collapse all
Text -- Malachi 1:10-14 (NET)
Parallel
Cross Reference (TSK)
ITL
Names, People and Places, Dictionary Themes and Topics
collapse allCommentary -- Word/Phrase Notes (per phrase)
Wesley: Mal 1:11 - -- A law term for a gospel duty, and under this type are contained the prayers and praises, nay, the whole gospel - worship.
A law term for a gospel duty, and under this type are contained the prayers and praises, nay, the whole gospel - worship.
Wesley: Mal 1:11 - -- Both sincere, in opposition to hypocrisy, and holy, in opposition to impurity, superstition and idolatry.
Both sincere, in opposition to hypocrisy, and holy, in opposition to impurity, superstition and idolatry.
O priests! And the people by your examples.
Wesley: Mal 1:12 - -- Either the meat which fell to the priest's share, or the portion which was laid upon the altar.
Either the meat which fell to the priest's share, or the portion which was laid upon the altar.
What a toil and drudgery to observe every point of the law.
Wesley: Mal 1:13 - -- With such minds snuffing at my service, and with such sacrifices, unfit for mine altar.
With such minds snuffing at my service, and with such sacrifices, unfit for mine altar.
Wesley: Mal 1:14 - -- The hypocrite that would seem to offer a sacrifice of the best, but puts God off with the worst.
The hypocrite that would seem to offer a sacrifice of the best, but puts God off with the worst.
JFB: Mal 1:10 - -- 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 ough...
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].
JFB: Mal 1:11 - -- Since ye Jewish priests and people "despise My name" (Mal 1:6), I shall find others who will magnify it (Mat 3:9). Do not think I shall have no worshi...
Since ye Jewish priests and people "despise My name" (Mal 1:6), I shall find others who will magnify it (Mat 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.
JFB: Mal 1:11 - -- 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, Joh ...
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, Joh 4:23; 1Ti 2:8). The "incense" is figurative of prayers (Psa 141:2; Rev 8:3). "Sacrifice" is used metaphorically (Psa 51:17; Heb 13:10, Heb 13:15-16; 1Pe 2:5, 1Pe 2:12). 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.
JFB: Mal 1:12 - -- 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 ...
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.
JFB: Mal 1:13 - -- 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...
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.
JFB: Mal 1:13 - -- Namely, by beasts, which it was not lawful to eat, much less to offer (Exo 22:31).
Namely, by beasts, which it was not lawful to eat, much less to offer (Exo 22:31).
JFB: Mal 1:13 - -- Hebrew, mincha; the unbloody offering of flour, &c. Though this may have been of ordinary ingredients, yet the sacrifices of blemished animals accompa...
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.
Hypocrite. Not poverty, but avarice was the cause of their mean offerings.
JFB: Mal 1:14 - -- 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, "s...
Clarke: Mal 1:10 - -- Who is - among you - From this we learn that there was not one sincere or honest priest among them. They were selfish and worldly; and so basely so,...
Who is - among you - From this we learn that there was not one sincere or honest priest among them. They were selfish and worldly; and so basely so, that not one of them would even kindle a fire on the hearth of the altar unless he were paid for it.
Clarke: Mal 1:11 - -- From the rising of the sun - The total abolition of the Mosaic sacrifices, and the establishment of a spiritual worship over the whole earth, is her...
From the rising of the sun - The total abolition of the Mosaic sacrifices, and the establishment of a spiritual worship over the whole earth, is here foretold. The incense of praise, and the pure offering of the Lamb without spot, and through him a holy, loving heart, shall be presented everywhere among the Gentiles; and the Jews and their mock offerings shall be rejected.
Clarke: Mal 1:12 - -- Ye have profaned it - Ye have desecrated God’ s worship; is it any wonder that God should cast you off, and follow you with his judgments?
Ye have profaned it - Ye have desecrated God’ s worship; is it any wonder that God should cast you off, and follow you with his judgments?
Clarke: Mal 1:13 - -- Ye have snuffed at it - A metaphor taken from cattle which do not like their fodder. They blow strongly through their nose upon it; and after this n...
Ye have snuffed at it - A metaphor taken from cattle which do not like their fodder. They blow strongly through their nose upon it; and after this neither they nor any other cattle will eat it
Clarke: Mal 1:13 - -- Ye brought that which was torn, and the lame, and the sick - There had never been such abominations in the Divine worship before. What was of no wor...
Ye brought that which was torn, and the lame, and the sick - There had never been such abominations in the Divine worship before. What was of no worth in itself, and what could not be used by its owner, was brought to God’ s altar, and offered for sacrifice! Was not the punishment of these wretches less than their crimes?
Clarke: Mal 1:14 - -- Cursed be the deceiver - Those who act thus, as they cannot elude God’ s notice, so neither shall they escape his curse
Cursed be the deceiver - Those who act thus, as they cannot elude God’ s notice, so neither shall they escape his curse
Clarke: Mal 1:14 - -- And voweth, and sacrificeth - a corrupt thing - The history of Ananias and Sapphira, Act 5:1, etc., is a complete comment on this. It was high time ...
And voweth, and sacrificeth - a corrupt thing - The history of Ananias and Sapphira, Act 5:1, etc., is a complete comment on this. It was high time to break up this corrupt service; and after this time God does not appear to have paid any regard to it, for he sent them no other prophet.
Calvin: Mal 1:10 - -- He goes on with the same subject, — that the priests conducted themselves very shamefully in their office, and that the people had become hardened ...
He goes on with the same subject, — that the priests conducted themselves very shamefully in their office, and that the people had become hardened through their example, so that the whole of religion was disregarded. Hence he says, that the doors were not closed by them. Some interpreters connect the two things together — that they closed not the doors of the temple, nor kindled the altar for nothing; and thus they apply the adverb,
It is indeed certain that it is better to separate the two clauses so that the adverb,
But no interpreter seems to have sufficiently considered the reason why the Prophet speaks of not closing the doors of the temple. The priests, we know were set over the temple for this reason — that nothing polluted might be admitted; for there were of the Levites some doorkeepers, and others stood at the entrance; in short, all had their stations: and then when they had brought in the victim it was the office of the priests to examine it and to see that it was such as the law of God required. As then it was their special office to see that nothing polluted should be received into the temple of God, he justly complains here that they indiscriminately received what was faulty and profane: hence he rightly declares (for this seems to me to be the true exposition) “Offer not in vain.” He then draws the conclusion, that the priests lost all their labor in thus sacrificing, because God would not have his name profaned, and justly preferred obedience to all sacrifices. He therefore denies that they did any good in slaying victims, because they ought in the first place to have attended to this — not to change anything in God’s word and not to deviate from it in the least. But I cannot now proceed farther.
Calvin: Mal 1:11 - -- Here God shows that he no longer cared for the Jews, for he would bid altars to be reared for him everywhere and through all parts of the world, that...
Here God shows that he no longer cared for the Jews, for he would bid altars to be reared for him everywhere and through all parts of the world, that he might be purely worshipped by all nations. It is indeed a remarkable prophecy as to the calling of the Gentiles; but we must especially remember this, — that whenever the Prophets speak of this calling, they promise the spread of God’s worship as a favor to the Jews, or as a punishment and reproach.
The Prophets then promised to the Jews that the Gentiles would become allied to them; so does Zechariah,
“In that day lay hold shall ten men on the skirt of the garment, and will say to a Jew, Be thou our leader; for the same God with thee will we worship.” (Zec 8:23.)
It would have been then the highest honor to the Jews had they become teachers to all nations, so as to instruct them in true religion. So also Isaiah says, that is, that those who were before aliens would become the disciples of the chosen people, so that they would willingly submit to their teaching. But as the Jews have fallen from their place, the Gentiles have succeeded and occupied their position. Hence it is that the Prophets when speaking of the calling of the Gentiles, often denounce it as a punishment on the Jews; as though they had said, that when they were repudiated there would be other children of God, whom he would substitute in their place, according to what Christ threatened to the men of his age,
“Taken away from you shall be the kingdom of God, and shall be given to another nation.” (Mat 21:43.)
Such is this prophecy: for our Prophet does not simply open to the Gentiles the temple of God, to connect them with the Jews and to unite them in true religion; but he first excludes the Jews, and shows that the worship of God would be exercised in common by the Gentiles, for the doctrine of salvation would be propagated to the utmost extremities of the earth.
This difference ought to be noticed, which interpreters have not observed, and yet it is what is very necessary to be known; and for want of knowing this has it happened that passages wholly different have been indiscriminately blended together. The Prophet then does not here promise, as we have often stated in other places, that the whole world would be subject to God, so that true religion would everywhere prevail, but he brands the Jews with reproach, as though he had said, “God has repudiated you, but he will find other sons for himself, who will occupy your place.” He had repudiated in the last verse their sacrifices, and we know how haughtily the Jews gloried in the holiness of their race. As then they were inflated with so much pride, they thought that God would be no God except he had them as his holy Church. The Prophet here answers them, and anticipates their objection by saying, that God’s name would be celebrated through the whole world: “Ye are a few people, all the nations will unite in one body to worship God together; God then will not stand in need of you, and after he rejects you his kingdom will not decay. Ye indeed think that his kingdom cannot be safe, and that his glory will perish except he is worshipped by you; but I now declare to you, that the worship of God will flourish everywhere, even after he shall cast you out of his family.”
We now then see what the Prophet means when he says, that Great will be the name of God from the rising to the setting of the sun 208 It is simply said in Psa 113:3
“From the rising to the setting of the sun wonderful shall be the name of God.”
There indeed it is only a promise, but here the Prophet includes the punishment which the Jews had deserved, as though he had said, that after they were rejected by God on account of their ingratitude, the Gentiles would become holy to God, because he would adopt them instead of that wicked and ungodly people.
