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<title>Blue Letter Bible: Text Commentaries</title>
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PriorBook = 'Zechariah';
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Title = 'The Book of Malachi';
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SubTitle3 = 'CHAPTER 3';
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<p id="Chapter3" align="center">Commentary by A. R. FAUSSET<br>CHAPTER 3
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<p id="Mal3_1"><a onclick="return mV('Mal',3,'1-18');">Mal 3:1-18</a>. MESSIAH'S COMING, PRECEDED BY HIS FORERUNNER, TO PUNISH THE GUILTY FOR VARIOUS SINS, AND TO REWARD THOSE WHO FEAR GOD.
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<p><b>1. Behold</b>—Calling especial attention to the momentous truths which follow. Ye unbelievingly ask, Where is the God of judgment (<a onclick="return mV('Mal',2,7);">Mal 2:7</a>)? "Behold," therefore, "I send," etc. Your unbelief will not prevent My keeping My covenant, and bringing to pass in due time that which ye say will never be fulfilled.
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<br><br><b>I will <i>send</i>...he shall <i>come</i></b>—The Father <i>sends</i> the Son: the Son <i>comes.</i> Proving the distinctness of personality between the Father and the Son.
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<br><br><b>my messenger</b>—John the Baptist; as <a onclick="return mV('Mat',3,3);">Mat 3:3</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Mat',11,10);">11:10</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Mar',1,2,3);">Mar 1:2-3</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Luk',1,76);">Luk 1:76</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Luk',3,4);">3:4</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Luk',7,26,27);">7:26-27</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Jhn',1,23);">Jhn 1:23</a>, prove. This passage of Malachi evidently rests on that of Isaiah his predecessor (<a onclick="return mV('Isa',40,'3-5');">Isa 40:3-5</a>). Perhaps also, as HENGSTENBERG thinks, "messenger" includes <i>the long line of prophets</i> headed by <i>Elijah</i> (whence his name is put in <a onclick="return mV('Mal',4,5);">Mal 4:5</a> as a representative name), and terminating in John, the last and greatest of the prophets (<a onclick="return mV('Mat',11,'9-11');">Mat 11:9-11</a>). John as the representative prophet (the forerunner of Messiah the representative God-man) gathered in himself all the scattered lineaments of previous prophecy (hence Christ terms him "much more than a prophet," <a onclick="return mV('Luk',7,26);">Luk 7:26</a>), reproducing all its awful and yet inspiriting utterances: his coarse garb, like that of the old prophets, being a visible exhortation to repentance; the wilderness in which he preached symbolizing the lifeless, barren state of the Jews at that time, politically and spiritually; his topics sin, repentance, and salvation, presenting for the last time the condensed epitome of all previous teachings of God by His prophets; so that he is called pre-eminently God's "messenger." Hence the oldest and true reading of <a onclick="return mV('Mar',1,2);">Mar 1:2</a> is, "as it is written in <i>Isaiah</i> the prophet"; the difficulty of which is, How can the prophecy of Malachi be referred to Isaiah? The explanation is: the passage in Malachi rests on that in <a onclick="return mV('Isa',40,3);">Isa 40:3</a>, and therefore the <i>original source</i> of the prophecy is referred to in order to mark this dependency and connection.
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<br><br><b>the Lord</b>—<i>Ha-Adon</i> in <i>Hebrew.</i> The article marks that it is JEHOVAH (<a onclick="return mV('Exd',23,17);">Exd 23:17</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Exd',34,23);">34:23</a>; compare <a onclick="return mV('Jos',3,11,13);">Jos 3:11, 13</a>). Compare <a onclick="return mV('Dan',9,17);">Dan 9:17</a>, where the Divine Son is meant by "for THE <i>Lord's</i> sake." God the speaker makes "the Lord," the "messenger of the covenant," one with Himself. "I will send...before Me," adding, "THE LORD...shall...come"; so that "<i>the Lord</i>" must be one with the "Me," that is, He must be GOD, "before" whom John was <i>sent.</i> As the divinity of the Son and His oneness with the Father are thus proved, so the distinctness of personality is proved by "I send" and He "shall come," as distinguished from one another. He also comes to the temple as "His temple": marking His divine lordship <i>over</i> it, as contrasted with all creatures, who are but "servants <i>in</i>" it (<a onclick="return mV('Hag',2,7);">Hag 2:7</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Hbr',3,2,5,6);">Hbr 3:2, 5-6</a>).
