Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Malachi 2:17
Ye have wearied the LORD with your words. Yet ye say, Wherein have we wearied [him]? When ye say, Every one that doeth evil [is] good in the sight of the LORD, and he delighteth in them; or, Where [is] the God of judgment?
Ch. Mal 2:17 to Mal 3:6. Rebuke of the people for profane impiety
17. With another abrupt transition the prophet passes to a new though cognate subject. The abuses in connection with Divine worship and the social evils which he has already rebuked culminate in avowed unbelief ( with your words), as to the justice of Almighty God and His moral government of the world. Though the righteous Judge be strong and patient, yet is He “wearied”, His longsuffering worn out, by blasphemous charges of favouring and delighting in the wicked, or by the profane challenge to shew Himself, if He be indeed “the God of judgment”.
wearied ] Comp. Isa 43:23-24.
Where is, &c.] Comp. Isa 5:19 ; 2Pe 3:4.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Ye have wearied the Lord with your words – o By your blasphemous words, full of unbelief and mistrust, you have in a manner wearied God. He speaks of God, after the manner of men, as a man afflicted by the ills of others. Whence also the Lord says in Isaiah Isa 1:14, I am weary to bear them, and Isa 43:24, thou hast made Me to serve with thy sins; thou hast wearied Me with thine iniquities. In like way the Apostle says Eph 4:30.
With the same contumacy as before, and unconsciousness of sin, they ask, Wherein? It is the old temptation at the prosperity of the wicked. Does God love the wicked? if not, why does He not punish them? Grieve not the Holy Spirit of God. The people, when returned from Babylon, seeing all the nations around, and the Babylonians themselves, serving idols but abounding in wealth, strong in body, possessing all which is accounted good in this world, and themselves, who had the knowledge of God, overwhelmed with want, hunger, servitude, is scandalized and says, There is no providence in human things; all things are borne along by blind chance, and not governed by the judgment of God; nay rather, things evil please Him, things good displease Him; or if God does discriminate all things, where is His equitable and just judgment? Questions of this sort minds, which believe not in the world to come, daily raise to God, when they see the wicked in power, the saints in low estate; such as Lazarus, whom we read of in the Gospel, who, before the gate of the rich man in his purple, desires to support his hungry soul with the crumbs which are thrown away from the remnants of the table, while the rich man is of such savagery and cruelty, that he had no pity on his fellow-man, to whom the tongues of the dogs showed pity; not understanding the time of judgment, nor that those are the true goods, which are for ever, say, He is pleased with the evil, and, Where is the God of judgment?
Where is the God of the judgment? – o i. e., of that judgment, the great, most certain, most exact, clearsighted, omniscient, most just, most free, wherein He regards neither powerful nor rich nor gifts, nor anything but justice? For He is the God of the judgment, to whom it belongs by nature to judge all men and things by an exact judgment: for His nature is equity itself, justice itself, providence itself, and that, most just, most wise. To Him it belongs to be the Judge of all, and to exercise strict judgment upon all; and He will exercise it fully on that decisive and last day of the world, which shall be the horizon between this life and the next, parting off time from eternity, heaven from hell, the blessed from the damned forever, through Christ, whom He constituted Judge of all, quick and dead.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Mal 2:17
Where is the God of judgment?
A startling question
Times of abounding wickedness have been times of unbelief. Evil hinders the manifestation of God in the world. His laws seem to have no executive force; His righteousness is obscured; His very existence is questioned, see text. This question may be asked–
1. By the righteous in their distress.
2. By the wicked in their fancied security.
3. By the sceptic in his reluctant doubting.
4. This question will be answered by God–
(1) To the joy of the righteous;
(2) to the confusion of the wicked;
(3) to the satisfaction of the honest doubter;
(4) to the full vindication of the Divine justice.
Faith is needed. The laws of God execute themselves most vividly in the invisible regions of the soul. Men look for God in the destructive hurricane rather than in the stings of conscience; in terrible thunderings rather than in the still small voice. Mercy, too, causes judgment to linger, but in the end every one will receive his sentence according to his deeds. (W. Osborne Lilley.)
God is a God of judgment
There was lately a judge in England, whom I need not be afraid to name as the honour of his robe and profession, namely, Judge Doddridge, whom they commonly called the sleeping judge. Indeed, he had an affected drowsy posture on the Bench, inasmuch that many persons unacquainted with his custom, and having cases of concernment to be tried before him, have even given up all for lost, expecting no justice from a dormant judge; when he all the while did only retire himself within himself, the more seriously to consult with his own soul about the validity of what was alleged and proved unto him, as appeared afterwards by those oracles of law which he pronounced. Wicked men, in like manner, erroneously suppose God to be a sleeping God,. . . but in due time He will assuredly confute their mistake. (Thos. Fuller.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 17. Ye have wearied the Lord] He has borne with you so long, and has been provoked so often, that he will bear it no longer. It is not fit that he should.
Every one that doeth evil] Ye say that it is right in the sight of the Lord to put away a wife, because she has no longer found favour in the sight of her husband. And because it has not been signally punished hitherto, ye blaspheme and cry out, “Where is the God of judgment?” Were he such as he is represented, would he not speak out? All these things show that this people were horribly corrupt. The priests were bad; the prophets were bad; the Levites were bad; and no wonder that the people were irreligious, profane, profligate, and cruel.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Ye; ye priests and people, slight in your religion toward God. Unfaithful in your covenant with your wives.
Have wearied the Lord (after the manner of man this is spoken of God) with your words; your perverse reasonings, or impious quarrellings against God, among which, one most ungodly and atheistical does come to be remarked on.
When ye say; when your discourse and reasoning is managed to the overthrow (if it were possible) of all morality and goodness.
Every one, not one excepted by these illogical atheists,
that doeth evil is good; that is a wicked man, and doth wickedness, (as you prophets preach to us,) is misrepresented by you; such are good men, and what they do is good. Thus they call evil good: woe then to them!
In the sight of the Lord; in the account and judgment of God.
And he delighteth in them; as appears (say these atheists) by his prospering of them: did he not delight in them, would he so enrich and prosper them? Or,
Where is the God of judgment? or if they be evil, and their ways, designs, and doings be evil, and punishable, where is that God of judgment? or why doth he delay execution of his displeasure against such men and ways? I am apt to think that the irreligious sentiments of the priests, their superficial managing of the solemn worship of God, their adulteries, and multiplying of wives, hitherto unpunished, had brought them either to think there was no such thing as moral goodness or moral viciousness in mens actions; or that if there were, since no punishment was laid on the vicious, nor any encouragement or present reward bestowed on the virtuous, that God did not, nor ever would, concern himself to judge it; and so by an undue way of arguing, had concluded themselves into atheism, the very height of wickedness. That this is likely enough, our age confirms, in which unpunished enormities are atheists arguments against God and his providence; and unless he damn them, they will not believe the being of a God. But such must remember, they shall know and believe it at last, if not too late.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
17. wearied . . . Lord (Isa43:24). This verse forms the transition to Mal3:1, c. The Jewish skeptics of that day said virtually, Goddelighteth in evil-doers (inferring this from the prosperity of thesurrounding heathen, while they, the Jews, were comparatively notprosperous: forgetting that their attendance to minor and externalduties did not make up for their neglect of the weightier duties ofthe law for example, the duty they owed their wives, just previouslydiscussed); or (if not) Where (is the proof that He is) the God ofjudgment? To this the reply (Mal3:1) is, “The Lord whom ye seek, and whom as messenger ofthe covenant (that is, divine ratifier of God’s covenant with Israel)ye delight in (thinking He will restore Israel to its proper place asfirst of the nations), shall suddenly come,” not as a Restorerof Israel temporally, but as a consuming Judge againstJerusalem (Amo 5:18; Amo 5:19;Amo 5:20). The “suddenly”implies the unpreparedness of the Jews, who, to the last of thesiege, were expecting a temporal deliverer, whereas a destructivejudgment was about to destroy them. So skepticism shall be rifebefore Christ’s second coming. He shall suddenly and unexpectedlycome then also as a consuming Judge to unbelievers (2Pe 3:3;2Pe 3:4). Then, too, they shallaffect to seek His coming, while really denying it (Isa 5:19;Jer 17:15; Eze 12:22;Eze 12:27).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Ye have wearied the Lord with your words,…. As well as with their actions; see Isa 43:24 this is said after the manner of men, they saying those things which were displeasing and provoking to him, and which he could not bear to hear; or otherwise weariness properly cannot be attributed to God:
Yet ye say, Wherein have we wearied him? as if they were clear and innocent; or, as the Targum, “if ye should say”; though they might not express themselves in words in such an impudent manner; yet should they say so in their hearts, or supposing they should utter such words with their lips, out of the abundance of their evil hearts, the answer is ready:
When ye say, Every one that doeth evil [is] good in the sight of the Lord, and he delighteth in them; which they concluded from the prosperity of the wicked, and the afflictions of the righteous; so murmuring at, and complaining of, the providence of God; he acting as if he delighted in wicked men, and as if they that did evil were the most grateful and acceptable to him:
or, if this was not the case,
Where [is] the God of judgment? why does he not arise and show himself to be a God that judgeth the earth, by taking vengeance on the wicked, and granting prosperity to his people? De Dieu takes these last words to be the words of the prophet, and thinks that is a particle of exclamation, and should be rendered “O”; and that the prophet expresses his wonder at the patience and longsuffering of God in bearing such impiety and blasphemy as before delivered. The Septuagint and Arabic versions are, “where is the God of righteousness?” either God the Father, who is righteous in all his ways, and faithful in the fulfilment of all his promises; or, Christ the Lord our righteousness, who was to come, and is come into this world for judgment, as well as to bring in an everlasting righteousness. This may be considered as a scoff of wicked men at the long delay of the Messiah’s coming, when they expected outward prosperity and happiness; just as the scoffers in the last day will mock at the promise of his second coming, 2Pe 3:3 and so the words, with which the next chapter begins Mal 3:1, are an answer to these.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
“Ye weary Jehovah with your words, and say, Wherewith do we weary? In that ye say, Every evil-doer is good in the eyes of Jehovah, and He takes pleasure in them, or where is the God of judgment?” The persons who are introduced as speaking here are neither the pious Israelites, who were not only pressed down by the weight of their heavy afflictions, but indignant at the prosperity of their godless countrymen, and were thus impelled to give utterance to despairing complaints, and doubts as to the justice of God (Theodoret); nor a middle class between the truly pious and perfectly godless, consisting of those who were led by a certain instinctive need to adopt the faith inherited from the fathers, and sought to fulfil the commandments of the moral law of God, but the foundations of whose faith and piety were not deep enough for them humbly to submit themselves to the marvellous ways of God, so that whenever the dealings of God did not correspond to their expectations, they lost their faith in Him and turned their backs upon Him (Koehler). The whole of the contents of this section are opposed to the first assumption. Those who murmured against God were, according to Mal 3:7., such as had departed like the fathers from the law of God and defrauded God in the tithes and heave-offerings, and with whom those who feared God are contrasted in Mal 2:16. Moreover, the reproach brought against them in Mal 2:17, “Ye weary Jehovah with your words,” and in Mal 3:13, “Your words put constraint upon me,” show that they do not belong to the righteous, who, while bending under the burden of temptation, appear to have raised similar complaints; as we read for example in Psalm 37; 49, 73. The second view is precluded by the absence, not only of every trace of the nation being divided into three classes, but also of every indication that those who murmured thus had endeavoured to fulfil the commandments of the moral law of God. The answer of the Lord to this murmuring is addressed to the whole nation as one which had departed from His commandments, and defrauded God with the tithes and sacrifices (Mal 3:7-8). The judgment which they wanted to see would fall, according to Mal 3:5, upon the sorcerers, adulterers, and other gross sinners; and in Mal 3:16-18 the only persons distinguished from these are the truly righteous who remember the name of the Lord. It clearly follows from this, that the feelings expressed in Mal 2:17 and Mal 3:13 were not cherished by the whole nation without exception, but only by the great mass of the people, in contrast with whom the small handful of godly men formed a vanishing minority, which is passed over in the attack made upon the spirit prevailing in the nation. This disposition vents itself in the words: Every one who does evil is good in the eyes of God, and Jehovah takes pleasure in the wicked. By the murmurers mean, not notorious sinners in their midst, but the heathen who enjoyed undisturbed prosperity. To give a reason for this fancy, they inquire, Where is the God of judgment? , “or,” i.e., if this be not the case, as in Job 16:3; Job 22:11, why does not God punish the ungodly heathen? why does He not interpose as judge, if He has no pleasure in the wicked? Such speeches as these the prophet calls , a wearying of God (cf. Isa 43:23-24).
