Behold, I will send My messenger. Malachi 3:1-6 Messiah's messenger Sermons by Monday Club. The coming of the Messiah was in the time of the world's deepest wants. As in all instances of national degeneracy, two special causes bore their fruit in Malachi's time. 1. Neglect of the Divine ordinances. No Divine law has ever been given that was not essential to human well-being. A neglect of the Divine standard is consequently a sin against one's self. There is not a Bible precept that is unreasonable, and therefore it is unreasonable to give no heed to what is written. In this respect the sufferings of Israel were self-imposed. 2. Decay of spiritual life. It is hardly possible to realise the depth of wickedness portrayed by the prophet.The priests despised the name of Jehovah. The people had robbed God, and declared it a vain thing to serve Him. In a twofold way we observe the relation of such a lack of service to the national life. This sin resulted in the alienation of the hearts of the children from their parents. It is a mark of national decay when the children make light of their fathers, when they scoff at former virtues. Again, sin against God always carries with it wrong-doing against man. Love cannot be localised upon men while withheld from God. The man who cannot truly honour God will not truly honour man. Our deeds declare our religion. Well did the prophet ask, "Who may abide the day of His coming?" Who shall bear the tests of His judgment? The prophesied coming of Elijah referred to John the Baptist. There is something sublime in the rugged character that confronted a degenerate nation. He only who knows the Divine greatness and power can have courage to rebuke the self-conceit that resists God. The life of the Baptist interprets the two great lessons of the prophecy in our text calling for notice. 1. Our hope rests in the unchanging God. The idea of changeableness in the one trusted destroys all faith in its very essence. It is unhuman to love the being that to-morrow may turn against us. But for this Divine characteristic no sinner could stand in God's sight. It was this truth against whose bright background Israel's sin is of the deepest guilt. 2. The suicide of unbelief. God added no terrors to Israel's sufferings in the fiery day. They had but to remember their words, "His blood be on us, and on our children." Unbelief can stay the exercise of Divine mercy towards the individual, but it cannot keep back its own retribution. It can give blindness to the heart, but it cannot blot out the Divine judgment. Against the darkness of the prophet's picture there is another, of brighter meaning. There is a healing power in the beams of the Sun of Righteousness. Light takes the place of darkness. The righteous shall not be as flowers to fade and to die, but rather, strong and a source of joy, like the herds that feed in richest pastures. Jehovah is that blazing sun of glory. Unbelief brings a sunset of terror, while righteousness is itself the sunrise of everlasting joy. ( Sermons by Monday Club. )

Benson Commentary Malachi 3:1 Behold, I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me: and the Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to his temple, even the messenger of the covenant, whom ye delight in: behold, he shall come, saith the LORD of hosts. Malachi 3:1 . Behold, &c. — To silence the cavils of unbelievers, spoken of in the last verse of the preceding chapter, the prophet here foretels the coming of the Messiah, who should set things in order; and of his harbinger, who should prepare men for his reception. I will send my messenger — It is God who speaks here, for John the Baptist, who is here intended, was God’s messenger, and had his commission from heaven and not of men, Matthew 21:25-26 ; being sent by the same divine authority by which the prophets were sent, and for the same purposes, namely, to call men to repentance and reformation; and he shall prepare the way before me — Before Jehovah, the fulness of whose Godhead dwelt in Christ bodily. Whoever compares this verse with Isaiah 40:3 , &c., will easily see that both passages speak of the same person. The messenger here spoken of as sent to prepare the way before the Lord, who is described as coming immediately after this his forerunner, is represented in Isaiah as preparing the way of the Lord, who is spoken of as coming, and his glory as just ready to be revealed, Malachi 3:5-9 . Both passages, according to the evangelists, were intended of John the Baptist, and indeed are applicable to no other person whatever. He is promised under the name of Elias in the following chapter, whom all the Jews, both ancient and modern, expected should come as the forerunner of the Messiah. This messenger, or prophet, (see the note on chap. Malachi 2:7 ,) here represented as the Lord’s harbinger, was to be as much inferior to the Lord himself, as servants are to a great person, of whose arrival they give notice. This John himself often confessed, Matthew 3:11 ; John 1:26 ; John 3:28 ; and so much appears by the following words. Instead of the reading here, which is the literal translation of the Hebrew, we