Malachi · Chapter 4

1-3. A direction to keep to the law, and to expect Elijah, that is, John the Baptist, the fore-runner of the Messiah, ver. 4-6.

V. 1. Cometh-Tho’ it be at a distance from you, yet it is coming and will overtake you and overwhelm you too. As an oven-The refiner’s fire, Malachi 3:2, is now represented as a fire, burning more dreadfully, as it did indeed when Jerusalem and the temple were on fire, when the fire raged every where, but most fiercely where the arched roofs made it double itself, and infold flames with flames. And this may well be an emblem of the day of judgment.

Verse 1. Behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven] The destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans.

And all the proud] This is in reference to Malachi 3:15 of the preceding chapter.

The day that cometh shall burn them up] Either by famine, by sword, or by captivity. All those rebels shall be destroyed.

It shall leave them neither root nor branch.] A proverbial expression for total destruction. Neither man nor child shall escape.

Verse 1. For behold the day cometh — Though it may appear to be at a distance from you, yet it is coming, and will soon overtake and overwhelm you: even that great and terrible day of the Lord, as it is called Joel 2:31 Joel

Verse 1. Behold, the day cometh that shall burn as an oven. The anger of God against the jews for crucifying “the Lord of glory,” and persecuting his saints. The sin of rejecting the remedy is more than the disease. It shall burn them up—it shall leave them neither root nor branch. It shall make an utter end of all the nobles that condemned the Saviour, and cut off all their infant offspring during the tremendous siege. Surely there is with God a day of retribution for the crimes of men; surely there is a day of redress for a bleeding church, and for suffering saints.

Verses 1-3 are closely connected with Malachi 3:18. These verses describe the judgment to be executed upon the wicked (1), and the blessing to be poured upon the good (2, 3). For — Connects verse 1 with 3:18; they will discern, because the events described here will take place. The day — The day of Jehovah alluded to in Malachi 3:2, 17 (see on Joel 1:15). Burn as an oven — R.V., “furnace.” The terror of the day is likened to a fire raging in an oven or furnace that devours everything. Stubble — Dry stubble cast into the fire is easily consumed (see on Amos 7:4-6); so evil doers are easily consumed in the day of judgment (compare Isaiah 5:24; Zephaniah 1:18). All that do wickedly — Now they may flourish (Malachi 3:15), but their doom is already decreed. Neither root nor branch — The destruction will be complete (see on Malachi 2:12; Amos 2:9).

V. 2. The sun of righteousness-Christ, who is fitly compared to the sun, being the fountain of light, and vital heat to his church. And of mercy and benignity; for the Hebrew word imports both. With healing-His beams shall bring health and strength, with delight and joy, safety and security. Go forth-Go out of Jerusalem, before the fatal siege. Grow up-In strength, vigour and spiritual stature. Of the stall-Where they are safe guarded and well ordered.

Verse 2. You that fear my name] The persons mentioned in the sixteenth verse of the preceding chapter, ye that look for redemption through the Messiah. {Malachi 3:16}

The Sun of righteousness] The Lord Jesus, the promised Messiah; the Hope of Israel.

With healing in his wings] As the sun, by the rays of light and heat, revives, cheers, and fructifies the whole creation, giving, through God, light and life everywhere; so Jesus Christ, by the influences of his grace and Spirit, shall quicken, awaken, enlighten, warm, invigorate, heal, purify, and refine every soul that believes in him, and, by his wings or rays, diffuse these blessings from one end of heaven to another; everywhere invigorating the seeds of righteousness, and withering and drying up the seeds of sin. The rays of this Sun are the truths of his Gospel, and the influences of his Spirit. And at present these are universally diffused.

And ye shall go forth] Ye who believe on his name shall go forth out of Jerusalem when the Romans shall come up against it. After Cestius Gallus had blockaded the city for some days, he suddenly raised the siege. The Christians who were then in it, knowing, by seeing Jerusalem encompassed with armies, that the day of its destruction was come, when their Lord commanded them to flee into the mountains, took this opportunity to escape from Jerusalem, and go to Pella, in Cœlesyria; so that no Christian life fell in the siege and destruction of this city.

But these words are of more general application and meaning; “ye shall go forth” in all the occupations of life, but particularly in the means of grace; and-

Grow up as calves of the stall] Full of health, of life, and spirits; satisfied and happy.

2:31. That shall burn as an oven — God is described as a consuming fire, when he comes to execute his judgments, Deuteronomy 4:24, and the prediction here was remarkably verified when, upon the taking of the city and temple of Jerusalem, by the Roman army under Titus, they were both destroyed by such flames as no human power could quench. The refiner’s fire, mentioned Malachi 3:2, now became unspeakably more dreadful, raging everywhere through the city and temple, and most fiercely where the arched roofs made it double itself and infold flames within flames: by which terrible destruction, and the judgments accompanying it, an end was put to the whole state of the Jews: an awful image this of the conflagration of the heavens and the earth, and the final judgment of the last day on the whole human race. And all the proud — Such especially as those spoken of Malachi 3:15. And all that do wickedly — All impenitent sinners, of whatever kind, whether heathen, Jews, or Christians, so called, even all that do not obey the truth, whether manifested by God’s works or his word, but obey unrighteousness, shall be as stubble — Shall perish by these awful judgments. And the day that cometh shall burn them up — Shall totally and speedily consume them. It shall leave them neither root nor branch — A proverbial expression for utter destruction, and signifying, as applied to the unbelieving Jews, that both they and their families should be utterly destroyed.

Verse 2. But unto you that fear my name — So they are described, chap.

