Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Malachi 1:9

And now, I pray you, beseech God that he will be gracious unto us: this hath been by your means: will he regard your persons? saith the LORD of hosts.

9. beseech God ] lit. stroke or smooth the face of God, i.e. propitiate or seek the favour of God. See Dan 9:13; Psa 45:12, and note on Zec 7:2.

It is not a call to repentance, but a challenge to put it to the proof whether, their conduct being such as it is (“this hath been by your means”), God will regard them in the discharge of their office as intercessors for the people.

this hath been ] such irreverence as has been described above. Or if we follow the more exact marginal rendering both of A.V. and R.V., “This hath been,” i.e. such offerings have been received, “from your hand.”

regard your persons ] Rather, accept any of your persons, R.V. Is there one of you whose person He will accept?

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

And now entreat, I pray you, God ^o that He will be gracious unto you – This is not a call to repentance, for he assumes that God would not accept them. It is rather irony; go now, seek the favor of God, as ye would not that of your governor. From your hand, not from your fathers, not from aliens, hath this been: will He accept persons from you? The unusual construction seems to imply a difference of meaning; as if he would say, that it consisted not with the justice of God, that He should be an accepter of persons, (which He declares that He is not) which yet He would be, were He to accept them, while acting thus.

Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible

Mal 1:9

This hath been by your means.

A solemn charge

Irreligion is the cause of social chaos and national ruin. Calamities frequently arise from spiritual conditions. Outward circumstances are often very closely linked with the inner life.

I. Men have power to bring evils upon themselves and others. Man is a centre of causation. Deeds do not end in the doing of them. We may meet them in the results of after years. More than half the evils that afflict men are self-wrought. God seldom interferes with the sequences that follow our action. Man is not the creature of circumstances, but the creator of them. He is treated as being responsible for his own happiness or misery. Man cannot keep the results of his actions from affecting others. One man has ruined thousands. Godless parents ruin families; hypocritical pastors destroy their flocks; depraved senators overthrow a nation.

II. Evil-doers seldom admit this pointed charge. There is a disposition in men to look for the cause of their afflictions anywhere rather than in themselves. They have come from fate, from misfortune, from accident, from the errors of others, from the vindictive anger of God. Honest confession is rare. Not to admit this charge is–

1. Unwise.

2. It will only increase our guilt.

3. It will hinder our reception of mercy. (W. Osborne Lilley.)

Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell

Verse 9. Beseech God] There were evident marks of God’s displeasure in the land, and it was occasioned by these pollutions through the priests. And now he exhorts them to pray to God that they may be pardoned: for, if this practice be persisted in, God will not accept any offering made by them.

Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible

And now I, Malachi,

pray you, O priests, beseech God that he will be gracious unto us; intercede with God for this sinful people, among which (with the modesty that is usual among Gods saints) he rangeth himself; entreat they may find grace with God, and be pardoned.

This detestable contempt of God, his altar, and worship,

hath been by your means; you, O priests, have been great occasions of this, it is more your sin, though too much theirs; beg, then, that it may be forgiven, repent and pray, or you will not be regarded. Some think the whole verse to be an irony against those priests and their sacrifices.

Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole

9. now . . . beseech God that hewill be graciousIronical. Think you that God will be persuadedby such polluted gifts to be gracious to you? Far from it.

this hath been by yourmeansliterally, “hand.” These contemptible offeringsare your doing, as being the priests mediating between God and thepeople; and think you, will God pay any regard to you (compareMal 1:8; Mal 1:10)?”Accept thy person” (“face”), Mal1:8, answers to “regard your persons,” in this verse.

Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

And now, I pray you, beseech God that he will be gracious unto us,…. These are the words of the prophet to the priests; and are spoken either seriously, exhorting them to that part of their office which lay in interceding for the people that God would be gracious to them, and forgive their sins; and the rather, inasmuch as they had been the means of their sin, and accessary to it, who ought to have reproved them for bringing such offerings, and should have refused to offer them for them; or otherwise, if they did not do this, they could not expect that God would accept their persons, and their offerings: or else ironically, now you have offered such sacrifices to the Lord, as the blind, the lame, and sick, go and intercede for the people; pray that their sins may be forgiven them, and that the curse may be removed from them, and see how you will succeed:

this hath been by your means; that such sacrifices were offered up; they indulged the people in such practices, and encouraged them; the fault was theirs; or this curse, as Kimchi explains it, from Mal 1:14:

will he regard your persons? saith the Lord of hosts; can you ever imagine that God will have any respect to your persons or prayers, when you have acted so vile a part, and been the cause of so much sin and evil? no, he will not, as is asserted in the following verse Mal 1:10.

