MALACHI forms the transition link between the two dispensations, the Old and the New, "the skirt and boundary of Christianity" [TERTULLIAN], to which perhaps is due the abrupt earnestness which characterizes his prophecies. His very name is somewhat uncertain. Malachi is the name of an office, rather than a person, "My messenger," and as such is found in Mal 3:1. The Septuagint favors this view in Mal 1:1; translate, not "by Malachi," but "by the hand of His messenger" (compare Hag 1:13). Malachi is the last inspired messenger of the Old Testament, announcing the advent of the Great Messenger of the New Testament. The Chaldee paraphrase identifies him with Ezra wrongly, as Ezra is never called a prophet but a scribe, and Malachi never a scribe but a prophet. Still it hence appears that Malachi was by some old authorities not regarded as a proper name. The analogy of the headings of other prophets, however, favors the common view that Malachi is a proper name. As Haggai and Zechariah, the contemporary prophets, supported Joshua and Zerubbabel in the building of the temple, so he at a subsequent period supported the priest Ezra and the governor Nehemiah. Like that ruler, he presupposes the temple to have been already built ( Mal 1:10; 3:1-10). Both alike censure the abuses still unreformed ( Ne 13:5, 15-22, 23-30), the profane and mercenary character of the priests, the people's marriages contracted with foreigners, the non-payment of the tithes, and want of sympathy towards the poor on the part of the rich ( Ne 6:7) implies that Nehemiah was supported by prophets in his work of reformation. The date thus will be about 420 B.C., or later. Both the periods after the captivity (that of Haggai and Zechariah, and that of Malachi) were marked by royal, priestly, and prophetic men at the head of God's people. The former period was that of the building of the temple; the latter, that of the restoration of the people and rebuilding of the city. It is characteristic of the people of God that the first period after the restoration was exclusively devoted to the rebuilding of the temple; the political restoration came secondarily. Only a colony of fifty thousand settled with Joshua and Zerubbabel in Palestine ( Ezr 2:64). Even these became intermingled with the heathen around during the sixty years passed over by Ezra in silence ( Ezr 9:6-15; Ne 1:3). Hence a second restoration was needed which should mould the national life into a Jewish form, re-establishing the holy law and the holy city--a work effected by Ezra and Nehemiah, with the aid of Malachi, in a period of about half a century, ending with the deaths of Malachi and Nehemiah in the last ten years of the fifth century B.C.; that is, the "seven weeks" ( Da 9:25) put in the beginning of the "seventy" by themselves, to mark the fundamental difference between them, the last period of Old Testament revelation, and the period which followed without any revelation (the sixty-two weeks), preceding the final week standing out in unrivalled dignity by itself as the time of Messiah's appearing. The seventy weeks thus begin with the seventh year of Artaxerxes who allowed Ezra to go to Jerusalem, 457 B.C., in accordance with the commandment which then went forth from God. Ezra the priest performed the inner work of purifying the nation from heathenish elements and reintroducing the law; while Nehemiah did the outer work of rebuilding the city and restoring the national polity [A UBERLEN]. VITRINGA makes the date of Malachi's prophecies to be about the second return of Nehemiah from Persia, not later than 424 B.C., the date of Artaxerxes' death ( Ne 13:6). About this time Socrates was teaching the only approach to a pure morality which corrupt Athens ever knew. MOORE distinguishes six portions: (1) Charge against Israel for insensibility to God's love, which so distinguished Israel above Edom ( Mal 1:1-5). (2) The priests are reproved for neglect and profanation ( Mal 1:6-2:9). (3) Mixed marriages, and the wrongs done to Jewish wives, are reproved ( Mal 2:10-16). (4) Coming of Messiah and His forerunners ( Mal 2:17-3:6). (5) Reproof for tithes withheld ( Mal 3:7-12). (6) Contrast between the godly and the ungodly at the present time, and in the future judgment; exhortation, therefore, to return to the law ( Mal 3:13-4:6).
The style is animated, but less grand, and the rhythm less marked, than in some of the older prophets.
The canonicity of the book is established by the references to it in the New Testament ( Mt 11:10; 17:12; Mr 1:2; 9:11, 12; Lu 1:17; Ro 9:13).
Mal 1:1-14. GOD'S LOVE: ISRAEL'S INGRATITUDE: THE PRIESTS' MERCENARY SPIRIT: A GENTILE SPIRITUAL PRIESTHOOD SHALL SUPERSEDE THEM.
1. burden--heavy sentence.
to Israel--represented now by the two
tribes of Judah and Benjamin, with individuals of the ten
tribes who had returned with the Jews from Babylon. So
"Israel" is used,
Ezr 7:10. Compare
2Ch 21:2, "Jehoshaphat king of
Israel," where Judah, rather than the ten tribes,
is regarded as the truest representative of Israel (compare
2Ch 12:6; 28:19).
Malachi--see
Introduction. God sent no prophet after him till
John the Baptist, the forerunner of Christ, in order to
enflame His people with the more ardent desire for Him, the
great antitype and fulfiller of prophecy.
2. I have loved you--above other men; nay, even above the
other descendants of Abraham and Isaac. Such gratuitous
love on My part called for love on yours. But the return ye
make is sin and dishonor to Me. This which is to be
supplied is left unexpressed, sorrow as it were breaking
off the sentence [MENOCHIUS], (
De 7:8; Ho 11:1).
Wherein hast thou loved us?--In
painful contrast to the tearful tenderness of God's
love stands their insolent challenge. The root of their sin
was insensibility to God's love, and to their
own wickedness. Having had prosperity taken from them, they
imply they have no tokens of God's love; they look at
what God had taken, not at what God had left. God's
love is often least acknowledged where it is most
manifested. We must not infer God does not love us because
He afflicts us. Men, instead of referring their sufferings
to their proper cause, their own sin, impiously accuse God
of indifference to their welfare [MOORE]. Thus
Mal 1:1-4 form a fit introduction to the whole
prophecy.
Was not Esau Jacob's brother?--and
so, as far as dignity went, as much entitled to God's
favor as Jacob. My adoption of Jacob, therefore, was
altogether by gratuitous favor (
Ro 9:13). So God has passed by our elder brethren, the
angels who kept not their first estate, and yet He has
provided salvation for man. The perpetual rejection of the
fallen angels, like the perpetual desolations of Edom,
attests God's severity to the lost, and goodness to
those gratuitously saved. The sovereign eternal purpose of
God is the only ground on which He bestows on one favors
withheld from another. There are difficulties in referring
salvation to the election of God, there are greater in
referring it to the election of man [MOORE]. Jehovah
illustrates His condescension and patience in arguing the
case with them.