read in three places of the New Testament, (see the margin,) I send my messenger before thy face to prepare thy way before thee, namely, before the Messiah, to prepare his way before him; the Messiah acting in the name of his Father, the Father being in him and he in the Father, John 14:10-11 . John prepared the way of Christ by calling men to the practice of those duties which would qualify them for the reception of the blessings of the Messiah’s kingdom; and by taking them off from all confidence in their relation to Abraham as their father, which they thought would ensure the favour of God to them without a Saviour; and by giving them notice that the Messiah was now at hand, and so raising their expectation of him that they might readily enter into his measures for the setting up of his kingdom in the world. And the Lord, whom ye seek — That promised Lord or Shiloh, of whom you have such great expectations, and whose coming you so much desire; and who, if you obey him, will bring the greatest good to your state, and will also make foreign nations partakers of your blessings; shall suddenly come — That is, soon after the messenger, or unawares, as Christ’s first coming was, and second will be; to his temple — The second temple at Jerusalem, lately built by Zerubbabel and Joshua. All the Jews, before the birth of Christ, firmly believed that the Messiah was to come into that very temple, according to what the Prophet Haggai had expressly declared, Haggai 2:8 . The word here rendered Lord, ???? , is the same that is used by David, Psalm 110:1 , where he calls the Messiah his Lord, and properly means a basis, or foundation, and also a proprietor, and governor. It is a term peculiarly proper to Christ, who is at once the foundation and governor of his church, and was the Lord of that temple in which he was to make his appearance. Even the messenger [or angel ] of the covenant — A phrase, says Secker, found nowhere else in Scripture. “It may mean the person by whose intervention the covenant is made, or by whom a covenant proposed by one party is sent to the other.” The same person is meant who is termed the angel of God’s presence, Isaiah 63:9 ; who delivered the law upon mount Sinai, as St. Stephen speaks, Acts 7:38 , and as the apostle’s words imply, Hebrews 12:25-26 . He is both the revealer and mediator of the new covenant, which the prophets foretold would take place under the Messiah, Jeremiah 31:31 ; Isaiah 42:6 ; Isaiah 55:3 ; even that blessed one that was sent from heaven to negotiate a peace and settle a correspondence between God and man; commissioned from his Father to bring man home to God by a covenant of grace, who had revolted from him by the violation of the covenant of innocence. By his mediation this covenant is procured and established; and though he is the prince of the covenant, as some read the clause here, yet he condescended to be the messenger of it, that we might, upon his word, have the fullest assurance of God’s goodwill to man. Whom ye delight in — Whose coming ye so much desire, the time of it being the subject of your earnest inquiry and diligent search, and the expectation of it your comfort and delight. Behold, he shall come — The promise is repeated, and that in the name of the Lord of hosts, to give the fullest assurance of its accomplishment. There were few among the Jews who did not please themselves to think of the Messiah’s coming, though from various motives; the pious among them doubtless expecting spiritual blessings, such as a further revelation of God’s will, and larger communications of his grace and Spirit; but the great bulk of the nation looking for mere worldly advantages under a temporal kingdom, which they expected he would set up. Malachi 3:2 But who may abide the day of his coming? and who shall stand when he appeareth? for he is like a refiner's fire, and like fullers' soap: Malachi 3:2 . But who may abide the day of his coming — The LXX. read, ??? ???????? ?????? ??????? ????? , who shall be able to bear the day of his coming? So also the Chaldee. “Quare hoc?” “Why this?” says Grotius: “Because he himself shall bear the cross, that he may come to the kingdom, and shall show the same way to his followers.” The day of his coming, with respect to the Jews, includes all the time from the beginning of his preaching, to the total destruction of their temple and city by the Romans: and his coming, here and in several other places, comprehends all the effects and consequences of his coming, as well the judgments which arose from it to the disobedient, as the mercy that flowed from it to the obedient. So that the meaning of the question is, Who shall be able to stand under the weight of those trials and tribulations which at that time will fall on all sorts of men? great crosses being to be borne by the believing and pious, and great calamities to be endured by the unbelieving and refractory. In the same light John the Baptist represents the effects of Christ’s coming, Matthew 3:7-12 , Who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come? meaning, primarily, the wrath about to come on that rebellious people: whose