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<h4>Yahweh also will save- ’Jesus’ means in Hebrew ’Yah will save’. His second coming is here in view.</h4><h4>The tents of Judah first, that the glory of the house of David and the glory of the inhabitants of Jerusalem be not magnified above Judah- This is reflective of how David reigned first over Judah and then later took Jerusalem and all Israel (<a href='B:100 5:3'>2Sa 5:3</a>). The Lord Jesus as the true Davidic king will act as His forefather. "First" can be as LXX and others, "as in the beginning" or "as in former days". The theme is of the restoration of the Davidic kingdom as God’s Kingdom. In the Kingdom to be established, association with any particular place or family line, even David’s, will be irrelevant compared to the glory of the Lord Jesus. And this needed to be written, for the generations to come after Zechariah would tend to glory in such things.</h4>


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<h4>In that day Yahweh will defend the inhabitants of Jerusalem- I suggested on :5 that this term there referred to the Angels who come to Zion at the Lord’s second coming. But here it refers to the human Jews in Zion (see :10); because they will be identified with the Angels, "like the Angel of Yahweh", as this verse goes on to say. This may appear to contradict the command of the Olivet prophecy to flee Jerusalem (<a href='B:470 24:16'>Mat 24:16</a>). We see here an example of God’s grace. Those who were commanded to flee, but did not, are still saved- but by grace alone.</h4><p>He who is feeble among them at that day will be like David- The theme of Zechariah is the restoration of the Davidic king and kingdom; but the final, latter day fulfilment of this is that all God’s people shall be as David. "Feeble" is literally ’he who has stumbled’ and is often used in a spiritual sense, as it is in <a href='B:460 2:8'>Mal 2:8</a> of the spiritually stumbled / fallen exiles. But they will then repent, and from their weakness will be made spiritually strong by the gift of the Spirit.</p><h4>And the house of David will be like God- David accepted that his house / family was "not so with God" (2Sa 235), but in the last days it will be; for the Lord Jesus and His spiritual children are in that sense from the house of David. God’s family will be David’s family.</h4><h4>Like the angel of Yahweh before them- As often noted, the repentant Jews on earth were to be identified with the Angel cherubim above them. See on :5; <a href='B:450 10:12'>Zec 10:12</a>.</h4>


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<p>It will happen in that day, that I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem- These nations are the "surrounding peoples" of :2, who are gathered against Jerusalem by accepting a theology which persuades them that Jerusalem must be taken by them at all costs; see on :3. The Hebrew for "destroy" is used multiple times in Deuteronomy about the destruction of the nations of the eretz so that Israel could inherit that land. And this continues to be the context and frame of reference here.</p>


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<h4>I will pour on the house of David, and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplication- The restored exiles had been offered a new covenant with God, which would involve His Spirit being put into them, "a new heart" given, and all the blessings of the gift of the Spirit which the New Testament promises to those who accept that same new covenant today. They had then refused it, but now in repentance they will accept it. This spiritual gift will lead them to the acceptance of the crucified Christ now spoken of. The spirit of supplications is GNB "the spirit of prayer". As Paul puts it, we know not what to pray for as we ought (<a href='B:520 8:26'>Rom 8:26</a>), but the gift of the Spirit makes supplication for us. For those open to the Spirit, we are guided what to pray for, and our relationship with God and Jesus in prayer is guided by His Spirit. This will be experienced by the repentant Jews.</h4><p>And they will look to Me whom they have pierced- Simeon had prophesied that a sword would pierce Mary’s heart as it also pierced that of Christ her son (<a href='B:490 2:35'>Luk 2:35</a>). This is one reason for thinking that Mary may still have been at the cross when the Lord died. It could be that John took her to his home, arm round her shoulders as she wrestled with the desire to take one last motherly look back, and then returned himself to the cross; and then Mary crept back, almost hot on his heels, or perhaps choosing another route, and hiding somewhere in the crowd where neither her son nor John, her new son, would see her. To me, this has the ring of truth about it. Simeon’s prophecy, as that sweet baby in cheap cloths lay cradled in his arms, seems to imply that as the Lord’s heart was pierced, so would his mother’s be. Are we to conclude from this that there was a heart-piercing groan within her, as she saw the spear head enter and the blood flow out? Each time they called out ‘Come down from the cross!’, her heart must have been in her mouth. Would He? She had learnt the lesson of Cana, not to pressurize Him for convenient miracles; not to catch His eye as if to say ‘Go on, do it, for my sake’. But nonetheless, because she was only human, she would have hoped against hope. But now, the finality of death forced itself upon her. And her heart was pierced in that moment. Yet Yahweh Himself had prophesied, years before: "They shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him::. and shall be in bitterness for him" (<a href='B:450 12:10'>Zec 12:10</a> AV). The use of pronouns here seems to mean that God was in Christ on the cross, reconciling the world unto Himself (<a href='B:540 5:19'>2Co 5:19</a>). When the Son was pierced, so was the Father. And so at the moment of that sword-thrust, we see the connection of both parents with their suffering Son. As He was pierced, so were the Father and mother. Here we see the wonder and yet the tragedy of the Divine family. We have a very rare insight into the relationship between the Father and Mary. The notion of personal pre-existence and total Deity of Christ destroys this beauty and mystery. Indeed, the whole relationship between the Lord and His mother and Father is surpassingly beautiful, once His nature is correctly understood.</p><p>These words are quoted in <a href='B:730 1:7'>Rev 1:7</a>: "Behold, he comes with the clouds, and every eye shall see him, and they that pierced him, and all the tribes of the earth shall mourn over him". This passage from Zechariah appears to be a prophecy of how Israel shall see the Lord at His second coming, and that is the interpretation given here. Those who crucified the Lord had this prophecy come true as they looked upon and gloated over the pierced Lord Jesus on the cross (see on <a href='B:500 19:37'>Joh 19:37</a>). But it shall come true again, when they are resurrected to judgment at the last day, see His enthronement in glory ["he comes with the clouds" is the language of Daniel 7 about this], realize from marks in His body that this is the one whom they crucified, exclaim "Blessed is he that comes in the name of the Lord!" (<a href='B:470 23:39'>Mat 23:39</a>), but find they are not able to be in His Kingdom. That bitter disappointment at the future they have missed, that they now so want, with all the resulting self-anger, is described as weeping and gnashing of teeth. That will be psychological punishment enough for the rejected. "The tribes of the earth", every eye of them, shall see the Lord in that moment. "The earth" refers to the land, of Israel; all those who looked upon Him upon the cross, "every eye", shall then be resurrected to see Him and mourn bitterly over what they did. The "every eye" is I suggest unpacked and defined by "they that pierced him" and "all the tribes of the land". The "and::." does not have to mean ’in addition to’; it can be a device for defining the term which has gone before it. As if to say ’Yes, even:::’.</p><p>And they shall mourn for him, as one mourns for his only son, and will grieve bitterly for him- Men would look upon the pierced (i:e. crucified) Saviour, and mourn in recognition of their own sinfulness. This verse is quoted as having fulfilment both at the crucifixion (<a href='B:500 19:37'>Joh 19:37</a>) and also at the final judgment (<a href='B:730 1:7'>Rev 1:7</a>). There is strong connection between these two events And so it has been observed that the cross divided men into two categories: The repentant thief and the bitter one; the soldiers who mocked and the Centurion who believed; the Sanhedrin members who believed and those who mocked; the women who lamented but didn’t obey His word, and those whose weeping isn’t recorded, but who stood and watched and thought; the people who beat their breasts in repentance, and those who mocked as to whether Elijah would come to save the Lord. In coming before the cross we likewise have a foretaste of judgment day.</p><h4>As one grieves for his firstborn- The idea is of a firstborn who dies in babyhood, with no other children. All the parent had has been lost. This is a window into God’s feelings at the loss of His only begotten son; and their mourning would help them know His feelings. And it was the Lord Jesus Himself was "grieved" in His crucifixion sufferings (s:w. <a href='B:10 49:23'>Gen 49:23</a>).</h4>


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<p>In that day there will be a great mourning in Jerusalem, like the mourning of Hadadrimmon in the valley of Megiddon- The historical event in view seems to be the mourning for Josiah in that location, for which Jeremiah wrote special lamentations (<a href='B:140 35:22'>2Ch 35:22</a>; <a href='B:140 35:25'>2Ch 35:25</a>).</p>


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<h4>The land will mourn, every family apart; the family of the house of David apart, and their wives apart; the family of the house of Nathan apart- This mourning is that of the last days. We can conclude that David and his son Nathan and their families will be resurrected, the Davidic kingdom will be so fully restored; and will mourn for what their descendants had done to the Lord Jesus, their great descendant. Zerubbabel, the failed potential Davidic king, was in the line of Nathan (<a href='B:130 3:5'>1Ch 3:5</a>; <a href='B:490 3:27'>Luk 3:27</a>; <a href='B:490 3:31'>Luk 3:31</a>) and perhaps the mourning will also be for all the failed potentials.</h4><h4>And their wives apart- The emphasis upon how the wives would mourn separately is to highlight the fact that repentance is deeply personal; religion is not just for men, as it was traditionally. Every man and woman of every family would realize their guilt for having failed to accept Jesus as Christ, and for having thereby sided with His historical persecutors and crucifiers.</h4>


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<p>The family of the house of Levi apart, and their wives apart; the family of the Shimeites apart, and their wives apart- The idea is that the kingly (:12) and priestly (:13) families would mourn; and this would have been also because of how Joshua had failed to be the priestly king and high priest which he could have been (see on <a href='B:450 3:1'>Zec 3:1</a>; <a href='B:450 6:11'>Zec 6:11</a>). Why mention the Shimeites particularly? The LXX gives, "the tribe of Simeon", and after the exile it seems that this tribe was also accepted into the priesthood. "Simeon and Levi" are connected in <a href='B:10 49:5'>Gen 49:5</a>. They were between them particularly responsible for the Lord’s death, hence their mourning. They would mourn "apart", i:e. from their own deep sense of personal sin; rather than guilt being as it were elicited from the proximity of others in mourning. All emotional response tends to be influenced by those close to us; but this was and is not to be when it comes to the issues of repentance, which are so essentially personal.</p>


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<p>All the families who remain, every family apart, and their wives apart- Those who "remain" could refer to the very few Jews who remain alive after the traumas of the last days, and who come to repentance. Or it may mean that all the other tribes / families of Israel would likewise mourn.</p>


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<p>In that day there will be a spring opened to the house of David and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, for sin and for uncleanness- The purifying is alluding to Mosaic rituals of purification from sin and uncleanness, and also of preparing the priests for service. This spring is mentioned in <a href='B:360 3:18'>Joe 3:18</a>, where it apparently emerges from the temple mount. And in a symbolic sense it is used in John’s Gospel and Revelation 21 of the cleansing available in Christ. Entry to the new covenant offered to the exiles had involved receiving purification and the Spirit as it were sprinkled on their hearts (<a href='B:330 36:25'>Eze 36:25</a>). They didn’t want this at that time, and yet it shall be given finally in the last days to those who want it. Whether or not there will be a literal spring from mount Zion at the Lord’s return is to my mind a too literal and secular perspective. John and Revelation, along with <a href='B:330 36:25'>Eze 36:25</a>, are clear that the essence is that the repentant mind will be washed by the Spirit, just as it can be for those in this life who accept God’s dominion over them, His Kingdom.</p>


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<p>It will come to pass in that day, says Yahweh of Armies, that I will cut off the names of the idols out of the land, and they will be remembered no more. I will also cause the prophets and the spirit of impurity to pass out of the land- In contrast to the spirit of grace that will be poured out (<a href='B:450 12:10'>Zec 12:10</a>), all other spirits will be driven out. The "that day" is that of :1, which finally will be the Lord’s return. At Zechariah’s time, there were still problems with idol worship and false prophets; and we can deduce from Nehemiah and <a href='B:460 3:5'>Mal 3:5</a>; Zec 102 that these were problems even after the restoration from Babylon. But the essence of these issues will again be seen in latter day Judah. Idolatry is now covetousness (<a href='B:560 5:5'>Eph 5:5</a>; <a href='B:580 3:5'>Col 3:5</a>), and this is currently the spirit of latter day Judah. "The spirit of impurity" surely connects with their being "three unclean spirits like frogs" which lead the nations of the eretz promised to Abraham to Armageddon (<a href='B:730 16:13'>Rev 16:13</a>).</p>


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<p>It will happen that, when anyone still prophesies, then his father and his mother who bore him will tell him, ‘You must die, because you speak lies in the name of Yahweh;’ and his father and his mother who bore him will stab him when he prophesies- LXX "Bind him". Binding is part of the condemnation process (<a href='B:470 22:13'>Mat 22:13</a>). We are reading about what is to happen "in that day" (:2), which finally refers to the last day when the Lord returns. We may have envisaged here the resurrection to judgment at that time of the false prophets of Zechariah’s time, and their parents. Those who remain impenitent will then be judged and condemned. Then, their parents would be obedient to the commands of <a href='B:50 13:6-10'>Deu 13:6-10</a> about what to do if your son was a false prophet.</p>


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<h4>It will happen in that day, that the prophets will each be ashamed of his vision, when he prophesies; neither will they wear a hairy mantle to deceive- This verse could suggest that the resurrected false prophets repent, no longer wearing prophetic garb in imitation of Elijah; or at least, they suffer the shame of condemnation as they recall what they did. Too much stress should not be laid upon the Hebrew tenses here.</h4><h4>Jacob’s flight into Syria is set up as typical of Israel going into dispersion as a punishment for their idolatry. But they will return, as Jacob did. Then Israel will not wear a rough garment to deceive any more as Jacob did in order to deceive his father; then they will have renounced the human side of Jacob and captured his final spirituality for their own.</h4>


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<p>But he will say, ‘I am no prophet, I am a tiller of the ground; for I have been made a bondservant from my youth’- This again could be read as a statement of repentance by the resurrected false prophets, insisting that they were no longer prophets. Or it could be a desperate denial of their being false prophets; the accused would be claiming that he only wore a hairy garment because he was an agricultural labourer. It is this denial which leads to the objection of :6.</p>


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<h4>One will say to him, ‘What are these wounds in your hands?’. Then he will answer, ‘Those with which I was wounded in the house of my friends- This appears to be in objection to the resurrected false prophet protesting his innocence in :5. In this case, there is an element to which the judgment process is a collective affair, with people effectively judged by others, like the men of Nineveh judging first century Israel; see on <a href='B:730 16:15'>Rev 16:15</a>. The wounds in the palms would refer to the self-inflicted wounds made by the prophets of Baal, as happened at the time of Elijah’s contest with them on Carmel. The Hebrew behind "With which I was wounded" apparently implies ’Which I wounded myself with’, and this would confirm the application to how the false prophets wounded themselves in worship sessions:&nbsp; This implies that the resurrected still have some characteristics of their previous life. And the false prophet in this case caves in and admits, that he had done this in the house of his friends. He recognizes that the house of Baal was the house of his friends, and his claim to have been an agricultural labourer-slave with wounds in his hands from his labour was just an untrue excuse.</h4><h4>It is tempting to apply these words to the Lord Jesus showing wounds in His hands from the nails of the cross. But this is quite outside of the context.</h4>