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

He wounds here the priests more grievously, — because they had so degenerated as to be wholly unworthy of their honorable office and title; “Go,” he says, “and entreat the face of God. ” All this is ironical; for interpreters are much mistaken who think that the Prophet here exhorts the priests humbly to ask pardon from God, both for themselves and for the people. On the contrary, he addresses them, as I have said, ironically, while telling them to be intercessors and mediators between God and the people; and yet they were profane men, who on their part polluted the whole worship of God, and thus subverted the whole of religion: go thou and entreat, he says, the face of God. This duty, we know, was enjoined on the priests; they were to draw nigh to the sanctuary and present themselves before God as though they were advocates pleading the cause of the people, or at least intercessors to pacify God. Since then they were in this respect the types of Christ, it behoved them to strive themselves to be holy; and though the people abandoned themselves to all kinds of wickedness, it yet became the priests to devote themselves with all reverence to the duties of their calling; and as God had preferred them to their brethren, they ought especially to have consecrated themselves to him with all fear; for the more excellent their condition was, the more eminent ought to have been their piety and holiness. Justly then does the Prophet here inveigh so severely against them, because they did not consider that they were honored with the priesthood, that they might entreat God, and thus pacify his wrath, and reconcile to him miserable men: Go, he says, and entreat the face of God; forsooth! he will accept your face. We now understand the real meaning of the Prophet.

And now, he says, he will have mercy on us. Here also the Prophet derides them, because they boasted that they could prevail through their own high dignity to render God propitious; forsooth! he says, he will have mercy on us. But this is done by your hand, i.e., by you. “Do ye raise up your hands to God? and will he on seeing you be pacified towards you? As then ye are polluted, ye are unworthy of the honor and office, in which ye so proudly glory.”

He does not however, as we have already said, extenuate the fault of the people, and much less does he exempt them from guilt who were implicated in the same crimes; but he shows that the state of things was wholly desperate; for the common people disregarded God, and the priests, neglecting to make any distinctions, received every sort of victims, only that they might not be in want: he shows them that the state of the people was extremely bad, as there was no one who could, according to what his office required, pacify God. Will he then receive your face ? The Prophet seems to allude to the person of the Mediator; for as Christ had not as yet appeared, when the priest presented himself before the altar, it was the same as though God looked on the face of one, and became thus propitious to all. On this account he says, that the priests were not worthy that God should look on them, since they had polluted his sanctuary and corrupted his whole service. (205) For the same purpose he subjoins —

(205) It is generally admitted that this verse is ironical. The second line has been differently interpreted: some regard the impure sacrifices before mentioned as being referred to, “from your hand have these come,” following the Septuagint, where זאת is rendered “ ταυτα — these:” but the most obvious meaning is that given by Calvin, that the sentence is a concession as to what the priests are ironically exhorted to do. I give the following version, —

And now, intreat now God’s face that he may favor us; By you ( literally by your hand) has this been done: Will he on your account lift up the face? Saith Jehovah of hosts.

To “lift up the face” is to show favor. The words seem to be spoken by the Prophet, and by saying, “saith Jehovah,” at the end, he identifies what he says with the mind of God, as though he said that what he addressed to them was communicated to him from above. Instead of מכם, “on your account,” some MS., have לכם, “for you,” or “for your sake.” — Ed.

Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary

(9) This verse is severely ironical. The word God is expressly used, rather than the Lord, as a contrast to the human governor mentioned above. The meaning is: You know you dare not treat thus contemptuously your human governor, what hope then is there of such disrespectful conduct finding favour with Godthe Judge of all the earth?

That he will be gracious.These words refer, perhaps, to the wording of the sacerdotal benediction (Num. 6:24).