fan, he adds, is in his hand, and he will thoroughly purge his floor, and burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire. For he is like a refiner’s fire — As if he had said, Some men are like metals, mixed with much dross, which nothing but a fierce fire can purge away. Such a fire shall the troubles of these days be. The divine judgments are often called a fiery trial, such as separates the pure metal from the dross, purifying the former and consuming the latter. See Isaiah 1:25 ; Isaiah 4:4 ; Zechariah 13:9 . Our Lord is to be understood in the same sense, Luke 12:49 , where he says, I am come to send fire upon the earth, namely, a fire of trial and purgation, to try and purify the hearts and reins of men, and find out and separate the good from the bad; like as the refiner’s fire makes the dross of the metal to appear and fly off. And like fuller’s soap — The word ???? , here rendered soap, and Jeremiah 2:22 , according to St. Jerome, was an herb growing in Palestine, which the fullers used to take spots out of clothes, Malachi 3:3 And he shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver: and he shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer unto the LORD an offering in righteousness. Malachi 3:3-4 . And he shall sit as a refiner — He shall be diligently employed in his office, in performing which he shall resemble a refiner and purifier of silver. And he shall purify the sons of Levi — And whereas the misconduct of the sons of Levi has been very great, (particularly of those who have been taken notice of and reproved in the foregoing chapters,) the Messiah when he comes will reform these abuses, and purify the worship of God from such corruptions. And purge them as gold and silver — The effect of this fiery trial, and purifying furnace, shall be the thorough cleansing of the persons that are to pass through it. Not all the sons of Levi, says Houbigant, “for the similitude is taken from gold and silver, which being purified there remains some dross behind. So it happened after the ministration of Jesus Christ: a great company of the priests were obedient to the faith, Acts 6:7 . Of the other sons of Levi, who did not believe in Christ, it is just before said, Who may abide the day of his coming, when, the metal being purified, he will cast the dross into the fire.” But those who should minister in holy things in the Christian Church, instead of the Levitical priests, are chiefly intended: or rather, all real Christians, who are made a holy priesthood, and who, with hearts and minds purified by faith, offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God by Jesus Christ, 1 Peter 2:5 ; yea, who even offer themselves, their souls and bodies, their faculties and members, their time and talents, all they are and have, unto the Lord an offering in righteousness. Then shall the offering of Judah and Jerusalem — The services and duties of the Christian ministry, and of the whole Christian Church; be pleasant unto the Lord — Acceptable and even well pleasing to him. The prophet describes the Christian worship, and the various services of the Christian Church, and of its true members, by expressions taken from the Jewish service, being that with which they were acquainted; as in the days of old — As in the purest ages of the patriarchal or Mosaic dispensation, or, as in the times of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Samuel, David. Malachi 3:4 Then shall the offering of Judah and Jerusalem be pleasant unto the LORD, as in the days of old, and as in former years. Malachi 3:5 And I will come near to you to judgment; and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, and against the adulterers, and against false swearers, and against those that oppress the hireling in his wages, the widow, and the fatherless, and that turn aside the stranger from his right , and fear not me, saith the LORD of hosts. Malachi 3:5 . And I will come near to you to judgment — In answer to their demand, Where is the God of judgment? Malachi 2:17 , God here tells them that he will hasten the time of judgment, and it shall come speedily upon them, on account of those sins that were general among them: and that if they did not repent, and reform their conduct upon the preaching of the gospel by the forerunner of the Messiah, the Messiah himself, and his apostles and other servants, he would proceed to the utter excision of their nation. And I will be a swift witness, &c. — It belongs to God alone to be both witness and judge; for he alone seeth all the actions of men, and needeth not that any should testify against them, because he can himself convict them of their guilt, as having been present and looking on when their most secret sins were committed. Against the sorcerers, and against the adulterers, &c. — The sins enumerated in this verse were very prevalent in Malachi’s time. Diviners, dreamers, and such as consulted oracles at the idols’ temples, are reproved, Zechariah 10:2 ; as are the false pretenders to prophecy, Nehemiah 6:12-14 . False swearing and oppression are complained of, Zechariah 5:4 ; Nehemiah 5:3 , &c. Their marrying strange