Malachi 3 commentary

Malachi 3 Commentary
Written and edited by Glenn Pease
1. "See, I will send my messenger, who will
prepare the way before me. Then suddenly the
Lord you are seeking will come to his temple; the
messenger of the covenant, whom you desire, will
come," says the LORD Almighty.
1.If the messenger being spoken of here is John the Baptist, then the speaker here is
Jesus Christ the Messiah, for he says he will prepare the way before me. At the end
of the verse he is the Lord Almighty, and so Jesus is the Lord Almighty. It is the
Lord himself who is the Messiah, and so Jesus was truly God in flesh. He was the
God of the Old Testament, the Lord Almighty, who came into history as a man.
Here is a clear statement of the deity of Christ. He is coming to his temple, and that
temple is God's temple.
1B. The implication is that this messenger will come shortly and quickly, and just
suddenly show up at the temple, but we know it was 400 years later before he
arrived. In God's time table where a thousand years is like a day, this was less than
half a day away, and so from his perspective it was soon and sudden. It is hard for
us to live on God's time table, for what is soon and quickly done is agonizingly slow
from our perspective. It takes enormous patience to wait on the Lord, for we never
know when it is his time to act.
1C. Piper makes a logical case here for the full deity of Jesus. He wrote, "This is
another messenger, different from the first. Who is this person? Three things
point to the divine Son of God and Messiah.- He is called "Lord" -- a term that
Malachi would not apply to Elijah or John the Baptist. This person is someone
greater.- The temple is said to belong to him: He will suddenly come to "HIS
temple." Of whom could you say that he is the owner of the temple of God? - This
person seems to be almost identical with Jehovah, not only because Jehovah's
temple is his temple, but also because he seems to take the place of the word "me" in
the first half of the verse. It says, "Behold, I send my messenger (Elijah = John the
Baptist) to prepare the way before ME . . ." But then he switches without any
difficulty and instead of saying, "And I will suddenly come to my temple . . ." he
says, "And the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple." It looks as
though "me" --Jehovah -- is virtually interchangeable with this other person called

the Lord, who owns the temple of God. . ."
2. Barnes, "Malachi uses Isa_40:3 : “The voice of one crying in the wilderness,
Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straiqht in the desert a highway for our God.
Luk_1:76. Thou, child,” was the prophecy on John the Immerser’s birth, “shalt be
called the prophet of the Highest, for thou shalt go before the face of the Lord to
prepare His way, to give knowledge of salvation unto His people, for the remission
of their sins.”
3. Barnes goes on, "As, it is here said of His first Coming, so it is said of His second
Coming (which may be comprehended under this here spoken of) that except they
diligently watch for it Luk_21:35, “it shall come upon them unawares Mar_13:36.
suddenly Mat_24:44. in such an hour as they think not.” “The Lord of glory always
comes, like a thief in the night, to those who sleep in their sins."
4. Stedman, "This prophecy of Malachi was given by a man whose name means "my
messenger." It is most suggestive that this last book of our Old Testament centers
around the theme of a messenger of God and a prediction of the coming of another
messenger. In this, therefore, we have a direct tie between Malachi and the Dew
Testament. Chapter 3, for instance, begins with this prophecy: "Behold, I send my
messenger [in Hebrew that would be "Behold, I send Malachi"] to prepare the way
before me, ..." {Mal 3:1a RSV} And as you discover in the book of Matthew, that
messenger was John the Baptist. He came to prepare the way of the Lord and to
announce the coming of the second messenger from God. That second messenger is
here in this prophecy in the next phrase: "... and the Lord whom you seek will
suddenly come to his temple; the messenger of the covenant ..." {Mal 3:1b RSV}
It was the work of the Lord Jesus on the closing night of his ministry to take wine
and bread with his disciples and holding the cup up to say, "This is my blood of the
[new] covenant." (Matt. 26:28) The messenger of the covenant is the Lord Jesus
himself. . . "
5. Gill, "These are the words of Christ, in answer to the question put in the last
verse of the preceding chapter Mal_2:17, "Where is the God of judgment?"
intimating that he would quickly appear, and previous to his coming send his
messenger or angel; not the angel of death to destroy the wicked, as Jarchi thinks;
nor an angel from heaven, as Kimchi; nor Messiah the son of Joseph; as Aben Ezra;
nor the Prophet Malachi himself, as Abarbinel; but the same that is called Elijah the
prophet, Mal_4:5 and is no other than John the Baptist, as is clear from Mat_11:10
called a "messenger" or "angel", not by nature, but by office; and Christ's
messenger, because sent by him and on his errand; and which shows the power and
authority of Christ in sending forth ministers; his superior excellency to John, and
his existence before him, or he could not be sent by him, and so before his
incarnation; for John was sent by him before he was in the flesh, and consequently
this is a proof of the proper deity of Christ: and the word "behold" is prefixed to
this, in order to raise the attention of those that put the above question, and all
others; as well as to show that the message John was sent upon was of the greatest

moment and importance; as that the Messiah was just ready to appear, his kingdom
was at hand, and the Jews ought to believe in him; though it also respects the
coming of the Messiah, spoken of in the latter part of the text:"
6. Gill continues, "and the Lord, whom ye seek; this is the person himself speaking,
the Son of God, and promised Messiah, the Lord of all men, and particularly of his
church and people, in right of marriage, by virtue of redemption, and by being their
Head and King; so Kimchi and Ben Melech interpret it of him, and even Abarbinel
himself; the Messiah that had been so long spoken of and so much expected, and
whom the Jews sought after, either in a scoffing manner, expressed in the above
question, or rather seriously; some as a temporal deliverer, to free them from the
Roman yoke, and bring them into a state of liberty, prosperity, and grandeur; and
others as a spiritual Saviour, to deliver from sin, law, hell, and death, and save them
with an everlasting salvation:
6B. Gill goes on, "..shall suddenly come to his temple; meaning not his human
nature, nor his church, sometimes so called; but the material temple at Jerusalem,
the second temple, called "his", because devoted to his service and worship, which
proves him to be God, and because of his frequency in it; here he was brought and
presented by his parents at the proper time, for the purification of his mother; here
he was at twelve years of age disputing with the doctors; and here Simeon, Anna,
and others, were waiting for him, Luk_2:22 and we often read of his being here, and
of his using his authority in it as the Lord and proprietor of it; and of the Hosannas
given him here, Mat_21:12 the manner in which he should come, "suddenly", may
refer to the manifestation of it, quickly after John the Baptist had prepared his way
by his doctrine and baptism:
6C. Gill continues, "..even the messenger of the covenant; not of the covenant of
works with Adam, of which there was no mediator and messenger; nor of the
covenant of circumcision, at which, according to the Jews, Elias presides; nor of the
covenant at Sinai, of which Moses was the mediator; but of the covenant of grace, of
which Christ is not only the Surety and Mediator; but, as here, "the Messenger";
because it is revealed, made known, and exhibited in a more glorious manner by
him under the Gospel dispensation, through the ministration of the word and
ordinances. De Dieu observes, that the word in the Ethiopic language signifies a
prince as well as a messenger, and so may be rendered, "the Prince of the
covenant", which is a way of speaking used in Dan_11:22,"
7. Keil, "... it was because the priests did not fulfil their duty as the ordinary
ambassadors of God that the Lord was about to send an extraordinary messenger.
Preparing the way ( an expression peculiar to Isaiah: compare Isa_40:3; also,
Isa_57:14 and Isa_62:10), by clearing away the impediments lying in the road,
denotes the removal of all that retards the coming of the Lord to His people, i.e., the
taking away of enmity to God and of ungodliness by the preaching of repentance
and the conversion of sinners. The announcement of this messenger therefore
implied, that the nation in its existing moral condition was not yet prepared for the

reception of the Lord, and therefore had no ground for murmuring at the delay of
the manifestation of the divine glory, but ought rather to murmur at its own sin and
estrangement from God. When the way shall have been prepared, the Lord will
suddenly come. not immediately (Jerome), but unexpectedly. “This suddenness is
repeated in all the acts and judgments of the Lord......This promise was fulfilled in
the coming of Christ, in whom the angel of the covenant, the Logos, became flesh,
and in the sending of John the Baptist, who prepared the way for Him."
8. Henry, "The first words of this chapter seem a direct answer to the profane
atheistical demand of the scoffers of those days which closed the foregoing chapter:
Where is the God of judgment? To which it is readily answered, “Here he is; he is
just at the door; the long-expected Messiah is ready to appear; and he says, For
judgment have I come into this world, for that judgment which you have so
impudently bid defiance to.” One of the rabbin says that the meaning of this is, That
God will raise up a righteous King, to set things in order, even the king Messiah.
And the beginning of the gospel of Christ is expressly said to be the accomplishment
of this promise, with which the Old Testament concludes, Mar_1:1, Mar_1:2. So
that by this the two Testaments are, as it were, tacked together, and made to answer
one another. Dow here we have,
8B. Henry goes on, "A prophecy of the appearing of his forerunner John the
Baptist, which the prophet Isaiah had foretold (Isa_40:3), as the preparing of the
way of the Lord, to which this seems to have a reference, for the words of the latter
prophets confirmed those of the former: Behold, I will send my messenger, or I do
send him, or I am sending him. “I am determined to send him; he will now shortly
come, and will not come unsent, though to a careless generation he comes unsent
for.” Observe, 1. He is God's messenger; that is his office; he is Malachi (so the word
is), the same with the name of this prophet; he is my angel, my ambassador. John
Baptist had his commission from heaven, and not of men. All held John Baptist for a
prophet, for he was God's messenger, as the prophets were, and came on the same
errand to the world that they were sent upon - to call men to repentance and
reformation. 2. He is Christ's harbinger: He shall prepare the way before me, by
calling men to those duties which qualify them to receive the comforts of the
Messiah and his coming, and by taking them off from a confidence in their relation
to Abraham as their father (which, they thought, would serve their turn without a
saviour), and by giving notice that the Messiah was now at hand, and so raising
men's expectations of him, and making them readily to go into the measures he
would take for the setting up of his kingdom in the world. Dote, God observes a
method in his work, and, before he comes, takes care to have his way prepared. This
is like the giving of a sign. The church was told, long before, that the Messiah would
come; and here it is added that, a little before he appears, there shall be a signal
given; a great prophet shall arise, that shall give notice of his approach, and call to
the everlasting gates and doors to lift up their heads and give him admission. The
accomplishment of this is a proof that Jesus is the Christ, is he that should come, and
we are to look for no other; for there was such a messenger sent before him, who
made ready a people prepared for the Lord, Luk_1:17. The Jewish writers run into