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
The Sin Of Insincere Religious Profession
Verse 17:
Verse 17 directly charges the priests (v. 1) with having wearied the Lord with their words, empty and vain words, Isa 43:24. With pious faces they asked wherein they had wearied the Lord. To this He replied that they had wearied Him in saying that everyone that repeatedly did evil was good in the sight of the Lord and that the Lord continually delighted in them, Pro 17:13; Isa 5:20. They even posed the argument that God was pleased with what they were doing, else He would have already judged them. This verse serves as a transition to chapter three.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
The Prophet here reproves the Jews who expostulated with God in their adversity, as though he had undeservedly forsaken them, and had not brought them immediate help. Thus are hypocrites wont to do; unless God immediately assists them, they not only indirectly complain, but also break out into open blasphemies; for they think that God is bound to them, and hence they assail him more boldly, and even with greater freedom and insolence. It is indeed a proof of true piety when we patiently submit to the judgments of God, and when, as Jeremiah teaches us by his own example,
“
we sustain his wrath, because we know that we have sinned.” (Jer 3:14.)
But as hypocrites are conscious of nothing wrong, (for they flatter themselves, and stupify their own consciences,) because they examine not themselves, they think that God acts unjustly towards them when he does not immediately bring them aid. Such was the dishonesty of the people of whom the Prophet now speaks.
He says that they had wearied God, that is, that they had been troublesome to him by their clamorous complaints; for the verb, יגע, igo, means to be weary; he says then that they unreasonably complained of God’s slowness. It is indeed a mode of speaking taken from men, for we know that no passions belong to God; but as elsewhere God reproves them because they saddened his Spirit, (Psa 106:33,) so he says here that they wearied him. We now perceive the Prophet’s meaning.
But there is a dilemma presented in the words; for the Jews thought that God favored the wicked, inasmuch as he did not immediately punish them, or that he was now unlike himself, and forgot his own nature. The difficulty or the dilemma appears not at the first view, as they seemed to have repeated the same thing. But in the first clause they accuse God of injustice; and in the second they intimate that there is no God, for he cannot exist without exercising judgment. Then the passages contains two clauses differing from each other — “God has either changed his nature, and so is no God, or he favors our enemies; for he does not immediately execute vengeance.” We see then that they concluded that God either acted unjustly, or that there was no God. But we have mentioned the cause of this blasphemy — the Jews did not examine themselves, and therefore did not confess that they deserved these chastisements. They were like vicious horses, who kick and fling, though gently treated by their riders.
But such insolence is now seen in all masked men, who vauntingly profess religion when they are treated according to their own wishes; but when God deals more sharply with them, they not only murmur, but vomit forth, as I have already said, impious slanders against him, as though he did not render to them the reward due to their just dealings. Admonished by this example, let us learn that it is true wisdom to humble ourselves under the mighty hand of God, (1Pe 5:6😉 and that though he may suspend the granting of our prayers, we ought still to bear, not impatiently, what is hard and severe, and also to subdue our feelings, and to seek from them the Spirit of meekness, to retain us in a tranquil submission.
He says that they still replied — In what have we wearied thee? (238) Here he strongly reproves their hardness, because they did not become wise through the rebuke given them, but regarded with scorn the words of the Prophet, by which we clearly see that they must have been convinced of their guilt, had they not been doubly stupid. It was an intolerable reproach cast on God, to say that he favored the ungodly, and was pleased with their crimes; for God would thus not only rule as a tyrant, but also subvert all order. But nothing is more contrary to his nature than to hold forth his hand to the ungodly as though he had an alliance with them. As this then was an evident impiety, it was a monstrous stupidity to ask in what they wearied God; they ought indeed to have known that he regards nothing as precious as his own honor; and yet, as though Malachi had unjustly reproved them, they opposed him with an iron front, according to similar instances which we have before observed; for though they were covenant-breakers as to marriage, though they defrauded God in the tenths, though they cunningly evaded the Prophets, they yet as it were wiped their mouths and asked, In what had they sinned? The Prophet shows that they were become so hardened in their contumacy that they daringly rejected all admonitions; for they did not ask this as though it was a doubtful thing, nor can it be concluded from their words that they were teachable; but it was the same as if they were armed, ready for a contest, yea, armed with effrontery and perverseness; for they no doubt despised and ridiculed the Prophet’s reproof.
He then answers them — When ye say, Whosoever doeth evil is acceptable in the eyes of Jehovah, and in them he delights. The word rendered “acceptable” is טוב, thub; but such is its meaning often in Hebrew. (239) What they said was, that the ungodly and the wicked pleased God, even because they covered by false colors their sins, so that they were not convinced of anything wrong. They then imputed whatever was evil to their enemies; they did not commonly expostulate with God because he left sins unpunished, but because they received not his aid. We hence see that the Jews here did not clamor and contend with God through hatred of wickedness, but had only a regard to their own advantages; nor did they condemn the sins of others, except those by which they received some harm or loss, and that they considered none wicked except those by whom they were injured. We hence learn that they did not complain through zeal for what was right, but because they would have God bound to them to undertake their cause like earthly patrons.
We indeed know that even the godly are sometimes wearied, and their faith is ready to fail, when things in the world are in a disturbed and confused state: and this was the case with David, as it is recorded in the seventy-third Psalm; but there is in the servants and sincere worshipers of God some concern for what is just and right, whenever they have such grief and trouble of mind, according to the case of Habakkuk, when he said,
“
How long, O Lord!” (Hab 1:2😉
for no doubt his complaint arose from a right principle, because his desire was that God should be truly served in the world. But there was nothing of this kind in the Jews, with whom our Prophet contends here; for as we have said, there was no hatred of wickedness, but only a care for their own advantage; they hence said, that the ungodly pleased God, because God did not immediately interpose when they apprehended some trouble from their enemies.
The repetition is a proof of greater bitterness; for they were not content with one clamorous expression, but added, that God took delight in them.
Then follows the other clause, or where is the God of judgment? (240) They seem not here to reason amiss, that is, from the nature of God. Men may change their counsel and their design, and remain men still, for they are subject to inconstancy and fickleness; but to God there belongs no change. There seems not then to be an impropriety in this — that there is no God, except he be the judge of the world; for he cannot divest himself of his office without denying himself. But they malignantly impeached God; nay, they now insinuate that there is none, because he had abdicated his judgment; for they took it as granted, that God had ceased to be the punisher of wickedness, which was most false; but yet they thought that according to facts it was certain and clear. Hence they concluded that there was no God, as his divinity must have been abolished together with his judgment. We hence see to what extent of insolence they burst forth in their complaints, so that they either charged God with injustice, or alleged that his divinity was annihilated. Now follows
(238) There is a stronger word employed by the Septuagint — “ παρωξύναμεν — have we irritated, or, provoked.” — Ed.
(239) Some have contended that from the order in which the words occur, the rendering ought to be as follows —
Whosoever makes evil good in the eyes of Jehovah, Even in them he delights. (See Isa 5:20.)
The Septuagint favor this version, as the word for “good,” καλον, is in the accusative case. But the usual rendering is the best—
Every doer of evil is good (approved) in the eyes of Jehovah, And in them he delights.
Cocceius observes on these words — “None are so impiously bold as actually to express such words, but Scripture is wont to ascribe to the wicked such expressions as are suitable to their character.” — Ed.
(240) “The God of righteousness — δικαιοσύνης,” is the version of the Septuagint. — Ed.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
CHAPTER XLV
THE COMING DAY OF THE LORD
THE LORD WILL SEND A MESSENGER TO PREPARE FOR HIS DAY . . . Mal. 2:17 to Mal. 3:6.
RV . . . Ye have wearied Jehovah with your words. Yet ye say, Wherein have we wearied him? In that ye say, Every one that doeth evil is good in the sight of Jehovah, and he delighteth in them; or where is the God of justice? Behold, I send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me; and the Lord, whom ye seek, will suddenly come to his temple; and the messenger of the covenant, whom ye desire, behold, he cometh, saith Jehovah of hosts. But who can abide the day of his coming? and who shall stand when he appeareth? for he is like a refiners fire, and like fullers soap: and he will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and he will purify the sons of Levi, and refine them as gold and silver; and they shall offer unto Jehovah offerings in righteousness. Then shall the offering of Judah and Jerusalem be pleasant unto Jehovah, as in the days of old, and as in ancient years. And I will come near to you to judgement; and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, and against the adulterers, and against the false swearers, and against those that oppress the hireling in his wages, the widow, and the fatherless, and that turn aside the sojourner from his right, and. fear not me, saith Jehovah of hosts. For I, Jehovah, change not; therefore ye, O sons of Jacob, are not consumed.
LXX . . . ye that have provoked God with your words. But ye said, Wherein have we provoked him? In that ye say, Every one that does evil is a pleasing object in the sight of the Lord, and he takes pleasure in such; and where is the God of justice? Behold, I send forth my messenger, and he shall survey the way before me; and the Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come into his temple, even the angel of the covenant, whom ye take pleasure in: behold, he is coming, saith the Lord Almighty. And who will abide the day of his coming? or who will withstand at his appearing? for he is coming in as the fire of a furnace and as the herb of fullers. He shall sit to melt and purify as it were silver, and as it were gold: and he shall purify the sons of Levi, and refine them as gold and silver, and they shall offer to the Lord an offering in righteousness. And the sacrifice of Judah and Jerusalem shall be pleasing to the Lord, according to the former days, and according to the former years. And I will draw near to you in judgement; and I will be a swift witness against the witches, and against the adulteresses, and against them that swear falsely by my name, and against them that keep back the hirelings wages, and them that oppress the widow, and afflict orphans, and that wrest the judgement of the stranger, and fear not me, saith the Lord Almighty, For I am the Lord your God, and I am not changed:
COMMENTS
WHERE IS THE GOD OF JUSTICE . . . Mal. 2:17
Two things in the arguments of the priests wearied Jehovah. First, they considered evil to be good, so they declared it good in the sight of Jehovah.
Second, they said where is the God of justice. They looked at the drought, crop failures and generally unprosperous conditions of Judah on the one hand, and on the other, the fact that the forms of the ceremonial law were being observed and concluded that God was slack in His justice, As we have seen, the quality of the sacrifices and the spirit in which they were offered put the lie to their arguments.
BEHOLD, I SEND MY MESSENGER . . . Mal. 3:1
Here is Gods answer to their question, where is the God of justice. Suddenly the Lord will appear in the temple heralded by His forerunner.
Isaiah had made a similar prediction. (Isa. 40:3-5).
The New Testament applies Malachis prophecy to John the Baptist. (e.g. Mat. 3:3; Mat. 11:10, Mar. 1:2-3, Luk. 1:76; Luk. 3:4; Luk. 7:26-27, Joh. 1:23) The obvious fulfillment of this promise in the baptists ministry would be difficult for any open-minded Bible student to overlook.
The sudden appearance of the Lord mentioned hare was interpreted by the Rabbis as a dramatic explosive visitation by which the Messiah would announce His presence. It was this popular expectation which the devil exploited in tempting Jesus to cast Himself from the pinnacle of the temple. (Luk. 4:9) To have done so would have won for Him instant acceptance as the Messiah on the basis of popular though erroneous expectation.
The messenger of the covenant . . . What more apt description could there be of Him Whose coming formed the heart of Gods covenant promise? How fitting that the writer of Hebrews should introduce his comparison of the Old and New Covenants with the argument for the superiority of the New based on the superiority of the Son over the prophets, angels and Moses, who were the messengers of the Old. (cp. Heb. 1:1 to Heb. 2:4)
(Mal. 3:2-6) Who can abide the day of His coming? The Messiah was coming but not to confirm the racial arrogance or religious exclusiveness of these false Israelites. John will speak of Him as one whose fan is in His hand, and He will thoroughly cleanse His threshing-floor; and He will gather His wheat into the garner but the chaff He will burn up with unquenchable fire. (Mat. 3:12).
Malachi here makes a like prediction. By a change of metaphors he describes the Messiahs judgement first as fullers soap then as refiners fire.
In this sense, soap and fire have one thing in common, both remove, impurity. The entire ministry of the Messiah, including His first coming, the intervening age and His second coming, will purge the impurities from the people of God. Those whose profession is false, whose hope is based on false ambition and nationalistic exclusiveness will be removed from Israel. The remnant will be saved.
