Deeper Commentary
Malachi Chapter 3
Malachi 3:1 Behold, I send My messenger, and he will prepare the way before Me- See on Is. 40:4. As explained on Mal. 2:7, the messenger of the covenant was a priest or priesthood which would prepare the people to accept the new covenant in Messiah; for the priests were to be "the messenger" (Mal. 2:7). The implication is that Malachi and the priesthood of his time could and should have been doing this; but the priests refused. The prophecy was reapplied to John the Baptist, who was also a priest; and seeing Israel generally failed to respond, again to the latter day Elijah prophet. The restored community are accused of turning to or 'preparing' [s.w. "prepare"] their own way rather than the way of the Lord (Is. 53:6; 56:11 cp. Is. 40:3). But the Messianic prophecy of Is. 53:6 claims that this turning to their own way would be resolved and corrected by the coming of Messiah. But for Him to come, there must first be a messenger who prepared that way (s.w. Is. 40:3; 57:14; 62:10). The priesthood and high priest of Malachi's time failed in this, and so the work was rescheduled for John the Baptist, and later the Elijah prophet of the last days. The same words for "prepare the way" are found in Ez. 43:1; 44:1; 47:2 about "the way" that is 'prepared' or 'looks' eastward. This was the way or road over which the glory was to re-enter the restored temple. But Judah didn't rebuild that temple as specified and as Malachi often demonstrates, the priests failed to act as commanded in Ez. 40-48. And so the messenger who was to prepare that way likewise failed; but finally the essence of the prophecies will come true through the work of the Elijah prophet and John the Baptist [also a priest] preparing the way of the Lord Jesus, so that His glory and Spirit could enter a spiritual temple of restored people.
Isaiah begins his section on the restoration with a bold prophecy that the restoration of Zion was to be associated with a way being prepared for Israel’s God to come to them (Is. 40:1-3). These words are repeated here in Mal. 3:1-3, where the messenger was to prepare the way of Yahweh’s coming. It seems that in some sense they could have come true in the first return of the exiles along the wilderness way back to Zion, under Ezra. But over 100 years later, in Malachi’s time, the prophecy was still capable of fulfilment, if the priesthood would be purged. But finally it was all deferred in fulfilment until the coming of John the Baptist and the Lord Jesus
“Behold, I send my messenger before thy face, which shall prepare thy way before thee” is how Mk. 1:2 quotes Mal. 3:1; but “before thy face” is added, as if to create a reference to the Angel sent before Israel in the wilderness, to find a resting place (Ex. 23:20). The parallel is set up between John and the Angel, and therefore between Jesus and the people of Israel. The Lord Jesus is His people. He personally is the vine, the one body- symbols of the whole community. He isn’t the trunk, and we the branches. We are the branches, and He is the whole vine. We are Him to this world.
And the Lord, whom you seek will suddenly come to His temple- The Lord will return to Zion to find a repentant remnant there,
converted by our preaching. When the way has been prepared, then “the Lord… shall suddenly [Heb.
‘immediately’] come to his temple”. It seems that He comes as soon as,
almost to the moment, that the way is prepared. Is it going too far to
imagine that when the last Jews are baptized in Jerusalem, perhaps
literally on the Temple Mount, then the Lord will immediately return
there, “to his temple”? Then the Lord shall “come down to fight for mount
Zion and for the hill thereof” (Is. 31:4).
And the messenger of the covenant whom you desire, behold, He comes! says Yahweh of Armies- As noted above, Judah 'desired' the coming of the day of the Lord and the "messenger" which was to prepare the way for Him; they even 'delighted' in these things [AV]. But they didn't morally respond, so the way was not prepared. Yet He would come, ultimately, to their judgment and condemnation.