gross absurdities to evade the conviction of this evidence; some of them say that this
messenger is the angel of death, who shall take the wicked out of this life, to be sent
into hell torments; others of them say that it is Messiah the son of Joseph, who shall
appear before Messiah the son of David; others, this prophet himself; others, an
angel from heaven: such mistakes do those run into that will not receive the truth."
9. Henry continues, "He is the Messenger of the covenant, or the angel of the
covenant, that blessed one that was sent from heaven to negotiate a peace, and settle
a correspondence, between God and man. He is the angel, the archangel, the Lord of
the angels, who received commission from the Father to bring man home to God by
a covenant of grace, who had revolted from him by the violation of the covenant of
innocency. Christ is the angel of this covenant, by whose mediation it is brought
about and established as God's covenant with Israel was made by the disposition of
angels, Act_7:53; Gal_3:19. Christ, as a prophet, is the messenger and mediator of
the covenant; nay, he is given for a covenant, Isa_49:8. That covenant which is all
our salvation began to be spoken by the Lord, Heb_2:3. Though he is the prince of the
covenant (as some read this) yet he condescended to be the messenger of it, that we
might have full assurance of God's good-will towards man, upon his word. 3. He it is
whom you seek, whom you delight in, whom the pious Jews expect and desire, and
whose coming they think of with a great deal of pleasure. In looking and waiting for
him, they looked for redemption in Jerusalem and waited for the consolation of Israel,
Luk_2:25, Luk_2:38. Christ was to be the desire of all nations, desirable to all
(Hag_2:7); but he was the desire of the Jewish nation actually, because they had the
promise of his coming made to them. Dote, Those that seek Jesus shall find pleasure
in him. If he be our heart's desire he will be our heart's delight; and we have reason
to delight in him who is the messenger of the covenant, and to bid him welcome who
came to us on so kind an errand. 4. He shall suddenly come; his coming draws nigh,
and we see it not at so great a distance as the patriarchs saw it at. Or, He shall come
immediately after the appearing of John Baptist, shall even tread on the heels of his
forerunner; when that morning-star appears, believe that the Sun of righteousness is
not far off. Or, He shall come suddenly, that is, he shall come when by many he is
not looked for; as his second coming will be, so his first coming was, at midnight,
when some had done looking for him, for shall he find faith on the earth? Luk_18:8.
The Jews reckon the Messiah among the things that come unawares; so Dr. Pocock.
And the coming of the Son of man in his day is said to be as the lightning, which is
very surprising, Luk_17:24. 5. He shall come to his temple, this temple at Jerusalem,
which was lately built, that latter house which he was to be the glory of. It is his
temple, for it is his Father's house, Joh_2:16. Christ, at forty days old, was presented
in the temple, and thither Simeon went by the Spirit, according to the direction of
this prophecy, to see him, Luk_2:27. At twelve years old he was in the temple about
his Father's business, Luk_2:49. When he rode in triumph into Jerusalem, it should
seem that he went directly to the temple (Mat_21:12), and (Mat_21:14) thither the
blind and the lame came to him to be healed; there he often preached, and often
disputed, and often wrought miracles. By this it appears that the Messiah was to
come while that temple was standing; that, therefore, being long since destroyed, we
must conclude that he has come, and we are to look for no other." What Henry is

saying is that it is folly for the Jews to be still looking for the Messiah, for he came to
his temple, which is now gone in judgment, and they missed him by their blindness
to this promise."
10. Calvin, "Here the Prophet does not bring comfort to the wicked slanderers
previously mentioned, but asserts the constancy of his faith in opposition to their
blasphemous words; as though he had said, “Though they impiously declare that
they have been either deceived or forsaken by the God in whom they had hoped, yet
his covenant shall not be in vain.” The design of what is announced is like that of the
declaration made elsewhere, “Though men are perfidious and false, yet God
remains true, and cannot depart from his own nature.” (Dumbers 23:19.) God then
does here gloriously triumph over the Jews, and alleges his own covenant in
opposition to their disgraceful slanders, because their wicked murmurings could not
hinder him to accomplish his promises and to perform in due time what they
thought would never be done; and he adopts a demonstrative adverb in order to
show the certainty of what is said."
11. Grace notes gives us the actually Dew Testament passages that reveal how
clearly that this prophecy is fulfilled in John the Baptist.
"The Greek term for "messenger" is AGGELOS, which is defined as "messenger,
one who is sent in order to announce, teach, or perform anything." [113] And the
distant reference, as noted, is to John the Baptist. And in Malachi 3:1, Malachi is
quoting Isa. 40:3, and this same quote is repeated in Matthew 3:3, which says, "This
is he who was spoken of through the prophet Isaiah: 'A voice of one calling in the
desert, prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him.'"
And in Matthew 11:10, Matthew quotes Malachi 3:1: "This is the one about whom it
is written: 'I will send my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way
before you.'"
Luke 1:76 repeats the quote: "And you, my child, will be called a prophet of the
Most High; for you will go on before the Lord to prepare the way for him."
And again, in Luke 3:4: "As is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the
prophet: 'A voice of one calling in the desert, prepare the way for the Lord, make
straight paths for him."
Luke 7:26-27 is also a quote of Malachi 3:1: "But what did you go out to see? A
prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet. This is the one about whom it is
written: 'I will send my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way before
you.'"
Mark 1:2-3 declares: "It is written in Isaiah the prophet: 'I will send my messenger
ahead of you, who will prepare your way' -- 'a voice of one calling in the desert,
prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him.'" Mark, it should be

noted, quotes first Malachi 3:1, then Isa. 40:3.
And in John 1:23, the prophecy meets the prophet: "John replied in the words of
Isaiah the prophet, 'I am the voice of one calling in the desert, 'Make straight the
way for the Lord.'"
In the above verses, then, the Baptist's coming was "predicted as the herald of the
King, Messiah, but in such a way as to make it plain that Messiah Himself was
identified with Jehovah; for the word is, 'He shall prepare the way before Me.'"
[114]
And recall that the Greek word for "messenger" is AGGELOS, or "angel;" thus,
John was the AGGELOS of Christ, but Christ is the "messenger" or AGGELOS of
the Covenant. And all three of the messengers, Malachi, John the Baptist, and the
Messenger of the Covenant, i.e., Christ, are alluded to in Exodus 23:20-21: "See, I
am sending an angel ahead of you to guard you along the way and to bring you to
the place I have prepared. Pay attention to him and listen to what he says. Do not
rebel against him; he will not forgive your rebellion, since my Dame is in him." And
the last five words in Exodus, "my Dame is in him," declare, openly, that Jesus
Christ, the Messenger of the Covenant, is, was, and always will be God."
12. Grace notes also sees the coming to his temple fulfilled in the following text.
"Then suddenly the Lord you are seeking will come to his temple;" this clause refers
to our Lord as he entered the Temple, circa 30 AD. John 2:13-25 narrates this
"sudden" entrance, MOxtP. "When it was almost time for the Jewish Passover,
Jesus went up to Jerusalem. In the temple courts he found men selling cattle, sheep
and doves, and others sitting at tables exchanging money. So he made a whip out of
cords, and drove all from the temple area, both sheep and cattle; he scattered the
coins of the money changers and overturned their tables. To those who sold doves he
said, 'Get out of here! How dare you turn my Father's house into a market!' His
disciples remembered that it is written: 'Zeal for your house will consume me.' Then
the Jews demanded of him, 'What miraculous sign can you show us to prove your
authority to do all this?' Jesus answered them, 'Destroy this temple, and I will raise
it again in three days.' The Jews replied, 'It has taken forty-six years to build this
temple, and you are going to raise it in three days?' But the temple he had spoken of
was his body. After he was raised from the dead, his disciples recalled what he had
said. Then they believed the Scripture and the words that Jesus had spoken. Dow
while he was in Jerusalem at the Passover Feast, many people saw the miraculous
signs he was doing and believed in his name. But Jesus would not entrust himself to
them, for he knew all men. He did not need man's testimony about man, for he knew
what was in a man."
13. Grace notes goes on, "And as has already been noted, the phrase "messenger of
the Covenant" is Christ at the first advent, and is so defined in Exodus 24:8, and
Zech. 9:11, both of which passages designate the blood of the sacrifices as the blood
of the covenant. And the blood of Christ is called the blood of the new covenant in

Matthew 26:28, Mark 14:24, and Hebrews 13:20. Matthew 26:28 reads, "This is my
blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins."
And remember, if the blood of Christ had not been poured out, not one covenant
would have been valid. Finally, the phrase "whom you desire" should be examined.
The term in the Hebrew is CHAPHETS, and it is the Qal active participle,
masculine plural. And the phrase is literally, "him whom delightings."The word is
defined as "to bend, to bend towards; and metaph. applied to the will, it implies
entire and full inclination towards an object or person: it may carry with itself the
notion of delight and affection." [116] And the term was used in Mal. 1:10 to denote
"pleasure." And this idea of pleasure is present in Mal. 3:1; but there is more than
simple pleasure, as the relative refers back to the "messenger of the covenant."
Thus, this is Christ as He gives pleasure to the Justice of God. For, remember, that
Mal. 3:1 is beginning the answer to: "Where is the God of Justice?" Thus, the term
refers to "him (in) whom pricelessnesses" reside. In other words, "the darling" of
God, i.e., our Lord Jesus Christ. For He is the only sacrifice that is acceptable to the
Justice of God. Thus, the Justice of God is still existing, and is not lost."
2. But who can endure the day of his coming?
Who can stand when he appears? For he will be
like a refiner's fire or a launderer's soap.
1. Barnes, "The implied answer is, “Do one;” as in the Psalm Psa_130:3, “If Thou,
Lord, wilt mark iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand?” Joel had asked the same ,
“The day of the Lord is great and very terrible; and who can abide it?” “How can
the weakness of man endure such might; his blindness, such light; his frailty, such
power; his uncleanness, such holiness; the chaff, such a fire? For He is like a refine’s
fire. Who would not fail through stupefaction, fear, horror, shrinking reverence,
from such majesty?”
2. Barnes continues, "Malachi seems to blend, as Joel, the first and second coming of
our Lord. The first coming too was a time of sifting and severance, according as
those, to whom He came, did or did not receive Him. The severance was not final,
because there was yet space for repentance; but it was real, an earnest of the final
judgment. Joh_9:39, “for judgment,” our Lord says, “I am come into this world,
that they which see not may see, and they which see might be made blind;” and
again Joh_12:31, “Dow is the judgment of this world;” and Joh_3:18, “He that
believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed on the name of the
Only-Begotten Son of God; Joh_3:36. He that believeth not the Son, shall not see
life, but the wrath of God abideth on him.”