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<h4>Awake, sword- The idea is that the sword of judicial judgment of men (<a href='B:520 13:4'>Rom 13:4</a>) is commanded by God; whatever happens as a result of it was therefore willed by God and was not random chance.</h4><p>Against My shepherd- The intended shepherd was Zerubbabel and then Joshua. But they didn’t live up to thIsa. The intended scenario was that this shepherd would be smitten, and Judah again be scattered in captivity. But for whatever reason, perhaps because of the repentance and prayer of a tiny minority, that didn’t happen. But the prophetic word came true at the time of the Lord Jesus, and the scattering and salvation of the weak faithed disciples became its fulfilment. Therefore the shepherd here clearly finally refers to Jesus (<a href='B:470 26:31'>Mat 26:31</a>), although the shepherd elsewhere in Zechariah refers to the Angel- another proof that there was one specific Angel in the Old Testament that foreshadowed Jesus, presumably Gabriel.</p><p>And against the man who is close to Me, says Yahweh of Armies- The term can mean a close relative, an ’equal’ only insofar as they are related. The term is supremely relevant to the relationship between Father and Son.</p><h4>Strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered; and I will turn My hand against the little ones- The "little ones" are the lambs of the scattered sheep, and the term is also used of&nbsp; the disciples (<a href='B:470 10:42'>Mat 10:42</a>; <a href='B:470 18:6'>Mat 18:6</a>; <a href='B:470 18:10'>Mat 18:10</a>), who are also the scattered sheep (<a href='B:470 26:31'>Mat 26:31</a>). The image of scattered sheep in the absence of shepherds is used of Judah’s scattering as a result of their bad shepherds (<a href='B:300 10:21'>Jer 10:21</a>; <a href='B:300 23:1-2'>Jer 23:1-2</a>; <a href='B:330 34:5-6'>Eze 34:5-6</a>). But this intended second scattering of Judah didn’t then happen; the disciples as it were bore the fulfilment of it when they were scattered from the Lord and then spiritually reformed- for the Hebrew phrase "turn My hand against" doesn’t have to mean that God was against the lambs. "Against" can as well be translated "upon" (as AV), and the identical Hebrew term is used in <a href='B:290 1:25'>Isa 1:25</a>: "I will turn My hand upon you and purge away your dross". There is the idea there of God’s direct intervention in order to ultimately save.</h4>


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<p>It shall happen that in all the land, says Yahweh, two parts in it will be cut off and die; but the third will be left in it- This appears to continue in the context of :7 and therefore refers to the fate of the flock once the shepherd is cut off. I suggested on :7 that there was an initial scenario of the appointed "shepherd" of Judah being smitten, and the people being scattered again; and now we learn that there would have been the cutting off of two thirds within the land, and then the final spiritual purging of the remaining third. The cutting off is that of :2, where the same word is used of the cutting off of idols and those who worshipped them. For those who worship and trust them are like unto them (<a href='B:230 115:8'>Psa 115:8</a>); the cutting off of the idols (:2) meant the cutting off of those who worshipped them (:8). But there has never been a time when two thirds of Judah were cut off and a third brought to repentance&nbsp; (:9). Perhaps, given that the preceding verse talks about the first century, the idea was that the Roman invasion would have led to a third repenting. This would fit in with the clear possibility that there was for the Lord Jesus to have returned in AD70. But they didn’t repent. So this threatened scenario was deferred, and will therefore come true in the last days. The reference to "all the eretz" may intend us to understand that this is not in fact talking solely about Judah in Palestine, but about all the inhabitants of the eretz promised to Abraham; and a third of them will come to repentance.</p>


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<h4>I will bring the third part into the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined, and will test them like gold is tested. They will call on My name, and I will hear them. I will say, ‘It is My people;’ and they will say, ‘Yahweh is my God’- This could well be speaking of how God cut off men like Zerubbabel who were poor shepherds, although potential Messiahs; and it could have then happened that during the ‘cutting off’ of Jewish population during the Antiochus invasions, a minority could have repented and ushered in the true restoration. But this didn’t happen, and so the prophecy had a deferred fulfilment, although humanly speaking somewhat out of context, in the cutting off of the good shepherd, the scattering of the disciples, and their spiritual refining. And then another possible fulfilment arose in the scattering of AD70; but the refinement was again not achieved, and so the whole scene is deferred to the last days for fulfilment. See on <a href='B:450 10:3'>Zec 10:3</a>.</h4><h4>If the two halves of this verse are indeed chronological, we have a salvation by grace, a pulling out of the fire just as Judah had been plucked out of the fire of Babylon (<a href='B:450 3:2'>Zec 3:2</a>)- which is only then followed by a repentant calling upon God’s Name. God took the initiative in bringing Judah and Jerusalem out of the fire- but they had to then respond. They didn’t, but the remnant of latter day Judah will do. God’s statement that they are His people is matched by their response that He is their God. But the point is that He takes the initiative in declaring impenitent people ’My people’, and they then respond. It’s rather like how the Lord broke His bread with impenitent sinners, showing them He accepted them, exactly so that they would repent. And we need to follow the Father and Son in taking such initiatives of grace; forgiving without repentance in order that God’s grace leads those forgiven to repentance</h4>


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<h4>Behold, the day of Yahweh comes- All the previous potentials had not been responded to by Judah, and I have continually mentioned throughout Zechariah that the various prophecies were therefore rescheduled and reapplied to the last days. In this sense, God’s prophetic word will come true in essence. And so it is appropriate that Zechariah finishes with a prophecy specifically about the very last days, when all the previous prophecies will come to their final term. Likewise the many judgments upon Judah which had been promised but somehow had been delayed, will all come true. Hence the coming of the day of Yahweh was to be seen as judgment for Judah (<a href='B:460 4:1'>Mal 4:1</a>).</h4><h4>When your spoil will be divided in your midst- The significance of "in your midst" is that it is done there rather than in the camp of the invaders outside the city. This would imply the total fall of the city and its possession by the invaders. The Egyptians sought to pursue Israel and "divide the spoil" (s:w. <a href='B:20 15:9'>Exo 15:9</a>). But there will be no Passover deliverance. Jerusalem will fall.</h4>


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<h4>For I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle- The gathering of all nations to battle predicted here is the language of Revelation 9, 16 regarding the gathering of the nations to Armageddon after the release of the hordes bound by the Euphrates- and we have already seen that happening with jihadists bursting across that river into the eretz promised to Abraham. The point is, the words of Zechariah 14 are applied to the events of the last days. Jerusalem therefore must fall. &nbsp;The final outworking of all this, of course, depends upon whether, or to what degree, Israel repent in response to our appeals: "Because you have kept My command to persevere, I also will keep you from the hour of trial which shall come upon the whole world, to test those who dwell on the Earth" (<a href='B:730 3:10-11'>Rev 3:10-11</a>).</h4><p>And the city will be taken, the houses pillaged, and the women raped- This is a quotation from <a href='B:290 13:16'>Isa 13:16</a> about the fate of Babylon. Jerusalem was to be treated as Babylon because that is how they were in spirit. Zechariah was prophesying in the context of Judah’s rather unenthusiastic return from captivity in Babylon; and most of them remained behind in Babylon. The memory was still relatively fresh of how a generation ago, Babylon had captured Jerusalem, destroyed the temple and taken the people into captivity. And now they had returned after the 70 years captivity- and Zechariah was telling them that yet again, Jerusalem was to be “taken” and the population taken into captivity. It would be hard to imagine a more unpopular message. The same Hebrew word translated “taken” is many times used of how Babylon took Jerusalem (<a href='B:300 32:3'>Jer 32:3</a> “I will give this city into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and he shall take it”; <a href='B:300 32:24'>Jer 32:24</a>; <a href='B:300 32:28'>Jer 32:28</a>; <a href='B:300 34:22'>Jer 34:22</a>; <a href='B:300 37:8'>Jer 37:8</a>; <a href='B:300 38:3'>Jer 38:3</a>; <a href='B:300 38:28'>Jer 38:28</a>). Clearly the implication is that a second, revived Babylon would arise and take Jerusalem; and there would be yet another captivity. We are seeing Babylon – Assyria reforming, with a jihadist theology focusing upon taking the city of Jerusalem. The prophecy of Zechariah 14 has never been fulfilled- but it will be.</p><p>Half of the city will go out into captivity, and the rest of the people will not be cut off from the city- Significantly, half of Jerusalem is comprised of East Jerusalem, which is Arab. So when we read of how “Half of the city will go out into captivity”, this may well refer to the Jewish half of the city. "The rest of the people" is literally "the remnant"; the implication is that there will be a faithful remnant which will not be cut off and will remain in Jerusalem.</p><p><a href='B:340 9:26-27'>Dan 9:26-27</a> require the city of Jerusalem to be taken, and the abomination of desolation placed there; and this is quoted by the Lord Jesus as requiring fulfilment in the last days just prior to His return (<a href='B:470 24:14-15'>Mat 24:14-15</a>; <a href='B:470 24:29-31'>Mat 24:29-31</a>). Any previous fulfilments were incipient at best; they did not immediately herald the Lord’s visible return as required by the Oliver prophecy. <a href='B:490 21:24'>Luk 21:24</a> adds: "Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled". The allusion is to <a href='B:340 8:13'>Dan 8:13</a>: "The transgression of desolation gave both the sanctuary and the host (i:e. the people of Israel) to be trodden underfoot":&nbsp; This part of Luke 21 is clearly alluding to Zechariah 14, a prophecy about the final desolation of Jerusalem:</p><p>Jerusalem surrounded by armies (<a href='B:490 21:20'>Luk 21:20</a>)= All nations against Jerusalem to battle (<a href='B:450 14:2'>Zec 14:2</a>).</p><p>The desolation of Jerusalem is near (<a href='B:490 21:20'>Luk 21:20</a>) = The city shall be taken (<a href='B:450 14:2'>Zec 14:2</a>).</p><p>Let them which are in Judea flee to the mountains (<a href='B:490 21:21'>Luk 21:21</a>) = You shall flee to the::. mountains (<a href='B:450 14:5'>Zec 14:5</a>)</p><p>Great distress in the land(<a href='B:490 21:22'>Luk 21:22</a>) = Houses ransacked, women raped (<a href='B:450 14:2'>Zec 14:2</a>)</p><p>Led away captive into all nations (<a href='B:490 21:24'>Luk 21:24</a>) = Half the city shall go into captivity (<a href='B:450 14:2'>Zec 14:2</a>)</p><p>Jerusalem trodden down by the Gentiles (<a href='B:490 21:24'>Luk 21:24</a>) = Jerusalem a stone trodden down by the Gentiles (<a href='B:450 12:3'>Zec 12:3</a> LXX).</p><h4>The “treading down” of Jerusalem didn’t end in 1967; for if that is the reference of the prophecy, then Christ should be back by now. The presence of the Dome of the Rock and Arab possession of East Jerusalem hardly sounds as if 1967 was much of a fulfilment anyway. The times of the Gentiles have clearly continued since 1967. The more logical interpretation is surely that Jerusalem must be trodden down by Gentiles until the “times” of that domination end- and that is probably a reference to the 42 months / 1260 days / three and a half year down-treading which we meet in both Daniel and Revelation.</h4>


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<p>Then Yahweh will go out and fight against those nations, as when He fought in the day of battle- God again will act openly as He did against Israel’s neighbours in past conflicts. The ’going out’ will in a literal sense be fulfilled in the Lord Jesus, on behalf of His Father, going forth out of Heaven to intervene against Judah’s abusers.</p>


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<h4>His feet will stand in that day on the Mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east- The description of the Lord’s feet standing on the Mount of Olives naturally looks ahead to the words of the Angels at the ascension of the Lord Jesus from that same Mount, promising that He would return in the same way. As He stands upon His feet, so do the opponents (:14 s:w:). This is the greatest showdown of human history, between God and man, Spirit and flesh.</h4><h4>And the Mount of Olives will be split in two, from east to west, making a very great valley. Half of the mountain will move toward the north, and half of it toward the south- This will create four separate elevated areas, with a large valley running north-south between them. Hence the reference to "My mountains" plural in :5; this valley will be the way to flee in :5. The mount of Olives is described as being on the East of Jerusalem; the faithful will flee eastwards and then through the newly created valley. This will then become the valley of Judah’s revival spoken of in Ezekiel 37; they will arise as a powerful army to subdue their enemies, energized by the Spirit and led by the returned Lord Jesus.</h4>


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<h4>You shall flee by the valley of My mountains; for the valley of the mountains shall reach to Azel- As noted on :4, this implies they flee out of Jerusalem to the east and through the new valley opened up through the mount of Olives. The GNB offers: "You will escape through this valley that divides the mountain in two", avoiding interpreting "Azel" as a proper noun. A way of escape will be made, through a mountain; parted as the Red Sea was parted, that God’s people might escape. And yet according to Ezekiel, the glory is to enter from the east (<a href='B:330 43:2'>Eze 43:2</a>); so we are to imagine them uniting with the Lord of glory at the mount of Olives, and joining Him in returning through east Jerusalem. The western slopes of the Mount of Olives appear to be part of what forms the "valley of decision" of <a href='B:360 3:14'>Joe 3:14</a>, the "valley of slaughter" of <a href='B:300 19:6'>Jer 19:6</a>. It is through this new valley that the way of Yahweh is prepared to come to Zion from the east.</h4><p>Yes, you shall flee, just like you fled from before the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah- The LXX is significantly different, implying instead that there will be no way of escape: "And the valley of my mountains shall be closed up, and the valley of the mountains shall be joined on to Jasod, and shall be blocked up as it was blocked up in the days of the earthquake, in the days of Ozias king of Juda". Perhaps the ambiguity is intentional; depending upon the faith of the remnant, the earthquake will either open up a way of escape through a new valley across the former mount of Olives (:4), or will block their escape and leave them to their final destruction. The earthquake at Uzziah’s time may have been one of the ways in which he was "marvellously / miraculously helped" against his enemies (<a href='B:140 26:15'>2Ch 26:15</a>). Zechariah’s prophecy is based around the restoration of the throne of David, and there are therefore allusions to the historical David throughout. Here, to the fleeing of David from Jerusalem via the Mount of Olives along this same path (<a href='B:100 15:30'>2Sa 15:30</a>; <a href='B:100 15:32'>2Sa 15:32</a>).</p><h4>Yahweh my God will come, and all the holy ones with you- LXX, as GNB: "The LORD my God will come, bringing all the angels with him". This is quoted in the New Testament about the return of the Lord Jesus on God’s behalf, with "all the angels with him" (<a href='B:470 25:31'>Mat 25:31</a>). Note the change of pronouns; it’s as if Zechariah is caught up in the wonder of having Yahweh as his personal God, when otherwise addressing God ["with you"]. Such shifting of address are likely familiar to us if we have ever tried to make a transcript of our own personal prayers. Focus and address shifts within the same sentence, as we often see in the prayers transcripted in the Psalms.</h4>


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<p>It will happen in that day, that there will not be light, cold, or frost- The idea is that seasons will be no more. But the Hebrew is difficult; the RVmg. offers "There shall not be light, the bright ones shall contract themselves". This radical change in the planets, sun and stars at the Lord’s return is likewise spoken of in <a href='B:360 3:15'>Joe 3:15</a>; <a href='B:290 13:10'>Isa 13:10</a>; <a href='B:470 24:29'>Mat 24:29</a>; <a href='B:730 6:12-13'>Rev 6:12-13</a>. It was prefigured by how Joshua-Jesus made them stop in their tracks (<a href='B:60 10:12-13'>Jos 10:12-13</a>).</p>