3. hated--not positively, but relatively; that is, did not
choose him out to be the object of gratuitous favor, as I
did Jacob (compare
Lu 14:26, with Mt 10:37; Ge 29:30, 31; De 21:15,
16).
laid his mountains . . .
waste--that is, his territory which was generally
mountainous. Israel was, it is true, punished by the
Chaldeans, but Edom has been utterly destroyed; namely,
either by Nebuchadnezzar [ROSENMULLER], or by the
neighboring peoples, Egypt, Ammon, and Moab [JOSEPHUS,
Antiquities, 10.9,7; MAURER], (
Jer 49:18).
dragons--jackals [MOORE] (compare
Isa 34:13). MAURER translates, "Abodes of
the wilderness," from an Arabic root
"to stop," or "to abide."
English Version is better.
4. Whereas--"But if" Edom say [MAURER].
Edom may strive as she may to recover herself, but it shall
be in vain, for I doom her to perpetual desolation, whereas
I restore Israel. This Jehovah states, to illustrate His
gratuitous love to Israel, rather than to Edom.
border of wickedness--a region given
over to the curse of reprobation [CALVIN]. For a time Judea
seemed as desolate as Idumea; but though the latter was
once the highway of Eastern commerce, now the lonely
rock-houses of Petra attest the fulfilment of the prophecy.
It is still "the border of wickedness," being the
resort of the marauding tribes of the desert. Judea's
restoration, though delayed, is yet certain.
the Lord hath indignation--"the
people of My curse" (
Isa 34:5).
5. from the border of Israel--Ye, restored to your own "borders" in Israel, "from" them shall raise your voices to "magnify the Lord," acknowledging that Jehovah has shown to you a gratuitous favor not shown to Edom, and so ought to be especially "magnified from the borders of Israel."
6. Turning from the people to the priests, Jehovah asks,
whereas His love to the people was so great, where was
their love towards Him? If the priests, as they profess,
regard Him as their Father (
Isa 63:16) and Master, let them show the reality of
their profession by love and reverential fear (
Ex 20:12; Lu 6:46). He addresses the priests because
they ought to be leaders in piety to the rest of the
people, whereas they are foremost in "despising His
name."
Wherein have we despised, &c.--The
same captious spirit of self-satisfied insensibility as
prompted their question (
Mal 1:2), "Wherein hast Thou loved us?" They
are blind alike to God's love and their own guilt.
7. ye offer, &c.--God's answer to their challenge
(
Mal 1:6), "Wherein have we despised?"
polluted bread--namely, blemished
sacrifices (
Mal 1:8, 13, 14; De 15:21). So "the bread
of thy God" is used for "sacrifices to
God" (
Le 21:8).
polluted thee--that is, offered to
thee "polluted bread."
table of the Lord--that is, the altar
(
Eze 41:22) (not the table of showbread). Just as the
sacrificial flesh is called "bread."
contemptible-- (
Mal 1:12, 13). Ye sanction the niggardly and blemished
offerings of the people on the altar, to gain favor with
them. Darius, and probably his successors, had liberally
supplied them with victims for sacrifice, yet they
presented none but the worst. A cheap religion, costing
little, is rejected by God, and so is worth nothing. It
costs more than it is worth, for it is worth nothing, and
so proves really dear. God despises not the widow's
mite, but he does despise the miser's mite [M OORE].
8. Your earthly ruler would feel insulted, if offered by
you the offering with which ye put off God (see
Le 22:22, 24).
is it not evil?--MAURER
translates, "There is no evil," in your opinion,
in such an offering; it is quite good enough for such a
purpose.
9. now . . . beseech God that he will be
gracious--Ironical. Think you that God will be persuaded by
such polluted gifts to be gracious to you? Far from
it.
this hath been by your
means--literally, "hand." These contemptible
offerings are your doing, as being the priests mediating
between God and the people; and think you, will God pay any
regard to you (compare
Mal 1:8, 10)? "Accept thy person"
("face"),
Mal 1:8, answers to "regard your persons," in
this verse.
10. Who . . . for naught--Not one even of the least priestly functions (as shutting the doors, or kindling a fire on the altar) would ye exercise without pay, therefore ye ought to fulfil them faithfully ( 1Co 9:13). DRUSIUS and MAURER translate, "Would that there were absolutely some one of you who would shut the doors of the temple (that is, of the inner court, in which was the altar of burnt offerings), and that ye would not kindle fire on My altar in vain!" Better no sacrifices than vain ones ( Isa 1:11-15). It was the duty of some of the priests to stand at the doors of the court of the altar of burnt offerings, and to have excluded blemished victims [CALVIN].
11. For--Since ye Jewish priests and people "despise
My name" (
Mal 1:6), I shall find others who will magnify it (
Mt 3:9). Do not think I shall have no worshippers
because I have not you; for from the east to the west My
name shall be great among the Gentiles (
Isa 66:19, 20), those very peoples whom ye look down
upon as abominable.
pure offering--not "the blind,
the lame, and the sick," such as ye offer (
Mal 1:8). "In every place," implies the
catholicity of the Christian Church (
Joh 4:21, 23; 1Ti 2:8). The "incense" is
figurative of prayers (
Ps 141:2; Re 8:3). "Sacrifice" is used
metaphorically (
Ps 51:17; Heb 13:10, 15, 16; 1Pe 2:5, 12). In this
sense the reference to the Lord's Supper, maintained by
many of the fathers, may be admitted; it, like prayer, is a
spiritual offering, accepted through the literal offering
of the "Lamb without blemish," once for all
slain.
12. Renewal of the charge in
Mal 1:7.
fruit . . . meat--the
offerings of the people. The "fruit" is the
produce of the altar, on which the priests subsisted.
They did not literally say, The Lord's table is
contemptible; but their acts virtually said so. They
did not act so as to lead the people to reverence, and to
offer their best to the Lord on it. The people were poor,
and put off God with the worst offerings. The priests let
them do so, for fear of offending the people, and so losing
all gains from them.
13. what a weariness is it!--Ye regard God's service as
irksome, and therefore try to get it over by presenting the
most worthless offerings. Compare
Mic 6:3, where God challenges His people to show
wherein is the "weariness" or hardship of His
service. Also
Isa 43:22-24, wherein He shows that it is they who have
"wearied" Him, not He who has wearied them.
snuffed at--despised.
it--the table of the Lord, and the
meat on it (
Mal 1:12).
torn--namely, by beasts, which it was
not lawful to eat, much less to offer (
Ex 22:31).
thus . . .
offering--Hebrew, mincha; the unbloody
offering of flour, &c. Though this may have been of
ordinary ingredients, yet the sacrifices of
blemished animals accompanying it rendered it unacceptable.