women, and putting away their former wives to make room for them, was no better than adultery, and a breach of that solemn oath with which they had bound themselves, Nehemiah 10:29-30 . And the same sins seem to have been commonly practised before and at the time of Christ’s appearance, till the destruction of Jerusalem. No nation was more given to charms, divinations, and fortune-telling, than the Jews were about that time, as Dr. Lightfoot has shown out of their own authors. Adulterers were then so common, that the Sanhedrim ordained that the trial of an adulteress, prescribed Numbers 5., should no longer be put in practice, as the same author observes out of the Talmud. Josephus informs us that magicians swarmed in Judea, under the government of Felix, and afterward. The denunciation here, that God would come near to judgment with all these, and be a swift witness against them, was fulfilled by that terrible destruction which was made of them by the Romans when Jerusalem was taken, and such havoc was made of the nation as never happened to any people before. Malachi 3:6 For I am the LORD, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed. Malachi 3:6 . I am the Lord — Hebrew, Jehovah; I change not — In my nature or perfections there is no change, or shadow of turning, and therefore I have and always must have an unchangeable hatred to all sin: and my long- suffering also changes not, and therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed — Are not destroyed and sent into eternal misery in your sins. God’s wisdom also changes not, but remains the same to dispense rewards to the good, and punishments to the wicked, in the fittest season, and therefore neither the one nor the other are consumed, but preserved to the time appointed of God. Or, the sense may be, Because I am the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever, as my name Jehovah imports, and I am true to my former promises, (see Exodus 6:3-6 ,) therefore you still continue a people, and are not consumed, as your iniquities deserve. And I will still preserve a remnant of you to fulfil to them the promises I made to your fathers: see Romans 11:29 . Malachi 3:7 Even from the days of your fathers ye are gone away from mine ordinances, and have not kept them . Return unto me, and I will return unto you, saith the LORD of hosts. But ye said, Wherein shall we return? Malachi 3:7 . Even from the days of your fathers, &c. — Here the discourse is again addressed to the wicked, and from hence to the end of Malachi 3:12 the people are reprehended for slighting the institutions of divine worship, and for withholding the legal tithes and oblations; are assured that they are under a curse for these violations of the law, and that an opposite conduct would bring on them the divine blessing. Ye are gone away from mine ordinances — Those which directed you respecting my worship, or your dealings one with another. Return unto me — Namely, by repentance, and amendment of life; and I will return to you — I will pardon and accept you, and bestow my blessings upon you. But ye said — Or, ye say, Wherein shall we return? — You persist to justify yourselves, and inquire what it is you are to repent of? as if your crimes were not most notorious and shameful. And your words, or at least your actions, show that you have no sense of, nor remorse for, your former sins, nor any purpose of forsaking them. Malachi 3:8 Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed me. But ye say, Wherein have we robbed thee? In tithes and offerings. Malachi 3:8-9 . Will a man rob God — Grotius reads, “Would any one dare to rob his judges as ye have robbed me?” the word rendered God sometimes meaning judges or magistrates. Some others render the clause, Is it right that God should be robbed (or defrauded) by man? Here God gives them an answer to their question in the foregoing verse, Wherein shall we return; or, repent and amend? But ye have robbed me — Notwithstanding it is so unjust and presumptuous to defraud God, that men in general are afraid to do it, yet ye have done it. Do you ask, wherein you have robbed me? I answer, In tithes and offerings — By this seems to be meant the first-fruits of their ground and cattle, and other offerings which were allotted to the priests, Deuteronomy 18:4 , out of which revenue they were to provide the daily sacrifices, and also maintain the Levites, who attended upon the service in the temple. Ye are cursed with a curse — Are greatly cursed, or, you lie under a heavy curse, and are likely still to do so, for the curse shall continue upon you while you continue in this your sinful course. For ye have robbed me, even this whole nation — This has not been the crime of a few only, but ye have in general defrauded me, and evil shall come upon you for it. In a note on Romans 2:22 , where the apostle ranks sacrilege with idolatry, Grotius observes, “Non multum distat falsos deos colere et verum spoliare.” There is very little difference between adoring false gods and robbing the true God. Malachi 3:9 Ye are cursed with a curse: for ye have robbed me, even this whole nation. Malachi 3:10 Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the LORD of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it . Malachi 3:10-12 . Bring ye all the tithes — Make a punctual and full payment of all tithes: and in this instance make good your solemn engagement with Nehemiah, mentioned Nehemiah 10:29 . Into the storehouse — This was one or more large rooms built on purpose for this use; that there may be meat — That there may be provision for the daily sacrifices, and for the maintenance of my ministers, the priests and Levites, who attend upon the service of my temple. And prove me now herewith — Make the experiment in this particular. If I will not open you the windows of heaven, &c. — There is now a scarcity of the fruits of the earth, and a dearth, but take the advice which I give you, and try whether your plenty will not be in proportion to the free-will wherewith you bring in your tithes and offerings; and whether I will not immediately send you plentiful showers of rain, whereby the earth shall bring forth its fruit in great abundance. The dearth here spoken of is mentioned Nehemiah 5:3 : compare 2 Chronicles 31:10 . To open the windows of heaven is a proverbial speech, expressing God’s showering down plenty, or giving great abundance of the fruits of the earth; (see 2 Kings 7:2 ;) as shutting up heaven denotes scarcity, Deuteronomy 11:17 ; Haggai 1:10-11 . And pour out a blessing — First of rain to water the earth, next a blessing of corn, wine, and oil, and all other products of the earth. That there shall not be room, &c. — Or, till there be enough; or, till you shall say, There is enough. And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes — All kinds of devourers, the locusts, the canker-worms, the caterpillars, and all other destructive insects, which, though they may be in incredible multitudes, yet, by a rebuke from God, they will be checked all at once, as if they were but one insect. Neither shall your vine cast her fruit — Neither shall your vines, or other fruit-trees, be blasted by blighting winds, so as to make their fruit fall off before it comes to maturity, but they shall carry it till it be fully ripe. And all nations — All that are near you; shall call you blessed — Shall style you a happy people. For ye shall be a delightsome land — Your country shall be again known by the name of the pleasant land, as it was formerly called. The revival of religion in a land will make it delightsome both to God and all good men. Malachi 3:11 And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, and he shall not destroy the fruits of your ground; neither shall your vine cast her fruit before the time in the field, saith the LORD of hosts. Malachi 3:12 And all nations shall call you blessed: for ye shall be a delightsome land, saith the LORD of hosts. Malachi 3:13 Your words have been stout against me, saith the LORD. Yet ye say, What have we spoken so much against thee? Malachi 3:13-15 . Your words, &c. — “From this verse to the end of Malachi 4:3 , the prophet expostulates with the wicked for their hard speeches; and declares that God will make a fearful distinction between them and the righteous.” — Newcome. Have been stout against me — Your words have been blasphemous, and void of all reverence and duty. Ye have spoken injuriously of me, and have uttered such things as dishonour me. Ye have even arraigned my proceedings, and spoken against them. Yet ye say, What have we spoken, &c. — This is to the same purport as their words in Malachi 3:8 , and some other foregoing verses. They impudently deny the charge, therefore the prophet renews it against them in the following words; Ye have said — If not with your lips, yet at least in your hearts; It is vain to serve God — We receive no advantage from it, it is of no use to us. That they should talk thus impiously in the times of Zerubbabel, when Malachi uttered these reproofs and exhortations, is not probable; but God, who sees into the hearts of men, saw, lurking in their hearts, the seeds of that impiety which broke out in the following age. And what profit is it — What benefit is it of to us; that we have kept his ordinance — That we have attended upon the institutions of his worship, and have governed our lives according to his laws? And that we have walked mournfully before the Lord — Have humbled ourselves before him with fasting and prayer, sackcloth and ashes. Their beholding the prosperity of the wicked made them conclude, that it was to no purpose to walk according to the laws of God, or to confess their offences and express their sorrow for them. And, or rather, but, or therefore, now we call the proud happy — Those who behave themselves arrogantly against God, the proud contemners of his law. We can now do no less than think them happiest who do not concern themselves about the observance of God’s laws, but live according to their pleasure, and do every thing that their inclination or profit prompts them to do, without any fear of God’s calling them to an account for it. Yea, they that work wickedness are set up — Are the flourishing ones; are raised to prosperity, as buildings are to their height. Yea, they