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<br><br><b>whom ye seek...whom ye delight in</b>—(see on JFB for <a href="./Comm/jfb/Mal/Mal002.html#Mal2_17">Mal 2:17</a>). At His first coming they "sought" and "delighted in" the hope of a <i>temporal</i> Saviour: not in what He then was. In the case of those whom Malachi in his time addresses, "whom ye seek...delight in," is ironical. They unbelievingly asked, When will He come at last? <a onclick="return mV('Mal',2,17);">Mal 2:17</a>, "Where is the God of judgment" (<a onclick="return mV('Isa',5,19);">Isa 5:19</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Amo',5,18);">Amo 5:18</a>; <a onclick="return mV('2Pe',3,3,4);">2Pe 3:3-4</a>)? In the case of the godly the desire for Messiah was sincere (<a onclick="return mV('Luk',2,25);">Luk 2:25, 28</a>). He is called "Angel of God's presence" (<a onclick="return mV('Isa',63,9);">Isa 63:9</a>), also Angel of Jehovah. Compare His appearances to Abraham (<a onclick="return mV('Gen',18,1,2,17,33);">Gen 18:1-2, 17, 33</a>), to Jacob (<a onclick="return mV('Gen',31,11);">Gen 31:11</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Gen',48,15,16);">48:15-16</a>), to Moses in the bush (<a onclick="return mV('Exd',3,'2-6');">Exd 3:2-6</a>); He went before Israel as the Shekinah (<a onclick="return mV('Exd',14,19);">Exd 14:19</a>), and delivered the law at Sinai (<a onclick="return mV('Act',7,38);">Act 7:38</a>).
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<br><br><b>suddenly</b>—This epithet marks the second coming, rather than the first; the earnest of that unexpected coming (<a onclick="return mV('Luk',12,'38-46');">Luk 12:38-46</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Rev',16,15);">Rev 16:15</a>) to judgment was given in the judicial expulsion of the money-changing profaners from the temple by Messiah (<a onclick="return mV('Mat',21,12,13);">Mat 21:12-13</a>), where also as here He calls the temple <i>His temple.</i> Also in the destruction of Jerusalem, most unexpected by the Jews, who to the last deceived themselves with the expectation that Messiah would suddenly appear as a temporal Saviour. Compare the use of "suddenly" in <a onclick="return mV('Num',12,'4-10');">Num 12:4-10</a>, where He appeared in wrath.
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<br><br><b>messenger of the covenant</b>—namely, of the ancient covenant with Israel (<a onclick="return mV('Isa',63,9);">Isa 63:9</a>) and Abraham, in which the promise to the Gentiles is ultimately included (<a onclick="return mV('Gal',4,16,17);">Gal 4:16-17</a>). The gospel at the first advent began with Israel, then embraced the Gentile world: so also it shall be at the second advent. All the manifestations of God in the Old Testament, the Shekinah and human appearances, were made in the person of the Divine Son (<a onclick="return mV('Exd',23,20,21);">Exd 23:20-21</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Hbr',11,26);">Hbr 11:26</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Hbr',12,26);">12:26</a>). He was the messenger of the old covenant, as well as of the new.
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<p id="Mal3_2"><b>2.</b> (<a onclick="return mV('Mal',4,1);">Mal 4:1</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Rev',6,16,17);">Rev 6:16-17</a>). The Messiah would come, not, as they expected, to flatter the theocratic nation's prejudices, but to subject their principles to the fiery test of His heart-searching truth (<a onclick="return mV('Mat',3,'10-12');">Mat 3:10-12</a>), and to destroy Jerusalem and the theocracy after they had rejected Him. His mission is here regarded as a whole from the first to the second advent: the process of refining and separating the godly from the ungodly beginning during Christ's stay on earth, going on ever since, and about to continue till the final separation (<a onclick="return mV('Mat',25,'31-46');">Mat 25:31-46</a>). The refining process, whereby a third of the Jews is refined as silver of its dross, while two-thirds perish, is described, <a onclick="return mV('Zec',13,8,9);">Zec 13:8-9</a> (compare <a onclick="return mV('Isa',1,25);">Isa 1:25</a>).
