Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Malachi 1:13
Ye said also, Behold, what a weariness [is it]! and ye have snuffed at it, saith the LORD of hosts; and ye brought [that which was] torn, and the lame, and the sick; thus ye brought an offering: should I accept this of your hand? saith the LORD.
13. what a weariness is it!] i.e. the service of the Sanctuary.
torn ] Rather, taken by violence. R.V.
ye brought an offering ] Rather, ye bring the offering, R.V. The reference is perhaps to “the (stated, public) offerings,” which the priests provided out of the Temple funds entrusted to them (Neh 10:32-33). Comp. “the offering of Judah and Jerusalem,” Mal 3:4. By purchasing cheap and unworthy animals they would increase their own portion of the fund. But Mal 1:12 ; Mal 1:14 make it clear that similar abuses were tolerated in the private sacrifices of individuals.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
What a weariness! – What an onerous service it is! The service of God is its own reward. If not, it becomes a greater toil, with less reward from this earth, than the things of this earth. Our only choice is between love and weariness.
And ye have snuffed – (puffed) at it , i. e., at the altar; as a thing contemptible. Ye, have brought that which was taken by violence. In despising any positive law of God, they despised the lawgiver; and so, from contempt of the ceremonial law, they went on to break the moral law. It were indeed a mockery of God, to break a law whereby He bound man to man, and therefrom to seek to appease Himself. Yet in rough times, people, even in Christianity, have made their account with their souls, by giving to the poor a portion of what they had taken from the rich. God, it was said to such an one, rejects the gifts obtained by violence and robbery. He loves mercy, justice and humanity, and by the lovers of these only will He be worshiped. (Ecclesiasticus 34:18-20.) He that sacrificeth of a thing wrongfully gotten, his offering is ridiculous, and the gifts of unjust men are not accepted. The Most High is not pleased with the offerings of the wicked, neither is He pacified for sin by the multitude of sacrifices. Whoso bringeth an offering of the goods of the poor doeth as one that killeth the son before the fathers eyes.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Mal 1:13-14
Should I accept this of your hand?
saith the Lord.
Vain oblations
(taken with Isa 1:13):–Each age has its characteristic. No two are just alike; and though history repeats itself, yet there is progress. Its processes are those of a spiral.
I. In the age of Isaiah the Jews were full of religiosity. Sacrifices were not neglected–a multitude were offered. They brought the best of all kinds, not as in the days of Malachi, the lean and the poor, but abundantly they brought the blood of bullocks, of lambs, and of he-goats. Clouds of incense arose; they carefully kept the new moons, the Sabbaths, the assemblies, and the solemn meeting, not only all appointed feasts, but even others they observed in an intense devotion to the forms of religion. Why were their oblations vain? Why were they not regarded in their sacrifices and accepted in their persons?
1. As in the days of the Saviour, so now, whilst they were careful to tithe, mint, anise and cummin, they omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith.
2. They were offered without faith. This whole chapter shows such to be the case. This was just what made the difference between Abels sacrifice and Cains offering.
3. Their offerings were unaccompanied with repentance; for repentance implies confession of sin, the forsaking it, and the reformation of life.
II. This positive sinfulness is clearly made out.
1. They were laden with iniquity.
2. There was no soundness in them, from the sole of the foot even unto the head.
3. Their rulers were like the princes of Sodom, and themselves like the men of Gomorrah.
4. Their hands were full of blood. The rulers did not punish the people, and reciprocally the people abetted their rulers in their blood-guiltiness.
5. The times were full of evils, unredressed and unavenged. Their princes had become companions of thieves and bribe-takers.