This refining process is described by Zechariah as removing all but a third of those who call themselves Israel. (cp. Isa. 1:25)
(Mal. 3:3-4) Since Malachis primary concern is with false priests (see above on Mal. 3:1-10 -ff), he pictures the Messiah, in verse three, as a refiner sitting before the crucible in which the sons of Levi are purged of those who are unfaithful so that they will offer to Jehovah offerings in righteousness.
The offerings to the Christ are not the blemished animals of Malachis day. Rather they are to be holy and acceptable unto God, (cf. Rom. 12:1, Heb. 13:5, 1Pe. 2:5) as were those offered in the beginning by Aaron.
(Mal. 3:5-6) They have asked where is the God of justice. (Mal. 2:17) When Messiah comes they will have their answer. He will testify against the sorcerers (Act. 8:1; Act. 13:6, Gal. 5:20), against adulterers (Mat. 5:28), against false swearers (Mat. 5:34; Mat. 5:36), against those that oppress the hireling, the widows, the fatherless, and they that turn aside the sojourners (Mat. 25:31-46), and that fear not me(Mat. 10:26-28).
Special notice should be taken of the inclusion in this list of priestly sins of those that turn aside the sojourner. A sojourner was one of another land who was not a Jew. Gods concern for all men, rather than just for the Jew, as stated in the covenant is apparent throughout His dealings with the people through whom He purposed to bless all men.
(Verse b) It is a tragic error to assume that, because God has not smitten the wicked, He has changed from a God of justice to one of easy-going tolerance. Malachi points out to his readers that Gods unchanging nature is the only reason they were not themselves long since wiped out!
Paul points out in Romans eleven (cf. Rom. 11:29) that Gods mercy toward even the covenant people finds its source in His unfailing faithfulness to His own covenant.
Peter speaks to the same fatal fallacy when he writes, But forget not this one thing beloved, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness; but is longsuffering to you-ward, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. (2Pe. 3:8-9)
Chapter XLVQuestions
The Coming Day of the Lord
1.
What were the two arguments of the wicked priests?
2.
What was Gods answer to the questions, Where is the God of justice?
3.
The New Testament applies Mal. 3:1 to _________________.
4.
Relate the rabbinic interpretation of this verse to Jesus temptations.
5.
What is meant by Malachis description of the Messiah as fullers soap and refiners fire?
6.
When Messiah came He would testify against the ___________, ___________, ___________, and against __________.
7.
Comment on those who turn aside the sojourner.
8.
Discuss the proposition that, because God does not immediately smite the wicked, He is no longer a God of justice.
9.
Note the similarity of Mal. 3:7-12 to Stephens defense (Acts 7).
10.
What is the eternal principle presented in these passages?
11.
How were Malachis readers robbing God?
12.
What is the distinction between tithes and offerings?
13.
What were the first, second and third tithes required by the Law?
14.
The offering consisted of not less than ___________ of ones corn, wine and oil.
15.
The Israelites were commanded to give in three categories: ___________, ___________ and ___________.
16.
How does Jesus express the thought of Mal. 3:10?
17.
Is this passage a valid proof text for modern store house tithing?
18.
List four pertinent points concerning Mosaic tithing.
19.
When the principles of stewardship presented by Malachi is applied to modern giving, ten per cent seems._____________________.
20.
What is meant by the promise of Malachi that God would open the windows of heaven?
21.
Gods provisions are always adequate to those who ________________.
22.
Not only have Malachis readers robbed God, they have ______________________.
23.
God has never promised ___________________ to the faithful nor ___________ to the unjust.
24.
The people equated the sacrifice of blemished animals and with holding of tithes and offerings with ___________________.
25.
A book of ________________ is being written.
26.
To whom does they shall be mine (Mal. 3:17-18) refer?
27.
Discuss Mal. 3:17-18 in comparison to Act. 10:34-35.
28.
Trace the association of fire with judgement.
29.
The sun of righteousness shall ____________________.
30.
The wicked are to be punished by fire while Gods people are freed from _____________________.
31.
Does the unequal distribution of wealth negate the necessity of righteousness?
32.
The justice of God demands a ______________________.
33.
The Old Testament closes with a plea to Gods people to ___________________.
34.
Why was it essential that the formal observance of the sacrificial system be preserved?
35.
The proud and wicked would be consumed but the ___________________ would survive.
36.
Who is the second Elijah?
37.
How is the New Testament continuous with the Old?
38.
What is the new factor in the New Testament not present in the Old?
39.
The coming of Christ did not constitute an abrupt break but a __________________.
40.
Approximately how much time lapsed between Malachi and Jesus?
Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series
REBUKE OF INFIDELITY. THE ADVENT OF THE LORD FORETOLD (Mal. 2:17 to Mal. 3:18).
(17) A new section of the prophecy begins with this verse. The prophet now directs his reproofs against the people for their discontent and their want of faith in the promises of God, because the expected manifestation of Gods glory did not take place immediately. Because the doers of evil seem to flourish, the people say that God takes delight in them, or i.e., if this be not the case, Where is the God of judgment? that He does not interpose to punish them. (Comp. Psalms 73, &c.)
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
17. Ye The latter part of the verse indicates that the prophet here addresses the skeptics who doubt that Jehovah takes an interest in the affairs of the nation, or that he is a “God of justice.”
Have wearied His patience is exhausted, he can keep silent no longer.
With your words Quoted by the prophet in the rest of the verse. To this general accusation some one might reply (see on Mal 1:2), How have we wearied him with our words? And the prophet promptly meets the challenge.
Every one that doeth evil is good in the sight of Jehovah So it would seem to those who shared the philosophic thought of the day, that prosperity was an evidence of piety and adversity a sign of godlessness. The same complaint finds expression in Psalms 37, 49, 73. “Behold, these are the wicked and being always at ease they increase in riches; surely, in vain have I cleansed my heart, and washed my hands in innocency; for all day long have I been plagued, and chastened every morning” (Psa 73:12-14). But, unlike the psalmist, the contemporaries of Malachi did not go “into the sanctuary of God” to have their perplexity solved; on the contrary, they recklessly challenged Jehovah. The evil doers who prospered in the days of Malachi were the nobles who oppressed the poor (Nehemiah 5), though it is not impossible that the prosperity of the nations surrounding the Jews, compared with the poverty of the chosen people, was partly responsible for this skepticism.
He delighteth in them Only on this assumption could they explain their prosperity.
Or If the preceding accusation is not deserved.
Where is the God of judgment? R.V., “of justice.” If he has no pleasure in the wicked why does he not interfere in righteous judgment? (Compare Isa 5:18-19.)
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
JEHOVAH’S APPROACH IN JUDGMENT, Mal 2:17 to Mal 3:5.
In Mal 2:17, the prophet introduces to the reader a new class of thinkers in the postexilic community, the skeptics, who have lost faith in Jehovah and in his word, because the sinful prospered while the good suffered. From these inequalities they concluded that Jehovah was taking no interest in the affairs of the nation and doubted that he would ever appear in judgment to right the wrongs (Mal 2:17). To this complaint Jehovah replies that he will suddenly appear, preceded by a messenger who will prepare his way (Mal 3:1); his coming will be terrible to all who have departed from the right, for he will come like a refiner’s fire to burn up the dross (Mal 3:2). The priests he will purify, so that they may again offer sacrifices in “righteousness” (Mal 3:3-4); and from the nation at large he will sweep away everything that is contrary to his will (Mal 3:5).
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Other Allegations Against The People Of Israel ( Mal 2:17 ).
Malachi now briefly add other sins of which they are guilty before God. No doubt in his oral prophesying he considerably expanded on these.
Mal 2:17
You have wearied YHWH with your words.
Yet you say, In what have we wearied him?
In that you say, “Every one who does evil is good in the sight of YHWH,
And he delights in them,”
Or “Where is the God of justice?”
In Mal 1:13 the priest had found offering the sacrifices ‘wearisome’. Now we learn that God finds His people wearisome (although using a different Hebrew stem). They have wearied YHWH with their words. But how have they wearied Him?
They say, ‘Everyone who does evil is good in the sight of YHWH and He delights in them.’ These words are not to be taken literally as they stand. We are not to assume that the people were openly approving of evil and saying that it did not matter. What it signifies is:
Either that they were manipulating the Law to justify their lawless behaviour (Jesus’ regular charge against the Scribes and Pharisees – Mar 7:8-13; Mat 23:16-28).
Or that they were assuming that evil did not matter as long as sacrifices for sin were offered (the same danger as is often inherent in auricular confession).
Or that they are grumbling because YHWH appears to be treating those who do evil as good, something made clear by the prosperity of their lives.
Note the assumption that most of them were involved in this. They had settled down into a self-satisfied apathy, and were simply allowing the Law to be flouted in many ways, and were then justifying it in one way or another. And this it should be noted is on top of their general attitude towards sacrifices, their offering of blemished animals, their marrying of foreign idolatrous wives, and their penchant for divorce. It is clear that the community was in a general state that was displeasing to God (very similar to our own).
And in spite of their own unwillingness to do and demand from each other what was right, they grumbled because they thought that God was not just. (How like us they were). Their point was that He was not fulfilling their hopes and expectations. Thus they were saying, ‘Where is the God of justice?’ This may have indicated that they felt that God was not acting as He ought in regard to their affairs (having the feeling that they deserved better) or it may be a sarcastic question in the light of the fact that He was not punishing those that they considered deserved punishment. The question that they did not ask was what it was about their lives that prevented Him from fulfilling their expectations.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Mal 2:17. Ye have wearied the Lord, &c. A new discourse begins here, and these words properly belong to the next chapter, where an answer is given to the objection proposed. See Mal 3:2-3; Mal 3:5; Mal 3:18. It is the old objection against Providence, taken from the prosperity of the wicked; which implied, as they thought, either that their works were pleasing to God, or else that he disregarded human affairs, and would never call men to an account for their actions. Every one that doeth evil is good, &c. See Jer 12:1-3 and Psalms 73. Instead of, When ye say. &c. we may read, In your saying of every evil doer, that he is good,and, or otherwise, where is the God of judgment?
REFLECTIONS.1st, The word of God in this chapter is particularly directed to the priests. And now, O ye priests, this commandment is for you; and they were bound deeply to consider the divine rebuke here given them. The prophet shews,
1. What was their duty. The priests’ lips should keep knowledge; their mind should be stored with divine wisdom; they should be wise expositors of the law of God; ready to answer every case proposed to them, and diligent to preach and inculcate the truths of God: and they, the people, should seek the law at his mouth; teachable and inquisitive; desiring to know the mind of the Lord; humble hearers, and ready to follow his will, so far as it is made known to them: for he is the messenger of the Lord of Hosts; distinguished with this high honour, and employed in this high office to carry God’s messages to men, and, as an ambassador, to transact the great concerns which belong to the eternal world. Such, therefore, were bound by every obligation to walk worthy of their high vocation and calling.
2. What had been their practice? the very contrary to all this. But ye are departed out of the way; in principle and practice utterly apostatised from God; ye have caused many to stumble at the law; corrupted by their false doctrines, and emboldened by their ill examples; for nothing tends to make men infidels and libertines, so much as the wicked, careless, and worldly lives of those who pretend to be God’s ministers. Ye have corrupted the covenant of Levi; defeated the great end and intention of it; as if the priesthood, instead of being instituted in order to lead sinners to a pardoning God, and make them holy and happy, was designed merely to enrich the priests, and fatten them with the spoils of the altar. Ye have not kept my ways; neither the moral nor ceremonial commandments: but have been partial in the law, in their observance of it; or accepted persons in the law; giving wrong judgments in favour of some, and to the prejudice of others.
