Malachi 2:3

Behold, I will corrupt your seed, and spread dung upon your faces, even the dung of your solemn feasts; and one shall take you away with it. BEHOLD, I WILL CORRUPT YOUR SEED - "corrupt" [ go`eer (H1605) 'et (H854) hazera` (H2233)], literally, 'rebuke,' answering to the opposite prophecy of blessing (Malachi 3:11). Instead of rebuking your seed, 'I will rebuke the devourer.' [To rebuke the seed is to forbid its growing. But Buxtorf, Drusius, and Tarnovius, remark that when gaa`ar (H1605) has this sense (rebuke), it is construed with bª-. When it is without bª...

He confirms here again what he had said in the last verse, — that they would perceive God’s curse in want and poverty. The curse of God is any kind of calamity; for as God declares especially his favor by a liberal support, so the sterility of the land and defective produce most clearly evidence the curse of God. The Prophet then shows, by mentioning one thing, what sort of curse was nigh the Jews, — that God would _destroy _their _seed_. Some read, but improperly, “I will destroy you and the seed.” I wonder how learned men make such puerile mistakes, when there is nothing ambiguous in the Prophet’s words. _I will destroy _then _for you the seed_; that is, “Sow as much as you please, I will yet destroy your seed, so that it shall produce no fruit.” In short, he threatens the Jews with want and famine; for the land would produce nothing when cursed by God. (214) But as the Jews flattered...

1-9 What is here said of the covenant of priesthood, is true of the covenant of grace made with all believers, as spiritual priests. It is a covenant of life and peace; it assures all believers of all happiness, both in this world and in that to come. It is an honour to God's servants to be employed as his messengers. The priest's lips should not keep knowledge from his people, but keep it for them. The people are all concerned to know the will of the Lord. We must not only consult the written word, but desire instruction and advice from God's messengers, in the affairs of our souls. Ministers must exert themselves to the utmost for the conversion of sinners; and even among those called Israelites, there are many to be turned from iniquity. Those ministers, and those only, are likely to turn men from sin, who preach sound doctrine, and live holy lives according to the Scripture. Many de...

Verse Malachi 2:3. _BEHOLD, I WILL CORRUPT YOUR SEED_] So as to render it unfruitful. _Newcome_ translates, - "I will take away from you the shoulder." This was the part that belonged to the priest, Leviticus 7:32; Deuteronomy 18:3. _SPREAD DUNG UPON YOUR FACES_] Instead of _receiving_ a sacrifice at your hands, I will throw your offerings back into your faces. Here God shows his _contempt_ for _them_ and their offerings....

LO, I WILL REBUKE THE SEED FOR YOUR SAKE - o, i. e., that it should not grow. He who worketh by His sustaining will all the operations of nature, would at His will withhold them. Neither priests nor Levites cultivated the soil; yet, since the tithes were assigned to them, the diminution of the harvest affected them. The meal-offering too was a requisite part of the sacrifice. (See also Joel 1:13; Joel 2:14.) AND SPREAD DUNG UPON YOUR PHACES, THE DUNG o OF YOUR SOLEMN FEASTS - , or, “of your sacrifices.” It was by the law carried without the camp and burned with the animal itself. They had brought before the face of God maimed, unfitting sacrifices; they should have them cast back, with their refuse, upon them; “as a l

EXPOSITION MALACHI 2:1 _§ 4. For these derelictions of duty the priests are threatened with punishment._ MALACHI 2:1 THIS COMMANDMENT. The threat or announcement is called a commandment, because God ordains it and imposes its execution on certain instruments. (For the expression, camp. Leviticus 25:21.) The threat is contained in Malachi 2:2, Malachi 2:3. MALACHI 2:2

BEHOLD, I WILL CORRUPT YOUR SEED,.... Or, "the seed for you" r; that is, for your sake, as Kimchi and Ben Melech explain it; meaning the seed they cast into the earth, which the Lord threatens to corrupt and destroy; so that it should not spring up again, and bring forth any increase: or, "rebuke" s it, as the word sometimes signifies; and so the Targum, "behold, I will rebuke you in the increase, the fruit (son) of the seed.'' The sense is the same; corrupting the seed being a rebuke to them; and rebuking the seed being a corruption of that, or hindering it from growing up. It is a threatening of a sore famine that should be in the Jewish nation; and which Cocceius thinks was that which happened in the days of Claudius Caesar, Acts 11:28. The Septuagint version renders it, "behold, I separate to you the shoulder"; the Arabic version, "the right hand", or arm; and the V

THE REBUKE OF THE PRIESTS CHAPTER 1:6-2:9 The priests, the religious leaders of the people, are described first in their evil ways, and rebuked. But the rebuke includes the entire people, for it is true, “like priests like people.” The Lord called Israel to be His firstborn son, and therefore, nationally, He is their Father. He is the Lord, and Israel called to be His servant. But they had not honored Him, as a son should honor the father by obedience; they did not fear Him, but despised His Name. This charge brought forth from the side of the priests another brazen statement, the result of their hypocritical self-righteousness. They answered back, demanding proof of the charge by saying, “Wherein have we despised Thy Name?” They seemed to be hardened in their consciences, though they kept up outward appearances. Such, too, is the religious condition in much of Christendom. Another char...

MALACHI 1:6 TO MALACHI 2:16. ISRAEL'S DISREGARD OF THIS LOVE. This section falls into two parts, one dealing with the priesthood (Malachi 1:6 to Malachi 2:9), the other with the people (Malachi 2:10). Yahweh has not received the honour due to a father from a son, or to a master from a servant. The priests (note the sudden application, Malachi 1:6) have brought His service into contempt by offering polluted bread (an archaic expression for sacrificial flesh) upon His altar. They bring

BEHOLD. Figure of speech _Asterismos_ App-6. CORRUPT. rebuke; as in Malachi 3:11.Psalms 106:9; Isaiah 17:13. Hebrew gaar. Occurs fourteen times. Always rendered rebuke" except here, and Jeremiah 29:27 ("reproved"). DUNG. refuse; always sacrificial. Occurs seven times. FEASTS. Put by Figure of speech _Metonymy_ (of Adjunct), App-6, for the sacrifices offered at the feasts. IT: i.e. the refuse....