Malachi recalls God’s covenant with Levi as a model for priestly faithfulness Malachi 2:5. It is described as a covenant of life and peace, connected with fear and reverence Malachi 2:5. The passage says true instruction was in his mouth and he turned many from iniquity Malachi 2:6.
In Malachi 2:5–7, the speaker recalls an earlier model priest who lived inside God’s covenant. That covenant brought “life and peace,” and it produced reverence for God’s name. The model priest’s speech matched truth: reliable instruction came from his mouth, and wrongdoing was not on his lips. These verses sit inside a larger rebuke of priests for dishonoring God and corrupting worship and teaching (2:1–9). The passage works by contrast: it sets an ideal picture of priestly speech and conduct in the past, then uses that picture as the standard by which the present priesthood is measured.
Malachi 2:5–7 looks back to a “model” priest as a standard for what priestly speech and leadership were meant to be. The text presents God’s covenant with that priest as bringing “life and peace” (explicit claim), and it connects those gifts with the priest’s reverence for God’s name (explicit claim).
A careful answer keeps the immediate passage, the book's argument, and the whole-Bible storyline together, so the question is answered in context instead of as a detached idea.
Start with Malachi 2:5, then read the surrounding section so the answer stays connected to the passage's flow.
5My covenant was with him of life and peace; and I gave them to him who he might fear; and he feared me, and stood in awe of my name.