3. Barnes goes on, "For He is like a refiner’s fire, and like fuller’s soup - Two sorts
of materials for cleansing are mentioned, the one severe, where the baser materials
are inworked with the rich ore; the other mild, where the defilement is easily
separable. “He shall come like a refining fire; Psa_50:3-4, ‘a fire shall burn before
Him, and it shall be very tempestuous round about Him. Then He shall call the
heaven from above, and the earth, that He may judge HIs people;’ streams of fire
shall sweep before, bearing away all sinners. For the Lord is called a fire, and a
Deu_4:24. consuming fire, so as to burn our 1Co_3:12. wood, hay, stubble. And not
fire only, but fuller’s soap. To those who sin heavily, He is a refining and consuming
fire, but to those who commit light sins, fuller’s soap, to restore cleanness to it, when
washed.” "Our Lord is, in many ways, as a fire. He says of Himself; Luk_12:49, “I
am come to send a fire upon earth, and what will I, if it be already kindled?” John
Baptist said of Him Luk_3:16, “He shall baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with
fire.” He kindles in the heart “a fire of love,” which softens what is hard, the will."
3B. It appears that God is answering the question that ends chapter 2 about where
the God of justice is, by the sending of their Messiah, for he will separate the sheep
from the goats, and the true priests of God, like the many Pharisees who became
Christians, from the hypocritical Pharisees who rejected their Messiah and perished
in the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 A. D. Jesus purified the Jewish people, and the
gold and silver he took into his new kingdom, but the dross and all the waste of
people who had no time for God, he burned up with fire in that judgment brought
on them by the Romans. God was exceedingly patient, and he gave them 400 years
to shape up, but their time came to an end with the coming of Jesus, for those who
would not receive him as their Messiah and Savior were cut off and rejected by God.
They rejected him for the last time, and God ended the whole religious system of the
Temple and its sacrifices. Jesus finally brought on the corrupted priest of Israel the
judgment they deserved.
4. Jamison, "The Messiah would come, not, as they expected, to flatter the
theocratic nation’s prejudices, but to subject their principles to the fiery test of His
heart-searching truth (Mat_3:10-12), and to destroy Jerusalem and the theocracy
after they had rejected Him. His mission is here regarded as a whole from the first
to the second advent: the process of refining and separating the godly from the
ungodly beginning during Christ’s stay on earth, going on ever since, and about to
continue till the final separation (Mat_25:31-46). The refining process, whereby a
third of the Jews is refined as silver of its dross, while two-thirds perish, is
described, Zec_13:8, Zec_13:9 (compare Isa_1:25)."
5. Keil, "With the coming of the Lord the judgment will also begin; not the
judgment upon the heathen, however, for which the ungodly nation was longing, but
the judgment upon the godless members of the covenant nation. The Lord when He
comes will be like a smelter's fire, which burns out all the corrupt ingredients that
are mixed with the gold and silver (cf. Zec_13:9), and like the lye or alkaline salt by
which clothes are cleansed from dirt (cf. Isa_4:4). The double figure has but one
meaning; hence only the first figure is carried out in Mal_3:3, a somewhat different

turn being given to it, since the Lord is no longer compared to the fire, but
represented as a smelter. As a smelter purifies gold and silver from the dross
adhering to it, so will the Lord refine the sons of Levi, by whom the priests are
principally intended."
6. Calvin, "... the Jews, inflated with false confidence, thought that God could not
forsake them, as he had pledged his faith to them; but he reminded them that God
had been so provoked by their sins, that he was become their professed and sworn
enemy. So also in this place, Come, the Prophet says, come shall the Redeemer; but
this will avail you nothing; on the contrary, his coming will be dreadful to you. We
indeed know that Christ appeared not for salvation to all, but only to the remnant,
and to those of Jacob who repented, according to what Isaiah says. (Isaiah 10:21,
22.) But since they obstinately rejected the favor of God, it is no wonder that the
Prophet excluded them from the blessings of the Redeemer.
6B. Calvin continues, "Who then will endure his coming? and who shall stand at his
appearance? as though he had said, “In vain do ye flatter yourselves, and even
upbraid God, that he retains the promised Redeemer as it were hidden in his own
bosom; for he will come in due time, but without any advantage to you; nor will it
be given you to enjoy his favor; but on the contrary he will bring to you nothing but
terrors; for he will be like a purifying fire, and as the herb of the fullers. The latter
clause may be taken in a good or a bad sense, as it is evident from the next verse.
The power of the fire, we know, is twofold; for it burns and it purifies; it burns what
is corrupt; but it purifies gold and silver from their dross. The Prophet no doubt
meant to include both, for in the next verse he says, that Christ will be as fire to
purify and to refine the sons of Levi as gold and silver. With regard then to the
people of whom he has been hitherto speaking, he shows that Christ will be like fire,
to burn and consume their filth; for though they boasted with their mouth of their
religion, yet we know that the Church of God had many defilements and pollutions;
they were therefore to perish by fire. But Malachi teaches us at the same time, that
the whole Church was not to perish, for the Lord would purify the sons of Levi."
7. Henry, "He shall be like a refiner's fire, which separates between the gold and the
dross by melting the ore, or like fuller's soap, which with much rubbing fetches the
spots out of the cloth. Christ came to discover men, that the thoughts of many hearts
might be revealed (Luk_2:35), to distinguish men, to separate between the precious
and the vile, for his fan in his hand (Mat_3:12), to send fire on the earth, not peace,
but rather division (Luk_12:49, Luk_12:51), to shake heaven and earth, that the
wicked might be shaken out (Job_38:13) and that the things which cannot be shaken
might remain, Heb_12:27. See what the effect of the trial will be that shall be made
by the gospel.
7B. Henry continues, "The gospel shall work good upon those that are disposed to
be good, to them it shall be a savour of life unto life (Mal_3:3): He shall sit as a
refiner. Christ by his gospel shall purify and reform his church, and by his Spirit
working with it shall regenerate and cleanse particular souls; for to this end he gave

himself for the church, that he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water
by the word (Eph_5:26) and purify to himself a peculiar people, Tit_2:14. Christ is the
great refiner. Observe, [1.] Who they are that he will purify - the sons of Levi, all
those that are devoted to his praise and employed in his service, as the tribe of Levi
was, and whom he designs to make unto our God spiritual priests (Rev_1:6), a holy
priesthood, 1Pe_2:5. Dote, All true Christians are sons of Levi, set apart for God, to
do the service of his sanctuary, and to war the good warfare. [2.] How he will purify
them; he will purge them as gold and silver, that is, he will sanctify them inwardly;
he will not only wash away the spots they have contracted from without, but will
take away the dross that is found in them; he will separate from them their
indwelling corruptions, which rendered their faculties worthless and useless, and so
make them like gold refined, both valuable and serviceable. He will purge them with
fire, as gold and silver are purged, for he baptizes with the Holy Ghost and with fire
(Mat_3:11), with the Holy Ghost working like fire. He will purge them by afflictions
and manifold temptations, that the trial of their faith may be found to praise and
honour, 1Pe_1:6, 1Pe_1:7. He will purge them so as to make them a precious people
to himself. [3.] What will be the effect of it: That they may offer unto the Lord an
offering in righteousness, that is, that they may be in sincerity converted to God and
consecrated to his praise (hence we read of the offering up, or sacrificing, of the
Gentiles to God, when they were sanctified by the holy Ghost, Rom_15:16), and that
they may in a spiritual manner worship God according to his will, may offer the
sacrifices of righteousness, (Psa_4:5), the offering of prayer, and praise, and holy
love, that they may be the true worshippers, who worship the Father in spirit and in
truth, Joh_4:23, Joh_4:24."
8. Gill, " But who may abide the day of his coming?.... When he should be manifest
in Israel, and come preaching the Gospel of the kingdom; who could bear the
doctrines delivered by him, concerning his deity and equality with God the Father;
concerning his character and mission as the Messiah, and his kingdom not being a
temporal, but a spiritual one; concerning his giving his flesh for the life of the world,
and eating that by faith; concerning distinguishing and efficacious grace; and all
such that so severely struck at the wickedness of the Scribes and Pharisees, and
their self-righteous principles; and especially since for judgment he came, that they
might not see? nor could they bear the light of this glorious Sun of righteousness;
and he came not to send peace and outward prosperity to the Jews, but a sword and
division, Joh_9:39 very few indeed could bear his ministry, or the light of that day,
it being so directly contrary to their principles and practices:
8B. Gill continues, "..and who shall stand when he appeareth? in his kingdom and
glory, to take vengeance on the Jews for their rejection of him and his Gospel; for
this coming and appearance of his include all the time between his manifestation in
the flesh and the destruction of Jerusalem; and so all those sorrows and distresses
which went before it, or attended it, and were such as had never been from the
creation of the world; and unless those times had been shortened, no flesh could
have been saved; see Mat_24:3, for he is like a refiner's fire; partly by the ministry
of the word, compared to fire, Jer_23:29 separating pure doctrines from ones of