Ver. 2. Unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings. While the destruction of the jewish nation, and finally of all the impenitent, is foretold in the most terrific language, and the whole earth threatened with a general conflagration, mercy looks with a tender eye upon the righteous, provides for them an asylum when the storm descends, and calms their fears with the brightest hopes of immortality. The sacred scriptures delight in this sort of contrasted grandeur, where all that is appalling and all that is cheering and delightful commingle in the same sentence. When the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven in flaming fire, taking vengeance on them that know not God and obey not his gospel, he shall at the same time be glorified in his saints and admired in all them that believe. So when it is here foretold by the prophet that storms of vengeance would desolate Judea, and extinguish all their national glory, it is promised to the lowly and tender-hearted, who fear the name of the Lord, that the Sun of righteousness should arise and shed upon them his morning beams, should chase away the long and dreary night, and cheer them with the brightness of the long-expected day. How strikingly was this exemplified in the case of Simeon and Anna, of Zachariah and Elizabeth, and as many as were waiting for the consolation of Israel; and what a glow of holy feeling did the first intimations of the Saviour’s advent create in their bosoms, when they burst into a song of praise, that the day-spring from on high had visited them, to give light to them that sat in darkness, and to guide our feet into the way of peace.

2, 3. How different will be the fate of the righteous! Fear my name — See on Malachi 3:16, and references there. At present the God-fearing persons may seem to be forgotten by Jehovah, but he remembers their names, and in due time he will send relief and salvation. The Sun of righteousness — “Just as in the material world the shadows and distortions and illusions of night vanish before the light of the rising sun, which shows all things as they really are, so in the moral world the Sun of righteousness shall put to flight the difficulties and perplexities, the inequalities and anomalies, which have been the trial of the faithful and the weapon of the scoffer” (compare Isaiah 60:1). The promise of the rising of the Sun of righteousness is not a direct foreshadowing of the coming of Jesus; it refers rather to the manifestation of the divine righteousness in the day of reckoning (Malachi 3:1), which will result in the justification of himself and in the salvation of the righteous. Healing — From all hurts and pains that now afflict them. In his wings — That is, the rays emanating from the sun. As light and warmth are scattered in every direction through these rays, so the healing influences of the Sun of righteousness will be felt everywhere. Go forth,… grow up as calves — When they are touched by the life-giving power of the divine righteousness “they shall be like calves, which are forced to stand through the winter in narrow stalls, but in early spring, when the sun comes forth from the wintry cloud veil, are again driven into the open, and therefore leap and skip with unrestrained joy.” For grow up R.V. reads “gambol,” which is preferable (compare Isaiah 35:6; Habakkuk 1:8).

Then they will be exalted, while the wicked, now proud and prosperous (Malachi 3:15), will be trampled under foot. Ye shall tread down… ashes — The wicked, devoured by the fire of judgment, are reduced, as it were, to ashes, and like ashes they lie helpless upon the ground, while the pious, leaping for joy, pass over them. Of course, these statements are not to be understood literally; they present simply a picture of the great contrast between the destiny of the righteous and that of the wicked.

V. 3. Tread down the wicked-When believers by faith overcome the world, when they suppress their corrupt appetites and passions, and when the God of peace bruises Satan under their feet, then they indeed tread down the wicked.

Verse 3. Ye shall tread down] This may be the commission given to the Romans: Tread down the wicked people, tread down the wicked place; set it on fire, and let the ashes be trodden down under your feet.

3:16, whose names were written in the book of remembrance; who loved the law of their God, and kept it; who believed its promises, and rejoiced in expectation of the blessings promised; who believed his threatenings and trembled at them, and who walked humbly with their God; shall the Sun of righteousness arise — Christ, who is fitly compared to the sun, being the fountain of light and vital heat to his church: elsewhere called the day-spring from on high, Luke 1:78, and the east, or sun-rising, for so the word rendered branch, Zechariah 3:8, is translated by the Chaldee and LXX.: see the note there, and on Isaiah 60:1, 2. Thus the church is described, Revelation 12:1, as clothed with the sun, that is, adorned with graces communicated to her from Christ. He is termed the Sun OF RIGHTEOUSNESS, not only because he is the end of the law for righteousness, that is, for justification, sanctification, and practical obedience, to believers, and is made of God unto them righteousness, but because he is the medium and source of the divine mercy and benignity to them, as the word rendered righteousness also signifies. He is said to arise with healing in his wings, because his doctrine and mediation, with the spirit of truth and grace, which he has procured for, and confers upon, his true followers, removes men’s ignorance and errors, sins and miseries, and heals all the diseases of their fallen souls, communicating to them spiritual health and strength, with delight and joy, safety and security, and restoring and regulating all their faculties and powers. And ye shall go forth — That is, as the words are thought primarily to signify, out of the city of Jerusalem before the fatal siege begin, being warned by Christ so to do, (see Matthew 24:15-18; Luke 21:20, 21,) and thereby escaping those dreadful calamities, in which those who stayed in the city were involved. Indeed, those who had faith in Christ’s predictions, apprehending, from the circumstances of things, the destruction of the city to be near at hand, quitted it before it was invested by the Romans. And grow up — In strength, vigour, and spiritual stature; as calves of the stall — Where they are safely guarded, and well ordered and provided for. This shall be your state when the rest of your nation shall be consumed with divers kinds of death. Ye shall be in a good condition through your faith in the Redeemer, which shall be to you the evidence of things not seen; through the peace which you shall have with God, and in your own minds; through the love of God shed abroad in your hearts, and communion with him; and through the well-grounded and lively hopes with which you shall be inspired of the like deliverance in the judgment of the last day.

