Malachi
Malachi 3
Chapter III · Vol. III, pp. 1503–1504
1 Of the messenger, majesty, and grace of Christ. 7 Of the retention, 8 sacrilege, 13 and infidelity of the people. 16 The promise of blessing to them that fear God.
1 Behold, Ia will send my messenger,1 and he shall prepare the way before me: and bthe Lord,2 whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to his temple, even the messenger of the covenant, whom ye delight in:3 behold, he shall come, saith the LORD of hosts.
a Mat.11.10; 3.1. Mar.1.2. Lu.1.76; 7.27. Jn.1.26; 3.28. Is.40.3. ch.4.5.
1 My messenger, John the Baptist, Mat.11.10. Mar.1.2. Lu.7.27,28.—C.
b Ps.110.1. Hag.2.7,9. Ac.7.38. Is.63.9; 7.14; 9.6, with Ga.4.4. Lu.2.7,22,46; 19.47; 21.38. Jn.1.8,20. Mat.21.12,14; 26.55.
2 The Lord. By the Jewish writers this description has been uniformly applied to Messiah. Suddenly: immediately after his forerunner; and in a form and manner altogether unexpected by 'a sinful and adulterous generation,' too accurately copying the sins of their fathers, ver.5,7.—C.
3 Whom ye delight in. Having drawn his image according to your own imaginations; but whom you will despise and reject when you actually see him.—C.
2 But cwho may abide the day of his coming? and who shall stand when he dappeareth? for he is like a refiner's fire, and like fuller's soap.
c Mat.3.7,12; 25.10. Ro.1.18. ch.4.1. Lu.2.34. 1 Pe.2.8. Ps.1.5; 36.12. Na.1.6. Re.6.16,17.
d 1 Co.3.13-15.
3 And he shall sit eas a refiner and purifier of silver: and he shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer unto the LORD an offering in righteousness.
e Is.1.25; 4.4. Zec.13.9. Mat.3.12. Jn.2.14-16. 1 Pe.2.5; 1.15. He.13.15,16. Ro.12.1,2; 15.16.
4 Then gshall the offering of Judah and Jerusalem be pleasant unto the LORD, as in the days of old, and as in former4 years.
g ch.1.11. 1 Pe.2.5. Ro.15.16. He.13.15,16, with Je.2.2,3.
4 Or, ancient.
5 And hI will come near to you to judgment; and I will be a swift witness iagainst the sorcerers, and against the adulterers, and against false swearers, and against those that 5oppress the hireling in his wages, the widow, and the fatherless, and that turn aside the stranger from his right, and jfear not me, saith the LORD of hosts.
h ch.2.17. Mi.1.2. 2 Th.1.7,8.
i Is.2.6. Zec.10.2. He.13.4. Ne.6.12-14. ch.3.14,16. Zec.5.4. Ne.5.3, &c. Ja.5.4,12. Mat.5.34-37. 1 Th.4.6.
5 Or, defraud.
6 For I am the LORD, kI change not; ltherefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed.
7 Evenn from the days of your fathers ye are gone away from mine ordinances, and have not kept them. oReturn unto me, and I will return unto you, saith the LORD of hosts. But ye said, pWherein shall we return?
8 Will a man qrob God? Yet ye have robbed me. But ye say, Wherein have we robbed thee? In tithes and offerings.6
q Ne.13.10-12. Mat.25.45. Ac.9.4.
6 The whole nation, in its national capacity, is here charged with 'robbing God,' because it neglected to give the prescribed support for God's ordinances. A national curse was pronounced on this account, a curse which could only be averted by rendering to the Lord his due.—P.
9 Ye rare cursed with a curse: for ye have robbed me, even this whole nation.
r ch.2.2. De.28.15-19. Hag.1.6,9-11;2.16,17. Ne.5.1-5. Zec.5.4.
10 Brings ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and tprove me now herewith, saith the LORD of hosts, if I will not open you the uwindows of heaven, and pour you out7 a blessing, vthat there shall not be room enough to receive it.
11 And I will rebuke the xdevourer8 for your sakes, and he shall not destroy9 the fruits of your ground; neither shall your vine cast her fruit before the time in the field, saith the LORD of hosts.
x Joel 2.19,20, with Am.4.9. Hag.2.17;1.10. De.11.14.
8 The devourer. The locusts and other destructive creatures. See Joel 1.4-7. Am.4.9.—C.
9 Heb. corrupt.
12 And yall nations shall call you blessed: for ye shall be a delightsome land, saith the LORD of hosts.
13 Your words have been zstout against me, saith the LORD: yet ye say, aWhat have we spoken so much against thee?
14 Ye have said, bIt is vain to serve God; and what profit is it that we have kept his ordinance,1 and that we have walked mournfully2 before the LORD of hosts?