that tempt God are even delivered — Yea, they who, one would have supposed, should have wearied out God’s patience with their provocations, who have seemed to act as if they tried to provoke him, even these men escape those dangers and calamities which other men are involved in. Those who spake thus seem to have expected an exact distribution of temporal rewards and punishments to be made to good and bad men in this life. Malachi 3:14 Ye have said, It is vain to serve God: and what profit is it that we have kept his ordinance, and that we have walked mournfully before the LORD of hosts? Malachi 3:15 And now we call the proud happy; yea, they that work wickedness are set up; yea, they that tempt God are even delivered. Malachi 3:16 Then they that feared the LORD spake often one to another: and the LORD hearkened, and heard it , and a book of remembrance was written before him for them that feared the LORD, and that thought upon his name. Malachi 3:16-17 . Then — When contempt of God was grown to such a height; they that feared the Lord — Those that were truly religious, that knew God’s judgments to be a great deep, and that his ways are as high above our ways as heaven is above the earth; spake often one to another — Conversed together about spiritual things the more frequently: for though it is not said what was the subject of their conversation with each other, yet we have reason to believe it was as good concerning God and his providence as the discourse of the wicked was evil. They spake what was right concerning God’s justice and mercy, his holiness, forbearance, and long-suffering, his wisdom and equity in his government of the world in general, and of his church and the members of it in particular. And by their pious discourse they endeavoured to arm each other against the impressions which such wicked suggestions as those above mentioned might otherwise have made upon their minds; and to confirm one another in piety and virtue. And the Lord hearkened and heard — Took a special notice of what these pious persons did and said. And a book of remembrance was written — It was as safely laid up in his memory as if it had been entered into a register, in order to be produced at the day of judgment to their praise and honour: see the margin. The words are a beautiful allusion to the records kept by kings, Esther 6:1 . And they shall be mine — It shall appear how dear they are to me, when the time comes in which I shall separate the precious from the vile, the vessels of honour from those of dishonour, 2 Timothy 2:20 . In the day of the execution of my judgments they shall be distinguished and preserved safe, as choice jewels are wont to be. And I will spare them as a man spareth his own son, &c. — They shall be spared, pitied, and loved, and I will preserve them from those calamities which shall fall upon the wicked and unbelieving, with the same tenderness which a father shows to a dutiful son. The period especially referred to may be the Roman war under Titus. When God should utterly cut off the Jewish Church and nation for their infidelity, the remnant among them, that should be found to believe his word, and having waited for the Messiah, the consolation of Israel, should welcome him when he came; these, being admitted into the Christian Church, should become a peculiar people to God, and God would take care of them, that they should not perish with the unbelievers, but that they should be hid in the day of the Lord’s anger against that nation. These pious ones should have all the glorious privileges of God’s Israel appropriated to them, and centring in them. They should be a peculiar treasure unto him, when the rest were rejected; should be vessels of mercy and honour when the rest should be made vessels of wrath and dishonour. This, however, is very applicable to all the faithful people of God, and the distinction he will put between them and others, in the great day of final accounts. Malachi 3:17 And they shall be mine, saith the LORD of hosts, in that day when I make up my jewels; and I will spare them, as a man spareth his own son that serveth him. Malachi 3:18 Then shall ye return, and discern between the righteous and the wicked, between him that serveth God and him that serveth him not. Malachi 3:18 . Then shall ye — Ye contemners of God and religion; return and discern — See clearly, and distinguish perfectly; between the righteous and the wicked — Between the characters and the portion of the truly righteous, and of those who are not so. How different the lot is, and to all eternity will be, between the former and the latter; between him that serveth God — And makes conscience of his duty to him, and him that serveth him not — But puts contempt upon his service. You that now speak against God, as making no difference between the good and bad, and therefore say, It is vain to serve him, Malachi 3:14 , you shall be made to see your error: and you that speak for God, but know not what to say to this, that there seems to be one event to the righteous and the wicked, and that all things come alike to all, will then have the matter set in a true light, and will see to your everlasting satisfaction the difference between the holy and the profane, the godly and the ungodly. Then shall ye return — That is, change your minds, and come to a right understanding of this most important matter. For then every man’s character will be both perfected and perfectly discovered; and every man appear in his true colours; and every man’s condition, likewise, will be both perfectly happy or miserable, without mixture or alloy, and everlastingly determined. Benson Commentary on the Old and New Testaments Text Courtesy of BibleSupport.com . Used by Permission.