Verse 3. And ye shall tread down the wicked — “Ye shall know that they are wholly subdued.” — Newcome. Houbigant thinks this “refers to the miracles of the rising church, by which the wicked were compelled to yield, and submit themselves; for there is no other dominion under which they could be held by Christians.” There was a time when the wicked trode them down, and said to their souls, Bow down that we may go over; but the day will come that will make them victorious over all their enemies, and they, as it were, shall tread down the wicked; for, being made Christ’s footstool, Psalm 110:1, they are also made theirs, and shall come and worship before the feet of the church, Revelation 3:9. “When believers, by faith, overcome the world; when they suppress their corrupt appetites and passions; and when the God of peace bruises Satan under their feet, then they indeed tread down the wicked.” — Henry. For they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet — The meaning of this is thought by some to be, that when these believing ones, who through their faith should escape the destruction in which the unbelievers were involved, should return to the place where the city stood, they would there tread upon the ashes of the wicked, who were destroyed in the destruction of the city, and many of them burned to ashes in the flames by which it was consumed. According to Eusebius, a Christian Church was erected in a town called Ælia, built upon the ruins of Jerusalem, of which no less than thirteen persons of Jewish parentage were bishops. So that the faithful among the Jewish nation did literally tread the ashes of the wicked under the soles of their feet. But the general sense of the expression no doubt is, that the great, the unspeakable superiority of the righteous over the wicked, should be evident to themselves and all men, in the distinction which should be made in their favour, first, in the calamities which would come on the Jewish nation, and secondly, and especially, in that day when the righteous shall rise to everlasting life, and the wicked to shame and everlasting contempt.

2, 3. How different will be the fate of the righteous! Fear my name — See on Malachi 3:16, and references there. At present the God-fearing persons may seem to be forgotten by Jehovah, but he remembers their names, and in due time he will send relief and salvation. The Sun of righteousness — “Just as in the material world the shadows and distortions and illusions of night vanish before the light of the rising sun, which shows all things as they really are, so in the moral world the Sun of righteousness shall put to flight the difficulties and perplexities, the inequalities and anomalies, which have been the trial of the faithful and the weapon of the scoffer” (compare Isaiah 60:1). The promise of the rising of the Sun of righteousness is not a direct foreshadowing of the coming of Jesus; it refers rather to the manifestation of the divine righteousness in the day of reckoning (Malachi 3:1), which will result in the justification of himself and in the salvation of the righteous. Healing — From all hurts and pains that now afflict them. In his wings — That is, the rays emanating from the sun. As light and warmth are scattered in every direction through these rays, so the healing influences of the Sun of righteousness will be felt everywhere. Go forth,… grow up as calves — When they are touched by the life-giving power of the divine righteousness “they shall be like calves, which are forced to stand through the winter in narrow stalls, but in early spring, when the sun comes forth from the wintry cloud veil, are again driven into the open, and therefore leap and skip with unrestrained joy.” For grow up R.V. reads “gambol,” which is preferable (compare Isaiah 35:6; Habakkuk 1:8).

Then they will be exalted, while the wicked, now proud and prosperous (Malachi 3:15), will be trampled under foot. Ye shall tread down… ashes — The wicked, devoured by the fire of judgment, are reduced, as it were, to ashes, and like ashes they lie helpless upon the ground, while the pious, leaping for joy, pass over them. Of course, these statements are not to be understood literally; they present simply a picture of the great contrast between the destiny of the righteous and that of the wicked.

V. 4. Remember-Now take leave of prophecy, for you shall have no more ‘till the great prophet, ‘till Shiloh come, but attend ye diligently to the law of Moses. For all Israel-So long as they should be a people and church. Statutes and judgments-Be not partial; statutes and judgments, that is, the whole law must you attend to, and remember it as God requires.

Verse 4. Remember ye the law of Moses] Where all these things are predicted. The Septuagint, Arabic, and Coptic, place this verse the last.

Verse 4. Remember ye the law of Moses — Ye are not now to expect any succession of prophets for the time to come, nor any prophet whatever, till the forerunner of the Messiah appears: your chief care, therefore, till that time, must be to attend upon the institutions, and to obey the precepts, which Moses has given to all Israel in his law; particularly in that part of it which was delivered to him by God with an audible voice from mount Horeb: see Exodus 19:9; Deuteronomy 4:10. This your lawgiver spake plainly of the Messiah, instructed you to expect his coming, and solemnly charged you to believe his doctrines and obey his commands, when he should come, threatening all those who did not with inevitable destruction. The words law, statutes, and judgments, are promiscuously used to signify the same thing, as appears from the greater part of the hundred and nineteenth Psalm.

CLOSING ADMONITIONS, 4-6.

The last three verses of the book of Malachi have no immediate connection with the preceding section; they must be understood rather as closing admonitions belonging to the entire book, added by Malachi himself or by a later writer (see on Hosea 14:9). Recent commentators are inclined to the latter view, though Nowack, who accepts the originality of verse 4, admits that the question can never be settled with absolute certainty. In favor of diversity of authorship Marti advances the following reasons: (1) The change in the persons addressed; in verse 3 the pious are addressed, in verse 4 the Jews in general. (2) The expansion of Malachi 3:1, in verses

V. 5. Behold I will send-Though the spirit of prophecy cease for four hundred years, yet at the expiring of those years, you shall have one sent, as great as Elijah. Elijah-Namely John the Baptist, who came in the spirit and power of Elijah, Luke 1:17, and therefore bears his name. Before-That is, immediately before; so he was born six months before Christ, and began his preaching a few years before Christ began to exercise his publick office. The great and dreadful day of the Lord-This literally refers to the times of vengeance upon the Jews, from the death of Christ to the final desolation of the city and temple, and by accommodation, to the end of the world.

Verse 5. Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet] This is meant alone of John the Baptist, as we learn from Luke 1:17, (where see the note,) in whose spirit and power he came.

