Great spread of holiness in ZECHARIAH. the church in the latter days. A. M. 3494. smite the heathen that come not up|| house shall be like the bowls before A. M. 3494. to keep the feast of tabernacles. the altar. B. C. 510. 14 Or, sin.- 15 Or, bridles.—————e Isa. xxiii. 18.—f Isa. xxxv. Jerusalem to worship, and to keep the feast of tabernacles, be only meant a conformity to the established worship of the one true God, or, which is the same thing, to the Christian religion, there can be no objection to understanding a strict universality of the nations. For it is repeatedly foretold, that a time would come, when all the ends of the world shall remember and turn unto the Lord, and all the families of the nations shall worship before him, Psa. xxii. 27.”—Blayney. And if the family of Egypt go not up, that have no rain-Where, by the situation of the country, there is no rain; there shall be || the plague wherewith the Lord will smite the heathen--That is, although they be not visited in the same manner as the other nations, namely, with a want of rain, which of itself would be no punishment to that country; yet, as it follows in the next verse, they shall not be exempt from the same punishment with the other nations that sinned in like manner, namely, famine, "which would be the sure consequence if the rains did not fall in Ethiopia, so as to cause an overflowing of the Nile."--Newcome. The reader will observe, respecting these predictions, that the prophet, "foretelling the blessings arising from the restoration of the Jews, and the conversion of the Gentiles to the Christian faith, draws his images from the old dispensation; and, as is usual throughout the prophetic writings, expresses the rewards and punishments of the new dispensation, under figures borrowed from the old." Verses 20, 21. In that day-When the nations are converted to God, as is foretold verse 16; shall there be upon the bells of the horses-Written, as it were, on every common thing; HOLINESS UNTO THE LORD This was the inscription on the mitre of the Jewish high-priest, denoting the great holiness of his office, and how he ought to conduct himself in a holy manner in all things, especially in those relating to divine worship. Now in these days of the gospel, when the Jews shall be converted to Christ, and the fulness of the Gentiles brought in, and made a holy nation, a royal priesthood, the grace of God shall be so abundant and efficacious, that common ordinary things in the hands of Christians, much more their persons, shall bear the dedicating inscription of HoLINESS TO THE LORD, and by their study and practice of holiness they shall make good their motto; they shall honour and glorify God in all circumstances and situations, times and places, and use every thing in a holy manner. And the pots in the Lord's house -The meanest utensil employed in his service; B. C. 510. 21 Yea, every pot in Jerusalem and in Judah shall be holiness unto the LORD of hosts: and all they that sacrifice shall come and take of them, and seethe therein: and in that day there shall be no more the Canaanite in the house of the LORD of hosts. 8; Joel iii. 17; Rev. xxi. 27; xxii. 15.- Eph. ii. 19-22. shall be like the bowls before the altar-Shall be as the vessels of silver and gold used in the solemn sacrifices. Yea, every pot in Jerusalem shall be holiness unto the Lord-The utensils of private houses shall all be dedicated to God's service, and employed in his fear and to his glory; with such sobriety and temperance, such devotedness to God, and such a mixture of pious thoughts and expressions, that even their meals shall look like sacrifices; they shall not eat and drink to themselves, but to Him that spreads their tables and fills their cups. And all they that sacrifice-In allusion to sacrifices, the prophet expresses all religious affections, praetice, and worship, which shall be as pleasing to God as were the sacrifices of his people, offered up with divine warrant and approbation. Shall come and take of them-Of those pots and vessels, freely and without scruple; and seethe therein-The ceremo nial distinction between holy and unholy places and things shall cease with the ritual law on which it was founded. One place shall be as acceptable to God as another, and one vessel or instrument of divine service as holy as another. For the true wor shippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth, and men shall pray and give thanks everywhere, lifting up holy hands without wrath and doubting. Little regard shall be had to the circumstance, provided there be nothing indecent or disorderly, while the life, and soul, and substance of divine worship and service are religiously preserved and adhered to. And there shall be no more the Canaanite in the house of the Lord-There shall be no more a profane or impious person in the societies of the faithful. For though persons that were Canaanites, strangers, and foreigners, should be brought into the house of the Lord, yet they should cease to be Canaanites; they