CRITICAL NOTES.
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.
Malachi 1:6.] Expostulation to priests, who should love Jehovah as sons, and fear] him as servants (Exodus 20:12). Say] Instead of confessing guilt, deny the charge and demand proofs.
Malachi 1:7. Polluted] i.e. any sacrifices the bread or food of God (Leviticus 21:6; Leviticus 21:8; Leviticus 22:25; Numbers 28:2). Blind and lame were polluted bread.
Malachi 1:8. Governor] If customary to offer heathen rulers presents proportionate to the dignity of the receiver the circumstances of the giver, and the value of the favour sought, should God be insulted by offering things which they would reject?
Malachi 1:9. Pray] An earnest call to repentance say some; others, that it is ironical. Think you that God will be persuaded by polluted gifts? No; amend your ways. This] Contemptible offerings your doing. Means] Lit. from your hand. Will God regard] you?
Malachi 1:10. Nought] So avaricious were they that the meanest things were not done without payment. Some say this frees the priests from excuse for carelessness, for the least service, such as shutting the door, was paid for. Others regard the words as a wish: “Oh that some among you would not open my sanctuary to such profane intruders (close the doors against such worshippers and sacrifices), and would not kindle the fire on mine altar to no purpose!” Better without worship than such as this [cf. Keil and Words.].
HOMILETICS
BUILDING UP WITHOUT GOD.—Malachi 1:4
Edom’s temporal desolation and her resolve to repair it may be taken as a figure of our moral condition and the efforts of men to improve it.
I. Man’s moral condition is a ruin. “We are impoverished; lit. ruined.” Sin creates distance from God, and brings poverty and ruin. There is no misery like that which sin brings, and no misfortune so disastrous as that in which it ends. Sin “brought death and all our woe into the world;” and death is passed upon all men, for all have sinned.
II. Men try to repair their moral condition by wrong means. They are sensible of their misery,—“we are impoverished,”—feel their distance,—“we will return,”—and resolve to build up their broken fortunes,—we will “build the desolate places.”
1. Men’s efforts are directed to a wrong end. “We will return.” Return to what? Return to our kingdom and associations. Thus men cling to creeds, societies, and institutions, and not to God. “If thou wilt return, O Israel, saith the Lord, return unto me.”
2. Men’s efforts are put forth in a wrong spirit. “But we will return and build.” Here we have pride, presumption, and opposition to God. Men resolve, but God will hinder. At Babel men were frustrated in purpose, confused in tongues, and scattered over the earth.
3. Men’s efforts are built on a wrong foundation. “They shall call them the border of wickedness.” If the foundation be bad, the higher it is run up the more labour is lost, and the more tremendous the fall. Empires, houses, and fortunes built on selfish principles will never stand. “Woe unto him that buildeth his house by unrighteousness, and his chambers by wrong” (Jeremiah 22:13).
III. When men try to repair their moral condition by wrong means God will overthrow their efforts. “They shall build, but I will throw down.” Providence pulls down as well as builds up (Ecclesiastes 3:3). God can crush every effort and break down every edifice of man. “I will work, and who shall let?” (hinder, turn it back, Isaiah 14:27) (Isaiah 43:13). He overturns our bodies by disease and death; our families by discord and bereavement; business by failure and loss; nations by famine and sword.
1. This overthrow is terrible. Places were desolate, buildings thrown down, broken into fragments. The firmest foundation, the most fortified walls of sin, will not avail before God. “The Lord hath stretched out a line (not to build, but destroy, 2 Kings 21:13; Isaiah 34:11), he hath not withdrawn his hand from destroying: therefore he made the wall and the rampart to lament” (Lamentations 2:8).
2. This overthrow is irrevocable. The “indignation” is “for ever.” The destruction can never be repaired. This seen in the tower of Babel and the cities of the plain. Joshua’s curse fell upon the rebuilding of Jericho (cf. Joshua 6:26; 1 Kings 16:34). The apostate Julian could not contravene the word of God concerning Jerusalem. When he had gathered materials and commenced the work the tempest from heaven filled him with dismay, and forced him to confess the hand of God. “He breaketh down, and (so that) it cannot be built again” (Job 12:14). But is there no way of building that we may be secure and happy? Must our efforts to recover ourselves perpetually fail, and our hopes be for ever disappointed? Build on Christ, the true foundation, for no other foundation can any man lay; build by the aid of the Spirit, and in humble confidence in the promise of God, then your work shall abide. “Building up yourselves on your most holy faith.” “I commend you to God, and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up, and to give you an inheritance among all them which are sanctified.”