Verse 5. Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet — The first prophet that I shall send to you, after him who now speaks to you, will be Elijah the messenger, that shall go before the Messiah to prepare his way. In him the spirit of prophecy shall be revived; and he shall be another Elijah for zeal, for courage, austerity of life, and labour for reformation. “It was the universal opinion in Christ’s time, received by the learned and unlearned, the governors and the common people, that Elijah should usher in the Messiah, and anoint him; all expected that Elijah should first come and restore all things; and long before that time the son of Sirach grounded his expectation of him on the passage now before us: see Ecclus. 48:10. The Jews have not since varied from this notion: in all their later writings the coming of Elijah and of the Messiah are usually mentioned together; and this is the reason why they pray so heartily for the coming of Elijah, even without mention of the Messiah, because the coming of the one, according to Malachi, infers the coming of the other.” But it is neither said nor implied in the text that Elijah the Tishbite should come in person, but only that one should come in the spirit and power of Elijah, and when such a one did come, Malachi’s words were fulfilled; who meant no more that Elijah should rise again, than Hosea and Jeremiah did that David should be restored to life, in order to reign over Israel and Judah, when they prophesied that the tribes should hereafter serve David their king. Whoever this Elijah was, he must, according to the next clause of this verse, precede the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord, that is, the time of the final destruction of the Jewish city, temple, and commonwealth, which events actually took place near one thousand seven hundred years ago, and no other Elijah than John the Baptist, followed by the Messiah, came to warn them of it, as is confessed by them. It is allowed by the Jews as a fact, that prophecy was sealed up with Malachi, and that when he died the Holy Spirit was taken away from Israel. They expected, however, that it would be restored in the days of the Messiah, and they ought, therefore, to have concluded that John the Baptist, in whom this gift did revive, must be the Elijah of Malachi: for all the people held John as a prophet, Matthew 14:5; 21:26. Even the members of the Sanhedrim, astonished at his preaching and actions, (see John 1:19-25,) thought he must be Elijah, or that prophet, namely, the Messiah, mentioned by Moses: and the scribes and Pharisees, as well as the rest of the country, went to be baptized of him, confessing their sins, Matthew 3:5-7. Add to this, that his preaching exactly answered the description given of it by Malachi. As Elijah was to give notice of the coming of the day that should burn as an oven, verse 1, that great and dreadful day, wherein the Lord, Messiah, should smite the land of Judea with a curse: verse 6; so did John the Baptist exhort to repentance, from this motive, that the kingdom of God was at hand, that wrath was coming, from which they ought to flee, and that the person coming after him, who was mightier than he, with his fan in his hand, would thoroughly purge his floor, and burn the chaff with unquenchable fire: see Matthew 3:2, 7, 10, 11; and Bishop Chandler’s Defence. The reader will be pleased to see the sacred historians’ account of John confirmed by a wise, learned, and well-disposed Jew, who was not a Christian, namely the well-known historian Josephus: “It was the opinion of the Jews,” says he, “that Herod’s army was cut off by the Arabs through God’s just judgment, for the sake of John, who was surnamed the Baptist. For he killed that excellent man, who excited the people to the exercise of all virtues, especially piety and justice, and to receive his baptism, which, he assured them, would be pleasing to God, if to purity of body they added purity of life, and first cleansed their souls, not from one or two, but every sin. But when the people resorted in numbers to him, eager to hear his doctrine, and ready to do any thing by his counsel, fearing what might be effected through so great authority of the man, he first imprisoned and then slew him.” — Antiq., lib. xviii, cap. 7.

Ver. 5. Behold, I send you Elijah the prophet. John the baptist, as the gospel indicates, coming in the spirit and power of Elijah, whose ministry shall produce a great reformation. But as Elijah was promised, chap. 3. l, why should it be repeated here? And why after Jerusalem is burned, and Christ the sun risen on the earth? Some doctors of great name in the ancient church, think, as some rabbins, that Elijah is yet to be expected in person to effectuate the conversion of the jews to Christ; for at present, the fathers among them seem as though they would kill their children, and the children as though they would kill their parents for believing in Christ. Before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord. The coming of Christ is generally described by the prophets as an event that would excite the greatest joy, and fill the whole creation with songs of praise. Psalm 96:11, 13. Yet here it is called the great and terrible day of the Lord. Isaiah, when personating the Saviour, gives also a twofold character to his advent. “The day of vengeance is in my heart, and the year of my redeemed is come.” The same event which afforded joy to those who received the Saviour, brought destruction upon those who received him not. The rejection of him and his crucifixion by the unbelieving jews brought such tribulation upon them as had not been since the beginning of the world, in the awful destruction of their city and temple by the Romans. That was the day more immediately referred to in ver. 1, which should burn as an oven, when all the proud, and all that do wickedly, would be as stuble to be burned up, without leaving either root or branch, though this awful threatening will receive its full accomplishment in the last day.

5, 6 is not in accord with Malachi’s thought in the former passage. (3) Malachi never says “day of Jehovah” or “the great and dreadful day of Jehovah” (verse 5; compare verse 1; 3:17; 4:3). (4) Malachi speaks only of “the law” (Malachi 2:8, 9), these verses of the “law of Moses” (verse 4). (5). Malachi frequently uses the formula “saith Jehovah of hosts,” which is never found in these verses.

That there is an abrupt transition from verse 3 to 4 must be admitted, that the linguistic peculiarities mentioned exist is true; but that Malachi 4:5, 6, are not in accord with the thought of Malachi 3:1, is not so evident. The former is an expansion of the latter along a line that is perfectly admissible. The evidence is not definite enough to say that the verses cannot come from the author of the rest of the book; but if they do come from him it is quite likely that they were added by him subsequently to the writing of the rest of the book, as a general exhortation to prepare for the coming of Jehovah in judgment.

