CRITICAL NOTES.] Burden] (Massa) A heavy vision full of toil and weight. “What is the burden of the Lord?” was asked scoffingly from the prophets. As a punishment for the blasphemy of the people, God declares, “I will burden you” [cf. Lange: Jeremiah 23:33-40].
Malachi 1:2. Loved] A faction their history and the foundation for reproof. Hated] Not a proper and formed hatred (for God could not hate Esau before he sinned), but only a lesser love, which, in comparison of the great love for Jacob, seemed as if it were not love [Pusey]. Jacob and Esau are illustrations of God’s purpose in the election of grace. Their history typified and conditioned that of their posterity (cf. Romans 9:11).
Malachi 1:3.] The condition of the country, desolate and inhabited by (dragons) jackals of the wilderness, a proof of this hatred.
Malachi 1:4. Edom] cannot recover herself. Her perpetual ruins illustrate love to Israel rather than to her. Border] still the resort of marauding tribes of the desert. Indignation] Curse (cf. Isaiah 34:5).
Malachi 1:5. See] the ineffectual attempts of Edom, and then acknowledge the greatness of Jehovah in and beyond the land of Israel.
HOMILETICS
SPECIAL FAVOURS DEMAND SPECIAL RETURNS.—Malachi 1:2-5
The sovereign benevolence of Jehovah and the ingratitude of the Hebrews in the time of the prophet are strikingly contrasted. To the petulant question, “Wherein hast thou loved us?” which is only the first of a series which are put in the course of the book, the answer is direct and conclusive—in showing greater kindness to their progenitor Jacob than he had done to his brother Esau [Hend.].
I. Distinction above others an act of Divine love. From the first Israel were chosen and set apart, and to the last were they loved in chastisement and rebuke. Nothing was due to their own industry and virtues.
1. Their temporal blessings were greater that those of others. We have only to look around to see Divine goodness. Protected homes, restored health, and fruitful lands. The land of Israel was specially favoured, while Idumea was sterile, desolate, and the haunt of jackals. Israel had been restored, but Edomites were under the ban.
2. Their religious privileges were greater than those of others. Edom and heathen nations had not the temple and the oracles of God. “He hath not dealt so with any nation” as with the Jews (Psalms 147:10). God’s love is the source of every blessing. He makes one differ from another. The distinctions of men and the advantages of nations result from his sovereign goodness. Thus the love of God is—
(1) proved from his word: “I have loved thee;” and
(2) confirmed by our life. In our past and present condition we are reminded of gratuitous love. “The Lord had a delight in thy fathers to love them, and he chose their seed after them, even you above all people, as it is this day.”
II. Distinction above others a reason for implicit submission. The people ask for proofs of love. God appeals to facts to silence scepticism.
1. God’s love may be questioned. “Wherein hast thou loved us?” If God afflicts we think him unkind; if he withholds what we desire we question his mercy. Pride and petulance have dimmed our vision. We have formed the habit of doubting until it has grown strong, and we constantly cry “Wherein?”
2. God’s love may be denied. Men cry, “Give me the ocular proof; make me see’t.” If evidence of God’s providence is not seen they deny it. The Jews could only say, We are few and feeble, unable to defend our houses and gather pur harvests, the frequent prey of some and the perpetual scorn of others. This insolent challenge is a common, a prolific root of sin, a fountain of ingratitude and rebellion. The doctrine of election may be mysterious, but greater difficulties arise from its rejection. God says that he loves us, and gives abundant proof of it. What more do we wish? All misery is due to ourselves. We must be silent, for God is just. “Why dost thou strive against him? (quarrel with and dispute his dealings, Isaiah 45:9) for he giveth not account of (he answereth not) any of his matters” (Job 33:13).
III. Distinction above others an inducement to grateful service. The election of Israel was “not of works, but of him that calleth.” Descent from one and the same patriarch was not the reason of their choice. The prophet and the apostle declare it to be of free grace. This a reason—
1. For grateful service. god’s love lays us under obligation to love him in return. But amid striking proofs of it we are blind, ungrateful, and dissatisfied. “Wherein hast thou loved us?”
