Malachi Chapter 3

From The Open Bible Project

3:1 "Behold, I send my messenger, and he will prepare the way before me; and the Lord, whom you seek, will suddenly come to his temple; and the messenger of the covenant, whom you desire, behold, he comes!" says Yahweh of Armies.

  • (a) This is meant of John the Baptist, as Christ interprets it; (Luke 7:27).
  • (b) Meaning, the Messiah, as in (Psalms 40:17; Daniel 9:17,25).
  • (c) That is, Christ, by whom the covenant was made and ratified, who is called the angel or messenger of the covenant, because he reconciles us to his Father, and is Lord or King, because he has the rule of his Church.

3:2 "But who can endure the day of his coming? And who will stand when he appears? For he is like a refiner's fire, and like launderer's soap;

  • (d) He shows that the hypocrites who wish so much for the Lord’s coming will not remain when he draws near: for he will consume them, and purge his own and make them clean.

3:3 and he will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and he will purify the sons of Levi, and refine them as gold and silver; and they shall offer to Yahweh offerings in righteousness.

  • (e) He begins at the priests, that they might be lights, and shine unto others.

3:4 Then the offering of Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasant to Yahweh, as in the days of old, and as in ancient years.

3:5 I will come near to you to judgment; and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, and against the adulterers, and against the perjurers, and against those who oppress the hireling in his wages, the widow, and the fatherless, and who deprive the foreigner of justice, and don't fear me," says Yahweh of Armies.

3:6 "For I, Yahweh, don't change; therefore you, sons of Jacob, are not consumed.

  • (f) They murmured against God, because they did not see his help which was ever present to defend them: and therefore he accuses them of ingratitude, and shows that in that they are not daily consumed, it is a sign that he still defends them, and so his mercy towards them never changes.

3:7 From the days of your fathers you have turned aside from my ordinances, and have not kept them. Return to me, and I will return to you," says Yahweh of Armies. "But you say, 'How shall we return?'

3:8 Will a man rob God? Yet you rob me! But you say, 'How have we robbed you?' In tithes and offerings.

  • (h) There are none of the heathen so barbarous, that will defraud their gods of their honour, or deal deceitfully with them.
  • (i) By which the service of God should have been maintained, and the priests and the poor relieved.

3:9 You are cursed with the curse; for you rob me, even this whole nation.

3:10 Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house, and test me now in this," says Yahweh of Armies, "if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough for.

  • (k) Not having respect how much you need, but I will give you in all abundance, so that you will lack place to put my blessings in.

3:11 I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, and he shall not destroy the fruits of your ground; neither shall your vine cast its fruit before its time in the field," says Yahweh of Armies.

  • (l) Meaning the caterpillar, and whatever destroys corn and fruits.

3:12 "All nations shall call you blessed, for you will be a delightful land," says Yahweh of Armies.

3:13 "Your words have been stout against me," says Yahweh. "Yet you say, 'What have we spoken against you?'

  • (m) The Prophet condemns them of double blasphemy against God: first, in that they said that God had no respect for those that served him, and next, that the wicked were more in his favour than the godly.

3:14 You have said, 'It is vain to serve God;' and 'What profit is it that we have followed his instructions, and that we have walked mournfully before Yahweh of Armies?

3:15 Now we call the proud happy; yes, those who work wickedness are built up; yes, they tempt God, and escape.'

  • (n) They are not only preferred to honour, but also delivered from dangers.

3:16 Then those who feared Yahweh spoke one with another; and Yahweh listened, and heard, and a book of memory was written before him, for those who feared Yahweh, and who honored his name.

  • (o) After these admonitions of the Prophet, some were strongly touched, and encouraged others to fear God.
  • (p) Both because the thing was strange that some turned to God in that great and universal corruption, and also that this might be an example of God’s mercies to all repentant sinners.

3:17 They shall be mine," says Yahweh of Armies, "my own possession in the day that I make, and I will spare them, as a man spares his own son who serves him.

  • (q) When I will restore my Church according to my promise, they will be as my own proper goods.
  • (r) That is, forgive their sins, and govern them with my Spirit.

3:18 Then you shall return and discern between the righteous and the wicked, between him who serves God and him who doesn't serve him.

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