III. On the other hand, god still remembers grace and mercy.
1. There was still a remnant left (verse 9).
2. All are called to repentance (verses 16, 17).
3. Those that repent shall obtain mercy, but the contumacious shall not be spared (verses 18-24).
4. And still further, God holds up the gracious promise to send times of reformation and refreshing (verses 25-27).
Reflections–
1. Do we preach and pray, and is there no answering fruit–no conversions, and no increase of piety?
2. Can the reason be found in devotion to the forms of religion and the neglect of its spirit?
3. Are our people characterised by an absorbing devotion to the world?
4. Then to us as to Israel is the call to repentance; to us as to them, the hope of forgiveness; to us as to them, the promise of revival upon repentance and reformation. God forbid that we should merely possess the forms of religion and be destitute of its life-giving power. (L. O. Thomson.)
Hypocrisy in public worship
All that wears the appearance of religion is not sincere piety. This remark will particularly apply to those acts which constitute what we call public worship. For in privacy, where no eye is upon us but that of the Omniscient, there is less temptation to, and less danger of insincerity. Malachi is here remonstrating with the people for the iniquity of their holy things.
I. The criminal charge he fixes on this professing community. It is aggravated by three things.
1. By the salutary discipline to which they had recently been subjected for their backslidings and rebellions against God.
2. By the fact that they thus sinned against the clearest knowledge.
3. By the majesty of the object against whom their offence was directed. We censure and condemn the Jews, but are we better than they?
II. The uses to be made of this remonstrance.
1. Here are materials for your deepest humiliation and penitence.
2. How incompetent are all the rites and ceremonies of religion to save the soul!
3. See the fallacy of pharisaism.
4. How welcome, then, is the evangelical intelligence which is brought to us, to awaken a hope of the acceptance of our persons and services in the sight of a holy God. (J. Clayton.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 13. Ye have snuffed at it] A metaphor taken from cattle which do not like their fodder. They blow strongly through their nose upon it; and after this neither they nor any other cattle will eat it.
Ye brought that which was torn, and the lame, and the sick] There had never been such abominations in the Divine worship before. What was of no worth in itself, and what could not be used by its owner, was brought to God’s altar, and offered for sacrifice! Was not the punishment of these wretches less than their crimes?
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Ye said also; to those sins before mentioned, the priests chiefly, and the people with them, added this also, that they openly complained of Gods service.
Behold, what a weariness! what a toil and drudgery is it to observe every point of the law about ordering ourselves and the sacrifices!
Ye have snuffed at it, in token of discontent, and that you thought it was all needless labour; would not examine your sacrifices as you should.
Ye brought that which was torn, & c.: for want of value for the ordinance, and patience in examining whether the sacrifice were perfect and according to law, you priests accepted and offered the torn, and blind, &c., which are expressly forbidden to be made sacrifices: see Mal 1:8.
Thus ye brought an offering; with such minds, snuffing at my service, and with such sacrifices, unfit for mine altar, have they wearied themselves somewhat, but their God more.
Should I accept this of your hands? saith the Lord, i.e. it is not at all fit to be accepted, nor will our God receive it.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
13. what a weariness is it!Yeregard God’s service as irksome, and therefore try to get it over bypresenting the most worthless offerings. Compare Mic6:3, where God challenges His people to show wherein is the”weariness” or hardship of His service. Also Isa43:22-24, wherein He shows that it is they who have “wearied”Him, not He who has wearied them.
snuffed atdespised.
itthe table of theLord, and the meat on it (Mal1:12).
tornnamely, by beasts,which it was not lawful to eat, much less to offer (Ex22:31).