14. deceiver--hypocrite. Not poverty, but avarice was the
cause of their mean offerings.
male--required by law (
Le 1:3, 10).
great King-- (
Ps 48:2; Mt 5:35).
my name . . . dreadful among
. . . heathen--Even the heathen dread Me because
of My judgments; what a reproach this is to you, My people,
who fear Me not (
Mal 1:6)! Also it may be translated, "shall
be feared among," &c. agreeing with the
prophecy of the call of the Gentiles (
Mal 1:11).
Mal 2:1-17. REPROOF OF THE PRIESTS FOR VIOLATING THE COVENANT; AND THE PEOPLE ALSO FOR MIXED MARRIAGES AND UNFAITHFULNESS.
1. for you--The priests in particular are reproved, as their part was to have led the people aright, and reproved sin, whereas they encouraged and led them into sin. Ministers cannot sin or suffer alone. They drag down others with them if they fall [MOORE].
2. lay . . . to heart--My commands.
send a curse--rather, as
Hebrew, "the curse"; namely, that
denounced in
De 27:15-26; 28:15-68.
curse your blessings--turn the
blessings you enjoy into curses (
Ps 106:15).
cursed them--Hebrew, them
severally; that is, I have cursed each one of your
blessings.
3. corrupt, &c.--literally, "rebuke,"
answering to the opposite prophecy of blessing (
Mal 3:11), "I will rebuke the
devourer." To rebuke the seed is to forbid its
growing.
your--literally, "for
you"; that is, to your hurt.
dung of . . . solemn
feasts--The dung in the maw of the victims sacrificed on
the feast days; the maw was the perquisite of the priests
(
De 18:3), which gives peculiar point to the threat
here. You shall get the dung of the maw as your perquisite,
instead of the maw.
one shall take you away with it--that
is, ye shall be taken away with it; it shall cleave to you
wherever ye go [MOORE]. Dung shall be thrown on your faces,
and ye shall be taken away as dung would be, dung-begrimed
as ye shall be (
1Ki 14:10; compare
Jer 16:4; 22:19).
4. ye shall know--by bitter experience of consequences, that it was with this design I admonished you, in order "that My covenant with Levi might be" maintained; that is, that it was for your own good (which would be ensured by your maintaining the Levitical command) I admonished you, that ye should return to your duty [MAURER] (compare Mal 2:5, 6). Malachi's function was that of a reformer, leading back the priests and people to the law ( Mal 4:4).
5-9. He describes the promises, and also the conditions of the covenant; Levi's observance of the conditions and reward (compare Nu 25:11-13, Phinehas' zeal); and on the other hand the violation of the conditions, and consequent punishment of the present priests. "Life" here includes the perpetuity implied in Nu 25:13, "everlasting priesthood." "Peace" is specified both here and there. MAURER thus explains it; the Hebrew is, literally, "My covenant was with him, life and peace (to be given him on My part), and I gave them to him: (and on his part) fear (that is, reverence), and he did fear Me," &c. The former portion of the verse expresses the promise, and Jehovah's fulfilment of it; the latter, the condition, and Levi's steadfastness to it ( De 33:8, 9). The Jewish priests self-deceivingly claimed the privileges of the covenant, while neglecting the conditions of it, as if God were bound by it to bless them, while they were free from all the obligation which it imposed to serve Him. The covenant is said to be not merely "of life and peace," but "life and peace"; for the keeping of God's law is its own reward ( Ps 19:11).
6. law of truth was in his mouth--He taught the people the
truths of the law in all its fulness (
De 33:10). The priest was the ordinary expounder of the
law; the prophets were so only on special occasions.
iniquity . . . not found--no
injustice in his judicial functions (
De 17:8, 9; 19:17).
walked with me--by faith and obedience
(
Ge 5:22).
in peace--namely, the
"peace" which was the fruit of obeying the
covenant (
Mal 2:5). Peace with God, man, and one's own
conscience, is the result of "walking with God"
(compare
Job 22:21; Isa 27:5; Jas 3:18).
turn may . . . from
iniquity--both by positive precept and by tacit example
"walking with God" (
Jer 23:22; Da 12:3; Jas 5:20).
7. In doing so (
Mal 2:6) he did his duty as a priest, "for,"
&c.
knowledge--of the law, its doctrines,
and positive and negative precepts (
Le 10:10, 11; De 24:8; Jer 18:18; Hag 2:11).
the law--that is, its true
sense.
messenger of . . . Lord--the
interpreter of His will; compare as to the prophets,
Hag 1:13. So ministers are called "ambassadors of
Christ" (
2Co 5:20); and the bishops of the seven churches in
Revelation, "angels" or messengers (
Re 2:1, 8, 12, 18; 3:1, 7, 14; compare
Ga 4:14).
8. out of the way--that is, from the covenant.
caused many to stumble--By scandalous
example, the worse inasmuch as the people look up to you as
ministers of religion (
1Sa 2:17; Jer 18:15; Mt 18:6; Lu 17:1).
at the law--that is, in respect to the
observances of the law.
corrupted . . .
covenant--made it of none effect, by not fulfilling its
conditions, and so forfeiting its promises (
Zec 11:10; Ne 13:29).
9. Because ye do not keep the condition of the covenant, I
will not fulfil the promise.
partial in the law--having respect to
persons rather than to truth in the interpretation and
administration of the law (
Le 19:15).
10-16. Reproof of those who contracted marriages with
foreigners and repudiated their Jewish wives.
10. Have we not all one father?--Why,
seeing we all have one common origin, "do we deal
treacherously against one another" ("His
brother" being a general expression implying that all
are "brethren" and sisters as children of the
same Father above (
1Th 4:3-6), and so including the wives so
injured)? namely, by putting away our Jewish wives, and
taking foreign women to wife (compare
Mal 2:14 and Mal 2:11; Ezr 9:1-9), and so violating
"the covenant" made by Jehovah with "our
fathers," by which it was ordained that we should be a
people separated from the other peoples of the world (
Ex 19:5; Le 20:24, 26; De 7:3). To intermarry with the
heathen would defeat this purpose of Jehovah, who was the
common Father of the Israelites in a peculiar sense in
which He was not Father of the heathen. The "one
Father" is Jehovah (
Job 31:15; 1Co 8:6; Eph 4:6). "Created us":
not merely physical creation, but "created us" to
be His peculiar and chosen people (
Ps 102:18; Isa 43:1; 45:8; 60:21; Eph 2:10), [CALVIN].
How marked the contrast between the honor here done to the
female sex, and the degradation to which Oriental women are
generally subjected!