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<h4>It will be a unique day- Literally, "it will be one day". This recalls the first day of creation, described this way in <a href='B:10 1:3'>Gen 1:3</a>. We will note on :21 that there are seven occurrences of "that day" in this vision. A new creation is being presented. This verse then goes on to allude to "there was evening and morning, the first day".</h4><h4>Which is known to Yahweh; not day, and not night; but it will come to pass, that at evening time there will be light- LXX "When this will happen is known only to the LORD"; alluded to in NT teaching that none knows the day nor hour, but only the Father. But this may be one of a number of indications that the meaning of time will be collapsed around the Lord’s return. This is really necessary for there to be the individual judgment of a multitude as many as the sand on the shore. This also explains why it’s impossible to construct a chronology of events around His coming in terms of a linear progression. "In that day" is a favourite phrase of Zechariah’s, and the events spoken of as then happening are hard to fit into a chronological framework. It would also explain the apparent tension between passages which imply an immortal emergence from the grave, and those which suggest a mortal emergence and then judgment and reward. It just depends which view of time one takes. If there is light at evening time, we would have here another way of saying that the sun will never go down, which is the language of the Kingdom of God established on earth (<a href='B:290 60:20'>Isa 60:20</a>; <a href='B:730 22:5'>Rev 22:5</a>).</h4>


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<p>It will happen in that day, that living waters will go out from Jerusalem; half of them toward the eastern sea, and half of them toward the western sea; in summer and in winter will it be- LXX "in the dry season as well as the wet". The new valley spoken of in :4,5 will have living waters flowing in it. The situation of <a href='B:330 47:1-12'>Eze 47:1-12</a> which was potentially possible for the restored exiles will then be finally brought about. Just as the waters are mentioned as being created in Genesis (see on:7,21), so in this new creation the equivalent is these living waters, parallel with the law of Yahweh going out of Jerusalem in <a href='B:290 2:3'>Isa 2:3</a>; <a href='B:400 4:2'>Mic 4:2</a>, causing the nations to flow back to Zion. And they will revive the otherwise ’Dead Sea’ to the east. These are the living waters which Judah could have earlier experienced but refused (<a href='B:300 2:13'>Jer 2:13</a>). Clearly this water of life is used symbolically in <a href='B:730 22:1'>Rev 22:1</a>, but this is not to say that the symbol will have no literal basIsa. Most symbols do. We can live the essence of the Kingdom life now, in that this living water should come forth from our innermost being to give life to the dead world around us (<a href='B:500 7:38'>Joh 7:38</a>). And this outflow from us should be constant, just as these future waters are not seasonal nor occasional.</p>


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<h4>Yahweh will be King over all the earth- Zechariah has previously spoken of a Davidic king reigning for Yahweh over all the eretz or "earth" promised to Abraham. Now this King will be reigning for Yahweh, and clearly looks forward to the Lord Jesus.</h4><p>In that day Yahweh will be declared as the one and only- This declaration will cut out all idolatry amongst God’s people, and all other forms of worship amongst the Gentiles. The command to exalt Yahweh as the only God in <a href='B:50 6:4'>Deu 6:4</a> was and is therefore an invitation to live the Kingdom life now. In this sense, as in John’s Gospel, we can experience the nature of the life eternal right now. The "one day" of :7 is an eternal manifestation of the one God.</p><h4>And His name unified- It may well be that <a href='B:560 4:4-6'>Eph 4:4-6</a> is alluding back to this verse; this passage inspires us to keep the unity of the Spirit, because here and now "there is one body, and one Spirit::. one Lord ::. one baptism, one God";&nbsp; Paul is saying that the unity of the Kingdom, as spoken of in <a href='B:450 14:9'>Zec 14:9</a>, must be found in the ecclesia of today.</h4>


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<h4>All the land will be made like the Arabah- GNB "will be made level". A new flat plateau is envisaged.</h4><h4>From Geba to Rimmon south of Jerusalem; and she will be lifted up, and will dwell in her place, from Benjamin’s gate to the place of the first gate, to the corner gate, and from the tower of Hananel to the king’s winepresses- These locations feature in the account of the rebuilding of the walls of Jerusalem and the temple (<a href='B:160 3:1'>Neh 3:1</a>; <a href='B:160 3:31-32'>Neh 3:31-32</a>; <a href='B:160 12:39'>Neh 12:39</a>). Zechariah wasprophesying in this context. He is implying that the work of rebuilding the temple and city had not been done according to the specifications and commandments for the exiles in Ezekiel 40-48 and <a href='B:300 31:38'>Jer 31:38</a>; <a href='B:300 31:40'>Jer 31:40</a>, and so God will finally make it good in His own way. The reference to "the king’s winepresses" at the south of Jerusalem (<a href='B:160 3:15'>Neh 3:15</a>) would only have made sense to the primary audience of Zechariah; he is inviting them to imagine how places they knew well would one day be in the literal, eternal Kingdom of God on earth. And we can imagine the same, regarding things in our lives.</h4>


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<h4>Men will dwell therein- LXX "They shall dwell in the city". This was in contrast to how in Nehemiah’s time, the returned exiles had been reluctant to dwell there because it was not safe. It was a reminder to the initial audience of the potential they had wasted.</h4><p>And there will be no more curse- Quoted in <a href='B:730 22:3'>Rev 22:3</a> about the future Kingdom of God on earth. The "curse" in view is not only that placed in Genesis, but the specific curses for disobedience which had come upon Judah.</p><h4>But Jerusalem will dwell safely- Proof enough, surely, that the invasion of Gog when Jerusalem ’dwells safely’ is after the Lord’s return and not before it (<a href='B:330 38:8'>Eze 38:8</a>; <a href='B:330 38:11'>Eze 38:11</a>; <a href='B:330 38:14'>Eze 38:14</a>). Attempts to identify the invaders at this stage are therefore slightly misplaced. The Hebrew phrase for ’dwelling safely’ is repeatedly used about the blessings of living in covenant relationship with God</h4>


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<p>This will be the plague with which Yahweh will strike all the peoples who have warred against Jerusalem: their flesh will consume away while they stand on their feet, and their eyes will consume away in their sockets, and their tongue will consume away in their mouth- See on :4. This implies that the plague will be sudden, whilst the warring soldiers are standing up. The language could suggest the effects of nuclear radiation. Perhaps Yahweh will punish the nations through their destroying of each other with their own weaponry, and this is implied in :13. This is how He has destroyed previous invaders. The triple reference to "consume away" is perhaps to serve as a signpost to the fact that most of the occurrences of this word relate to the consuming away of Israel because of their sins. Now what has been done to them shall be done to those who did it, as the structure of Revelation explains.</p>


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<p>It will happen in that day, that a great panic from Yahweh will be among them; and they, each of them, will lay hold on the hand of his neighbour, and his hand will rise up against the hand of his neighbour- This is how historically the invaders of Israel were destroyed (<a href='B:70 7:22'>Jdg 7:22</a>; <a href='B:90 14:20'>1Sa 14:20</a>; <a href='B:140 20:23'>2Ch 20:23</a>). I suggested on :12 that they may use their nuclear weaponry against each other. "Panic" translates the word used in <a href='B:50 7:23'>Deu 7:23</a> about the destruction of the Canaanite nations; and these are the same nations in view in the last days: "But Yahweh your God will deliver them up before you and will confuse them with a great confusion until they are destroyed". It is also the word used of the destruction of the Philistines / Palestinians in <a href='B:90 5:9'>1Sa 5:9</a>; <a href='B:90 5:11'>1Sa 5:11</a>.</p>


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<h4>Judah also will fight at Jerusalem- The repentant Jewish remnant are here prophesied as liberating the captured Jerusalem. This contrasts with passages like Psalms 2 which suggest Jerusalem will be defended and preserved from her invaders. A common way of dealing with these apparent contradictions has been to postulate a timeline of events, a series of invasions, with some happening after the return of the Lord Jesus and His enthronement in Zion. This may be a legitimate way of dealing with the problem, but no proposed chronology seems to resolve all the points of contradiction between the various prophecies. My suggestion again is that Bible prophecy is conditional. Various scenarios may happen, depending upon various factors such as the speed of Israel’s repentance, the amount and quality of prayer and spirituality in the believers of the last days, God’s grace, His desire to just end it all and get on with the Kingdom balanced against His desire to see more saved by prolonging things::. And so Jerusalem may or may not fall, various invasions may or may not happen, in accordance with the human freewill factors that God so respects in how He finally works things out with Israel and this world.</h4><h4>And the wealth of all the surrounding nations will be gathered together: gold, and silver, and clothing, in great abundance- What was done to Judah in :1 would now be done to her abusers. This explains the structure of the book of Revelation; the seven seals of judgment upon Israel are reflected in the bowls of judgment then poured out upon those who judged her. This verse is behind <a href='B:730 21:26'>Rev 21:26</a>: "They shall bring the glory and honour of the nations into" the restored Zion.</h4>


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<p>So will be the plague of the horse, of the mule, of the camel, and of the donkey, and of all the animals that will be in those camps, as that plague- The animals mentioned were all of military usage, and refer to the military resources of the invaders. In latter day terms this translates into the military technology and hardware of the attackers being plagued and thereby destroyed in the same way as the users thereof (:12)</p>


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<h4>It will happen that everyone who is left of all the nations- The remnant that is left is a term which is usually used about the repentant remnant of God’s people. There will also be such a remnant amongst her latter day enemies. This is a major theme- that there will be a minority amongst the attackers who repent.</h4><h4>That came against Jerusalem will go up from year to year to worship the King, Yahweh of Armies- We note the focus of the attackers as specifically upon Jerusalem. This fits with an increasing focus in jihadist Islam [the religion of Israel’s surrounding nations and enemies] upon Jerusalem. We can expect to see the Jerusalem issue becoming increasingly prominent, both politically and in their theology.</h4><h4>And to keep the feast of tabernacles- This festival is chosen because it celebrated the entry into the promised land. It will be a way of celebrating God’s grace to Israel; the Gentiles will keep it because they have so identified with Israel that her God and her history is now theirs. It was a celebration too of the end of harvest, which is often used as a metaphor for judgment. It is a mistake to think that the Law of Moses will be reinstated for some period at the Lord’s return. That law was ended permanently, as the New Testament makes clear. Under that law, men were required to appear three times before the Lord at the main feasts (<a href='B:20 23:17'>Exo 23:17</a>); but here, only one feast appears to be required. Likewise the legal requirements of the restored temple in Ezekiel 40-48 were not the Law of Moses, as they differed significantly from it.</h4>


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<p>It will be, that whoever of all the families of the earth doesn’t go up to Jerusalem to worship the King, Yahweh of Armies, on them there will be no rain- At the time of Zechariah, rain was being withheld upon Judah because of their disobedience, as Haggai 1 and Malachi mention. The initial audience would have been aware of this and realized they were being treated like the obstinate Gentiles of the last days who would refuse all evidence of Yahweh’s supremacy and refuse to submit to Him. For this is what they were doing.</p>


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<h4>If the family of Egypt doesn’t go up, and doesn’t come, neither will it rain on them- The obvious point is that Egypt was then the nation which was independent of rainfall, because it depended for irrigation upon the flooding of the Nile rather than precipitation. With all the huge tectonic upheavals of the last days, this situation will change. That is the clear implication of this threat. "The family of Egypt" is a slightly unusual term. The implication may be that at Zechariah’s time, the family of God in Egypt had chosen not to ’come up’ to Zion, preferring the land of their exile.</h4><h4>This will be the plague with which Yahweh will strike the nations that don’t go up to keep the feast of tents- Perhaps God expected the Jews in Egypt to come to Jerusalem to keep the feast. But they didn’t, and thereby were living out the condemnation of latter day people who refuse the most obvious evidence that Yahweh is indeed king in Zion.</h4>


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<p>This will be the punishment of Egypt, and the punishment of all the nations that don’t go up to keep the feast of tabernacles- Egypt as so often is presented as representative of "all the nations". We note that even when the Lord Jesus is enthroned in Jerusalem, obedience will not be forced. And we also are reminded that in the face of the most overpowering visual evidence, human nature is such that men can still refuse it. "Punishment" translates the same original word translated "sin", e:g. in <a href='B:450 13:1'>Zec 13:1</a>. The Hebrew language at this point was structured to reflect the fact that sin is its own punishment. It’s not so much that God punishes sin, but that sin is its punishment.</p>


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<h4>In that day there will be on the bells of the horses, HOLY TO YAHWEH- "The horses" suggests a specific group of horses is in view; and the horses of the context are those ridden by the invaders in :15. Instead of bearing slogans glorifying their dedication to pagan gods, the "bridles" (LXX, NEV "bells") of the surviving horses will be dedicated instead to Yahweh. This is another way of saying that swords will be beaten into ploughs (<a href='B:290 2:4'>Isa 2:4</a>). "Holy to Yahweh" was the inscription on the High Priestly mitre (<a href='B:20 28:36'>Exo 28:36</a>). The idea is that such holiness would extend equally; the horses were to be as dedicated to Yahweh as the High Priest. This thought continues in the second half of the verse, where sacred bowls are to be as holy as earthen pots. And we can live with that spirit now; every part of our lives is to be dedicated to Yahweh. No area of life or field of human endeavour is to be considered as more or less sanctified than any other.</h4><h4>And the pots in Yahweh’s house will be like the bowls before the altar- LXX "The cooking pots in the Temple will be as sacred as the bowls before the altar". Holiness will extend to absolutely everything.</h4>


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<h4>Yes, every pot in Jerusalem and in Judah will be holy to Yahweh of Armies; and all those who sacrifice will come and take of them, and cook in them- This rather conflicts with the practice amongst the Jews of the priests preparing the sacrifices, with the resultant abuses exemplified in the situation in <a href='B:90 2:13-15'>1Sa 2:13-15</a>. But God seeks for personal relationship with individual people; both now and in that future day, we are to personally prepare and offer our own sacrifice to Him. We cannot depend upon any religious structure to do this for us, assuming because we made a general donation to a fund or charitable appeal we are thereby freed from any further concept of sacrifice.</h4><p>In that day- This phrase occurs seven times in the prophecy of Zechariah 14; see on :7. We are perhaps invited to see this as the consumption of the creation week, a new creation. The final "in that day" we expect to be something very significant, but instead the prophecy concludes with what could appear an anticlimax- a reference to there no longer being traders / Canaanites in the temple. But this is typical of the prophets; to focus upon moral failure which might appear relatively minor, and show how deeply significant it in fact is to God.</p><h4>There will no longer be a Canaanite in the house of Yahweh of Armies- This was of obvious relevance to Zechariah’s generation; for the book of Nehemiah laments how Canaanites came and traded and even had chambers in the temple. So the crowning blessing of the Kingdom "in that day" will be that there will be no more spiritual weakness within us the people and temple of God. And this is what surely every spiritually minded believer wishes for above all. Fear of our own weakness and the corruption of God’s "house" by apostacy will then be no more.</h4>


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<p>An oracle: the word of Yahweh to Israel by Malachi- "Malachi" is a form of malak, the word usually used for messenger of Angel. The appeal of the prophecy is to the priests, who are described in <a href='B:460 2:7'>Mal 2:7</a> as "the messenger of Yahweh of Armies". So it would seem that Malachi [s:w. "messenger"] was himself a priest who was modelling what a priest should be like by giving his prophecy. So we have here a priest rebuking priests; and this is always the most powerful way to preach, teach and pastor, when the teacher or pastor has commonality with the audience. It was and is why the Lord Jesus fully had our human nature. The priests were to ‘turn’ [s:w. ‘convert’] believers away from the life of sin and behind the way of God (<a href='B:460 2:6'>Mal 2:6</a> LXX); the priestly mission was to bring about the conversion which was required before the revelation of Messiah and the Messianic Kingdom. As explained on Haggai and Zechariah, the exiles who returned could have experienced Joshua and / or Zerubbabel as their Messianic rulers in God’s restored Kingdom in Judah. But they didn’t ’return’ to Yahweh spiritually, and most of them preferred to remain in exile anyway. It could be that ’Malachi’ was an appeal for repentance by a priest who was attempting to prepare the way for Messiah’s coming. But still Judah refused to respond, and his fellow priests, perhaps his own relatives, refused to prepare that way; and Malachi as the messenger of the covenant was rejected by his people. And so Malachi’s mission failed, but it would come true in the work of the future Elijah prophet. Hence he concludes by speaking about this. John the Baptist was the primary fulfilment of it, and the latter day Elijah prophet will be the main fulfilment. John the Baptist felt that the Elijah ministry was about being "a voice crying", and he gives no direct answer to the question "Who are you?". He was just a voice, he felt his name was irrelevant. This might explain why ’Malachi’ is anonymous, simply the messenger- of a possible new covenant.</p>