But I have said, that the calling of the Gentiles is here clearly proved, or may with certainty be elicited from this prophecy, for this reason, because the name of God cannot be great without the teaching of the truth. It is therefore the same thing as though the Prophet had said, that the law which had been given to the Jews would be proclaimed among all nations, so that true religion might spread everywhere: for the basis of true religion is to know how he is to be worshipped by us, inasmuch as obedience is better than all sacrifices. And it is necessary always to begin with this principle — to know the God whom we worship: and hence Christ himself, in the fourth chapter of John, condemns all the religions which then prevailed in the world, because men presumptuously worshipped gods devised by themselves. Since then it is necessary that the worship of God should be based on the truth, then God declares that his name would become renowned in every place, he doubtless shows that his law would be known to all nations, so that his will might be known everywhere, which is, as we have said, the only rule of true religion.
He afterwards adds — Everywhere shall be offered incense to my name, and a clean offering. Why? Because my name shall be great. The repetition is not useless; for it was a thing then incredible, inasmuch as God had not in vain separated the Jews from the rest of the world; nor was it an ordinary commendation, when Moses said in the fourth chapter of Deuteronomy — “Show me a nation to whom God draws nigh as lie does to you: this then is your nobility and your excellency, to have a God nigh and friendly to you.” Hence also it is said in Psa 147:20 —
“He has not done thus to other nations; his judgments has he not made known to them.”
It was then the peculiar privilege of the race of Abraham that God was known and worshipped by them. The very novelty, then, of what is here said might have closed the door against this prophecy; and this is the reason why the Prophet repeatedly confirms what it was then difficult to believe — the name of God, he says, shall be great in every place
We must also bear in mind that God cannot be rightly worshipped except he is known, which Paul confirms when he says — “How shall they call on him in whom they have not believed?” for except the truth shines forth, we shall grope like the blind, and wander through devious ways. There is therefore no religion approved by God except what is based on his word.
Moreover the Prophet, by
It then follows that this mode of speaking ought to be so taken, that we may understand the analogy between the legal rites, and the spiritual manner of worshipping God now prescribed in the gospel. Though then the words of the Prophet are metaphorical, yet their meaning is plain enough — that God will be worshipped and adored everywhere. But what are the sacrifices of the New Testament? They are prayers and thanksgivings, according to what the Apostle says in the last chapter of the epistle to the Hebrews. There was also under the law the spiritual worship of God, as it is especially stated in the fiftieth psalm; but there were then shadows connected with it, as it is intimated in these words of Christ —
“Now is come the hour when the Father shall be worshipped in spirit and in truth.”
(Joh 4:13.)
He does not indeed deny that God was worshipped in spirit by the fathers; but as that worship was concealed under outward rites, he says that now under the gospel the simple, and, so to speak, the naked truth is taught. What then the Prophet says of offering and incense availed under the law; but we must now see what God commands in his gospel, and how he would have us to worship him. We do not find there any incense or sacrifices.
This passage contains nothing else than that the time would come when the pure and spiritual worship of God would prevail in all places.
And thus it appears how absurd are the Papists, when they hence infer that God cannot be worshipped without some kind of sacrifice; and on this ground they defend the impiety of their mass, as though it were the sacrifice of which the Prophet speaks. But nothing can be more foolish and puerile; for the Prophet, as we have said, adopts a mode of speaking common in Scripture. And were we to allow offering and incense to be taken here literally, how could,
“In the last days I will pour my Spirit on all flesh, and prophesy shall your sons and your daughters; your old men dreams shall dream, and your young men visions shall see.”
(Joe 2:28.)
So also we find what is similar in this place; for the Apostles, though not taught by visions, were yet we know illuminated; and then visions were not given commonly at the commencement of the gospel, nor dreams; they were indeed very rare things. What then does Paul mean? For he speaks of the whole body of the Church, as though he had said that all, from the least to the greatest, would be Prophets. Did they become Prophets by visions and dreams, whom God illuminated by the doctrine of the gospel? By no means. But Joel, as I have said, accommodated what he said to the time of the law. So also in this place the Prophet, by offering and incense, designates the spiritual worship of God. Let us now proceed-
Calvin: Mal 1:12 - -- This verse may be confined to the priests, or it may be extended to the whole people; for both views are appropriate. As to my own view, I doubt not ...
This verse may be confined to the priests, or it may be extended to the whole people; for both views are appropriate. As to my own view, I doubt not but that the Prophet here reproves with additional severity the priests, and that at the same time he extends his reproof to the people in general. We saw in our yesterday’s lecture how religion had been polluted by the priests, and how impiously they had profaned the worship of God: but this was the general sin of the whole people, as we shall presently see. Let us then know that the whole people, as well as the priests, are here reproved: but as a crime in the priests was more grievous, they being the occasion of sacrilege to others, the Prophet assails them in an especial manner, Ye, he says, have polluted my name
He gives a reason, and at the same time enhances their guilt: for they might have complained, that God not only put them on a level with the Gentiles, but also rejected them, and substituted aliens in their place. He shows that God had a just cause for disinheriting them, and for adopting the Gentiles as his children, for they had polluted God’s name. He at the same time amplifies their sin, when he says, “The Gentiles, by whom I have been hitherto despised, and to whom my name was not made known, will soon come to the faith; thus my name shall be great, it shall be reverently worshipped by all nations; but ye have polluted it.” It was certainly very strange, that the Jews, peculiarly chosen and illuminated by the doctrine of the Law, so presumptuously polluted God’s worship, as though they despised him, and that the Gentiles, being novices, rendered obedience to God as soon as they tasted of the truth of religion, so that his glory became through them illustrious.
He afterwards shows how the name of Gog was polluted, Ye say, The table of Jehovah is polluted; that is, ye distinguish not between what is sacred and profane: for he repeats what we noticed yesterday, — that the Jews thought it a frivolous matter, when the Prophets taught them that God was to be worshipped with all reverence. It is not however probable, that they openly uttered such a blasphemy as that the table of God was polluted; but it is easy to conclude from what is said, that God’s table was profaned by them, for they made no account of it. The holiness of the table ought to have been so regarded by the Jews, as not to approach the sanctuary without true repentance and faith; they ought to have known that they had to do with God, and that his majesty ought to have deeply touched them. When therefore they came to the temple, and brought with them their uncleanness like swine, it was quite evident that they had no reverence for the temple, or the altar, or the table. According to this sense then are the words of the Prophet to be understood, — not that the Jews openly mocked God, but that the holiness of the temple was with them of no account.
With regard to the Table, we stated yesterday, that when God ordered sacrifices to be offered to him, it was the same as though he familiarly dwelt among the Jews, and became as it were their companion. It was the highest honor and an instance of God’s ineffable goodness, that he thus condescended, so that the people might know that he was not to be sought afar off. And for this reason the less excusable was their impiety, as they did not consider that sacrifices were celebrated on earth, that their minds might be raised up above the heavens: for it is to this purpose that God descends to us, even to raise us above, as we have elsewhere stated. It was then an extremely base and shameful senselessness and stupidity in the Jews, that they did not consider that God’s table was set among them, that they might by faith penetrate into heaven, and know it to be even before their eyes.
As to the words, Its fruit is his contemptible food, we must observe, that some render,
And here again God reproves the impiety and contempt of the people; and at the same time he condemns their avarice, because they took the worst of their animals to offer in the temple, as though they lost everything they consecrated to God.
Why he calls the sacrifices the meat or food of God, we now sufficiently understand. Only this ought to be observed, that the impiety of the people was evident, as they were so unconcerned in their duties; for God had not in vain instituted sacrifices and other rites. The contempt then of the signs openly showed not only the negligence of the people, but also their contempt of all religion. Were any one at this day to regard as nothing outward teaching and the sacraments, would he not prove himself to be an impious despiser of God? Yet religion, I allow, does not consist in these things; for though hypocrites pretend the most ardent zeal, they yet profane the name of God, whenever the truth sounds in their ears and the heart is not touched, and when they come to the Lord’s table and are at the same time alienated from Christ. These things I allow; but as no true servant of God can despise these ordinances, which on account of our common infirmity are useful to us, and without which we cannot be as long as we sojourn in this world, whosoever derides our simplicity in frequenting God’s house, or if silent abstains from doing so, and regards such a practice as nothing or as unimportant, he is thus, as I have said, proved guilty of impiety. This is the reason why the Prophet so sharply reproves the Jews, because they said that the provision for the altar was God’s contemptible food. It follows —
Calvin: Mal 1:13 - -- He pursues the same subject — that the worship of God was despised by them and regarded as almost worthless. We must bear in mind what I have befor...
He pursues the same subject — that the worship of God was despised by them and regarded as almost worthless. We must bear in mind what I have before stated — that the Jews are not reprehended here as though they had openly and avowedly spoken reproachfully of God’s worship; but that this was sufficiently evident from their conduct; for they allowed themselves so much licentiousness, that it was quite manifest that they were trifling with God, inasmuch as they had cast off every fear of him and all reverence towards him.
Ye have said, Behold, labor. This may apply to the whole people, or to the priests alone. It is commonly explained of the priests — that they complained that they had a hard office, because they were continually in the temple and constantly watched there, and were much occupied in cleaning the vessels.