dross; and partly by his fiery dispensations and judgments on the wicked Jews,
when he distinguished and saved his own people from that untoward generation,
and destroyed them:"
9. Maclaren, "We next note the aspect of the coming which is prominent here. Dot
the kingly, nor the redemptive, but the judicial, is uppermost. With keen irony the
Prophet contrasts the professed eagerness of the people for the appearance of
Jehovah and their shrinking terror when He does come. He is ‘the Lord whom ye
seek’; the Messenger of the covenant is He ‘whom ye delight in.’ But all that
superficial and partially insincere longing will turn into dread and unwillingness to
abide His scrutiny. The images of the refiner’s fire and the fullers’ soap imply
painful processes, of which the intention is to burn out the dross and beat out the
filth. It sounds like a prolongation of Malachi’s voice when John the Baptist peals
out his herald cry of one whose ‘fan was in His hand,’ and who should plunge men
into a fiery baptism, and consume with fire that destroyed what would not submit to
be cast into the fire that cleansed. Dor should we forget that our Lord has said, ‘For
judgment am I come into the world.’ He came to ‘purify’; but if men would not let
Him do what He came for, He could not but be their bane instead of their blessing."
10. Spurgeon, "His first coming was without external pomp or show of power, and
yet in truth there were few who could abide its testing might. Herod and all
Jerusalem with him were stirred at the news of the wondrous birth. Those who
supposed themselves to be waiting for Him, showed the fallacy of their professions
by rejecting Him when He came. His life on earth was a winnowing fan, which tried
the great heap of religious profession, and few enough could abide the process. But
what will His second advent be? What sinner can endure to think of it? "He shall
smite the earth with the rod of His mouth, and with the breath of His lips shall He
slay the wicked." When in His humiliation He did but say to the soldiers, "I am
He," they fell backward; what will be the terror of His enemies when He shall more
fully reveal Himself as the "I am?" His death shook earth and darkened heaven,
what shall be the dreadful splendour of that day in which as the living Saviour, He
shall summon the quick and dead before Him? O that the terrors of the Lord would
persuade men to forsake their sins and kiss the Son lest He be angry! Though a
lamb, He is yet the lion of the tribe of Judah, rending the prey in pieces; and though
He breaks not the bruised reed, yet will He break His enemies with a rod of iron,
and dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel. Done of His foes shall bear up before
the tempest of His wrath, or hide themselves from the sweeping hail of His
indignation; but His beloved bloodwashed people look for His appearing with joy,
and hope to abide it without fear: to them He sits as a refiner even now, and when
He has tried them they shall come forth as gold. Let us search ourselves this
morning and make our calling and election sure, so that the coming of the Lord may
cause no dark forebodings in our mind. O for grace to cast away all hypocrisy, and
to be found of Him sincere and without rebuke in the day of His appearing."

3. He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver; he
will purify the Levites and refine them like gold
and silver. Then the LORD will have men who
will bring offerings in righteousness,
1. Barnes, "These had been first the leaders in degeneracy, the corrupters of the
people by their example and connivance. Actually Act_6:7, “a great company of the
priests were obedient to the faith.” Barnabas also was a Levite. Act_4:36. But more
largely, as Zion and Jerusalem are the titles for the Christian Church, and Israel
who believed was the true Israel, so “the sons of” Levi are the true Levites, the
Apostles and their successors in the Christian priesthood."
2. Clarke, "The sons of Levi - Those who minister in their stead under the Dew
covenant, for the Old Levitical institutions shall be abolished; yet, under the
preaching of our Lord, a great number of the priests became obedient to the faith,
Act_6:7; and, as to the others that did not believe, this great Refiner threw them as
dross into the Roman fire, that consumed both Jerusalem and the temple."
3. Calvin, "The Prophet says, that Christ would sit to purify the sons of Levi; for
though they were the flower, as it were, and the purity of the Church, they had yet
contracted some contagion from the corruption which prevailed. Such then was the
contagion, that not only the common people became corrupt, but even the Levites
themselves, who ought to have been guides to others, and who were to be in the
Church as it were the pattern of holiness. God however promises that such would be
the purifying which Christ would effect, and so regulated, that it would consume the
whole people, and yet purify the elect, and purify them like silver, that they may be
saved. He tells us afterwards that the Levites themselves would need a trial to
cleanse them; for they themselves would not be without filth, because they had
mixed with a perverse people, who had wholly departed from the law, and from the
fear and the worship of God."
4. Gill,"..as a refiner sits and observes his metal while it is melting, and waits the
proper time to pour it out and separate the dross from it; so Christ is here
represented as sitting, while his people are purifying and refining by the various
ways and means he makes use of: it denotes the continued care of Christ over them;
his eye is upon them, that nothing be lost but their dross and corruption; and his
patience in waiting to be gracious to them, and do them good; and his diligent
attention to the proper season of doing it; designing by all that he does, not their
hurt and damage, but their real good, for he saves them, though it be by fire; and
indeed every trial and affliction is for the purifying of their souls, and the
brightening of their graces, and increasing their spiritual experience, light, and
knowledge."

4B. Gill continues, "And he shall purify the sons of Levi; the priests, either literally
understood, some of these were converted from their evil principles and practices,
and became obedient to the doctrines of the Gospel, Act_6:7 or figuratively, the
apostles of Christ and ministers of the Gospel, who were made clean by him; or
rather all the people of God, who are made priests as well as kings, and are a royal
priesthood, and are purified by Christ, both by his blood, and the imputation of his
righteousness, by which they become without spot and blemish, and as white as
snow; and by the Spirit in sanctification, he sprinkling clean water upon them, and
purifying their hearts by faith in the blood of Jesus; and also by afflictive
dispensations of Providence sanctified unto them. Mention is made of the priests
and Levites, because these were so very corrupt in the times of Christ, and as
appears from the preceding chapters."
5. "That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that
perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and
glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ."-- 1Peter 1:7.
6. Grace Dotes, "For the unbelieving apostate Levitical priests of Malachi's day
presumed that their natural ancestry and status as members of the Tribe of Levi
were sufficient for deliverance. Remember, the Levites had human talents,
education, and physical comeliness; indeed, physical beauty was a prerequisite for
the priesthood. They were rhetoricians, vocalists, and musicians of expertise; all the
tangible advantages were theirs.
In their arrogance, they assumed that they were sufficient unto themselves. They
had been beguiled and betrayed by their own 'perfections.' For the enjoyment of
beauty is magnified in the presence of others; and they theorized that God, too,
must admire their attractiveness. What marvelous effrontery; it can almost be
admired. In reality, before the God of the universe, they were frail, vulnerable,
egregious, boorish, and unacceptable. Ceremonial cleansing was insufficient; for
Proverbs 20:9 states, "Who can say, I have made my heart clean, I am pure from
my sin?"
After the refining process, after proving and trying them, "then the Lord will have
men who will bring offerings in righteousness." Ezekiel 48:11 says, "This will be for
the consecrated priests, the Zadokites, who were faithful in serving me and did not
go astray as the Levites did when the Israelites went astray."
4. and the offerings of Judah and Jerusalem will
be acceptable to the LORD, as in days gone by, as
in former years.

1. Barnes, "Judah and Jerusalem then are here the Christian Church. “They shall
be, pleasant (literally sweet) unto the Lord.” It is a reversal (using the self-same
word) of what God had said of them in the time of their religious decay Hos_9:4.
“they shall not offer wine-offerings to the Lord, neither shall they be sweet unto
Him; Jer_6:20. your burnt-offerings are not acceptable, nor your sacrifices sweet
unto Me.”
1B. Dr. Paul Choo, ""Judah and Jerusalem" refer to the Christian church,
expressed by the name of its Old Testament type. The simple sincere offerings of
men of old, eg. Abel (GED 4:4), Doah (GED 8:20,2 1), pleased God."
2. In the good old days the offerings were given out of the heart with love and
gratitude to God for his love and mercy, and those days will be restored by the
Messiah. Things will get back to what they were meant to be. Much will be changed,
for the old sacrifices will be gone, and in their place will be the once for all sacrifice
of Jesus the Lamb of God, but the offering of praise and thanksgiving will be like
the Psalms of old coming from the hearts of those who are filled with gratitude for
his loving sacrifice.
3. Henry, "The offering of Judah and Jerusalem shall be pleasant unto the Lord. It
shall no longer be offensive, as it has been, when, in the former days, they
worshipped other gods with the God of Israel, or when, in the present days, they
brought the torn, and the lame, and the sick, for sacrifice; but it shall be acceptable;
he will be pleased with the offerers, and their offerings, as in the days of old and as
in former years, as in the primitive times of the church, as when God had respect to
Abel's sacrifice and smelled a savour of rest from Doah's, and when he kindled
Aaron's sacrifice with fire from heaven. When the Messiah comes, First, He will, by
his grace in them, make them acceptable; when he has purified and refined them,
then they shall offer such sacrifices as God requires and will accept. Secondly, He
will, by his intercession for them, make them accepted; he will recommend them
and their performances to God, so that their prayers, being perfumed with the
incense of his intercession, shall be pleasant unto the Lord; for he has made us
accepted in the Beloved, and in him is well pleased with those that are in him
(Mat_3:17) and bring forth fruit in him."
5. "So I will come near to you for judgment. I will
be quick to testify against sorcerers, adulterers
and perjurers, against those who defraud laborers
of their wages, who oppress the widows and the

fatherless, and deprive aliens of justice, but do not
fear me," says the LORD Almighty.
1. Barnes, They had clamored for the coming of “the God of judgment;” God
assures them that He will come to judgment, which they had desired, but far other
than they look for. The few would be purified; the great mass of them (so that He
calls them “you”), the main body of those who had so clamored, would find that He
came as a Judge, not for them but against them."
1B. Barnes continues, "God would be a “swift witness,” as He had said before, “He
shall come suddenly.” Our Lord calls Himself (Rev_3:14; Rev_1:5, “I, and not other
witnesses, having seen with My own eyes.” Theod. Jerome) “the Faithful and True
witness,” when He stands in the midst of the Church, as their Judge. God’s
judgments are always unexpected by those, on whom they fall. The sins are those
especially condemned by the law; the use of magical arts as drawing men away from
God, the rest as sins of special malignity. Magical arts were rife at the time of the
Coming of our Lord; and adultery, as shown in the history of the woman taken in
adultery, when her accusers were convicted in their own consciences. (Joh_8:9,
“adulterous generation.” Mat_12:39. Lightfoot on Joh_8:3 quotes Sotah f. 47. 1.
“From the time that homicides were multiplied, the beheading of the heifer ceased:
from the time that adulterers were multiplied, the bitter waters ceased:” and
Maimonides on Sotah, c. 3. “When the adulterers multiplied under the second
Temple, the Sanhedrin abolished the ordeal of the adulteresses by the bitter water;
relying on its being written, ‘I will not visit your daughters when they commit
whoredom, nor your spouses when they commit adultery.’” Lightfoot subjoins,
“The Gemarists teach that Johanan ben Zacchai was the author of that advice, who
was still alive, in the Sanhedrin, and perhaps among those who brought the
adulteress before Christ. For some things make it probable, that the “scribes and
Pharisees,” mentioned here, were elders of the synagogue.” Justin reproaches them
with having fresh wives, wherever they went throughout the world. Dial. fin. p. 243.
Oxford translation.)
1C. Barnes goes on,"Oppress the hireling - , literally “oppress the hire,” i. e., deal
oppressively in it. “Behold,” says James Jam_5:4, “the hire of the laborers who have
reaped down your fields, which is by you kept back by fraud, crieth; and the cries of
them which have reaped are entered into the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth.” The
mere delay in the payment of the wages of the laborer brought sin unto him, against
whom he cried to God Deu_24:14-15. It is no light sin, since it is united with the
heaviest, and is spoken of as reaching the ears of God. The widow and the fatherless
stand in a relation of special nearness to God.
And fear not Me - He closes with the central defect, which was the mainspring of all
their sins, the absence of the fear of God. The commission of any of these sins, rife as
they unhappily are, proves that those who did them had no fear of God. “Dothing

