Malachi 1:6

A son honoureth his father, &c. Since it is evident I am not only your Lord, and have a right to govern and command you by my creation of you, but also may be esteemed your Father, on account of the extraordinary benefits I have bestowed upon you, where are those proper dispositions which I might expect to find in you in return? namely, reverence for me, and fear of offending me, as your Lord and Master, and love and honour toward me as your Father. Unto you, O priests, &c. What is here said is addressed in particular to you priests, because, being chosen and appointed, according to your office, to honour and glorify me, you ought to have been the first and most forward to do it; but, instead of that, you have been the first to dishonour me. Had undutifulness been found among the ignorant people, it might have been, in some measure, excusable; but you, whose calling and business it is to know, love, and serve me, are without excuse, because, like Eli's sons, you have despised me yourselves, and made others do so too. The prophet adds, that perhaps they would have the assurance to pretend they had not done it, and to ask in what particular such a charge could be alleged against them? if so, he would enumerate the particulars to them, which he does accordingly in the following verses.