This book, in the Hebrew copies, is called “Sepher Malachi”, the Book of Malachi; in the Vulgate Latin version, “the Prophecy of Malachi”; in the Syriac and Arabic versions, “the Prophecy of the Prophet Malachi”; According to Lactantius [[0]], Zechariah was the last of the prophets; but the more…

The burden of the word of the Lord By which is meant the prophecy of this book, so called, not because heavy, burdensome, and distressing, either for the prophet to carry, or the people to bear; for some part of it, which respects Christ, and his forerunner, was matter of joy to the people of God;…

I have loved you, saith the Lord Which appeared of old, by choosing them, above all people upon the face of the earth, to be his special and peculiar people; by bestowing peculiar favours and blessings upon them, both temporal and spiritual; by continuing them a people, through a variety of changes…

And I hated Esau Or, “rejected” him, as the Targum; did not love him as Jacob: this was a negative, not positive hatred; it is true of him, personally considered; not only by taking away the birthright and blessing from him, which he despised; but by denying him his special grace, leaving him in…

Whereas Edom saith, We are impoverished Or the Idumeans, as the Targum; the posterity of Esau, who acknowledge themselves greatly reduced by the desolations made in their country, cities, towns, and houses, being plundered of all their valuable things.

And your eyes shall see The destruction of the Edomites, and their fruitless attempts to rebuild their desolate places; and the difference between them and the Israelites, who were returned to their own land, and inherited it, when they could not; and the love of God to the one, and his hatred of…

A son honoureth his father, and a servant his master, &c.] Or, “will honour”, or “should honour”; it is their duty to do so, both according to the laws of God and man; and so the Targum, “lo concerning a son it is said (or commanded) that be should honour his father; and of a servant, that he…

Ye offer polluted bread upon mine altar Which some understand of the shewbread, mention being afterwards made of a “table”, as Jerom; who observes that it was made of wheat, which the priests themselves sowed, reaped, ground, and baked, and so could take what they would out of it: as for their…

And if ye offer the blind for sacrifice, is it not evil? &c.] Certainly it is, according to the law in or, as Kimchi interprets it, when they bring to you a lamb that is blind for sacrifice to offer it up, ye say, this is not evil; but it is good to offer it up, because the table is contemptible.

And now, I pray you, beseech God that he will be gracious unto us These are the words of the prophet to the priests; and are spoken either seriously, exhorting them to that part of their office which lay in interceding for the people that God would be gracious to them, and forgive their sins; and…

Who is there even among you that would shut the doors for nought? &c.] Either of the temple, as the Targum and Jarchi; for at each of the gates of the temple there were porters appointed in David’s time, and who were paid for their service: or of the court, as Kimchi; the court of the priests where…

For from the rising of the sun even unto the going down of the same From east to west, which is all habitable; not so north and south, as Kimchi observes, the extremes of which are not habitable.

But ye have profaned it That is, the name of the Lord, which they are said to despise, and pollute, and is a reason why they and their offerings were rejected: and that they profaned the name of the Lord appears by this, in that ye say, The table of the Lord is polluted: the same with…

Ye said also, Behold, what a weariness is it? &c.] These are either the words of the priests, saying what a wearisome and fatiguing business the temple service was to them, for which they thought they were poorly paid; such as slaying the sacrifices; removing the ashes from the altar; putting the…

But cursed be the deceiver A cunning, crafty, subtle man, who thinks and contrives, speaks and acts, in a very artful and deceiving manner; though some derive the word from (יכל) , “to be able”; and so the Septuagint and Arabic versions render it, “who is able”; to bring a proper offering, a…