hinders that this should be referred to the first coming of Christ. For Christ, in
preaching to the Jews, exercised upon them a judgment of just rebuke, especially of
the priests, Scribes and Pharisees, as the Gospels show.”
2. Jamison,"I whom ye challenged, saying, “Where is the God of judgment?”
(Mal_2:17). I whom ye think far off, and to be slow in judgment, am “near,” and
will come as a “swift witness”; not only a judge, but also an eye-witness against
sorcerers; for Mine eyes see every sin, though ye think I take no heed. Earthly
judges need witnesses to enable them to decide aright: I alone need none (Psa_10:11;
Psa_73:11; Psa_94:7, etc.).
sorcerers — a sin into which the Jews were led in connection with their foreign
idolatrous wives. The Jews of Christ’s time also practiced sorcery (Act_8:9;
Act_13:6; Gal_5:20; Josephus [Antiquities, 20.6; Wars of the Jews, 2.12.23]). It shall
be a characteristic of the last Antichristian confederacy, about to be consumed by
the brightness of Christ’s Coming (Mat_24:24; 2Th_2:9; Rev_13:13, Rev_13:14;
Rev_16:13, Rev_16:14; also Rev_9:21; Rev_18:23; Rev_21:8; Rev_22:15).
Romanism has practiced it; an order of exorcists exists in that Church.
adulterers — (Mal_2:15, Mal_2:16).
fear not me — the source of all sins.
3. Calvin, "Here the Prophet retorts the complaints which the Jews had previously
made. There is here then a counter-movement when he says, I will draw nigh to you;
for they provoked God by this slander — that he hid himself from them and looked
at a distance on what was taking place in the world, as though the people he had
chosen were not the objects of his care. They expected God to be to them like a hired
soldier, ready at hand to help them in any adversity, and to come armed at their nod
or pleasure to fight with their enemies: this they expected; but God declares what is
of a contrary character, — that he would come for judgment; and he alludes to that
impious slander, when they denied that he was the God of judgement, because he
did not immediately, or soon enough, resist their enemies: “Oh! God has now
divested himself of his own nature! for his judgement does not appear.” His answer
is, “I will not forget nay judgement when I come to you, but I shall come in a way
contrary to what you expect”. They indeed wished God to put on arms for their
advantage, but God declares, that he would be an enemy to them, according to what
he also says by the mouth of Isaiah."
4. Calvin goes on, "He then mentions several kinds of evils, in which he includes the
sins in which the Jews implicated themselves. He first names diviners or sorcerers.
It is indeed true, that among various kinds of superstitions this was one; but as the
word is found here by itself, the Prophet no doubt meant to include all kinds of
diviners, soothsayers, false prophets, and all such deceivers: and so there is here
again another instance of stating a part for the whole; for he includes all those
corruptions which are contrary to the true worship of God. We indeed know that
God formerly had by his word put a restraint on the Jews, that they were not to
turn aside to incantations and magical arts, or to anything of this kind; but he

intimates here, that they were then so given up to gross abominations, that they
abandoned themselves to magic arts, and to incantations, and the juggleries of the
devil. He mentions, in the second place, adulterers, and under this term he includes
all kinds of lewdness; and, in the third place, he names frauds and rapines; and if
we rightly consider the subject, we shall find that these three things contain
whatever violates the whole law. The design of the Prophet is by no means
ambiguous; for he intended to show how perversely they expostulated with God; for
they ought to have been destroyed a hundred times, inasmuch as they were
apostates, were given to obscene lusts, were cruel, avaricious, and perfidious.
5. Calvin continues, "And this reproof ought to be a warning to us in the present
day, that we may not call forth God’s judgement on others, while we flatter
ourselves as being innocent. Whenever then we flee to God for help, and ask him to
succor us, let us remember that he is a just judge who has no respect of persons. Let
then every one, who implores God’s judgement, be his own judge, and anticipate the
correction which he has reason to fear. That God therefore may not be armed for
our destruction, let us carefully examine our own life, and follow the rule prescribed
here by the Prophet; let us begin with the worship of God, then let us come to
fornications and adulteries, and whatever is contrary to a chaste conduct, and
afterwards let us pass to frauds and plunder; for if we are free from all superstition,
if we keep ourselves chaste and pure, and if we also abstain from all plunders and
all cruelty, our life is doubtless approved by God. And hence it is that the Prophet
adds at the end of the verse, They feared not me; for when lusts, and plunder, and
frauds and the corruptions which vitiate God’s worship, prevail, it is evident that
there is no fear of God, but that men, having shaken off the yoke, as it were run
mad, though they may a thousand times profess the name of God. By mentioning
the orphan, the widow, and the stranger, he amplifies the atrocity of their crimes;
for the orphans, widows, and strangers, we know, are under the guardianship and
protection of God, inasmuch as they are exposed to the wrongs of men. Hence every
one who plunders orphans, or harasses widows, or oppresses strangers, seems to
carry on open war, as it were, with God himself, who has promised that these should
be safe under the shadow of his hand."
6. Keil, "God comes as a practical witness against the wicked, convicting them of
their guilt by punishing them. The particular sins mentioned here are such as were
grievous sins in the eye of the law, and to some extent were punishable with death.
On sorcerers and adulterers see Exo_22:17; Lev_20:10; Deu_22:22. That sorcery
was very common among the Jews after the captivity, is evident from such passages
as Act_8:9; Act_13:6, and from Josephus, Ant. xx. 6, de bell. Jud. ii. 12, 23; and the
occurrence of adultery may be inferred from the condemnation of the marriages
with heathen wives in Mal_2:10-16. On false swearing compare Lev_19:12......to bow
down the stranger, i.e., to oppress him unjustly. The words, “and fear not me,”
point to the source from which all these sins flowed, and refer to all the sinners
mentioned before."

7. Gill, "And I will come near to you to judgment,.... And so will manifestly appear
to be the God of judgment they asked after, Mal_2:17 this is not to be understood of
Christ's coming to judgment at the last day, but of his coming to judge and punish
the wicked Jews at the time of Jerusalem's destruction; for the same is here meant,
who is spoken of in the third person before, and who will not be afar off; there will
be no need to inquire after him, when he will come he will be near enough, and too
near for them:..and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers; not only a judge,
but a witness; so that there will be no delay of judgment, or protracting or evading
it, for want of witnesses of facts alleged; for the Judge himself, who is Christ, will be
witness of them, he being the omniscient God, before whom all things are manifest.
The Targum is, "my Word shall be among you for a swift witness.''
7B. Gill continues, "Mention is made of "sorcerers", because there were many that
used the magic art, enchantments, and sorceries, in the age of Christ and his
apostles, and before the destruction of Jerusalem, even many of their doctors and
members of the sanhedrim; and against the adulterers; with whom that age also
abounded; hence our Lord calls it an adulterous generation, Mat_12:39, and against
false swearers; who were guilty of perjury, and of vain oaths; who swore by the
creatures, and not by the Lord, and to things not true; see Mat_5:33, and against
those that oppress the hireling in his wages, the widow, and the fatherless;
defrauding of servants of their wages, devouring widows' houses, and distressing the
fatherless, were sins the Jews were addicted to in those times, as appears from
Jam_1:27 who wrote to the twelve tribes; and from what our Lord charges them
with, Mat_23:14, and that turn aside the stranger from his right; and so Kimchi
supplies it, "that turn aside the judgment of the stranger;'' that do not do him
justice in civil things; yea, persecuted those that became proselytes to the Christian
religion: and fear not me, saith the Lord of hosts; which was the root and cause of
all their sins; irreverence of Christ, disbelief of him, and contempt of his Gospel."
8. We do not get a very pleasant picture of Judaism at the time of Christ, for it was
just as corrupt as what we see here in Malachi, and it was time to put an end to such
a mockery of religion. Clarke wrote, "I will come near to you to judgment - And
what fearful cases does he get to judge! Sorcerers, adulterers, false swearers,
defrauders of the wages of the hireling, oppressors of widows and orphans, and
perverters of the stranger and such as do not fear the Lord: a horrible crew; and the
land at that time was full of them. Several were converted under the preaching of
Christ and his apostles, and the rest the Romans destroyed or carried into
captivity."
9. Henry, "Let us see here, Who the sinners are that must appear to be judged by
the gospel of Christ. They are the sorcerers, who died in spiritual wickedness, that
forsake the oracles of the God of truth to consult the father of lies; and the
adulterers, who wallow in the lusts of the flesh, those adulterers who were charged
with dealing treacherously (Mal_2:15); and the false swearers, who profane God's
name and affront his justice, by calling him to witness to a lie; and the oppressors,
who barbarously injure and trample upon those who lie at their mercy, and are not