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<p id="Mal3_3"><b>3. sit</b>—The purifier <i>sits</i> before the crucible, fixing his eye on the metal, and taking care that the fire be not too hot, and keeping the metal in, only until he knows the dross to be completely removed by his seeing his own image reflected (<a onclick="return mV('Rom',8,29);">Rom 8:29</a>) in the glowing mass. So the Lord in the case of His elect (<a onclick="return mV('Job',23,10);">Job 23:10</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Psa',66,10);">Psa 66:10</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Pro',17,3);">Pro 17:3</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Isa',48,10);">Isa 48:10</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Hbr',12,10);">Hbr 12:10</a>; <a onclick="return mV('1Pe',1,7);">1Pe 1:7</a>). He will <i>sit</i> down to the work, not perfunctorily, but with patient love and unflinching justice. The Angel of the Covenant, as in leading His people out of Egypt by the pillar of cloud and fire, has an aspect of terror to His foes, of love to His friends. The same separating process goes on in the world as in each Christian. When the godly are completely separated from the ungodly, the world will end. When the dross is taken from the gold of the Christian, he will be for ever delivered from the furnace of trial. The purer the gold, the hotter the fire now; the whiter the garment, the harder the washing [MOORE].
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<br><br><b>purify...sons of Levi</b>—of the sins specified above. The very Levites, the ministers of God, then needed cleansing, so universal was the depravity.
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<br><br><b>that they may offer...in righteousness</b>—as originally (<a onclick="return mV('Mal',2,6);">Mal 2:6</a>), not as latterly (<a onclick="return mV('Mal',1,'7-14');">Mal 1:7-14</a>). So believers, the spiritual priesthood (<a onclick="return mV('1Pe',2,5);">1Pe 2:5</a>).
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<p id="Mal3_4"><b>4. as in the days of old</b>— (<a onclick="return mV('Mal',1,11);">Mal 1:11</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Mal',2,5,6);">2:5-6</a>). The "offering" (<i>Mincha, Hebrew</i>) is not expiatory, but prayer, thanksgiving, and self-dedication (<a onclick="return mV('Rom',12,1);">Rom 12:1</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Hbr',13,15);">Hbr 13:15</a>; <a onclick="return mV('1Pe',2,5);">1Pe 2:5</a>).
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<p id="Mal3_5"><b>5. I...come near...to judgment</b>—<i>I</i> whom ye challenged, saying, "Where is the God of judgment?" (<a onclick="return mV('Mal',2,17);">Mal 2:17</a>). I whom ye think far off, and to be slow in judgment, am "near," and will come as a "swift witness"; not only a judge, but also an eye-<i>witness</i> against sorcerers; for Mine eyes see every sin, though ye think I take no heed. Earthly judges need witnesses to enable them to decide aright: I alone need none (<a onclick="return mV('Psa',10,11);">Psa 10:11</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Psa',73,11);">73:11</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Psa',94,7);">94:7</a>, etc.).
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<br><br><b>sorcerers</b>—a sin into which the Jews were led in connection with their foreign idolatrous wives. The Jews of Christ's time also practised sorcery (<a onclick="return mV('Act',8,9);">Act 8:9</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Act',13,6);">13:6</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Gal',5,20);">Gal 5:20</a>; JOSEPHUS [<i>Antiquities,</i> 20.6; <i>Wars of the Jews,</i> 2.12.23]). It shall be a characteristic of the last Antichristian confederacy, about to be consumed by the brightness of Christ's Coming (<a onclick="return mV('Mat',24,24);">Mat 24:24</a>; <a onclick="return mV('2Th',2,9);">2Th 2:9</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Rev',13,13,14);">Rev 13:13-14</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Rev',16,13,14);">16:13-14</a>; also <a onclick="return mV('Rev',9,21);">Rev 9:21</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Rev',18,23);">18:23</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Rev',21,8);">21:8</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Rev',22,15);">22:15</a>). Romanism has practised it; an order of <i>exorcists</i> exists in that Church.
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<br><br><b>adulterers</b>— (<a onclick="return mV('Mal',2,15,16);">Mal 2:15-16</a>).
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<br><br><b>fear not me</b>—the source of all sins.
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<p id="Mal3_6"><b>6. the Lord</b>—Jehovah: a name implying His immutable faithfulness in fulfilling His promises: the covenant name of God to the Jews (<a onclick="return mV('Exd',6,3);">Exd 6:3</a>), called here "the sons of Jacob," in reference to God's covenant with that patriarch.
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<br><br><b>I change not</b>—Ye are mistaken in inferring that, because I have not yet executed judgment on the wicked, I am changed from what I once was, namely, a God of judgment.
