For the priest's lips should preserve knowledge, and they should seek the law from his mouth: for he is the messenger of the LORD of hosts.
All Commentaries on Malachi 2:7 Go To Malachi 2
Caesarius of Arles
AD 542
For this reason we ought to fear lest the harsh rebuke of the prophet be directed toward us: “Dumb dogs are not able to bark.” By the barking of dogs and the shepherd’s staff the fury of wolves is to be warded off. Now it is certain that priests are not only ordained to be stewards of fields and cultivators of land but also to exercise the spiritual cultivation of souls, that of which the apostle surely spoke when he said, “I have planted, Apollos watered.” Again he said, “We are God’s helpers, you are God’s tillage.” With great fear these facts ought to be considered by all the priests, who cannot be ignorant of the divine law and canonical regulations, according to what the apostle says: “If anyone belongs to the Lord, he knows what I say; but if anyone ignores this, he shall be ignored.” For this reason, what the Lord says through the prophet is to be feared exceedingly: “Therefore my people are led away captive, because they had knowledge”; moreover, “He that turns away his ears from hearing the law of the Lord, his prayer shall be an abomination”; “the lips of the priest shall keep knowledge.” Now it is written concerning the garments of priests that when entering the temple they should have gold bells on the edge of their vestments. What else does this mean but that when entering the church all priests of the Lord should not stop shouting, that is, preaching about the last things, namely, the end of the world and the future judgment. By ceaselessly proclaiming the rewards of the just and the punishments of sinners, they may arouse the good to better things and recall the wicked from their sinful actions through fear of the future judgment.
