Malachi 3:1-6

Malachi 2:17 to Malachi 3:6. The Coming of Judgment. This passage is addressed to those of the prophet's contemporaries who were so perplexed by the state of things around them that they had become sceptical of God's justice. The times were out of joint, prosperity was the lot of the wicked instead of the righteous. Their querulousness became a burden to Yahweh, so that He announces His immediate intervention; the day of Yahweh, long regarded as the panacea for all Israel's ills, is about to dawn. Malachi, like Amos (Amos 5:18) and other prophets, stamps the popular conception with an ethical value. Yahweh is even now sending His forerunner, possibly to be identified with Elijah (Malachi 4:5) but probably more like Yahweh's angel so often mentioned in the historical books, who is often almost one with Yahweh Himself. So here the Lord. even (mg.) the messenger. Perhaps we should distinguish between my messenger and the messenger of the covenant. The phrases whom ye seek (cf. Malachi 2:17, Where is the God of judgment?) and whom ye delight in (or desire) are parallel. The Gospels (Matthew 11:10 = Luke 7:27; Mark 1:2) cite Malachi 3:1 a in reference to John the Baptist. The judgment is to be a time of purifying and cleansing like a fierce crucible in which the silver is separated from the base elements of the alloy. By soap is meant lye, water alkalised by vegetable ashes. The judgment will begin by purging (lit. straining) the corrupt priesthood, and be effective (Malachi 3:3 f); it will then pass on to attack evildoers of different kinds among the people. It is a mission of cleansing, not of destruction (cf. Jeremiah 30:11); Yahweh's love of the house of Jacob (cf. Malachi 1:2 f.) is unchanging.