3. Their sins were greatly aggravated by the consideration of the peculiar honour which God had put upon them in this covenant of priesthood established with their fathers, and by their degeneracy from their pious examples. My covenant was with Levi; God took that tribe into a peculiar relation, to attend solely on his worship; a covenant of life and peace, containing a promise of long life and prosperity to themselves here, and of endless life and peace hereafter, if they proved faithful. And also their ministrations were intended to be life to the guilty sinner, whose iniquities, which called for death, should be removed by faith in the blood of the sacrifices offered, as typical of the great Sacrifice; and peace with an offended God should be restored to their troubled consciences. And I gave them to him, the blessings of life and peace, for the fear wherewith he feared me; he rewarded the zeal of Levi, Exo 32:26 and the boldness of Phinehas, Num 25:11-12 with the settlement of the priesthood in that tribe and family: and he was afraid before my name; continuing faithful in God’s service, jealous of offending, approving himself in all simplicity before him. The law of truth was in his mouth; he always spoke according to the oracles of God; and iniquity was not found in his lips, he never perverted the truth to flatter the great, nor concealed what would be offensive in order to please men; but plainly, freely, and fully, in all cases declared the word of God; and, in matters of judicature, decided with strictest impartiality, without respect of persons. He walked with me in peace and equity; his life adorned his doctrine; he was himself a man of peace, and the peace-maker among others; of unimpeached integrity, as ministers should be; an example to the flock in every good word and work: and did turn many away from iniquity; his life gave weight to his preaching, and God bestowed success on his labours; so that they were effectual to the converting of many sinners from the evil of their ways: and every faithful preacher of God’s word may expect to see such fruit of their ministry, when they thus walk and speak; and as the blessed issue of such a conversation, after having turned many to righteousness, they shall shine as the stars in the firmament for ever and ever. Such godly priests as are here described had there been of old in the Jewish church; and to have been descended from them, and inherited the covenant of priesthood, and yet to have degenerated from their examples, and betrayed the trust delivered down to them, was the aggravated crime of that generation. Some apply this to Christ, of whom indeed the Levitical priesthood was a type and figure, and in whom most eminently these things were fulfilled. With him the everlasting covenant of life and peace was established, who is the purchaser of both for his faithful saints, and they are given into his hands to be distributed to such; and he has obtained this life and peace for them, because he feared, humbled himself to obey the precept, and submitted to the penalty of the law for us. In his mouth the law of truth, the gospel of our salvation, was found; in his lips was no guile; perfectly spotless he was in all his conversation, and turning many from iniquity, even all who ever have or ever shall have believed in and cleaved to him.
4. Judgment is denounced upon them. They had already begun to feel God’s displeasure; and to the uttermost it shall light upon them. [1.] They had begun to feel God’s wrath. I have already cursed your blessings; they had no comfort in their work, nor any enjoyment of their wages; all their temporal blessings were embittered, and nothing prospered in their hands: because ye do not lay it to heart, to repent of your sins, and glorify God in your ministry. Therefore have I also made you contemptible; since they had made themselves vile, God justly exposed them before all the people, and returned upon their own heads the contempt that they had shewn of his service. Nor can there be conceived a more infamous and despicable character than that of a profane, wicked, and negligent minister. [2.] What they had felt, if they continued impenitent, was but the prelude to greater evils in store for them. If ye will not hear these warnings, and if ye will not lay it to heart, to give glory unto my name, saith the Lord of Hosts, by an immediate return to him with broken hearts, and desire of ministering henceforth to God’s glory, I will even send a curse upon you: even that wrath which shall burn like fire: and I will curse your blessings, their worldly good things shall be embittered with the sense of his displeasure, or destroyed. Behold, I will corrupt your seed, that it shall rot under the clod, and famine be the consequence; and spread dung upon your faces, even the dung of your solemn feast; so far should these be from pleasing God, that he would treat them with the utmost contempt and aversion, as if the dung of the beasts which they brought were cast into their faces: and one shall take you away; either the Romans, or any other person would count them fit only for a dunghill; or the devil, the sinner’s tormentor, shall seize them, and drag them with him into the pit of destruction. Note; (1.) They who rest on the external performances of religion, so far from pleasing God, will find that their dependence on these will render them abominable in his sight. (2.) The day is coming, when God will take away all the wicked from the earth, and deliver them over to the tormentors.
2nd, As corrupt principles naturally lead to corrupt practices; so, on the other hand, the love of sin and the service of it harden the heart in infidelity and atheism.
1. Their practices were very bad. In general they dealt treacherously every man against his brother; perverting justice, and having respect to persons, and in all their dealings full of dishonesty; thus profaning the covenant of their fathers, wherein such injustice and fraud were forbidden; and which was peculiarly criminal in them, who had one father, were brethren in a peculiar sense, as sprung from Abraham, and one God their Creator (not merely as men, but), who had formed them in a covenant of national peculiarity as a people for himself. But of all their treacherous dealings, that which especially is here brought to account is, their violation of God’s covenant with regard to their marriages, both taking wives of the heathen, which had been so expressly forbidden, Exo 34:15-16, and abusing and divorcing those of their own nation.
[1.] They took wives of the heathen, called here the daughters of a strange god, trained in the worship and service of idols as a child in the family; and this was to profane the holiness of the Lord which he loved. They were set apart for a peculiar people, dedicated to God, and to be observant of his holy law; and he then loved and delighted in them, when they approved their fidelity to him; but by these strange marriages they profaned their covenant of separation, and became an abomination in the sight of God; for which he threatens to cut them off, both master and scholar; or, as in the margin of our English Bibles, both him that wakeneth, the magistrates and elders, whose office it was to call and excite the people to their duty; and him that answereth; the people in general, who should be obedient to their admonitions. These God will destroy together, and him that offereth an offering unto the Lord of Hosts, the priests who should be found guilty of the like crime, as many of them were, Ezr 10:18; Ezr 10:44. Note; (1.) They who profess the faith of Jesus should no more be yoked now with unbelievers, than these with the daughters of a strange god; and ministers especially should shun so unequal a connection. (2.) Nothing more fatally endangers the soul, and exposes it to everlasting perdition, than rashly taking those to be our wives or husbands, who are dead in trespasses and sins. The daughter of a strange god will much sooner make a convert of her husband to idolatry, to the ways of sin and this world, than he can ever hope to bring her to the knowledge and worship of Jesus.
[2.] This have ye done again, or in the second place; abused and divorced the wives of their own nation, probably to make room for these foreigners; so that they covered the altar of the Lord with tears, with weeping, and with crying; complaining of the ill usage of their husbands: insomuch that he regardeth not the offering any more, or receiveth it with good-will at your hand. These tears stood on the altar as a memorial against them; and all their offerings were but hypocritical, while they persisted in such wickedness. Yet ye say, Wherefore? why should not God accept our offerings? The reason is obvious: because the Lord hath been witness of those plighted vows which were exchanged between thee and the wife of thy youth, against whom thou hast dealt treacherously; divorcing her, or marrying others to vex her; and he will be an awful avenger of this breach of contract, aggravated as the sin is by various considerations. She is a wife of youth; placed her affections upon thee in those best days of youth and beauty, and therefore not afterwards to be neglected or abhorred: she is thy companion; has been the partner of all thy cares and griefs, and borne an equal share in them: and the wife of thy covenant; thou art bound to her by every sacred tie, till death shall part; and therefore it would be most cruel, base, ungrateful, and unjust, to treat her with falsehood, or break the marriage-bond. And did not he make one? When the great Creator formed us, did it not evidently appear, that he intended that one man should have but one wife, in the case of our first parents; yet had he the residue of the Spirit, and could as easily have formed many Eves as one. And wherefore one? The reason is, that he might seek a godly seed, or a seed of God; a noble and legitimate offspring, a seed to serve him, which is the great end of marriage; not to gratify men’s lawless lusts and appetites; but to beget children who may be brought up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. Therefore take heed to your spirit; keep your hearts, keep your eye, keep every wandering desire in subjection, which would lead you after forbidden objects: and let none deal treacherously against the wife of his youth; but be constant, faithful, affectionate, and cleave to her alone: for the Lord the God of Israel saith, that he hateth putting away; and though suffered for the hardness of their hearts, to prevent worse consequences, it was displeasing to God, and contrary to his original institution; and therefore the author of such separation will be abhorred of God. For one covereth violence with his garment, and thinks that by pretending the permission of the law he can cover the violence done to his wife by the divorce; or he grieves, vexes, and ill uses her in private; and in public casts his garment over her, as if he would protect and cherish her; but God sees and will punish the unfaithful: therefore take heed to your spirit, that ye deal not treacherously; and great need there is that we, whose hearts are by nature so corrupt, should take heed to them; especially in this estate we need watch against every alienation of affection and unkindness; for if but once a breach be made, the mischief is often afterwards irreparable.
2. Their principles were corrupt, and their words corresponded with their works. Ye have wearied the Lord with your words; speaking perversely, and vindicating themselves in their wickedness, which was highly provoking. Yet ye say, wherein have we wearied him? denying the charge, and maintaining their innocence, which aggravated their crime. When ye say, Every one that doeth evil is good in the sight of the Lord, and he delighteth in them; observing the prosperity of the wicked, they concluded that God approved and rewarded him, which cast the most blasphemous imputation on the holiness of God. Or, Where is the God of judgment? why does he not appear to punish sin as he had threatened? They infer from his patience, that he has forsaken the earth; and that, let men live as they list, they have nothing to fear. Such infidel scoffers there were of old, who said, Where is the promise of his coming? and such there still are, who put far away the evil day, and say, Tush, God careth not for it; but they will be terribly undeceived when this God of judgment shortly appears to punish ungodly sinners, among their other crimes, for all the hard speeches they have spoken against him; Jud 1:15.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
SECTION IV
The sending of Jehovahs Messenger. The coming of the Angel of the Covenant to judge, but not to utterly destroy Israel (Mal 2:17 to Mal 3:7)
17Ye have wearied the Lord with your words. Yet ye say, wherein have we wearied Him? When ye say, Every one that doeth evil is good in the sight of the Lord, and He delighteth in them; or, Where is the God of judgment?
Malachi 3
1Behold, I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me: and the Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly1 [unexpectedly] come to his temple, even the messenger [angel, , LXX.] of the covenant, whom ye delight in: behold, he shall come, saith the Lord of Hosts. 2But who may abide the day of his coming? and who shall stand when He appeareth? for He is like a refiners fire, and like fullers soap [lye]; 3And 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. 4Then shall the offering of Judah and Jerusalem be pleasant unto the Lord as in the days of old, and as in former years. 5And I will come near to you to judgment: and I will be a swift2 witness against the sorcerers, and against the adulterers, and against false swearers, and against those that oppress3 the hireling in his wages, the widow, and the fatherless, and that turn aside [ plural. The Keri reads singular] the stranger from his right, and 6fear not me, saith the Lord of Hosts. For I am the Lord, 4I change not [For I, Jehovah, change not]; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
Mal 3:17. Ye have wearied the Lord with your words. This verse should have been the first verse of the third chapter, for a new subject begins here, having no very close connection with what precedes. The prophet is here opposing the unbelief of a class, who, like the Pharisees, served God, kept his ordinance, and walked mournfully before Him, but who lost their faith in Providence, when God delayed to punish the wicked, and who complained, not in words perhaps, for, as Cocceius remarks, Scripture is wont to ascribe to the wicked expressions suitable to their character,that He treated all alike, for if this was not the case, why did He not punish the wicked? That by the doers of evil here, and by the sorcerers, adulterers, false swearers, and oppressors of Mal 3:5, and by the proud (Mal 3:15), are meant sinners of the Jews, and not of the Gentiles, seems perfectly evident, for these were offenses against the law of Moses. The prophecy had nothing to do with the heathen, who were without the pale of the Covenant. Such a denunciation of Gods judgment upon the heathen would have gratified the haughty and intolerant spirit of the Jews. Strange to say, this reference has been made by Jerome, Hengstenberg, Hitzig, Reinke, Bunsen, Keil. The burden of the third chapter is, Maranatha! The Lord cometh!
Mal 3:1. Behold, I will send my Messenger. The prophet now opposes to the unbelief of the people Jehovahs own word. He will come for judgment, but before his coming, He will send his messenger to prepare his way. It is not said, a Messenger, but his Messenger, the one familiar to them from Isaiahs prophecy (Isa 40:3), where the Hebrew words, to prepare the way, are identical with those here. The crier of Isaiah is here described as the Messenger of Jehovah. In both prophecies his office is the same. That Malachi is not here speaking of himself, nor of an ideal person, in whom the whole prophetic order culminated, as Hengstenberg maintains, is clear from the fact that this messenger is called in ch 4:5 Elijah, the prophet; that our Lord, speaking of John the Baptist, declares, This is he, of whom it is written, Behold, I send my messenger before thy face, which shall prepare thy way before thee (Mat 11:10; Luk 7:27), and that Mark makes use of this prophecy as fulfilled in John, quoting it, indeed, as from Isaiah, because he was the Major Prophet, according to Tregelles text of Mar 1:2 : Many of the children of Israel shall he turn to the Lord, their God, and he shall go before him (i. e., the Lord, their God, the Angel of the Covenant, the Lord of Mal 3:1) in the spirit and power of Elijah (Luk 1:16).