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<br><br><b>therefore ye...are not consumed</b>—Ye yourselves being "not consumed," as ye have long ago deserved, are a signal proof of My unchangeableness. <a onclick="return mV('Rom',11,29);">Rom 11:29</a>: compare the whole chapter, in which God's mercy in store for Israel is made wholly to flow from God's unchanging faithfulness to His own covenant of love. So here, as is implied by the phrase "sons of <i>Jacob</i>" (<a onclick="return mV('Gen',28,13);">Gen 28:13</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Gen',35,13);">35:12</a>). They are spared because I am JEHOVAH, and they <i>sons of Jacob;</i> while I spare them, I will also punish them; and while I punish them, I will not wholly consume them. The unchangeableness of God is the sheet-anchor of the Church. The perseverance of the saints is guaranteed, not by their unchangeable love to God, but by His unchangeable love to them, and His eternal purpose and promise in Christ Jesus [MOORE]. He upbraids their ingratitude that they turn His very long-suffering (<a onclick="return mV('Lam',3,22);">Lam 3:22</a>) into a ground for skeptical denial of His coming as a Judge at all (<a onclick="return mV('Psa',50,1,3,4,21);">Psa 50:1, 3-4, 21</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Ecc',8,11,12);">Ecc 8:11-12</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Isa',57,11);">Isa 57:11</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Rom',2,'4-10');">Rom 2:4-10</a>).
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<p id="Mal3_7"><b>7-12.</b> Reproof for the non-payment of tithes and offerings, which is the cause of their national calamities, and promise of prosperity on their paying them.
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<br><br><b>from...days of your fathers</b>—Ye live as your fathers did when they brought on themselves the Babylonian captivity, and ye wish to follow in their steps. This shows that nothing but God's unchanging long-suffering had prevented their being long ago "consumed" (<a onclick="return mV('Mal',3,6);">Mal 3:6</a>).
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<br><br><b>Return unto me</b>—in penitence.
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<br><br><b>I will return unto you</b>—in blessings.
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<br><br><b>Wherein,</b> etc.— (<a onclick="return mV('Mal',3,16);">Mal 3:16</a>). The same insensibility to their guilt continues: they speak in the tone of injured innocence, as if God calumniated them.
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<p id="Mal3_8"><b>8. rob</b>—literally, "cover": hence, defraud. Do ye call defrauding God no sin to be "returned" from (<a onclick="return mV('Mal',3,7);">Mal 3:7</a>)? Yet ye have done so to Me in respect to the tithes due to Me, namely, the tenth of all the remainder after the first-fruits were paid, which tenth was paid to the Levites for their support (<a onclick="return mV('Lev',27,'30-33');">Lev 27:30-33</a>): a tenth paid by the Levites to the priests (<a onclick="return mV('Num',18,'26-28');">Num 18:26-28</a>): a second tenth paid by the people for the entertainment of the Levites, and their own families, at the tabernacle (<a onclick="return mV('Deu',12,18);">Deu 12:18</a>): another tithe every third year for the poor, etc. (<a onclick="return mV('Deu',14,28,29);">Deu 14:28-29</a>).
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<br><br><b>offerings</b>—the first-fruits, not less than one-sixtieth part of the corn, wine, and oil (<a onclick="return mV('Deu',18,4);">Deu 18:4</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Neh',13,10,12);">Neh 13:10, 12</a>). The priests had this perquisite also, the tenth of the tithes which were the Levites perquisite. But they appropriated all the tithes, robbing the Levites of their due nine-tenths; as they did also, according to JOSEPHUS, before the destruction of Jerusalem by Titus. Thus doubly God was defrauded, the priests not discharging aright their sacrificial duties, and robbing God of the services of the Levites, who were driven away by destitution [GROTIUS].
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<p id="Mal3_9"><b>9. cursed</b>— (<a onclick="return mV('Mal',2,2);">Mal 2:2</a>). As ye despoil Me, so I despoil you, as I threatened I would, if ye continued to disregard Me. In trying to defraud God we only defraud ourselves. The eagle who robbed the altar set fire to her nest from the burning coal that adhered to the stolen flesh. So men who retain God's money in their treasuries will find it a losing possession. No man ever yet lost by serving God with a whole heart, nor gained by serving Him with a half one. We may compromise with conscience for half the price, but God will not endorse the compromise; and, like Ananias and Sapphira, we shall lose not only what we thought we had purchased so cheaply, but also the price we paid for it. If we would have God "open" His treasury, we must open ours. One cause of the barrenness of the Church is the parsimony of its members [MOORE].
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<p id="Mal3_10"><b>10.</b> (<a onclick="return mV('Pro',3,9,10);">Pro 3:9-10</a>).