11. dealt treacherously--namely, in respect to the Jewish
wives who were put away (
Mal 2:14; also
Mal 2:10, 15, 16).
profaned the holiness of
. . . Lord--by ill-treating the Israelites
(namely, the wives), who were set apart as a people holy
unto the Lord: "the holy seed" (
Ezr 9:2; compare
Jer 2:3). Or, "the holiness of the Lord"
means His holy ordinance and covenant (
De 7:3). But "which He loved," seems to refer
to the holy people, Israel, whom God so gratuitously
loved (
Mal 1:2), without merit on their part (
Ps 47:4).
married, &c.-- (
Ezr 9:1, 2; 10:2; Ne 13:23, &c.).
daughter of a strange god--women
worshipping idols: as the worshipper in Scripture is
regarded in the relation of a child to a father (
Jer 2:27).
12. master and . . . scholar--literally,
"him that watcheth and him that answereth." So
"wakeneth" is used of the teacher or
"master" (
Isa 50:4); masters are watchful in guarding
their scholars. The reference is to the priests, who ought
to have taught the people piety, but who led them into
evil. "Him that answereth" is the scholar
who has to answer the questions of his teacher (
Lu 2:47) [GROTIUS]. The Arabs have a proverb,
"None calling and none answering," that is, there
being not one alive. So GESENIUS explains it of the
Levite watches in the temple (
Ps 134:1), one watchman calling and another
answering. But the scholar is rather the people,
the pupils of the priests "in doing this,"
namely, forming unions with foreign wives. "Out of the
tabernacles of Jacob" proves it is not the priests
alone. God will spare neither priests nor people who act
so.
him that offereth--His offerings will
not avail to shield him from the penalty of his sin in
repudiating his Jewish wife and taking a foreign one.
13. done again--"a second time": an aggravation
of your offense (
Ne 13:23-31), in that it is a relapse into the sin
already checked once under Ezra (
Ezr 9:10) [HENDERSON]. Or, "the second time"
means this: Your first sin was your blemished offerings to
the Lord: now "again" is added your sin towards
your wives [CALVIN].
covering . . . altar
. . . with tears--shed by your unoffending wives,
repudiated by you that ye might take foreign wives. CALVIN
makes the "tears" to be those of all the people
on perceiving their sacrifices to be sternly rejected by
God.
14. Wherefore?--Why does God reject our offerings?
Lord . . . witness between
thee and . . . wife--(so
Ge 31:49, 50).
of thy youth--The Jews still marry
very young, the husband often being but thirteen years of
age, the wife younger (
Pr 5:18; Isa 54:6).
wife of thy covenant--not merely
joined to thee by the marriage covenant generally, but by
the covenant between God and Israel, the
covenant-people, whereby a sin against a wife, a daughter
of Israel, is a sin against God [MOORE]. Marriage also is
called "the covenant of God" (
Pr 2:17), and to it the reference may be (
Ge 2:24; Mt 19:6; 1Co 7:10).
15. MAURER and HENGSTENBERG explain the verse thus: The Jews had defended their conduct by the precedent of Abraham, who had taken Hagar to the injury of Sarah, his lawful wife; to this Malachi says now, "No one (ever) did so in whom there was a residue of intelligence (discriminating between good and evil); and what did the one (Abraham, to whom you appeal for support) do, seeking a godly seed?" His object (namely, not to gratify passion, but to obtain the seed promised by God) makes the case wholly inapplicable to defend your position. MOORE (from FAIRBAIRN) better explains, in accordance with Mal 2:10, "Did not He make (us Israelites) one? Yet He had the residue of the Spirit (that is, His isolating us from other nations was not because there was no residue of the Spirit left for the rest of the world). And wherefore (that is, why then did He thus isolate us as) the one (people; the Hebrew is 'the one')? In order that He might seek a godly seed"; that is, that He might have "a seed of God," a nation the repository of the covenant, and the stock of the Messiah, and the witness for the one God amidst the surrounding polytheisms. Marriage with foreign women, and repudiation of the wives wedded in the Jewish covenant, utterly set aside this divine purpose. C ALVIN thinks "the one" to refer to the conjugal one body formed by the original pair ( Ge 2:24). God might have joined many wives as one with the one husband, for He had no lack of spiritual being to impart to others besides Eve; the design of the restriction was to secure a pious offspring: but compare Note, see on Mal 2:10. One object of the marriage relation is to raise a seed for God and for eternity.
16. putting away--that is, divorce.
for one covereth violence with
. . . garment--MAURER translates, "And
(Jehovah hateth him who) covereth his garment (that is, his
wife, in Arabic idiom; compare
Ge 20:16, 'He is to thee a covering of thy
eyes'; the husband was so to the wife, and the wife to
the husband; also
De 22:30; Ru 3:9; Eze 16:8) with injury." The
Hebrew favors "garment," being accusative of
the thing covered. Compare with English
Version,
Ps 73:6, "violence covereth them as a
garment." Their "violence" is the putting
away of their wives; the "garment" with which
they try to cover it is the plea of Moses' permission
(
De 24:1; compare
Mt 19:6-9).
17. wearied . . . Lord-- ( Isa 43:24). This verse forms the transition to Mal 3:1, &c. The Jewish skeptics of that day said virtually, God delighteth in evil-doers (inferring this from the prosperity of the surrounding heathen, while they, the Jews, were comparatively not prosperous: forgetting that their attendance to minor and external duties did not make up for their neglect of the weightier duties of the law; for example, the duty they owed their wives, just previously discussed); or (if not) Where (is the proof that He is) the God of judgment? To this the reply ( Mal 3:1) is, "The Lord whom ye seek, and whom as messenger of the covenant (that is, divine ratifier of God's covenant with Israel) ye delight in (thinking He will restore Israel to its proper place as first of the nations), shall suddenly come," not as a Restorer of Israel temporally, but as a consuming Judge against Jerusalem ( Am 5:18, 19, 20). The "suddenly" implies the unpreparedness of the Jews, who, to the last of the siege, were expecting a temporal deliverer, whereas a destructive judgment was about to destroy them. So skepticism shall be rife before Christ's second coming. He shall suddenly and unexpectedly come then also as a consuming Judge to unbelievers ( 2Pe 3:3, 4). Then, too, they shall affect to seek His coming, while really denying it ( Isa 5:19; Jer 17:15; Eze 12:22, 27).
Mal 3:1-18. MESSIAH'S COMING, PRECEDED BY HIS FORERUNNER, TO PUNISH THE GUILTY FOR VARIOUS SINS, AND TO REWARD THOSE WHO FEAR GOD.
1. Behold--Calling especial attention to the momentous
truths which follow. Ye unbelievingly ask, Where is the God
of judgment (
Mal 2:7)? "Behold," therefore, "I
send," &c. Your unbelief will not prevent My
keeping My covenant, and bringing to pass in due time that
which ye say will never be fulfilled.