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<h4>I have loved you, says Yahweh. Yet you say, How have you loved us? Wasn’t Esau Jacob’s brother? says Yahweh, Yet I loved Jacob- Paul cites predestination as a parade example of God’s grace. God’s love of&nbsp; Jacob over Esau was not because Jacob was better; in secular terms, he was not such a nice guy as Esau. But God’s love was for Jacob, to demonstrate His grace and to thereby elicit the response of faith and devotion. But Jacob / Israel refused. In Malachi’s time, Israel had greatly slacked in keeping the Law: "What a weariness is it!", they grumbled to each other. They divorced faithful wives so they could marry Gentiles, they practiced sorcery and sexual perversion (<a href='B:460 2:14-16'>Mal 2:14-16</a>; <a href='B:460 3:5'>Mal 3:5</a>). But the first problem which the Spirit addresses is their lack of appreciation that God really did love them deeply(<a href='B:460 1:2'>Mal 1:2</a>). All the other immorality flowed from this. We need to constantly remind ourselves never to feel "Nobody loves me". God loves us, in His Son. Let us never ever forget that.</h4><p>The clear parallel between the historical man Jacob and the people of Israel is brought out here. Had Israel appreciated God’s love for the man Jacob, and perceived that he was typical of them, then they would never have doubted God’s love for them. And the same is true of us, whom Jacob likewise represents. It can be demonstrated that the weakness of Jacob, morally and even doctrinally, runs far deeper than may be apparent on the surface. Even at the end, despite the level of spiritual maturity which Jacob doubtless achieved, he still had serious aspects of incompleteness in his character. And yet he is held up as a spiritual hero, a victor in the struggle against the flesh. This was (and is) all possible on account of the phenomenal imputation of righteousness which God gave to His Jacob. He was saved by grace, not works; and Malachi appeals to God’s people to see in Jacob’s salvation an eternal reminder of God’s grace (<a href='B:460 1:2'>Mal 1:2</a>; <a href='B:460 3:6'>Mal 3:6</a>). Very often, the name Jacob is associated with the way that God sees His people of Jacob / Israel as righteous when in fact they are not (<a href='B:40 23:7'>Num 23:7</a>; <a href='B:40 23:10'>Num 23:10</a>; <a href='B:40 23:21'>Num 23:21</a>; <a href='B:40 24:5'>Num 24:5</a>; <a href='B:230 47:4'>Psa 47:4</a>; <a href='B:230 105:6'>Psa 105:6</a>; <a href='B:230 135:4'>Psa 135:4</a>; <a href='B:290 41:8'>Isa 41:8</a>).</p><h4>The various questions and statements put into Judah’s mouth in Malachi, such as "How have you loved us?", are unlikely citations of what they actually said. Rather do we see here how God perceives the thought as the word, and how He sees and traces to the end the implications of our positions. We note that these same people who questioned whether God loved them were at the same time intensely religious and emotional in their apparent devotions to Him, covering His altar with tears (<a href='B:460 2:13'>Mal 2:13</a>). In this we see a challenge; we can very seriously go through the motions of religious devotion, and yet disbelieve the simple love of God toward us.</h4>


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<h4>But Esau I hated- "Hated" effectively means ’loved less’ (as in <a href='B:490 14:26'>Luk 14:26</a> cp. <a href='B:470 10:37'>Mat 10:37</a>; and <a href='B:10 29:30-31'>Gen 29:30-31</a> cp. <a href='B:50 21:15-16'>Deu 21:15-16</a>). We read that Rebekah loved Jacob, but Isaac loved Esau; this isn’t to say that each parent hated the other child, but that they loved them less. God seems to be saying that He too had (as it were) this kind of favouritism- by grace. And "Jacob" was to be awed by that grace; but they were not. In wrath God had said of Israel: “I hated them” (<a href='B:350 9:15'>Hos 9:15</a>). Yet God loves Israel with an eternal love, and hates their enemies Esau (<a href='B:460 1:3'>Mal 1:3</a>). He will “love them freely” ultimately (<a href='B:350 14:4'>Hos 14:4</a>). These windows into God’s internal struggles reveal that His love is far from cheap.</h4><p>And made his mountains a desolation- Esau was judged for his sins; whereas so often, God didn’t judge Jacob as he deserved.</p><h4>And gave his heritage to the jackals of the wilderness- God gave Esau and inheritance and then took it away, giving it to the jackals. Jacob / Israel sinned even worse; their mountains were also made desolate, their heritage given to others- but despite a dearth of repentance, God had still restored them to their land in Malachi’s time. This restoration was by grace alone; and Israel ought to have responded more and not questioned God’s love.</h4>


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<h4>Whereas Edom says, We are beaten down, but we will return and build the waste places; thus says Yahweh of Armies, They shall build, but I will throw down- God challenges Judah’s indolence to rebuild the temple by drawing their attention to how zealously Edom had rebuilt their “desolate places”. If Edom can do it… why can’t you, Judah, with all God’s prophecies and support behind you? God threw down what the Edomites tried to rebuild, but was eager to confirm and magnify every stone laid by Judah. We too are challenged by the devotion and commitment of secular people to causes which are unspiritual and not Godly. If they can do so much for their causes; how much more should we devote every atom of our being to the things of the Kingdom.</h4><h4>And men will call them ‘The Wicked Land’, even the people against whom Yahweh shows wrath forever- The curses against Judah and Edom were similar (<a href='B:290 34:5'>Isa 34:5</a>); but God never lifted the curse upon Edom, whereas by grace He had done so upon Judah. Petra remains desolate to this day. The surrounding peoples throughout the generations were persuaded that Edom was a "Wicked land" and would not rebuild it. We see here how God can act directly upon the perceptions and hearts of people; and He can do so positively through His Spirit with us. God’s wrath with Israel is described as eternal, but His grace to them was such that it was not.</h4>


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<p>Your eyes will see, and you will say, Yahweh is great- even beyond the border of Israel!- "See" is s:w. "discern" in <a href='B:460 3:18'>Mal 3:18</a>; as explained there and on <a href='B:460 2:4'>Mal 2:4</a>, all too late, the rejected will perceive spiritual truths. The connection with <a href='B:460 3:18'>Mal 3:18</a> suggests the "Your eyes" in view are those of rejected Israel. They oppressed Gentiles (<a href='B:460 3:5'>Mal 3:5</a>) and considered eretz Israel the sole dominion of God’s kingship or kingdom. But they would realize all too late that His Kingdom included Gentiles. The context is God’s grace poured out to Jacob but not to Esau; the Jews of Malachi’s time who refused and despised that grace would be resurrected to judgment and then see Gentiles such as Edom glorifying the God of Israel.</p>


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<h4>A son honours his father, and a servant his master. If I am a father, then where is my honour?- Just as Judah questioned in their hearts whether God loved them (:2), so they acted as if they weren’t the children of God, and therefore didn’t need to give Him the response which a son does to a father,</h4><p>And if I am a master, where is the respect due me?- One doesn’t give sub-standard service to their employer. One didn’t bring him a defective animal as a gift. And yet Israel gave their God the lame and the blind animals, they only served Him as far as it didn’t hurt them (<a href='B:460 1:6-9'>Mal 1:6-9</a>). They gave Him what cost them nothing. And yet they should not only have served Him as they served their earthly masters; but, because He is the “great God”, they should have given Him even more. And so we must ask: the time we give to our careers and development in them, the thought we give to our secular lives, the respect we pay it… how does this compare to our attitude to Divine things?</p><p>Says Yahweh of Armies to you, priests- The appeal to the priests is made explicit in <a href='B:460 2:1'>Mal 2:1</a>, but it begins here. As noted on :1, Malachi was a priest, and he was appealing to the priests, possibly his own family members. The criticism of the priests for offering defective animals was really a criticism of their keeping the best sacrifices for themselves, and also allowing the people to offer defective animals. This is why the mass of society were as culpable as the priests.</p><p>Who despise My name- To know the name of Yahweh is an imperative to serve Him (<a href='B:130 28:9'>1Ch 28:9</a>). The greatness of the Name should have led to full and costly sacrifices (<a href='B:460 1:6-11'>Mal 1:6-11</a>; <a href='B:460 1:14'>Mal 1:14</a>; <a href='B:460 2:2'>Mal 2:2</a>). Thinking upon the Name led the faithful to pay their tithes and fellowship with each other (<a href='B:460 3:6'>Mal 3:6</a>; <a href='B:460 3:10'>Mal 3:10</a>). Giving unto Yahweh the glory due to His Name is articulated through giving sacrifice (<a href='B:230 96:8'>Psa 96:8</a>). If we know God, we will act and judge as He does (<a href='B:300 22:16'>Jer 22:16</a>). To perceive that Yahweh is indeed so righteous results in us humbling ourselves (<a href='B:140 12:6'>2Ch 12:6</a>), just as the declaration of the Name made Moses hide in the cleft of the rock, and as it will make men in the last days throw away all their vestige of human pride (Isaiah 2).</p><h4>You say, ‘How have we despised Your name?’- The priests perhaps excused themselves by reasoning that it was the people bringing defective offerings. The fact is, God demands our all, our total best. Anything less than that is an excuse. The Hebrew for "despised" is used of Esau (<a href='B:10 25:34'>Gen 25:34</a>). In the context we have just read of how Esau was worse than Jacob but God saved Jacob by grace. This ought to have elicited in Jacob / Israel a desire not to act as Esau, but to be transformed by that grace. But instead they acted like and even worse than Esau, also despising spiritual things. To despise the Name was the presumptuous sin (<a href='B:40 15:31'>Num 15:31</a>). It was because of despising God that they had broken the covenant and gone into captivity (s:w. <a href='B:140 36:16'>2Ch 36:16</a>; <a href='B:330 16:59'>Eze 16:59</a>; <a href='B:330 22:8'>Eze 22:8</a>). Now they had been restored by grace, but they were behaving the same way. They didn’t deserve to be in the land, but rather to be sent away again into another captivity.</h4>


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<h4>You offer polluted bread on My altar- The abuses against “My altar” of <a href='B:460 1:7'>Mal 1:7</a>; <a href='B:460 1:10'>Mal 1:10</a> refer to the much-mentioned altar of Ezekiel 40-48, which was to be used in a way unlike the previous abuses of the pre-captivity period. Judah had made no difference between clean and unclean, and therefore had gone into captivity (<a href='B:330 22:26'>Eze 22:26</a>); and therefore the temple was a command / prophecy to divide the clean from the unclean in the whole way the building was designed and was to be built and operated (<a href='B:330 42:20'>Eze 42:20</a>). It was a “law” that the top of the house be “holy” (<a href='B:330 43:12'>Eze 43:12</a>). See on :8. Malachi is primarily addressing the priesthood; they were already "polluted", unable to prove their genealogy as the records had been destroyed when Jerusalem was sacked, and were only allowed to serve by grace (<a href='B:160 7:64'>Neh 7:64</a>). But they didn’t respond to that grace; they themselves polluted God’s service.</h4><p>God had sworn not to allow His Name to be polluted or profaned, e:g. <a href='B:290 48:11'>Isa 48:11</a> "For My own sake, for My own sake, will I do it; for how should My name be profaned? I will not give My glory to another"; also in <a href='B:330 20:9'>Eze 20:9</a>. But He never forces, and so He ’allowed’ Judah at this time to pollute it. God invites us to see His efforts to stop His Name being polluted as somehow defeated by the extent of Israel’s pollutions. This theme comes out clearly in Ezekiel: they polluted Him, but He strove lest His Name should be polluted. Here is the extent of freewill which God gives man to sin- and also the extent of the hopefulness of God. It’s as if He didn’t imagine they would pollute Him as much as they did.</p><h4>You say, ‘How have we polluted You?’ In that you say, ‘Yahweh’s table contemptible’- “They shall come near to my table” (<a href='B:330 44:16'>Eze 44:16</a>) in the restored temple. They did, but they despised it (<a href='B:460 1:7'>Mal 1:7</a>; <a href='B:460 1:12'>Mal 1:12</a>), they found it such a weariness. Yet they covered the altar with tears of religious devotion (<a href='B:460 2:13'>Mal 2:13</a>), when n reality they despised it. For God’s table was His altar, He ate in fellowship with the offerers. We have here a powerful challenge to mere religiousity. "Contemptible" is s:w. despise"in :6. They despised God’s Name by despising His table. Our attitude to His table, which in our day could refer to the breaking of bread service, is our attitude to His Name. If we treat it as mere religion, a weapon to control others with, a sign of local club membership, then we like Judah are despising His Name.</h4>


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<h4>When you offer the blind for sacrifice, isn’t that evil? And when you offer the lame and sick, isn’t that evil?- The excuse of the priests would have been that it was the people who offered these defective animals. But they were judged as responsible, as their acceptance of them encouraged the masses in their disrespect.</h4><p>They offered blemished sacrifices, when it had been prophesied / commanded in the Ezekiel prophecies of the restored temple that Israel were not to do this (<a href='B:330 43:23'>Eze 43:23</a>). Those prophecies were command more than prediction, and only conditional upon Israel’s obedience- which was not forthcoming. So much prophetic potential was wasted, as it is in human life today. See on <a href='B:460 1:7'>Mal 1:7</a>; <a href='B:460 1:10'>Mal 1:10</a>; <a href='B:460 2:14'>Mal 2:14</a>; <a href='B:460 3:8'>Mal 3:8</a>.</p><h4>They offered the blemished sacrifices which Israel presented to them (:8,14). Thus they failed to speak out against the low spiritual standards of their flock, but instead went along with them. So the masses got the spiritual leadership they wanted, even if they despised them (:9). For this reason, both society and priesthood were equally to be condemned.</h4>&nbsp;<p>Present it now to your governor!- A Persian term is here used, suggesting Malachi was speaking not long after the restoration, when the Jews were still influenced by Persian language.</p><h4>Will he be pleased with you? Or will he accept your person? says Yahweh of Armies- Heb."accept your face". Sitting at God’s table / altar with acceptable sacrifice would have resulted in them meeting God face to face as it were, over the table.</h4>


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<h4>Now, please entreat the favour of God, that He may be gracious to us- It appears that a minority did respond to Malachi’s words. But as religious people tend to, they asked the priest [Malachi] to pray for them, rather than wanting to engage personally with God. They are perhaps alluding to the intercession of Moses for a faithless Israel.</h4><h4>With this, will He accept any of you? says Yahweh of Armies- The problem was that the nature of the failures was such that the whole society was implicated. The priests offered the defective sacrifices which the people brought. And yet despite this, God as it were changes His mind and does accept that minority in <a href='B:460 3:16'>Mal 3:16</a>. Such was and is His enthusiasm to save at least some.</h4>


