Malachi 1:4

Whereas Edom saith, We are impoverished, but we will return and build the desolate places; thus saith the LORD of hosts, They shall build, but I will throw down; and they shall call them, The border of wickedness, and, The people against whom the LORD hath indignation for ever. WHEREAS, [ kiy (H3588)] - rather, But if Edom say (Maurer). WE ARE IMPOVERISHED, BUT WE WILL RETURN AND BUILD THE DESOLATE PLACES; THUS SAITH THE LORD OF HOSTS, THEY SHALL BUILD, BUT I WILL THROW DOWN. Edom may strive as she may to recover herself, but it shall be in vain, because I doom her to perpetual desolation, whereas I restore Israel. This Yahweh states, to illustrate His gratuitous love to Israel rather than to Edom. AND THEY SHALL CALL THEM, THE BORDER OF WICKEDNESS - a region given over to the curse of reprobation (Ca...

And to the same purpose he adds, _If Edom shall say, We have been diminished, but we shall return and build houses; but if they build, I will pull down, saith God_. He confirms what I have stated, that the posterity of Edom had no hope of restoration, for however they might gather courage and diligently labor in rebuilding their cities, they were not yet to succeed, for God would pull down all their buildings. This difference then was like a living representation, by which the Jews might see the love of God towards Jacob, and his hatred towards Esau. For since both people were overthrown by the same enemy, how was it that liberty was given to the Jews and no permission was given to the Idumeans to return to their own country? There was, as it has been said, a greater ill-will to the Jews, and yet the Chaldeans dealt with them more kindly. It then follows, that all this was owing to the w...

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 recompence of their crimes, while all their hopes and comforts are from the unmerited mercy of the Lord. He chose his people that they might be holy. If we love him, it is because he has first loved us; yet we all are prone to undervalue the mercies of God, and to excuse our own offences....

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_. Antiq., lib. xiii. c. 9. s. 1. _THEY SHALL CALL THEM, THE BORDER OF WICKEDNESS_] A wicked land. Among this people scarcely any trace of good could ever be noted....

WHEREAS EDOM SAITH - o. WE ARE IMPOVERISHED - o, ידשׁשׁ.), or, more probably, “we were crushed.” Either gives an adequate sense. Human self-confidence will admit anything, as to the past; nay, will even exaggerate past evil to itself, “Crush us how they may, we will arise and repair our losses.” So Ephraim said of old Isaiah 9:9, “in the pride and stoutness of heart, The bricks are fallen down, but we will build with hewn-stones: the sycamores are cut down, but we will change them into cedars.” It is the one language of what calls itself, “indomitable;” in other words, “untameable,” conquerors or every other gambler; “we will repair our losses.” All is again staked and lost. “They shall call them the border of wickedness.” Formerly, it

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 (Zechariah 9:1; Zechariah 12:1; see note on Nahum 1:1). The word of the Lord is heavy and full of threats, but, as St. Jerome notes, it is also consolatory, because it is not "against" but to Israel. By this name the whole covenanted nation is designated, here, perhaps, wi

WHEREAS EDOM SAITH, WE ARE IMPOVERISHED,.... Or the Idumeans, as the Targum; the posterity of Esau, who acknowledge themselves greatly reduced by the desolations made in their country, cities, towns, and houses, being plundered of all their valuable things. Kimchi interprets it, if the congregation of Edom should say, though we are become poor and low, and our land is laid waste: BUT WE WILL RETURN; being now become rich, as the Targum adds; that is, as Jarchi explains it, with the spoils of Jerusalem: AND BUILD THE DESOLATE PLACES: as Israel did, as Kimchi observes, when they returned from their captivity; and so the Edomites hoped to do the same: THUS SAITH THE LORD OF HOSTS, THEY SHALL BUILD, BUT I WILL THROW DOWN; they attempted to build again their cities and towns, but could not succeed, God was against them: AND THEY SHALL CALL THEM; or, "they shall be called" u; this shall be...

EDOM That is, Esau's descendants. See (Genesis 25:30)....

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 love is written large on every page of their history. A former prophet gave the message from the Lord, “You only have I known of all the families of the earth” Amos 3:2. And long before that Moses had told them, “Only the Lord had a delight in thy fathers to love them, and He chose their seed after them, even you above all people, as it is this day” Deuteronomy 10:15. And the man of God in his final utterance burst out in praise, “Yea, He loved the people” Deuteronomy 33:3. And this generation, brought ba

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 (Israel and Edom), sprung from twin brothers, and occupying adjacent lands, might have been expected to share equally in Yahweh's favour, but the recent desolation of Edom (probably by the Nabatean Arabs, who drove the Edomites away from their old territory to the district S. of Judah, hence called Idumæ a) shows that Yahweh metes out differential treatment. He will frustrate any attempt on Edom's part to reoccupy its former territory, and men will recognise that Yahweh is great, not only in Israel, but beyond it. The reason for this disparate action is found in the different religious temperaments of the two peoples, which perpetuate those of their eponyms. Edom reproduced the profanity of...