thus . . . offeringHebrew,mincha; the unbloody offering of flour, &c. Thoughthis may have been of ordinary ingredients, yet the sacrificesof blemished animals accompanying it rendered it unacceptable.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Ye said also, Behold, what a weariness [is it]?…. These are either the words of the priests, saying what a wearisome and fatiguing business the temple service was to them, for which they thought they were poorly paid; such as slaying the sacrifices; removing the ashes from the altar; putting the wood in order; kindling the fire, and laying the sacrifice on it: or of the people that brought the sacrifice, who, when they brought a lamb upon their shoulders, and laid it down, said, how weary are we with bringing it, suggesting it was so fat and fleshy; so Kimchi and Abarbinel, to which sense the Targum seems to agree; which paraphrases it,
“but if ye say, lo, what we have brought is from our labour;”
and so the Syriac version, “and ye say, this is from our labour”; and the Vulgate Latin version, “and ye say, lo, from labour”; and the Septuagint version, “and ye say, these are from affliction”; meaning that what they brought was with great toil and labour, out of great poverty, misery, and affliction:
and ye have snuffed at it, saith the Lord of hosts; or, “blown it” p; filled it with wind, that it might seem fat and fleshy, when it was poor and lean; so Abarbinel and Abendana: or ye have puffed, and panted, and blown, as persons weary with bringing such a heavy lamb, when it was so poor and light, that, if it was blown at, it would fall to the ground; so R. Joseph Kimchi: or ye have puffed at it, thrown it upon the ground by way of contempt; so David Kimchi: or, “ye have grieved him” q; the owner of the lamb, from whom they stole it; which sense is mentioned by Kimchi and Ben Melech; taking the word rendered “torn”, in the next clause, for that which was “stolen”. Jarchi says this is one of the eighteen words corrected by the scribes; and that instead of , “it”, it should be read , “me”: and the whole rendered, “and ye have grieved me”; the Lord, by bringing such sacrifices, and complaining of weariness, and by their hypocrisy and deceitfulness. Cocceius renders the words, “ye have made him to expire”; meaning the Messiah, whom the Jews put to death:
and ye have brought that which was torn, and the lame, and the sick; [See comments on Mal 1:8] and if the first word is rendered “stolen”, as it may, this offering was an abomination to the Lord,
Isa 61:8:
thus ye brought an offering; such an one as it was: or a “minchah”, a meat offering, along with these abominable ones:
should I accept this of your hands? saith the Lord; which, when offered to a civil governor, would not be acceptable, Mal 1:8 and when contrary to the express law of God.
p “et efflastis illam”, Montanus; “anheli isto estis”, Tigurine version; “exsufflare possetis”, Junius Tremellius, Piscator, “difflatis”, Drusius “sufflavistis illud”, Burkius. q “Et contristastis illum”; so some in Vatablus.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
He pursues the same subject — that the worship of God was despised by them and regarded as almost worthless. We must bear in mind what I have before stated — that the Jews are not reprehended here as though they had openly and avowedly spoken reproachfully of God’s worship; but that this was sufficiently evident from their conduct; for they allowed themselves so much licentiousness, that it was quite manifest that they were trifling with God, inasmuch as they had cast off every fear of him and all reverence towards him.
Ye have said, Behold, labor. This may apply to the whole people, or to the priests alone. It is commonly explained of the priests — that they complained that they had a hard office, because they were continually in the temple and constantly watched there, and were much occupied in cleaning the vessels.
The monks at this day under the Papacy, and the priests, boasting of themselves, say, “While all others sleep, we are watching; for we are constant in prayers.” Forsooth! they howl at midnight in their temples; and then by massing and by doing other strange things they imagine that they are seriously engaged in pacifying God. In this sense do some understand this passage, as though the priests, in order to commend their work, alleged that they labored much in God’s service, and as though God had enjoined on them many and difficult things. But I prefer applying this to the whole people, and yet I do not exclude the priests; for the Prophet here condemns both, and shows that it was wearisome to them to spend labor in worshipping God, that they considered it weariness, as we commonly say, Tu le fais par courvee. (211)