TITLES WITHOUT HONOURS.—Malachi 1:6
Upon the fact that respect is shown by inferiors to superiors Jehovah founds his right to honour and reverence due to him as Creator and Ruler. But God condemns the contempt priests and people displayed in offering blemished sacrifices.
I. God is our Father, and should be honoured. The prophet does not appeal to the law, but lays down the truth, which none will dispute, that Jehovah is the Father of Israel. If God, therefore, is a father, the honour of sons is due to him. Heathen philosophers taught that parents were household gods, and were to have all possible respect. “To God and our parents,” said Aristotle, “we can never make recompense.”
1. God claims honour from us. “Honour thy father and thy mother” (Exodus 20:12). “Doubtless thou art our father” (Isaiah 63:16; Malachi 2:10).
2. Men withhold the honour due to him. “Where is mine honour?” They do not honour him with their substance, but despise him in heart and act. “Do ye thus requite the Lord?”
II. God is our Master, and should be served. “If I be a master, where is my fear?” God is acknowledged to be our Lord. He should be served in filial not in slavish fear. We are not to find fault with his employment, or engage in it by force and constraint. “They say and do not.” Our service must be earnest and constant. In all fear should we obey and submit to him (1 Peter 2:18). Fidelity to our conscience will ever be rewarded. “He that waiteth on his master shall be honoured;” here by the promise and presence of God, at length by the approval of God. “Well done,” &c. “If any man serve me him will my Father honour.”
“Bad servants wound their master’s fame” [Gay].
THE SINS OF THE PRIESTS.—Malachi 1:6-10
Turning from the people, the prophet addresses the priests, who should be leaders in holiness, but are foremost in bringing the service of God into contempt. They were under special obligations to sanctify him, but they profaned his name and caused Israel to sin.
I. Their services were a violation of all law. A son should honour his father, and a servant obey his master (Malachi 1:6); but they withheld from God what they-demanded from the people, and slighted him more than any creature.
1. The law of nature was dishonoured. Fair words and grand titles require consistent life. Nature teaches honour to parents and respect to masters, reproves want of reverence to God, and testifies against those who honour in word and dishonour in life. “Why call ye me Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?”
2. The law of God was violated. God expressly forbade the offering of the blind, the lame, or any evil-favoured sacrifice. “Whatsoever hath a blemish, that shall ye not offer: for it shall not be acceptable for you. Ye shall not offer unto the Lord that which is bruised, or crushed, or broken, or cut” (Leviticus 22:20; Leviticus 22:24). If it be lame, or blind, or have “any ill blemish, thou shalt not sacrifice it unto the Lord thy God” (Deuteronomy 15:21; Nehemiah 5:14-15).
3. The law of common civility was disregarded. “Offer it now unto thy governor; will he be pleased with thee?” (Malachi 1:8). What insult to offer God what a mortal would disdain! Yet what a contrast between God’s table and that of our princes! If an earthly monarch would neither accept our gift nor espouse our cause with such approach, can we expect God to bless? “Will he be pleased with thee or accept thy person?”
II. Their services were offensive to God. They despised his name and offered polluted bread upon his altar.
1. Their offerings were mean in substance. “Ye offer the blind for sacrifice; is it not evil?” They put God off with what was worth nothing. Darius probably supplied them plentifully with victims for sacrifice, but they offered the worst. “God despises not the widow’s mite, but he does despise the miser’s mite,” says Moore.
2. Their offerings were mercenary in spirit. They would neither kindle a fire nor shut the door without pay (Malachi 1:10). “What will ye give me, and I will deliver him unto you?” How niggardly we are in God’s service! Ever crying, “What profit shall we have?” Thinking more of gain than duty. The meanest service for God will not be unrewarded. The servants of the temple had their tithes, cups of cold water have their benediction, and God is not unjust to forget labours of love. But if we become covetous and unfaithful, every one for his gain, from his quarter (Isaiah 56:11), then we pollute the altar and bring the service of God into contempt.
TRUE SPIRITUAL SERVICE.—Malachi 1:7-8
In the condemnation of what was evil in the spirit and substance of ancient sacrifice we learn the right method of approaching God, the true nature of spiritual service.
I. It should be intelligent. We should never offer the blind or ignorant service, and worship we know not what. “For he hath no pleasure in fools.”