Mal 3:1. The Lord whom ye seek shall suddenly come to his temple, even the Angel of the Covenant. The Lord, whom ye seek, refers back to the preceding verse, where is the God of Judgment? The word Lord, , with the article, is applied only to God. In the parallel clause, even the angel of the covenant, he is designated by a peculiar title expressing his office, as this is the only place where this official title occurs, it requires explanation.
From a very early period we find mention of an extraordinary Messenger, or Angel, who is sometimes called the Angel of God, at others, the Angel of Jehovah. He is represented as the Mediator between the invisible God and men in all Gods communications and dealings with men. To this Angel divine names, attributes, purposes, and acts are ascribed. He occasionally assumed a human form, as in his interviews with Hagar, Abraham, Jacob, Joshua, Gideon, Manoah, and his wife. He went before the camp of Israel on the night of the Exodus. In Exo 23:20, Jehovah said, Behold, I send an angel before thee to bring thee into the place, which I have prepared. My name is in him. In Isa 63:9 he is called the Angel of his Presence, or face, where there is a reference to Exo 33:14-15, where Jehovah said to Moses, My presence (or Hebrew, My face) shall go with thee, and Moses said, If thy face go not with us, carry us not up hence. He is called the face of God, because though no man can see his face and live, yet the Angel of his face is the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person. In him Jehovahs presence is manifested, and his glory reflected, for the glory of God shines in the face of Jesus Christ. There is thus a gradual development in the Old Testament of the doctrine of the incarnation, of the distinction of persons in the Godhead, not brought to light fully, lest it should interfere with the doctrine of the unity of God. (For a more full discussion of the Angel of Jehovah, see Hengstenbergs Christology, vol. 1. p. 161, Keiths Translation; Lange On Genesis, p. 386; Keil On Genesis, p. 184).
We would further remark that of the Covenant has been understood by most Commentators, as referring to the New Covenant of which Jesus is the Mediator (Heb 9:15). Khler and Keil understand by it the Old Covenant, in which God promised to dwell with his people. In that case, the Angel is the Mediator of the Old Covenant. But we need not restrict it to either, but consider it applicable to both, to all Gods covenant relations to man. Behold he shall come must be predicated of the covenant angel.
Mal 3:2. But who may abide the day of his coming. We find similar language in Joe 2:11 : The day of the Lord is great and very terrible, and who can abide it? The question, who shall abide it, is an emphatic negative, no one can abide it. As the Lord is a righteous judge, the day in which He comes must be a day of decisive judgment. As Augustine says, The first and second advent of Christ are here brought together. Malachi sees the great white throne in the background. In the last clause of this verse he gives the reason why it is impossible to endure it, since He is like the fire of the refiner, which separates all dross, and like the lye of the washer, which cleanses all stains.
The word , which is translated in our version soap, occurs only here and in Jer 2:22. Soap was unknown to the ancients, and this was a vegetable substance, from the saltwort, which was burned and water poured on its ashes.
Mal 3:3. And he shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver. In the second verse the Lord is the fire; here by a flight change in the figure, he is the smelter, who lets the pure metal flow off, while the dross remains behind. He shall sit is pictorial to make the figure more striking.
This judgment begins at the house of God, with the priests who stand in the closest relation to Him. This purification will result in the cutting off the impenitent, and in the reformation of those who repent, so that they offer sacrifices in a proper state of heart, in righteousness.
Mal 3:4. Then shall the offering, etc. When the priests are thus purified, then the sacrifice of the whole nation will be acceptable, as in the early and better times, as in the days of David, to the Lord. The Masora remarks, that the prophetic lesson for the Sabbath before the Passover begins here and ends with the prophecy. This lesson was selected because of the injunction in Mal 3:4, to remember the law of Moses.
Mal 3:5. And I will come near to you to judgment. The prophet proceeds to show that the coming judgment will not be only upon the priests but upon all the people. He will practically convince the wicked by his judgment, and that too unexpectedly, and thus will be a swift witness. The sins specified here were all sins against the law of Moses, some of them to be capitally punished. The Jews were very much addicted from this time onward, as Josephus and the New Testament testify, to sorcery, or witchcraft. The oppressors are mentioned. Those who oppress the wages of the hireling. This verb is followed by the accusative of the person, excepting here, and in Mic 2:2. That turn aside the stranger (Deu 27:19), or oppress him. The tenderest love to the stranger is everywhere breathed in the law (Exo 23:9; Deu 10:17-18; Deu 27:19).
Mal 3:6. For I Jehovah change not, therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed. Jehovah is not here the predicate, as in our version and Luthers, but is in apposition with the pronoun I, in contrast with the sons of Jacob. For is causal. It is because Jehovah is unchangeable in his gifts and calling, that He will not suffer Israel wholly to perish, though their sins deserved their destruction. He must accomplish his purposes of mercy. Khler finds in the phrase sons of Jacob, an intimation that they resembled Jacob in character before he became Israel, but it is better to regard it as an emphatic expression for the covenant nation. These do not perish, because their existence rests upon the promise of the unchangeable God, as Moore remarks, The sons of Jacob shall not be consumed, the seed of Christ shall not perish. The unchangeableness of God is the sheet-anchor of the Church.
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL
E. Pocock: On Mal 3:1. He should come unawares when men should not think on or be aware of Him. By the temple no doubt is meant the temple at Jerusalem, then lately built after their return from the Babylonish captivity, which, whatever alterations were made in it, was still looked upon as one till the time it was destroyed by the Romans; and by the Jews called the Second Temple in respect to that former, built by Solomon, and destroyed by the Chaldans. To this temple it is here said, that the Lord here, spoken of should come; and so did Christ whom we say o be that Lord; and of his coming to it and his appearances there at several times we read, He was there first presented by his mother (Luk 2:22); there again, when He was twelve years old, found sitting among the doctors (3:46), where, in his answer to his mother who told him that they had sought Him sorrowing, He may seem to allude even to this prophecy, Wist ye not that I must be in my Fathers house? Was it not foretold that He should come to the temple? Was not that the proper place for Him to be in, and or them to look after Him in? Several other times we read of his going to it, preaching in it, received with Hosannahs, exercising his authority in it, in purging it, and vindicating the dignity of it, and driving out thence those that profaned it. Any of these appearances there is sufficient to prove in and by Him to have been made good that which we take to be the main drift of this expression in this prophecy, namely, that the Lord (Christ or Messiah) here spoken of was to come while the temple (that temple then built) was standing; which is likewise evidently foretold by the Prophet Haggai (Mal 2:7), that into it should come the desire of all nations, and it should be filled with glory, yea, that thereby the glory of that latter house should be greater than that of the former (Mal 3:9), though it were then in their eyes as nothing in comparison with it (Mal 3:3).
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL
Pressel, on Mal 3:17. Where is the God of judgment? The judgment of the world and of Scripture as to the riddle of human destiny; or, there is a God, who lives to avenge and punish,a truth which even men of the world admit, but which only lovers of the truth rightly understand. Ye have wearied, etc. Whereby is the God of infinite patience wearied? Not by our prayers. Not even by our infirmities, but indeed by our hardness and stubbornness, which will not confess our guilt, and be converted.
On Mal 3:1. Though there are quotations from the Old Testament in the New, which are to be regarded only as an application, though never a random one, of the language of the Old, yet, in all the quotations, which are accompanied by an explanation from the Lord Himself, or his Apostles, we have the most certain commentary, which informs us how the Old Testament writer himself understood, and how he would have others understand his prophecy. On this ground, such an interpretation of Mal 3:1, as Hengstenberg and others have given, is untenable; for when the Lord Himself (Mat 9:10; Luk 7:27) says, This is he of whom it is written, we must understand by, my messenger, a definite person, first named by Malachi, and not the collective body of the prophets, extending down to John the Baptist. If there is to be a second coming of our Lord, it may be assumed that the prophecy before us will be fulfilled in all its particulars, and for the very reason that Malachi knows no difference between a first and second coming of the Lord, and his Messiah. Now it cannot but be expected, that the second coming of the Lord will be accompanied with the same purification as the first was in the children of Israel and that the process of this purification will have the same general cause and result. Though this is to be expected, it by no means follows that this will be accomplished by a second sending of John the Baptist, or by the sending of only one man, after the manner of Elijah, since the person of the Lord Himself is carefully to be distinguished from that of his forerunner: the Lord is one; the forerunner, whether John an Elijah, may be more than one; the Lord is for all nations; Elijah and John only for the people of Israel; and when the second coming of the Lord is at hand, there may be also among the different nations of the world, different messengers, like Elijah and John, to prepare the way of the Lord, as indeed the Revelation of John speaks, in the eleventh chapter, of two such witnesses.
On Mal 3:5. We need only further remark, that between the first and second coming of our Lord, a process of purification takes place in portions of Christendom, by virtue of which the impure elements will be cast off, the hollowness and profanation of Gods service and the Christian character will be exposed, and the true Christian will go to meet his future glory, as after all his inevitable, and often fiery trials, he reflects the image of his God and Saviour.
Among the commentators on the Prophets, we must reckon the great Handel, for he has in such a way illustrated to the world their most weighty prophecies in his Oratorio of the Messiah, that we cannot read them without being reminded of his musical commentary, and thereby be inspired, as it were, to interpret them. This is specially true of this last prophecy of the Old Testament.
On Mal 3:1 : Behold, the day cometh! Two Advent questions: Dost thou believe in the coming of the Lord in humiliation? and dost thou hope for his coming in glory? The world may believe or not, the Lord cometh: the world may prepare itself, or not, the Lord judges. This first Advent teaches us the former, and his second Advent the latter. After perhaps the hymn has been sung, All Christians wait for thee, O Son of God ! can we also say, And love thy appearing
The Lord once said, Blessed are they who have not seen, and yet have believed, and it remains true down to the second coming. Notwithstanding God calls to his people, Behold! for true faith has its eyes open for that which happened at the first coming of the Lord, for that which will happen at his second, and for that which must happen in us, in order that the first as well as the second coming may prove our salvation. He shall prepare the way before me. Every minister of the Church, and every Christian, in the most private circle, can prepare the way of the Lord by warning and teaching, by example and intercession, but he is only a servant, and must wait in the humility and patience of the Lord Himself. Every thing in the world is easier to be calculated, than the day when the Lord comes, and easier to be endured than his coming. He shall sit as a refiners fire. The refining of the Lord has its day, and the day of the Lord has its refining. What salutary terror, and what strong consolation must this comparison of the divine refiner work in us!
The purifying fire is at hand to us all. It brings with it a torture, for which the world has no soothing balm; it penetrates what is most secret and inmost; it makes manifest whether we shall be acknowledged by the Lord, or cast away. If we would be the Lords, then we may say, The Lord sits, and has his eyes fixed upon me even in the furnace, and especially there. He intends only my purification, and should the smallest grain of gold in faith and love be found in me, He does not cast me away with the dross of this world; and his design is that his image may be reflected in me, and that I may be acceptable to Him. The prayer of humility and faith is, O Lord, though thou shouldst, find no gold in me, let me only be found as useful silver.
Mal 3:5. How suddenly and how deeply will the day of judgment interrupt the pursuits of the world! How suddenly! for the prophet says, suddenly, and a swift witness, so that the world will be surprised in the midst of it pursuits. How deeply ! for all unrighteous actions and causes, however great, or little, will be rejudged, and brought to light in their ungodliness. Job was able to comfort himself with the word, My witness is in heaven !the opposite of the threatening word, a swift witness: hence the question comes up, Have I a witness in heaven to fear? What does He see with his all-seeing eye? and what sentence will He hereafter pass upon me with his all-decisive lips?
Footnotes:
[1]Mal 3:1., not immediately (statim Jerome), but unawares, unexpectedly, LXX. suddenly. Messenger, corsponding to angel in Greek, Angel of the Covenant, identical with the Lord, . This form is always spoken of Jehovah; Exo 23:17; Psa 114:7; Isa 1:24.
[2]Mal 3:5., swift, corresponding to , Mal 3:1, unexpectedly.
[3]Mal 3:5., followed by a neuter object only here, and in Mic 2:2.
[4]Mal 3:6.Jehovah is not the predicate, but in apposition with I: the parallel, ye sons of Jacob, shows this.