able to help themselves: they defraud the hireling in his wages and will not give him
what he agreed for; they crush the widow and fatherless, and will not pay them their
just debts, because they cannot prove them, or have not wherewithal to sue for
them; the poor stranger too, who has no friend to stand by him and is ignorant of
the laws of the country, they turn aside from his right, so that he cannot keep or
cannot recover his own. That which is at the bottom of all this is, They fear not me,
saith the Lord of hosts. The transgression of the wicked plainly declares that there is
no fear of God before his eyes. Where no fear of God is no good is to be expected."
10. Henry goes on, "Who will appear against them: I will come near, says God, and
will be a swift witness against them. They justify themselves, and, their sins having
been artfully concealed, hope to escape punishment for want of proof; but God, who
sees and knows all things, will himself be witness against them, and his omniscience
is instead of a thousand witnesses, for to it the sinner's own conscience shall be made
to subscribe, and so every mouth shall be stopped. He will be a swift witness; though
they reflect upon him as slow and dilatory, and ask, Where is the God of judgment,
and where the promise of his coming? they will find that he is not slack concerning
his threatenings any more than he is concerning his promises. Judgment against
those sinners shall not be put off for want of evidence, for he will be a swift witness.
His judgment shall overtake them, and it shall be impossible for them to outrun it."
11. Grace Dotes, "Before the list of apostate 'social sins' is examined, it is
indispensable to notice that which they 'do not': they do "not fear God." And the
word for "fear" is xry, yr', which means "reverence not merely standing in awe of
God but also obeying his commandments." [131] And Robert Thieme defines the
word as "occupation with Christ." [132] In other words, the term designates
spiritual apostasy, an apostasy which is the direct result of failure to reverence God
and His word. And the product of this apostasy? The list of 'social sins' about to be
examined. Thus, failure to know and understand God's word results not only in
personal apostasy and personal sin, but also in civil degeneration.
11B. Grace Dotes continues, "The sorcerers, that is, "those who seek to delude and
pervert the mind" through demonism. The adulterers; and the term refers not only
to physical fornication by a married man with a woman other than his legal wife,
but to spiritual adultery, i.e., spiritual fornication with false gods or idols. fbw,
which means "to seven," i.e., to swear an oath on the perfect name of God. And
these apostates were guilty of doing this deliberately and falsely. This was a "
distortion of common law." [133] Those who are "oppressors" of "widows and
orphans," i.e., the helpless in any society. And the word connotes treatment "with
violence and injustice; it seems to include both senses of oppression and fraud."
These foreigners were being dispossessed of civil rights by the apostates. And this
was particularly reprehensible on the part of the Jews, as Israel was not to oppress
the ger, the foreigners, because they themselves had been oppressed, as in Egypt,
and as an ethnic group knew the anguish of the oppressed soul. Indeed, Israel was
commanded to love the ger (Leviticus 19:34). Additionally, and primarily, Israel was
to evangelize these foreigners, not subject them to injustice and persecution."

12. Here is a message to shock you, for it may lead you to see a sin in your life that is
very hateful to God. "A CHURCHGOIDG businessman and his attorney wife,
respectable and wealthy people, asked me to recommend a household employee who
could work from eight to five every day caring for two children, cleaning the house,
and preparing the evening meal. They told me the amount they would be willing to
pay—and it wasn't very much. I said simply that I didn't know anyone who could
fill that role. Inwardly I seethed at their blatant desire to exploit a needy person.
They each earned more in thirty minutes than they were willing to pay for a full
day's work.
God is just as concerned about financial injustices as He is about abortion, adultery,
deceit, and dishonesty. He is grieved when He sees the rich and powerful take
advantage of the poor and helpless. While relatively few of us are in positions to
change the conditions of society at large, all of us can change a small part of it—the
part that we encounter every day. We can treat fairly those with whom we deal—
babysitters, delivery people, clerks and cashiers, salespeople, parking attendants,
waiters and waitresses. In God's eyes, financial immorality is just as despicable as
sexual immorality."—H V Lugt (Our Daily Bread I have to comment on this last
sentence, however, for I have a hard time believing that if someone fails to tip the
waitress an adequate amount, it is just as bad as if they wait for her to get off work
and rape her. It is stating the case so strong that it becomes a fallacy. The point is
valid, however, that it is out of God's will to cheat people of what is rightfully theirs,
but lets keep the balance and recognize that not all things out of his will are equally
dispicable.
6. "I the LORD do not change. So you, O
descendants of Jacob, are not destroyed.
1. God's unchangeableness is a given, for change implies going ahead to something
better, or going back to something less, and a perfect being cannot do either. Getting
better would mean he was not already perfect, and getting worse, would imply that
he was not perfect, and so a perfect person does not, and cannot change, without
losing that perfection. God is love, and so he cannot be non-love, and the result is
that he does not destroy the Jews even though they are worthy of destruction many
times over. He made a promise to Abraham, and he will not break that promise no
matter how corrupt his people become. This, or course, does not mean he will not
judge them severely, which he has done many times, but it does mean he will not
eliminate them.
2. Barnes, "And ye sons of Jacob are not consumed - Man would often have become

weary of man’s wickedness and waywardness. We are impatient at one another,
readily despair of one another. God might justly have cast off them and us; but He
changes not. He abides by the covenant which He made with their fathers; He
consumed them not; but with His own unchangeable love awaited their repentance.
Our hope is not in ourselves, but in God."
3. Keil, "This threat of judgment is explained in Mal_3:6 in the double clause: that
Jehovah does not change, and the sons of Israel do not perish. Because Jehovah is
unchangeable in His purposes, and Israel as the people of God is not to perish,
therefore will God exterminate the wicked out of Israel by means of judgment, in
order to refine it and shape it according to its true calling."
4. Henry, "Is God a just revenger of those that rebel against him? Is he the bountiful
rewarder of those that diligently seek him? In both these he is unchangeable.
Though the sentence passed against evil works (Mal_3:5) be not executed speedily,
yet it will be executed, for he is the Lord; he changes not; he is as much an enemy to
sin as ever he was, and impenitent sinners will find him so. There needs no scire
facias - a writ calling one to show cause, to revive God's judgment, for it is never
antiquated, or out of date, but against those that go on still in their trespasses the
curse of his law still remains in full force, power, and virtue. 2. A particular proof of
it, from the comfortable experience which the people of Israel had had of it. They
had reason to say that he was an unchangeable God, for he had been faithful to his
covenant with them and their fathers; if he had not adhered to that, they would
have been consumed long ago and cut off from being a people; they had been false
and fickle in their conduct to him, and he might justly have abandoned them, and
then they would soon have been consumed and ruined; but because he remembered
his covenant, and would not violate that, nor alter the thing that had gone forth out
of his lips, they were preserved from ruin and recovered from the brink of it. It was
purely because he would be as good as his word, Deu_7:8; Lev_26:42. Dow as God
had kept them from ruin, while the covenant of peculiarity remained in force,
purely because he would be faithful to that covenant, and would show that he is not
a man that he should lie (Dum_23:19), so, when that covenant should be superseded
and set aside by the Dew Testament, and they, by rejecting the blessings of it, lay
themselves open to the curses, he will show that in the determinations of his wrath,
as well as in those of his mercy, he is not a man, that he should repent, but will then
be as true to his threatenings as hitherto he had been to his promises; see 1Sa_15:29.
We may all apply this very sensibly to ourselves; because we have to do with a God
that changes not, therefore it is that we are not consumed, even because his
compassions fail not; they are new every morning; great is his faithfulness, Lam_3:22,
Lam_3:23."
5. Calvin sees God still holding the threat of destruction over their heads. He wrote,
“Think not that you have escaped, though I have long spared you and your sins:
though then ye are not yet consumed, as I have borne with you in your great
wickedness, I yet continue to be Jehovah, nor do I change my nature, and ye shall at
length find that I am a just Judge; though I shall not soon execute my vengeance,
punishment being held suspended, or as it were buried, yet the end will show that I

am not changed."
5B. Calvin continues,"But the Prophet seems rather to accuse the Jews of
ingratitude in charging God with cruelty or with negligence, because he did not
immediately assist them; and at the same time they did not consider within
themselves that they remained alive because God had a reason derived from his own
nature for sparing them, and for not rendering to them what they had deserved.
The meaning then is this, “I am God, and I change not; and ought ye not to have
acknowledged that wonderful forbearance through which I have spared you? for
how has it been that you have not perished, and that innumerable deaths have not
swallowed you up? How is it that you are yet alive? Is it because you have dealt
faithfully faith me, so that it behaved me to exercise care over you? Day, it is indeed
a wonder that I had not fulminated against you so as to destroy you long ago.” We
hence see that he upbraids them with ingratitude for accusing him, because he did
not immediately come forth in their defense: For he answers them and says, that
had he been rigid and vehement in his displeasure, they could not have continued,
for they had not ceased for many successive ages to seek their own ruin..."
6. Clarke, "I am the Lord, I change not - The new dispensation of grace and
goodness, which is now about to be introduced, is not the effect of any change in my
counsels; it is, on the contrary, the fulfillment of my everlasting purposes; as is also
the throwing aside of the Mosaic ritual, which was only intended to introduce the
great and glorious Gospel of my Son. And because of this ancient covenant, ye Jews
are not totally consumed; but ye are now, and shall be still, preserved as a distinct
people - monuments both of my justice and mercy."
7. Jamison, "Ye yourselves being “not consumed,” as ye have long ago deserved, are
a signal proof of My unchangeableness. Rom_11:29 : compare the whole chapter, in
which God’s mercy in store for Israel is made wholly to flow from God’s
unchanging faithfulness to His own covenant of love. So here, as is implied by the
phrase “sons of Jacob” (Gen_28:13; Gen_35:12). They are spared because I am
Jehovah, and they sons of Jacob; while I spare them, I will also punish them; and
while I punish them, I will not wholly consume them."
8. John D. McArthur Jr. When Harry Truman became president of the United
States after the death of Franklin Roosevelt, Sam Rayburn, the speaker of the
House of Representatives called on him. He told the new president, "From here on
out, you're going to have lots of people around you. They'll try to put up a wall
around you and cut you off from any ideas but theirs. They'll tell you what a great
man you are, Harry. But you and I both know you ain't."The whole message of
Malachi has been, "you think you are pretty good, but you ain't."
9. Maclaren on the unchangeable God, "It is the assurance that the mighty stream
of love from the heart of God is not contingent on the variations of our character
and the fluctuations of our poor hearts, but rises from His deep well, and flows on
for ever, ‘the river of God’ which ‘is full of water.’ It is the assurance that round all