should have nothing of the spirit or disposition of Canaanites, or heathen, in them. And though in gospel times people should be indifferent as to holy vessels and holy places, yet they should be very strict with respect to church discipline, and careful not to admit the profane to sacred ordinances, or to Christian fellowship with them, but should separate between the precious and the vile, between Israelites and Canaanites. Yet this will not have its perfect accomplishment short of the heavenly Jerusalem, that house of the Lord of hosts into which no unclean thing shall enter. For at the end of time, and not before, Christ shall gather out of his kingdom every thing that offends; and the tares and wheat shall be perfectly and eternally separated. THE BOOK OF MALACH I. ARGUMENT. THOUGH Malachi is the last of those divinely-inspired prophets whose writings have been transmitted to posterity, and in him prophecy ceased; yet the spirit of prophecy appears to have shone as clear, bright, and strong in him as in any that preceded him. The Jews call him, The seal of prophecy, because in him the succession of prophets came to a period; God wisely ordering, that prophecy should cease some ages before the Messiah came, that he might appear the more conspicuous, and be the more welcome. Nothing is known respecting the country or parentage of this prophet, nor even whether Malachi, a word that means my angel, or my messenger, was his proper name, or only a generical name, signifying that he was the messenger of the Lord. The LXX. have rendered the Hebrew word, ayyehoc aure, his angel, instead of my angel; and several of the fathers have quoted this prophet as the angel of the Lord. Justyn Martyr, however, and most of the primitive fathers, have considered Malachi as a proper name, (as it probably was,) and taken this prophet to have been cotemporary with Nehemiah, and to have prophesied a little after Haggai and Zechariah, as his prophecy supposes the temple to be already rebuilt, and the worship of God established there. For whereas Haggai and Zechariah reprove the people for delaying to build the temple, Malachi reproves them for their neglect of it, now it was built, and for their profanation of the temple service. And the other sins for which he rebukes them are those complained of by Nehemiah. He appears, indeed, to have prophesied when great disorders had begun to take place among both the priests and people, whom he charges with rebellion, sacrilege, adultery, profaneness, and infidelity, and condemns the priests for being scandalously careless in their ministry; at the same time not forgetting to encourage the pious few, who, in that corrupt age, maintained their integrity. And since prophecy was now to cease, he speaks more clearly of the Messiah than almost any other of the prophets had done; and concludes with a prediction of terrible judg ments about to be executed on such Jews and others as should reject him when he came, and of signal mercy to such as should believe on him. In the mean time, till the Messiah should appear, he admonishes them carefully to observe the law of Moses, and to look for no other prophet till Elias, that is, John the Baptist, the forerunner of the Messiah, should come. He prophesied about the year of the world 3604, and 400 years before Christ. As to his style, Bishop Lowth says, it shows him to have lived in the decline of the Hebrew poetry; which, from the time of the Babylonish captivity, had been decaying very much, and fast verging toward a state of debility. CHAPTER I. In this chapter, (1,) The prophet shows how much Jacob and the Israelites were favoured by God, beyond Esau and the Edomites, 2-5. (2,) He reproves the Jews for their ungrateful and unbecoming deportment toward God, 6–10. (3,) He intimates that the Gentiles should be called to be the church of God in their room, 11. (4,) He charges the Jews with profanation and weariness of the worship of God, and with offering him sacrifices blemished and corrupt, 12–14. A. M. 3604. THE B. C. 400. 2 a I have loved you, saith the LORD. Yet 'Heb. by the hand of Malachi. NOTES ON CHAPTER I. Was not Esau Jacob's brother? saith B. C. 400. a Deut. vii. 8; x. 15. Rom. ix. 13. phecy; to Israel-To those of all the tribes that were Verses 1-3. The burden of the Lord-The word returned from captivity. I have loved you, saith the burden is here, as often elsewhere, equivalent to pro- || Lord-That is, in a particular and extraordinary deVOL. III. 3 ( 68 ) 1073 God's displeasure against B. C. 400. B. C. 400. A. M. 3604. 3 And I hated Esau, and laid his | ness, and, The people against whom A. M. 3604. mountains and his heritage waste for the LORD hath indignation for ever. the dragons of the wilderness. 5 And your eyes shall see, and ye shall say, The LORD will be magnified 2 from 3 the border of Israel. 