Expositor's Bible Commentary Malachi 3:1 Behold, I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me: and the Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to his temple, even the messenger of the covenant, whom ye delight in: behold, he shall come, saith the LORD of hosts. 5. "WHERE IS THE GOD OF JUDGMENT?" Malachi 2:17 ; Malachi 3:1-5 In this section "Malachi" turns from the sinners of his people to those who weary Jehovah with the complaint that sin is successful, or, as they put it, "Every one that does evil is good in the eyes of Jehovah, and He delighteth in them"; and again, "Where is the God of Judgment?" The answer is, The Lord Himself shall come. His Angel shall prepare His way before Him, and suddenly shall the Lord come to His Temple. His coming shall be for judgment, terrible and searching. Its first object (note the order) shall be the cleansing of the priesthood, that proper sacrifices may be established, and its second the purging of the immorality of the people. Mark that although the coming of the Angel is said to precede that of Jehovah Himself, there is the same blending of the two as we have seen in previous accounts of angels. It is uncertain whether this section closes with Malachi 3:5 or Malachi 3:6 : the latter goes equally well with it and with the following section. "Ye have wearied Jehovah with your words; and ye say, ‘In what have we wearied Him?’ In that ye say, ‘Every one that does evil is good in the eyes of Jehovah, and He delighteth in them’; or else, Where is the God of Judgment?’ Behold, I will send My Angel, to prepare the way before Me, and suddenly shall come to His Temple the Lord whom ye seek and the Angel of the Covenant whom ye desire. Behold, He comes! saith Jehovah of Hosts. But who may bear the day of His coming, and who stand when He appears? For He is like the fire of the smelter and the acid of the fullers. He takes His seat to smelt and to purge; and He will purge the sons of Levi, and wash them out like gold or silver, and they shall be to Jehovah bringers of an offering in righteousness. And the offering of Judah and Jerusalem shall be pleasing to Jehovah, as in the days of old and as in long past years. And I will come near you to judgment, and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers and the adulterers and the perjurers, and against those who wrong the hireling in his wage, and the widow and the orphan, and oppress the stranger, and fear not Me, saith Jehovah of Hosts." ; Malachi 2:1-17 ; Malachi 3:1-18 ; Malachi 4:1-6 PROPHECY WITHIN THE LAW "MALACHI" 1-4 BENEATH this title we may gather all the eight sections of the Book of "Malachi." They contain many things of perennial interest and validity: their truth is applicable, their music is still musical, to ourselves. But their chief significance is historical. They illustrate the development of prophecy within the Law. Not under the Law, be it observed. For if one thing be more clear than another about "Malachi’s" teaching, it is that the spirit of prophecy is not yet crushed by the legalism which finally killed it within Israel. "Malachi" observes and enforces the demands of the Deuteronomic law under which his people had lived since the Return from Exile. But he traces each of these to some spiritual principle, to some essential of religion in the character of Israel’s God, which is either doubted or neglected by his contemporaries in their lax performance of the Law. That is why we may entitle his book Prophecy within the Law, The essential principles of the religion of Israel which had been shaken or obscured by the delinquency of the people during the half-century after the rebuilding of the Temple were three-the distinctive Love of Jehovah for His people, His Holiness, and His Righteousness. The Book of "Malachi" takes up each of these in turn, and proves or enforces it according as the people have formally doubted it or in their carelessness done it despite. Malachi 3:6 For I am the LORD, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed. 6. REPENTANCE BY TITHES Malachi 3:6-12 This section ought perhaps to follow on to the preceding. Those whom it blames for not paying the Temple tithes may be the skeptics addressed in the previous section, who have stopped their dues to Jehovah out of sheer disappointment that He does nothing. And Malachi 3:6 , which goes well with either section, may be the joint between the two. However this be, the new section enforces the need of the people’s repentance and return to God, if He is to return to them. And when they