Malachi 3:2 But who can endure the day of His coming? And who will
stand when He appears?-
The
implication is that Malachi's generation would not stand but fall, they
would not abide the day of His coming in that they would be resurrected to
condemnation in that day (cp. Joel 2:11). Knowledge of the coming of
judgment leads to self-examination: "The Lord, whom ye seek, shall
suddenly come... But who may abide the day of his coming?" (Mal. 3:2 AV
cp. Rev. 6:17). Belief in the second coming must provoke the question:
"What manner of persons ought (we) to be...", as we hasten towards the day
of judgment? "Wherefore, seeing that ye look for such things, be diligent,
that ye may be found of Him... without spot, and blameless" (2 Pet.
3:11,14).
For He is like a refiner’s fire, and like launderer’s soap- The implication is that the priests of Malachi's generation would be resurrected at "the day of His coming" to pass through this refining process; and would not abide it. In Malachi's time, they could have responded to the day of the messenger by allowing themselves to be refined. But they refused to respond to Malachi ['messenger']. The appropriacy of the imagery of soap and laundry is because this would cleanse dirty priestly garments. This is the picture presented in Zech. 3, of the Jewish priesthood of that time being dressed in "filthy garments". They could have been reformed and cleansed by responding to Malachi's message; but they didn't.
Ultimately for us too, the day of judgment is to purify us- not ultimately, for that has been done by the Lord's blood and our lives of faithful acceptance of this. But the fire of judgment reveals the dross of our lives to us and in this sense purges us of those sins. The judgment seat is for our benefit, not God's- He knows our lives and spiritual position already. Without the judgment, we would drift into the Kingdom with no real appreciation of our own sinfulness or the height of God's grace. The trials of our faith are like fire which purifies us (1 Pet. 1:7; 4:12). And yet this is the language of the last judgment. In our response to trials, we have the outcome of our judgment. We must rejoice now in our tribulations with the same joy which we will have when we are accepted by the Lord at the last day (1 Pet. 4:13). Job felt that his calamities were God entering into judgment with him (Job 14:3). If we react properly to trials, we thereby receive now "the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls" (1 Pet. 1:9). Thus the question of the degree to which we now are 'saved' is connected with the fact that to some degree, the judgment process is also going on now.
Malachi 3:3 And He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and
He will purify the sons of Levi, and refine them as gold and silver; and
they shall offer to Yahweh offerings in righteousness- The
implication of :2 is that the priests of Malachi's generation would be
resurrected at "the day of His coming" to pass through this refining
process; and would not abide it. Once they are destroyed, then there will
be left a remnant who will be able to serve Yahweh acceptably. All these
prophecies could have had a fulfilment at Malachi's time or at the time in
the first century when John the Baptist was the "messenger" and could have
reformed the priesthood. But they resisted. And so the essence of the
prophecies will come true in the last days. But that is not to say that
every literal detail will; and so the refined Levites will not necessarily
offer literal sacrifices. The offering of sacrifice will perhaps be
spiritually interpreted, as it is in the New Testament (Heb. 13:15). The
"He" who refines the Levites is not necessarily Yahweh; it could be the
messenger of the covenant, which initially referred to Malachi and later
John the Baptist in their attempts to reform the priesthood.
The
Levites of the restoration had been taken from among the many nations that
comprised Babylon / Persia; they were brought, as many as could be
bothered to go, to their own land. They were cleansed there (s.w. Ezra
6:30; Neh. 12:30). But they became un-cleansed through allowing Tobiah
into the temple chambers, by trading on the Sabbath, and by marrying
Gentiles (Neh. 13:9,22,30). The
priesthood needed to be “cleansed” again (Mal. 3:3 s.w.). The promise of
Ezekiel 36 sounds unconditional- as if, whoosh, God would make His sinful
people righteous regardless of their own will; but they still needed to
respond: “For I will take you from among the heathen, and gather
you out of all countries, and will bring you into your own land. Then will
I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean: from all your
filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you. A new heart also
will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take
away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of
flesh” (
Ez. 36:24-29). Israel were to return from captivity, destroy all the
Gentile abominations and idols from their land, and then receive a new
heart and a new covenant (Ez. 11:18,19).