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<br><br><b>storehouse</b>— (<a onclick="return mV('2Ch',31,11);">2Ch 31:11</a>, <i>Margin;</i> compare <a onclick="return mV('1Ch',26,20);">1Ch 26:20</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Neh',10,38);">Neh 10:38</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Neh',13,5,12);">13:5, 12</a>).
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<br><br><b>prove me...herewith</b>—with this; by doing so. Test Me whether I will keep My promise of blessing you, on condition of your doing your part (<a onclick="return mV('2Ch',31,10);">2Ch 31:10</a>).
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<br><br><b>pour...out</b>—literally, "empty out": image from a vessel completely emptied of its contents: no blessing being kept back.
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<br><br><b>windows of heaven</b>— (<a onclick="return mV('2Ki',2,7);">2Ki 2:7</a>).
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<br><br><b>that...not...room enough,</b> etc.—literally, "even to not...sufficiency," that is, either, as <i>English Version.</i> Or, even so as that there should be "<i>not merely</i>" "sufficiency" but <i>superabundance</i> [JEROME, MAURER]. GESENIUS not so well translates, "Even to a failure of sufficiency," which in the case of God could never arise, and therefore means <i>for ever, perpetually:</i> so <a onclick="return mV('Psa',72,5);">Psa 72:5</a>, "as long as the sun and moon endure"; literally, "until a failure of the sun and moon," which is never to be; and therefore means, <i>for ever.</i>
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<p id="Mal3_11"><b>11. I will rebuke</b>—(See on JFB for <a href="./Comm/jfb/Mal/Mal002.html#Mal2_3">Mal 2:3</a>). I will no longer "rebuke (<i>English Version,</i> 'corrupt') the seed," but will rebuke every agency that could hurt it (<a onclick="return mV('Amo',4,9);">Amo 4:9</a>).
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<p id="Mal3_12"><b>12.</b> Fulfilling the blessing (<a onclick="return mV('Deu',33,29);">Deu 33:29</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Zec',8,13);">Zec 8:13</a>).
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<br><br><b>delightsome land</b>— (<a onclick="return mV('Dan',8,9);">Dan 8:9</a>).
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<p id="Mal3_13"><b>13-18.</b> He notices the complaint of the Jews that it is of no profit to serve Jehovah, for that the ungodly proud are happy; and declares He will soon bring the day when it shall be known that He puts an everlasting distinction between the godly and the ungodly.
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<br><br><b>words...stout</b>—<i>Hebrew,</i> "hard"; so "the <i>hard</i> speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him" (<a onclick="return mV('Jud',1,15);">Jud 1:15</a>) [HENDERSON].
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<br><br><b>have we spoken</b>—The <i>Hebrew</i> expresses at once their <i>assiduity</i> and <i>habit</i> of speaking against God [VATABLUS]. The niphal form of the verb implies that these things were said, not directly <i>to</i> God, but <i>of</i> God, to one another (<a onclick="return mV('Eze',33,20);">Eze 33:20</a>) [MOORE].
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<p id="Mal3_14"><b>14. what profit...that we...kept,</b> etc.—(See on JFB for <a href="./Comm/jfb/Mal/Mal002.html#Mal2_17">Mal 2:17</a>). They here resume the same murmur against God. <a onclick="return mV('Job',21,14,15);">Job 21:14-15</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Job',22,17);">22:17</a> describe a further stage of the same skeptical spirit, when the skeptic has actually ceased to keep God's service. <a onclick="return mV('Psa',73,'1-14');">Psa 73:1-14</a> describes the temptation to a like feeling in the saint when seeing the really godly suffer and the ungodly prosper in worldly goods now. The Jews here mistake utterly the nature of God's service, converting it into a mercenary bargain; they attended to outward observances, not from love to God, but in the hope of being well paid for in outward prosperity; when this was withheld, they charged God with being unjust, forgetting alike that God requires very different motives from theirs to accompany outward observances, and that God rewards even the true worshipper not so much in this life, as in the life to come.
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<br><br><b>his ordinance</b>—literally, what He requires to be kept, "His observances."
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<br><br><b>walked mournfully</b>—<i>in mournful garb,</i> sackcloth and ashes, the emblems of penitence; they forget <a onclick="return mV('Isa',58,'3-8');">Isa 58:3-8</a>, where God, by showing what is true fasting, similarly rebukes those who then also said, Wherefore have we fasted and Thou seest not? etc. They mistook the outward show for real humiliation.