4 Whereas Edom saith, We are empoverished, but we will return and build the desolate places; thus saith the LORD of hosts, They shall build, but I will throw down; and they shall call them, The border of wicked Jeremiah xlix. 18; Ezek. xxxv. 3, 4, 7, 9, 14, 15; Obadiah 10. d Psalm xxxv. 27. e 3 6¶ A son honoureth his father, and a servant his master: if then I be a father, where is my honour? and if I be a master, where is Or, upon. Heb. from upon. vi. 46. - Exod. xx. 12. Luke been laid waste by the arms of Nebuchadnezzar, five years after the taking of Jerusalem; and whereas Jacob's captivity, or that of the Israelites, were restored to their own land, and their cities rebuilt, Esau's never were. For the dragons of the wilder gree; not only as men, but above the rest of men, and above the other posterity, both of Abraham and Isaac. Yet ye say, Wherein hast thou loved us?— That is, wherein does thy particular love to us appear? What proofs hast thou given of loving us in an extraordinary degree? Us, who have been cap-ness-Creatures which delight in desolate places, by tives, and have groaned under the miseries of captivity and bondage all our days till of late? Is this a proof of thy love to us? for a great serpent, such as are commonly found in deserts and desolate places. Verses 4, 5. Edom saith, We are empoverished, [or, brought low,] but we will return and build the desolate places-This they accordingly did, as we learn from the history of those times; and undoubtedly thought to become a flourishing people again, and to continue so. But God had determined otherwise, as is here declared. Thus saith the Lord, They shall build, but I will throw down-This was accordingly done by God's giving success, first to the arms of Judas Maccabæus, and afterward to those which the utter desolation of Idumea is signified. The Hebrew word Dan, or nun, here rendered dragons, signifies any large creature of the creeping Was not Esau Jacob's brother? saith the Lord-kind, whether by land or sea. In this place it is taken Did not one father beget them, and one mother bear them? Yet I loved Jacob-Namely, more than Esau; I preferred him to the honour and privileges of the birthright, and this of free love. I loved his person and his posterity. Here God is introduced as answering the question, which, in the preceding clause, they are represented as asking, namely, wherein his particular regard to them appeared. But it must be well observed, that Jacob and Esau, as elsewhere Israel and Edom, are put to signify the whole posterity arising from these two persons, namely, the Israelites and Idumeans. And in asking, Was not Esau Jacob's brother? God reminds them that the Idume-of Hyrcanus, by whom Edom was spoiled and laid ans, as they themselves very well knew, were de- waste again. And they shall call them, The border scended from Abraham as well as they, and from a of wickedness-They shall be called, or accounted progenitor who was own brother to their progenitor by others, a wicked nation, or a country of wicked Jacob. And I hated Esau-I loved not Esau's pos- men, and therefore deservedly laid waste. And ye terity as I loved Jacob's. By hating here is only || shall say, The Lord will be magnified—Or, rather, meant, having a less degree of love, for in this sense Let the Lord be magnified; from the border of Isthe expression is frequently used. Thus, Gen. xxix. || rael-Namely, from that border which extended 31, Jacob's loving Leah less than Rachel is termed hating her; and Luke xiv. 26, the loving father and Verse 6. A son honoureth his father, &c.-Since mother, wife and children, less than we love Christ, it is evident I am not only your Lord, and have a is termed the hating of them. That this is the mean- right to govern and command you by my creation ing of the expression hating, there, is evident from of you, but also may be esteemed your Father, on the parallel text, Matt. x. 37, 38, where we read, He account of the extraordinary benefits I have bestowthat loveth father or mother MORE than me, is noted upon you, where are those proper dispositions worthy of me, &c. From these, and other passages which I might expect to find in you in return? namethat might be produced, it is evident that the expres-ly, reverence for me, and fear of offending me, as sion, hating, is frequently used to signify no more than loving in a less degree, or showing less regard or favour to one than another. Indeed, as it may be further added, it would be doing a high dishonour to the nature of God to suppose that the expression, as here applied to Jacob and Esau, is to be taken in the strict sense of the word hating. And laid his mountains and his heritage waste-In these words the Lord shows in what sense he had hated Esau, that is, his posterity; he had given him a lot inferior to that which he had conferred on Jacob. Idumea had 1074 even to Idumea. your Lord and Master, and love and honour toward me as your Father. Unto you, O priests, &c.