Fuente: A Commentary on the Holy Scriptures, Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical by Lange
REFLECTIONS
Reader! while we take part in the just reproaches of Israel, in their kingdom of priests, in beholding their transgression, and feeling our own; let us seek relief from the distressing contemplation, by directing our view unto the Lord Jesus, our covenant of peace, and our all-sufficient righteousness. Hear what Jehovah, in this blessed portion of the Chapter, saith of Him. First, the Lord God bears testimony to Him, that He is the Lord’s covenant. Secondly, that the Lord gave the people, with all the blessings of the covenant to Him. Thirdly, observe the high testimony of Jehovah to his personal holiness arid purity, the law of truth was in his mouth. And, lastly, the success of his undertaking; for he is said to have turned away many from iniquity. Pause, Reader! and think with holy rapture and joy, of those glorious credentials to thy precious Redeemer and Mediator. Then turn once more to thy Jesus, and behold Him as Jehovah hath presented him to thee, thy peace through the blood of his cross; and in his righteousness contemplate thy righteousness in Him. Yes! thou blessed, gracious, holy Redeemer! thou art indeed all this, and more to thy people! The covenant, in all its sum and substance, thou art. Thou wert present in its contrivance: the foundation, hope, and end of it, in its fulfillment; the Messenger of it to thy people in the delivery of it; the Administrator of all its blessings in its accomplishment; and the fountain and Keeper of all the grace of it here in this life, and the glory of the whole of it in the life to come. Hail! thou glorious Covenant-Head of thy body the Church! the fulness that filleth all in all.
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Mal 2:17 Ye have wearied the LORD with your words. Yet ye say, Wherein have we wearied [him]? When ye say, Every one that doeth evil [is] good in the sight of the LORD, and he delighteth in them; or, Where [is] the God of judgment?
Ver. 17. Ye have wearied the Lord with your words ] Laborare fecistis Dominum, so the Vulgate renders it. Ye have put the Lord to pain, as it were; ye have even tired out his patience, while ye have made him to serve with your sins, and have wearied him with your iniquities, Isa 43:24 “I have long time held my peace; I have been still and refrained myself,” saith the Lord: “now will I cry like a travailing woman,” that hath long time bitten in her pain, I will destroy and devour at once, Isa 42:14 . God can hear and forbear as well as any other: Who is a God like unto thee for this? saith Micah, Mic 7:17 . Were the most patient man upon earth in God’s stead, but for a very short time, to see and hear the provocations and indignities daily done unto him by the sinful sons of men, he would soon be weary of it, he would quickly make a short work upon the earth, Rom 9:28 . It would trouble his patience to spread out his hands all day long to a rebellious people, Isa 65:2 , to give forty days’ respite to Nineveh, that bloody city, full of lies and robbery, Nah 3:1 , to be grieved forty years long with a perverse people, and to suffer their evil manners in the wilderness, Act 13:18 , to bear four hundred years with those wretched Amorites, who had filled the land from one end to the other with their abominable uncleannesses, Ezr 9:11 . In the fourth chapter of Ezekiel God is brought in as lying upon his left side for three hundred and ninety years, Eze 4:5-6 ; a long while to lie on one side, without turning on the other, and all to set forth his longsufferance. Our text tells us that he is patient, even ad defatigationem usque, up the point of being worn out toward the wicked; he bears till he can bear no longer. See the like Rom 9:22 , and the reason, Rom 2:4 , and the ill use that is made of it, Ecc 8:11-13 , till they tire out him that is indefatigable, Jer 15:6 , and made him weary of repenting. But is this a safe course they take? Do they provoke the Lord to wrath? Are they stronger than he? 1Co 10:22 “Hear ye now, O house of David: Is it a small thing for you to weary men, but ye will weary my God also?” Isa 7:13 . Will he not put an end to his abused patience, that justice, justice (as Moses hath it), actual and active justice, may take place? Deu 16:20 . God in Ezekiel is said to sit upon a throne, to show his slowness; but this throne hath wings, to show his swiftness to come, if need require. His patience passeth along as a pleasant river. But if men stop the course of it by their blasphemies and contumelies, as here, and press in with their provocations, as a cart that is leaden with sheaves, Amo 2:13 , God will surely have his full blow at them, Nah 1:2 ; Nah 1:6 Rom 2:4 Heb 12:29 .
With your words
When ye say, Every one that doth evil, &c.
Or, Where is the God of judgment
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Mal 2:17 to Mal 3:4
Mal 2:17 You have wearied the LORD with your words. Yet you say, How have we wearied Him? In that you say, Everyone who does evil is good in the sight of the LORD, and He delights in them, or, Where is the God of justice? Mal 3:1Behold, I am going to send My messenger, and he will clear the way before Me. And the Lord, whom you seek, will suddenly come to His temple; and the messenger of the covenant, in whom you delight, behold, He is coming, says the LORD of hosts. 2But who can endure the day of His coming? And who can stand when He appears? For He is like a refiner’s fire and like fullers’ soap. 3He will sit as a smelter and purifier of silver, and He will purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, so that they may present to the LORD offerings in righteousness. 4Then the offering of Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasing to the LORD as in the days of old and as in former years.
Mal 2:17 You have wearied the LORD with your words The VERB (BDB 388, KB 386, Hiphil PERFECT) means to toil and thereby grow tired. This same VERB, same tense, is used in Isa 43:23 for Israel’s sins wearying YHWH. Here it is their words of rejection and condemnation that weary Him. His own people are attributing to both His person and His motives an apathetic or indifferent attitude toward His covenant promises and judgments.
How have we wearied Him This is a continuation of the literary form used in Malachi to present truth, which was picked up by the rabbis, Paul, and James. It is called diatribe.
Everyone who does evil is good in the sight of the LORD, He delights in them This is an attack on YHWH’s character and covenant. Two strong VERBS describe their accusation:
1. is good, BDB 373, this may be an ADJECTIVE or a Qal PERFECT, MASCULINE SINGULAR VERB
2. delights, BDB 342, KB 339, Qal PERFECT
They assert that not only is YHWH apathetic toward covenant disobedience, but He approves and is delighted by it! This would mean that His word (cf. Deuteronomy 27-29) cannot be trusted! This accusation probably arises from a misunderstanding of the longsuffering patience of YHWH in regard to Israel’s sin. He worked with them over time to change their devotion and behavior, but many took advantage of His patience (cf. Zep 1:12). His seeming inactivity in judgment caused these post-exilic returnees to impugn His character (cf. Isa 5:19; Jer 17:15.
Where is the God of justice This is the question which chapter 3 answers (cf. Job; Psalms 37; Psalms 73; Jer 12:1-4; and Hab 1:2-4). This period of Jewish history was very difficult for those who chose to return from Babylon to Palestine. The surrounding nations were openly hostile, the Persian court was ambivalent towards them, and YHWH had not manifested Himself in the new rebuilt Temple as He had in the old one (i.e., Shekinah Cloud of Glory). See Special Topic: Judge, Judgment, Justice .
Mal 3:1 My messenger This is exactly the same Hebrew phrase from Mal 1:1, where it is a proper name. It (BDB 521) can also mean angel (cf. JPSOA, who identifies the messenger as the angel of the Lord or Michael). Many see this messenger as the Messiah or possibly Elijah of Mal 4:5 (i.e., John the Baptist).
and he will clear the way before Me This VERB (BDB 815, KB 937, Piel PERFECT) in the Piel stem has the connotation of making clear of obstacles (cf. Isa 40:3; Isa 57:14; Isa 62:10). It was used of preparing for a royal visit by preparing the roads.
The question remains, how many people are involved in this paragraph?
1. the LORD (YHWH), Mal 2:17
2. I, My, Me, = YHWH, Mal 3:1
3. My messenger, Mal 3:1
a. Malachi
b. angel of the covenant, cf. Exo 23:20-23
c. Elijah
d. John the Baptist
4. the LORD (Adon), Mal 3:1
a. YHWH (His temple)
b. Messiah (He is coming)
c. covenant angel
Because Mal 3:1 ends with says the LORD of hosts, He is ruled out as a possibility. Notice the cleansing work of the Lord (Adon) in Mal 3:2-3. Robert B. Girdlestone, Synonyms of the Old Testament, pp. 43-44, lists several OT texts that refer to YHWH, but are quoted in the NT as referring to the Messiah:
1. Joe 2:32 – Rom 10:13
2. Isa 6:9-10 – Joh 12:41
3. Isa 8:13-14 – Rom 9:33; 1Pe 2:6-8
4. Isa 40:3/Mal 3:1 – Mat 3:3; Mar 1:4; Luk 1:76; Luk 3:4; Joh 1:23
5. Isa 45:23-25 – Php 2:9
This was the task of John the Baptist (cf. Mat 3:3; Mar 1:4; Luk 1:76; Luk 3:4; Joh 1:23). John denies that he is Elijah, but Jesus said (cf. Mat 11:2-19; Luk 7:24-28) that John fulfilled the prophesied ministry of Elijah (cf. He combines Mal 4:5-6 with Isa 40:3).
the Lord This is the term Adon. Originally it was substituted orally for YHWH, but here it is used as the title of the Messiah, as it is in Joe 2:32, which is quoted in Rom 10:13. The NT authors often used OT titles for God to describe the deity and majesty of Jesus of Nazareth.
will suddenly come to His Temple This VERB (BDB 97, KB 112, Qal IMPERFECT) occurs several times in these closing verses of Malachi. It is a common VERB, but has eschatological implications here.
1. Mal 3:1 (twice)
2. Mal 3:2
3. Mal 4:1 (twice)
4. Mal 4:5
5. Mal 4:6
The Lord of creation is coming in His
1. prophet (John the Baptist)
2. Spirit (i.e., the new age of the Spirit)
3. angel (cf. Mal 3:1)
4. Son (Messianic implications of chapters 3 and 4)
This seems to be related to the Shekinah glory returning to the rebuilt Temple (cf. Eze 43:1-5). When the Jews of Judah went into exile, the Shekinah glory left the Temple (cf. Ezekiel 10) and moved east but now it is returning.
This was used by the Jewish leaders of Jesus’ day to describe the sudden appearing of the Messiah in the Temple. Many see it fulfilled in Jesus suddenly appearing in Jerusalem and cleansing the Temple (twice).
and the messenger of the covenant The term and can be translated even. There is much discussion about the title the messenger of the covenant. It is only used here in all of the OT. The rabbis see this as the angel of the Lord because of passages like Exo 3:2; Exo 3:4. To me there seems to be one, not two, personages mentioned here. The twice repeated phrase in whom you… are in a parallel relationship. This seems to bolster the interpretation that the terms the Lord and the messenger of the covenant refer to the same person. This is also confirmed by Mal 3:2.
in whom you delight This is the same VERB used in Mal 2:17 to attack YHWH’s character. Here it asserts that YHWH will act in history. His day is coming. He will judge the hearts of all humans, He will set straight the fallen world systems, He will act. In Malachi, like Isaiah and Micah, we begin to see that this day is primarily a person (i.e., the Messiah, He is coming). He will both reward and punish. We know from future revelation that His work is split into two separate comings: (1) the first for salvation and the inauguration of the new age, the age of the Spirit, the age of righteousness and (2) the second for judgment.
Mal 3:2 But who can endure the day of His coming This verb (BDB 465, KB 463) is in the rare Pilpel stem. Its basic meaning is:
1. to comprehend (Qal), Isa 40:12
2. to contain, cf. 1Ki 8:27; 2Ch 2:6; 2Ch 6:18
3. to sustain, to support (Pilp), cf. Neh 9:21; Zec 11:16
4. to endure (Pilp), cf. Pro 8:14
In this context #1 and #4 make sense, but #4 fits better! There may be a purposeful ambiguity.
YHWH’s breaking into history is described as (1) a refiner’s fire; (2) a fuller’s soap; and (3) judgment. It is used in two different senses: (a) although He is coming to test, it is a test for purification, not destruction; (b) for those who know YHWH by faith, it will be a day of salvation, but for those who do not know Him it will be a day of swift judgment. It is also significant to note that the judgment mentioned in Mal 3:5 has both religious and social connotations with no distinction made between them.