ask, how are they to return, "Malachi" plainly answers, By the payment of the tithes they have not paid. In withholding these they robbed God, and to this, their crime, are due the locusts and bad seasons which have afflicted them. In our temptation to see in this a purely legal spirit, let us remember that the neglect to pay the tithes was due to a religious cause, unbelief in Jehovah, and that the return to belief in Him could not therefore be shown in a more practical way than by the payment of tithes. This is not prophecy subject to the Law, but prophecy employing the means and vehicles of grace with which the Law at that time provided the people. "For I Jehovah have not changed, but ye sons of Jacob have not done with(?). In the days of your fathers ye turned from My statutes and did not keep them. Return to Me, and I will return to you, saith Jehovah of Hosts. But you say, ‘How then shall we return?’ Can a man rob God? yet ye are robbing Me. But ye say, ‘In what have we robbed Thee?’ In the tithe and the tribute. With the curse are ye cursed, and yet Me ye are robbing, the whole people of you. Bring in the whole tithe to the storehouse, that there may be provisions in My House, and pray, prove Me in this, saith Jehovah of Hosts-whether I will not open to you the windows of heaven, and pour blessing upon you till there is no more need. And I will check for you the devourer, and he shall not destroy for you the fruit of the ground, nor the vine in the field miscarry, saith Jehovah of Hosts And all nations shall call you happy, for ye shall be a land of delight, saith Jehovah of Hosts." Malachi 3:13 Your words have been stout against me, saith the LORD. Yet ye say, What have we spoken so much against thee? 7. THE JUDGMENT TO COME Malachi 3:13 ; Hebrews 3:13-19 ; Hebrews 4:1-2 This is another charge to the doubters among the pious remnant of Israel, who, seeing the success of the wicked, said it is vain to serve God. Deuteronomy was their Canon, and Deuteronomy said that if men sinned they decayed, if they were righteous they prospered. How different were the facts of experience! The evil men succeeded: the good won no gain by their goodness, nor did their mourning for the sins of their people work any effect. Bitterest of all, they had to congratulate wickedness in high places, and Jehovah Himself suffered it to go unpunished. Such things, says "Malachi," "spake they that feared God to each other"-tempted thereto by the dogmatic form of their religion, and forgetful of all that Jeremiah and the Evangelist of the Exile had taught them of the value of righteous sufferings. Nor does "Malachi" remind them of this. His message is that the Lord remembers them, has their names written before Him, and when the day of His action comes they shall be separated from the wicked and spared. This is simply to transfer the fulfillment of the promise of Deuteronomy to the future and to another dispensation. Prophecy still works within the Law. The Apocalypse of this last judgment is one of the grandest in all Scripture To the wicked it shall be a terrible fire, root and branch shall they be burned out, but to the righteous a fair morning of God, as when dawn comes to those who have been sick and sleepless through the black night, and its beams bring healing, even as to the popular belief of Israel it was the rays of the morning sun which distilled the dew. They break into life and energy, like young calves leaping from the dark pen into the early sunshine. To this morning landscape a grim figure is added. They shall tread down the wicked and the arrogant like ashes beneath their feet. "Your words are hard upon Me, saith Jehovah. Ye say, ‘What have we said against Thee?’ Ye have said, ‘It is vain to serve God,’ and ‘What gain is it to us to have kept His charge, or to have walked in funeral garb before Jehovah of Hosts? Even now we have got to congratulate the arrogant; yea, the workers of wickedness are fortified; yea, they tempt God and escape!’ Such things spake they that fear Jehovah to each other. But Jehovah gave ear and heard, and a book of remembrance { Ezekiel 8:9 } was written before Him about those who fear Jehovah, and those who keep in His Name. And they shall be Mine own property, saith Jehovah of Hosts, in the day when I rise to action, and I will spare them even as a man spares his son that serves him. And ye shall once more see the difference between righteous and wicked, between him that serves God and him that does not serve Him." "For, lo! the day is coming that shall burn like a furnace, and all the overweening and every one that works wickedness shall be as stubble, and the day that is coming shall devour them, saith Jehovah of Hosts, so that there be left them neither root nor branch. But to you that fear My Name the Sun of Righteousness shall rise with healing in His wings, and ye shall go forth and leap { Habakkuk 1:8 } like calves of the stall. And ye shall tread down the wicked, for they shall be as ashes beneath the soles of your feet, in the day that I begin to do, saith Jehovah of Hosts." The Expositor's Bible Text Courtesy of BibleSupport.com . Used by Permission.