Malachi 3:4 Then the offering of Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasant
to Yahweh, as in the days of old, and as in ancient years- The
restored kingdom of God in Israel and the restoration of the Davidic king
"as in the days of old" could have come about in Malachi's time. If the
priesthood had responded to the purging, they would again have offered
acceptable offerings. But Mal. 1 explains that they offered blemished
sacrifices which were not "pleasant to Yahweh". And so this possible
scenario was precluded. But as explained on :1-3, the essence of the
prophecies will come true in the last days. The offering of sacrifice will
perhaps be spiritually interpreted, as it is in the New Testament (Heb.
13:15).
Malachi 3:5 I will come near to you in judgment- In the immediate
context, God was going to judge the priesthood of Malachi's time. He was
going to charge them with theft from Him, and He would be a witness in
their court case, as well as their judge. But that generation did not have
judgment executed upon them. This was deferred, by grace, until AD70 when
the messenger in the form of John the Baptist had again come to them, and
God's own Son had appeared as their Messiah. Such is God's amazing
patience.
God's
Son was by His coming alone the manifestation of "the God of judgment",
the supreme judge of men by His very being (Mal. 2:17; 3:1). In His
coming, God "visited His people" (Lk. 7:16); but the OT image of Yahweh
visiting His people was one of visiting in judgment (Ez. 32:34; Jer. 23:2;
Hos. 2:13; 9:9). By His very being amongst men He would convict them of
their sinfulness. His light would show up the shadows of their sins. Mark
begins his Gospel by quoting this Malachi passage, as if to say that the
appearance of Jesus was the coming of judgment for men (Mk. 1:2).
This judgment-coming of Jesus at His revelation to Israel 2000 years ago
is then described as God coming near to men in judgment (Mal. 3:5). This
is why a consideration of the Lord Jesus in bread and wine inevitably and
naturally leads to self-examination; for He is, by His very being, our
immediate and insistent judge.
And I will be an alert witness- God is presented as both judge and witness. For He alone is judge, and yet as omniscient, He is also the ultimate witness. And yet He is also presented as pleading as an advocate for His sinful people before His own judgment. God can both maintain our cause [as an advocate] and forgive, as a judge (2 Chron. 6:39). God is the one who will both plead our cause as an advocate, and take vengeance, i.e. order the sentence, as judge (Jer. 51:36). Micah 7:9 speaks of how Micah has sinned against Yahweh, and yet He will plead his cause and also execute judgment. Likewise with Israel, "the Lord standeth up to plead, and (also) standeth up to judge his people" (Is. 3:13); even though He is also the witness against them. David understood this when he asked that God would "judge [RV "give sentence"] between me and thee, and see [i.e. be the witness], and plead my cause [i.e. be the advocate]" (1 Sam. 24:15). These are Old Testament anticipations of the Lord Jesus as witness, advocate and judge. All these things are simply metaphors to try to expose to us the various balanced aspects within God's view and final judgment of men.
Against the sorcerers, and against the adulterers, and against the perjurers, and against those who oppress the hireling in his wages, the widow and the fatherless, and who deprive the foreigner of justice, and don’t fear Me, says Yahweh of Armies- All this was going on in the restored community in Malachi's time. It was why the mass of the people came to despise the priests and avoided Yahweh worship, leading them to stumble into idolatry (see on Mal. 2:9,11).
In the restored temple, the princes would not oppress the people (Ez.
45:8); “Moreover the prince shall not take of the people's inheritance by
oppression, to thrust them out of their possession” (Ez. 46:18).
Malachi 3:6 For I, Yahweh, don’t change; therefore you sons of Jacob
are not consumed- Yahweh does change, as witnessed multiple times.