I will send . . . he
shall come--The Father sends the Son: the Son
comes. Proving the distinctness of personality
between the Father and the Son.
my messenger--John the Baptist; as
Mt 3:3; 11:10; Mr 1:2, 3; Lu 1:76; 3:4; 7:26, 27; Joh
1:23, prove. This passage of Malachi evidently rests on
that of Isaiah his predecessor (
Isa 40:3-5). Perhaps also, as HENGSTENBERG thinks,
"messenger" includes the long line of
prophets headed by Elijah (whence his name is
put in
Mal 4:5 as a representative name), and terminating in
John, the last and greatest of the prophets (
Mt 11:9-11). John as the representative prophet (the
forerunner of Messiah the representative God-man) gathered
in himself all the scattered lineaments of previous
prophecy (hence Christ terms him "much more than a
prophet,"
Lu 7:26), reproducing all its awful and yet inspiriting
utterances: his coarse garb, like that of the old prophets,
being a visible exhortation to repentance; the wilderness
in which he preached symbolizing the lifeless, barren state
of the Jews at that time, politically and spiritually; his
topics sin, repentance, and salvation, presenting for the
last time the condensed epitome of all previous teachings
of God by His prophets; so that he is called pre-eminently
God's "messenger." Hence the oldest and true
reading of
Mr 1:2 is, "as it is written in Isaiah the
prophet"; the difficulty of which is, How can the
prophecy of Malachi be referred to Isaiah? The explanation
is: the passage in Malachi rests on that in
Isa 40:3, and therefore the original source of
the prophecy is referred to in order to mark this
dependency and connection.
the Lord--Ha-Adon in
Hebrew. The article marks that it is JEHOVAH (
Ex 23:17; 34:23; compare
Jos 3:11, 13). Compare
Da 9:17, where the Divine Son is meant by "for THE
Lord's sake." God the speaker makes
"the Lord," the "messenger of the
covenant," one with Himself. "I will send
. . . before Me," adding, "THE LORD
. . . shall . . . come"; so that
"the Lord" must be one with the
"Me," that is, He must be G OD,
"before" whom John was sent. As the
divinity of the Son and His oneness with the Father are
thus proved, so the distinctness of personality is proved
by "I send" and He "shall come," as
distinguished from one another. He also comes to the temple
as "His temple": marking His divine lordship
over it, as contrasted with all creatures, who are but
"servants in" it (
Hag 2:7; Heb 3:2, 5, 6).
whom ye seek . . . whom ye
delight in--(see on Mal 2:17). At
His first coming they "sought" and
"delighted in" the hope of a temporal
Saviour: not in what He then was. In the case of those whom
Malachi in his time addresses, "whom ye seek
. . . delight in," is ironical. They
unbelievingly asked, When will He come at last?
Mal 2:17, "Where is the God of judgment" (
Isa 5:19; Am 5:18; 2Pe 3:3, 4)? In the case of the
godly, the desire for Messiah was sincere (
Lu 2:25, 28). He is called "Angel of God's
presence" (
Isa 63:9), also Angel of Jehovah. Compare His
appearances to Abraham (
Ge 18:1, 2, 17, 33), to Jacob (
Ge 31:11; 48:15, 16), to Moses in the bush (
Ex 3:2-6); He went before Israel as the Shekinah (
Ex 14:19), and delivered the law at Sinai (
Ac 7:38).
suddenly--This epithet marks the
second coming, rather than the first; the earnest of that
unexpected coming (
Lu 12:38-46; Re 16:15) to judgment was given in the
judicial expulsion of the money-changing profaners from the
temple by Messiah (
Mt 21:12, 13), where also as here He calls the temple
His temple. Also in the destruction of Jerusalem,
most unexpected by the Jews, who to the last deceived
themselves with the expectation that Messiah would suddenly
appear as a temporal Saviour. Compare the use of
"suddenly" in
Nu 12:4-10, where He appeared in wrath.
messenger of the covenant--namely, of
the ancient covenant with Israel (
Isa 63:9) and Abraham, in which the promise to the
Gentiles is ultimately included (
Ga 4:16, 17). The gospel at the first advent began with
Israel, then embraced the Gentile world: so also it shall
be at the second advent. All the manifestations of God in
the Old Testament, the Shekinah and human appearances, were
made in the person of the Divine Son (
Ex 23:20, 21; Heb 11:26; 12:26). He was the messenger
of the old covenant, as well as of the new.
2. ( Mal 4:1; Re 6:16, 17). The Messiah would come, not, as they expected, to flatter the theocratic nation's prejudices, but to subject their principles to the fiery test of His heart-searching truth ( Mt 3:10-12), and to destroy Jerusalem and the theocracy after they had rejected Him. His mission is here regarded as a whole from the first to the second advent: the process of refining and separating the godly from the ungodly beginning during Christ's stay on earth, going on ever since, and about to continue till the final separation ( Mt 25:31-46). The refining process, whereby a third of the Jews is refined as silver of its dross, while two-thirds perish, is described, Zec 13:8, 9 (compare Isa 1:25).
3. sit--The purifier sits before the crucible,
fixing his eye on the metal, and taking care that the fire
be not too hot, and keeping the metal in, only until he
knows the dross to be completely removed by his seeing his
own image reflected (
Ro 8:29) in the glowing mass. So the Lord in the case
of His elect (
Job 23:10; Ps 66:10; Pr 17:3; Isa 48:10; Heb 12:10; 1Pe
1:7). He will sit down to the work, not
perfunctorily, but with patient love and unflinching
justice. The Angel of the Covenant, as in leading His
people out of Egypt by the pillar of cloud and fire, has an
aspect of terror to His foes, of love to His friends. The
same separating process goes on in the world as in each
Christian. When the godly are completely separated from the
ungodly, the world will end. When the dross is taken from
the gold of the Christian, he will be for ever delivered
from the furnace of trial. The purer the gold, the hotter
the fire now; the whiter the garment, the harder the
washing [MOORE].
purify . . . sons of
Levi--of the sins specified above. The very Levites, the
ministers of God, then needed cleansing, so universal was
the depravity.
that they may offer . . . in
righteousness--as originally (
Mal 2:6), not as latterly (
Mal 1:7-14). So believers, the spiritual priesthood (
1Pe 2:5).
4. as in the days of old-- ( Mal 1:11; 2:5, 6). The "offering" (Mincha, Hebrew) is not expiatory, but prayer, thanksgiving, and self-dedication ( Ro 12:1; Heb 13:15; 1Pe 2:5).
5. I . . . come near . . . to
judgment--I whom ye challenged, saying, "Where
is the God of judgment?" (
Mal 2:17). I whom ye think far off, and to be slow in
judgment, am "near," and will come as a
"swift witness"; not only a judge, but also an
eye-witness against sorcerers; for Mine eyes see
every sin, though ye think I take no heed. Earthly judges
need witnesses to enable them to decide aright: I alone
need none (
Ps 10:11; 73:11; 94:7, &c.).
sorcerers--a sin into which the Jews
were led in connection with their foreign idolatrous wives.