Unto us.The prophet includes himself with the people, as Moses did (Exo. 34:9): And pardon our iniquity and our sin; and as, in fact, God Himself included Moses (Exo. 16:28): And the Lord said unto Moses, How long refuse ye to keep my commandments?

This hath been by your means.Better, by your means hath this been. By your means is emphatic by position. The meaning is: By means of you (priests), who ought to have directed the people aright, has this disgraceful conduct been occasioned. Or, perhaps, in view of Mal. 1:8, and the wording of Mal. 1:10, we should render the words thus: From your hands is this [despicable offering] ! This being used contemptuously like Lat. istud. In either case the clause is parenthetical, so that will he regard must be taken in close connection with the preceding, beseech God that he will be gracious unto us.

Will he regard your persons?Better, will he, on your account, show favour to any one? That is, can ye be deemed worthy intercessors, when these are the actions ye perform? The question is, of course, a practical negation. (Comp. Zec. 4:10.)

Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)

9. They know well enough that the favor of an earthly governor cannot be secured in this way; let them now see if Jehovah is pleased with such things.

Beseech God Literally, the face of God (compare Zec 7:2). Not a call to repentance, but an ironical challenge to supplicate Jehovah with gifts and prayers. In other great crises he heard intercessory prayer (Gen 18:22 ff.; Exo 32:11).

This hath been by your means Literally, from your hands was this; that is, the offering of unclean animals. These words interrupt the thought; the question following is the real continuation of the ironical exhortation; therefore many commentators omit them as a later gloss. As they stand now, they can serve only to emphasize the illegitimacy and hypocrisy of their conduct.

What can they expect under these circumstances?

Will he regard your persons? R.V., “accept any of your persons?” margin, “accept any because of you?” The Hebrew is ambiguous, but in view of the exhortation, which seems to imply intercessory prayer, the marginal translation is to be preferred. The priests were mediators between Jehovah and the people, they offered sacrifice as servants of Jehovah and of the people, to secure the divine favor for the latter; but since they have proved faithless their service is no longer acceptable, they can no longer secure the favor of Jehovah for the people.

Jehovah of hosts See on Hos 12:5.

Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

Mal 1:9. This hath been by your means Since this seem easy to you, will he, &c. Houbigant. The avaricious priests deny that there was any thing in the choice of victims, and aver that God would be as propitious to them upon the offering of an unclean as of a clean sacrifice. Therefore the prophet calls upon them to make the trial, and to ask some sign of God, that they may prove his attention and regard to them.

Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke

This verse comes in as a very affectionate advice after the strong expostulation going before, and which proves what all the other parts of God’s holy word declare, that the Lord is very pitiful and gracious, slow to anger, and of great mercy. Isa 30:18 .

Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

Mal 1:9 And now, I pray you, beseech God that he will be gracious unto us: this hath been by your means: will he regard your persons? saith the LORD of hosts.

Ver. 9. And now I pray you, beseech God ] Heb. Weary God with your prayers, press him till he be even sick of you; improve your uttermost interest in him, if, at least, you have any. Pray hard, if ye can, at least; for all men cannot pray; wicked men are gagged by the devil; and their character is, They call not upon God. They may cant or chatter out a charm when God’s chastening is upon them, yea, be with child, as it were, of a prayer, and yet bring forth nothing better than wind, Isa 26:16-18 . In prosperity they may have some few short winded wishes, as Balaam (Satan’s boggie man) had; yea, they may by strength of wit or memory devise a handsome prayer, and seem to set it forth with much life, that they may pass for men of parts and gifts: but will the hypocrite pray always? Job 27:10 ; will he persevere in prayer when God seems to cast out his prayers, and to multiply his crosses? will he not rather curse in that case, as Job’s wife, and Micah’s mother? will he not howl against heaven, as the wolf when hunger bitten? and as the parrot, when beaten, leave imitating man, and turn to his own natural harsh voice? But say that wicked men do (Joab-like) run to the horns of God’s altar when in distress or danger; say they roar out a confession when they are upon the rack (as Pharaoh), and call for good prayers; say they seek him with their sacrifices, as Israel did, – when he slew them, then they sought unto him, Hos 6:6 Psa 78:34 , and made their voices to be heard on high, as the prisoner at the bar, as the hog under the knife, as a bull in a net; say they weary out God with their many words, as those sacrificing Sodomites, Isa 1:11 , and those hypocrites in the Gospel, that hoped to be heard for their much babbling, Mat 6:7 ; yet all this is but the prayer of the flesh for ease, and not of the spirit for grace; it is but the fruit of sinful self-love, to rid themselves of God’s rod, or to still the noise of their consciences, or out of a vain hope to stop God’s judgments. And hence it is that they miscarry, that they pray to so little purpose (as here is hinted), and that they are not a button the better for all their long prayers. For either God answers them not at all, he hath no respect to their sacrifices (which was Cain’s and Saul’s unhappiness. The Philistines were upon him, and God was departed from him), or else he answers them according to the idols of their hearts, bitter answers; or, if better, it is but as he answered the Israelites’ importunity for a king, for a scourge to them and for quails to choke them: Deus saepe dat iratus quod negat propitius, God often gives that in anger which he denies in mercy. If it were otherwise, the devil should have received mercy from God, when, upon his suit, he was suffered to enter into the swine. Let our chief and constant petition, therefore, be in all our addresses to God, that

