1. Malachi 2:3 (ESV)
  2. Exposition

To what does the term “offspring” refer?

Malachi 2:3 (ESV)

3 Behold, I will rebuke your offspring, and spread dung on your faces, the dung of your offerings, and you shall be taken away with it.

The Hebrew literally says that the Lord would rebuke the “seed” of the priests. The Hebrew word “seed” could refer to one of two things. It can refer to “offspring” as in the ESV translation. But it can also refer to the agricultural seed that the priests would plant. In Malachi 3:11 we find similar terminology. God speaks about rebuking the devourer so that it would not devour the fruit of Israel’s land and the vine in their fields. But in Malachi 3:11 the reference is to all of Israel’s agriculture, not just to that of the priests. If “seed” refers to the agricultural crops, then the curse would descend only upon the fields of the Levites, which though possible seems unusual. For this reason, we will presume that the literal word “seed” refers to the offspring of the priests.