And the import of what follows is the same, Ye have snuffed at it, that is, through disdain. Some give this rendering, “With sorrow have ye moved him;” and the verb is in Hiphil, and is often taken in this sense. The verb, נפח, nephech, is properly to snuff; and it is here in another conjugation; but even in Hiphil it has this meaning, and cannot be taken otherwise. Now they who render it, to move or touch with sorrow, are under the necessity of turning the words of the Prophet to a sense the most foreign and remote, even that the priests, extremely greedy of gain, compelled the common people to bring sacrifices, and thus extorted sacrifices, but not without sorrow and lamentation. We see how forced this is: I therefore wholly reject it. Some have hammered out a very refined sense, which is by no means suitable, “Ye have snuffed at it,” that is, Ye have said indeed that the victims are good and sufficiently fat; and yet ye may by breath blow them into the air. Others render it, to cast down, because they threw the sacrifices on the ground. But what need there is of departing from the common meaning of the word, since it is easy to conclude that both the priests and the people are here condemned, because the worship of God was a weariness to them, as we snuff at a thing when it displeases us. The behavior then of the fastidious is what the Prophet meant here to express. The passage will thus be very appropriate, Ye have said, Behold weariness! Ye have snuffed at it: then he adds, —
Ye have offered the torn, and the lame, and the weak. These words prove the same thing — that they performed their duty towards God in a trifling manner by offering improper victims: when they had anything defective or diseased, they said that it was sacred to God, as we find it stated in the next verse. Some improperly render, גזול, gazul, a prey, what had been unjustly procured, as though he had said, that they offered victims obtained by plunder: but I wonder how they could thus distort the words of the Prophet without any pretense. He mentions here three kinds — the torn, the lame, and the maimed or the feeble. Who then does not see that the torn was an animal which had been torn by wild beasts? When therefore they had an animal half dead, having been torn by wolves, they thought that they had a suitable victim: “I am constrained to offer a sacrifice to God, this lamb is very suitable, for the wolf has devoured a part of it, and it has hardly escaped: as then it is maimed, I will bring it.” The Prophet then calls those torn victims which had been lacerated by the teeth of wild beasts.
We now understand the import of the words; but we must remember what I have said — that God required not the performance of external rites, because he had need of meat and drink, or because he set a great value on these sacrifices, but on account of their design. The sacrifices then which God demanded from his ancient people had in themselves nothing that promoted true religion; nor could the odour of sacrifices of itself delight God; but the end was to be regarded. As then God ordered and commanded sacrifices to be offered to him, that he might exercise his people in penitence and faith, it was for this reason that he valued them. But when the people had fallen into gross contempt of them, that they brought to God, as it were to insult him, the maimed and the lame, their extremely base and intolerable impiety, as I have already said, was made fully evident. This is the reason why the Prophet now so vehemently chides the priests and the whole people; they offered to God such sacrifices as man would have rejected, according to what we noticed yesterday. It then follows —
(211) Variety of meanings has been given to the word מתלאה Calvin takes it as one word with two letters added to לאה, to be weary or tired. But Drusius, Marckius, Parkhurst, Henderson, and others, regard it as a contraction for מה and תלאה, according to some other instances in Hebrew, and render it “What weariness!” and this corresponds with the context more than any other view. The Septuagint and the Targum considered the מ as a preposition, and this mistake has been followed by Jerome and the fathers, and also by Grotius and Newcome. “Behold, from weariness,” or from labor, or from affliction: and it has been regarded as an excuse made by the priests on account of their poor and depressed condition. But there is nothing to countenance this notion in the context.
Calvin adopted the past tense in this and the preceding verse, and so has Henderson; but Marckius and Newcome, with more correctness, render the verbs in the present tense, for they are all in this verse preceded by a conversive ו, vau; and the last line shows that the present time is intended, —
13. And ye say, “What weariness!” And ye snuff at it, saith Jehovah of hosts; And ye bring the torn, and the lame, and the sick, When ye bring an offering: Shall I accept it from your hand, saith Jehovah?
There are two evils ascribed to the priests—they were discontented with their office and performed it as a drudgery — and they allowed forbidden victims to be offered.
“
Offering,” מנחה, signifies a gift or a present, whether a victim or meat-offering. See Gen 4:2. Here evidently it comprehends “the torn,” “the lame,” etc., as it is clear from the words, “Shall I accept it?” that is, the offering, including those specified; for if it meant a meat-offering, as some suppose, non-acceptance would be confined to it alone. — Ed.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(13) Said.Better, say.
And ye have snuffed at it.Better, and ye puff at itthat is, treat it with contempt, pooh-pooh it, as we say. The service of the Temple, which they ought to have regarded as their highest privilege and pleasure, they look on as burdensome and contemptible. For brought, read bring.