The monks at this day under the Papacy, and the priests, boasting of themselves, say, “While all others sleep, we are watching; for we are constant in prayers.” Forsooth! they howl at midnight in their temples; and then by massing and by doing other strange things they imagine that they are seriously engaged in pacifying God. In this sense do some understand this passage, as though the priests, in order to commend their work, alleged that they labored much in God’s service, and as though God had enjoined on them many and difficult things. But I prefer applying this to the whole people, and yet I do not exclude the priests; for the Prophet here condemns both, and shows that it was wearisome to them to spend labor in worshipping God, that they considered it weariness, as we commonly say, Tu le fais par courvee. 211
And the import of what follows is the same, Ye have snuffed at it, that is, through disdain. Some give this rendering, “With sorrow have ye moved him;” and the verb is in Hiphil, and is often taken in this sense. The verb,
Ye have offered the torn, and the lame, and the weak. These words prove the same thing — that they performed their duty towards God in a trifling manner by offering improper victims: when they had anything defective or diseased, they said that it was sacred to God, as we find it stated in the next verse. Some improperly render,
We now understand the import of the words; but we must remember what I have said — that God required not the performance of external rites, because he had need of meat and drink, or because he set a great value on these sacrifices, but on account of their design. The sacrifices then which God demanded from his ancient people had in themselves nothing that promoted true religion; nor could the odour of sacrifices of itself delight God; but the end was to be regarded. As then God ordered and commanded sacrifices to be offered to him, that he might exercise his people in penitence and faith, it was for this reason that he valued them. But when the people had fallen into gross contempt of them, that they brought to God, as it were to insult him, the maimed and the lame, their extremely base and intolerable impiety, as I have already said, was made fully evident. This is the reason why the Prophet now so vehemently chides the priests and the whole people; they offered to God such sacrifices as man would have rejected, according to what we noticed yesterday. It then follows —
Calvin: Mal 1:14 - -- I come now to the kind of fraud they practiced, If there be, he says, in his flock a male, that is, a lamb or a ram, when he vows, then what is corr...
I come now to the kind of fraud they practiced, If there be, he says, in his flock a male, that is, a lamb or a ram, when he vows, then what is corrupt he offers to Jehovah. He then means, that though they pretended some religion, yet nothing was done by them with a sincere and honest heart; for they immediately repented of the vow made to God; they thought that they might be reduced to poverty, if they were too bountiful in their sacrifices. Hence then the Prophet proves that they offered to God with a double mind, and that whatever they thus offered was polluted, because it did not proceed from a right motive.
We said yesterday, that the Prophet did not require fat or lean beasts, because God valued either the blood or flesh of animals on its own account, but for the end in view; for these were the performances of religion by which God designed to train up the Jews for the end contemplated, and in the duty of repentance. As then they were so sordid as to these sacrifices, it was easy to conclude, that they were gross and profane despisers of God, and had no concern for religion.
The reason follows, For a great king am I, saith Jehovah, and my name is terrible 212 among the nations. God declares here that his majesty was of no account among the Jews, as though he had said, “With whom do you think that you have to do?” And this is what we ought carefully to consider when engaged in God’s service. We indeed know that it is a vice which has prevailed in all ages, that all nations and individuals thought that they worshipped God, when they devised foolish and frivolous rites according to their own fancies. If then we have a desire to worship God aright, we must remember how great he is; for his majesty will raise us up above the whole world, and cease will that audacity which possesses almost all mankind; for they think that their own will is a law, when they presumptuously obtrude anything on God. The greatness of God then ought to humble us, that we may not worship him according to the perceptions of our flesh, but offer him only what is worthy of his celestial glory.
He again repeats what we have before observed, though it was disregarded by the Jews, — that he was a great king through the whole world. As then the Jews thought that sacrifices could not be offered to God, such as he would accept, in any other place but at Jerusalem, and in the temple on Mount Sion, he testifies that he is a great king even in the farthest parts of the world. It hence follows, that God’s worship would not be confined to Judea, or to any other particular part of the world; for by the gospel the Lord would receive to himself all nations, and come into the possession of his kingdom. Now follows
Defender -> Mal 1:14
Defender: Mal 1:14 - -- God had given explicit instruction to sacrifice only animals that were without blemish (Lev 22:18-24). Yet, despite the Lord's punishment of their fat...
God had given explicit instruction to sacrifice only animals that were without blemish (Lev 22:18-24). Yet, despite the Lord's punishment of their fathers, as well as His blessing upon the returned exiles, they quickly went back to ignoring or breaking His commandments, this time with the motive of pure greed on the part of both priests and people."
TSK: Mal 1:10 - -- Who : Instead of mi ""who,""one manuscript (30; K) with the LXX reads ki ""surely,""which is adopted by Houbigant and Abp. Newcome, who renders,...
Who : Instead of
even : Job 1:9-11; Isa 56:11, Isa 56:12; Jer 6:13, Jer 8:10; Mic 3:11; Joh 10:12; Phi 2:21; 1Pe 5:2
neither : 1Co 9:13
I have : Isa 1:11-15; Jer 6:20; Amo 5:21-24; Heb 10:38
TSK: Mal 1:11 - -- from : As the preceding verse was a prediction of the abolition of the Levitical priesthood, so this is a prophecy of the conversion of the Gentiles, ...
from : As the preceding verse was a prediction of the abolition of the Levitical priesthood, so this is a prophecy of the conversion of the Gentiles, and the spiritual priesthood of the Gospel times. As none but priests of Aaron’ s race might burn incense before Jehovah, a total change of the external administration of the sacred ordinances is evidently predicted. Psa 50:1, Psa 113:3; Isa 45:6, Isa 59:19; Zec 8:7
my name : Mal 1:14; Psa 22:27-31, Psa 67:2, Psa 72:11-17, Psa 98:1-3; Isa 11:9, Isa 11:10, Isa 45:22, Isa 45:23; Isa 49:6, Isa 49:7, Isa 49:22, Isa 49:23, Isa 54:1-3, Isa 54:5, Isa 60:1-11, Isa 60:16-22, Isa 66:19, Isa 66:20; Amo 9:12; Mic 5:4; Zep 3:9; Zec 8:20-23; Mat 6:9, Mat 6:10, Mat 28:19; Act 15:17, Act 15:18; Rev 11:15, Rev 15:4
and in : Isa 24:14-16, Isa 42:10-12; Zep 2:11; Joh 4:21-23; Act 10:30-35; Rom 15:9-11, Rom 15:16; 1Ti 2:8; Rev 8:3
incense : Psa 141:2; Isa 60:6; Luk 1:10; Rom 12:1; Phi 4:18; Heb 13:15, Heb 13:16; Rev 5:8, Rev 8:3, Rev 8:4
TSK: Mal 1:12 - -- ye have : Mal 1:6, Mal 1:8, Mal 2:8; 2Sa 12:14; Eze 36:21-23; Amo 2:7; Rom 2:24
The table : Mal 1:7, Mal 1:13; Num 11:4-8; Dan 5:3, Dan 5:4
TSK: Mal 1:13 - -- Behold : 1Sa 2:29; Isa 43:22; Amo 8:5; Mic 6:3; Mar 14:4, Mar 14:5, Mar 14:37, Mar 14:38
and ye have snuffed at it : or, whereas ye might have blown i...
Behold : 1Sa 2:29; Isa 43:22; Amo 8:5; Mic 6:3; Mar 14:4, Mar 14:5, Mar 14:37, Mar 14:38
and ye have snuffed at it : or, whereas ye might have blown it away
torn : Mal 1:7, Mal 1:8; Lev 22:8, Lev 22:19-23; Deu 15:21; Eze 4:14, Eze 44:31
should I accept : Mal 2:13; Isa 1:12, Isa 57:6; Jer 7:9-11, Jer 7:21-24; Amo 5:21-23; Zec 7:5, Zec 7:6; Mat 6:1, Mat 6:2, Mat 6:5, Mat 6:16
TSK: Mal 1:14 - -- cursed : Mal 3:9; Gen 27:12; Jos 7:11, Jos 7:12; Jer 48:10; Mat 24:51; Luk 12:1, Luk 12:2, Luk 12:46; Act 5:1-10; Rev 21:8
which hath in his flock : o...
cursed : Mal 3:9; Gen 27:12; Jos 7:11, Jos 7:12; Jer 48:10; Mat 24:51; Luk 12:1, Luk 12:2, Luk 12:46; Act 5:1-10; Rev 21:8
which hath in his flock : or, in whose flock is, Ecc 5:4, Ecc 5:5; Mar 12:41-44, Mar 14:8; 2Co 8:12
for : Mal 1:8, Mal 1:11; Deu 28:58; Psa 47:2, Psa 48:2, Psa 95:3; Isa 57:15; Jer 10:10; Dan 4:37; Zec 14:9; Mat 5:35; 1Ti 6:15
my name : Psa 68:35, Psa 76:12; Dan 9:4; Heb 12:29; Rev 15:4
collapse allCommentary -- Word/Phrase Notes (per Verse)
Barnes: Mal 1:10 - -- Who is there even among you? - This stinginess in God’ s service was not confined to those offices which cost something, as the sacrifices...
Who is there even among you? - This stinginess in God’ s service was not confined to those offices which cost something, as the sacrifices. Not even services absolutely costless, which required only a little trouble, as that of closing the folding-doors of the temple or the outer court, or bringing the fire to consume the sacrifices, would they do without some special hire. All was mercenary and hireling service. Others have rendered it as a wish, "who is there among you!"i. e., would that there were one among you, who would close the doors altogether; so shall ye not kindle fire on Mine altar for nought, i. e., fruitlessly! But apart from the difficulty of the construction, it is not God’ s way to "quench the smouldering flax."He who bids, "Gather up the fragments that remain, that nothing be lost,"accepts any imperfect service rather than none. He does not break off the last link, which binds man to Himself. Then, if or when God willed His service to surcease, He would do it Himself, as He did by the destruction of the temple before the captivity, or finally by the Romans. It would have been an ungodly act (such as was only done by Ahaz, perhaps the most ungodly king of Israel) 2Ch 28:24, and one which especially called down His wrath 2Ch 29:8, to close the doors, and therewith to break off all sacrifice. Manasseh carried the worship of false gods into the temple itself; Ahaz, as far as in him lay, abolished the service of God. A prophet of God could not express a wish, that pious Israelites (for it is presupposed that they would do this out of zeal for God’ s honor) should bring the service of God to an end.