the majesty and the mercy which He has revealed for our adoration and our trust
there is the consecration of permanence, that we might have a rock on which to
build and never be confounded. Is there anywhere in the past an act of His power, a
word of His lip, a revelation of His heart which has been a strength or a joy or a
light to any man? It is valid for me, and is intended for my use. ‘He fainteth not, nor
is weary.’ The bush burns and is not consumed. ‘I will not alter the thing that has
gone out of my lips.’ ‘By two immutable things in which it is impossible for God to
lie, we have strong consolation.’
9B. Maclaren goes on, "God’s purposes and promises change not, therefore our
faith may rest on Him, notwithstanding our own sins and fluctuations. It is this
aspect of the divine immutability which is the thought of our text. God does not turn
from His love, nor cancel His promises, nor alter His purposes of mercy because of
our sins. If God could have changed, the godless forgetfulness of, and departure
from, Him of ‘the Sons of Jacob’ would have driven Him to abandon His purposes;
but they still live—living evidences of His long-suffering. And in that preservation of
them God would have them see the basis of hope for the future. So this is the
confidence with which we should cheer ourselves when we look upon the past, and
when we anticipate the future. The sins that have been in our past have deserved
that we should have been swept away, but we are here still. Why are we? Why do we
yet live? Because we have to do with an unchanging love, with a faithfulness that
never departs from its word, with a purpose of blessing that will not be turned aside.
So let us look back with this thought and be thankful; let us look forward with it
and be of good cheer. Trust yourself, weak and sinful as you are, to that unchanging
love.
10. Spurgeon, "It is well for us that, amidst all the variableness of life, there is One
whom change cannot affect; One whose heart can never alter, and on whose brow
mutability can make no furrows. All things else have changed--all things are
changing. The sun itself grows dim with age; the world is waxing old; the folding up
of the worn-out vesture has commenced; the heavens and earth must soon pass
away; they shall perish, they shall wax old as doth a garment; but there is One who
only hath immortality, of whose years there is no end, and in whose person there is
no change. The delight which the mariner feels, when, after having been tossed
about for many a day, he steps again upon the solid shore, is the satisfaction of a
Christian when, amidst all the changes of this troublous life, he rests the foot of his
faith upon this truth--"I am the Lord, I change not."
The stability which the anchor gives the ship when it has at last obtained a hold-fast,
is like that which the Christian's hope affords him when it fixes itself upon this
glorious truth. With God "is no variableness, neither shadow of turning." What
ever His attributes were of old, they are now; His power, His wisdom, His justice,
His truth, are alike unchanged. He has ever been the refuge of His people, their
stronghold in the day of trouble, and He is their sure Helper still. He is unchanged
in His love. He has loved His people with "an everlasting love"; He loves them now
as much as ever He did, and when all earthly things shall have melted in the last

conflagration, His love will still wear the dew of its youth. Precious is the assurance
that He changes not! The wheel of providence revolves, but its axle is eternal love.
"Death and change are busy ever, Man decays, and ages move; But His mercy
waneth never; God is wisdom, God is love."
Swift to its close ebbs out life's little day,
Earth's joys grow dim, its glories pass away;
Change and decay in all around I see—
O Thou who changest not, abide with me! —Lyte
7. Ever since the time of your forefathers you have
turned away from my decrees and have not kept
them. Return to me, and I will return to you,"
says the LORD Almighty. "But you ask, `How are
we to return?'
1. What an infinitely patient God, for he declares that they were a hundred percent
unfaithful to his decrees, and yet he still offers them a chance to return. The second
chance is a joke to God, for he gives people dozens and possibly hundreds of chances
for the sinner to return to his favor. Dobody has this kind of love and patience,
except maybe a mother. It is incredible what God will put up with in terms of people
paying no attention to what he reveals as his will for them.
2. God and the Jews have one thing in common, and that is that neither of them
change. God just said he changes not in his love for them, and here he says they
never change in their disrespect for him. God is always the Savior, and man is
always the sinner. Whoever invented the statement that opposites attract probably
was not thinking of God and sinners, but it is a very true example. God is attracted
to sinners because they need desperately for someone to save them. Sinners are
attracted to God because they know that nobody else could keep loving them when
they are so unworthy of love. They do not obey him, but they still know he is their
only hope.
2B. One thing you can say about God's people is that they were consistent, but it
was consistent in their rebellion. Acts 7:51-51 - "You stiff-necked people, with
uncircumcised hearts and ears! You are just like your fathers: You ALWAYS resist
the Holy Spirit! {52} Was there ever a prophet your fathers did not persecute?" The
good news is that God is also consisent and does not change in his commitment to
his people. Don Horban puts it like this: "And it's right at this point that I want you

to see exactly what God has revealed about His own heart toward people like that -
"The reason you're not destroyed in a blinding, white-hot fit of holy rage is that I
HAVD'T CHADGED ID MY UDDYIDG LOVE ADD COMMITMEDT TOWARD
YOU."
2C. Grace Dotes, "The "time of your forefathers" is a direct reference to the Jews
that were restored to Jerusalem in the year 516 BC. These Israelites returned to
God, their God and, in the analogy preceding, their spiritual wife, subsequent to the
Babylonian captivity of 586 BC. And "ever since" that generation, the Jews of 516
BC, subsequent generations had lapsed from a consciousness of God.
The indictment is that they have "turned away," SUR, which means "to turn away
from God, to depart, i.e. to fall away from his worship, to apostatize; to depart from
the law or the divine precepts."[139] Thus, the unbelievers have turned away from
the gospel as it was presented in the Old Testament, i.e., the offerings, the
Tabernacle or Temple, and the priesthood; and the believers have turned away
from comprehending God's Word, specifically, "my decrees."
3. Barnes, “Turn thou to Me and I will return unto you,” is the Voice of God,
acknowledging our free-will, and promising His favor, if we accept His grace in
return. And ye say, Wherein shall we return? - Strange ignorance of the blinded
soul, unconscious that God has aught against it! It is the Pharisaic spirit in the
Gospel. It would own itself doubtless in general terms a sinner, but when called on,
wholly to turn to God, as being wholly turned from Him, it asks, “In what? What
would God have of me?” as if ready to do it." The good news is that no matter how
far off the right track people go, they are welcomed by God to return before
judgment day.
4. Gill, "Here begins an enumeration of the sins of the Jews, which were the cause of
their ruin; and here is first a general charge of apostasy from the statutes and
ordinances of the law, which they made void by the traditions of the fathers; and
therefore this word is used as referring to this evil, as well as to express their early,
long, and continued departure from the ways of God; which as it was an
aggravation of their sin, that they should have so long ago forsook the ordinances of
God."
4B. Gill points out that this question is just like all the others in this book. It is a
denial of the charge, for they did not see any basis for returning, for they were
already where they ought to be in their minds. He wrote, "But ye said, Wherein
shall we return? what have we to turn from, or repent of? what evils have we done,
or can be charged on us? what need have we of repentance or conversion, or of such
an exhortation to it? do not we keep the law, and all the rituals of it? this is the true
language of the Pharisees in Christ's time, who, touching the righteousness of the
law, were blameless in their own esteem, and were the ninety and nine just persons
that needed not repentance, Luk_15:7." Jamison says the same, "The same

insensibility to their guilt continues: they speak in the tone of injured innocence, as
if God calumniated them." Henry adds, "They are so ignorant of themselves, and of
the strictness, extent, and spiritual nature, of the divine law, that they see nothing in
themselves to be repented of, or reformed; they are pure in their own eyes, and
think they need no repentance. (3.) They are so firmly resolved to go on in sin that
they will find a thousand foolish frivolous excuses to shift off their repentance, and
turn away the calls that are given them to repent."
5. Calvin, "He increases their condemnation by this circumstance — that they had
not lately begun to depart from the right way, but had continued their contumacy
for many ages, according to what the apostles, as well as the Prophets in various
places, have testified: “Ye uncircumcised in heart, ye have ceased not to resist the
Holy Spirit like your fathers.” (Acts 7:61.) “Harden not your hearts as your fathers
did; in the righteousness of your fathers walk not.” (Psalm 95:8.)
5B. Calvin goes on, "We now understand the Prophet’s intention — that the Jews
for many ages had been notorious for their impiety and wickedness, and that they
had not been dealt with by God as they had deserved, because he had according to
his ineffable goodness and forbearance suspended his rigour, so as not to visit them
according to their demerits. It hence appears how unreasonable they were, not only
in being morose and proud, but especially in being furious against God, when they
accused him of tardiness, while yet he had proved himself to be really a God
towards them by his continued forbearance. The words, And ye have not kept them,
are added for amplification; for he expresses more fully their contempt of his law, as
though he had said, that they were not only transgressors, but had also with gross
wilfulness so departed from the law as to regard it as nothing to tread God’s
precepts under their feet."
5C. Calvin agrees with others that their question is one of blind ignorance to their
guilt. He wrote, "It follows, Ye have said, In what shall we return? It is an evidence
of perverseness, when men answer that they see not that they have erred, and that
hence conversion is to no purpose required of them; for this is the meaning of these
words, Whereby shall we return? that is, “What dost thou require from us? for we
are not conscious of any defection; we worship God as we ought: now if our duties
are repudiated by him, we see not why he should so expressly blame us; let him
show in what we have offended; for conversion to him is superfluous, until we be
proved guilty of apostasy, or of those sins which God determines to punish in us."
6. Maclaren, "The gracious invitation of our text presupposes a state of departure.
The child who is tenderly recalled has first gone away. There has been a breach of
love. Dependence has been unwelcome, and cast off with the vain hope of a larger
freedom in the far-off land; and this is the true charge against us. It is not so much
individual acts of sin but the going away in heart and spirit from our Father God
which describes the inmost essence of our true condition, and is itself the source of
all our acts of sin. Conscience confirms the description. We know that we have
departed from Him in mind, having wasted our thoughts on many things and not
having had Him in the multitude of them in us. We have departed from Him in