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<p id="Mal3_15"><b>15. And now</b>—Since we who serve Jehovah are not prosperous and "the proud" heathen flourish in prosperity, we must pronounce them the favorites of God (<a onclick="return mV('Mal',2,17);">Mal 2:17</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Psa',73,12);">Psa 73:12</a>).
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<br><br><b>set up</b>—literally, "built up": metaphor from architecture (<a onclick="return mV('Pro',24,3);">Pro 24:3</a>; compare <a onclick="return mV('Gen',16,2);">Gen 16:2</a>, <i>Margin;</i> <a onclick="return mV('Gen',30,3);">Gen 30:3</a>, <i>Margin.</i>)
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<br><br><b>tempt God</b>—dare God to punish them, by breaking His laws (<a onclick="return mV('Psa',95,9);">Psa 95:9</a>).
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<p id="Mal3_16"><b>16.</b> "Then," when the ungodly utter such blasphemies against God, the godly hold mutual converse, defending God's righteous dealings against those blasphemers (<a onclick="return mV('Hbr',3,13);">Hbr 3:13</a>). The "often" of <i>English Version</i> is not in the <i>Hebrew.</i> There has been always in the darkest times a remnant that feared God (<a onclick="return mV('1Ki',19,18);">1Ki 19:18</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Rom',11,4);">Rom 11:4</a>).
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<br><br><b>feared the Lord</b>—reverential and loving fear, not slavish terror. When the fire of religion burns low, true believers should draw the nearer together, to keep the holy flame alive. Coals separated soon go out.
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<br><br><b>book of remembrance...for them</b>—for their advantage, against the day when those found faithful among the faithless shall receive their final reward. The kings of Persia kept a record of those who had rendered services to the king, that they might be suitably rewarded (<a onclick="return mV('Est',6,1,2);">Est 6:1-2</a>; compare <a onclick="return mV('Est',2,23);">Est 2:23</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Ezr',4,15);">Ezr 4:15</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Psa',56,8);">Psa 56:8</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Isa',65,6);">Isa 65:6</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Dan',7,10);">Dan 7:10</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Rev',20,12);">Rev 20:12</a>). CALVIN makes the fearers of God to be those awakened from among the ungodly mass (before described) to true repentance; the <i>writing</i> of the book thus will imply that some were reclaimable among the blasphemers, and that the godly should be assured that, though no hope appeared, there would be a door of penitence opened for them <i>before</i> God. But there is nothing in the context to support this view.
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<p id="Mal3_17"><b>17. jewels</b>— (<a onclick="return mV('Isa',62,3);">Isa 62:3</a>). Literally, "My peculiar treasure" (<a onclick="return mV('Exd',19,5);">Exd 19:5</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Deu',7,6);">Deu 7:6</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Deu',14,2);">14:2</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Deu',26,18);">26:18</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Psa',135,4);">Psa 135:4</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Tts',2,14);">Tts 2:14</a>; <a onclick="return mV('1Pe',2,9);">1Pe 2:9</a>; compare <a onclick="return mV('Ecc',2,8);">Ecc 2:8</a>). CALVIN translates more in accordance with <i>Hebrew</i> idiom, "They shall be My peculiar treasure <i>in the day in which I will do it</i>" (that is, fulfil My promise of gathering My completed Church; or, "make" those things come to pass foretold in <a onclick="return mV('Mal',3,5);">Mal 3:5</a> above [GROTIUS]); so in <a onclick="return mV('Mal',4,3);">Mal 4:3</a> "do" is used absolutely, "in the day that I shall do <i>this.</i>" MAURER, not so well, translates, "in the day which I shall make," that is, appoint as in <a onclick="return mV('Psa',118,24);">Psa 118:24</a>.
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<br><br><b>as...man spareth...son</b>— (<a onclick="return mV('Psa',103,18);">Psa 103:18</a>).
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<p id="Mal3_18"><b>18. Then shall ye...discern</b>—Then shall ye see the falseness of your calumny against God's government (<a onclick="return mV('Mal',3,15);">Mal 3:15</a>), that the "proud" and wicked prosper. Do not judge before the time till My work is complete. It is in part to test your disposition to trust in God in spite of perplexing appearances, and in order to make your service less mercenary, that the present blended state is allowed; but at last <i>all</i> ("ye," both godly and ungodly) shall see the eternal difference there really is "between him that serveth God and him that serveth Him not" (<a onclick="return mV('Psa',58,11);">Psa 58:11</a>).
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<br><br><b>return</b>—Ye shall turn to a better state of mind on this point.
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