He sums up with an entire rejection of them, present and future. "I have no pleasure in you;"it is a term of repudiation , sometimes of disgust "neither will I accept an offering at your hands."He says not simply Jer 6:20, "your burnt-offerings are not acceptable, nor your sacrifices sweet unto Me, but, I will not accept it."Such as they were, such they would be hereafter. God would not accept their sacrifices, but would replace them.
Barnes: Mal 1:11 - -- For - The form of words does not express whether this declaration relates to the present or the future. It is a vivid present, such as is often...
For - The form of words does not express whether this declaration relates to the present or the future. It is a vivid present, such as is often used to describe the future. But the things spoken of show it to be future. The Jewish sacrifices had defects, partly incidental, partly inherent. Incidental were those, with which the prophet had upbraided them; inherent (apart from their mere typical character) that they never could be the religion of the world, since they were locally fixed at Jerusalem. Malachi tells them of a new sacrifice, which should be offered throughout the then pagan world, grounded on His new revelation of Himself to them. "For great shall be My Name among the pagan."The prophet anticipates an objection which the Jews might make to him. Jos 7:9, "what then will God do unto His great Name?"Those by which He would replace them, would be more worthy of God in two ways:
1) in themselves,
2) in their universality.
"Then,"whatsoever the pagan worshiped, even if some worshiped an "unknown God,"His "Name"was not known to them, nor "great among them."Those who knew of Him, knew of Him, not as the Lord of heaven and earth, but as the God of the Jews only; their "offerings"were not "pure,"but manifoldly defiled. A Hebrew prophet could not be an apologist for pagan idolatry amidst its abominations, or set it on a level with the worship which God had, for the time, appointed; much less could he set it forth as the true acceptable service of God. Malachi himself speaks of it, as an aggravation of cruelty in their divorcing of their wives, that they Mal 2:11 "married the daughter of a strange god."
The worship of those Jews, who remained, out of secular interests, in foreign countries, could not be represented as "the pure offering;"for they made no offerings: then as now, these being forbidden out of Jerusalem; nor would the worship of such Jews, as were scattered in the large empire of Persia, be contrasted with that at Jerusalem, as "the"pure worship; else why should the Jews have returned? It would have been an abolition of the law before its time. Malachi prophesies then, as had Micah, Isaiah, Zephaniah Zep 2:11, of a new revelation of God, when, and in which, people should "worship Him, every one from his place, even all the isles of the pagan."
Our Lord Himself explains and expands it in His words to the Samaritan woman; Joh 4:21, Joh 4:23-24, "Woman, believe Me, the hour cometh, when ye shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father. The hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshipers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth, for the Father seeketh such to worship Him. God is a Spirit: and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth,"and declared the rejection of the Jews, sealing their own sentence against themselves Mat 21:41, Mat 21:43, "I say unto you, The kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof;"and before Mat 8:11-12, "Many shall come from the East and West, and shall sit down with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven, and the children of the kingdom shall be cast out into outer darkness."
"Incense shall be offered unto My name,"literally I think, "there shall be incense, oblation made unto My name"(this is a mere question of construction) , "and a pure oblation."
This sacrifice, which should be offered, is designated by the special name of "meal-offering."(Lev 2:7 (Lev 2:14 in English) and the verses following.) God would not accept it from the Jews; He would, from the Pagan. It was a special sacrifice, offered by itself as an unbloody sacrifice, or together with the bloody sacrifice. (Lev 6:17 (Lev 6:10 in Hebrew)), "It is most holy, as the sin-offering and as the trespass-offering."In the daily sacrifice it was offered morning and evening, with the lamb. Since this was typical of the precious blood-shedding of the "Lamb without spot"upon the cross, so was the meal-offering which accompanied it, of the holy eucharist.
The early Christians saw the force of the prediction, that sacrifice was contrasted with sacrifice, the bloody sacrifices which were ended by the "One full perfect and sufficient sacrifice oblation and satisfaction"made by our Lord "on the altar of the cross for the sins of the whole world,"and those sacrifices which He commanded to be made on our altars, as a memorial of Him. So Justin, who was converted probably 133 a.d., within 30 years from the death of John, says "God has, therefore, beforehand declared, that all who through this name offer those sacrifices, which Jesus, who is the Christ, commanded to be offered, that is to say, in the eucharist of the bread and of the cup, which are offered in every part of the world by us Christians, are well-pleasing to Him. But those sacrifices, which are offered by you and through those priests of yours, He wholly rejects, saying, "And I will not accept your offerings at your hands. For from the rising of the sun even to the going down of the same, My Name is glorified among the Gentiles; but ye profane it."
He points out further the failure of the Jewish explanation as to "their"sacrifices, in that the Church was everywhere, not so the Jews. "You and your teachers deceive yourselves, when you interpret this passage of Scripture of those of your nation who were in the dispersion and say that it speaks of their prayers and sacrifices made in every place, as pure and well-pleasing, and know that you speak falsely, and endeavor in every way to impose upon yourselves; first, because your people are not found, even now, from the rising to the setting of the sun, but there are nations, in which none of your race have ever dwelt: while there is not one nation of people, whether Barbarians, or Greeks, or by whatsoever name distinguished, whether of those (nomads) who live in wagons, or of those who have no houses, or those pastoral people that dwell in tents, among whom prayers and thanksgivings are not offered to the Father and Creator of all things, through the name of the crucified Jesus. And you know that at the time when the prophet Malachi said this, the dispersion of you through the whole world, in which you now are, had not yet taken place; as is also shown by Scripture."
Irenaeus in the same century "He took that which is part of the creation, namely, bread, and gave thanks, saying, ‘ This is My body.’ And the cup likewise, which is of the creation which pertains unto us, He professed to be His own blood, and taught people the new oblation of the New Testament; which the Church receiving from the apostles offers unto God in the world: unto Him who giveth us nourishment, the firstfruits of His own gifts, in the New Testament; of which in the twelve prophets Malachi gave beforehand this intimation (quoting Mal 1:10-11); most evidently intimating hereby, that while the former people should cease to make offerings to God, in every place sacrifice should be offered unto Him, and that in pureness; His Name also is glorified among the Gentiles. Now what other name is there, which is glorified among the Gentiles, than that which belongs to our Lord, by whom the Father is glorified, and man is glorified?
And because man belongs to His Own Son, and is made by Him, He calls him His Own. And as if some King were himself to paint an image of his own son, he justly calls it his own image, on both accounts, first that it is his son’ s, next, that he himself made it: so also the Name of Jesus Christ, which is glorified in the Church throughout the whole world, the Father professes to be His own, both because it is His Son’ s, and because He Himself wrote and gave it for the salvation of men. Because, therefore, the Name of the Son properly belongs to the Father, and in God Almighty through Jesus Christ the Church makes her offering, well saith He on both accounts, ‘ And in every place incense is offered unto My Name, and a pure sacrifice.’ And incense, John in the Apocalypse declares to be the prayers of the saints. Therefore, the offering of the Church, which the Lord hath taught to be offered in the whole world, is accounted with God as a pure sacrifice, and accepted of Him."
Tertullian contrasts the "sacerdotal law through Moses, in Leviticus, prescribing to the people of Israel, that sacrifices should in no other place be offered to God than in the land of promise, which the Lord God was about to give to the people Israel and to their brethren, in order that on Israel’ s introduction thither, there should be there celebrated sacrifices and holocausts, as well for sins as for souls, and nowhere else but in the holy land Lev 17:1-6; Deu 12:5-14, Deu 12:26-27, and this subsequent prediction of the Spirit through the prophets, that in every place and in every land there should be offered sacrifices to God. As He says through the angel Malachi, one of the twelve prophets (citing the place)."
Hippolytus, a disciple of Irenaeus, 220 a.d. martyr, in a commentary on Daniel, says that "when Anti-Christ cometh, the sacrifice and libation will be taken away, which is now in every place offered by the Gentiles to God."The terms "Sacrifice offered in every place"are terms of Malachi.
So Cyprian, in his Testimonies against the Jews, sums up the teaching of the passage under this head , "That the old sacrifice was to be made void, and a new sacrifice instituted."
In the "apostolic Constitutions,"the prophecy is quoted as "said by God of His ecumenical Church."
Eusebius says , "The truth bears witness to the prophetic word, whereby God, rejecting the Mosaic sacrifices, foretells that which shall be among us. ‘ For from the rising of the sun’ etc. We sacrifice then to the supreme God the sacrifice of praise; we sacrifice the divine, reverend and holy oblation: we sacrifice, in a new way according to the New Testament, the pure sacrifice. The broken heart is also called a sacrifice to God - We sacrifice also the memory of that great Sacrifice, performing it according to the mysteries which have been transmitted by Him."
Cyril of Jerusalem speaks of it only as prophesying the rejection of the Jews and the adoption of the Gentiles.
In the liturgy of Mark , it is naturally quoted, only, as fulfilled "in the reasonable and unbloody sacrifice, which all nations offer to Thee, O Lord, from the rising of the sun to the setting thereof,"not in reference to the cessation of Jewish sacrifices.