15 And now we call the cproud happy; yea, dthey that work wickedness are set3 up; yea, they that etempt God are even delivered.
16 Then they that gfeared the LORD hspake often one to another: and the LORD hearkened, and heard it, and ia book of remembrance was written before him for them that feared the LORD, and that thought upon his name.
17 And jthey shall be mine, saith the LORD of hosts, in that day when I make up my 4jewels; and I will kspare them, as a man spareth his own son that serveth him.
18 Then lshall ye return,5 and ndiscern between the righteous and the wicked; between him that serveth God, and him that serveth him not.
l Is.26.11, with ver.14,15; ch.2.17.
5 Then shall ye 'return' to the LORD, and to a right exercise of judgment between good and bad.—C.
n Ps.58.11. Da.4.32,37. Is.3.10,11.
Notes
Ver. 1. John Baptist proclaimed that the Messiah was come in the flesh, and called the Jews to prepare for his manifestation of himself by faith and repentance.—Christ came in the flesh while the second temple was standing, and honoured it with his presence and ministrations. Though he was the same in nature and equal in personal dignity with his Father, he, as Mediator, was sent by him to declare and attest his will to men, and secure and promote their salvation. The godly rejoiced in his person, incarnation, and work; and even the wicked Jews were pleased with it, as they conceived hopes of temporal advantages thereby. 2-4. Yet few of the Jews will relish his coming when it shall take place; for they will be offended at his appearances and doctrines, to their own destruction; for his instructions and his conduct will tend to separate the precious from the vile, to sanctify the former and destroy the latter; and he will purify his ministers and people from their errors in doctrine, corruptions in worship, and unholiness in practice, that their services may be agreeable to his law, and accepted of God through him, as well as those of their pious ancestors. 5, 6. I will speedily call you to an account for your sins; and, by punishing you, manifest that I have taken notice of them; and this ye may as certainly expect as I am the unchangeable JEHOVAH, who, according to my promises to your fathers, have hitherto refrained from punishing you according to your deserts. 8-12. Notwithstanding my being God, and your God, ye have robbed me of my tithes and offerings, and have thereby procured a curse which, all through the land, hath blasted your crops. But let my justly-required oblations be brought to my temple, and I will abundantly bless you with refreshing and fructifying rains and plentiful increase; and I will restrain caterpillars, locusts, drought, mildew, and blasting, and everything else that destroys the fruits of the earth; and all the nations around shall reckon you singularly happy, and worthy to be the object of their love and admiration, on account of your peace, plenty, and holy religion. 13-15. Some of you have indeed presumptuously quarrelled at my service and providences, as if the zealous observance of my laws did profit no one; as if the most proud and daring contemners of me and my service, and the most notorious workers of wickedness, were the only, at least the most, prosperous persons in the nation. 16-18. Yet know assuredly that I exactly observe and infallibly remember how the upright who fear my name among you exhort and encourage one another to duty; and in the day of national judgments, especially in the last judgment, I will graciously reward them as my people because of their faith. Then shall the most stupid and presumptuous of you be forced to observe and feel the difference that my providence puts between my righteous servants and the wicked rejecters of my worship and service.
Ver. 17. My jewels. For a time the precious and the vile are indiscriminately mixed together, and God often seems to forget the distinction; but there is a day coming when God will separate them, and believers shall appear as jewels in a royal diadem, ver. 18. C.
**Reflections.—**Unbounded is the excellency of Jesus' person and work; and great the joys, the blessings, and the terrors which attend his coming. His Word and Spirit have the most purifying influence on the people. But, alas! dreadful is the destruction of those that despise him and do the work of the devil. Great are the pleasures which they enjoy that seek and find Christ in his temple and in his ordinances. And it is by justification and sanctification that all the saints are consecrated spiritual priests unto God.—JEHOVAH'S unchangeableness secures the destruction of the wicked and the preservation of believers. Yet, alas! what fearful wickedness against God and men is to be found among hypocritical professors! But wickedness most surely ruins, and robbery, either of God or men, renders men still more poor and miserable. If we with hold their dues from God, or from his poor, he will make us to pay dear for it at last. Nor can his straitening us, to punish our robbery, ever excuse it. He must be served, not with our leavings, but with the first-fruits of our increase. And if by trusting in him we be liberal to him, we shall find ourselves gainers at last. If we honour and delight in him, he will make us an honour and delight before all around us; while presumptuous sinners, after a short prosperity, shall be eternally miserable. In evil times, therefore, when vice is daring, let us be bold and active in the cause of religion. If the servants of Satan dare to harden one another in sin, why should not Christ's servants encourage one another in holiness? He will honourably mark, kindly remember, and graciously reward all our services.