And who can stand when He appears This is a military term for holding one’s ground (BDB 763, KB 840, Qal PARTICIPLE, cf. 2Ki 10:4; Amo 2:15; Eph 6:11; Eph 6:13-14). The standard by which God will judge humanity is the standard of His own character (cf. Mat 5:48). That is why the Bible confidently asserts that all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God (cf. lists of OT quotes in Rom 3:9-18 and the summary in Rom 3:21-31). Our only hope for righteousness is the righteousness of Jesus Christ imputed to us (cf. Galatians 3; Romans 4; 2Co 5:21).
refiner’s fire This CONSTRUCT (BDB 77, Piel PARTICIPLE, BDB 864) speaks of the testing and purification of metals (cf. Mal 3:3). It is used metaphorically of God purifying His people (cf. Job 23:10; Psa 66:10; Isa 1:25; Isa 48:10; Jer 6:29; Zec 13:9).
fuller’s soap This CONSTRUCT (BDB 141 and Piel PARTICIPLE BDB 460) speaks of vegetable lye (cf. Jer 2:22).
Mal 3:3 Notice that the Messiah as YHWH’s representative refines His people. They are cleansed, but not rejected! This is a judgment of redemption. The outcome is holiness, not hell. It is difficult to transfer NT gospel categories into OT texts. However, I still think it is hermeneutically better to view OT texts through NT fulfillment than to try to read the NT through OT categories (i.e, Mosaic covenant, national Israel, geographical promises).
God wants a holy people to reflect Himself to a lost world. However, He is patiently working with an unholy people whom He has redeemed! Sin is not the stumbling block in the NT because the work of Christ has effectively dealt with this spiritual barrier. The problem is now unbelief! This is foreshadowed in the New Covenant of Jer 31:31-34; Eze 36:22-38.
This verse is used by Roman Catholic theologians to support the doctrine of purgatory, which they develop from a passage in The Shepherd of Hermes.
SPECIAL TOPIC: Where Are the Dead?
the sons of Levi This refers to the priests. We must remember that Malachi spoke directly to the priests in Mal 1:6 through Mal 2:9 and possibly throughout chapter 2.
so that they may present to the LORD offerings in righteousness The key to worship is a personal relationship. Only clean people can approach God (cf. Isa 1:16-20). In the OT the sacrificial system was God’s way of providing a way for imperfect people to approach a perfect deity. The key was always an appropriate attitude and mind set (cf. Deu 6:4-6). The OT temple has become Christ, the true temple (cf. Mat 12:6; Joh 2:19-21). I guess for me some of the best examples of how interpersonal relationship affects worship are Mat 5:23-24 and Jas 4:8! Ritual and liturgy can become a barrier (cf. Isa 29:13 [Mat 15:8-9]; Eze 33:31).
righteousness See Special Topic: Righteousness .
Mal 3:4 The author looks back to the past history of the people of God as an idealistic period, especially the Wilderness Wandering Period (cf. Isa 63:11; Jer 2:2-3). It was considered a honeymoon period by later generations. In this post-exilic period the reference may be to the dedication of Solomon’s temple in 2 Chronicles 7 in the days of David (cf. Amo 9:11).
the days of old See Special Topic: Forever (‘olam) .
Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley
say = have said.
Every one, &c. Some codices read “All who do wrong are”, &c.
evil = violence. Hebrew. ra’a. App-44.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Mal 2:17
WHERE IS THE GOD OF JUSTICE . . . Mal 2:17
Two things in the arguments of the priests wearied Jehovah. First, they considered evil to be good, so they declared it good in the sight of Jehovah. Second, they said where is the God of justice. They looked at the drought, crop failures and generally unprosperous conditions of Judah on the one hand, and on the other, the fact that the forms of the ceremonial law were being observed and concluded that God was slack in His justice, As we have seen, the quality of the sacrifices and the spirit in which they were offered put the lie to their arguments.
Zerr: Mal 2:17. God never tires in the sense of becoming weak bodily as man does, but His patience can be exhausted. These priests were charged with having wearied the Lord with their words of falsehood. Those words were in the form of confusing good with evil and then implying that God was not just in condemning them.
Questions On Malachi Chapter Two
1. Who is addressed? (Mal 2:1)
2. What will happen to the priests if they do not listen to the Lord? (Mal 2:2)
3. What else will God do to them? (Mal 2:3)
4. When this happens, what will they know? (Mal 2:4)
5. How did God describe His covenant? (Mal 2:5)
6. How did God characterize Levi’s response to Him? (Mal 2:6)
7. What should the lips of the priests do? Why? (Mal 2:7)
8. What did the lips of the priests do? (Mal 2:8)
9. What was the Lord’s reaction? (Mal 2:9)
10. What is God’s relationship with all people? (Mal 2:10)
11. How had Judah acted treacherously? (Mal 2:11)
12. They came to the altar with tears (Mal 2:13). Why were they crying?
13. How were the people treating the “wife of your youth”? (Mal 2:14)
14. Who should not received treacherous treatment? (Mal 2:15)
15. What does God hate? (Mal 2:16)
16. How had they wearied God? (Mal 2:17)
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
SERMON #11. BECAUSE HE HATES PUTTING AWAY
Text:Mal 2:17 to Mal 3:6
Subject:Unconditional, Irresistible, Indestructible Grace
Date:Sunday PM October 25, 2009
Introduction:
The title of my message is BECAUSE HE HATES PUTTING AWAY. In Mal 2:16 the Lord, the God of Israel, declares that he hateth putting away. Jehovah, the triune God of Israel thereby assures his fallen, erring, sinful people that his grace is absolutely free, unconditional, irresistible, indestructible grace. Bless the Lord, O my soul! Because he hateth putting away nothing can separate me from him!
If the Lord God of Israel ever dealt with us, even once, as we have relentlessly and always dealt with him, we would long ago have been ruined forever. But the Lord, the God of Israel, saith that he hateth putting away! That is the cause of his unfailing mercies upon us. It is the covenant faithfulness of God our Father, founded in his own everlasting love, engaged in his promise and his oath, to Christ our Surety, flowing to our souls from everlasting in his own precious blood and perfect righteousness!
Because the Lord, the God of Israel, saith that he hateth putting away he rests in his love. Oh, for grace to see the cause and adore the mercy. Where the Lord God of Israel rests, there let my soul ever rest also, not in myself, not in my experience, not in my feelings, but in God my Savior, the Triune Jehovah, the God of Israel who here declares that he hateth putting away!
No matter how things change with me, nothing changes with him! The everlasting worth, the everlasting efficacy, of my Saviors blood and righteousness changes not! His interest in me and my interest in him do not depend upon the varying circumstances of time and the varying vacillations of my poor, sinful heart!
The Lord not only hates putting away, but he saith that he hateth putting away! He says it that we may know it and rejoice in it. properly esteem his unchanging love. Oh, that we who are loved of God might live in the blessed, confident assurance of this fact! He hateth putting away! The Lord thy God in the midst of thee is mighty; he will save, he will rejoice over thee with joy; he will rest in his love, he will joy over thee with singing (Zep 3:17).
It is impossible to properly understand the message of Malachi 3, if we do not understand it in the context of this blessed fact, revealed in Mal 2:16. The Lord, the God of Israel, saith that he hateth putting away! The chapter division here is unfortunate. If I am not mistaken, it would be better to begin chapter 3 with the 17th verse of chapter 2. So lets begin with Mal 2:17. Our text will be Mal 2:17 to Mal 3:6.
Because he hates putting away, because Gods grace is absolutely free, unconditional, irresistible, indestructible grace, he here tells us what he has done and will do for his elect, for Israel, his chosen, the sons of Jacob that he loves with an everlasting love.
HORRID EVIL
In Mal 2:17, the prophet of God continues to describe the horrid evil committed by Gods covenant people. That is to say, he continues to describe the horrid evil you and I constantly commit against our God. The faithful prophet never ceases to remind Gods elect that Gods mercies are completely undeserved! The faithful Gospel preacher constantly reminds his hearers that they are sinners, fully deserving Gods unmitigated wrath. Here, again, we are given reason to rejoice in the fact that He hath not dealt with us after our sins; nor rewarded us according to our iniquities (Psa 103:10).
(Mal 2:17) Ye have wearied the LORD with your words. Yet ye say, Wherein have we wearied him? When ye say, Every one that doeth evil is good in the sight of the LORD, and he delighteth in them; or, Where is the God of judgment?
Remember, the Lord God is still addressing Judah, Israel and Jerusalem, his covenant people. He is addressing those who have dealt treacherously with him and with one another, who have profaned his holiness, profaned his altar and robbed him of his glory, a sinful people he refused to put away, because he hateth putting away!
How we have wearied him with our words of unbelief! How we have wearied him with our words of broken promises and resolutions! How we weary our God with our words, calling evil good and good evil! How we have wearied God with our pretensions, our great swelling words, hypocritical words and acts of devotion by which we attempt to hide the evil of our hearts!
Where is the God of judgment? That question may suggest the idea that, though few would speak such words openly, our behavior constantly cries, Where is the God of judgment? (Eze 8:12; Eze 9:9; Psa 10:11; Isa 29:13-15).
(Eze 8:12) Then said he unto me, Son of man, hast thou seen what the ancients of the house of Israel do in the dark, every man in the chambers of his imagery? for they say, The LORD seeth us not; the LORD hath forsaken the earth.
(Eze 9:9) Then said he unto me, The iniquity of the house of Israel and Judah is exceeding great, and the land is full of blood, and the city full of perverseness: for they say, The LORD hath forsaken the earth, and the LORD seeth not.
(Psa 10:11) He hath said in his heart, God hath forgotten: he hideth his face; he will never see it.
(Isa 29:13-15) Wherefore the Lord said, Forasmuch as this people draw near me with their mouth, and with their lips do honour me, but have removed their heart far from me, and their fear toward me is taught by the precept of men: (14) Therefore, behold, I will proceed to do a marvellous work among this people, even a marvellous work and a wonder: for the wisdom of their wise men shall perish, and the understanding of their prudent men shall be hid. (15) Woe unto them that seek deep to hide their counsel from the LORD, and their works are in the dark, and they say, Who seeth us? and who knoweth us?
Perhaps this question is set before us here to expose that terrible tendency of our souls to distrust Gods providence. How often we are like David in Psalms 73, murmuring against our God because in our dim eyes the wicked seem to prosper and the righteous are made to suffer. That seems to be the intent of Malachi in this passage (Mal 3:13-14).
(Mal 3:13-14) Your words have been stout against me, saith the LORD. Yet ye say, What have we spoken so much against thee? (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?
JOHN THE BAPTIST
Yet, because he hateth putting away, because he is longsuffering to usward, not willing that any of his elect should perish, because he delighteth in mercy, the Lord God stands fast by his purpose and says
(Mal 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.
With those words, our blessed Savior assured his ancient people that he would indeed come, the womans promised Seed, Abrahams Seed, Davids Son, the Shepherd of Israel would come at the time appointed, to redeem and save his people in fulfillment of his blessed covenant agreements as our Surety.
Behold, I will send my messenger; and he shall prepare the way before me! The Lord Jesus said by his servant Isaiah, Behold me! Behold me! (Isa 65:1). Here, as he concludes the writings of the prophets, he speaks as one who is at the very door; and promises to send one more prophet to prepare his way before him. Of course, these opening words of Malachi 3 refer to John the Baptist and the ministry to which he was appointed by the Lord (Mar 1:1-8). When the Lord God is about to come in grace, he always sends his messenger (a gospel preacher) to prepare the way before him. Blessed are those people to whom the God of Glory sends such a messenger!
(Mar 1:1-8) The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God; (2) As it is written in the prophets, Behold, I send my messenger before thy face, which shall prepare thy way before thee. (3) The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight. (4) John did baptize in the wilderness, and preach the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins. (5) And there went out unto him all the land of Judaea, and they of Jerusalem, and were all baptized of him in the river of Jordan, confessing their sins. (6) And John was clothed with camels hair, and with a girdle of a skin about his loins; and he did eat locusts and wild honey; (7) And preached, saying, There cometh one mightier than I after me, the latchet of whose shoes I am not worthy to stoop down and unloose. (8) I indeed have baptized you with water: but he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost.
THE LORD YOU SEEK
Now, look at verse one again, and notice how the Lord Jesus is described. The question was raised in the previous verse, Where is the God of judgment? Here, the answer is given, 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. Six things are stated here about the One God promised to send, our blessed Savior.
1.He is the Lord.
The word Lord (Adonai) here speaks of the sovereignty of God our Savior. Christ did not come to be made Lord. He came as Lord! This name of our God, Adonai means the Cause or the Support. What a suitable name for our blessed Savior! He is the original cause of all things (Rom 11:36). He supports and maintains all things (Heb 1:3); and he upholds his saints with the right hand of his righteousness (Isa 41:10).
