Malachi 3:1. God Himself takes up (Malachi 3:1) the challenge, "Where is the God?" &c. _my messenger_ They had been provided, in the priests, with a standing order of "messengers" of Jehovah (Malachi 2:7). From time to time His special "messengers", the prophets (Haggai 1:13), had been sent to them.... [ Continue Reading ]
_a refiner's fire_ Comp. Matthew 3:12. _fullers" sope_ "The process of fulling or cleansing cloth, so far as it may be gathered from the practice of other nations, consisted in treading or stamping on the garments with the feet or with bats in tubs of water, in which some alkaline substance answerin... [ Continue Reading ]
_he shall sit_ The expression gives "pictorial effect" (Hengst.) to the description. Comp. "He shall stand and feed" &c., Micah 5:4, for a similar "pictorial effect". The figure of the fuller is dropped and the _idea_, common to both figures, prosecuted under this alone. _the sons of Levi_ "Judgmen... [ Continue Reading ]
_former_ i.e., as margin and R.V., ANCIENT. See ch. Malachi 2:5-6; Jeremiah 2:2-3.... [ Continue Reading ]
_to judgment_ This is the answer to the challenge of the people at large, "Where is the God of _judgment_?" The "messenger" shall be sent. The Lord of the temple shall suddenly follow him (Malachi 3:1). His first work shall be to purify the priesthood (Malachi 3:2). That accomplished, He shall open... [ Continue Reading ]
_For I am the Lord, I change not_ Rather: FOR I, THE LORD, CHANGE NOT: THEREFORE (lit. AND) YE, SONS OF JACOB, ARE NOT CONSUMED. The unchangeableness of Him, whose name, Jehovah, " I AM," is the exponent of His nature, is appealed to as the ground ("for") of His dealings with Israel. He changes not... [ Continue Reading ]
Malachi 3:7 to Malachi 4:3. Renewed Rebukes, Threatenings and Promises Ch. Malachi 3:7-12. Rebuke in the matter of Tithes and Offerings 7. _Even from the days of your fathers_ Omit EVEN, with R.V. The connection with Malachi 3:6 is well given by Pusey: "Back to those days and from them, ye are gon... [ Continue Reading ]
_ye_have _robbed_ Rather, ROB; lit. ARE ROBBING: it is still going on. _tithes_ By the Law of Moses (1) "the tenth of all produce, as well as of flocks and cattle, belongs to Jehovah and must be offered to Him" (Leviticus 27:30; Leviticus 27:32); and (2) this tenth is "assigned to the Levites as the... [ Continue Reading ]
_a curse_ Rather, THE CURSE. The threatened curse has already fallen upon you. See ch. Malachi 2:2 with Malachi 3:11. have _robbed_ Rather ROB, as in Malachi 3:8. The pronouns in the Hebrew are emphatic: ME YE _are robbing_. And the evil is not confined to the priests (ch. Malachi 1:6-8; Malachi 1... [ Continue Reading ]
_all the tithes_ More exactly, THE WHOLE TITHE, R. V. Cf. Deuteronomy 26:12. _the storehouse_ This may have been the "great chamber", or "lean to", surrounding the second Temple on three sides, and consisting of three stories, each containing several rooms, which had been perverted from its original... [ Continue Reading ]
_the devourer_ lit. EATER, i.e. any insect, especially the locust, that would devour the fruits of the earth. The same verb is used of the ravages of four insects, "probably different kinds of locusts, or locusts in different stages of growth" (R.V. marginal note), Joel 1:4. The threatened curse wa... [ Continue Reading ]
_call you blessed_ or _happy_, R.V., as in Malachi 3:15. μακαριοῦσιν ὑμᾶς, LXX. Comp. μακαριοῦσι με, Luke 1:48, and James 5:11.... [ Continue Reading ]
Malachi 3:13 to Malachi 4:3 The righteous judgment of God 13. _have been stout_ See Malachi 2:17. Comp. Job 21:14-15; Judges 15. _so much_ Omit _so much_here, and _often, Malachi 3:16_. The force of the Hebrew conjugation is "reciprocal" (Gesen.), to speak "together", or "one with another". Comp. P... [ Continue Reading ]
_kept his ordinance_ lit. OBSERVED HIS OBSERVANCE. _Kept his charge_, R.V. It is the same tendency to regard mere outward observance as true religion, which earlier prophets had denounced (1 Samuel 15:22; Isaiah 58:1-4), and which culminated in the Pharisaism of New Testament times (John 18:28). _w... [ Continue Reading ]
_we call the proud happy_ The word WE is emphatic, and suggests a reference on the part of the speakers to Malachi 3:12 above: "_Thou_sayest that all nations shall call them that obey Thee happy; _we_, on the contrary, call the proud rebels against Thee happy." _set up_ Rather, BUILT UP, as A.V. ma... [ Continue Reading ]
_Then_ When they heard "the hard speeches which ungodly sinners spake against Him" (Judges 15), then they spake one to another words of reverent trust and love and piety. "The more the ungodly spake against God, the more these _spake among themselves_for God" " Pusey. Some modern commentators, howe... [ Continue Reading ]
_in that day when I make up my jewels_ This rendering is supported by the Hebrew accents, and is adopted substantially in R.V. margin, _wherein I do make a peculiar treasure_. The phrase, however, to make a treasure, is awkward and unusual, and it seems every way better to take the word (for it is r... [ Continue Reading ]
_return, and discern_ When "judgment shall _return_unto righteousness" (Psalms 94:15), when, that is, the judgement of God shall not only be, as it ever is, but be seen to be righteous, then not only shall "all the upright in heart follow it" with glad approval, but those who have impiously called i... [ Continue Reading ]