Such is His grace. We think of the way He changed His purpose of
destroying Israel and making a new Israel from Moses, of destroying
Nineveh after 40 days etc. What is unchanging is His grace in not
destroying His sinful people. This verse should not therefore be used to
support the wrong idea that Yahweh is like the gods of the pagans, who
were characterized by stone faced immutability.
Because of the sins listed in :5, the sons of Jacob should have been consumed. Those same sins are those listed in Zech. 5:4, and there God uses the same word to say that He will "consume [the house of Jacob] with the timber and stones thereof". But this judgment was not in fact brought upon the exiles. It was deferred, by grace alone; although it finally came true in the destruction of the temple in AD70.
Malachi 3:7 From the days of your fathers you have turned aside from
My ordinances, and have not kept them. Return to Me, and I will return to
you, says Yahweh of Armies. But you say, ‘How shall we return?’- The
returned exiles being addressed had physically returned from captivity.
But they had not returned to God. He had even taken the initiative of
returning to them when they had not returned spiritually to Him (see on
Zech. 8:3). But all the initiative of His grace had been spurned by them;
it had not elicited repentance [s.w. "return"]. Because they refused to
accept the need for personal repentance, as many do today. "How shall we
return?" is not a question about the method or path, but rather carries
the sense of 'Since when do we need to return / repent?'. See on Zech.
1:3. Time and again in the context of the restoration it is emphasized that
God would return to His people if they returned to Him (Zech. 1:3). And they didn't return to Him- most chose not to return to the land,
and those who did for the most part did not return to their God in their
hearts. The whole basis of Israel's covenant relationship with God was
that if they were exiled from the land for their sins, they must repent
and
then
God would return to them (Dt. 30:1-10). Yet God graciously states to
the exiles: "I am returned unto you" (Zech. 1:16; 8:3). Here was grace
indeed. Passages like Ez. 36:24-31 therefore speak as if God's grace to
the exiles was effectively a new covenant- which has in essence been
extended to us. Having stated the conditionality of His 'returning' to His
people, and recognizing they hadn't fulfilled their part of the
conditions- God all the same returns to them, such was and is His almost
desperate desire for relationship with His beloved people. This is a
lesson for us in our relationships with others- to continue our acceptance
and 'return' to them, even if they don't fulfill their part of the deal.
For this, day by day, is how our God deals not only with us but with His
weak and wayward people as a whole.
Malachi 3:8 Will a man rob God? Yet you rob Me!- The fact God
owns everything means that there can be no distinction between what is
ours and what is God’s. To think like that is to steal from Him. And hence
the power and force of the argument here: “Will a man rob God?”. Have we
robbed God in this way, especially in our attitudes and perceptions? To
take for ourselves what is God’s is to play God. Materialism and
selfishness are in this sense playing God. This was Achan’s sin- to take
what was devoted to God for himself. And this was why he is described as
having ‘stolen’. But from whom? From God (Josh. 6:18; 7:11).
But you say, ‘How have we robbed You?’. In tithes and offerings-
In
the restored temple, they
were to use just measures (Ez. 45:9-14), unlike what they had previously
done. But they robbed God in their sacrifices in the restored temple (Mal.
3:8). See on Mal. 1:8. Tithes were to be paid to the Levites (Ez. 44:30).
Malachi 3:9 You are cursed with the curse; for you rob Me, even this
whole nation- Although it seems Malachi the priest (see on Mal. 1:1)
is addressing the priests primarily after Mal. 2:1, "this whole nation"
are charged with robbing God, and are cursed. They had been driven away
from Yahweh worship by the priests (see on Mal. 2:11), but they were still
guilty. If someone is made to stumble, the one who caused it is guilty;
but so are they who stumbled. We cannot come to the judgment seat of the
Lord Jesus and explain that we were indifferent to His love, His death for
us, the offer of eternity... because he did this and she said that.
