Commentaries Dictionaries Concordances

Dummelow's Commentary on the Bible

Malachi 1:2

Wherein hast thou loved us?] i.e. 'Wherein hast thou shewn thy love?' So in Malachi 1:3, I hated Esau means 'I have shewn myself hostile to Esau' 'Esau' and 'Jacob' here stand for the nations Edom and Israel, not for the patriarMalachi

3. The desolation of Edom here referred to had been already adduced by an unknown prophet (Isaiah 63) as a proof of Jehovah's care for Israel. Edom was devastated by an invasion of Arabs who for more than a century had been pressing into Palestine: cp. Ezekiel 25:4; Ezekiel 25:10. Dragons] RV 'jackals.'

Continues after advertising

See also Malachi 1:2 in other biblical comments:

  • Adam Clarke Bible Commentary

    Verse Malachi 1:2. WAS _NOT ESAU JACOB'S BROTHER?_] Have I not shown a greater _partiality_ to the _Israelites_ than I have to the _Edomites_? _I LOVED JACOB_] My _love to Jacob_ has been proved by g...

  • Albert Barnes' Bible Commentary

    I HAVE LOVED YOU, SAITH THE LORD - What a volume of God’s relations to us in two simple words, “I-have-loved you” . So would not God speak, unless He still loved. “I have loved and do love you,” is th...

  • Annotated Bible by A.C. Gaebelein

    ANALYSIS AND ANNOTATIONS 1. Jehovah's Love for His People CHAPTER 1:1-5 The message of Malachi begins with the sublime statement, “I have loved you, saith Jehovah.” It is the message to Israel. This...

  • Arthur Peake's Commentary on the Bible

    YAHWEH'S LOVE FOR ISRAEL. This truth is questioned by some of the prophet's contemporaries, who are then reminded of the contrasted fortunes of the nations descended from Jacob and Esau. These peoples...

  • Bullinger's Companion Bible Notes

    I HAVE LOVED Reference to Pentateuch (Deuteronomy 7:8; Deuteronomy 10:15; Deuteronomy 33:3). SAITH. hath said. Quoted in R

  • Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

    _I have loved you_ I have loved you with an everlasting (Jeremiah 31:3) and unchangeable (Romans 11:29) love. This is the keynote of all that follows. On this rests Jehovah's claim to the filial honou...

  • Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

    Malachi 1:2-5. Introductory Appeal These verses form an exordium to the whole Book. The ungrateful disposition of the people and the unchanging love of God are in view in all that follows....

  • Charles Box Commentaries

    _GOD CONTINUED TO LOVE HIS PEOPLE -- MALACHI 1:1-5:_ The Jews had become disobedient in their sacrifices and in their living. Malachi pictured the fact that God continued to love them even in their re...

  • Charles Simeon's Horae Homileticae

    DISCOURSE: 1266 THE SOVEREIGNTY OF GOD’S GRACE Malachi 1:2. _I have loved you, saith the Lord. Yet ye say, Wherein hast thou loved us? Was not Esau Jacob’s brother? saith the Lord: yet I loved Jacob,...

  • Coke's Commentary on the Holy Bible

    YET I LOVED JACOB, &C.— These words are not to be taken according to modern ideas; for in Scripture, when love and hatred are spoken of God, are set in opposition to each other, and applied to his dis...

  • College Press Bible Study Textbook Series

    GOD LOVES ISRAEL. Malachi 1:2-5 RV. I have loved you, saith Jehovah. Yet ye say, Wherein hast thou loved us? Was not Esau Jacob's brother? saith Jehovah: yet I loved Jacob; but Esau I hated, and made...

  • Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

    I have loved you, saith the LORD. Yet ye say, Wherein hast thou loved us? Was not Esau Jacob's brother? saith the LORD: yet I loved Jacob, I HAVE LOVED YOU - above other men; nay, even above the ot...