II. It should be earnest and hearty. Not lame and half-hearted, but upright and sincere; not sick and feeble, but vigorous and cheerful. The homage and communion of the highest part of man; for God is a spirit, and can only hold communion with spirit. “If my soul is not engaged in my worship, it is even as though I worshipped not” [Confucius].
III. It should be reverential. If heathens were careful to offer sacrifices without blemish, how reverential should we be in the sanctuary of God. Never enter without due preparation; never utter hasty and ill-arranged thoughts, nor offer slovenly prayers and praise. Be as anxious to worship God as to discharge secular functions. God deserves our best, let us not dishonour him with unsound and grudged gifts. “Neither will I offer burnt offerings unto the Lord my God of that which doth cost me nothing.”
HOMILETIC HINTS AND OUTLINES
Malachi 1:6. It becomes us to do what God enjoins. First, because he has a right to command us. He is Sovereign, we are subjects; Master, we are servants; Father, we are children. Secondly, because all his commandments are reasonable. None arbitrary or tyrannical. Thirdly, because his commands are beneficial. All enjoined has special regard to our welfare. “In keeping his commandments there is great reward.” Fourthly, because God’s commands are practicable. All imply power to obey. If not possessed, yet attainable; if not in nature, yet in grace; if not in ourselves, yet in him whose authority we recognize, and who is always accessible [Jay]. God is the Father of the faithful—
(1) By creation;
(2) by preservation and governance;
(3) by alimony;
(4) by fatherly care and providence;
(5) by faith and grace, whereby he justifies and adopts us sons and heirs of his kingdom [Pusey].
Malachi 1:7. Is it not evil? If we worship God ignorantly and without understanding we bring the blind for sacrifice; if we do it carelessly and without consideration, if we are cold, and dull, and dead in it, we bring the sick; if we rest in the bodily exercise, and do not make heart work of it, we bring the lame; and if we suffer vain thoughts and distractions to lodge within us, we bring the torn [Matt. Henry].
Polluted bread. Because—
1. It does not correspond with the requirements of God’s law.
2. It is offered with impure mind and life. If temple purifications were necessary of old, how much holiness is needful now! Contemptible table. In what way can we now pollute the table of the Lord?
(1) In the Sacrament, when we ourselves partake of it unworthily, or do not enough arouse the consciences of others.
(2) In life, when we allow in ourselves, or in others committed to us, a half-way devotedness to the Lord [Lange].
Malachi 1:9-10. These words are difficult, but may contain—
1. A charge against the priests. You begun, and continued to insult God, by worthless sacrifices, and brought all the consequences upon the people. Not from aliens, not from the custom of your fathers, but from your hand hath this been.
2. “An ironical appeal, covering an implied menace.” Bring your maimed sacrifices, press God with your prayers, will he regard your persons, in the spirit in which you serve him? Some say—
3. A call to repentance and prayer for the mercy of God. “I pray you, beseech God, that he will be gracious unto you.”
4. A rejection of priestly intercession. An indignant appeal is made to their own consciences. If you have brought this evil upon the worship of God, if your hands are tainted with sinful offerings; are you fit to pray for the rest? Try it on, you will not succeed. God will reject you! “He sums up with an entire rejection of them, present and future: I have no pleasure in you; it is a term of repudiation (cf. 1 Samuel 18:25), sometimes of disgust (Jeremiah 22:28; Jeremiah 48:38; Hosea 8:8), neither will I accept an offering at your hands” [Pusey].
5. To silence excuse. You have nothing to say for such careless offerings. You know what is right, and you are paid for the smallest service you perform.
6. A wish to close the doors against such proceedings. Who among you will shut the doors, and keep such worshippers out of the temple? Better close the sanctuary than open it to subserve selfish and hypocritical purposes—better have no offerings at all than vain offerings which God will not accept (Isaiah 1:11-15). “Away with your vain oblations! What purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices to me!”
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 1:6. Honoureth. One of the best elements of character as well in a child as in a man, is reverence. This is the feeling due to parents and to God, our Father in heaven. It is more than respect; it is respect blended with awe. One void of reverence unconsecrates all the mysteries and sanctities of life [Dulce Domum].
Malachi 1:7-8; Malachi 1:12-13. Accept person.
“When once thy foot enters the Church, be bare:
God is more there than thou, for thou art there
Only by his permission. Then beware;
And make thyself all reverence and fear.” [G. Herbert.]
Malachi 1:10. Nought. “His money perish with him,” said the pious marquis of Vico, “who prefers not one hour’s communion with Christ before all the riches and pleasures of the world.” “Covetousness debaseth a man’s spirit” [Tillotson].