"The curse" presumably refers to the curse for disobedience to the covenant of Dt. 28. God cursed them with that curse; but there is no particular evidence that it was carried out until AD70. They were not sent again into captivity until then, and they had many years of good harvests. So again we marvel at God's grace and longsuffering. At Malachi's time, the curse was pronounced, but there was a gap of many generations until it was carried out. In a sense we too live within such a gap, heightening the sense of intensity and urgency in responding to God's offer to cancel the curse and instead bless us.
Malachi 3:10 Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may
be food in My house- The criticism of their position on tithing was
not so much because God per se wanted or needed their tithes.
Tithing was a common practice, and was a sign of devotion to the one
tithed to. Mal. 2:11 has said that the people divorced Yahweh and married
the daughter of another god. Their tithes were therefore being paid to
idols; it was because of this that Yahweh asked for their tithes to be
paid to His house and not to the idol temples. And we must
remember that the priesthood is being addressed by Malachi; they were to
tithe to God the tithe which they received from the people. But they gave
only a part of it and not the "whole" which was due. "That there may be
food in My house" implies they were as it were starving God. They put very
little on the altar, His "table" at which He ate with the worshippers, and
in any case only placed upon it the lowest grade "food", the blind and
sick animals. Entertainment and hospitality culture was paramount to the
Middle Eastern mind. Yet they are accused of giving God low grade and
small portions. As we sit at His table, we must ask ourselves this same
question, as to what we are putting before Him.
And test Me now in this, says Yahweh of Armies- The Lord's first temptation- to turn stones into bread- would not in itself have been a sin if He had agreed to it. But it would have been choosing a lower level, by breaking His fast. But the next temptations were to actually sin. If He had agreed to the first suggestion, obedience to the next ones would have been harder. It could even be argued that to put the Lord to the test was permissible on a lower level- for passages like Ps. 34:8 and Mal. 3:10 almost encourage it for those with a weak faith. Gideon likewise put the Lord to the test and was answered. But the Lord chose the higher level: and He knew Scripture which could support it.
However we must give full weight to the fact that only five verses later, this same word for "test" is used; the people complained that those who "put God to the test... escape" (:15). We could conclude that God didn't actually intend for Him to be put to the test, and rather is He here using irony. This would take away the mainstay from beneath all Pentecostal appeals for tithes to be paid in order for the givers to receive more personal wealth. Or it could be that some did test God as invited to, and "escaped" or 'were saved' (s.w. Dan. 12:1; Joel 2:32).
If I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough for- Hag. 1 notes that there was a famine in the land at the restoration. In response to this, the priests and the people were giving God small portions and deficient animals. The covenant blessings of fertility were not experienced. If they returned to covenant with God, as symbolized by giving their tithes to Him and not to the idols, then they would receive the covenant blessings. This is significantly different to interpreting these passages as meaning that if you give tithes to God, then you will get material blessing.
We shouldn’t underestimate the
seriousness of the famine conditions in Judah as described in Neh. 5. The
sheer lack of food led the Jews to sell their children and land to their
richer brethren just to get something to eat. Mal. 3:5-15 says that this
was directly a result of their lack of zeal to rebuild and care for God’s
house. What a far cry from the prophecies of plenty and huge harvests
which had been made. So much potential was wasted. Neh. 5:8 records
Nehemiah’s comment that the wealthy Jews were victimizing the poorer Jews
just as Babylon once had, and now Nehemiah needed to redeem them from
slavery just as God had redeemed His people from servitude in Babylon.
God’s deliverance of His people simply hadn’t been responded to.
Tragically, it would appear from Neh. 5:15 that Zerubbabel, the potential
Messiah of Israel, had acted in this oppressive way too.
Malachi 3:11 I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, and he shall
not destroy the fruits of your ground- The immediate context is of
material, agricultural blessings of the covenant. The second half of the
verse speaks of the vines yielding fruit at the right time. Here, "rebuke"
is literally "corrupt", and is used in Mal. 2:3 of how God corrupted the
seed they sowed. "The devourer", tiny rodents and lice that devoured,
corrupted and ruined their seed before it sprung up, would be in turn
corrupted by God, so that the crop brought forth fruit.