The Jews of Christ's time also practised sorcery (
Ac 8:9; 13:6; Ga 5:20; JOSEPHUS [Antiquities,
20.6; Wars of the Jews, 2.12.23]). It shall be a
characteristic of the last Antichristian confederacy, about
to be consumed by the brightness of Christ's Coming (
Mt 24:24; 2Th 2:9; Re 13:13, 14; 16:13, 14; also
Re 9:21; 18:23; 21:8; 22:15). Romanism has practised
it; an order of exorcists exists in that
Church.
adulterers-- (
Mal 2:15, 16).
fear not me--the source of all sins.
6. the Lord--Jehovah: a name implying His immutable
faithfulness in fulfilling His promises: the covenant name
of God to the Jews (
Ex 6:3), called here "the sons of Jacob," in
reference to God's covenant with that patriarch.
I change not--Ye are mistaken in
inferring that, because I have not yet executed judgment on
the wicked, I am changed from what I once was, namely, a
God of judgment.
therefore ye . . . are not
consumed--Ye yourselves being "not consumed," as
ye have long ago deserved, are a signal proof of My
unchangeableness.
Ro 11:29: compare the whole chapter, in which God's
mercy in store for Israel is made wholly to flow from
God's unchanging faithfulness to His own covenant of
love. So here, as is implied by the phrase "sons of
Jacob" (
Ge 28:13; 35:12). They are spared because I am JEHOVAH,
and they sons of Jacob; while I spare them, I will
also punish them; and while I punish them, I will not
wholly consume them. The unchangeableness of God is the
sheet-anchor of the Church. The perseverance of the saints
is guaranteed, not by their unchangeable love to God, but
by His unchangeable love to them, and His eternal purpose
and promise in Christ Jesus [MOORE]. He upbraids their
ingratitude that they turn His very long-suffering (
La 3:22) into a ground for skeptical denial of His
coming as a Judge at all (
Ps 50:1, 3, 4, 21; Ec 8:11, 12; Isa 57:11; Ro 2:4-10).
7-12. Reproof for the non-payment of tithes and offerings,
which is the cause of their national calamities, and
promise of prosperity on their paying them.
from . . . days of your
fathers--Ye live as your fathers did when they brought on
themselves the Babylonian captivity, and ye wish to follow
in their steps. This shows that nothing but God's
unchanging long-suffering had prevented their being long
ago "consumed" (
Mal 3:6).
Return unto me--in penitence.
I will return unto you--in
blessings.
Wherein, &c.-- (
Mal 3:16). The same insensibility to their guilt
continues: they speak in the tone of injured innocence, as
if God calumniated them.
8. rob--literally, "cover": hence, defraud. Do ye
call defrauding God no sin to be "returned" from
(
Mal 3:7)? Yet ye have done so to Me in respect to the
tithes due to Me, namely, the tenth of all the remainder
after the first-fruits were paid, which tenth was paid to
the Levites for their support (
Le 27:30-33): a tenth paid by the Levites to the
priests (
Nu 18:26-28): a second tenth paid by the people for the
entertainment of the Levites, and their own families, at
the tabernacle (
De 12:18): another tithe every third year for the poor,
&c. (
De 14:28, 29).
offerings--the first-fruits, not less
than one-sixtieth part of the corn, wine, and oil (
De 18:4; Ne 13:10, 12). The priests had this perquisite
also, the tenth of the tithes which were the Levites
perquisite. But they appropriated all the tithes, robbing
the Levites of their due nine-tenths; as they did also,
according to JOSEPHUS, before the destruction of Jerusalem
by Titus. Thus doubly God was defrauded, the priests not
discharging aright their sacrificial duties, and robbing
God of the services of the Levites, who were driven away by
destitution [G ROTIUS].
9. cursed-- ( Mal 2:2). As ye despoil Me, so I despoil you, as I threatened I would, if ye continued to disregard Me. In trying to defraud God we only defraud ourselves. The eagle who robbed the altar set fire to her nest from the burning coal that adhered to the stolen flesh. So men who retain God's money in their treasuries will find it a losing possession. No man ever yet lost by serving God with a whole heart, nor gained by serving Him with a half one. We may compromise with conscience for half the price, but God will not endorse the compromise; and, like Ananias and Sapphira, we shall lose not only what we thought we had purchased so cheaply, but also the price we paid for it. If we would have God "open" His treasury, we must open ours. One cause of the barrenness of the Church is the parsimony of its members [M OORE].
10. (
Pr 3:9, 10).
storehouse-- (
2Ch 31:11, Margin; compare
1Ch 26:20; Ne 10:38; 13:5, 12).
prove me . . .
herewith--with this; by doing so. Test Me whether I will
keep My promise of blessing you, on condition of your doing
your part (
2Ch 31:10).
pour . . . out--literally,
"empty out": image from a vessel completely
emptied of its contents: no blessing being kept back.
windows of heaven-- (
2Ki 2:7).
that . . . not
. . . room enough, &c.--literally, "even
to not . . . sufficiency," that is, either,
as English Version. Or, even so as that there should
be "not merely" "sufficiency"
but superabundance [JEROME, MAURER]. GESENIUS not so
well translates, "Even to a failure of
sufficiency," which in the case of God could never
arise, and therefore means for ever, perpetually: so
Ps 72:5, "as long as the sun and moon
endure"; literally, "until a failure of the sun
and moon," which is never to be; and therefore means,
for ever.
11. I will rebuke--(See on Mal 2:3). I will no longer "rebuke (English Version, 'corrupt') the seed," but will rebuke every agency that could hurt it ( Am 4:9).
12. Fulfilling the blessing (
De 33:29; Zec 8:13).
delightsome land-- (
Da 8:9).
13-18. He notices the complaint of the Jews that it is of
no profit to serve Jehovah, for that the ungodly proud are
happy; and declares He will soon bring the day when it
shall be known that He puts an everlasting distinction
between the godly and the ungodly.
words . . .
stout--Hebrew, "hard"; so "the
hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against
Him" (
Jude 15) [HENDERSON].
have we spoken--The Hebrew
expresses at once their assiduity and habit
of speaking against God [VATABLUS]. The niphal form of the
verb implies that these things were said, not directly
to God, but of God, to one another (
Eze 33:20) [MOORE].
14. what profit . . . that we . . .
kept, &c.--(See on Mal 2:17).
They here resume the same murmur against God.
Job 21:14, 15; 22:17 describe a further stage of the
same skeptical spirit, when the skeptic has actually ceased
to keep God's service.
