The Pulpit Commentary — Malachi — Section 37

moral beings bear a resemNa.ncc to the Infinite. They are spiritual in r~sence, moral in sentiment., free in action; they are formed in his image. 2. The existence of parental sympathy. \Vhile a human father has the ordioary ~ensibilities of a man, he has the 11cctiliar a!f,•~tions of a. parent, a tender interest in his offspring, which he feels fo1· no other object in the world. So God is a Father. \Vhilst he has an interest in ~l the "":rks of h!s hands,_ he has a special inter~st in a ~uman soul. 3. '1.1/ie oblige,- t,0,1 of jilwJ devotion.. Filial love and loyalty raise and bmd the souls of children to their parents. Such is the feeling that human spirits should cherish and develop in relation to God. Man is the only creature on this round earth that has the capacity, and consequently the obligation, to feel, entertain, or develop this filial affection. He then who is the Creator of all tbin:;s in the world is the ]father of man; all are his creatures, but men are bis children. 8ublime di~tinction this I IL 'l'B.AT THE FACT OF THIS UNIQUE RELATIONSHIP IS A MIGHT'\' ARGUMENT WHY MAN SHOULD DO NO Wl!ONG AGAINST EITHER BIS FEU,OW-CREATURE OR ms GoD. .. Why do we deal treacherously every man against his brother, by profaning the covenant of our fathers P" Two remarks are suggested concerning the wrong with which the Israelites are here charged. 1. It was a wrong committed against mankind. The special wrong referred t.o ie the contraction of marriage with a heathen woman, and the putting away the Isre.elitish wife. This is the treachery and the "abomination" referred to. The repudi&tion of Jewish wives and the adoption of heathen. 2. Thia wrong against mankind tDal a VJrong against God himself. "Judah bath profaned the holiness of the Lord which he loved, and hath married the daughter of a strange god." God's Jaw with the Jewish people was that they were to be a separate people, separate from all the other people of the earth, and they were to sustain their distinction by not inter- me.rryiug with other peoples. But now, at the period when the prophet wrote, they were doing so, and that to a great extent (see Neh. xiii. 23-29; Ezra ix. 1---4-). It is a universal truth that a wrong against man is a wroog against God; to sin against our fellow-creatures is to sin against God himself; and this is an outrage against the relationship which we all smt.ain to him, not only as our common Creator, but our common Father. We are all children of the same Father, and therefore we should be fair in our dealings one with another. We should love one another, and co-operate with one another for onr mutual advantage in all that is virtuous and noble. "Have we not all one Father?" Wherefore, then, should we cheat, hate, deceive, oppress, murder one another? How monstrous! Ill. THAT THE PERPETRATION OF WRONG EXPOSES THE DOEB TO THE IIOST LillENTAllLE BESULTS. "'l'he Lord will cut off the man that doeth this, the master and the scholar, out of the tabernacles of Jacob, and him that offereth an offering unto the Lord of hosts. And this have ye done," etc. This, perhaps, means utter extermi- nation. "The master and the scholar," some translate, "him that wa.tcheth and him that answereth." In "master" the special reference is to the priest who ought to have taught the people piety, but who Jed them into evil; in" scholar," to the people themselves, who were the pupils of the priests. The idea is that both the priests and the people will suffer on account of the wrong they were committing. Great distress had come upoc. them already. "Thie have ye done" (see Ezra x.; Neh. xiii. 10-13). .Again, this is only a shadowy picture of the evils that ever flow from wrong. "Sin brought death into our world, and all our woe." It is sin that kindles and feeds the fl.e.mes of retribution. CONCLUSION. Haste the time when men shall realiza the fact that they are all children of one Father, so that all wrongs against one another shall cease, and the spirit of universal brotherhood prevail I .. A he.ppv bit he.me this auld world would be, If men when tl.Jey're here could make shift to agree, An' ilk 11aid t.o his neighbour, in cottage an' ha', •Come, gi'e me your hand-we are brethren a', • I ken na why ane wi' a.nither should fight, When to 'gree would make a.' body coeie e.n' right; When man meets wi' man, 'tis the best way ava, To say, 'Gi'e me your h&nd-we are brethren a'.' till. II, 1-17.] 'l'HE :BOOK OF MALAOHI. 31