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<h4>Oh that there were one among you who would shut the doors, that you might not kindle fire on My altar in vain!- There were to be gate openers in the restored temple (<a href='B:330 46:12'>Eze 46:12</a>). There were gate openers, but they demanded to be paid for their services (AV); or [LXX]&nbsp; the gate openers were nowhere to be found. The difference in the translations reflects the Hebraism: if you won’t serve for nothing, then you haven’t served.</h4><p>An indication that Nehemiah could have been a Messiah figure is to be found in <a href='B:460 1:10'>Mal 1:10</a> RV, which laments that even if one man could be found to shut the temple doors properly, then God’s pleasure would have returned to Israel. It was Nehemiah who shut the doors (<a href='B:160 13:19'>Neh 13:19</a> - i:e. organized the temple services?), but presumably the implication is that he didn’t continue as required. See on <a href='B:440 1:1'>Hag 1:1</a>; <a href='B:440 2:7'>Hag 2:7</a>; <a href='B:450 8:22'>Zec 8:22</a>.</p><p>The AV offers:"Who is there even among you that would shut the doors for nought? neither do ye kindle fire on mine altar for nought". If this is legitimate, then we have an allusion to the book of Job, which appears to have been rewritten under inspiration with relevance to the return from exile. The satan in the book of Job expresses his serious doubt that any man would serve God for no prospect of reward in this life (<a href='B:220 1:9'>Job 1:9</a>). One of the themes of the book of Job is to show how a real believerwill serve God for nothing. In fact, Job went beyond this. He says that he will still serve God even if he gets nothing from Him in this life and even if there is no future reward either, &nbsp;and even if God treats Him unfairly; ’Even if’, Job speculates, ’God slays me (not just ’kills’ me)’&nbsp;&nbsp; (consider <a href='B:220 13:15'>Job 13:15</a>; <a href='B:220 14:7'>Job 14:7</a>; <a href='B:220 14:14'>Job 14:14</a>; <a href='B:220 19:10'>Job 19:10</a>). This was love of God, this was devotion to ones’ creator, despite not understanding His ways. In Malachi’s time, the Jews were expecting a reward from God for every little thing they did. They are rebuked in language which is full of allusion back to Job, and his willingness to serve God"for nought"(<a href='B:460 1:10'>Mal 1:10</a> AV).</p><h4>I have no pleasure in you, says Yahweh of Armies, neither will I accept an offering at your hand- The glory of Yahweh as described at the end of Ezekiel could have appeared in Haggai’s time- but this wonderful possibility was held back by Israel’s petty minded, self-satisficing laziness. The same word is used in <a href='B:330 43:27'>Eze 43:27</a> - then, when the temple of Ezekiel was built, Yahweh would “accept / take pleasure in” His people and temple. But because they built and served Him with such a mean spirit, He did not “accept” them at that time (<a href='B:460 1:10'>Mal 1:10</a>; <a href='B:460 1:13'>Mal 1:13</a> s:w:).</h4>


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<p>For from the rising of the sun even to the going down of the same, My name is great among the nations, and in every place incense will be offered to My name, and a pure offering: for My name is great among the nations, says Yahweh of Armies- Note the conflict of tenses; His Name will be glorified, because it is right now great. The implication is that we glorify that Name now, and thereby live the Kingdom life now. This is the sense of the Lord’s repeated offers of"life eternal"to be experienced right now. The exiles despised Gentiles (<a href='B:460 3:5'>Mal 3:5</a>), but ultimately it was Gentiles who were to offer a more pure sacrifice than the Jews. Their"pure offering"contrasts with the defective offerings of the Jews at this time. And the Jews of that generation would be resurrected to see this, and then be condemned (see on :5)."Every place"uses maqom, the word for a holy place; the whole earth was to be full of such holy places, where incense could be offered acceptably; which meant that the Jerusalem temple would no longer be the only sacred space- a lesson the exiles ought to have learnt through their relationship with God in Babylon.</p>


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<h4>But you profane it- The purpose of building the temple system was so that Yahweh’s Name would no longer be profaned by His people in that temple (<a href='B:330 36:23'>Eze 36:23</a>; <a href='B:330 44:7'>Eze 44:7</a>); but they had profaned it (also <a href='B:460 1:12'>Mal 1:12</a>), in that they saw it all as mere religion, and the fire of a true relationship with the Almighty was smothered. Judah profaned the Sabbath too (<a href='B:160 13:17-18'>Neh 13:17-18</a>). The potential kingdom situation of Ezekiel 40-48 was therefore precluded by their disobedience to it.</h4><p>In that you say, ‘Yahweh’s table is polluted, and its fruit, even its food, is contemptible’- This is typical of the prophets- to perceive the real implication of attitudes. For the Jews probably didn’t actually say those words. But because those words didn’t pass their lips and weren’t formed by their tongue::. this didn’t mean that they didn’t think that. The Lord brought all this into simple truth when He stated that the thought is the action and the words.</p><h4>According to the LXX titles, there were certain Psalms which were written for the dedication of the rebuilt temple, and others written by Haggai and Zechariah. They include: Psalms 96, 138, 147, 148. These all seem to speak as if the time of a glorious temple was to be the time of God’s Kingdom; this was the possibility, and it was the prevailing hope in the minds of the faithful minority. But the Psalms had to remain prophecies of the future day of Zion’s glory. Psalms 96 is very clear: “Give unto the Lord the glory due unto his name [i:e:] bring an offering, and come into his courts” (:8). But Judah did not bring the right offerings, although the glory of Yahweh’s Name ought to have elicited them (<a href='B:460 1:11-14'>Mal 1:11-14</a>).</h4>


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<h4>You say also, ‘Behold, what a weariness it is!’- What a contrast with David! The whole of Psalms 119 describes how he rejoiced at God’s law, staying up late at night, straining his eyes into the candlelight to read it, getting up first thing in the morning to read some more (<a href='B:230 119:147-148'>Psa 119:147-148</a>)."Travail"is the same word translated"weariness"here, used by Nehemiah as a summary of all the trouble that had come upon Judah in their history (<a href='B:160 9:32'>Neh 9:32</a>). This is the mindset of so many- they have travail in the world, and they consider relationship with God to likewise be"travail". Anything apart from total commitment to God will result in this miserable mindset.</h4><p>And you have sniffed at it, says Yahweh of Armies-"Sniffed"alludes to an animal snorting or ’breathing back’ at food they don’t like. It is the word used about how Yahweh"sniffed"or ’blew away’ the harvest reaped by the exiles (<a href='B:440 1:9'>Hag 1:9</a>). As noted on What a weariness it is, Judah had slumped to a situation where they sniffed or blew away at the idea of giving God the best, and He sniffed or blew away what they harvested. Only total devotion to Him of our very best will bring us out of this mire of mediocrity which grips unbelieving society.</p><p>And you have brought that which was taken by violence, the lame, and the sick; thus you bring the offering- The returned exiles were stealing cattle from each other, and then quickly using them as offerings before the theft would be discovered. And by so doing, they robbed God (<a href='B:460 3:8'>Mal 3:8</a>). The Hebrew for"sick"is literally ’that which is worn away’, and it is also one of the Hebrew words translated"prayer". It is used in :9; to pray to God with entreaty is as it were to wear Him down, as in the parable of the insistent widow. The play on words here is to reflect how God would not be ’worn down’ by their prayers if their sacrifices were of worn down animals. The timeless message is that we are not to sacrifice to God that which costs us nothing, that which is in any case superfluous to our personal needs. And we need to examine all our giving to God in this light.</p><h4>Should I accept this at your hand? says Yahweh- The prophetic intention was that God would"accept"the offerings of the restored exiles in the rebuilt temple (s:w. <a href='B:330 20:41'>Eze 20:41</a>; <a href='B:330 43:27'>Eze 43:27</a>). But He is saying that they were precluding the fulfilment of those prophecies by offering that which was clearly unacceptable. Again we see the open ended nature of God’s purpose, and the extreme importance thereby attached to human freewill decisions.</h4>


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<h4>But the deceiver is cursed, who has in his flock a male, and vows, and sacrifices to the Lord a blemished thing- We may ask, ’Who were the offerers deceiving?’. Not the priests, because they knew the blemishes of the animals they sacrificed. Like Ananias and Saphira, the offerers were deceiving God. And they thought they could get away with it. They would naturally have recoiled at this being stated in such bald terms, but thisis effectively what we are doing if we don’t offer the best according to our potential. The law required male offerings (<a href='B:30 1:3'>Lev 1:3</a>; <a href='B:30 1:10'>Lev 1:10</a>); the offerer was claiming that he had only a flock of females and hence couldn’t offer a male. This was obviously untrue, but they thought they could thus deceive God, as if He wouldn’t notice.</h4><h4>For I am a great King, says Yahweh of Armies-"The great king"is the title beloved by the kings of Assyria, Greece and Babylon (<a href='B:120 18:19'>2Ki 18:19</a>; <a href='B:120 18:28'>2Ki 18:28</a>; <a href='B:300 25:14'>Jer 25:14</a>; <a href='B:340 8:21'>Dan 8:21</a>). The emphasis is therefore upon"I". The restored exiles still felt that their imperial rulers were their great king, rather than throwing off the yoke of tribute and tithing to them and accepting Yahweh as the one and only"great king". We too can so easily fear man’s greatness rather than God’s.</h4><h4>And My name is awesome among the nations- It is a continual theme of Malachi that the Gentiles would ultimately serve God acceptably and better than Judah (see on :11). We note the present tense,"is awesome", as if this potential was already being developed.</h4>


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<p>Now, you priests, this commandment is for you- The idea would be that the following is specifically for the priests, although Malachi 1 is largely directed at them also. I suggested on <a href='B:460 1:1'>Mal 1:1</a> that the priesthood was to specifically be the messenger of the new covenant heralding the potential arising of a Messiah figure. But Judah refused, and so the potential was rescheduled and reapplied to John the Baptist, and then to the latter day Elijah prophet.</p>


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<h4>If you will not listen- Heb."hear". This was the epitome of God’s covenant:"Hear, O Israel". To not even hear meant that all the rest of the covenant principles were lost on them. To hear God, to respect His word, is essential. This is why the Bible must have paramount place in all our thinking about God.</h4><p>And if you will not lay it to heart- Judah had gone into captivity because they did not"lay it to heart"(<a href='B:300 12:11'>Jer 12:11</a> s:w:). The restoration from captivity was to involve setting or laying to heart the new covenant (<a href='B:300 31:21'>Jer 31:21</a>). They had returned from captivity, but were still not laying to heart their relationship with God. This lack of mental focus is one of the most common diseases of the soul, and affects many who would otherwise consider themselves religious Christians.</p><p>To give glory to My name, says Yahweh of Armies- The exiles developed such an obsession with the Name that they even forbad the pronunciation of it. But this was typical mere religiousity, seeing that their root problem was a refusal to glorify the characteristics of God’s Name.</p><p>Then will I send the curse on you- The curse with the article suggests the specific curse for disobedience to the covenant (<a href='B:50 27:15-26'>Deu 27:15-26</a>; Deuteronomy 28).</p><p>And I will curse your blessings. Indeed, I have cursed them already, because you do not lay it to heart- This may refer to how as recorded in Haggai 1, there was famine and none of the covenant blessings which they had been promised for obedience. Or the idea may be that what apparent blessings they had were already cursed from God’s viewpoint, but there was a gap between the curse and its fulfilment; note the future sense of :3. In that gap, they could have repented and changed God’s intention. We too live within that gap, and it should impart an intensity to our living, repentance and self-examination. God had already cursed the priests, He had made that statement. But the whole point of Malachi’s appeal was that the priests would repent, and thus the curse that had “already” been pronounced would not come into operation. Note that God isn’t saying: ‘If you don’t repent, beware, I will curse you’. He had already cursed them, but at that late stage, even then, He was willing to change His word- if they repented. It was exactly the same with Nineveh. Indeed, many of the OT appeals to repentance and outlines of judgment to come are of this nature. That judgment had already been decreed. But the power of the repentance appeals is that even so, God is so sensitive to genuine repentance that He is willing to go back on His own word. It’s a great encouragement not only to personal penitence, but to perceiving the deep significance of he repentance of others, and accordingly framing our personal attitudes and judgments concerning them.</p><h4>"Already"translates a Hebrew term which could mean"I have cursed them severally", taking the grammar distributively- as if to say,"I have cursed each one of your blessings". This would mean that there were a whole list of blessings potentially prepared, which one by one were now cursed. The amount of potential lost was tragic, and it continues in so many lives today as so many possible futures simply don’t come about.</h4>


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<h4>Behold, I will rebuke your seed- The reference could be to literal seed, but more likely to their children. The most common excuse for lack of devotion to God is that resources are needed for our children. This was the reason given by faithless Israel for not entering Canaan. But it was their children who would suffer.</h4><h4>And will spread dung on your faces, even the dung of your feasts; and you will be taken away with it- The allusion is to the taking of the dung of the sacrifices"without the camp"to an unclean place of destruction (<a href='B:20 29:14'>Exo 29:14</a>; <a href='B:30 8:17'>Lev 8:17</a> etc:). Judah were being told that without repentance, they would again be cast out from God’s holy space."Spread"is the same word used for God’s scattering of His people into exile (<a href='B:30 26:33'>Lev 26:33</a>). They didn’t repent, but this didn’t happen for centuries, until AD70. Such was God’s amazing patience, setting us a powerful challenge whenever we think we have been patient enough with lack of human response to His word. But finally, God did end their feasts by destroying the temple and ending the Mosaic law, and expelling Israel. The language is crude and shocking, purposefully so, in order to get over to these religious people who wept tears over God’s altar in apparent devotion (:13)::. that they were so deeply unclean and their devotions and blemished animal sacrifices so abominable.</h4>


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<h4>You will know that I have sent this commandment to you- This continues the theme discussed on <a href='B:460 1:5'>Mal 1:5</a> and <a href='B:460 3:18'>Mal 3:18</a>, that all too late when resurrected to judgment, that generation would know the truth of all these things. This explains why condemnation is described as the mental anguish which leads to gnashing of teeth.</h4><p>That My covenant may be with Levi, says Yahweh of Armies- God wanted to make a new covenant with the priests who are here addressed (:1) as"Levi". I will suggested on :5 that this was not the same as the Mosaic law, and was a separate although similar covenant to that made with Phinehas in <a href='B:40 25:12-13'>Num 25:12-13</a>.</p><h4>On a general level, all those in true covenant relationship with God will realize the fullness of commitment to us which He has entered into, and will likewise make a whole-hearted response and sacrifice (<a href='B:460 2:4-5'>Mal 2:4-5</a>). <a href='B:230 103:18'>Psa 103:18</a> parallels"such as keep his covenant"with" those that remember his commandments to do them". Covenant relationship brings a natural desire to live within the atmosphere of God’s spirituality. For Israel in covenant with God, absolutely nothing- not sex, menstruation, the content of clothing fabric, diet- could fall outside the scope of their covenant relationship. And so in principle it is with us under the new covenant.</h4>