he would be gracious unto us ] that he would cast a loving aspect upon us, that whatever else he deny us, grain, wine, yet that he would lift up the light of his countenance upon us. This David preferred before his crown and sceptre. He had a crown of gold, but he valued not that in comparison of that other crown, Psa 103:4 “he crowneth thee with lovingkindness and tender mercies.” Hence St Paul, having himself obtained mercy, beginneth and concludeth all his epistles with wishes of grace, mercy, and peace; as not knowing what better to wish those whom he wished best unto. This was Abraham’s prayer for Ishmael, Oh that he might live in thy sight, that is, be joint-heir of the promise of grace with Isaac. God answers, several dukes shall come of Ishmael, but with Isaac (as a token of special grace) will I make my covenant. This was also Joseph’s prayer for Benjamin, Gen 43:29 “God be gracious unto thee, my son.” This the priests were appointed to pray for, as a blessing upon the people, Num 6:24-25 “The Lord make his face to shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee.” And hereunto the prophet seems to allude in this text, q.d. you are the Lord’s priests, and your office is to preach and pray, Deu 33:10 “They shall teach Jacob, they shall put incense before thee.” Show now what ye can do in a time of necessity: Beseech the Lord that he would be gracious unto us. This is the main, the mother blessing, that comprehends all the rest. Every man seeks the face of the ruler, Pro 29:26 “I humbly beseech thee that I may find grace in thy sight, my lord, O king”; q.d. that is better to me than all the land thou hast given me, said that crafty flatterer Ziba, 2Sa 16:4 . How much more is the grace of God to be preferred before all outward blessings whatsoever! “The Lord that made heaven and earth bless thee out of Zion,” saith the Psalmist, Psa 134:3 , intimating that blessings out of Zion are above all the blessings beside that heaven and earth can yield us. What is the air without light? What was Haman the better for all his honours, when the king frowned upon him? How can a wicked man be happy, though wealthy, so long as God is his enemy? As that father speaks of Ahab; he describes him sitting in his ivory palace in the time of the three years’ famine in Samaria; he had gold, silver, and jewels in every place; but what good did all that when the heaven was brass above, and the earth iron beneath? Cry, therefore, as those in Zechariah, Grace, grace unto us; pray for ourselves and others, as David did for Ittai the Gittite, mercy and truth be with thee, 2Sa 15:20 . Stir we up ourselves to take hold of God, and to get of him Gaius’s prosperity, dona throni, soul blessings, and such as accompany salvation. Jesus Christ, when he came into the world, brought grace and truth with him, Joh 1:17 . And God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, not imputing our sins, but stretching out to us the golden sceptre of his grace. Get in to him, therefore: till this be done, though thou shouldest spend thy time in gathering up pearls and jewels, thou art an undone creature.

