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| 1 The burden of a word of Jehovah unto Israel by the hand of Malachi: |
The burden – Containing not only a divine rebuke for sin, but also a divine promise for rescue. R4930:3
Serving a double purpose--to reprove and stimulate the people of that time and, more importantly, to give a general lesson applicable ever since. R3683:2
While more or less applicable at the time and to the people addressed, it was evidently intended specially for the Gospel Church. R2542:3
Word of the LORD – The last message sent by Jehovah to Israel. B249
By Malachi – "Messenger of Jehovah." R3683:2, R1537:3
The last of the Hebrew prophets. R1537:3
Malachi. the prophet, spoke for and represented Jehovah to the Israelites. R3683:1
Malachi uttered the words of his prophecy during the period of Nehemiah's absence from Jerusalem at the court of Persia. R3683:1, R2540:2, R2534:1, R4930:3
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| 2 I have loved you, said Jehovah, And ye have said, 'In what hast Thou loved us?' |
Yet ye say – The needed reformation fits equally well to our day. R4930:3
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| 3 Is not Esau Jacob's brother?�an affirmation of Jehovah, And I love Jacob, and Esau I have hated, And I make his mountains a desolation, And his inheritance for dragons of a wilderness. |
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| 4 Because Edom saith, 'We have been made poor, And we turn back and we build the wastes,' Thus said Jehovah of Hosts: They do build, and I do destroy, And [men] have called to them, 'O region of wickedness,' 'O people whom Jehovah defied to the age.' |
Whereas Edom – Christendom. D15
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| 5 And your eyes do see, and ye say, 'Magnified is Jehovah beyond the border of Israel, |
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| 6 A son honoureth a father, and a servant his master. And if I [am] a father, where [is] Mine honour? And if I [am] a master, where [is] My fear? Said Jehovah of Hosts to you, O priests, despising My name! And ye have said: 'In what have we despised Thy name?' |
Son honoureth his father – Such love and reverence should be the greater toward God in proportion as God is great above all others. R2540:3
If they claimed God as their Father, they should render to him the love of children. R2540:3
Disrespect and disobedience to parents fosters proportionate disrespect to God and irreverence in holy things. R2540:6
Because of superior educational opportunities, children today are inclined toward self-confidence and self-satisfaction, and feelings of disrespect toward their parents. R2540:6
A servant his master – If they claimed to be God's servants, they should render to him servant's reverence. R2540:3
Ye say, Wherein – Presupposing that the majority does not realize how completely the spirit of selfishness dominates their hearts. R2540:6
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| 7 Ye are bringing nigh on Mine altar polluted bread, And ye have said: 'In what have we polluted Thee?' In your saying: 'The table of Jehovah�it [is] despicable,' |
Ye offer – You Jews, in the days of Nehemiah's absence. R2534:1
Contemptible – Common--they had become careless respecting the things offered unto the Lord. R2541:1
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| 8 And when ye bring nigh the blind for sacrifice, 'There is no evil,' And when ye bring nigh the lame and sick, 'There is no evil;' Bring it near, I pray thee, to thy governor�Doth he accept thee? or doth he lift up thy face? Said Jehovah of Hosts. |
Ye offer the blind – And not the unblemished fatling. R2534:2
The spiritual Israelite offers the fruit of his lips in prayer and praise; but if in a perfunctory manner as a duty and not from his heart, they are blind, sick and lame offerings, which the Lord despises. R2541:1
So with some in spiritual Israel; they have consecrated but they have lost the spirit of devotion. R2541:1
Ye offer the lame – As Christendom, with an outward show of reverence, observes Lenten seasons as duty, not prompted by the spirit of love. R2542:6
Unto thy governor – Using, for illustration, the custom of that time of entreating an earthly governor for a favor by bringing a gift. R2541:1
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| 9 And now, appease, I pray thee, the face of God, And He doth favour us; From your own hand hath this been, Doth He accept of you appearances? Said Jehovah of Hosts. |
Hath been by your means – Consider what kind of present you have brought to him. R2541:2
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| 10 Who [is] even among you, And he shutteth the two-leaved doors? Yea, ye do not kindle Mine altar for nought, I have no pleasure in you, said Jehovah of Hosts, And a present I do not accept of your hand. |
Who is there – "O, that there were someone." (Leeser, R.V.) R2541:2
Shut the doors – Lock up the doors of the sanctuary. (Leeser, R.V.) R2541:2
For nought – Omit these words. R2541:2
Neither do ye – "That ye might not." (Leeser, R.V.) R2541:2
Altar for nought – From the Lord's standpoint, merely formalistic religion may just as well be abandoned entirely. R2541:2
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| 11 For, from the rising of the sun to its going in, Great [is] My name among nations, And in every place perfume is brought nigh to My name, and a pure present, For great [is] My name among nations, Said Jehovah of Hosts. |
Shall be – The Common Version, "shall be," in the future tense, is correct; and not "is," in the present tense, as the Revised Version. R3874:2
"Is," in Revised Version, meaning God's name was great at the time of the writing of the prophecy. We have evidence that other nations, even those in idolatry, had a reverence for Jehovah--the Philistines (1 Sam. 4:7,8; 6); Nebuchadnezzar (Dan. 4:37); Darius (Dan. 6:26, 27); Cyrus (Ezra 1:2) and Balaam (Num. 24). R2541:3
Among the Gentiles – As well as among the Jews. A69
Incense – This word is from the same root as the name Keturah. PT379:1*
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| 12 And ye are polluting it in your saying, 'The table of Jehovah�it is polluted, As to its fruit�despicable is its food.' |
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| 13 And ye have said, 'Lo, what a weariness,' And ye have puffed at it, said Jehovah of Hosts, And ye have brought in plunder, And the lame and the sick, And ye have brought in the present! Do I accept it from your hand? said Jehovah. |
Ye said also – Distorting the truth, for the truth had to be the means of giving acceptability to the counterfeit. R358:5*
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| 14 And cursed [is] a deceiver, who hath in his drove a male, And is vowing, and is sacrificing a marred thing to the Lord, For a great king [am] I, said Jehovah of Hosts, And My name [is] revered among nations! |
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