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<p>My covenant was with him of life and peace; and I gave them to him that he might be reverent toward Me; and he was reverent toward Me, and stood in awe of My name- The old covenant could not give life (<a href='B:550 3:21'>Gal 3:21</a>), nor peace with God because there was a remembrance made of personal sins each year because of the inadequacy of the animal sacrifices alone to deal with personal sin (<a href='B:650 10:3'>Heb 10:3</a>). As noted throughout Zechariah, God in Jeremiah and Ezekiel had offered the returning exiles a new covenant, which did offer life and peace:"I will make a covenant of peace with them; it shall be an everlasting covenant"(<a href='B:330 37:26'>Eze 37:26</a>; <a href='B:290 54:10'>Isa 54:10</a>). But they had refused it. This surely is the covenant in view rather than the old covenant. But the statement here is that this covenant had already been given and accepted. The priest who first accepted it was I suggest not the historical Levi, but Joshua the high priest who could have become a Messianic ruler. He initially accepted it but didn’t continue in that covenant, neither did the priesthood after him; see on <a href='B:440 1:1'>Hag 1:1</a>; <a href='B:440 2:4'>Hag 2:4</a>; <a href='B:450 3:1'>Zec 3:1</a>; <a href='B:450 3:3'>Zec 3:3</a>; <a href='B:450 3:6'>Zec 3:6</a>; <a href='B:450 3:8-9'>Zec 3:8-9</a>; <a href='B:450 6:11'>Zec 6:11</a>. See on :7. The allusions to Phinehas are also clear:"‘Behold, I give to him My covenant of peace: and it shall be to him, and to his seed after him, the covenant of an everlasting priesthood; because he was jealous for his God, and made atonement for the children of Israel"(<a href='B:40 25:12-13'>Num 25:12-13</a>). This was itself an incipient form of the new covenant, which was repeated to the priesthood at the time of the restoration as part of the new covenant offered to all Judah who returned to the land.</p>


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<h4>The law of truth was in his mouth, and unrighteousness was not found in his lips. He walked with Me in peace and uprightness- The man in view was"Levi"but this means surely an individual, specific priest, rather than Levi personally. As suggested on :5, it may not so much be Phinehas in view, but rather Joshua the intended high priest who began well but then fell away. God’s law was to be taught in truth, whereas as explained on :8, the priesthood in Malachi’s time had begun to twist the law in an untruthful way. <a href='B:290 59:3'>Isa 59:3</a> uses the same words in condemning Judah after the restoration for having unrighteous lips. They influenced the priesthood, and the priesthood influenced them. And thus the entire community was guilty. The particular unrighteousness on the lips of the priesthood would have been in teaching unrighteousness as righteousness, thereby making their audience"stumble at the law"(:8)."Uprightness"is the word translated"straight"in explaining how the priestly messenger of the covenant would make the way"straight"for Messiah’s coming (<a href='B:290 40:4'>Isa 40:4</a>; <a href='B:290 42:16'>Isa 42:16</a>). This was what was required of the priesthood and high priest in order to prepare the way for Messiah’s coming. But the priest [Joshua?] failed in this, and so did the priesthood subsequently.</h4><p>And turned many away from iniquity-"Many of the children of Israel shall he turn to the Lord their God"(<a href='B:490 1:16'>Luk 1:16</a>) was alluding back to Malachi’s message and prophecies of Messiah’s forerunner; and it also referred to this definition of the ideal priest as one who"did turn many away from iniquity". The high priest Joshua and the priesthood at Malachi’s time failed to prepare the way for Messiah’s coming; and so it was reapplied to John the Baptist, and again to the Elijah prophet of the last days."Turned away"is the usual word used for Judah’s"return"from exile. They had been intended to return to God as well as literally to the land. They had failed to do so, and so they were given by grace the messenger of the covenant to prepare them. This appears to have been a priest, maybe Joshua, or the figure presented as ’Malachi’, but the priesthood generally were not fulfilling this role as intended. And so it was rescheduled for fulfilment in John the Baptist and the Elijah prophet of the last days.</p><h4>There is clearly a connection with <a href='B:340 12:3'>Dan 12:3</a> promising blessing for those who turn many away from iniquity. Daniel’s prophecy that there would be a time of trouble for Israel, followed by a resurrection and judgment, may have had a potential fulfilment in Haman’s persecution. The LXX of Esther 5 includes her prayer, in which she says that Haman was seeking to hinder the work of the temple. This would explain why initially the Samaritans persuaded the Persians to make the work cease, but then (humanly inexplicably) another edict is given for it to resume. The people were delivered (<a href='B:340 12:1'>Dan 12:1</a>), as they were by Michael the Angel manipulating Esther. But the resurrection, judgment and Kingdom didn’t follow, because Israel weren’t ready for it. Then those who turned many to righteousness- i:e. the priesthood, in the primary context- would be rewarded (<a href='B:340 12:3'>Dan 12:3</a>). But Malachi and Haggai repeatedly criticized the priesthood at the time of the restoration for being selfish and not teaching Israel. Daniel and Jeremiah were heartbroken that there had to be such a delay to the full fulfilment of the Messianic restoration of the Kingdom.</h4><h4>As noted on :7, all Israel were to be priests in spirit. The priests were to ‘turn’ [s:w. ‘convert’] believers away from the life of sin and behind the way of God (<a href='B:460 2:6'>Mal 2:6</a> LXX), but this is applied to all of us in <a href='B:660 5:19'>Jas 5:19</a>.</h4>


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<h4>For the priest’s lips should keep knowledge, and they should seek the law at his mouth- As noted on :5, the priests had entered a new covenant on returning from exile. This new covenant required Judah to have God’s law written on their hearts, so that they each had the knowledge of God (<a href='B:300 31:34'>Jer 31:34</a>); and yet <a href='B:460 2:5-7'>Mal 2:5-7</a> laments that the priests were more interested in divorcing their wives than teaching God’s law to the people; their lips didn’t keep nor teach the knowledge of God. The priests of the new temple system were to teach Judah and to make others discern between good and evil (<a href='B:330 44:23'>Eze 44:23</a>). But they did the opposite, and therefore the huge potential predicted for them in Ezekiel 40-48 didn’t come about.</h4>&nbsp;<p>Although there was a special priesthood, it was clearly God’s intention that all Israel should be like priests; they were to be a"Kingdom of priests"(<a href='B:20 19:6'>Exo 19:6</a>)."The priests lips should keep knowledge"; but the average Israelite was encouraged to study the Law for himself,"that your lips may keep knowledge"(<a href='B:240 5:2'>Pro 5:2</a> s:w:).</p><h4>For he is the messenger of Yahweh of Armies- As suggested on <a href='B:460 1:1'>Mal 1:1</a>, Malachi [s:w."messenger"] was himself a priest who was modelling what a priest should be like by giving his prophecy. The messenger of the covenant (<a href='B:460 3:1'>Mal 3:1</a>) was therefore a priest or priesthood which would prepare the people to accept the new covenant in Messiah. The implication is that Malachi and the priesthood of his time could and should have been doing this; but the priests refused. So we have here a priest rebuking priests; and this is always the most powerful way to preach, teach and pastor, when the teacher or pastor has commonality with the audience. It was and is why the Lord Jesus fully had our human nature. 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.</h4>


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<h4>But you have turned aside out of the way- I suggested on :5 that initially at the return from Babylon, the priest did teach God’s ways. Certainly Nehemiah and Ezra did. But the subsequent priesthood didn’t.</h4><p>You have caused many to stumble in the law- This was the effect of their not rejecting the law, but finding all manner of ways of twisting it to allow female animals to be offered instead of the males stipulated (<a href='B:460 1:14'>Mal 1:14</a>), and crippled animals to be accepted instead of unblemished ones. Finding ways around God’s requirements only makes others stumble; again, a timeless warning.</p><h4>You have corrupted the covenant of Levi, says Yahweh of Armies- As explained on :5, that covenant was not the old covenant, but a new covenant offered to the returning exiles, as detailed in Jeremiah 31 and Ezekiel 37, which they initially accepted, but now the next generation had corrupted it. There is clearly also an allusion to the covenant with Phinehas. The priests"corrupted the covenant of Levi", in that they married out of the Faith (<a href='B:160 13:29'>Neh 13:29</a>), thus violating the Spirit of the Phinehas covenant- which was given in recognition of zealous action against relationships with Gentile women (<a href='B:40 25:12-13'>Num 25:12-13</a>).</h4>


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<p>Therefore I have also made you contemptible and base before all the people, according to the way you have not kept My ways, but have had respect for persons in the law- As will be explained on :11, the people came to despise the priests just as they had done at the time of the young Samuel. But because of this, the people were driven to idolatry. This is what happens when the leadership of God’s communities drive people away and make them simply not want to have anything to do with the community any more; those driven away rarely keep the faith, but rather drift off to various forms of idolatry. By respecting persons, showing favouritism to some, the priesthood became despised before all the people. They were unable to have a platform of respect from which to teach the people, and what they taught anyway was a corruption of the law.</p>


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<h4>Don’t we all have one father? Hasn’t one God created us? Why do we deal treacherously every man against his brother- The covenant in view is that explained on :5:Remember that Malachi is addressing the priests (:1), and he himself was a priest (:7), probably a family relative of the priests he was addressing. Therefore the reference to brothers and having one father is to be understood in that context; the"one father"Malachi shared with his audience would then have been Levi. But the wider principle remains; the unity of God and our common relationship with Him should mean that we do not at treacherously against our brother, who also has God as Father.</h4><p>Profaning the covenant of our fathers?- The purpose of building the temple system was so that Yahweh’s Name and covenant would no longer be ’profaned’ by His people (<a href='B:330 36:23'>Eze 36:23</a>; <a href='B:330 44:7'>Eze 44:7</a>); but they had profaned it (also <a href='B:460 1:12'>Mal 1:12</a>), in that they saw it all as mere religion, and the fire of a true relationship with the Almighty was smothered.</p><h4>Breaking covenant with God was related to breaking covenant with their wives and marrying Gentiles. Thus those who ’married out’ in Ezra’s time admitted:"We have broken covenant with our God ("have broken faith with our God" , RSV) and have taken strange (i:e. Gentile) wives of the people of the land::. now let us make a covenant with our God, to put away all these wives"(<a href='B:150 10:2'>Ezr 10:2</a> LXX). Ezra confirms the truth of what they said:"You have broken covenant and taken strange wives"(<a href='B:150 10:10'>Ezr 10:10</a> LXX). Some years later, Nehemiah stridently criticized Israel for yet again marrying Gentiles. He described their action as"breaking covenant with our God and marrying strange wives"(<a href='B:160 13:27'>Neh 13:27</a> LXX); the Levites likewise"defiled the priesthood, and the covenant of the priesthood"(<a href='B:160 13:29'>Neh 13:29</a>) by their marriages. Notice how the repentant Jews in Ezra’s time realized that they had broken the covenant, and sought to rectify things by re-entering the covenant, through serious repentance:&nbsp; Marriage with unbelievers needs to be assessed in the light of these words. In nearly every reference to marriage to Gentiles, there is the comment that this would surely lead to adopting the religious views of the Gentile partner; views which inevitably take a man away from the one and only Divine Truth, as revealed in the covenants of the Gospel. Turn through the following passages, which all make the connection between marriage out of the covenant, and adopting idolatry: <a href='B:20 34:12-16'>Exo 34:12-16</a>; <a href='B:50 7:2-9'>Deu 7:2-9</a>; <a href='B:70 3:6-7'>Jdg 3:6-7</a>; <a href='B:110 11:2-3'>1Ki 11:2-3</a>; <a href='B:460 2:11'>Mal 2:11</a>; <a href='B:540 6:14'>2Co 6:14</a>.</h4>


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<h4>Judah has dealt treacherously, and an abomination is committed in Israel and in Jerusalem; for Judah has profaned the holiness of Yahweh which he loves, and has married the daughter of a foreign god- The treachery was therefore marital unfaithfulness. This is the great burden of Hosea; that Judah were in covenant relationship with God but were unfaithful. And yet there was never a time when Judah stated in so many words that they were through with Yahweh and were remarrying idols. The prophets so often perceive the true implication of human actions and attitudes. They had effectively divorced God and remarried. We recall that Malachi was speaking at the time of the restoration. The common impression that they left their idols in Babylon when they returned to Judah is incorrect. It’s true that under the Maccabees they did reject idolatry, but not for a few generations. All the rebuilding of the temple and the walls of Jerusalem was therefore done against this background of idolatry. Remember that it is the priests being addressed here (:1). They had made Judah stumble (:8); they are being blamed for Judah effectively divorcing Yahweh. They had effectively taught idolatry, although they would have strongly denied this. But by driving people away from Yahweh worship by their corruption and theft from the people, which led to the people despising them (:9), they had driven the people to idolatry. There is a religious need and instinct within people; if we or our church leadership make others stumble away from serving God, putting them in a position where they feel they can’t come to meetings or remain within the believing community::. then they will stumble off to other faiths. And it will be our fault.</h4><h4>The people were warned that the temple had been destroyed because of their previous “abominations”, and that the rebuilt temple was not to feature any such abominations (<a href='B:330 43:8'>Eze 43:8</a>; <a href='B:330 44:6-7'>Eze 44:6-7</a>; <a href='B:330 44:13'>Eze 44:13</a>). “Let it suffice you of your abominations” they were told- and were commanded not to allow the uncircumcised into the temple, as they had been doing (<a href='B:330 44:6'>Eze 44:6</a>; <a href='B:330 44:9'>Eze 44:9</a>). This sounds as if the prophecy of Ezekiel was more command than prediction- to those of his own day. But they returned, and committed the abominations [s:w:] of the Gentiles (<a href='B:150 9:1'>Ezr 9:1</a>; <a href='B:150 9:11'>Ezr 9:11</a>; <a href='B:150 9:14'>Ezr 9:14</a>) and married their daughters. udah did not ‘separate’ themselves from the surrounding tribes but instead married them and worshipped their idols (s:w. <a href='B:150 9:1'>Ezr 9:1</a> “The people of Israel::. have not separated themselves from the people of the land, doing according to their abominations::. for they have taken of their daughters for themselves”). The same word for “abominations” occurs here; they had"dealt treacherously, and an abomination is committed in Israel". Yet it had been emphasized that the temple system Ezekiel described was to be free of all the “abominations” [s:w:] previously committed by Israel (<a href='B:330 43:8'>Eze 43:8</a>; <a href='B:330 44:6-7'>Eze 44:6-7</a>; <a href='B:330 44:13'>Eze 44:13</a>).</h4>


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<h4>May Yahweh cut off out of the tents of Jacob the man who does this, and his descendant; may he not offer an offering to Yahweh of Armies- As explained on :11, God is furious with those who cause others to stumble by effectively driving them away from the community of His children. Those who uphold disfellowship, excommunication, a closed table etc. must take this challenge very seriously."May he not offer::."confirms that we are reading specifically about the priests, who offered the scarifies.</h4><h4>The AV has"The LORD will cut off the man that doeth this, the master and the scholar":&nbsp; Yahweh cut off the “master” [‘the stirred up one’, s:w. about how their spirit was ‘stirred up’ to achieve the work of the Kingdom at the restoration (<a href='B:150 1:5'>Ezr 1:5</a>)] because they divorced their wives and married Gentiles (<a href='B:460 2:12'>Mal 2:12</a>). The potential work of God on men’s hearts was frustrated by their hardness of heart."The scholar"would refer to those taught by the"master"priest; perhaps Joshua the potential high priest is in view.</h4>


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<p>This again you do: you cover the altar of Yahweh with tears, with weeping, and with sighing, because He doesn’t regard the offering any more, neither receives it with good will at your hand- This is addressed to the priests, who have in the previous verses been convicted of making the people stumble into idolatry. Covering an altar with tears and emotional behaviour recalls the priests of Baal on Carmel (<a href='B:110 18:28'>1Ki 18:28</a>). They professed such loyalty to Yahweh when effectively they had divorced Him. This is all proof enough that emotionalism in religious worship is not necessarily reflective of true spirituality. Their semblance of Yahweh worship was no better than Baal worship. Going through the motions and emotions of worship may in fact be no more than idolatry. This is an incisive challenge. They covered the altar with tears of apparent devotion whilst in their hearts doubting God loved them (<a href='B:460 1:2'>Mal 1:2</a>) and robbing and attempting to deceive God.</p>


