_O ye priests, this commandment is for you_ Or _decree_, rather, for properly speaking no commandment is here given to the priests, only punishment is denounced upon them if they did not repent. _If ye will not hear, &c., to give glory unto my name_ Which you have despised and dishonoured, by your i... [ Continue Reading ]
_My covenant was with him_ The prophet here speaks of the succession of the ancient priests, such as Aaron, Eleazar, Phineas, and their successors, as of one single person, under the name of Levi, (see Zechariah 11:16,) and says, I gave him my covenant of life and peace, or of happiness and security... [ Continue Reading ]
_For the priest's lips should keep knowledge_ Preserve and store up, so as to distribute it. It is his duty to understand the meaning of the law of God: and people ought to resort to him for instruction in any difficulty that arises concerning the sense of it. _For he is the messenger of the Lord of... [ Continue Reading ]
_Have we not all one father?_ Here a new section begins, wherein the prophet severely censures the intermarriages of Israelites with women of another country, which Moses had forbidden, Deuteronomy 7:3; and also divorces, which seem to have been multiplied for the purpose of contracting these prohib... [ Continue Reading ]
_Judah hath profaned the holiness of the Lord which he loved_ As if he had said, “This sin,” says Lowth, “implies the profanation of God's holy people, which he set apart for his own worship and service; a profanation of the temple, when the priests who officiated there were guilty of the same crime... [ Continue Reading ]
_Yet ye say, Wherefore_ Ye will, perhaps, still inquire wherefore God regards not your offerings; if so, the answer is ready, namely, _because the Lord hath been witness between thee and the wife of thy youth_ Because the Lord sees how you act toward your wives; that when you have enjoyed the flower... [ Continue Reading ]
_For the Lord God of Israel saith that he hateth putting away_ He allowed the Jews liberty of divorce only for the _hardness of their hearts, Matthew 19:8_, not that it was a thing pleasing to him. _For one covereth violence with his garment_ Or, _And when one puts violence upon his garment_, or _co... [ Continue Reading ]
_Ye have wearied the Lord with your words_ You have tired his patience by your blasphemous speeches, charging his providence with injustice. _Yet ye say_ Ye persist to say; _Wherein have we wearied him?_ See on Malachi 1:6. _When ye say_ When your discourse and reasoning tend to overthrow (if it wer... [ Continue Reading ]