This sounds as if there was an Angel called "the devourer" at the time of the restoration, as there was one called "the destroyer" at the Exodus. He was given command to destroy Judah's harvests due to their lack of commitment to God's house; yet He could be rebuked or restrained by God, implying the Angel focused on fulfilling what He was told to do without taking into account any other factors- until God overrode or restrained Him.
But Malachi 3 is specifically about the final cleansing of Judah when the messenger of the covenant comes, and this has reference to the last days. Then, there will be a "devourer" in the form of a beast like invader devouring the land, which will be "rebuked".
Neither shall your vine cast its fruit before its time in the
field, says Yahweh of Armies- In the context of the restoration from Babylon, Zech. 8:12 prophesied:
“For the seed shall be prosperous; the vine shall give her fruit, and the
ground shall give her increase, and the heavens shall give their dew; and
I will cause the remnant of this people to possess all these things”. But
we know that in reality, Judah were not obedient to the heavenly vision of
Ezekiel, and therefore Judah’s agriculture was
not
blessed in this way; the vines cast their fruit, and the fruit of the
ground was destroyed (Hag. 1:6,11; Mal. 3:10,11). The reason was that
Zech. 8:12 was conditional- upon Zech. 8:16,17: “These are the things that
ye shall do [i.e. to bring these prophecies about]; Speak ye every man the
truth to his neighbour; execute the judgment of truth and peace in your
gates: And let none of you imagine evil in your hearts against his
neighbour; and love no false oath: for all these are things that I hate,
saith the LORD”. But Judah abused each other, and didn’t fulfil the
conditions for the prophecy.
Malachi 3:12 All nations shall call you blessed, for you will be a
delightful land, says Yahweh of Armies- The willingness of Yahweh to work with His people and bring about His
Kingdom with them is really amazing. They had failed to live the Kingdom
life for well over 100 years since Ezra first returned from Babylon. All
sorts of potential Kingdom opportunities had slipped through their
fingers. Finally Malachi appealed for their repentance, for them to pay
the tithes, and then their land would be “delightful” and all nations
would call them blessed; Messiah would come and purge a
corrupt priesthood, so that “then shall the offering of Judah and
Jerusalem be pleasant unto the Lord, as in the days of old” (Mal. 3:1-4).
But only a remnant “hearkened and heard” (Mal. 3:16), their future
salvation was guaranteed, but “the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven”
to judge the heedless majority. He had offered them the Gospel of His
Kingdom, had maneuvered and manipulated the greatest nations of the day to
enable them to take up the offer, affecting the lives of millions of
people throughout the Middle East... but they were more worried about their
little farm and storing up their crops for themselves, too mean spirited
to look out of themselves, too self-satisfied with their own religion, too
sure of their own righteousness. Instead of subduing the nations around
them with the victory of Israel’s God, they brought their own brethren
into subjection unto them, that they might gain out of them (Zech. 9:15
s.w. Neh. 5:5). It could’ve been the Kingdom, Israel could have become the
joy of the whole earth and her people a joy. But instead, they were
obsessed with their petty, miserable little kingdoms, and the next few
centuries had nothing of the joy which Isaiah had repeatedly prophesied as
being possible for them. And so with Malachi, the sun went down over the
prophets, and the Father’s appeal to His wayward sons came to an end,
until the coming of His Son.
Malachi 3:13 Your words have been stout against Me, says Yahweh. Yet
you say, ‘What have we spoken against You?’- 'Stout words' is the
same phrase translated "... words prevailed against..." (1 Chron. 21:4).
God is sensitive to words and the thoughts behind them. He reads thoughts
as words and sees the implications of our positions as if they are words.
For Judah protested they had never actually framed such words against God,
when their thoughts and attitudes had in fact done so. We have highlighted
the paramount importance of spiritual mindedness, emphasized heavily in
the teaching of the Lord Jesus.