  • EasyEnglish Bible Commentaries

    MY *MESSENGER MALACHI _GORDON CHURCHYARD_ CHAPTER 1 V1 The *LORD sent this message to Israel by means of his servant Malachi. NOTES Verse 1 Malachi wrote his book in the Hebrew language. The He...

  • Ellicott's Commentary On The Whole Bible

    I HAVE LOVED — _i.e.,_ shown abundant proof of my love. The prophet goes on to show how God has shown so great proofs of His love. WAS NOT ESAU JACOB’S BROTHER? — And would not one suppose from that...

  • ETCBC data on Hebrew bible

    אָהַ֤בְתִּי אֶתְכֶם֙ אָמַ֣ר יְהוָ֔ה וַ אֲמַרְתֶּ֖ם...

  • Expositor's Bible Commentary (Nicoll)

    1. GOD'S LOVE FOR ISRAEL AND HATRED OF EDOM Malachi 1:2 He begins with God's Love, and in answer to the disappointed people's cry, "Wherein hast Thou loved us?" he does not, as the older prophets did...

  • Expositor's Bible Commentary (Nicoll)

    Malachi 2:1; Malachi 3:1; Malachi 4:1 PROPHECY WITHIN THE LAW "MALACHI" 1-4 BENEATH this title we may gather all the eight sections of the Book of "Malachi." They contain many things of perennial i...

  • Frederick Brotherton Meyer's Commentary

    SINCERITY OF WORSHIP SOUGHT Malachi 1:1-14 The love referred to in these opening Malachi 1:1-5, was exemplified in the divine choice, that through Israel the whole world might be blessed. Hate does n...

  • G. Campbell Morgan's Exposition on the Whole Bible

    After the introductory word, which really constitutes the title page of the prophecy, the message begins almost abruptly with the tender and sensitive word of Jehovah to His people, "I have loved you....

  • Geneva Study Bible Commentary

    I have loved you, saith the LORD. Yet ye say, (b) Wherein hast thou loved us? [Was] not Esau Jacob's brother? saith the LORD: yet I loved Jacob, (b) Which declares their great ingratitude that did no...

  • George Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary

    Loved us. So they thought, (Theodoret) and perhaps spoke. (Haydock) --- Jacob. I have preferred his posterity, to make them my chosen people, and to load them with my blessings, without any merit on t...

  • Hawker's Poor man's commentary

    Every word in this address of the Lord is weighty, and deserves the closest attention. Reader, pray observe how the Lord opens his discourse, with referring to his love. Yes! this is the source, the f...

  • Introductory Lectures - Commentary by William Kelly

    Lectures on the Minor Prophets. W. Kelly. The Lord has not been pleased to give us much express information of the prophets in general, with the exception of Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Daniel, and in a me...

  • John Calvin's Bible Commentary

    I am constrained by the context to read all these verses; for the sense cannot be otherwise completed. God expostulates here with a perverse and an ungrateful people, because they doubly deprived him...

  • John Darby's Synopsis

    THE FOLLOWING COMMENTARY COVERS CHAPTER S 1 THROUGH 4. The prophecy of Malachi deals with the people brought back from the captivity of Babylon, and is most important as shewing the moral condition of...

  • John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible

    I HAVE LOVED YOU, SAITH THE LORD,.... Which appeared of old, by choosing them, above all people upon the face of the earth, to be his special and peculiar people; by bestowing peculiar favours and ble...

  • John Trapp Complete Commentary

    I have loved you, saith the LORD. Yet ye say, Wherein hast thou loved us? [Was] not Esau Jacob's brother? saith the LORD: yet I loved Jacob, Ver. 2. _I have loved you, saith the Lord_] Thou hast love...

  • Joseph Benson’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

    _The burden of the Lord_ The word _burden_ is here, as often elsewhere, equivalent to prophecy; _to Israel_ To those of all the tribes that were returned from captivity. _I have loved you, saith the L...

