THE BOOK PROPHET MALACHI _Chronological Notes relative to this Book_ -Year from the Creation, according to Archbishop Usher, 3607. -Year from the vocation of Abram, 1524. -Year since the destruction of Troy, 787. -Year since the commencement of the kingdom of Israel by the Divine appointment of... [ Continue Reading ]
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 giving him greater privileges and a better inheritance than what I have given to _Esau_.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Malachi 1:3. _AND I HATED ESAU_] I have shown him _less love_; Genesis 29:30-1. I comparatively _hated_ him by giving him an inferior lot. And now, I have not only laid waste the dwelling-place of the Edomites, by the incursions of their enemies; but (Malachi 1:4) they shall remain the perpetu... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Malachi 1:4. _THEY SHALL BUILD, BUT I WILL THROW DOWN_] We have already seen enough of the wickedness of the _Edomites_ to justify the utmost severity of Divine justice against them. The _pulling_ _down_ predicted here was by Judas Maccabeus; see _1Mac 5:65_; and by John Hyrcanus; see _Joseph_... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Malachi 1:5. _YOUR EYES_] Ye Israelites _shall see_, in your succeeding generations, that - _THE LORD WILL BE MAGNIFIED_] By his kindness in Israel, and his judgments _beyond_.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Malachi 1:6. _A SON HONOURETH HIS FATHER_] I am your _Father _- where, then, is my honour? Where your filial obedience? _IF I_ BE _A MASTER, WHERE_ IS _MY FEAR?_] The respect due to me.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Malachi 1:7. _YE OFFER POLLUTED BREAD_] The priests, probably to ingratiate themselves with the people, took the refuse beasts, c., and offered them to God and thus the sacrificial ordinances were rendered _contemptible_.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Malachi 1:8. _OFFER IT NOW UNTO THY GOVERNOR_] פחת _pechath_, a word signifying a _lieutenant_, or _viceroy_, among the Chaldeans, Syrians, and Persians; for neither at this time, nor ever after, was there a _king_ in Israel.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Malachi 1:9. _BESEECH GOD_] There were evident marks of God's displeasure in the land, and it was occasioned by these pollutions through the priests. And now he exhorts _them_ to pray to God that they may be pardoned: for, if this practice be persisted in, God will not accept any offering made... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Malachi 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, that not one of them would even kindle a fire on the hearth of the altar unless he were paid for it.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Malachi 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 here foretold. The _incense_ of praise, and the _pure offering_ of the _Lamb without spot_, and through him a holy, loving heart, sh... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Malachi 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?... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Malachi 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 neither _they_ nor _any other cattle_ will eat it. _YE BROUGHT_ THAT WHICH WAS _TORN, AND THE LAME, AND THE SICK_] There had ne... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Malachi 1:14. _CURSED_ BE _THE DECEIVER_] Those who act thus, as they cannot elude God's _notice_, so neither shall they escape his _curse_. _AND VOWETH, AND SACRIFICETH - A CORRUPT THING_] The history of Ananias and Sapphira, Acts 5:1, c., is a complete comment on this. It was high time to b... [ Continue Reading ]