Malachi 3:14 You have said, ‘It is vain to serve God;’ and ‘What
profit is it that we have followed His instructions, and that we have
walked mournfully before Yahweh of Armies?-
Nehemiah, seeking for Israel’s obedience to Ezekiel’s vision (Ezekiel
40:46; 44:8,14-16), tried to get them to “keep the charges” (s.w. Nehemiah
7:3; 12:9,45; 13:20). But soon, Judah complained that there was no benefit
to them from having kept the charges (Mal. 3:14 s.w. "instructions"). Partial obedience
discouraged them from any further effort, because the fullness of blessing
can only come from a way of life conformed to God’s Kingdom vision and
life. This is why people get disillusioned with religion and lose even the
true faith- because they seek for immediate benefit as a result of keeping
a few highly specific aspects of God’s law, rather than willingly devoting
their way of life to the realization of His vision.
They had "walked mournfully", covering His altar with tears (Mal. 2:13), whilst placing upon it miserly portions of inferior meat, as Malachi has just pointed out. They considered that this external appearance of religious devotion ought to be enough to get His full blessing; and this is a lesson so many religious people have to learn. And they rightly concluded that their religious devotions were "vain"; they had effectively taken His Name in vain (Ex. 20:7). Before the captivity their religious devotions had been "vain" (s.w. Is. 1:13); and the restored exiles were doing just the same. And so the day would come when it would become openly apparent who served God and who didn't, in that their service of Him was in fact nothing of the sort (:18).
Malachi 3:15 Now we call the proud happy; yes, those who work
wickedness are built up- Likewise today there is a tendency to think
that the proud and sinful are somehow truly prosperous and "built up",
established well. But pride and happiness don't go together; the pride is
really a reflection of their internal unhappiness. And those who work
wickedness rarely keep the results of it; they are not "built up" in the
medium or longer term of their lives. But the people then as now looked at
the apparent success of a man at one moment, and assumed that 'this is the
way to go, the life to live, the man to be'.
Yes, they put God to the test and escape’- Only five verses earlier (:10), this same word for "test" was used when the people were invited to test God by tithing properly and receiving blessing. Now we read that they complained that those who "put God to the test... escape". We could conclude that God didn't actually intend for Him to be put to the test, and rather is He here using irony. This would take away the mainstay from beneath all Pentecostal appeals for tithes to be paid in order for the givers to receive more personal wealth. Or it could be that some did test God as invited to, and "escaped" or 'were saved' (s.w. Dan. 12:1; Joel 2:32). Overall, putting God to the test is condemned in Scripture. We are to believe in Him rather than cynically testing Him out. Israel were condemned for putting God to the test in the desert.
Malachi 3:16 Then those who feared Yahweh spoke frequently one with
another; and Yahweh listened, and heard- There was response to
Malachi's preaching and appeal, even if only amongst a minority. We
shouldn't get the impression that the prophets were totally ignored; in
many of their writings there is the hint that a very few did respond. And
it has always been that way, as God's word never returns fruitless. The
repentant minority spoke to each other about the truth of Malachi's
challenges and confessed their sins to each other. And God was so thrilled
with their words that He as it were wrote them down for eternity. This is
the significance of our words; we shall be judged by the words we speak
now (Mt. 12:37). They will as it were be played back to us at judgment
day. We could wish for no stronger encouragement to watch our words, and
to enquire as to the real content of our discussions with one another in
this life.
