The Pulpit Commentary — Malachi — Section 7

prepared the way for hie universal reception? which eate" the offering to bo the tire whioh The LXX. lr('Rt.e this circum~tance Be consumes it, as" liok up" (1 Kings xviii, 38). already occurring at this time, Tb lli,oµd. Others explain the Vulgato to mean that" µ,,v ~.~&{,un·a,. "My Name hath been and ie the priests oomph\in of tho scantiness e.ncl glorifi('d." Thie could only be said if it iDferiority of the victims, tho flesh of which WR• allowed that the hrRthen in some renee, formt>d their support. But 11s this was howe·rnr blindly a.nd imperfeotly, did worship owing to their own negleot, they were not the true God. But the notion oannot be likely to make it a subject of complo.int. upheld for a moment; and there is a Ver. 13.-What a wearineBB is it I The general consensus of commentators in re- referenoe is to the table of the Lord. ferring the time to the Messianic future, Despising the altar, and performing their when God's power is acknowledged and duties without heart or faith, the priests worship oftered t.o him, not in Jerusalem found the services an in tolerable burden. a.lone, but in every place. The participles Vulgate, ecce de labore, which seems to be in this verse may be rendered by presents an excuse of the people, urging that they or fntnres, but there oan be little doubt offer suoh things e.s their toil and poverty that a propheoy is intended, and not a allow. Septuagint, .,.,.;;.,.,. be 1<a1eo1ra8,lru statement of a fact-whioh, indeed, oould ;,,..,.1, which has much the same meaning. not be truthfully maintained. When such The present Hebrew text is represented by a future is in store, is this a time for Jewish the Authorized Version. Ye have snuffed prieAts to dishonour Jehovah? Incense eha.11 a.t it; i.e. at the altar. The phrase expresses be offered unto my Name, a.nd a pnre offering contempt. "It" has been supposed to ho (minchah). The universal worship is ex- a "scribes' correotion" for "me." The pressed iD the terms of the J ewieh ritual Septnagint and Syriac give," I snorted at (see note on Zeph. iiL 10). Tile Hebrew is them." Tho.t which was torn; rather, that more forcibly rendered, Jn e1Jery place v,hich VJaB taken by 11iolence-that which inoense i, burned, oblation made unto my was stolen or unjustly taken. Septuagint, l."am.e, and indud a pure oblation. Incense Ap,rd:yµa..-a: Ecclus. x:xxiv. 18 (xxxi. 21), is to our miDds a type of prayer (Rev. v. 8; "He that saorificeth of a thing wrongfully viii. 3, etc.) ; the pure oblation is the symbol gotten, his offering is ridiculous (µ.,,-1e11- of the Christian sacrifice of praise and /L•'V1/)," Lame , , . sick (see Lev. xxii. 19 thanksgiring; and the prophet, rising -25). Thus ye brought an (bring the) offer- superior t.o Jewish prejudices, announces ing ( minchah). Subject to analogous defects that this prayer a.nd sacrifice shall no longer is even your meat offering, the accessory to be con1ined t.o one place or one specially other sacrifices, and therefore it is unaccept- favolll'ed country, but be universal, world- able. wide. The Fathers and mediieval writers, Ver. 14.-But ( and) cursed be the deoeiver. 11nd ma.ny modern commentators, see in this The curse is fulminated against all who are verse a prophecy of the Holy Eucharist, guilty of these violations of the Law. The the " pnre offering " commemorative of prophet mentions two instances out of m11ny. Christ's sacrifice, which is found in every The first is of one who offers a female victim, nation nuder heaven where the Name of on pretence that he has no male in his Bock. Christ is adored. This will be clearer if we translate, with Ver. 12.-But ye have profa.ned it; ye Keil, "And cursed is he who deceives, profane God's Name. The prophet contrasts whereas there is in his flock a male animal." the negligence and profanity of the prie.te Septuagint, " Cursed is he who was-able and with the piety of the Gentile natiollH, which had in his Bock a me.le." And voweth ... he foresees. The table of the Lord (see note e. corm.pt (blemished) thing. The second on ver. 7). The fruit thereof, even his meat. case is of one who in some emergency vows The food and meat of the altar are the au offering, and then pays it by presenting victims offered thereon. By their conduct a blemished animal (Lev. iii. I, 6). With the priests made both altar a.nd offerings a slightly altered punctuation, some editors contemptible. Septuagint, Ta: l1r1T18•tL•"a give, "a. faulty female." l!'or I am a great t{oua,vrlTa.t fJp,l,µcrra av..-ov, " Its meats that King. This is the reason that they are are laid thereon are set at naught;" Vulgate, cursed who dishonour him. Dreadful. Held Quod 11Uperponitur conrem;Ptiblle est, cum in awe and reverence. Septuagint, i1r,.,,1111ls, igne qui illud derorat. Thie is either a free "notable." He whom the Gentiles honour paraphrase, or for "meat" Jerome mUBt have will not permit his own people to profane read a participle, "eatiDg,'' and taken "that his Name. 0B, r, 1-14.J rim sooir OF lt'.ALA.OHI.