Jamieson, Fausset & Brown

“Malachi--see Introduction. God sent no prophet after him till John the Baptist, the forerunner of Christ, in order to enflame His people with the more ardent desire for Him, the great antitype and fulfiller of prophecy.”

“For a time Judea seemed as desolate as Idumea; but though the latter was once the highway of Eastern commerce, now the lonely rock-houses of Petra attest the fulfilment of the prophecy. It is still "the border of wickedness," being the resort of the marauding …”

“He addresses the priests because they ought to be leaders in piety to the rest of the people, whereas they are foremost in "despising His name." Wherein have we despised, &c.--The same captious spirit of self-satisfied insensibility as prompted their question…”

“Your earthly ruler would feel insulted, if offered by you the offering with which ye put off God (see Le 22:22, 24). is it not evil?--MAURER translates, "There is no evil," in your opinion, in such an offering; it is quite good enough for such a purpose.”

“DRUSIUS and MAURER translate, "Would that there were absolutely some one of you who would shut the doors of the temple (that is, of the inner court, in which was the altar of burnt offerings), and that ye would not kindle fire on My altar in vain!" Better no s…”

“Renewal of the charge in Mal 1:7. fruit . . . meat--the offerings of the people. The "fruit" is the produce of the altar, on which the priests subsisted. They did not literally say, The Lord's table is contemptible; but their acts virtually said so.”

“Also Isa 43:22-24, wherein He shows that it is they who have "wearied" Him, not He who has wearied them. snuffed at--despised. it--the table of the Lord, and the meat on it (Mal 1:12). torn--namely, by beasts, which it was not lawful to eat, much less to…”

“You shall get the dung of the maw as your perquisite, instead of the maw. one shall take you away with it--that is, ye shall be taken away with it; it shall cleave to you wherever ye go [MOORE].”

“MAURER thus explains it; the Hebrew is, literally, "My covenant was with him, life and peace (to be given him on My part), and I gave them to him: (and on his part) fear (that is, reverence), and he did fear Me," &c. The former portion of the verse expresses t…”

“The priest was the ordinary expounder of the law; the prophets were so only on special occasions. iniquity . . . not found--no injustice in his judicial functions (De 17:8, 9; 19:17). walked with me--by faith and obedience (Ge 5:22). in peace--namely, the…”

“Hag 2:11). the law--that is, its true sense. messenger of . . . Lord--the interpreter of His will; compare as to the prophets, Hag 1:13. So ministers are called "ambassadors of Christ" (2Co 5:20); and the bishops of the seven churches in Revelation, "ange…”

“Because ye do not keep the condition of the covenant, I will not fulfil the promise. partial in the law--having respect to persons rather than to truth in the interpretation and administration of the law (Le 19:15).”

“Ezr 9:1-9), and so violating "the covenant" made by Jehovah with "our fathers," by which it was ordained that we should be a people separated from the other peoples of the world (Ex 19:5; To intermarry with the heathen would defeat this purpose of Jehovah, w…”

“Or, "the second time" means this: Your first sin was your blemished offerings to the Lord: now "again" is added your sin towards your wives [CALVIN]. covering . . . altar . . . with tears--shed by your unoffending wives, repudiated by you that ye might take f…”

“Isa 54:6). wife of thy covenant--not merely joined to thee by the marriage covenant generally, but by the covenant between God and Israel, the covenant-people, whereby a sin against a wife, a daughter of Israel, is a sin against God [MOORE]. Marriage also is …”

“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 (Mt 25…”

“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…”

“I . . . come near . . . to judgment--I whom ye challenged, saying, "Where is the God of judgment?" (Mal 2:17). 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-witness agains…”

“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. from . . . days of your fathers--Ye live as your fathers did when they brought on themselves the Babylonian c…”

“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 dutie…”

“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" Hi…”

“GESENIUS not so well translates, "Even to a failure of sufficiency," which in the case of God could never arise, and therefore means for ever, perpetually: so Ps 72:5, "as long as the sun and moon endure"; literally, "until a failure of the sun and moon," wh…”

“"Then," when the ungodly utter such blasphemies against God, the godly hold mutual converse, defending God's righteous dealings against those blasphemers (Heb 3:13). The "often" of English Version is not in the Hebrew.”

“Then shall ye . . . discern--Then shall ye see the falseness of your calumny against God's government (Mal 3:15), that the "proud" and wicked prosper. Do not judge before the time till My work is complete.”

“Eph 5:14; and in His second coming, 2Pe 1:19. The Church is the moon reflecting His light (Re 12:1). The righteous shall by His righteousness "shine as the Sun in the kingdom of the Father" (Mt 13:43). ye shall go forth--from the straits in which you were…”