Chrysostom dwells on its special force, coming from so late a prophet. "Hear Malachi, who came after the other prophets. For I adduce, for the time, no testimony either of Isaiah or Jeremiah or any other before the captivity, lest thou shouldest say that the terrible things which he foretold were exhausted in the captivity. But I adduce a prophet, after the return from Babylon and the restoration of your city, prophesying clearly about you. For when they had returned, and recovered their city, and rebuilt the temple and performed the sacrifices, foretelling this present desolation then future, and the taking away of the sacrifice, Malachi thus speaks in the Person of God (Mal 1:10 (end) and Mal 1:12 (beginning)). When, oh Jew, happened all this? When was incense offered to God in every place? when a pure sacrifice? Thou couldest not name any other time, than this, after the coming of Christ. If the prophet foretelleth not this time and our sacrifice, but the Jewish, the prophecy will be against the law.
For if, when Moses commandeth that sacrifice should be offered in no other place than the Lord God should choose, and shutteth up those sacrifices in one place, the prophet says that incense should be offered in every place and a pure sacrifice, he opposeth and contradicteth Moses. But there is no strife nor contention. For Moses speaketh of one sacrifice, and Malachi of another. Where doth this appear? (From the place, not Judaea only; from the mode, that it should be pure; from the offerers, not Israel, but the nations), from East to West, showing that whatever of earth the sun surveys, the preaching will embrace. He calls the former sacrifice impure, not in its own nature but in the mind of the offerers; if one compares the sacrifice itself, there is such a boundless distance, that this (that offered by Christians) might in comparison be called ‘ pure. ‘ "
Even the cold, but clear, Theodoret has "Foretelling to the Jews the cessation of the legal priesthood, he announces the pure and unbloody sacrifice of the Gentiles. And first he says to the Jews, ‘ I have no pleasure in you, saith the Lord of hosts, and I will not accept a sacrifice at your hands.’ Then he foreshows the piety of the Gentiles, ‘ For from the rising of the sun’ etc. Mal 1:11, you then I will wholly reject, for I detest altogether what you do. Wherefore also I reject the sacrifice offered by you; but instead of you, I have the whole world to worship Me. For the dwellers in the whole earth, which the rising and setting sun illumines, will everywhere both offer to Me incense, and will sacrifice to Me the pure sacrifice, which I love. For they shall know My name and My will, and shall offer to Me reverence due. So the Lord said to the Samaritan woman, ‘ Woman, believe Me, that the hour cometh and now is, when neither in this mountain, nor in Jerusalem shall ye worship the Father.’ The blessed Paul, being instructed in this, says 1Ti 2:8, ‘ I will that men pray everywhere’ etc., and the divine Malachi clearly taught us in this place the worship now used, for the circumscribed worship of the priests is brought to an end, and every place is accounted fit for the worship of God, and the sacrifice of irrational victims is ended, and He, our spotless Lamb, Who taketh away the sin of the world, is sacrificed."
Lastly, Augustine , "Malachi, prophesying of the Church which we see propagated through Christ, says most plainly to the Jews in the person of God, ‘ I have no pleasure in you, and will not receive an offering at your hands. For from the rising of the sun’ etc. Since we see this sacrifice through the priesthood of Christ after the order of Melchizedek, now offered to God in every place from the rising of the sun to its setting; but the sacrifice of the Jews, of which it is said, ‘ I have no pleasure in you, neither will I accept an offering from your hands,’ they cannot deny to have ceased; why do they yet expect another Christ, since what they read as prophesied and see fulfilled, could not be fulfilled, except through Him?"
Barnes: Mal 1:12 - -- And ye have profaned - o (are habitually profaning it), in that ye say It was the daily result of their daily lives and acts. "It is probable...
And ye have profaned - o (are habitually profaning it), in that ye say It was the daily result of their daily lives and acts. "It is probable that the priests did not use such words, but that by their very deeds, they proclaimed this aloud: as in the, ‘ The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God.’ For in that he is seen to be a despiser, though he say it not in words, yet, by their very deeds and by the crookedness of their lives, they all but cry out, There is no God. For they who live as though God beheld not, and do all things recklessly and unholily, by their own deeds and works deny God. So they who are not earnest to preserve to the holy altar the reverence becoming to it, by the very things which they do, say,
The table of the Lord is despised - Not the "table of showbread,"since it is so called in reference to the sacrifice offered thereon. Ezekiel had probably so called the altar, which he saw in his vision of the new temple. Eze 44:16. It is what was before called "the altar;"an altar, in regard to the sacrifices offered to God; a "table,"in regard to the food of the sacrifice therefrom received. Both names, "altar"Mat 5:23; Heb 13:10. and "table"1Co 10:21. being received in the New Testament, both were received in the early Church. For each represented one side of the great eucharistic action, as it is a Sacrifice and a sacrament. But the title "altar"was the earliest.
It may be here a different profaneness of the priests. They connived at the sin of the people in sacrificing the maimed animals which they brought, and yet, since they had their food from the sacrifices, and such animals are likely to have been neglected and ill-conditioned, they may very probably have complained of the poverty of their lot, and despised the whole service. For the words used, "its produce, the eating thereof is contemptible"belong to their portion, not to what was consumed by fire. With this agrees their cry.
Barnes: Mal 1:13 - -- What a weariness! - What an onerous service it is! The service of God is its own reward. If not, it becomes a greater toil, with less reward fr...
What a weariness! - What an onerous service it is! The service of God is its own reward. If not, it becomes a greater toil, with less reward from this earth, than the things of this earth. Our only choice is between love and weariness.
And ye have snuffed - (puffed) at it , i. e., at the altar; as a thing contemptible. "Ye, have brought that which was taken by violence."In despising any positive law of God, they despised the lawgiver; and so, from contempt of the ceremonial law, they went on to break the moral law. It were indeed a mockery of God, to break a law whereby He bound man to man, and therefrom to seek to appease Himself. Yet in rough times, people, even in Christianity, have made their account with their souls, by giving to the poor a portion of what they had taken from the rich. "God,"it was said to such an one, "rejects the gifts obtained by violence and robbery. He loves mercy, justice and humanity, and by the lovers of these only will He be worshiped."(Ecclesiasticus 34:18-20.) "He that sacrificeth of a thing wrongfully gotten, his offering is ridiculous, and the gifts of unjust men are not accepted. The Most High is not pleased with the offerings of the wicked, neither is He pacified for sin by the multitude of sacrifices. Whoso bringeth an offering of the goods of the poor doeth as one that killeth the son before the father’ s eyes."
Barnes: Mal 1:14 - -- Cursed is the deceiver - o "The fraudulent, hypocritical, false or deceitful dealer, who makes a show of one thing, and doth or intends anothe...
Cursed is the deceiver - o "The fraudulent, hypocritical, false or deceitful dealer, who makes a show of one thing, and doth or intends another, nor doth to his power what he would make a show of doing; as if he could deceive God in doing in His service otherwise than He required, and yet be accepted by Him."The whole habit of these men was not to break with God, but to keep well with Him on as easy terms as they could. They even went beyond what the law required in making vows, probably for some temporal end, and then substituted for that which had typical perfection, the less valuable animal, the ewe and that, diseased. It was probably, to prevent self-deceit, that the law commanded that the oblation for a vow should be Lev 22:19, Lev 22:21, "a male without blemish, perfect;"lest (which may be a temptation in impulsive vows) repenting of their vow, they should persuade themselves, that they had vowed less than they had. Ordinarily, then, it would not have been allowed to one, who had not the best to offer, to vow at all. But, in their alleged poverty, the prophet supposes that God would so far dispense with His own law, and accept the best which anyone had, although it did not come up to that law. Hence the clause, "which hath in his flock a male.""If thou hast not a male, that curse in no wise injureth thee. But saying this, he showeth, that they have what is best, and offer what is bad."
They sinned, not against religion only, but against justice also. "For as a merchant, who offers his goods at a certain price, if he supply them afterward adulterated and corrupted, is guilty of fraud and is unjust, so he who promised to God a sacrifice worthy of God, and, according to the law, perfect and sound, is fraudulent and sins against justice, if he afterward gives one, defective, mutilated, vitiated, and is guilty of theft in a sacred thing, and so of sacrilege."
Clergy or "all who have vowed, should learn hence, that what they have vowed should be given to God, entire, manly, perfect, the best. For, reverence for the Supreme and Divine Majesty to whom they consecrate themselves demandeth this, that they should offer Him the highest, best and most perfect, making themselves a whole-burnt-offering to God."
, "They who abandon all things of the world, and kindle their whole mind with the fire of divine love, these become a sacrifice and a whole-burnt-offering to Almighty God.", "Man himself, consecrated and devoted in the name of God, is a sacrifice."He then offers a corrupt thing who, like Ananias, keeps back "part of the price,"and is the more guilty, because, while it was his own, it was in his own power.
I am a great King - o "As God is Alone Lord through His universal Providence and His intrinsic authority, so He Alone is King, and a King so great, that of His greatness or dignity and perfection there is no end."
My Name is dreadful among the pagan - Absence of any awe of God was a central defect of these Jews. They treated Him, as they would not a fellow-creature, for whom they had any respect or awe or fear. Some remaining instinct kept them from parting with Him; but they yielded a cold, wearisome, heartless service. Malachi points to the root of the evil, the ignorance, how awful God is. This is the root of so much irreverence in people’ s theories, thoughts, conversations, systems, acts, of the present day also. They know neither God or themselves. The relation is summed up in those words to a saint , "Knowest thou well, Who I am, and who thou art? I am He Who Is, and thou art she who is not."So Job says in the presence of God Job 42:5-6, "I have heard of Thee by the hearing of the ear, but now mine eye seeth Thee: wherefore I abhor myself and repent in dust and ashes."To correct this, God, from the beginning, insists on the title which He gives Himself. (Deu 10:16-17; Deu 7:21. Nehemiah uses it in his prayers Neh 1:5; Neh 9:32 and Daniel Dan 9:4. It occurs also Neh 4:8 (14 English) Psa 47:3; 68:36; Psa 89:8; Psa 96:4; Psa 99:3; Psa 111:9; Zep 2:11. "Circumcise the foreskin of your hearts and be no more stiff-necked: for the Lord your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great God, the mighty and the terrible;"and in warning Deu 28:58-59, "If thou wilt not observe to do all the words of this law that are written in this book, that thou mayest fear this glorious and fearful name, The Lord thy God, then the Lord thy God will make thy plagues wonderful"etc.