—What is here said is addressed in particular to you priests, because, being chosen and appointed, according to your office, to honour and glorify me, you ought to have been the first and most forward to do it; but, instead of that, you have been the first to dishonour me. Had undutifulness been found among the ignorant people, it might have been, in some measure, excusable; but you, whose calling and business it is to know, love, and serve me, are without excuse, be( 68* ) 3 B. C. 400. B. C. 400. A. M. 3604. my fear? saith the LORD of hosts ||' by your means: will he regard your A. M. 3604. unto you, O priests, that despise my persons? saith the LORD of hosts. name. And ye say, Wherein have we despised thy name? h 7 4 Ye offer polluted bread upon mine altar; and ye say, Wherein have we polluted thee? In that ye say, i The table of the LORD is contemptible. 8 And if ye offer the blind 5 for sacrifice, is it not evil? and if ye offer the lame and sick, is it not evil? offer it now unto thy governor; will he be pleased with thee, or 1accept thy person? saith the LORD of hosts. 9 And now, I pray you, beseech God that he will be gracious unto us: m this hath been Chapter ii. 14, 17; iii. 7, 8, 13.- - Or, Bring unto, &c. h Deut. xv. 21.- iEzekiel xli. 22; Verse 12.- k Lev. xxii. 22; Deut. xv. 21; Verse 14.- Heb. to sacrifice.- Job xlii. 8. Heb. the face of God. cause, like Eli's sons, you have despised me yourselves, and made others do so too. The prophet adds, that perhaps they would have the assurance to pretend they had not done it, and to ask in what particular such a charge could be alleged against them? if so, he would enumerate the particulars to them, which he does accordingly in the following verses. Verses 7, 8. Ye offer polluted bread upon mine allar-By this seems to be meant, the breadoffering, or the cake of fine flour, which was to be offered with the continual sacrifice in the morning and evening of every day. By being polluted is to be understood, that it was not such as the law required. They diminished something, either in the quality or quantity of what the law commanded them to offer; either the bread was not made of good flour, or mixed with the required quantity of good oil. And ye say, Wherein have we polluted thee?-Or dishonoured, or had thee in contempt? The answer is ready, In that ye say, The table of the Lord is contemptible-You pretend, as a cover for your avarice, that the table or altar of the Lord is despised among the people, and that therefore they do not bring to it, by way of offering, that quantity of flour and oil which they should. Or the meaning is, By your actions you declare how little value you have for the worship of God, since you care not in how slight and contemptuous a manner it is performed. And if ye offer the blind for sacrifice, is it not evil?—|| The beasts to be offered were required to be perfect and without blemish, Lev. xxii. 21, 22. Offer it now to thy governor; will he be pleased with thee?-Wilt thou be acceptable or welcome unto him, bringing him such a worthless present? It argues a great contempt of Almighty God, when men are less careful in maintaining the decencies of his worship than they are in giving proper respect to their superiors. 10 Who is there even among you that would shut the doors for naught? "neither do ye kindle fire on mine altar for naught. I have no pleasure in you, saith the LORD of hosts, • neither will I accept an offering at your hand. &c.-And now I beseech you, (for you cannot deny that ye have done as I have said,) that you would supplicate God to pardon the nation in general, as well as yourselves, for what offences have been committed against his laws; for ye have been the principal cause of them, by the disregard you had for God's service. Will he regard your persons?—This ought rather to be rendered, If, perhaps, he may regard your persons. Who among you would shut the doors for naught?—All those pretences which you make use of to excuse yourselves, for presenting unto God improper and worthless offerings, are quite vain, for it is plain that a general avarice prevails, and is practised among you; for even the officers, or ministers, whose duty it is to open and shut the doors of the temple, and to kindle fire on the altar, will not perform their office without making a gain of it, or receiving fees for it. I have no pleasure in you, saith the Lord-I cannot take pleasure in men so intent upon their own profit as ye are; and under the gospel I will put an end both to your priesthood and the sacrifices which you offer. This is implied in the next verse. Verse 11. For from the rising of the sun, &c., my name shall be great among the Gentiles-You may perhaps think, if I will not accept an offering from your hands, that I shall have none; but in this you err greatly; for know that my name shall be great, or highly reverenced, among all the nations of the earth, who will worship me, not as you do, as if it were a labour for which they ought to be paid; but with pure minds, inflamed with love toward me and zeal for my glory. And in every place incense shall be offered to my name-Prayers and praises shall be presented before me as incense. For here the prophet describes the Christian sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving by the outward rites of the Jewish worship: see note on Zech. xiv. 16. Indeed, incense was considered by the Jews themselves as a figure Verses 9, 10. And now, I pray you, beseech God, || or emblem of prayer and praise: see Psa. cxli. 2 The Jews reproved for their neglect B. C. 400. B. C. 400. 