2. For constant service. “God’s everlasting love was uniform in itself, manifold in its manifestations” [Pusey]. If God never ceases to bless we should never cease to serve. “I am constant as the northern star, of whose true, fixed, and resting quality there is no fellow in the firmament” [Shakespeare].
“Love me little, love me long” [Marlowe].
LESSONS FROM THE RUIN OF EDOM.—Malachi 1:3-5
Jacob and Esau were brothers, but God did not deal with them both alike. Their personal history was repeated in their posterity. The doom of one was pointed to as a lesson of providence and love to the other.
I. The ruin of Edom a monument of God’s anger. “I hated Esau.” In whatever sense we take the word “hated,” greater love was shown to Jews than to Edom. But God has reasons for his acts. The Edomites were “the children of the sword,” and “he that taketh the sword shall perish by the sword.” Hence they brought the anger of God upon themselves in “a form of that Divine and wholesome law of retribution which we find in our own lives no less than in the written word,” says one.
II. The ruin of Edom a warning to other people. What happened to them may happen to us. “Your eyes shall see.” God’s people may be assured of his love towards them and his providence over them when they see the enemy punished and frustrated in their designs. The world should learn that God “will be magnified from the border of Israel.”
III. The ruin of Edom a proof of Jehovah’s supremacy over all nations. The judgments that fell upon Edom taught the Jews, and the world through the Jews, that God was not only the God of Israel, but the God of the whole earth. By contrasting the condition of Israel with that of Edom we learn that Jehovah is supreme over all nations, saying to one, Thou shalt live, and to another, Thou shalt perish; that his government is merciful to his people and retributive to his enemies.
HOMILETIC HINTS AND OUTLINES
Malachi 1:1. Malachi’s message.
1. The nature of the message. “The burden.”
2. The authority of the message. “The word of the Lord.”
3. The design of the message. “To Israel.”
4. The medium of the message. “By Malachi.”
Malachi 1:2. Learn—
1. That God’s love is not dispensed according to any merit in us. “I have loved thee.”
2. That God’s love cannot always be seen in our outward condition. “Wherein hast thou loved us?”
3. That love may often be seen when we compare our condition with that of others. “I loved Jacob, and I hated Esau.”
4. That God’s love should always beget gratitude to God in return. “ ‘I have loved you,’ God would say, ‘with a special love, a more than ordinary love, with greater tokens of love than to others.’ So God brings to the penitent soul the thought of its ingratitude” [Pusey].
5. That when there is no gratitude in return for his love God will punish. The sequel proves this. Lycurgus, when asked why he set down no punishment in his laws for ingratitude, replied, “I have left it to the gods to punish.”
Malachi 1:2-3. Jacob viewed chiefly in his national capacity as Israel, and taken by the apostle as a type of the elect (Romans 9:13). Esau viewed as the Edomite nation show that the accepttance or rejection is not spiritual, that a principle of election runs through all history, and that God, as absolute sovereign, bestows religious privileges and Divine blessings.
Malachi 1:4. The world’s defiance of God’s decree. It breaks down, he builds up; it builds, he breaks down [Lange].
Malachi 1:5-6. Observe the repetition of the word border in the contrast between them. Edom is the border (gebûl) of wickedness; but the Lord will show his power and love over the border (gebûl) of Israel [Words.]. The Lord magnified, &c.
1. By his gracious acts to Israel.
2. By sending his word to the Gentiles.
3. By his judgments over all the earth (Revelation 15:4).
ILLUSTRATIONS TO CHAPTER 1
Malachi 1:2-5. Loved you. Ingratitude is too base to return a kindness, and too proud to regard it; much like the tops of mountains, barren indeed but yet lofty; they produce nothing, they feed nobody, they clothe nobody, yet are high and stately, and look down upon all the world about them [Dr. South].
Malachi 1:3. Waste. Divine curses are not merely imprecations, impotent and fruitless desires; they carry their effects with them, and are attended with all the miseries denounced by God [Cruden].