Poole: Mal 1:10 - -- Some make this verse to be a kind of wish that there were some among them that would shut up the doors of the temple, and keep out such sacrifices a...
Some make this verse to be a kind of wish that there were some among them that would shut up the doors of the temple, and keep out such sacrifices and sacrificers; it would be less displeasing to God, it were better not done at all that so ill done, and so long as it is so ill done God can have no pleasure in it or them. Others make it a reproof of the priests upbraided for their profane contempt of God, and for their inexcusable negligence, while they are so well paid for all their service, be it ever so little and inconsiderable, as the lighting a fire on the altar, or shutting the doors of the temple: Inexcusable dishonesty, to receive large wages, and neglect your work!
I have no pleasure in you I cannot be pleased with such servants and services: or it is a meiosis, I am very greatly displeased with you.
Neither will I accept an offering at your hand whilst you are thus profane and contemptuous, I will never accept your gifts, but reject you and them.
Poole: Mal 1:11 - -- This verse is a very full and plain prediction or promise made on behalf of the Gentiles, that they should be a people to the Lord, and should exalt...
This verse is a very full and plain prediction or promise made on behalf of the Gentiles, that they should be a people to the Lord, and should exalt his name, and worship him in a pure way, and well-pleasing to the Lord. That when he casteth off ceremonial services and carnal ordinances, he will set up spiritual and heavenly, and all nations, from east to west, shall submit to them, and sanctify the holy and reverend name of God in them.
Incense a law term for a gospel duty; and under this type is contained the prayers and praises, nay, the whole gospel worship is that incense which shall be offered unto God, which is in the verse called a pure offering.
A pure offering both sincere, in opposition to hypocrisy, and holy, in opposition to impurity, and purged from superstition and idolatry. The sum of this verse is contained in that Joh 4:21-24 .
Poole: Mal 1:12 - -- But ye O priests, principally and first; the people next, by their examples;
have profaned it used it as a common thing, and valued it at a strange...
But ye O priests, principally and first; the people next, by their examples;
have profaned it used it as a common thing, and valued it at a strange undervalue, as if neither excellent nor useful.
Ye say by your deportment you say so; perhaps you do not say so in words, this were two impudent indeed.
The table of the Lord is polluted ; not a sacred thing, or to be revered.
His meat either the meat which fell to the priests’ share, and was for them to live upon, this they despised; or else the portion which did belong to God himself, and was laid upon the altar; they were neither pleased with that the Lord did reserve to himself, nor with that he gave to them, but they found fault with both.
Is contemptible a poor, sordid allowance, scarce fit for meaner persons and less service.
Poole: Mal 1:13 - -- Ye said also to those sins before mentioned, the priests chiefly, and the people with them, added this also, that they openly complained of God’...
Ye said also to those sins before mentioned, the priests chiefly, and the people with them, added this also, that they openly complained of God’ s service.
Behold, what a weariness! what a toil and drudgery is it to observe every point of the law about ordering ourselves and the sacrifices!
Ye have snuffed at it in token of discontent, and that you thought it was all needless labour; would not examine your sacrifices as you should.
Ye brought that which was torn & c.: for want of value for the ordinance, and patience in examining whether the sacrifice were perfect and according to law, you priests accepted and offered the torn, and blind, &c., which are expressly forbidden to be made sacrifices: see Mal 1:8 .
Thus ye brought an offering with such minds, snuffing at my service, and with such sacrifices, unfit for mine altar, have they wearied themselves somewhat, but their God more.
Should I accept this of your hands? saith the Lord, i.e. it is not at all fit to be accepted, nor will our God receive it.
Poole: Mal 1:14 - -- Now comes a thunder-clap from heaven against sinners, who were before reproved.
Cursed be the deceiver the hypocrite, that doth deceive man, and w...
Now comes a thunder-clap from heaven against sinners, who were before reproved.
Cursed be the deceiver the hypocrite, that doth deceive man, and would deceive God; the false heart, that intends one thing and pretends another, would seem to offer a sacrifice of the best, but puts God off with the worst.
A male a perfect male, such as God requireth and accepteth.
Voweth: in vows God required very perfect and unblemished offerings, Lev 22:18,19 ; but there are jugglers that vow corrupt things, when they have what is perfect, and should vow that.
And sacrificeth unto the Lord a corrupt thing solemnly sacrificeth the worst, wholly unfit for acceptance. Any thing but the best we have is this corrupt thing, for the best we have is justly commanded, and that only is acceptable to the Lord.
I am a great King very full of majesty, and therefore will by no means be slighted.
My name is dreadful among the heathen: heathens reverence this name, and will do so when converted, and you Jews ought not to undervalue it.
Now comes a thunder-clap from heaven against sinners, who were before reproved.
Cursed be the deceiver the hypocrite, that doth deceive man, and would deceive God; the false heart, that intends one thing and pretends another, would seem to offer a sacrifice of the best, but puts God off with the worst.
A male a perfect male, such as God requireth and accepteth.
Voweth: in vows God required very perfect and unblemished offerings, Lev 22:18,19 ; but there are jugglers that vow corrupt things, when they have what is perfect, and should vow that.
And sacrificeth unto the Lord a corrupt thing solemnly sacrificeth the worst, wholly unfit for acceptance. Any thing but the best we have is this corrupt thing, for the best we have is justly commanded, and that only is acceptable to the Lord.
I am a great King very full of majesty, and therefore will by no means be slighted.
My name is dreadful among the heathen: heathens reverence this name, and will do so when converted, and you Jews ought not to undervalue it.
Haydock: Mal 1:10 - -- Gratis? Are you not well paid? Why then perform you not your duty exactly? (Calmet) ---
Septuagint, "Wherefore also among you shall the doors be ...
Gratis? Are you not well paid? Why then perform you not your duty exactly? (Calmet) ---
Septuagint, "Wherefore also among you shall the doors be shut, and my altar is not enkindled for nought," (Haydock) as if God menaced the Jews with the rejection of the temple, as the sequel does. (Calmet) ---
Pleasure. Many other prophets had foretold the reprobation of the synagogue, but none more plainly. The reason is also assigned, viz., the ingratitude and repeated sins of the people, on which account the Gentiles of all countries shall be chosen. (Worthington)
Haydock: Mal 1:11 - -- Sacrifice. Protestant, "incense." (Haydock) ---
Clean oblation. The precious body and blood of Christ in the eucharistic sacrifice. (Challoner)...
Sacrifice. Protestant, "incense." (Haydock) ---
Clean oblation. The precious body and blood of Christ in the eucharistic sacrifice. (Challoner) ---
This is denoted by the very word mincha, the offering of flour and wine. (Calmet) See St. Justin Martyr, Dialogue with Trypho; St. Irenæus, Against Heresies iv. 32.; St. Augustine, City of God xviii. 35.) ---
"We pollute this bread, that is the body of Christ, when we approach the altar unworthily." (St. Jerome v. 7.) ---
This sacrifice is clean. (Council of Trent, session xxii. chap. i.) (Menochius) ---
It is offered daily throughout the world. The Jews see the completion of this prediction, and are vexed; they strive to elude its force. Though enemies, they bear about these proofs of our faith, and of their own condemnation. (Calmet) ---
God not only changed his people, but instituted a better sacrifice. Instead of the former needy elements, (Galatians iv.) which were often defiled by the sins of the offerers, He instituted the sacrifice of his own Body and Blood, under the appearance of bread and wine, as St. Chrysostom (in Psalm xcv.), Theodoret, &c., prove against all opponents. A sacrifice different from any offered as many have demonstrated. (Worthington) ---
Christ's bloody sacrifice on the cross was performed on Calvary, and not among the Gentiles. What sacrifice can Protestants now produce? (Haydock)
Haydock: Mal 1:12 - -- It. The priests complain that ll is burnt, (Grotius) or rather they treat sacred things with contempt. (Calmet) ---
They falsely pretend that they...
It. The priests complain that ll is burnt, (Grotius) or rather they treat sacred things with contempt. (Calmet) ---
They falsely pretend that they give their best, being poor. (Menochius)
Haydock: Mal 1:13 - -- Behold of our labour, &c. You pretended labour and weariness, when you brought your offering; and so made it of no value, by offering it with an...
Behold of our labour, &c. You pretended labour and weariness, when you brought your offering; and so made it of no value, by offering it with an evil mind. Moreover, what you offered was both defective in itself, and gotten by rapine and extortion. (Challoner) ---
These were two defects. (Worthington) ---
Hebrew, "what fatigue, or if we change one letter, and read (Calmet) mothlae, (Haydock) it stinks, and you." &c. Some copies of [the] Septuagint, Arabic, &c., "I blew them away," with disgust. ---
Rapine. Ecclesiasticus xxxiv. 24. ---
Offering. Mincha, ver. 11. (Calmet) ---
Such victims and presents as are lame or strange, are rejected. (Pliny, [Natural History?] viii. 45.
Haydock: Mal 1:14 - -- Male. So better things are styled mascula thura. (Virgil; Pliny, [Natural History?] xii. 14.) ---
It was unlawful to offer a female by vow, but ...