Ps 73:1-14 describes the temptation to a like feeling
in the saint when seeing the really godly suffer and the
ungodly prosper in worldly goods now. The Jews here mistake
utterly the nature of God's service, converting it into
a mercenary bargain; they attended to outward observances,
not from love to God, but in the hope of being well paid
for in outward prosperity; when this was withheld, they
charged God with being unjust, forgetting alike that God
requires very different motives from theirs to accompany
outward observances, and that God rewards even the true
worshipper not so much in this life, as in the life to
come.
his ordinance--literally, what He
requires to be kept, "His observances."
walked mournfully--in mournful
garb, sackcloth and ashes, the emblems of penitence;
they forget
Isa 58:3-8, where God, by showing what is true fasting,
similarly rebukes those who then also said, Wherefore have
we fasted and Thou seest not? &c. They mistook the
outward show for real humiliation.
15. And now--Since we who serve Jehovah are not prosperous
and "the proud" heathen flourish in prosperity,
we must pronounce them the favorites of God (
Mal 2:17; Ps 73:12).
set up--literally, "built
up": metaphor from architecture (
Pr 24:3; compare
Ge 16:2, Margin;
Ge 30:3, Margin.)
tempt God--dare God to punish them, by
breaking His laws (
Ps 95:9).
16. "Then," when the ungodly utter such
blasphemies against God, the godly hold mutual converse,
defending God's righteous dealings against those
blasphemers (
Heb 3:13). The "often" of English
Version is not in the Hebrew. There has been
always in the darkest times a remnant that feared God (
1Ki 19:18; Ro 11:4).
feared the Lord--reverential and
loving fear, not slavish terror. When the fire of religion
burns low, true believers should draw the nearer together,
to keep the holy flame alive. Coals separated soon go
out.
book of remembrance . . .
for them--for their advantage, against the day when those
found faithful among the faithless shall receive their
final reward. The kings of Persia kept a record of those
who had rendered services to the king, that they might be
suitably rewarded (
Es 6:1, 2; compare
Es 2:23; Ezr 4:15; Ps 56:8; Isa 65:6; Da 7:10; Re
20:12). CALVIN makes the fearers of God to be those
awakened from among the ungodly mass (before described) to
true repentance; the writing of the book thus will
imply that some were reclaimable among the blasphemers, and
that the godly should be assured that, though no hope
appeared, there would be a door of penitence opened for
them before God. But there is nothing in the context
to support this view.
17. jewels-- (
Isa 62:3). Literally, "My peculiar treasure"
(
Ex 19:5; De 7:6; 14:2; 26:18; Ps 135:4; Tit 2:14; 1Pe
2:9; compare
Ec 2:8). CALVIN translates more in accordance with
Hebrew idiom, "They shall be My peculiar treasure
in the day in which I will do it" (that is,
fulfil My promise of gathering My completed Church; or,
"make" those things come to pass foretold in
Mal 3:5 above [GROTIUS]); so in
Mal 4:3 "do" is used absolutely, "in the
day that I shall do this." MAURER, not so well,
translates, "in the day which I shall make," that
is, appoint as in
Ps 118:24.
as . . . man spareth
. . . son-- (
Ps 103:18).
18. Then shall ye . . . discern--Then shall ye
see the falseness of your calumny against God's
government (
Mal 3:15), that the "proud" and wicked
prosper. Do not judge before the time till My work is
complete. It is in part to test your disposition to trust
in God in spite of perplexing appearances, and in order to
make your service less mercenary, that the present blended
state is allowed; but at last all ("ye,"
both godly and ungodly) shall see the eternal difference
there really is "between him that serveth God and him
that serveth Him not" (
Ps 58:11).
return--Ye shall turn to a better
state of mind on this point.
Mal 4:1-6. GOD'S COMING JUDGMENT: TRIUMPH OF THE GODLY: RETURN TO THE LAW THE BEST PREPARATION FOR JEHOVAH'S COMING: ELIJAH'S PREPARATORY MISSION OF REFORMATION.
1. the day cometh . . . burn-- (
Mal 3:2; 2Pe 3:7). Primarily is meant the judgment
coming on Jerusalem; but as this will not exhaust the
meaning, without supposing what is inadmissible in
Scripture--exaggeration--the final and full accomplishment,
of which the former was the earnest, is the day of general
judgment. This principle of interpretation is not double,
but successive fulfilment. The language is abrupt,
"Behold, the day cometh! It burns like a
furnace." The abruptness imparts terrible reality to
the picture, as if it suddenly burst on the prophet's
view.
all the proud--in opposition to the
cavil above (
Mal 3:15), "now we call the proud (haughty
despisers of God) happy."
stubble-- (
Ob 18; Mt 3:12). As Canaan, the inheritance of the
Israelites, was prepared for their possession by purging
out the heathen, so judgment on the apostates shall usher
in the entrance of the saints upon the Lord's
inheritance, of which Canaan is the type--not heaven, but
earth to its utmost bounds (
Ps 2:8) purged of all things that offend (
Mt 13:41), which are to be "gathered out of His
kingdom," the scene of the judgment being that
also of the kingdom. The present dispensation is a
spiritual kingdom, parenthetical between the Jews'
literal kingdom and its antitype, the coming literal
kingdom of the Lord Jesus.
neither root nor branch--proverbial
for utter destruction (
Am 2:9).
2. The effect of the judgment on the righteous, as
contrasted with its effect on the wicked (
Mal 4:1). To the wicked it shall be as an oven that
consumes the stubble (
Mt 6:30); to the righteous it shall be the advent of
the gladdening Sun, not of condemnation, but "of
righteousness"; not destroying, but
"healing" (
Jer 23:6).
you that fear my name--The same as
those in
Mal 3:16, who confessed God amidst abounding blasphemy
(
Isa 66:5; Mt 10:32). The spiritual blessings brought by
Him are summed up in the two, "righteousness" (
1Co 1:30) and spiritual "healing" (
Ps 103:3; Isa 57:19). Those who walk in the dark now
may take comfort in the certainty that they shall walk
hereafter in eternal light (
Isa 50:10).
in his wings--implying the winged
swiftness with which He shall appear (compare
"suddenly,"
Mal 3:1) for the relief of His people. The beams
of the Sun are His "wings." Compare "wings
of the morning,"
Ps 139:9. The "Sun" gladdening the righteous
is suggested by the previous "day" of terror
consuming the wicked. Compare as to Christ,
2Sa 23:4; Ps 84:11; Lu 1:78; Joh 1:9; 8:12; Eph 5:14;
and in His second coming,
2Pe 1:19. The Church is the moon reflecting His
light (
Re 12:1). The righteous shall by His righteousness
"shine as the Sun in the kingdom of the Father"
(
Mt 13:43).
ye shall go forth--from the straits in
which you were, as it were, held captive. An earnest of
this was given in the escape of the Christians to Pella
before the destruction of Jerusalem.
grow up--rather, "leap" as
frisking calves [CALVIN]; literally, "spread,"
"take a wide range."
as calves of the stall--which when set
free from the stall disport with joy (
Ac 8:8; 13:52; 20:24; Ro 14:17; Ga 5:22; Php 1:4; 1Pe
1:8). Especially the godly shall rejoice at their final
deliverance at Christ's second coming (
Isa 61:10).