4. Remember — In a manner that will influence conduct. Only thus can they escape the terrors of the day of Jehovah. The law of Moses — If the entire Pentateuch was in existence in the days of Malachi this term includes the whole of it; if only a part was known it includes all that in those days went under the name of Moses (see on Hosea 4:6). In postexilic times a greater emphasis was placed upon the law, because it was thought that by regulating every detail of life by law with state authority the religious and moral lapses of the past might be avoided. This legalism was needed at the time (see p. 555 and p. 703), and it did much toward preserving intact the religion of Jehovah. The religious leaders of the early postexilic period met the crisis of their age just as effectively as the eighth century prophets met the problems of their time; it was not their fault that in later days the religious leaders failed to see their opportunities, and that the emphasis of the letter of the law resulted in the end in entire neglect of the spirit, which brought about the decline of Judaism as a vital force in religion and morals. My servant — See on Haggai 2:23; Zechariah 3:8. Horeb — Mentioned several times in the Old Testament, especially in Deuteronomy, as the place where the law was given to Moses (Deuteronomy 1:6; 4:10; 5:2; 29:1; 1 Kings 8:9). Statutes and judgments — R.V., “and ordinances.” The former means literally that which is engraved or inscribed, that is, upon public tablets; hence that which is decreed by one in authority; in the Old Testament, the decrees of Jehovah intended to govern the conduct of his people. The primary idea of the second word is “judicial decision, made once authoritatively, and constituting a rule or precedent, applicable to other similar cases in the future.” The two words occur together quite frequently, especially in Deuteronomy. The difference between the two Driver indicates in these words: “Judgments being thus a term denoting primarily the provisions of civil and criminal law, statutes may be taken to refer more particularly to positive institutions or enactments, whether moral, ceremonial, or civil.”

Verses 5, 6 deal with the messenger whose appearance is announced in 3:1, and with his work of preparing the way for the coming of the Lord. Behold, I will send — See on Malachi 3:1. Elijah the prophet — There can be no doubt that he is to be identified with the messenger of Malachi 3:1. Whether the author expected a literal fulfillment, in the sense that Elijah would come in person, or whether the name is to be understood, like David in Hosea 3:5 (see there), in the sense of a second Elijah, a prophet like Elijah, it may be difficult to say. That there was current even in New Testament times a belief in the coming again of Elijah himself as well as of other prophets is shown by passages like Matthew 16:14. Jesus and the New Testament writers declare that the prophecy found its fulfillment in the coming of John the Baptist (Matthew 11:14; Mark 9:11, 13). That Elijah should be singled out as the messenger from heaven was quite natural in view of the fact that he alone of all the prophets did not die a natural death, but “went up by a whirlwind into heaven” (2 Kings 2:11). On this promise G.A. Smith makes the following suggestive remarks: “Malachi expects this prophecy… not in the continuance of the prophetic succession by the appearance of original personalities, developing further the great principles of their order, but in the return of the first prophet Elijah. This is surely the confession of Prophecy that the number of her servants is exhausted and her message to Israel fulfilled. She can now do no more for the people than she has done. But she will summon up her old energy and fire in the return of her most powerful personality, and make one grand effort to convert the nation before the Lord come and strike it with judgment.” The promise is the same as in 3:1, that the messenger will come before the appearance of Jehovah himself in judgment. The great and dreadful day — See on Joel 2:11, 31.

Malachi 3:1, and 4:5, contain the promise that the messenger will prepare the way before the Lord; Malachi 4:6, explains wherein the preparation consists, namely, in an attempt to convert the nation, so that the terror of the day of Jehovah may be averted. This conversion is described as a turning of “the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers.” Two interpretations of these words have been proposed: (1) The fathers are the patriarchs, the children their descendants, the contemporaries of the author. The patriarchs are ashamed of their descendants, and refuse to acknowledge them, on account of their corruption; on the other hand, the descendants have no heart fellowship with their ancestors, because they fail to understand and appreciate their lofty spiritual and moral ideals. Elijah will attempt to turn the hearts of the corrupt children to the fathers, so that they will seek to imitate the example of the latter and walk in their ways. When this is done the heart of the fathers will turn again to the children in paternal recognition and love. (2) A second interpretation sees in the fathers and the children two classes in the prophet’s own time, the men of maturity and the younger generation, and between the two a great gulf. The younger generation, says Von Orelli, “had broken with the law which the fathers still held outwardly in high esteem; the latter, on this account, were estranged from the young. When that Elijah turns the nation to God, he will do away with this gulf. In again teaching the sons to fear God, he will again win the hearts of the fathers for them; and in again breathing into the fathers a fatherly spirit, he will again awaken in the hearts of the sons confidence and good will to the fathers.” On the whole, the second interpretation is to be preferred, but the correctness of the explanation of the nature of the gulf may be doubted. It is better to bring these words into connection with Micah 7:5, 6, where the results of religious apostasy are described: even the closest and most sacred ties come to be disregarded and broken. A similar thought underlies the promise of verse 6. The present is hopelessly corrupt, but when Elijah comes he will try to change conditions and restore peace and good will in accord with the will and purpose of God. The words are, then, a figure of the restoration and reformation for which Elijah will labor, in order that this earth may become a fit dwelling place for Jehovah. Smite the earth with a curse — Curse is literally ban. Whatever is placed under a ban is given up to destruction (Deuteronomy 13:16, 17; Leviticus 27:28, 29). Jehovah will surely come, but unless sin is removed before he comes he must wipe it out by a terrible blast of judgment. This statement implies that, if the mission of Elijah is successful, Jehovah will come as King of peace, to dwell in peace in the midst of his people.

THE END.

V. 6. And he-John the Baptist. Shall turn the heart-There were at this time many great and unnatural divisions among the Jews, in which fathers studied mischief to their own children. Of the children-Undutiful children estranged from their fathers. With a curse-Which ends in utter destruction; leaving Jerusalem a desolate heap, and a perpetual monument of God’s displeasure. Some observe, that the last word of the Old Testament is a curse: whereas the New Testament ends with a blessing, yea, the choicest of blessings, The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with us all! Amen.

Dec. 24, 1766.