This hath been by your means ] Heb. From your hand, q.d. You priests have effected it, and are in fault about it. It is long of you that I and my service are so slighted, as hath been before demonstrated, you have caused the people to abhor the offering, 1Sa 2:17 ; you should have better instructed the people in their duties, and not have suffered them so to pollute mine altar with their carrion sacrifices; and if God reject your prayers, as here, and even curse your blessings, as Mal 2:2 , and curse your seed, Mal 1:3 , you have to thank yourselves. All this is by your means. Accept, therefore, of the chastisement of your iniquity, leave quarrelling, and lay the blame of all where it should be; wash you, make you clean, &c. For till then will he regard your persons? will he receive you to favour, and hear your prayer? or will he think the better of you for your office and dignity of priesthood? No, sure, but the worse; for, sedes prima et vita ima, the highest place and the basest life agree not. Dignitas in indigno est ornamentum in luto, even royalty without righteousness is but eminent dishonour; and men of mark are therefore the worse, because they should have been better. Height of place ever adds two wings to sin, example and scandal, whereby it soars higher, and flies much further. If the sun be eclipsed and obscured, a thousand eyes gaze upon it; a lesser star may be darkened, and none take notice. A small flaw is noticed and noted in a jewel; a small spot in a swan; not so in a swine. One fly may corrupt a box of precious ointment; when a hundred flies in a tar barrel do no harm to it.

Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

I pray you, &c. Figure of speech Irony. App-6.

GOD. Hebrew. El.

this hath been = this hath come to pass.

by your means = at your hands.

regard = accept.

Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics

beseech: 2Ch 30:27, Jer 27:18, Joe 1:13, Joe 1:14, Joe 2:17, Zec 3:1-5, Joh 9:31, Heb 7:26, Heb 7:27

God: Heb. the face of God, Exo 32:11, Jer 26:19, *marg. Lam 2:19

by your means: Heb. from your hand

will he: Act 19:15, Act 19:16, Rom 2:11, 1Pe 1:17

Reciprocal: Gen 43:29 – my son Num 6:25 – gracious 1Sa 4:4 – Hophni 1Sa 12:19 – Pray for thy Job 22:30 – pureness Job 42:8 – him Eze 13:5 – have not Hos 9:4 – neither Hos 13:9 – thou 1Ti 2:8 – lifting

Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

Mal 1:9. The prophet implies that it will be in vatn for them to seek mercy of God while they are conducting such interior services. Been by your means denotes that the corrupt situation was brought about by their own greed.

Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary

Mal 1:9-10. And now, I pray you, beseech God, &c. And now I beseech you, (for you cannot deny that ye have done as I have said,) that you would supplicate God to pardon the nation in general, as well as yourselves, for what offences have been committed against his laws; for ye have been the principal cause of them, by the disregard you had for Gods service. Will he regard your persons? This ought rather to be rendered, If, perhaps, he may regard your persons. Who among you would shut the doors for naught? All those pretences which you make use of to excuse yourselves, for presenting unto God improper and worthless offerings, are quite vain, for it is plain that a general avarice prevails, and is practised among you; for even the officers, or ministers, whose duty it is to open and shut the doors of the temple, and to kindle fire on the altar, will not perform their office without making a gain of it, or receiving fees for it. I have no pleasure in you, saith the Lord I cannot take pleasure in men so intent upon their own profit as ye are; and under the gospel I will put an end both to your priesthood and the sacrifices which you offer. This is implied in the next verse.

Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

1:9 And now, I pray you, {i} beseech God that he will be gracious unto us: this hath been by your means: will he regard {k} your persons? saith the LORD of hosts.

(i) He derides the priests who deceived the people in saying that they prayed for them, and shows that they were the occasion that these evils came upon the people.

(k) Will God consider your office and state, seeing you are so covetous and wicked?

Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes

How foolish it was to pray for God to bestow His favor on the priests when they were despising Him in these ways.

"This is irony. God will not hear the prayers of those who dishonor him." [Note: Burton L. Goddard, "Malachi," in The Wycliffe Bible Commentary, p. 915.]

"Over the years, I’ve participated in many ordination examinations, and I’ve looked for four characteristics in each candidate: a personal experience of salvation through faith in Jesus Christ; a sense of calling from the Lord; a love for and knowledge of the Word of God; and a high respect for the work of the ministry. Whenever we’ve examined a candidate who was flippant about ministry, who saw it as a job and not a divine calling, he didn’t get my vote. Whether as a pastor, missionary, teacher, choir member, or usher, being a servant of God is a serious thing, and it deserves the very best that we can give." [Note: Wiersbe, p. 481.]

Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)