3. Solving the difficulty (
Mal 3:15) that the wicked often now prosper. Their
prosperity and the adversity of the godly shall soon be
reversed. Yea, the righteous shall be the army attending
Christ in His final destruction of the ungodly (
2Sa 22:43; Ps 49:14; 47:3; Mic 7:10; Zec 10:5; 1Co 6:2; Re
2:26, 27; 19:14, 15).
ashes--after having been burnt with
the fire of judgment (
Mal 4:1).
4. Remember . . . law--"The law and all the
prophets" were to be in force until John (
Mt 11:13), no prophet intervening after Malachi;
therefore they are told, "Remember the law," for
in the absence of living prophets, they were likely to
forget it. The office of Christ's forerunner was to
bring them back to the law, which they had too much
forgotten, and so "to make ready a people prepared for
the Lord" at His coming (
Lu 1:17). God withheld prophets for a time that men
might seek after Christ with the greater desire [CALVIN].
The history of human advancement is marked by periods of
rest, and again progress. So in Revelation: it is given for
a time; then during its suspension men live on the memories
of the past. After Malachi there was a silence of four
hundred years; then a harbinger of light in the wilderness,
ushering in the brightest of all the lights that had been
manifested, but short-lived; then eighteen centuries during
which we have been guided by the light which shone in that
last manifestation. The silence has been longer than
before, and will be succeeded by a more glorious and awful
revelation than ever. John the Baptist was to
"restore" the defaced image of "the
law," so that the original might be recognized when it
appeared among men [HINDS]. Just as "Moses" and
"Elias" are here connected with the Lord's
coming, so at the transfiguration they converse with Him,
implying that the law and prophets which had prepared His
way were now fulfilled in Him.
statutes . . .
judgments--ceremonial "statutes":
"judgments" in civil questions at issue.
"The law" refers to morals and
religion.
5. I send you Elijah--as a means towards your
"remembering the law" (
Mal 4:4).
the prophet--emphatical; not "the
Tishbite"; for it is in his official, not his personal
capacity, that his coming is here predicted. In this sense,
John the Baptist was an Elijah in spirit (
Lu 1:16, 17), but not the literal Elijah; whence
when asked, "Art thou Elias?" (
Joh 1:21), He answered, "I am not." "Art
thou that prophet?" "No." This implies that
John, though knowing from the angel's announcement to
his father that he was referred to by
Mal 4:5 (
Lu 1:17), whence he wore the costume of Elijah, yet
knew by inspiration that he did not exhaustively fulfil
all that is included in this prophecy: that there is a
further fulfilment (compare Note, see on Mal 3:1). As Moses in
Mal 4:4 represents the law, so Elijah represents the
prophets. The Jews always understood it of the literal
Elijah. Their saying is, "Messiah must be anointed by
Elijah." As there is another consummating advent of
Messiah Himself, so also of His forerunner Elijah; perhaps
in person, as at the transfiguration (
Mt 17:3; compare
Mt 17:11). He in his appearance at the transfiguration
in that body on which death had never passed is the
forerunner of the saints who shall be found alive at the
Lord's second coming.
Re 11:3 may refer to the same witnesses as at the
transfiguration, Moses and Elijah;
Re 11:6 identifies the latter (compare
1Ki 17:1; Jas 5:17). Even after the transfiguration
Jesus (
Mt 17:11) speaks of Elijah's coming "to
restore all things" as still future, though He adds
that Elijah (in the person of John the Baptist) is come
already in a sense (compare
Ac 3:21). However, the future forerunner of Messiah at
His second coming may be a prophet or number of prophets
clothed with Elijah's power, who, with zealous
upholders of "the law" clothed in the spirit of
"Moses," may be the forerunning witnesses alluded
to here and in
Re 11:2-12. The words "before the . . .
dreadful day of the Lord," show that John
cannot be exclusively meant; for he came before the day of
Christ's coming in grace, not before His coming in
terror, of which last the destruction of Jerusalem was the
earnest (
Mal 4:1; Joe 2:31).
6. turn . . . heart of . . . fathers to
. . . children, &c.--Explained by some, that
John's preaching should restore harmony in families.
But
Lu 1:16, 17 substitutes for "the heart of the
children to the fathers," "the disobedient to the
wisdom of the just," implying that the reconciliation
to be effected was that between the unbelieving disobedient
children and the believing ancestors, Jacob, Levi,
"Moses," and "Elijah" (just mentioned)
(compare
Mal 1:2; 2:4, 6; 3:3, 4). The threat here is that, if
this restoration were not effected, Messiah's coming
would prove "a curse" to the "earth,"
not a blessing. It proved so to guilty Jerusalem and the
"earth," that is, the land of Judea when
it rejected Messiah at His first advent, though He brought
blessings (
Ge 12:3) to those who accepted Him (
Joh 1:11-13). Many were delivered from the common
destruction of the nation through John's preaching (
Ro 9:29; 11:5). It will prove so to the disobedient at
His second advent, though He comes to be glorified in His
saints (
2Th 1:6-10).
curse--Hebrew, Cherem, "a
ban"; the fearful term applied by the Jews to the
extermination of the guilty Canaanites. Under this ban
Judea has long lain. Similar is the awful curse on all of
Gentile churches who love not the Lord Jesus now (
1Co 16:22). For if God spare not the natural branches,
the Jews, much less will He spare unbelieving professors of
the Gentiles (
Ro 11:20, 21). It is deeply suggestive that the last
utterance from heaven for four hundred years before Messiah
was the awful word "curse." Messiah's first
word on the mount was "Blessed" (
Mt 5:3). The law speaks wrath; the Gospel, blessing.
Judea is now under the "curse" because it rejects
Messiah; when the spirit of Elijah, or a literal Elijah,
shall bring the Jewish children back to the Hope of their
"fathers," blessing shall be theirs, whereas the
apostate "earth" shall be "smitten with the
curse" previous to the coming restoration of all
things (
Zec 12:13, 14).
May the writer of this Commentary and his readers have grace "to take heed to the sure word of prophecy as unto a light shining in a dark place, until the day dawn!" To the triune Jehovah be all glory ascribed for ever!