F I N I S

Verse 6. And he shall turn (convert) the heart of the fathers (l[ al, WITH) the children] Or, together with the children; both old and young. Lest I come, and, finding them unconverted, smite the land with a curse, חרם cherem, utter extinction. So we find that, had the Jews turned to God, and received the Messiah at the preaching of John the Baptist and that of Christ and his apostles, the awful חרם cherem of final excision and execration would not have been executed upon them. However, they filled up the cup of their iniquity, and were reprobated, and the Gentiles elected in their stead. Thus, the last was first, and the first was last. Glory to God for his unspeakable gift!

There are three remarkable predictions in this chapter:—1. The advent of John Baptist, in the spirit and authority of Elijah. 2. The manifestation of Christ in the flesh, under the emblem of the Sun of righteousness. 3. The final destruction of Jerusalem, represented under the emblem of a burning oven, consuming every thing cast into it. These three prophecies, relating to the most important facts that have ever taken place in the history of the world, announced here nearly four hundred years before their occurrence, have been most circumstantially fulfilled.

In most of the Masoretic Bibles the fifth verse is repeated after the sixth— “Behold, I send unto you Elijah the prophet, before the great and terrible day of Jehovah come;” for the Jews do not like to let their sacred book end with a curse; and hence, in reading, they immediately subjoin the above verse, or else the fourth— “Remembering ye the law of Moses my servant.”

In one of my oldest MSS. the fifth verse is repeated, and written at full length: “Behold, I send you Elijah the prophet, before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord.” In another, only these words are added: “Behold, I will send you Elijah.” It is on this ground that the Jews expect the reappearance of Elijah the prophet; and at their marriage-feast always set a chair and knife and fork for this prophet, whom they suppose to be invisibly present. But we have already seen that John the Baptist, the forerunner of our Lord, was the person designed; for he came in the spirit and power of Elijah, (see on Malachi 3:1,) and has fulfilled this prophetic promise. John is come, and the Lord Jesus has come also; he has shed his blood for the salvation of a lost world; he has ascended on high; he has sent forth his Holy Spirit; he has commissioned his ministers to proclaim to all mankind redemption in his blood; and he is ever present with them, and is filling the earth with righteousness and true holiness. Hallelujah! The kingdoms of this world are about to become the kingdoms of God and our Lord Jesus! And now, having just arrived at the end of my race in this work, and seeing the wonderful extension of the work of God in the earth, my heart prays:—

O Jesus, ride on, till all are subdued,

Thy mercy make known, and sprinkle thy blood;

Display thy salvation, and teach the new song,

To every nation, and people, and tongue!

In most MSS. and printed Masoretic Bibles there are only three chapters in this prophet, the fourth being joined to the third, making it twenty-four verses.

In the Jewish reckonings the Twelve Minor Prophets make but one book; hence there is no Masoretic note found at the end of any of the preceding prophets, with accounts of its verses, sections, &c.; but, at the end of Malachi we find the following table, which, though it gives the number of verses in each prophet, yet gives the total sum, middle verse, and sections, at the end of Malachi, thereby showing that they consider the whole twelve as constituting but one book.

MASORETIC NOTES

On the Twelve Minor Prophets

Hosea has — 197 verses.

Joel — 73

Amos — 146

Obadiah — 21

Jonah — 48

Micah — 105

Nahum — 57

Zephaniah — 53

Habakkuk — 56

Haggai — 38

Zechariah — 211

Malachi — 55

The sum of all the verses of the Twelve Minor Prophets is 1060 The middle verse is Micah, Micah 3:12.

Number of Sections, 21.

TO GOD THE FATHER, SON, AND HOLY GHOST, BE ETERNAL PRAISES. AMEN.

I have this day completed this Commentary on which I have laboured above thirty years; and which, when I began, I never expected to live long enough to finish. May it be a means of securing glory to God in the highest, and peace and good will among men upon earth! Amen, Amen. ADAM CLARKE.

Heydon Hall, Middlesex,

Monday, March 28, A.D. 1825.

Verse 6. And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, &c. — After the times of the Maccabees, to the times of Christ, the Jewish people were miserably divided among themselves, by discords, which broke out into civil wars, of which Josephus gives an account. And moreover, the different religious sects among them, especially those of the Sadducees and Pharisees, greatly distracted the people, and alienated and separated the nearest relations from each other. Now John the Baptist began to apply a remedy to these evils, by instilling the precepts of love and charity, and directing all to one and the same master, Christ: see Luke 3:11; Matthew 3:11; Mark 1:7; John 1:15. This seems to be the most probable interpretation of the words, taking them in the sense of our translation, and as they are understood by the LXX., and by St. Luke 1:17. But a more easy sense may be given of them by translating the Hebrew preposition l[, not to, but with, in which sense it is often used, and as Kimchi, Noldius, and others render it, namely, He shall turn the hearts of the fathers with the children, and of the children with the fathers; that is, he shall do his utmost to produce a national reformation, to turn both fathers and children from their evil practices, and to make them all unanimously join in the great duties of repentance and amendment of life; to restore a true sense of religion, which was then dwindled into a mere form, and thereby to prepare the people for the reception of Christ, in order to prevent the utter excision denounced upon the land, as it follows, Lest I come and smite the earth with a curse. — By the earth here, as frequently elsewhere, is meant the land of Judea, and the clause would be better rendered, Lest I come and smite the land, namely, of Judea, with utter destruction: for so the word µrj, here rendered curse, is often translated, as the learned reader may see by referring to Numbers 21:2; Deuteronomy 7:2, 13, 15, 16; Joshua 6:21; Zechariah 14:11. So that the meaning is, Lest, when I come to execute judgment upon Judea, all the inhabitants of it should be utterly destroyed. By the preaching of John, and his directing the people to Christ, many were brought to repentance and reformation of life, and thereby escaped the common destruction of the nation. All, therefore, did not perish, but a remnant was saved, as St. Paul takes notice, Romans 9:27, 29, and 11:5. Judea, however, remains a desolation, and Jerusalem a heap of ruins, both of them sad and perpetual monuments of God’s displeasure against such as reject Christ and his salvation. The three remarkable predictions, therefore, contained in this last chapter of the ancient records of the divine will, like a multitude of others, which have come under our consideration in the course of these notes, have all been punctually fulfilled. The harbinger of the Messiah appeared at the time foretold, in the spirit and power of Elias; the Messiah himself was manifested as the Sun of righteousness, as soon as that messenger sent before his face had prepared his way; and the most signal vengeance was executed, as foretold, on all such as rejected him and his salvation. These remarkable predictions, therefore, added to all that went before, being evidently verified, are so many fresh proofs of the divine authority of the Holy Scriptures, of the truth of the Christian religion, of the certain accomplishment of all the promises and threatenings of the gospel of Christ, and of the absolute necessity of possessing the religion there delineated, and practising the duties there enjoined. This, indeed, is the design of all the prophecies, and even of all the books contained in the Old and New Testaments, and the principal use which ought to be made of them.