And a book of memory was written before Him, for those who feared Yahweh, and who honoured His name- This "book" (singular) therefore contains a record of our individual works, or good words in the Malachi context. We aren't saved by works, but our works will be reflected in the nature of the eternity which we experience. There are other indications that the book contains a record of our individual works and ways: "The dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works" (Rev. 20:12). "I intreat thee also, true yokefellow, help those women which laboured with me in the Gospel, with Clement also, and with other my fellowlabourers, whose names are in the book of life" (Phil. 4:3). Notice how being in the book of life is associated with certain works committed by those in it. This "book of life" was written from the foundation of the world (Rev. 13:8; 17:8), although it contains the records of our individual works. "The works were finished from the foundation of the world" (Heb. 4:3)- the works and actions that comprise each saint were finished from the beginning, written by the Angels in God's book. The statement in Gen. 1:31 that at the end of the natural creation "God saw everything that He had made..." may imply that He saw then everything He would ever make- "the works were finished from the foundation (creation?) of the world". Notice again how the unfathomable system of predestination and foreknowledge is in the hands of the Angels. The Angel wrote the book initially- Moses pleaded with the Angel on Sinai in Ex. 32:32 "Blot me, I pray thee, out of Thy book (of life), which Thou hast written" (from the foundation of the world).
Nehemiah several times asks God to "remember unto me" the good deeds he
had done for Judah (Neh. 5:19 RV), and to likewise "remember" the bad
works of the wicked (Neh. 6:14 RV). He clearly perceived judgment day as
featuring the good deeds of the righteous being as it were listed, and the
sins of the wicked being likewise recounted. Perhaps his prayer was heard
in that in a restoration context, Mal. 3:16 comments that a book of
remembrance was written by God to record the good deeds of the faithful at
that time.
Malachi 3:17 They shall be Mine, says Yahweh of Armies, My very own
possession in the day when I make up My jewels- The term for "jewels"
is that used of how God's obedient covenant people would be His "peculiar
treasure"(s.w. Ex. 19:5; Dt. 7:6; 14:2; 26:18). They were to be His very
own personal wealth, just as personal as the peasant woman had her dowry
of coins around her forehead, the only thing in the world that was truly
hers. And to lose one of them was to lose part of herself, knowing that
not even her body was her own, only those few coins. This is how thrilled
God will be with those who responded to Malachi's words, and we can
respond likewise. But the emphasis is upon total obedience to the covenant
as the basis upon which they were His "peculiar treasure". And the next
sentence indicates that this was lacking; for they needed to be "spared"
by grace. But their words of repentance to each other, their spiritual
conversations, their desire for relationship with Him, were enough for God
to note that eternally and spare them. And so they shall eternally be some
of the jewels in His eternal collection.
And I will spare them, as a man spares his own son who serves him-
That is, undeservedly, only because of his parental feelings and mercy
toward the child.
Malachi 3:18 Then you shall return and discern between the righteous
and the wicked, between him who serves God and him who doesn’t serve Him-
This is spoken to the "you" of Malachi 3 (e.g. :14) who refused to repent.
God had asked them to repent, but their response was: "Wherein shall we
return?" (3:7). In the last day, they would realize that they had not
really served God, whereas their humble brethren of :16,17 had done so. In
their final rejection, they would repent, all too late, and appreciate the
basis of the Lord's condemnation: they will discern the crucial
chasm between the righteous and the wicked, just as "then shall the
Kingdom of heaven be likened unto ten virgins..." (Mt. 25:1). Then, the
wicked will understand the judgments of God. But it is our wisdom to learn
and appreciate them now.
We will come to know and share the mind of our Lord as we watch Him judge, as He discerns between the sheep and the goats. Knowing God's present judgment should have a powerful practical effect upon us. If we know the judgment of God against certain types of behaviour, we will keep away from them totally. It is only the rejected who refuse to know "the judgment of their God" (Jer. 5:4).
When they are appointed their portion with the hypocrites and there is wailing and gnashing of teeth, then shall the Kingdom be likened unto the five wise and five foolish virgins. Then the rejected will understand the principles of that parable, crystal clearly. Members of the ecclesia of Israel will say "Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord"- but be rejected (how else to understand Mt. 23:39?). Likewise the Egyptians, fleeing in the mud from Yahweh as they vainly hoped against hope that the returning waters wouldn't somehow reach them... they came to know Yahweh (Ex. 14:18).
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