heart, having squandered our love and dissipated our desires on many objects, and
sought in the multiplicity of many pearls—some of them only paste—a substitute for
the all-sufficient simplicity of the One of great price. We have departed from Him in
will, having reared up puny inclinations and fleeting passions against His calm and
eternal purpose, and so bringing about the shock of a collision as destructive to us as
when a torpedo-boat crashes in the dark against a battleship, and, cut in two, sinks.
6B. Maclaren continues, "The gracious invitation of our text follows, ‘I am the
Lord, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed.’ Threatenings, and
the execution of these in acts of judgment, are no indication of a change in the loving
heart of God; and because it is the same, however we have sinned against it and
departed from it, there is ever an invitation and a welcome. We may depart from
Him, but He never departs from us. Dor does He wait for us to originate the
movement of return, but He invites us back. By all His words in His threatenings
and in His commandments, as in the acts of His providence, we can hear His call to
return. The fathers of our flesh never cease to long for their prodigal child’s return;
and their patient persistence of hope is but brief and broken when contrasted with
the infinite long-suffering of the Father of spirits. We have heard of a mother who
for long empty years has nightly set a candle in her cottage window to guide her
wandering boy back to her heart; and God has bade us think more loftily of the
unchangeableness of His love than that of a woman who may forget, that she should
not have compassion upon the son of her womb."
7. Dr. Metcalfe, "The Book of Malachi reveals that the people who claim to know all
about God and religion are in fact exasperatingly ignorant. A recurrent theme
throughout the short book is (1) a statement of fact by God, through His prophet;
immediately followed by (2) incredulous statements like "How can that be?" "Why
do you say that?" "Where is that a fact?" 1. (1:2) They are ignorant of God's LOVE
to them. (1:6) They are ignorant of insulting the name of God. 2. (2:14) They are
ignorant of any reason why God should despise their fancy worship, even though
they have been treacherous with one another. (2:17) They are ignorant of the fact
that God is weary of their empty mouthing of prayers. 3. (3:7) They are ignorant
both of the need to return to God, and the way in which they might return to God."
8. John D. McArthur, Jr., " Dotice that these are not words to the pagan world or to
those who have never heard of God. This is an invitation to the believer, to those
who claim to be God's people. Over and over again, we have disobeyed his law, we
have broken his commands, we have sinned. The problem the Jews had was they
thought they were the chosen people and could do no wrong. The problem
Christians have is we think that our salvation is all sewn up so we don't try very
hard to overcome temptation or avoid sin. The book of Malachi is a reminder to us
that we need, as Paul said in Philippians 2:12, to "work out your salvation with fear
and trembling." Christians have often disagreed over whether believers can forsake
their salvation. Perhaps we should compare our situation to riding in the back of a
pickup truck. All true believers are on board. Some Christians believe the tailgate is
closed and locked; others believe it is left open. In either case, the logical thing to do

is not to see how daring we can be in leaning out the back but to ride as close to the
cab as possible."
9. Ralph Carmichael put it so well: "The Savior is waiting to enter your heart, Why
don't you let Him come in? There's nothing in this world to keep you apart, What is
your answer to Him? Time after time He has waited before, And now He is waiting
again - To see if you're willing to open the door, Oh, how He wants to come in."
8. "Will a man rob God? Yet you rob me. "But
you ask, `How do we rob you?' "In tithes and
offerings.
1. God robbing is probably more common than bank robbing, but it is a crime that
never makes the news. God robbers are never taken before the judge and sentenced
for such a high level crime. It is not a white collar or blue collar crime, but one that
is universal, for it is not likely that anyone has ever lived who ever gave God all he
was worthy of receiving. God made it easier, however, but reducing what he
expected to just ten percent of one's income. Back in verse 5 we see they were
already robbing laborers of their wages, and the widows and orphans of their
support, and aliens of their justice. The next step after robbing everyone else is to
rob God. They were good at robbing, and so why not go all the way, and become the
big time? Such is the thinking of people blinded by their greed and lack of
compassion.
defraud laborers of their wages, who oppress the
widows and the fatherless, and deprive aliens of
justice, but do not fear me," says the LORD
2. Barnes, "Shall a man rob or cheat, defraud God? God answers question by
question, but thereby drives it home to the sinner’s soul, and appeals to his
conscience. The conscience is steeled, and answers again, “In what?” God specifies
two things only, obvious, patent, which, as being material things, they could not
deny. “In tithes and offerings.” The offerings included several classes of dues to
God:
(a) the first fruits ;
(b) the annual half-shekel Exo_30:13-15;

(c) the offerings made for the tabernacle Exo_25:2-3; Exo_35:5, Exo_35:21,
Exo_35:24; Exo_36:3, Exo_36:6 and the second temple Ezr_8:25 at its first erection;
it is used of ordinary offerings;
(d) of the tithes of their own tithes, which the Levites paid to the priests
Dum_18:26, Dum_18:28-29;
(e) of the portions of the sacrifice which accrued to the priests Lev_7:14.
3. Gill, "Will a man rob God?.... Or "the gods"; the false gods, the idols of the
Gentiles; the Heathens will not do that, accounting sacrilege a great sin, and yet this
the Jews were guilty of: or "the judges" (c), as the Targum; civil magistrates; will
any dare to defraud them of their due? see Mal_1:8. Yet ye have robbed me;
keeping back from the priests and Levites, his ministers, what was due to them; and
which, being no other than a spoiling or robbing of them, might be interpreted a
robbing of God: But ye say, wherein have we robbed thee? as not being conscious of
any such evil; or, however, impudently standing in it, that they were not guilty: to
which is returned the answer, "In tithes and offerings;" that is, they robbed God in
not giving the tithes, and not offering sacrifices, according as the law required: but
it may be objected, that the Jews in Christ's time did pay tithes, even of all things;
yea, of more than the law required, Mat_23:23 to which it may be replied, that
though they gave tithes, yet it was בעין רעה , "with an evil eye", as Aben Ezra says;
grudgingly, and not cheerfully, and with an evil intention; not to show their
gratitude to God, and their acknowledgment of him as their Lord, from whom they
had their all, but in order to merit at his hands; besides, our Lord suggests that they
did not give to God the things that were God's, Mat_22:21 and the apostle charges
them with being guilty of sacrilege, Rom_2:22 and, moreover, the priests might not
give it to the Levites, as they ought; and which is what they are charged with in
Deh_13:10 and Grotius says that they were guilty of this before the destruction by
Vespasian, as appears by Josephus."
4. Jamison, "..rob — literally, “cover”: hence, defraud. Do ye call defrauding God
no sin to be “returned” from (Mal_3:7)? Yet ye have done so to Me in respect to the
tithes due to Me, namely, the tenth of all the remainder after the first-fruits were
paid, which tenth was paid to the Levites for their support (Lev_27:30-33): a tenth
paid by the Levites to the priests (Dum_18:26-28): a second tenth paid by the people
for the entertainment of the Levites, and their own families, at the tabernacle
(Deu_12:18): another tithe every third year for the poor, etc. (Deu_14:28,
Deu_14:29).
offerings — the first-fruits, not less than one-sixtieth part of the corn, wine, and
oil (Deu_18:4; Deh_13:10, Deh_13:12). The priests had this perquisite also, the tenth
of the tithes which were the Levites perquisite. But they appropriated all the tithes,
robbing the Levites of their due nine-tenths; as they did also, according to Josephus,
before the destruction of Jerusalem by Titus. Thus doubly God was defrauded, the
priests not discharging aright their sacrificial duties, and robbing God of the
services of the Levites, who were driven away by destitution [Grotius].

5. Morgan, "What is the Divine claim upon Christendom —or Christianity, shall I
rather say ? God is not asking you for a tithe. Some give a tithe of their income.
That may be the correct thing ; but while there are instances in which it is right,
there is a reverse side to the picture. Some men have no business to give a tithe of
their earnings — they cannot afford it ; and there are men who are robbing God by
giving only a tithe of their incomes. I knew a Congregational Church some years ago
in which a man sat in one pew and another man immediately behind him. The
income of the first man may roughly be estimated at £10,000 a year, and he and his
family gave two pounds conscientiously and regularly every week. He gave an
occasional £100 and other sums, but that was his regular weekly gift. The man who
sat behind him was a laborer, earn-ing eighteen shillings a week, out of whicli he
gave one shilling. (We have simply got down to money values because they appeal
most strongly to the minds of men in this age.) Which man gave the most ? I do not
commit any one else to this ; but I told the "man behind " that he had no right,
with his wife and family of five bairns, to give a whole shilling." Morgan is saying it
is wrong to tithe if by doing so you deprive your family of basic necessities, and it is
wrong to tithe if you have such great abundance that you could give much more.
6. Henry, "Will a man be so daringly impudent as to rob God? Man, who is a weak
creature, and cannot contend with God's power, will he think to rob him vi et armis
- forcibly? Man, who lies open to God's knowledge, and cannot conceal himself from
that, will he think to rob him clam et secreto - privily? Man, who depends upon God,
and derives his all from him, will he rob him that is his benefactor? This is
ungrateful, unjust, and unkind, indeed; and it is very unwise thus to provoke him
from whom our judgment proceeds. Will a man do violence to God? so some read it.
Will a man do violence to God? so some read it. Will a man stint or straiten him? so
others read it. Robbing God is a heinous crime. 2. The people's high challenge in
answer to that charge: But you say, Wherein have we robbed thee? They plead 0ot
guilty, and put God upon the proof of it. Dote, Robbing God is such a heinous crime
that those who are guilty of it are not willing to own themselves guilty. They rob
God, and know not what they do. They rob him of his honour, rob him of that which
is devoted to him, to be employed in his service, rob him of themselves, rob him of
sabbath-time, rob him of that which is given for the support of religion, and give
him not his dues out of their estates; and yet they ask, Wherein have we robbed thee?
3. The plain proof of the charge, in answer to this challenge; it is in tithes and
offerings. Out of these the priests and Levites had maintenance for themselves and
their families; but they detained them, defrauded the priests of them, would not pay
their tithes, or not in full, or not of the best; they brought not the offerings which
God required, or brought the torn, and lame, and sick, which were not fit for use.
They were all guilty of this sin, even the whole nation, as if they were in confederacy
against God, and all combined to rob him of his dues and to stand by one another in
it when they had done. For this they were cursed with a curse, Mal_3:9. God
punished them with famine and scarcity, through unseasonable weather, or insects
that ate up the fruits of the earth. God had thus punished them for neglecting to
build the temple (Hag_1:10, Hag_1:11), and now for not maintaining the temple-service.
Dote, Those that deny God his part of their estates may justly expect a curse

Malachi 3 commentary

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