Malachi 4:3

And ye shall tread down the wicked; for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet in the day that I And ye shall tread down the wicked; for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet in the day that I shall do this, saith the LORD of hosts. AND YE SHALL TREAD DOWN THE WICKED - solving the difficulty () that the wicked often now prosper. Their prosperity and the adversity of the godly shall soon be reversed. FOR THEY SHALL BE ASHES UNDER THE SOLES OF YOUR FEET - yea, the righteous shall be the army attending Christ in His final destruction of the ungodly, and will "stamp them as the mire of the street" (; ;...

When God promises redemption to his Church, he usually mentions what is of an opposite character, even the destruction and ruin of his enemies, and he does this on purpose lest envy should annoy or harass the faithful, while seeing the ungodly prosperous and happy. So also in this place Malachi says, that the _ungodly would be trodden under foot by the faithful like the dust_; and he says this lest the elect, while lying prostrate under the feet of their enemies and proudly trampled upon by them, should succumb under their troubles; but they were to look for what the Prophet declares here, for they were not only to be raised up by the hand of God, but were also to be superior to their enemies, and be enabled in their turn to suppress their pride: in short, he means that they were to be raised above all the height of the world. At the same time, God does not allow his children cruelly to...

1-3 Here is a reference to the first and to the second coming of Christ: God has fixed the day of both. Those who do wickedly, who do not fear God's anger, shall feel it. It is certainly to be applied to the day of judgment, when Christ shall be revealed in flaming fire; to execute judgment on the proud, and all that do wickedly. In both, Christ is a rejoicing Light to those who serve him faithfully. By the Sun of Righteousness we understand Jesus Christ. Through him believers are justified and sanctified, and so are brought to see light. His influences render the sinner holy, joyful, and fruitful. It is applicable to the graces and comforts of the Holy Spirit, brought into the souls of men. Christ gave the Spirit to those who are his, to shine in their hearts, and to be a Comforter to them, a Sun and a Shield. That day which to the wicked will burn as an oven, will to the righteous be...

Verse Malachi 4:3. _YE SHALL TREAD DOWN_] This may be the commission given to the Romans: Tread down the wicked people, tread down the wicked place; set it on fire, and let the _ashes_ be trodden down under your feet....

AND YE SHALL TREAD DOWN THE WICKED, FOR THEY SHALL BE ASHES UNDER THE SOLES OF YOUR FEET. IT SHALL BE A GREAT REVERSAL. HE THAT EXALTETH HIMSELF SHALL BE ABASED, AND HE, THAT HUMBLETH HIMSELF SHALL BE EXALTED - Here the wicked often have the pre-eminence. This was the complaint of the murmurers among the Jews; in the morning of the Resurrection Psalms 49:14, “the upright shall have dominion over them.” The wicked, he had said, shall be as stubble, and that day Psalms 4:1, “shall burn them up;” here, then, they are as the ashes, the only remnant of the stubble, as the dust under the feet. “The elect shall rejoice, that they have, in mercy, escaped such misery. Therefore they shall be kindled inconceivably with the divine love, and shall from their inmost heart give thanks unto God.”

EXPOSITION MALACHI 4:1 4._ The final separation of the evil and the good at the day of judgment._ MALACHI 4:1 BURN AS AN OVEN (_a furnace_)_. _Fire is often spoken of in connection with the day of judgment and the advent of the Judge. It is a symbol of the holiness of God, which consumes all impurity, and also represents the punishment inflicted on the ungodly (Psalms 1:1; Isaiah 10:17; Isaiah 66:15,...

AND YE SHALL TREAD DOWN THE WICKED,.... As grapes in the winepress, as Christ did before them, Isaiah 63:2 and they by virtue of him; who makes them more than conquerors through himself, over all their enemies, spiritual and temporal: FOR THEY SHALL BE ASHES UNDER THE SOLES OF YOUR FEET; this refers to the burning of them, Malachi 4:1 and may be literally understood of their being burnt with the city and temple; when afterwards, as Grotius observes, the city of Jerusalem being in some measure rebuilt, and called Aelia, there was a Christian church in it, governed by bishops, who were converted Jews; and so might be literally said to trample upon the ashes of the wicked, who had persecuted them in times past, they being upon the very spot where these men were destroyed by fire: i

Malachi 4:1. _For, behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the LORD of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch. But unto you_ Here is the difference: «But unto you» Malachi 4:2. _That fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise-_ Not like a scorching and burning oven as the sun of the heavens is in the East, but he shall arise Malachi 4:2. _With healing in his wing; and ye shall go forth, and grow up as calves of the stall._ All is right with those who are right with God....

THE REMNANT AND THE CONCLUDING PROPHECY CHAPTER 3:16-4:6 In the midst of all these moral conditions, the apostasy of the masses, we find a pleasing picture of a godly portion, whom the Lord mentions in a special manner. There were those who feared the Lord. They had no sympathy with the wicked practices of their brethren; they did not share the contempt and unbelief manifested by the rank and file of the people. They were drawn together by the Spirit of God; they had fellowship one with another. They came together to think upon His Name, to honor Him, to read His Word, to call unto the Lord. And the Lord heard; He was pleased with them, and He is represented as recording their names in the Book of Remembrance, the bookkeeping in glory Psalms 56:8. He has a special promise for such. “And they shall be Mine, saith the Lord of hosts, in that day when I make up My jewels; and I will spa

MALACHI 3:13 TO MALACHI 4:3. THE FINAL TRIUMPH OF RIGHTEOUSNESS. The prophet here returns to the complaint of those who thought that religion did not pay (with Malachi 3:14; cf. Malachi 2:17). They had kept God's charge, faithfully observing their religious duties, and even wearing the sackcloth and ashes which marked humiliation and penance. Yet it is the arrogant and lax members of the community (_cf._ Psalms 119:21; Psalms 119:51, etc.) that do well; they challen