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<h4>Yet you say, ‘Why?’- They were somehow aware that God didn’t accept their offerings. Perhaps it was simply because Malachi was telling them so. Or maybe the absence of the shekinah glory in the temple was the evidence of this; for the restored temple scenario of Ezekiel 40-48 featured the glory and visible presence of God returning to the temple.</h4><h4>Because Yahweh has been witness between you and the wife of your youth, against whom you have dealt treacherously, though she is your companion, and the wife of your covenant- see on <a href='B:300 31:32'>Jer 31:32</a>; <a href='B:460 1:8'>Mal 1:8</a>. The priests married Gentile women (<a href='B:460 2:11'>Mal 2:11</a>; <a href='B:460 2:14-16'>Mal 2:14-16</a>), even though Ezekiel 44 commanded they should not do this. They thereby precluded the possibility of the prophecies of Ezekiel 40-48 being fulfilled. I suggested on :5 that the covenant in view is that which the priests entered on returning from captivity. This is why that generation are being charged with departing from a covenant which they personally entered. Their broken covenant relationship with God was reflected in their breaking covenant with their wives. As they had divorced God and married Gentile gods (:11), so they had divorced their Jewish wives to marry Gentiles. That is the implication of the parallels. Yet their Jewish wives remained their"companion", some kind of concubine. This again reflects how Judah had effectively divorced Yahweh and married Gentile idolatry, and yet they still professed devotion and commitment to Him. The Hosea - Gomer situation expresses just the same.</h4>


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<h4>Did He not make you one, although He had the residue of the Spirit? Whyone? He sought a godly seed- The wife of youth whom they had divorced was primarily Yahweh (:11). But as so often happened, a man’s relationship with God is reflected in his relationship with others. Their divorce with God was connected to their literal divorcing of their wives and taking others, from pagan backgrounds. Just as they had divorced Yahweh and married the daughters of strange gods (:11). The Levites were not to marry divorcees or Gentiles (<a href='B:330 44:2'>Eze 44:2</a>), so they precluded the fulfilment of that potential scenario of Ezekiel 40-48.</h4><p>The Hebrew is difficult and the GNB is of some help:"Didn’t God make you one body and spirit with her? What was his purpose in this? It was that you should have children who are truly God’s people". The basic point is clear; their remarriages to Gentiles were not going to produce"a Godly seed", and that is one of the reasons why marriage with unbelievers is wrong.</p><p>If husband and wife are one spirit, psychologically joined by the marriage bonding which God applies to married couples not just at the wedding but throughout their relationship, then breaking that apart is undoing His work. Our spirit is thereby working against God’s Spirit. The Lord’s teaching about marriage and divorce in <a href='B:470 19:6'>Mat 19:6</a> seems based on His reflections upon this verse.</p><h4>Therefore take heed to your spirit, and let no one deal treacherously against the wife of his youth- Typical of the prophets, the appeal to repentance is on the most personal level- an appeal to watch their mind and thinking,"your spirit". And this appeal to the spirit is repeated in :17. This appeal for repentance had been made in the times of Ezra and Nehemiah, and there had been response, to the point of those who had married Gentile wives divorcing them. And yet very quickly, the very same failure was committed again. No matter how intense the repentance of a moment, this is not guarantee that we can drift on acceptably to God. That is the lesson.</h4>


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<h4>For I hate divorce, says Yahweh, the God of Israel- Malachi began by speaking of God ’hating’ Esau in the sense of loving him less. Perhaps this idea is present here too; for God and Israel divorced. God is perhaps saying that He ’loves less’ divorce, it is the least preferred option. But in the next sentence, He will state that He equally hates the use of the institution of marriage to cover violence. It could be that we are to conclude that in such a case, then the open separation of divorce is preferable, although God ’loves it less’ or ’hates’ it.</h4><p>But the LXX and ESV offer a translation to the effect"But if thou shouldest hate thy wife and put her away, saith the Lord God of Israel, then ungodliness shall cover thy thoughts::.". This makes better sense of the connection between the words"hate"and"putting / sending away"[’divorce’] which is to be found in <a href='B:10 26:27'>Gen 26:27</a> and <a href='B:50 24:3'>Deu 24:3</a>.</p><p>And him who covers his garment with violence! says Yahweh of Armies- The garment refers to the metaphor of a man casting his garment over his wife as a sign of protection and acceptance in marriage (<a href='B:50 22:30'>Deu 22:30</a>; <a href='B:80 3:9'>Rth 3:9</a>; <a href='B:330 16:8'>Eze 16:8</a>). The idea could be that the man was using the garment of marriage to cover violence. On one hand God hates divorce, but He balances this by saying that He equally hates those who do not formally divorce but use the institution of marriage to conceal violence.</p><h4>Therefore take heed to your spirit, that you don’t deal treacherously- For all their gross immorality, the appeal was to take heed to how they thought, their spirit. For this is the root of our behaviour.</h4>


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<h4>You have wearied Yahweh with your words- Several times we read of God being wearied by Israel’s sins (<a href='B:290 7:13'>Isa 7:13</a>; <a href='B:300 15:6'>Jer 15:6</a>; <a href='B:330 24:12'>Eze 24:12</a>; <a href='B:460 2:17'>Mal 2:17</a>). Even though God does not"grow weary"(<a href='B:290 40:28'>Isa 40:28</a>) by nature, it seems to me that in His full entering into His people’s situation, He does allow Himself to grow weary with the sins of those with whom He is in covenant relationship. He as it were limits Himself, in order to enter into meaningful relationship with us. It was this kind of capacity which God has which was supremely revealed in His ’sharing in’ the crucifixion of His Son.</h4><h4>Yet you say, ‘How have we wearied Him?’ In that you say, ‘Everyone who does evil is good in the sight of Yahweh, and He delights in them;’ or ‘Where is the God of judgment?’- Again, it is doubtful if their lips framed these actual words. But the prophets perceive the real implication of positions. And God does the same with us today. The priests are being addressed here (:1), and perhaps their false teaching was to the effect that judgment was now past and whatever the people did would not come into judgment; and that God delighted in sinners. God had given them the land because He"delighted"in them (<a href='B:40 14:8'>Num 14:8</a> s:w:). Perhaps the priests were wrongly teaching that the mere fact they were physically within the land showed that God delighted in them, even though they were doing evil.</h4>


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<h4>Behold, I send My messenger, and he will prepare the way before Me- See on <a href='B:290 40:4'>Isa 40:4</a>. As explained on <a href='B:460 2:7'>Mal 2:7</a>, the messenger of the covenant&nbsp; 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"(<a href='B:460 2:7'>Mal 2:7</a>). 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 (<a href='B:290 53:6'>Isa 53:6</a>; <a href='B:290 56:11'>Isa 56:11</a> cp. <a href='B:290 40:3'>Isa 40:3</a>). But the Messianic prophecy of <a href='B:290 53:6'>Isa 53:6</a> 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. <a href='B:290 40:3'>Isa 40:3</a>; <a href='B:290 57:14'>Isa 57:14</a>; <a href='B:290 62:10'>Isa 62:10</a>). 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 <a href='B:330 43:1'>Eze 43:1</a>; <a href='B:330 44:1'>Eze 44:1</a>; <a href='B:330 47:2'>Eze 47:2</a> 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 Ezekiel 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.</h4><h4>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 (<a href='B:290 40:1-3'>Isa 40:1-3</a>). These words are repeated here in <a href='B:460 3:1-3'>Mal 3:1-3</a>, where the messenger&nbsp; 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 LordJesus</h4><p>“Behold, I send my messenger before thy face, which shall prepare thy way before thee” is how <a href='B:480 1:2'>Mar 1:2</a> quotes <a href='B:460 3:1'>Mal 3:1</a>; 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 (<a href='B:20 23:20'>Exo 23:20</a>). 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:&nbsp; We are the branches, and He is the whole vine. We are Him to this world.</p><p>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” (<a href='B:290 31:4'>Isa 31:4</a>).</p><p>But we can also understand the sudden coming of"the Lord whom you seek"as a warning of judgment to Malachi’s generation of impenitent Jews. <a href='B:370 5:18'>Amo 5:18</a> and <a href='B:460 3:1-2'>Mal 3:1-2</a> warn that just ’seeking’ or desiring the coming of the Lord isn’t enough; for what end will it be, if we don’t truly love His appearing? Yet Amos goes on to say that Israel “put far away” the reality of the day of the Lord, in their minds (<a href='B:370 6:3'>Amo 6:3</a>). And yet they desired or sought it. We can study prophecy, but not really love His appearing in seriously preparing ourselves for that day. Indeed, we can subconsciously put it far from us. When we grasp for a fleeting moment how very near is the second coming for us; can we dwell upon it, retain that intensity? Or would we rather put it “far away”? This is surely why the Lord brings the list of signs of His coming to a close with some chilling parables concerning the need for personal watchfulness.</p><h4>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.</h4>


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<h4>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. <a href='B:360 2:11'>Joe 2:11</a>). 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?"(<a href='B:460 3:2'>Mal 3:2</a> AV cp. <a href='B:730 6:17'>Rev 6:17</a>). 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"(<a href='B:680 3:11'>2Pe 3:11</a>; <a href='B:680 3:14'>2Pe 3:14</a>).</h4><p>For He is like a refiner’s fire, and likelaunderer’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 Zechariah 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.</p><h4>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 (<a href='B:670 1:7'>1Pe 1:7</a>; <a href='B:670 4:12'>1Pe 4:12</a>). 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 (<a href='B:670 4:13'>1Pe 4:13</a>). Job felt that his calamities were God entering into judgment with him (<a href='B:220 14:3'>Job 14:3</a>). If we react properly to trials, we thereby receive now"the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls"(<a href='B:670 1:9'>1Pe 1:9</a>). 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.</h4>


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<h4>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 (<a href='B:650 13:15'>Heb 13:15</a>). 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.</h4><h4>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. <a href='B:150 6:20'>Ezr 6:20</a>; <a href='B:160 12:30'>Neh 12:30</a>). But they became un-cleansed through allowing Tobiah into the temple chambers, by trading on the Sabbath, and by marrying Gentiles (<a href='B:160 13:9'>Neh 13:9</a>; <a href='B:160 13:22'>Neh 13:22</a>; <a href='B:160 13:30'>Neh 13:30</a>). The priesthood needed to be “cleansed” again (<a href='B:460 3:3'>Mal 3:3</a> 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” ( <a href='B:330 36:24-29'>Eze 36:24-29</a>). 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 (<a href='B:330 11:18-19'>Eze 11:18-19</a>). But they didn’t do so, and now at Malachi’s time they needed cleansing again. But they refused it, and so that cleansing will ultimately only be at theLord’s return.</h4>


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<p>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 Malachi 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 (<a href='B:650 13:15'>Heb 13:15</a>).</p>


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<h4>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.</h4><p>God’s Son was by His coming alone the manifestation of"the God of judgment", the supreme judge of men by His very being (<a href='B:460 2:17'>Mal 2:17</a>; <a href='B:460 3:1'>Mal 3:1</a>). In His coming, God"visited His people"(<a href='B:490 7:16'>Luk 7:16</a>); but the OT image of Yahweh visiting His people was one of visiting in judgment (<a href='B:300 23:2'>Jer 23:2</a>; <a href='B:350 2:13'>Hos 2:13</a>; <a href='B:350 9:9'>Hos 9:9</a>). 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 (<a href='B:480 1:2'>Mar 1:2</a>):&nbsp; This judgment-coming of Jesus at His revelation to Israel 2000 years ago is then described as God coming near to men in judgment (<a href='B:460 3:5'>Mal 3:5</a>). 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.</p><h4>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 (<a href='B:140 6:39'>2Ch 6:39</a>). God is the one who will both plead our cause as an advocate, and take vengeance, i:e. order the sentence, as judge (<a href='B:300 51:36'>Jer 51:36</a>). <a href='B:400 7:9'>Mic 7:9</a> 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"(<a href='B:290 3:13'>Isa 3:13</a>); 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]"(<a href='B:90 24:15'>1Sa 24:15</a>). 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.</h4><p>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 <a href='B:460 2:9'>Mal 2:9</a>; <a href='B:460 2:11'>Mal 2:11</a>).</p><p>In the restored temple, the princes would not oppress the people (<a href='B:330 45:8'>Eze 45:8</a>); “Moreover the prince shall not take of the people’s inheritance by oppression, to thrust them out of their possession” (<a href='B:330 46:18'>Eze 46:18</a>). But the priests did just this (also <a href='B:160 5:1-5'>Neh 5:1-5</a>; <a href='B:450 7:10'>Zec 7:10</a>).</p><h4>“The [Gentile]people of the land” were to have a part in the new system of things (<a href='B:330 45:16'>Eze 45:16</a>; <a href='B:330 45:22'>Eze 45:22</a>; <a href='B:330 46:3'>Eze 46:3</a>; <a href='B:330 46:9'>Eze 46:9</a>), and yet this very phrase is repeatedly used concerning the Samaritan people who lived in the land at the time of the restoration (<a href='B:150 4:4'>Ezr 4:4</a>; <a href='B:150 10:2'>Ezr 10:2</a>; <a href='B:150 10:11'>Ezr 10:11</a>; <a href='B:160 9:24'>Neh 9:24</a>; <a href='B:160 10:30-31'>Neh 10:30-31</a>). God’s intention was that they should eventually be converted unto Him; it was His intention that Ezekiel’s temple be built at the time of the restoration under Ezra. And yet <a href='B:450 7:10'>Zec 7:10</a>; <a href='B:460 3:5'>Mal 3:5</a>&nbsp; criticize the Jews who returned and built the temple for continuing to oppress the stranger / Gentile. Israel would not. <a href='B:290 56:6'>Isa 56:6</a> defines what is meant by “a house of prayer for all nations”- it is for those of all nations who “join themselves to the Lord, to serve him and to love the name of the Lord::. every one that keepeth the Sabbath from polluting it, and taketh hold of my covenant”. But Judah herself had polluted the sabbath and broken the covenant, as Malachi makes clear.</h4>


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<h4>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.</h4><h4>Because of the sins listed in :5, the sons of Jacob should have been consumed. Those same sins are those listed in <a href='B:450 5:4'>Zec 5:4</a>, 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.</h4>


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<p>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 <a href='B:450 8:3'>Zec 8:3</a>). 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 <a href='B:450 1:3'>Zec 1:3</a>. Time and again in the context of the restoration it is emphasized that God would return to His people if they returned to Him (<a href='B:450 1:3'>Zec 1:3</a>). 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 (<a href='B:50 30:1-10'>Deu 30:1-10</a>). Yet God graciously states to the exiles:"I am returned unto you"(<a href='B:450 1:16'>Zec 1:16</a>; <a href='B:450 8:3'>Zec 8:3</a>). Here was grace indeed. Passages like <a href='B:330 36:24-31'>Eze 36:24-31</a> 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.</p>


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<h4>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 (<a href='B:60 6:18'>Jos 6:18</a>; <a href='B:60 7:11'>Jos 7:11</a>).</h4><h4>But you say, ‘How have we robbed You?’. In tithes and offerings- In the restored temple, they were to use just measures (<a href='B:330 45:9-14'>Eze 45:9-14</a>), unlike what they had previously done. But they robbed God in their sacrifices in the restored temple (<a href='B:460 3:8'>Mal 3:8</a>). See on <a href='B:460 1:8'>Mal 1:8</a>. Tithes were to be paid to the Levites (<a href='B:330 44:30'>Eze 44:30</a>). But Nehemiah’s record and <a href='B:460 3:8'>Mal 3:8</a> make it clear that this didn’t happen, due to petty selfishness. But we must remember that Malachi is largely addressing the priests; the tithes given to them should have been tithed in turn by them to God, but they didn’t do this. Offerings intended for sacrifice were kept by them. Only in :9 are"this whole nation"addressed.</h4>