Male. So better things are styled mascula thura. (Virgil; Pliny, [Natural History?] xii. 14.) ---
It was unlawful to offer a female by vow, but not out of devotion, Leviticus xxii. 18, 23. (Calmet) ---
King. So the Persian monarchs were called. ---
Dreadful. Greek, "Epiphanes." (Haydock)
Gill: Mal 1:10 - -- Who is there even among you that would shut the doors for nought?.... Either of the temple, as the Targum and Jarchi; for at each of the gates of th...
Who is there even among you that would shut the doors for nought?.... Either of the temple, as the Targum and Jarchi; for at each of the gates of the temple there were porters appointed in David's time, 1Ch 26:1 and who were paid for their service: or of the court, as Kimchi; the court of the priests where the offerings were brought. The words "for nought" are not, in the original text, at the end of this clause, but at the end of the next; and are by some referred to both; and by others restrained to the latter; and who give this as the sense of the words, "who is there", or "would there were any among you?" f any good man that would shut the doors of the temple, that so a man might not bring an abominable offering; intimating, that the priests or Levites however, who were porters, ought to shut the doors against such persons; and this way go Jarchi, Kimchi, and Abarbinel; to which the Chaldee paraphrase inclines; which is,
"who is there among you that will shut the door of the house of my sanctuary, that ye may not offer on mine altar an abominable sacrifice?''
but the same writers, out of an ancient book called Torath Cohanim, observe a sense that agrees with ours,
"a man says to his friend, shut this door for me, he desires nothing for it; light me this candle, he asks no reward for it; but as for you, who is there among you that will shut my doors for nought? or kindle a fire on mine altar for nought? and how much less will ye do freely those things which used to be done for reward? therefore I have no pleasure in you.''
There were four and twenty porters to open and shut the doors of the mountain of the house, or the temple, and the court of women in the daytime; six on the east side; four on the north; four on the south; at Asuppim two and two, four in all; four on the west, and two at Parbar g: here they attended in the daytime, to keep the place pure and peaceable; and there seems to have been one over all the rest, whose business was to see that the doors at evening were shut by them: in the Misnah h we are told that Ben Geber was appointed over the shutting of the gates, i.e. of the temple; and at night there were four and twenty guards also that kept watch; the priests kept guard in three places; in the room "abtines", in the room "nitsots", and in the fire room; and one and twenty Levites; five at the five gates of the mountain of the house, or the compass of the temple; four at the four corners within; five at the five gates of the court; and four at its four corners without; one at the chamber "Corban"; one at the chamber over against the vail; and another behind the most holy place; and there was one that was called the man of the mountain of the house, who every night went through every ward with torches burning before him; and he had power to beat those he found asleep in their watch, and to burn their garments i, to which the allusion is, Rev 16:15, and these guards, as Bartenora k observes, were not on account of thieves and robbers, but for the honour of the house; and these, neither the one by day, nor the other by night, did their work for nought, but had a maintenance allowed them for it:
neither do ye kindle fire upon mine altar for nought: and this was done every morning, for though, as one of the Jewish writers says l, fire came down, from heaven, it was ordered that they should bring of common fire; and there were three piles or rows of fire made every day upon the altar; the first was a large one, on which they offered the daily sacrifice, with the rest of the offerings; the second was on the side of it, a little one, from whence they took fire in the censer to burn incense every day; the third had no other use for it but to confirm the command concerning fire; as it is said, "the fire shall ever be burning", Lev 6:13 m and this fire was kindled to burn the sacrifices, the daily sacrifice, and other burnt offerings, for which they were paid out of the tithes, and other oblations; see 1Co 9:13 this was an aggravation of their negligence and carelessness about what offerings were brought and sacrificed; seeing they were so well taken care of, and such a sufficient maintenance provided for them; so that they did not the least piece of service in the temple but they were fully rewarded for it; even not so much as to shut a door, or kindle a fire; and therefore it is no wonder their conduct should be resented, as follows:
I have no pleasure in you, saith the Lord of hosts; neither in your persons, nor in your offerings:
neither will I accept an offering at your hand: the "minchah" or meat offering, any meat offering, particularly that which was offered morning and evening with the daily sacrifice, Exo 29:40 and it is sometimes used particularly for the evening meat offering, 2Ki 16:15 or rather, "a wheat" or "bread offering"; since this offering was made of fine flour, with oil poured upon it, and frankincense put upon that, Lev 2:1 hence mention is made of "incense" in the next verse Mal 1:11; and it was either baked in an oven, or fried in a pan; and either way, when it was brought to the priest, it was burnt on the altar, and was an offering by fire to the Lord, and of a sweet savour to him, when rightly performed; and was a figure of the sacrifice of Christ, which is of a sweet smelling savour to God; and this passage respects Gospel times, as appears from the following verse Mal 1:11, when Christ's sacrifice would be offered up, and so the oblation or meat offering made to cease, Dan 9:27 hence God would not accept of it any more; or else because not rightly offered, as it was not when any leaven was mixed with it, or that and honey were burnt with it; signifying it should be offered with sincerity, and without hypocrisy, and other carnal lusts; and indeed no legal sacrifices were acceptable to God but such as were offered up in the faith of Christ, and with a view to his sacrifice, without trusting to, and depending upon, the outward offering, as hypocrites and carnal persons did: wherefore to this is opposed a pure "minchah" or meat offering in the next verse Mal 1:11; which designs spiritual sacrifices, such as are now offered up under the Gospel dispensation; when offering and sacrifice of a ceremonial kind God desires not; he will have no more offered up; he takes no pleasure in them; they are not acceptable to him, being superseded by the sacrifice of his Son, they were types of; see Psa 40:6 and agreeably to which passages the words may be understood, as expressing the Lord's rejection of legal sacrifices in general among the Jews, which he would have no longer continued than till the Messiah came; by whose sufferings and death the daily sacrifice was caused to cease, Dan 9:27 when sacrifices of another kind should be offered up in the Gentile world, through every part of it, as in the following verse Mal 1:11.
Gill: Mal 1:11 - -- For from the rising of the sun even unto the going down of the same,.... From east to west, which is all habitable; not so north and south, as Kimchi ...
For from the rising of the sun even unto the going down of the same,.... From east to west, which is all habitable; not so north and south, as Kimchi observes, the extremes of which are not habitable. Abarbinel thinks that
my name shall be great among the Gentiles; through the preaching of the Gospel, attended with the spirit and power of God to the conversion of many; whereby he himself is made known, and the perfections of his nature, and his several names, and particularly that of the God and Father of our Lord Jesus; who, as such, is called upon, and greatness and glory are ascribed unto him for the gift of his Son, and the mission of him into the world, to be the Saviour of Gentiles as well as of Jews:
and in every place incense shall be offered unto my name; some Jewish writers understand this of Israelites, the disciples of the wise men, studying in the law, and putting up their evening prayers to God, in every place where they live among the Gentiles; which are as acceptable to God as if they offered incense, and a pure offering; this way goes Jarchi, to which agrees the Targum; and this sense is given in the Talmud n, and other writings of theirs; but Aben Ezra, Kimchi, and Abarbinel, interpret it of the Gentiles, though in different ways, and foreign from the sense of the text; which is, that not in Jerusalem the worship of God should be as formerly, but in all places in the Gentile world, and where particularly prayer should be made to God; see Joh 4:20 comparable to incense for its fervency, fragrancy, and gratefulness, Psa 141:2,
and a pure offering; meaning either the Gentiles themselves, their souls and bodies, Isa 66:20 or their sacrifices of praise, good works, and alms deeds Heb 13:15 which, though imperfect, and not free from sin, may be said to be "pure", proceeding from a pure heart, sprinkled by the blood of Christ, and offered in a pure and spiritual manner, and through the pure incense of Christ's mediation:
for my name shall be great among; the heathen, saith the Lord of hosts; which is repeated for the certainty of it.
Gill: Mal 1:12 - -- But ye have profaned it,.... That is, the name of the Lord, which they are said to despise, Mal 1:6 and pollute, Mal 1:7 and is a reason why they and ...
But ye have profaned it,.... That is, the name of the Lord, which they are said to despise, Mal 1:6 and pollute, Mal 1:7 and is a reason why they and their offerings were rejected: and that they profaned the name of the Lord appears by this,
in that ye say, The table of the Lord is polluted: the same with "contemptible", Mal 1:7 as Kimchi observes; See Gill on Mal 1:7,
and the fruit thereof, even his meat is contemptible; the word for fruit o sometimes is used for speech, the fruit of the lips, Isa 57:19 and taken in this sense here, as it is by some, may be understood either of the word of God, which commanded such and such sacrifices to be offered up upon the altar, and was despised, so Abarbinel: or the word of the priests, who were continually saying that what was offered up on the altar was contemptible, even the food which they ate of; so Jarchi and Kimchi. "Fruit" and "meat" seem to signify one and the same thing, and design the fruit and meat of the altar; either that which belonged to the Lord, the fat and the blood, which were offered to him, and were reckoned contemptible; or that which fell to the share of the priests, which they thought mean and worthless. Cocceius interprets this of Christ the Branch of the Lord, and fruit of the earth, Isa 4:2 whose meat it was to do the will of him that sent him, and was despised and rejected by the Jews; and which was the reason of God's casting them off, and taking in the Gentiles.
Gill: Mal 1:13 - -- Ye said also, Behold, what a weariness is it?.... These are either the words of the priests, saying what a wearisome and fatiguing business the templ...