9 A. M. 3604. 12 But ye have profaned it, in that || brought an offering: *should I accept A. M. 3004 ye say, "The table of the LORD is this of your hand? saith the LORD. polluted; and the fruit thereof, even his meat, 14 But cursed be the deceiver, which is contemptible. hath in his flock a male, and voweth, and sacrificeth unto the LORD a corrupt thing: for I am a great King, saith the LORD of hosts, and my name is dreadful among the heathen. 8 13 Ye said also, Behold, what a weariness is it! and ye have snuffed at it, saith the LORD of hosts; and ye brought that which was torn, and the lame, and the sick; thus ye u Verse 7. Or, whereas ye might have blown it away. * Lev. xxii. 20. y Ver. 8.- —9 Or, in whose flock is. Psalm xlvii. 2; 1 Tim vi. 15. with them, added this also, that they openly complained of God's service. Behold what a weariness What a toil and drudgery is it to observe every point of the law! Ye have complained of the constant attendance upon my altar as a wearisome employment. And ye have snuffed-Have expressed your disgust, at it. And ye have brought that which was torn-Ye have brought into the temple, for victims, that which had been torn by wild beasts, &c. It was forbidden even to eat in common that which had been torn, Exod. xxii. 31, and therefore || nothing could show higher contempt than to bring such things for offerings to God. Luke i. 10. This spiritual service, the prophet says,|| shall be offered in every place, whereas the Jewish worship was confined to the temple. The words of Christ, John iv. 21, 22, are a good commentary upon this text; where to worship in spirit is opposed to the carnal ordinances of the Jewish service, such as meats and drinks and bloody sacrifices, or to mere external worship; and in truth, to the types and ceremonies of the Mosaic law, which were only shadowy representations of things to come. And a pure offering-Namely, the offering of prayer and praise, of faith, love and obedience, of the heart and life, the body and soul, to be dedicated to and employed for God. Such, also, are the oblations of real Verse 14. But cursed be the deceiver-The hypoChristians for the support of God's worship, the crite, that deceives man, and seems as if he would maintenance of a gospel ministry, or the relief of the be glad to deceive God; the false heart, that intends poor. Thus, in this verse, two important points of one thing and pretends another, would appear to our religion are declared in the fullest manner: the offer a sacrifice of the best, but puts God off with abolition of the sacrifices and ceremonies of the an- the worst. Which hath in his flock a male-A percient law, and the pure and spiritual nature of the || fect male, such as God requireth; and sacrificeth Christian worship and service. unto the Lord a corrupt thing-Such as the Lord hath declared he will not accept. The former reproofs related only to the priests; here the prophet reproves those in general who showed a contempt of God by vowing unto him, upon any occasion, the worst of their flock. It seems to be spoken of such offerings as any of the people, of their own accord, vowed to God: see Lev. xxii. 19. And if they did not think fit to vow such things as God directed, they would have done less dishonour to him not to have vowed at all. For I am a great King, saith the Lord, and my name is, or shall be, dreadful-As God is the great King over all the earth, and will be acknowledged as such among the Gentiles under the gospel, (verse 11,) so men's religious services ought to be performed with a reverence suitable to the greatness of his majesty. Verses 12, 13. But ye-O priests, and the people, by your example; have profaned it-Namely, my great name. You have used it as a common thing, and as of no importance or consideration. In that ye say-Namely, by your deportment; The table of the Lord is polluted-Not a sacred thing, or a thing to be revered; and the fruit thereof, his meat, is contemptible-Either the meat which fell to the priests' share, or the portion which was laid upon the altar. They were neither pleased with that which the Lord reserved for himself, nor with that which he gave to them, but they found fault with both; the latter, in particular, they termed contemptible, a poor, sordid allowance, scarce fit for meaner persons and less service. Ye said also-To the sins before mentioned, the priests chiefly, and the people CHAPTER II. In this chapter, (1,) The prophet reproves the priests for profaning the holy things of God, and neglecting to instruct the people, 1-10. (2,) He rebukes both priests and people for various abuses with regard to the marriage of strange wives and divorces, 11-17. |