2.Then, Malachi refers to the Lord Jesus as, The Lord, whom ye seek.
Obviously, this is not a denial of mans utter depravity, somehow suggesting that fallen man seeks the Lord. Here the prophet declares that at the time Christ came, at the time the Messiah appeared, his people were expecting him to appear. Anyone could add up the weeks of years spoken of by Daniel the prophet and, looking at the prophecies of the Old Testament, comparing Scripture with Scripture, understand that Messiah must appear when he did.
1Simeon was waiting for the Consolation of Israel (Luk 2:21-35).
2Anna came into the Temple by the Spirit of God, because she was expecting the Lord Jesus to appear there; and he did (Luk 2:36-38).
3Even the Pharisees were fully convinced that the time in which they lived was the time appointed for Messiah to come. They thought John the Baptist was the Christ.
But it is a mistake to interpret the prophets words only in a historical way. Malachis word is Gods Word to you and me today, Gods Word to chosen sinners in every age and in every place. When the Lord Jesus comes to you in the mighty saving operations of his grace, he will appear suddenly as the very One you are seeking and must have (Isa 25:9).
(Isa 25:9) And it shall be said in that day, Lo, this is our God; we have waited for him, and he will save us: this is the LORD; we have waited for him, we will be glad and rejoice in his salvation.
1.Third, Malachi declares, The Lord whom ye seek shall suddenly come to his temple.
1What an assertion this is of his eternal Godhead. Gods Temple is here called his Temple.
2When the Lord Jesus appeared in the Temple, he demonstrated that it was his, by making a scourge of cords, and driving out the buyers and sellers from his house of prayer (Joh 2:14-17).
3And when the Son of God comes into the hearts of his redeemed in saving mercy, he comes suddenly into his temple. Ye are the temple of God!
1.Our blessed Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, is both God of the Covenant and the Messenger of the Covenant.
Christ is the Angel of the Covenant, the One who fulfilled the covenant, the One who reveals the covenant, and the One who pleads the covenant as our Advocate, Surety and Great High Priest (Jud 1:9; Zechariah 3; 1Jn 2:1-2). Christ is the Covenant (Isa 49:8).
2.Fifth, Malachi says, concerning this blessed Savior, he is the Lord, even the Messenger of the Covenant, whom ye delight in. Blessed be his name, all to whom the Lord Jesus comes in saving mercy delight in him. Rejoice in the Lord always; again I say, Rejoice!
3.Sixth, all of this was spoken of as a matter of absolute certainty, so much so that the Triune Jehovah penned his name to it all! Behold, he shall come, saith the Lord of hosts!
NONE CAN STAND
Now, look at Mal 2:2-5, remembering what we have already seen. These verses may, I am sure, have some reference to our Lord Jesus coming in the judgment at the last day; but here the Spirit of God is telling us about grace, Gods free, unconditional, irresistible, indestructible saving grace. Because he hateth putting away, at the appointed time of love, the Lord Jesus will come to every chosen redeemed sinner; and (Blessed be his name forever!) before him none can stand! Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power!
(Mal 3:2-5) But who may abide the day of his coming? and who shall stand when he appeareth? for he is like a refiners fire, and like fullers soap: (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. (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. (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.
When Christ comes to you in the mighty, omnipotent, saving operations of his grace
1He will cause you to fall before him (Psalms 51).
2He will come near to judgment with you, chasten you sore, to refine his silver and his gold with fire, to purify the sons of Levi, that we may offer unto the Lord an offering in righteousness (Heb 12:5-11).
3Fullers soap was made from an herb. Using this very strong soap, the fuller would cleanse wool cloth, removing the spots from it, before the wool was used to make a garment. That is the work of God our Savior in Redemption and Regeneration.
4Then, only then, can Judah and Jerusalem, the sons of Jacob, who profaned him so treacherously (Mal 2:11), be (consciously) pleasant unto the Lord, as in days of old, and as in former years. Accepted in the Beloved.
5In that blessed day, our God and Savior takes away the vile idolatry with which fallen man is plagued, and the corrupt ways of the idolater (Hos 2:17; Zec 13:1-2).
(Hos 2:17) For I will take away the names of Baalim out of her mouth, and they shall no more be remembered by their name.
(Zec 13:1-2) In that day there shall be a fountain opened to the house of David and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem for sin and for uncleanness. (2) And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the LORD of hosts, that I will cut off the names of the idols out of the land, and they shall no more be remembered: and also I will cause the prophets and the unclean spirit to pass out of the land.
SALVATION SURE
Now, hear the Word of our God in Mal 2:6, and rejoice my brothers and sisters! Because our God changes not, he hateth putting away; and because he hateth putting away the everlasting salvation of his chosen is a matter of absolute certainty!
(Mal 3:6) For I am the LORD, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed.
Children of God, midst the perpetual fluctuating, dying, and perishing circumstances of our lives, and all things around us, what a grand foundation this is to our souls! For time and eternity, my soul, rest upon this Rock! God my God, our great Savior is the same yesterday, and today, and forever. He changes not!
1He is unchangeable in his nature.
2He is unchangeable in his purposes.
3He is unchangeable in all his covenant promises.
4He is unchangeable forever!
This and this alone is the cause and reason, why the seed of Jacob are not consumed.
Amen!
Fuente: Discovering Christ In Selected Books of the Bible
wearied: Psa 95:9, Psa 95:10, Isa 1:14, Isa 7:13, Isa 43:24, Jer 15:6, Eze 16:43, Amo 2:13
Wherein: Mal 2:14, Mal 1:6, Mal 1:7, Mal 3:8
Every: Mal 3:13-15, Job 34:5-9, Job 34:17, Job 34:36, Job 36:17, Psa 73:3-15, Mat 11:18, Mat 11:19
Where: Deu 32:4, 1Sa 2:3, Psa 10:11-13, Ecc 8:11, Isa 5:18, Isa 5:19, Isa 30:18, Eze 8:12, Eze 9:9, Zep 1:12, 2Pe 3:3, 2Pe 3:4
Reciprocal: Job 22:3 – any pleasure Job 24:12 – yet God Psa 5:4 – God Psa 58:11 – verily he Isa 5:20 – them Isa 29:15 – Who seeth Isa 40:27 – my judgment Jer 44:22 – could Eze 18:25 – way Hos 12:8 – they Mal 1:2 – Wherein Mal 3:5 – I will come Mal 3:15 – yea Mat 25:44 – when Luk 11:42 – and pass
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Mal 2:17. God never tires in the sense of becoming weak bodily as man does, but His patience can be exhausted. These priests were charged with having wearied the Lord with their words of falsehood. Those words were in the form of confusing good with evil and then implying that God was not just in condemning them.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Mal 2:17. Ye have wearied the Lord with your words You have tired his patience by your blasphemous speeches, charging his providence with injustice. Yet ye say Ye persist to say; Wherein have we wearied him? See on Mal 1:6. When ye say When your discourse and reasoning tend to overthrow (if it were possible) all piety and morality; while you affirm, Every one that doeth evil is good in the sight of God A repetition of the old objection against providence, taken from the prosperity of the wicked, which implied, as they thought, either that their works were pleasing to God, or else that he disregarded human affairs, and would never call men to account for their actions; and he delighteth in them As appears, said these atheists, by his prospering them. Or, Where is the God of judgment? If he is in the world, judging and governing it, why does he not punish these men?
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Mal 2:17 to Mal 3:6. The Coming of Judgment.This passage is addressed to those of the prophets contemporaries who were so perplexed by the state of things around them that they had become sceptical of Gods justice. The times were out of joint, prosperity was the lot of the wicked instead of the righteous. Their querulousness became a burden to Yahweh, so that He announces His immediate intervention; the day of Yahweh, long regarded as the panacea for all Israels ills, is about to dawn. Malachi, like Amos (Amo 5:18) and other prophets, stamps the popular conception with an ethical value. Yahweh is even now sending His forerunner, possibly to be identified with Elijah (Mal 4:5) but probably more like Yahwehs angel so often mentioned in the historical books, who is often almost one with Yahweh Himself. So here the Lord . . . even (mg.) the messenger. Perhaps we should distinguish between my messenger and the messenger of the covenant. The phrases whom ye seek (cf. Mal 2:17, Where is the God of judgment?) and whom ye delight in (or desire) are parallel. The Gospels (Mat 11:10 = Luk 7:27, Mar 1:2) cite Mal 3:1 a in reference to John the Baptist. The judgment is to be a time of purifying and cleansinglike a fierce crucible in which the silver is separated from the base elements of the alloy. By soap is meant lye, water alkalised by vegetable ashes. The judgment will begin by purging (lit. straining) the corrupt priesthood, and be effective (Mal 3:3 f); it will then pass on to attack evildoers of different kinds among the people. It is a mission of cleansing, not of destruction (cf. Jer 30:11); Yahwehs love of the house of Jacob (cf. Mal 1:2 f.) is unchanging.
Fuente: Peake’s Commentary on the Bible
2:17 Ye have {d} wearied the LORD with your words. Yet ye say, Wherein have we wearied [him]? When ye say, Every one that doeth {e} evil [is] good in the sight of the LORD, and he delighteth in them; or, Where [is] the God of {f} judgment?
(d) You murmur against God, because he did not hear you as soon as you called.
(e) In thinking that God favoured the wicked, and had no respect for those that serve him.
(f) Thus they blasphemed God in condemning his power and justice, because he did not judge according to their imaginings.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
D. Situation: complaints of the Lord’s injustice 2:17
Malachi recorded complaints that the people were voicing that gave further proof that they were acting faithlessly and needed to change (cf. Mal_2:10-15 a). That another disputation is in view is clear from the question and answer format that begins this pericope, as it does the others. Mal 2:17 contains the question and answer, and the discussion follows in Mal 3:1-6. The Israelites’ changeability (Mal 2:17) contrasts with Yahweh’s constancy (Mal 3:6).
"The reader is introduced here for the first time in Malachi to three themes, all of which may be expressed, for convenience, as needs: the need for messianic intervention, the need for a day of judgment, and the need for social justice." [Note: Stuart, p. 1346.]
Malachi announced to his hearers that they had wearied God with their words; He was tired of hearing them say something. Their response was again hypocritical incredulity. They believed He could hardly be tired of listening to them since He had committed Himself to them as their covenant lord (cf. Isa 40:28).
This is another place where Scripture seems to contradict itself. On the one hand God said He does not grow weary (Isa 40:28), but on the other hand He said He was weary (here). The solution, I think, is that in the first case He was speaking about His essential character; He does not tire out like human beings do. In the second case He meant that He was tired of the Israelites speaking as they did. In this second case He used anthropomorphic language to describe how He felt as though He were a human being, which, of course, He is not. [Note: For extended discussion, see Clendenen, pp. 372-82.]
The prophet explained that Yahweh was tired of the Israelites saying that He delighted in them even though they said that everyone who did evil was acceptable to Him. They seem to have lost their conscience for right and wrong and assumed that because God did not intervene He approved of their sin. Really their question amounted to a challenge to God’s justice. If they were breaking His law and He was just, He surely must punish them. Their return to the land indicated to them that He was blessing them, and He promised to bless the godly in the Mosaic Covenant (Deu 28:1-14).
Contemporary people say the same thing. "If there is a just God, why doesn’t He do something about all the suffering in the world?" "If God is just, why do the wicked prosper?" Scripture reveals that God blesses the wicked as well as the righteous (Mat 5:45; Act 14:17), and the righteous suffer as well as the wicked because of the Fall and sin (Gen 3:16-19; Ecc 2:17-23). Moreover, God allows Satan to afflict the righteous as well as the wicked (Job 1-2). God will eventually punish the wicked and bless the righteous, but perhaps not in this life (cf. Job 21:7-26; Job 24:1-17; Psa 73:1-14; Ecc 8:14; Jer 12:1-4; Habakkuk 1). Malachi’s audience had forgotten part of what God had revealed on this subject, and, of course, they had not yet received New Testament revelation about it.
"Disillusionment had followed the rebuilding of the Temple because, though decade followed decade, no supernatural event marked the return of the Lord to Zion." [Note: Baldwin, p. 242.]
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
5. “WHERE IS THE GOD OF JUDGMENT?”
Mal 2:17; Mal 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 Mal 3:5 or Mal 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.”