Torn.The word Gzl elsewhere means stolen (Deu. 28:31), or robbed i.e., spoiled (Deu. 28:29). It is perhaps not impossible that it may here be a later word for trphh, torn (comp. the cogn. Arabic ajzal, galled on the back), but it is not so used in post-Biblical Jewish writings. On the contrary, Rabbinic tradition uses our word when expressly mentioning that which is stolen as unfit to be offered as a burnt offeringe.g., the Sifr, (Vayyikr, Perek 6, Parashta 5, ed. Weis 7b), commenting on the words of Lev. 1:10, says: From the flock, and from the sheep, and from the goats: These words are limitationsviz., to exclude the sick (comp. also Mal. 1:8), and the aged, and that which has been dedicated in thought to an idol, and that which is defiled with its own filth; its offering [English Version, his offering, comp. Note on Zec. 4:2], to exclude that which is stolen. (See also Talmud Babli, Baba Kamma 66b.) The English Version has the same in view in its rendering of Isa. 61:8, where it has the authority of Talmud Babli, Sukkah 30a, and of Jerome and Luther. Perhaps the reason why people were inclined to offer a stolen animal may be, that it might very likely have a mark on it, which would render it impossible for the thief to offer it for sale, and so realise money on it, for fear of detection; so then he makes a virtue of a necessity, and brings as an offering to God that which he could not otherwise dispose of.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
Mal 1:13 continues the thought of Mal 1:12. Their faithlessness and corruption is seen in their attitude toward the entire sacrificial service. The tenses should be translated, with R.V., as present tenses, for the prophet condemns present sacrifices.
What a weariness is it! Not the eating of their portion of the sacrificial meat, but the priestly office and the service at the sanctuary. It they consider a trouble and a burden instead of an honor and a privilege, as they should.
Ye have snuffed at it At the service or table of Jehovah. An expression of contempt. Here is found one of the emendations of the scribes (see on Hab 1:12); and following the Masoretic suggestion that at it is a change from an original at me, some commentators read “ye have snuffed at me,” but the thought remains essentially the same. The contempt finds expression in the offering of unfit animals as sacrifices.
Torn Better, R.V., “taken by violence”; that is, something stolen. They were too selfish to give of their own (Compare 2Sa 12:1 ff.), and when they did give of their own they gave only what was of no use to them. An additional thought may be implied, namely, that by giving stolen goods to Jehovah they would make him a participant in the crime, and thus make it impossible for him to punish them. Some scholars, following Mal 1:8, read “blind.”
Lame, sick See on Mal 1:8. The rebuke closes with a question similar to the one in Mal 1:8.
Should I accept this of your hand? Simply because you are priests. He cannot do this. Sacrifice of this sort is an abomination to him (compare Amo 5:21-24; Isa 1:10-15).
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Mal 1:13. Ye said also, Behold And in that ye say, depart hence; and while you reject some, you afterwards bring that which is torn, or lame, or sick, for an offering. Should I, &c. Houbigant. Those who understand it according to our translation, explain it thus; “You who have complained that a constant attendance on my altar was a wearisome employment, and that the victims which you offered were not given by the people, but were the fruits of your own labours, and were bestowed out of your tithes.” See Lowth, and Grotius.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Mal 1:13 Ye said also, Behold, what a weariness [is it]! and ye have snuffed at it, saith the LORD of hosts; and ye brought [that which was] torn, and the lame, and the sick; thus ye brought an offering: should I accept this of your hand? saith the LORD.