Thus, through the assistance of God, we are come to the conclusion of the writings of the prophets: for, from the time of Malachi to the time of the Messiah, for the space of near four hundred years, there was, as some of the prophets had foretold there should be, a famine of the words of the Lord; (see Amos 8:11, 12;) and during this long course of time no prophet appeared in Israel, where there had been before a succession of them for a very long period of years. The divine providence, it is probable, as was intimated in the argument to this book, caused this long cessation of prophecy, this long famine of the word of the Lord in the land, in order to excite the greater expectation and a more fervent desire of the coming of the great prophet, the Christ of God; and to prepare men’s minds for a new and different dispensation, in which, after the first establishment of it, there was no longer to be a succession of prophets; but the work of God in and among men, in order to their salvation, was to be carried on through and by the grace of the Lord Jesus, that great one, who had been foretold by the mouth of all the prophets; and by the fellowship of the Holy Ghost, or a Divine Spirit, enlightening and renewing men’s minds, inspiring them with true wisdom, and communicating to them the divine nature, and forming them after the image of him that had created them. It has been observed by some, and not improperly, that whereas the last word of the Old Testament is a curse which threatens the earth, of our danger of which we must be made sensible, that we may welcome the gospel of Christ, which comes with a blessing; it is with a blessing, with the choicest of blessings, that the New Testament ends: and with it let us arm ourselves, or rather, let God arm us, against this curse. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with us all! Amen.

To God only wise be ascribed all the glory.

THE END OF ALL THE CANONICAL BOOKS OF THE OLD

TESTAMENT.

Ver. 6. He shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and of the children to their fathers. Sin has not only made a breach betwixt God and man, but has also separated chief friends, and filled the earth with strife and violence. So baneful are its effects that it turns the tide of natural affection out of its usual course, and alienates even the hearts of parents and children from each other. In addition to its ordinary operation upon society, it appears from well-authenticated history that the jewish people especially were encreasing in crime, from the days of Malachi to the coming of Christ. Having been brought under the authority of the Roman government, one part attached themselves to the interests of their foreign rulers, for the sake of some private advantage, and accepted offices of emolument under them, which rendered such mercenaries sufficiently odious to their countrymen. Some enlisted themselves in the Roman army, and treated their brethren with violence and outrage, as is plainly intimated by the admonitions of John the baptist. Luke 3:14. Others became publicans, or farmers of the public taxes, coöperating with the government in a system of oppression. A spirit of selfishness pervaded all ranks and orders of men, prompting one party to acts of injustice, and exciting in another feelings of discontent and of bitter antipathy. In addition to this, the jewish community were divided into religious sects and parties, hearing the most inveterate hatred to each other, while they were as much opposed to truth and righteousness as they could be to one another. Lest I come and smite the earth with a curse. The ministry of John the baptist, it is here foretold, would have a conciliatory tendency, turning men’s hearts to each other, and so averting the curse suspended over that sinful people. This effect however was not produced by merely attempting to effect an outward reformation among the people, but by first bringing them to true repentance, to a state of reconciliation with God through the mediator, and so to peace and harmony among themselves. John’s ministry is described by an evangelist as turning the hearts of the fathers to the children by turning the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, and thus making ready a people prepared for the Lord. His errand was to call sinners to repentance, and to faith in Him whose harbinger he was; and wherever this effect was produced a new bond of union existed, and former antipathies were forgotten. Those who repented and believed the gospel were as the salt of the land, and it seems to have been for their sakes that its punishment was deferred till forty years after they had crucified the Lord of glory. When God had taken out a people from among them, the remnant grew worse and worse, till at last the curse overtook them. Having “killed the Lord Jesus and their own prophets,” they filled up the measure of their iniquity, by persecuting the followers of Christ with unmitigable rage and fury, until “the great and terrible day of the Lord” came, and utterly destroyed them as a nation. From that time the land of Judea has been “smitten with a curse,” and under the curse it continues to this day, an awful proof of the truth of prophecy, and a lasting warning to the enemies of Christ.

END OF THE OLD TESTAMENT.

Showing how many, and how long each of them lived contemporary with one another.

5, 6 is not in accord with Malachi’s thought in the former passage. (3) Malachi never says “day of Jehovah” or “the great and dreadful day of Jehovah” (verse 5; compare verse 1; 3:17; 4:3). (4) Malachi speaks only of “the law” (Malachi 2:8, 9), these verses of the “law of Moses” (verse 4). (5). Malachi frequently uses the formula “saith Jehovah of hosts,” which is never found in these verses.

That there is an abrupt transition from verse 3 to 4 must be admitted, that the linguistic peculiarities mentioned exist is true; but that Malachi 4:5, 6, are not in accord with the thought of Malachi 3:1, is not so evident. The former is an expansion of the latter along a line that is perfectly admissible. The evidence is not definite enough to say that the verses cannot come from the author of the rest of the book; but if they do come from him it is quite likely that they were added by him subsequently to the writing of the rest of the book, as a general exhortation to prepare for the coming of Jehovah in judgment.

