INTRODUCTION TO MALACHI 2 This chapter contains a reproof both of priests and people for their sins. It begins with the priests, Malachi 2:1 and threatens, in case they attend not to glorify the name of the Lord, they and their blessings should be cursed, their seed corrupted, dung spread upon them... [ Continue Reading ]
AND NOW, O YE PRIESTS,.... That despised and profaned the name of the Lord; that suffered such corrupt and illegal sacrifices to be brought and offered up: THIS COMMANDMENT [IS] FOR YOU: of giving glory to the name of God; of taking care of his worship; of teaching the people knowledge, and directi... [ Continue Reading ]
IF YE WILL NOT HEAR,.... The commandment enjoined them; or the Gospel preached to them by Christ, and his apostles: AND IF YE WILL NOT LAY [IT] TO HEART TO GIVE GLORY TO MY NAME, SAITH THE LORD OF HOSTS; which they had despised and profaned before; if they did not take care of his worship and servi... [ Continue Reading ]
BEHOLD, I WILL CORRUPT YOUR SEED,.... Or, "the seed for you" r; that is, for your sake, as Kimchi and Ben Melech explain it; meaning the seed they cast into the earth, which the Lord threatens to corrupt and destroy; so that it should not spring up again, and bring forth any increase: or, "rebuke" s... [ Continue Reading ]
AND YE SHALL KNOW THAT I HAVE SENT THIS COMMANDMENT UNTO YOU,.... Malachi 2:1: THAT MY COVENANT MIGHT BE WITH LEVI, SAITH THE LORD OF HOSTS; not that the ceremonial law might be confirmed and established, on which the Levitical priesthood was founded; for it was the will of God that that should be... [ Continue Reading ]
MY COVENANT WAS WITH HIM OF LIFE AND PEACE,.... Not with Aaron, nor with Phinehas; nor is it to be understood of a covenant, promising temporal life and outward prosperity to either of them; Aaron living a hundred and twenty three years, Numbers 33:39 and Phinehas, according to some Jewish writers,... [ Continue Reading ]
THE LAW OF TRUTH WAS IN HIS MOUTH,.... The Gospel, the word and doctrine of truth; which comes from the God of truth; is concerning Christ the truth and men are guided into it by the Spirit of truth; it contains most glorious truths, and nothing but truth: and this was in the mouth of Christ, being... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR THE PRIEST'S LIPS SHOULD KEEP KNOWLEDGE,.... Or "shall keep knowledge", as the Septuagint and Vulgate Latin versions; or "do keep knowledge", as the Arabic version; and so the Syriac version, "for the lips of the priest drop knowledge"; all this is true of Christ our great High Priest; for as it... [ Continue Reading ]
BUT YE ARE DEPARTED OUT OF THE WAY,.... Of truth and righteousness, of life and peace, of eternal salvation and happiness, pointed to by Christ and his forerunner, and by his apostles and ministers that followed him, and which was clearly showed in the preaching of the Gospel: this was the character... [ Continue Reading ]
THEREFORE HAVE I ALSO MADE YOU CONTEMPTIBLE AND BASE,.... When their city and temple were destroyed by the Romans, and they were carried captive by them, and became a taunt and a proverb in all places where they came: BEFORE ALL THE PEOPLE; the nations of the world, among whom they were scattered:... [ Continue Reading ]
HAVE WE NOT ALL ONE FATHER?.... Whether this is understood of Adam the first man, of whose blood all nations of the earth are made, and who in the same sense is the father of all living, as Eve was the mother of all living; or of Abraham the father of the Jewish people, of whom, as their father, the... [ Continue Reading ]
JUDAH HATH DEALT TREACHEROUSLY,.... Not only every man against his brother, by being partial in the law; or against the women of their nation, by marrying others; or against their wives, by putting them away; but against Christ the Son of God by betraying and delivering him up into the hands of the... [ Continue Reading ]
THE LORD WILL CUT OFF THE MAN THAT DOETH THIS,.... That is guilty of such treachery, wickedness, and idolatry: or "to the man that doeth this" y; all that belong to him, his children and substance: it denotes the utter destruction, not of a single man and his family only, but of the whole Jewish nat... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THIS HAVE YE DONE AGAIN,.... Or "in the second" b place; to their rejection and ill treatment of Christ they added their hypocritical prayers and tears, as follows: COVERING THE ALTAR OF THE LORD WITH TEARS AND WEEPING, AND WITH CRYING OUT; for the Messiah they vainly expect, pretending great h... [ Continue Reading ]
YET YE SAY, WHEREFORE?.... What is the meaning of the women covering the altar with tears? as if they knew not what was the reason of it, when they were so notoriously guilty of breach of covenant with them; which is an instance of their impudence, as Abarbinel observes: or, "if ye say, wherefore?... [ Continue Reading ]
AND DID NOT HE MAKE ONE?.... That is, did not God make one man, and out of his rib one woman? did he not make man, male and female? did he not make one pair, one couple, only Adam and Eve, whom he joined together in marriage? or rather, did he not make one woman only, and brought her to Adam to be h... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR THE LORD THE GOD OF ISRAEL SAITH, THAT HE HATETH PUTTING AWAY,.... The divorcing of wives; for though this was suffered because of the hardness of their hearts, it was not approved of by the Lord; nor was it from the beginning; and it was disagreeable, and even hateful to him, Matthew 19:8 in th... [ Continue Reading ]
YE HAVE WEARIED THE LORD WITH YOUR WORDS,.... As well as with their actions; see Isaiah 43:24 this is said after the manner of men, they saying those things which were displeasing and provoking to him, and which he could not bear to hear; or otherwise weariness properly cannot be attributed to God:... [ Continue Reading ]