Ver. 13. And ye have said also, Behold, what a weariness is it! and ye have snuffed at it, &c. ] At what? At the chiding you have had for your lame and lean sacrifices. A little offensive breath hath blown you up into rage. This is a kind of blasphemy, Eze 20:27 , when graceless men fall into a fustian fume, as they say, by hearing of their faults; and bristle against a reproof, though never so just. Or thus, Ye have puffed and blown, as almost breathless, by carrying some carrion sheep for a sacrifice; as if it were so fat and full of flesh that you could hardly bring it without breaking your wind; whereas ye might have blown it away, it is so thin and light. Hateful hypocrisy! And it sped accordingly. For should I accept this at your hand? No, no: Sapiens nummularius est Deus: nummum fictum non recipiet (Bernard). God is a wise mint man; he will take no counterfeit coin. He not only detects the deceiver, and detests him, as here, but curseth him bitterly in the next verse. He rejects the hypocrite’s sacrifice, and plagueth such Prometheuses; when as he wipes not out any of the good services of his sincere people, Neh 13:4 , but abundantly blesseth them.
Labour, therefore, for that “truth in the inward parts,” Psa 51:6 , that we may be with “Apelles approved in Christ,” Rom 16:10 , and with Nathanael, “an Israelite indeed,” Joh 1:47 . Be we the same that we would seem to be; and if not, as the windows of the temple were, wider within than without, yet to be no more in show than we are in truth. It stands us in hand when to deal with God to have the greater part of our ware in the inner part of the shop, and not all on the foreside, on the board or stall; and to see, that though our work be but mean, yet it may be clean; though not fine, yet not foul, soiled and slubbered with the slur of a rotten heart. Sweet powders can make even leather an ornament, when the sanies of a plaguesore will render a rich robe loathsome and infectious.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Behold Figure of speech Asterismos. App-6
and. Note the Figure of speech Polysyndeton (App-6).
snuffed = puffed. “Snuffed” is an archaism for “sniffed” – complained by snivelling: i.e. pooh-poohed.
it = My altar. See note on Mal 1:12.
should I accept, &c. Reference to Pentateuch (Lev 22:20). App-92.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Behold: 1Sa 2:29, Isa 43:22, Amo 8:5, Mic 6:3, Mar 14:4, Mar 14:5, Mar 14:37, Mar 14:38
and ye have snuffed at it: or, whereas ye might have blown it away
torn: Mal 1:7, Mal 1:8, Lev 22:8, Lev 22:19-23, Deu 15:21, Eze 4:14, Eze 44:31
should I accept: Mal 2:13, Isa 1:12, Isa 57:6, Jer 7:9-11, Jer 7:21-24, Amo 5:21-23, Zec 7:5, Zec 7:6, Mat 6:1, Mat 6:2, Mat 6:5, Mat 6:16
Reciprocal: Gen 4:7 – If thou doest well Exo 29:1 – without Lev 7:18 – it shall Lev 10:19 – should Lev 22:20 – General Lev 23:18 – seven lambs Num 6:14 – one ewe Num 19:2 – no blemish Num 28:19 – they shall Num 28:31 – without blemish Deu 17:1 – General 1Sa 2:36 – eat Job 21:15 – and what Isa 43:23 – hast not Mal 1:12 – The table Mal 3:8 – In Mat 20:12 – borne Mat 25:24 – I knew Mat 26:8 – To Luk 15:29 – yet Gal 6:9 – us 2Th 3:13 – ye
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Mal 1:13. This verse means the same as most of the preceding ones.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
1:13 Ye said also, Behold, what a {o} weariness [is it]! and ye have snuffed at it, saith the LORD of hosts; and ye brought [that which was] torn, and the lame, and the sick; thus ye brought an offering: should I accept this of your hand? saith the LORD.
(o) The priests and people were both weary with serving God, and did not regard what manner of sacrifice and service they gave to God: for that which was least profitable, was thought good enough for the Lord.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
They were also saying that it was tiresome and distasteful to worship the Lord. Their worship should have been passionate and joyful instead of boring and burdensome (cf. Col 3:16-17). They were sniffing at it as something they despised and were bringing as offerings what they had stolen as well as lame and sick animals (cf. 2Sa 24:24). Did they expect Him to receive such sacrifices from them? How could He?
"God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in him." [Note: John Piper, Let the Nations Be Glad! The Supremacy of God in Missions, p. 26.]