  • Kretzmann's Popular Commentary of the Bible

    I have loved you, saith the Lord, Jehovah placing this at the head of His message as a fundamental, absolute fact. YET YE SAY, in expressing their doubts of His sincerity, WHEREIN HAST THOU LOVED US?...

  • Kretzmann's Popular Commentary of the Bible

    GOD'S PECULIAR LOVE FOR ISRAEL...

  • Matthew Henry Commentary on the Whole Bible

    1-5 All advantages, either as to outward circumstances, or spiritual privileges, come from the free love of God, who makes one to differ from another. All the evils sinners feel and fear, are the just...

  • Matthew Poole's Concise Commentary On The Bible

    I HAVE LOVED YOU: God asserts his ancient love, that which he had in many generations past showed: I have, time out of mind, yea, from before the birth of your father Jacob, and in truth before Abraha...

  • Patchworkid's Personal Study Bible Notes

    Malachi 1:2 loved H157 (H8804) says H5002 (H8803) LORD H3068 say H559 (H8804) loved H157 ...

  • Peter Pett's Commentary on the Bible

    THE LOVE OF YHWH FOR JACOB, AND HIS HATRED FOR ESAU (MALACHI 1:2). YHWH now makes a positive affirmation of love for His people Israel (Jacob). This love had often been affirmed by previous prophets....

  • Sermon Bible Commentary

    Malachi 1:2 I. There is no impiety in this inquiry. Granted that God may prefer whom He will; that it is for Him, if it please Him and as it please Him, to put one man before another; yet, if in so do...

  • Summarized Bible Commentary

    CONTENTS: Jehovah's love for Israel. The sins of the priests and hypocrisy of the people. CHARACTERS: God, Malachi, Jacob, Esau. CONCLUSION: God would have His people know that He loves them, therefo...

  • Sutcliffe's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

    Malachi 1:1. _The word of the Lord by Malachi,_ my angel, my messenger, or the messenger of the Lord. Malachi flourished after the second temple was built, and about four hundred and twenty years befo...

  • The Biblical Illustrator

    _was not Esau Jacob’s brother?_ saith the Lord: yet I loved Jacob, and I hated Esau, and laid his mountains and his heritage waste for the dragons of the wilderness. JACOB From the fate of the hunte...

  • The ESV Global Study Bible's Study Notes

    MALACHI—NOTE ON MALACHI 1:2 First Dispute: Are God’s People Still Special in His Sight? Malachi answers the doubts of the people who question God’s love because of Israel’s many current problems....

  • The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary

    CRITICAL NOTES.] BURDEN] (Massa) A heavy vision full of toil and weight. “What is the burden of the Lord?” was asked scoffingly from the prophets. As a punishment for the blasphemy of the people, God...

  • The Pulpit Commentaries

    EXPOSITION VERSE 1:1-2:9 Part I. REPROOF OF THE PRIESTS FOR NEGLECT OF DIVINE SERVICE. MALACHI 1:1 § 1_. Heading and author. _THE BURDEN ...

  • Through The Bible C2000 Serie by Chuck Smith

    Now let's turn to Malachi, the final word of God in the Old Testament period. God's final message before the coming of Jesus Christ. Who Malachi was, where he came from, we know nothing. Some believe...

  • Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

    Deuteronomy 10:15; Deuteronomy 32:8; Deuteronomy 7:6; Genesis 25:23;...

  • Wells of Living Water Commentary

    VITAL QUESTIONS Malachi 1:1; Malachi 2:1; Malachi 3:1 INTRODUCTORY WORDS The Book of Malachi presents questions asked by God. In response, instead of a direct answer, the chosen people, Israel, ask...

  • Wesley's Explanatory Notes

    Loved you — Both personally considered and relatively, in progenitors. Us — Who have been captives, and groaned under it all our days 'till of late. Was not Esau — Did not one father beget them, and o...

Continues after advertising