifice to him who hath covenanted with them for life and peace. They ſhall by death, as by a door of hope,Eſay 56.2 Eccleſ. 5.12. enter into peace, they ſhall reſt in their beds, yea, in Abrahams boſome: and as the ſleep of the labouring man is ſweet unto him, whether he eat little or much: ſo heaven ſhall be ſo much the more heaven to ſuch as have here had their purgatory. Mark the upright man,Pſal. 37.37. ſaith holy David, and behold the juſt, for (how troubleſome ſoever his beginning and middle is) the end of that man is peace.

and I gave them to him] Here's the performance of Gods covenant to Levi and his poſterity. God doth not pay his promiſes with fair words onely, as Sertorius is ſaid to do: Neither is he like Amigonus [non-Latin text not transcribed] (ignominiouſly ſo called, becauſe) forward in promiſing, ſlack in performing. But as he hath hitherto kept promiſe with nights and dayes, Jer. 33.20, 25. that one ſhould ſucceed the other, ſo much more doth he keep promiſe with his people: for as his love moved him to promiſe, ſo his truth bindeth him to perform. See both theſe together, 2 Sam. 18, 21. For thy words ſake, and according to thine own heart haſt thou done all theſe things. According to thine own heart, that is, of thine own meer motion; out of pure and unexcited love thou didſt give thy word and promiſe: and for thy words ſake haſt thou performed it. There was nothing in Aaron or his ſeed that God ſhould make his ſpecial covenant with him of life and peace. His rod was as dry and dead as any of the reſt, til God made it to bloſſom. But when God had once paſſed his promiſe, and ſo made himſelf a voluntary debter, he failed not to perform it to him and his. Aaron himſelf lived one hundred & three years, Phineas three hundred, as it is thought, and as ſome Chronologers do obſerve. Joſhua the ſon of Joſedech lived (according to Helvicus) 110 years in the office of the high-prieſthood.

To theſe and others was expreſly fulfilled a Covenant of life and peace: and God would have been ready to have performed it to theſe to whom Malachy prophecieth, had not themſelves hindred. For they like men (or like Adam) tranſgreſſed the covenant: Or (as Junius and Tremellius read it) not tanquam homines, Hoſ. 6.7 but tanquam hominis, they made no more of breaking it, then if they had had to do with duſt and aſhes like themſelves, and not with the great God. Remember them, Neh. 13.29 O my God, ſaith good Nehemiah concerning theſe covenant-breakers, becauſe they have defiled the prieſt-hood, and the covenant of the Prieſt-hood and of the Levites.

for the fear wherewith he feared me, &c.] that is, the good prieſts did ſo, the bad did otherwiſe: but God reckons of men by their righteouſneſſe. and this was the reſtipulation, or the condition on the prieſts part performed: for in a covenant both parties undertake to do ſomewhat. As in the general covenant of grace, God promiſeth to be the God of his people, that is, an univerſal good, All-ſufficient, ſatisfactory, and every way proportionable and fitting to their ſouls. And they (interchangeably) promiſe to be his people; that is, to beſtow themſelves wholly upon him with higheſt eſtimation, moſt vigorous affections, and utmoſt endeavours, giving up their names and hearts to the profeſſion of his truth. So that when he eryes out, Who is on my ſide? Who? one ſayes,Eſay 44.5 I am the Lords: another calls himſelf by the name of Jacob: another ſubſcribes, &c. Semblably in this particular covenant with the tribe of Levi, God promiſed them life and peace; and they aſſured him of fear and humility. Fear is an affection of the ſoul ſhrinking in it ſelf from ſome imminent evil. Hereof there are three ſorts, natural, carnal and ſpiritual.

The firſt is not to be diſliked, if it do not degenerate into the ſecond. The next is a baſe fear of the creature more then of the Creator, who is God bleſſed for ever. The third is nothing elſe but an awful reſpect to the Divine Majeſty. Spiritual fear we called it in reſpect,

1. Of the Author of it, Gods holy Spirit, called therefore, A Spirit of knowledge, and of the fear of the Lord. 2. Of the object of it, The Father of Spirits, who is therefore, by an Appellative proper, called Fear, Pſ. 76.11. 3. Of the effect, which is to ſpiritualize both us and our ſervices: and was therefore fitly vowed to God by thoſe of the ſpirituality that ſtood before him continually, and were to be exact in their whole deportment, at their peril: God is of purer eyes then to behold evil. He cannot look on iniquity in any, Hab. 1.13. Moſes' and Aaron among his prieſts, and Samuel among them that call upon his name: They called upon the Lord, and he anſwered them: he forgave their iniquities: howbeit he took vengeance of their inventions. Pſal. 99.8. He met Moſes in the Inne and had much ado to forbear killing him Exod. 4.44. And for Aaron; when, (together with Miriam) he murmured againſt Moſes, [non-Latin text not transcribed] l'olan. Conterchatur Conſternebatur [non-Latin text not transcribed] Mar. 14.72. and Mari[illegible: 1 letter]m was thereupon ſmitten with leproſie, Aaron was ſpared, not ſo much for the honour of the Prieſt-hood (as Chryſoſtom gives the reaſon, but becauſe of the feare wherewith he feared the Lord, and his humiliation that followed upon that fear.

for he was afraid before Gods name] Or, as others better render this text, Propter nomen meum humiliatus eſt, He was amazed, affeighted, humbled becauſe of my name, he withdrew himſelf (ſo ſome render it) or threw himſelf out of doores, as Peter did into alone place where he might ſowce himſelf in the ſalt tears of godly ſorrow. Or, he ſhrunk and ſhriveld up, and ſo teſtified the trouble of his mind by the horror of his body. Horripilatus eſt, his heart fell down, his hair ſtood upright. See Pſal. 119.53, & 120. His humiliation was deep, and down-right, ſoaking and ſowring his heart, Pſal. 73.21. The word here uſed is pailive, but Levi his humiliation was active: he was not humbled onely, but humble; low, but lowly: he knew that no ſacrifice could be accepted, but that which was laid on the low altar of a contrite heart, which ſanctifies the ſacrifice.