Ye said also, Behold, what a weariness is it?.... These are either the words of the priests, saying what a wearisome and fatiguing business the temple service was to them, for which they thought they were poorly paid; such as slaying the sacrifices; removing the ashes from the altar; putting the wood in order; kindling the fire, and laying the sacrifice on it: or of the people that brought the sacrifice, who, when they brought a lamb upon their shoulders, and laid it down, said, how weary are we with bringing it, suggesting it was so fat and fleshy; so Kimchi and Abarbinel, to which sense the Targum seems to agree; which paraphrases it,
"but if ye say, lo, what we have brought is from our labour;''
and so the Syriac version, "and ye say, this is from our labour"; and the Vulgate Latin version, "and ye say, lo, from labour"; and the Septuagint version, "and ye say, these are from affliction"; meaning that what they brought was with great toil and labour, out of great poverty, misery, and affliction:
and ye have snuffed at it, saith the Lord of hosts; or, "blown it" p; filled it with wind, that it might seem fat and fleshy, when it was poor and lean; so Abarbinel and Abendana: or ye have puffed, and panted, and blown, as persons weary with bringing such a heavy lamb, when it was so poor and light, that, if it was blown at, it would fall to the ground; so R. Joseph Kimchi: or ye have puffed at it, thrown it upon the ground by way of contempt; so David Kimchi: or, "ye have grieved him" q; the owner of the lamb, from whom they stole it; which sense is mentioned by Kimchi and Ben Melech; taking the word rendered "torn", in the next clause, for that which was "stolen". Jarchi says this is one of the eighteen words corrected by the scribes; and that instead of
and ye have brought that which was torn, and the lame, and the sick; See Gill on Mal 1:8 and if the first word is rendered "stolen", as it may, this offering was an abomination to the Lord, Isa 61:8,
thus ye brought an offering; such an one as it was: or a "minchah", a meat offering, along with these abominable ones:
should I accept this of your hands? saith the Lord; which, when offered to a civil governor, would not be acceptable, Mal 1:8 and when contrary to the express law of God.
Gill: Mal 1:14 - -- But cursed be the deceiver,.... A cunning, crafty, subtle man, who thinks and contrives, speaks and acts, in a very artful and deceiving manner; thoug...
But cursed be the deceiver,.... A cunning, crafty, subtle man, who thinks and contrives, speaks and acts, in a very artful and deceiving manner; though some derive the word from
which hath in his flock a male; without spot and blemish, as the law requires:
and voweth and sacrificeth to the Lord a corrupt thing; that was a female, or had blemishes in it; for the law required what was perfect and without a blemish for a vow; what was superfluous or deficient in its parts might do for a freewill offering, but not for a vow, Lev 22:18 wherefore such a man must be accursed, and such conduct must be highly resented by the Lord; had he it not in his power to do better, it might be excusable; but then it would be better not to have vowed at all; but to vow a sacrifice to the Lord, and deal deceitfully with him, when he could have brought an offering agreeable to his vow, and to the law, this is aggravated wickedness:
for I am a great King, saith the Lord of hosts; the King of the whole world, the King of kings, and Lord of lords; and therefore to be honoured and reverenced suitable to his dignity and greatness:
and my name is dreadful among the heathen; because of his judgments executed among them; or rather because of his Gospel preached unto them; for this may be considered as a prophecy of what would be when the Gospel should be spread in the Gentile world; and therefore if they, when he was made known to them, would fear and reverence him; then the Israelites, to whom he had given such instances and proofs of his love, ought to have shown a greater regard unto him.
expand allCommentary -- Verse Notes / Footnotes
NET Notes: Mal 1:10 The rhetorical language suggests that as long as the priesthood and people remain disobedient, the temple doors may as well be closed because God is n...
NET Notes: Mal 1:11 My name will be great among the nations. In what is clearly a strongly ironic shift of thought, the Lord contrasts the unbelief and virtual paganism o...
NET Notes: Mal 1:12 Heb “fruit.” The following word “food” in the Hebrew text (אָכְלוֹ, ’okhlo) ap...
NET Notes: Mal 1:14 The epithet great king was used to describe the Hittite rulers on their covenant documents and so, in the covenant ideology of Malachi, is an apt desc...
Geneva Bible: Mal 1:10 Who [is there] even among you ( l ) that would shut the doors [for nought]? neither do ye kindle [fire] on mine altar for nought. I have no pleasure i...
Geneva Bible: Mal 1:11 For from the rising of the sun even unto the going down of the same my name [shall be] ( m ) great among the Gentiles; and in every place incense [sha...
Geneva Bible: Mal 1:12 But ye have profaned it, in that ye say, ( n ) The table of the LORD [is] polluted; and the fruit thereof, [even] his meat, [is] contemptible.
( n ) ...
Geneva Bible: Mal 1:13 Ye said also, Behold, what a ( o ) weariness [is it]! and ye have snuffed at it, saith the LORD of hosts; and ye brought [that which was] torn, and th...
Geneva Bible: Mal 1:14 But cursed [be] the deceiver, which hath in his flock ( p ) a male, and voweth, and sacrificeth unto the Lord a corrupt thing: for I [am] a great King...
expand allCommentary -- Verse Range Notes
TSK Synopsis -> Mal 1:1-14
TSK Synopsis: Mal 1:1-14 - --1 Malachi complains of Israel's unkindness;2 of their irreligiousness and profaneness.
MHCC -> Mal 1:6-14
MHCC: Mal 1:6-14 - --We may each charge upon ourselves what is here charged upon the priests. Our relation to God, as our Father and Master, strongly obliges us to fear an...
Matthew Henry -> Mal 1:6-14
Matthew Henry: Mal 1:6-14 - -- The prophet is here, by a special commission, calling the priests to account, though they were themselves appointed judges, to call the people to an...
Keil-Delitzsch -> Mal 1:10-13; Mal 1:14
Keil-Delitzsch: Mal 1:10-13 - --
Mal 1:10. "O that there were one among you, who would shut the doors, that ye might not light mine altar to no purpose! I have no pleasure in you, ...
Keil-Delitzsch: Mal 1:14 - --
"And cursed is he who deceives whilst there is in his flock a male animal, and he who vows and sacrifices to the Lord that which is corrupt; for I ...
Constable: Mal 1:6--2:10 - --III. Oracle two: the priests' Illicit practices and indifferent attitudes 1:6--2:9
The first oracle ended with a...
Constable: Mal 1:8-10 - --2. Disqualified sacrifices 1:8-10
1:8 Furthermore the priests were offering blind, lame, and sick animals as sacrifices. These were unacceptable accor...
Constable: Mal 1:12-14 - --3. Disdainful attitudes 1:12-14
1:11 It was particularly inappropriate for Israel's priests to despise Yahweh because the time would come when people ...
Guzik -> Mal 1:1-14
Guzik: Mal 1:1-14 - --Malachi 1 - "I Have Loved You"
A. God's love for a rebellious Israel.
1. (1-2a) God declares His love for Israel through the prophet Mala...
expand allIntroduction / Outline
JFB: Malachi (Book Introduction) MALACHI forms the transition link between the two dispensations, the Old and the New, "the skirt and boundary of Christianity" [TERTULLIAN], to which ...
JFB: Malachi (Outline)
GOD'S LOVE: ISRAEL'S INGRATITUDE: THE PRIESTS' MERCENARY SPIRIT: A GENTILE SPIRITUAL PRIESTHOOD SHALL SUPERSEDE THEM. (Mal 1:1-14)
REPROOF OF THE PRI...
TSK: Malachi 1 (Chapter Introduction) Overview
Mal 1:1, Malachi complains of Israel’s unkindness; Mal 1:2, of their irreligiousness and profaneness.
Poole: Malachi (Book Introduction) THE ARGUMENT
Concerning this prophet, some have thought (but without good and sufficient ground) that he was an angel in the form of a man; others ...
Poole: Malachi 1 (Chapter Introduction) MALACHI CHAPTER 1
God by Malachi complaineth of Israel’ s ingratitude, Mal 1:1-5 and of the profane disrespect shown to God’ s worship, ...
MHCC: Malachi (Book Introduction) Malachi was the last of the prophets, and is supposed to have prophesied B.C. 420. He reproves the priests and the people for the evil practices into ...
MHCC: Malachi 1 (Chapter Introduction) (Mal 1:1-5) The ingratitude of Israel.
(Mal 1:6-14) They are careless in God's institutions.
Matthew Henry: Malachi (Book Introduction) An Exposition, with Practical Observations, of The Prophecy of Malachi
God's prophets were his witnesses to his church, each in his day, for several a...
Matthew Henry: Malachi 1 (Chapter Introduction) Thus prophet is sent first to convince and then to comfort, first to discover sin and to reprove for that and then to promise the coming of him who...
Constable: Malachi (Book Introduction) Introduction
Title and Writer
The name of the writer is the title of this book.
...
Constable: Malachi (Outline) Outline
I. Heading 1:1
II. Oracle one: Yahweh's love for Israel 1:2-5
II...
Constable: Malachi Malachi
Bibliography
Alden, Robert L. "Malachi." In Daniel-Minor Prophets. Vol. 7 of The Expositor's Bible Comm...
Haydock: Malachi (Book Introduction) THE PROPHECY OF MALACHIAS.
INTRODUCTION.
Malachias, whose name signifies "the angel of the Lord," was contemporary with Nehemias, and by some ...
Gill: Malachi (Book Introduction) INTRODUCTION TO MALACHI
This book, in the Hebrew copies, is called "Sepher Malachi", the Book of Malachi; in the Vulgate Latin version, "the Prophe...
Gill: Malachi 1 (Chapter Introduction) INTRODUCTION TO MALACHI 1
In this chapter the Lord declares his love to the people of Israel, and proves it; and complains that the honour due unto...
