Malachi

Introduction to the book

THE PROPHECY OF MALACHIAS.

PREFACE.

Malachias, whose name signifies "the angel of the Lord," was contemporary with Nehemias, and by some is believed to have been the same person with Esdras. He was the last of the prophets, in the order of time, and flourished about four hundred years before Christ. He foretells the coming of Christ; the reprobation of the Jews and their sacrifices; and the calling of the Gentiles, who shall offer up to God in every place an acceptable sacrifice. Ch. --- He also clearly speaks of the twofold coming of Christ, preceded by the Baptist and by Elias. Nothing is known for certain respecting this prophet. He inveighs against the same crimes as Nehemias, to whose covenant he alludes, C. ii. 4.

None was afterwards recognized for a prophet till the Baptist appeared. C. ---

Both priests and people are here reproved, and the Jewish law yields to that of Christ. W. --- No date is prefixed no more than to the works of Jonas, Nahum,

&c. S. Jerom seems to fix on the seventh year of Artaxerxes, when Esrdras came to Jerusalem. Liber ejus pro titulo sit. H.

Malachi 1:1

Ver. 1. Malachias, "the angel of the Lord." S. Jerom always reads Malachi, "my angel." Sept.

"his angel;" whence Origen infers, that this was an angel incarnate. C.

Malachi 1:2

Ver. 2. Loved us. So they thought, (Theod.) and perhaps spoke. H. --- Jacob. I have preferred his posterity, to make them my chosen people, and to load them with my blessings, without any merit on their part, and though they have been always ungrateful; whilst I have rejected Esau, and executed severe judgments upon his posterity. Not that God punished Esau or his posterity beyond their deserts, but that by his free election and grace he loved Jacob, and favoured his posterity above their deserts. See the annotations upon Rom.

ix. Ch. --- Neither deserved any thing. God's choice was gratuitous, both with respect to the fathers and their offspring. W.

Malachi 1:3

Ver. 3. Esau, perceiving the evil which was already in him, and would appear afterwards; (S. Jer.

and Theod.) or rather he was a figure of the reprobate, though not of course one himself. S. Aug.

--- A person is said to hate what he loves less. Esau's privileges were transferred to his brother, who enjoyed a much finer country, and was chosen for God's peculiar inheritance. C. ---

Temporal blessings are here specified. --- Dragons. Sept. "houses;" so that they shall be deserted.

H. --- Edom was ravaged by Nabuchodonosor. The people retired into the cities, from which the Jews were driven. Yet afterwards they rebuilt their own habitations.

Malachi 1:4

Ver. 4. Down, by the Machabees, who forced the people to receive circumcision. 1 Mac. v. 3. C.

--- At that time the Jews were more pious, and glorified God. H. --- Ever. God's gratuitous love appears in his leaving Edom in captivity, and restoring the Jews. W.

Malachi 1:6

Ver. 6. Father. God sometimes took this title. Ex. iv. 32. But he was oftener represented as a master; and the old law was a law of fear. C. --- Servant et mertuunt jus. Juv. xiv.

Malachi 1:7

Ver. 7. Bread, including all the victims, &c. Lev. iii. 11. Num. xxviii. 2. C. --- By vile presents they shew their contempt of God. W.

Malachi 1:8

Ver. 8. Lame. The victims must be without defect. Lev. xxii. 21. Those of the Jews were also rendered inadmissible by their evil dispositions. Agg. ii. 14. It is surprising, that after such scourges they should not have been more upon their guard. The negligence of the sacred ministers, is a sure sign of faith being extinct. C. --- Pagans often thus treated thier idols. Clem.

Strom. vi. --- Prince: the governor sent by the Persians. If you dare not make such presents to men of eminence, how shall I accept them? C. --- How dare you offer them to me? W.

Malachi 1:10

Ver. 10. Gratis? Are you not well paid? Why then perform you not your duty exactly? C. ---

Sept. "Wherefore also among you shall the doors be shut, and my altar is not enkindled for nought," (H.) as if God menaced the Jews with the rejection of the temple, as the sequel does. C.

--- Pleasure. Many other prophets had foretold the reprobation of the synagogue, but none more plainly. The reason is also assigned, viz. the ingratitude and repeated sins of the people, on which account the Gentiles of all countries shall be chosen. W.

Malachi 1:11

This 19th-century note uses polemical language; read it in the light of the note at the top of this panel.

Ver. 11. Sacrifice. Prot. "incense." H. --- Clean oblation. The precious body and blood of Christ in the eucharistic sacrifice. Ch. --- This is denoted by the very word mincha, the offering of flour and wine. C. See S. Just. dial. S. Iræn.iv. 32.

S. Aug. de Civ. Dei. xviii. 35. --- "We pollute this bread, that is the body of Christ, when we approach the altar unworthily." S. Jer. v. 7.

--- This sacrifice is clean. Trid. xxii. C. i. M. --- It is offered daily throughout the world. The Jews see the completion of this prediction, and are vexed; they strive to elude its force. Though enemies, they bear about these proofs of our faith, and of their own condemnation. C. --- God not only changed his people, but instituted a better sacrifice. Instead of the former needy elements, (Gal. iv.) which were often defiled by the sins of the offerers, He instituted the sacrifice of his own Body and Blood, under the appearance of bread and wine, as S.

Chrys. (in Ps. xcv.) Theod.

&c. prove against all opponents. A sacrifice different from any offered as many have demonstrated. W. --- Christ's bloody sacrifice on the cross was performed on Calvary, and not among the Gentiles. What sacrifice can Protestants now produce? H.

Malachi 1:12

Ver. 12. It. The priests complain that ll is burnt, (Grot.) or rather they treat sacred things with contempt. C. --- They falsely pretend that they give their best, being poor. M.

Malachi 1:13

Ver. 13. Behold of our labour, &c. You pretended labour and weariness, when you brought your offering; and so made it of no value, by offering it with an evil mind. Moreover, what you offered was both defective in itself, and gotten by rapine and extortion. Ch. --- These were two defects. W. --- Heb. "what fatigue, or if we change one letter, and read (C.) mothlaé, (H.) it stinks, and you." &c. Some copies of Sept. Arab. &c. "I blew them away," with disgust. ---

Rapine. Eccli. xxxiv. 24. --- Offering. Mincha, v. 11. C. --- Such victims and presents as are lame or strange, are rejected. Pliny viii. 45.

Malachi 1:14

Ver. 14. Male. So better things are styled mascula thura. Virg. Pliny xii. 14. --- It was unlawful to offer a female by vow, but not out of devotion. Lev. xxii. 18. 23.

C. --- King. So the Persian monarchs were called. --- Dreadful. Gr. "Epiphanes."

H.