THE
PULPIT COMMENTARY, EDITED DY TilB
VERY REV. H. D. M. SPENCE, D.D., DEAN OF OLOUOmBTmB;
AND BY THIii
REV. JOSEPH S. EXELL, M.1.
MALACHI. @xposftfoft BY REV. W. J. DE.A.NE, M.A.,
'j11omflrtfe1 BY REV. E. S. PROUT, M.A.
~omflies by 'Vatious 9utbors. REV. B. TUCK, B.A. REV. D. THOMAS, D.D.
NEW EDITION,
FUNK & WA.GNALLS COMPANY LONDON AND NEW YORK 1906 BOOK OF MALACHI. INTRODUCTION.
§ I. SuBJEar OF THE Boox:. THE reformation effected by Nehemiah in the earlier part of his adminis- tration had been maintained by his own personal influence and political authority; and when the strong hand of the governor was for a time removed, old abuses revived, and even some new laxities and transgressions were added. In the thirty-second year of Artaxerxes (B.c.433-2) Nehemiah had been recalled to Babylon or Susa, either because his furlough had expired, or because he had to make further arrangements for the prolongation of his command, or simply, as was the Persian custom, to give an account of his actions, which had been unfavourably represented at court. On bis return a.t the end of two or three years (Neh. xiii 6), he found great cause for sorrow and anxiety. Advantage of his absence had been take-,. by the latitudinarian party in the commonwealth to return to those evil practices and that open disregard of the Law which he had so severely reprobated twelve years before. Ezra wa.'l probably dead, as no further mention is made of him after Nehemiah's second return from the Persian court; and, losing the suppo1·t of this wise and single-hearted scribe, Nehemiah would have had to stem the torrent of laxity and profaneness alone, had not God raised up the Prophet Malachi at this crisis. As Haggai and Zechariah had animated the spirits and rebuked the faint-heartedness of the earlier pilgrims, so now Malachi comes forward to assist Nehemiah in this new reformation by boldly and unflinchingly reproving the delinquencies of p1·iest and people, and announcing the great day of judg- ment. A prophet was indeed needed at this moment. The spirit of Pharisaism and Sadduceeiem, which in after-years worked such ineradicable mischief~ had already begun to exhibit its evil propensities. On the one haud, the perfunctory, outward observanoe of ritual acts with no inward repentance or de\'otion, was considered to be all that religion could claiw, all that was needed for acceptance; on the other, a wid66pread sceptil ism ii INTRODUCTION TO
was sapping all morality, and teaching men to live impiously and 11elfishly. The promises set forth by the earlier prophets had, as thfly reflected, not been fulfilled; they were still in a depressed and humble position; and, contrasting their present state with the splendid prospect spread before them in the restored theocracy, they murmured against God, and questioned bis providence and his power. They were impatient for some display of bis judgment on the Gentiles, and, not seeing this, they presumed to doubt the righteousness of his rule and ordering. In their impatience they forgot that it was their own negligence, infidelity, and manifold transgressions that withheld God's blessings from them. They might also have observed that the brilliant future predicted was not promised as immediately to succeed the return from captivity; on the contrary, many intimations were gfren that a long interval lay between the prophecy and its complete fulfilment. Against this evil spirit of unbelief Malachi had to contend; and how vigorously he performed his part, a review of his book will clearly show. The book is divided into four chapters in the Authorized Version, the Greek. Latin, Syriac, and Arabic Versions; the Hebrew combines our third and fourth chapters into one. But neither arrangement exactly suits the distribution of the subject-matter, which is usually (after Ewald) divided into three parts, consisting respectively of eh. i. 2-ii. 9; eh. ii. 10-16; and eh. ii. 17 to the end. Though thus artificially distributed, the prophecy is one whole, and forms one continuous address, combined, it may be, from many utterances. The prophet begins by showing Jebovah's love for Israel, and proving it by recalling to memory the differing destinies of Jacob and Esau, how that the descendants of the latter had suffered ruin and desolation, while th~ Israelites had experienced favour and protection in the past, and should bfl still more blessed in the future (eh. i. 1-5). Yet they had not re~r,ondo1l to his love; yea, the very priests had been foremost in offendini< nim, by polluting his altar and offering unworthy sacrifices; these offf\rings God wholly rejects, demanding such pure offering as that w·hich !!hall be presented in the time of Messiah. But the priests have pnformed their office in a mercenary and perfunctory spirit, and have Joo.rned to despise the worship of God; therefore, unless they repent, they shall be punished with curse and rejection; and then, to demonstrate how far they have erred from the right path, the prophet sketches the portrait of the true priest, such as God would have him to be (eh. i. 6-ii. 9). The second part reproves the heathen marriages of priests and people. In defiance of the Law, and regardless that they were thus profaning the covenant, they had repudiated their own legitimate wives in order that they might marry the daughters of the idolatrous heathen. The Hebrew wives had wept and laid their cause before the Lord, and he hears them, and will vindicate his own institution (eh. ii. 10-16). The third part introduces God as the God of judgment. The people had thought to go on their way unpunished, 'l'HE BOOK OF MALACHI, iii