4. Remember — In a manner that will influence conduct. Only thus can they escape the terrors of the day of Jehovah. The law of Moses — If the entire Pentateuch was in existence in the days of Malachi this term includes the whole of it; if only a part was known it includes all that in those days went under the name of Moses (see on Hosea 4:6). In postexilic times a greater emphasis was placed upon the law, because it was thought that by regulating every detail of life by law with state authority the religious and moral lapses of the past might be avoided. This legalism was needed at the time (see p. 555 and p. 703), and it did much toward preserving intact the religion of Jehovah. The religious leaders of the early postexilic period met the crisis of their age just as effectively as the eighth century prophets met the problems of their time; it was not their fault that in later days the religious leaders failed to see their opportunities, and that the emphasis of the letter of the law resulted in the end in entire neglect of the spirit, which brought about the decline of Judaism as a vital force in religion and morals. My servant — See on Haggai 2:23; Zechariah 3:8. Horeb — Mentioned several times in the Old Testament, especially in Deuteronomy, as the place where the law was given to Moses (Deuteronomy 1:6; 4:10; 5:2; 29:1; 1 Kings 8:9). Statutes and judgments — R.V., “and ordinances.” The former means literally that which is engraved or inscribed, that is, upon public tablets; hence that which is decreed by one in authority; in the Old Testament, the decrees of Jehovah intended to govern the conduct of his people. The primary idea of the second word is “judicial decision, made once authoritatively, and constituting a rule or precedent, applicable to other similar cases in the future.” The two words occur together quite frequently, especially in Deuteronomy. The difference between the two Driver indicates in these words: “Judgments being thus a term denoting primarily the provisions of civil and criminal law, statutes may be taken to refer more particularly to positive institutions or enactments, whether moral, ceremonial, or civil.”

Verses 5, 6 deal with the messenger whose appearance is announced in 3:1, and with his work of preparing the way for the coming of the Lord. Behold, I will send — See on Malachi 3:1. Elijah the prophet — There can be no doubt that he is to be identified with the messenger of Malachi 3:1. Whether the author expected a literal fulfillment, in the sense that Elijah would come in person, or whether the name is to be understood, like David in Hosea 3:5 (see there), in the sense of a second Elijah, a prophet like Elijah, it may be difficult to say. That there was current even in New Testament times a belief in the coming again of Elijah himself as well as of other prophets is shown by passages like Matthew 16:14. Jesus and the New Testament writers declare that the prophecy found its fulfillment in the coming of John the Baptist (Matthew 11:14; Mark 9:11, 13). That Elijah should be singled out as the messenger from heaven was quite natural in view of the fact that he alone of all the prophets did not die a natural death, but “went up by a whirlwind into heaven” (2 Kings 2:11). On this promise G.A. Smith makes the following suggestive remarks: “Malachi expects this prophecy… not in the continuance of the prophetic succession by the appearance of original personalities, developing further the great principles of their order, but in the return of the first prophet Elijah. This is surely the confession of Prophecy that the number of her servants is exhausted and her message to Israel fulfilled. She can now do no more for the people than she has done. But she will summon up her old energy and fire in the return of her most powerful personality, and make one grand effort to convert the nation before the Lord come and strike it with judgment.” The promise is the same as in 3:1, that the messenger will come before the appearance of Jehovah himself in judgment. The great and dreadful day — See on Joel 2:11, 31.

Malachi 3:1, and 4:5, contain the promise that the messenger will prepare the way before the Lord; Malachi 4:6, explains wherein the preparation consists, namely, in an attempt to convert the nation, so that the terror of the day of Jehovah may be averted. This conversion is described as a turning of “the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers.” Two interpretations of these words have been proposed: (1) The fathers are the patriarchs, the children their descendants, the contemporaries of the author. The patriarchs are ashamed of their descendants, and refuse to acknowledge them, on account of their corruption; on the other hand, the descendants have no heart fellowship with their ancestors, because they fail to understand and appreciate their lofty spiritual and moral ideals. Elijah will attempt to turn the hearts of the corrupt children to the fathers, so that they will seek to imitate the example of the latter and walk in their ways. When this is done the heart of the fathers will turn again to the children in paternal recognition and love. (2) A second interpretation sees in the fathers and the children two classes in the prophet’s own time, the men of maturity and the younger generation, and between the two a great gulf. The younger generation, says Von Orelli, “had broken with the law which the fathers still held outwardly in high esteem; the latter, on this account, were estranged from the young. When that Elijah turns the nation to God, he will do away with this gulf. In again teaching the sons to fear God, he will again win the hearts of the fathers for them; and in again breathing into the fathers a fatherly spirit, he will again awaken in the hearts of the sons confidence and good will to the fathers.” On the whole, the second interpretation is to be preferred, but the correctness of the explanation of the nature of the gulf may be doubted. It is better to bring these words into connection with Micah 7:5, 6, where the results of religious apostasy are described: even the closest and most sacred ties come to be disregarded and broken. A similar thought underlies the promise of verse 6. The present is hopelessly corrupt, but when Elijah comes he will try to change conditions and restore peace and good will in accord with the will and purpose of God. The words are, then, a figure of the restoration and reformation for which Elijah will labor, in order that this earth may become a fit dwelling place for Jehovah. Smite the earth with a curse — Curse is literally ban. Whatever is placed under a ban is given up to destruction (Deuteronomy 13:16, 17; Leviticus 27:28, 29). Jehovah will surely come, but unless sin is removed before he comes he must wipe it out by a terrible blast of judgment. This statement implies that, if the mission of Elijah is successful, Jehovah will come as King of peace, to dwell in peace in the midst of his people.

THE END.