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<h4>You are cursed with the curse; for you rob Me, even this whole nation- Although it seems Malachi the priest (see on <a href='B:460 1:1'>Mal 1:1</a>) is addressing the priests primarily after <a href='B:460 2:1'>Mal 2:1</a>,"this whole nation"are charged with robbing God, and are cursed. They had been driven away from Yahweh worship by the priests (see on <a href='B:460 2:11'>Mal 2:11</a>), 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.</h4><h4>"The curse"presumably refers to the curse for disobedience to the covenant of Deuteronomy 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.</h4>


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<h4>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. <a href='B:460 2:11'>Mal 2:11</a> 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.</h4><p>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 <a href='B:230 34:8'>Psa 34:8</a> and <a href='B:460 3:10'>Mal 3:10</a> 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.</p><h4>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. <a href='B:340 12:1'>Dan 12:1</a>; <a href='B:360 2:32'>Joe 2:32</a>).</h4><p>If I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough for- Haggai 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.</p><p>We shouldn’t underestimate the seriousness of the famine conditions in Judah as described in Nehemiah 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. <a href='B:460 3:5-15'>Mal 3:5-15</a> 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. <a href='B:160 5:8'>Neh 5:8</a> 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 <a href='B:160 5:15'>Neh 5:15</a> that Zerubbabel, the potential Messiah of Israel, had acted in this oppressive way too. There could even be the implication in the Hebrew of <a href='B:160 1:3'>Neh 1:3</a> that the majority of those who initially returned to Judah then returned back to Babylon- for Nehemiah speaks of"The remnant that are left of the captives there in the province"[of Judah]".</p><h4>But we need to enquire whether the "blessing" promised for proper tithing was in fact material blessing. The "blessing" of fundamental importance was the blessing promised to Abraham, of relationship with God and the coming of the saviour seed. The idea of pouring out blessing upon the restored Jews of this time is repeated in <a href='B:450 8:13'>Zec 8:13</a> and <a href='B:290 44:3'>Isa 44:3</a>: "I will pour My Spirit on your seed, and My blessing on your offspring". The poured out blessing was undoubtedly spiritual rather than material- the gift of the Spirit to the seed of Abraham. And this is how the New Testament understands the poured out "blessing"- of the Spirit, of forgiveness (<a href='B:510 3:25-26'>Act 3:25-26</a>).</h4>


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<h4>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 <a href='B:460 2:3'>Mal 2:3</a> 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.</h4><p>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.</p><p>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".</p><p>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, <a href='B:450 8:12'>Zec 8:12</a> 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 thesethings”. 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 (<a href='B:440 1:6'>Hag 1:6</a>; <a href='B:440 1:11'>Hag 1:11</a>; <a href='B:460 3:10-11'>Mal 3:10-11</a>). The reason was that <a href='B:450 8:12'>Zec 8:12</a> was conditional- upon <a href='B:450 8:16-17'>Zec 8:16-17</a>: “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.</p><p>They were gathered back [although they resisted this in that many preferred to stay in the soft life of Babylon], but they hardly dwelt safely or confidently in their land. They planted vineyards, but received a poor harvest due to their lack of attention to God’s house; their enemies destroyed their fruits, and their vine “cast her fruit before the time” (<a href='B:440 1:6'>Hag 1:6</a>; <a href='B:460 3:10-11'>Mal 3:10-11</a>). Haggai and Malachi criticized Israel for this, saying it could be rectified by their obedience to the tithing principle (:10). Yet in Nehemiah’s time, Judah refused to pay tithes properly; but even then, if they had thoroughly repented, the Kingdom conditions were still possible. Such was God’s desire to continue working with His hopeless people.</p><h4>The withholding of agricultural blessing occurred several times- in <a href='B:160 5:2-3'>Neh 5:2-3</a> (as prophesied in <a href='B:290 5:9'>Isa 5:9</a>), in Haggai’s time, and now later in Malachi ’s time; when the restored Zion could have been as the garden of Eden, i:e. paradise restored on earth (<a href='B:290 51:3'>Isa 51:3</a>). Here we see frightening similarities with ourselves. We know, but often don’t do. We sense this cycle of failure, crying out for mercy, receiving it, failing again, crying for mercy, receiving it, failing again::. we see it in Israel, in our brethren and those around us, and in ourselves. We can expound it, lament it, feel the shame and tragedy of it all::. and yet continue to have a part in it. Eventually, the people stayed in this groove so long that they degenerated into how they were at the time of Malachi- self-righteous, with no sense of failure any more, living self-centred lives of petty materialism, earning wages as they did in Haggai’s time, to put into pockets with holes in, life without satisfaction, achieving nothing, passively angry. This is what Malachi clearly portrays. It’s a terrible picture, and one which we can sail dangerously close to identifying with.</h4>


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<p>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” (<a href='B:460 3:1-4'>Mal 3:1-4</a>). But only a remnant “hearkened and heard” (<a href='B:460 3:16'>Mal 3:16</a>), 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 (<a href='B:450 9:15'>Zec 9:15</a> s:w. <a href='B:160 5:5'>Neh 5:5</a>). 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.</p>


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<p>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::." (<a href='B:130 21:4'>1Ch 21:4</a>). 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.</p>


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<h4>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 (<a href='B:330 40:46'>Eze 40:46</a>; <a href='B:330 44:8'>Eze 44:8</a>; <a href='B:330 44:14-16'>Eze 44:14-16</a>), tried to get them to “keep the charges” (s:w. <a href='B:160 7:3'>Neh 7:3</a>; <a href='B:160 12:9'>Neh 12:9</a>; <a href='B:160 12:45'>Neh 12:45</a>; <a href='B:160 13:20'>Neh 13:20</a>). But soon, Judah complained that there was no benefit to them from having kept the charges (<a href='B:460 3:14'>Mal 3:14</a> 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.</h4><h4>They had "walked mournfully", covering His altar with tears (<a href='B:460 2:13'>Mal 2:13</a>), 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 (<a href='B:20 20:7'>Exo 20:7</a>). Before the captivity their religious devotions had been "vain" (s:w. <a href='B:290 1:13'>Isa 1:13</a>); 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).</h4>


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<h4>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’.</h4><h4>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. <a href='B:340 12:1'>Dan 12:1</a>; <a href='B:360 2:32'>Joe 2:32</a>). 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.</h4>


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<h4>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 (<a href='B:470 12:37'>Mat 12:37</a>). 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.</h4><p>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" (<a href='B:730 20:12'>Rev 20:12</a>). "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" (Php_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 (<a href='B:730 13:8'>Rev 13:8</a>; <a href='B:730 17:8'>Rev 17:8</a>), although it contains the records of our individual works. "The works were finished from the foundation of the world" (<a href='B:650 4:3'>Heb 4:3</a>)- the works and actions that comprise each saint were finished from the beginning, written by the Angels in God’s book. The statement in <a href='B:10 1:31'>Gen 1:31</a> 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 <a href='B:20 32:32'>Exo 32:32</a> "Blot me, I pray thee, out of Thy book (of life), which Thou hast written" (from the foundation of the world).</p><h4>Nehemiah several times asks God to "remember unto me" the good deeds he had done for Judah (<a href='B:160 5:19'>Neh 5:19</a> RV), and to likewise "remember" the bad works of the wicked (<a href='B:160 6:14'>Neh 6:14</a> 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, <a href='B:460 3:16'>Mal 3:16</a> comments that a book of remembrance was written by God to record the good deeds of the faithful at that time.</h4>


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<h4>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. <a href='B:20 19:5'>Exo 19:5</a>; <a href='B:50 7:6'>Deu 7:6</a>; <a href='B:50 14:2'>Deu 14:2</a>; <a href='B:50 26:18'>Deu 26:18</a>). 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.</h4><h4>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. Even the faithful will only be accepted because they are ’spared’. Those who enter the Kingdom will genuinely, from the very depth of their being, feel that they shouldn’t be there. They will cast their crowns before the enthroned Lord, as if to resign their reward as inappropriate for them (Rev 410). Indeed, they shouldn’t be in the Kingdom. The righteous are "scarcely saved" (<a href='B:670 4:18'>1Pe 4:18</a>). The righteous remnant who spoke often to one another about Yahweh will only be "spared" by God’s grace (<a href='B:460 3:17'>Mal 3:17</a>). The accepted will feel so certain of this that they will almost argue with the Lord Jesus at the day of judgment that he hasn’t made the right decision concerning them (<a href='B:470 25:37-40'>Mat 25:37-40</a>). It’s only a highly convicted man who would dare do that.</h4>


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<h4>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::." (<a href='B:470 25:1'>Mat 25:1</a>). Then, the wicked will understand the judgments of God. But it is our wisdom to learn and appreciate them now. Then they will go through the sensation of conversion [’returning’], realising with crystal clarity the separation between the ways of the flesh and spirit which they ought to have grasped in their day of opportunity. Then they will “discern”, just as Christ will “appear” [s:w. ‘discern’] at the judgment; they will then see things through His eyes, from the perspective which He will have at the judgment (<a href='B:460 3:2'>Mal 3:2</a>). Malachi begins by saying that at the day of judgment, Edom’s eyes “shall see [s:w. ‘discern’], and ye shall say, the Lord will be magnified” (<a href='B:460 1:5'>Mal 1:5</a> AV)- although they refused to make this recognition now.</h4><p>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" (<a href='B:300 5:4'>Jer 5:4</a>).</p><h4>When they are appointed their portion with the hypocrites and there is wailing and gnashing of teeth, then &nbsp;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 <a href='B:470 23:39'>Mat 23:39</a>?). 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 (<a href='B:20 14:18'>Exo 14:18</a>).</h4>


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<h4>For, behold, the day comes, it burns as a furnace; and all the proud, and all who work wickedness- This is the day of final judgment just spoken of in <a href='B:460 3:16-18'>Mal 3:16-18</a>. Note that pride is the epitome of wickedness. Likewise to the Lord, humility was the very epitome of righteousness (<a href='B:470 5:5'>Mat 5:5</a> cp. <a href='B:230 37:29'>Psa 37:29</a>).</h4><h4>Will be stubble; and the day that comes will burn them up, says Yahweh of Armies- The burning of straw (s:w. stubble) is the language of condemnation at the harvest of the last day inIsa 10:17; <a href='B:290 25:10'>Isa 25:10</a>; <a href='B:530 3:12'>1Co 3:12</a>.</h4><h4>That it shall leave them neither root nor branch- Root and branch were both words used of the Messianic shoot and branch who could have arisen at the restoration; see on <a href='B:450 3:8'>Zec 3:8</a>; <a href='B:450 6:12'>Zec 6:12</a>, the root and branch of David (<a href='B:730 5:5'>Rev 5:5</a>). These possibilities were finally fulfilled in the Lord Jesus, but His salvation will not be available for the proud and wicked who shall be burnt up in the last day.</h4>


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<h4>But to you who fear My name- The imperfect but repentant minority of Malachi’s time of <a href='B:460 3:16-17'>Mal 3:16-17</a>. It seems Malachi is addressing them directly as his audience at this point.</h4><p>Shall the sun of righteousness arise with healing in his rays- We noted on :1 that the salvation of the Lord Jesus will not be available for the wicked at the last day; but "to you", the faithful minority responding to Malachi, the coming of Messiah would be a time of healing and salvation [the two ideas are combined in the same Hebrew word]. We note that He returns to those in Israel who already fear the Name. Israelite repentance is a condition for the Lord’s return. He is the sun of righteousness in that He is the basis for the righteousness imputed to them; for we noted on <a href='B:460 3:17'>Mal 3:17</a> that even the repentant remnant are "spared" by grace, they are treated as totally obedient to the covenant (see on <a href='B:460 3:17'>Mal 3:17</a>) when in fact they were not.</p><p>But the healing in His rays or wings of His garment (Heb:) is of course true now. Understanding that leads to faith in His healing. The faith of the sick woman who grabbed the hem or wings of His garment is commended by the Lord (<a href='B:480 5:34'>Mar 5:34</a>; <a href='B:470 9:20'>Mat 9:20</a>)- when it was due to her understanding of the significance of the hem of the Lord’s robe that she had touched Him. She had perceived the connection with the High Priest’s hem; perhaps too she had added Job’s comment about our touching but the hem of God’s garment into the equation. And certainly she perceived that the sun of righteousness of Malachi 4 had healing in his hems / wings of his garment.</p><p>You will go out, and leap like calves of the stall- As we struggle in our daily battle with the flesh, it is necessary to keep our eye on that split-second moment of total acceptance by our Lord. We will burst out, mentally and physically, like stalled calves given freedom for the first time. <a href='B:230 68:1-3'>Psa 68:1-3</a> speak of how the rejected will be chased away, but the righteous will "be glad" and "exult before God: yea, let them exceedingly rejoice", after the pattern of Israel’s ecstasy after their deliverance at the Red Sea.</p><h4>"Then shall thy light break forth as the morning [i:e. you’ll have a part in the Lord’s glory, <a href='B:460 4:2'>Mal 4:2</a>], and thine health shall spring forth [cp. <a href='B:460 4:2'>Mal 4:2</a> springing forth as stalled calves]::. and thy righteousness shall go before thee [our good deeds recited by the Judge]::. then [at the judgment seat of Christ] thou shalt call, and the Lord shall answer; thou shalt cry, and he shall say, Here I am" (<a href='B:290 58:6-9'>Isa 58:6-9</a>). If we show mercy to the desperate now, we won’t necessarily have our prayers automatically heard in this life. But in the poverty and desperate need of the judgment, our cries will be heard on account of our generous, forgiving response in this life.</h4>


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<h4>You shall tread down the wicked- This is the language of God’s treading upon the wicked Egyptians (<a href='B:420 3:13'>Hab 3:13</a>). But "the wicked" in the context are the wicked amongst God’s people (:1; <a href='B:460 3:18'>Mal 3:18</a>). The faithful will then discern them for who they are (<a href='B:460 3:18'>Mal 3:18</a>),&nbsp; whereas in this life, and particularly at Malachi’s time, it must have been difficult to perceive who were genuine and who were not. Just as we cannot discern now between wheat and weeds. The destruction of the wicked abusers of God’s people seems to be part of the same process as the destruction of the wicked amongst God’s people. They will be "condemned with the world". This is one of the passages which imply that the rejected will be physically annihilated by the Lord. Given the terrible descriptions of the mental anguish of the condemned, this would essentially be a merciful act. It may be that many will die in the judgments which come upon the world. But it could be that others are simply put out of their agony by the Lord. Some now in the ecclesia will be dashed to pieces by Him (<a href='B:730 2:27'>Rev 2:27</a>), and Malachi implies that the faithful will play a part in the destruction of their wicked brethren.</h4><h4>For they will be ashes under the soles of your feet in the day that I make, says Yahweh of Armies- The idea of burning feet turning the wicked to ashes is precisely that of the cherubim (s:w. <a href='B:330 1:7'>Eze 1:7</a>). As often intimated in Zechariah, the faithful are to become identified with the cherubim.</h4>


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<p>Remember the law of Moses My servant, which I commanded to him in Horeb for all Israel, even statutes and ordinances- This was so that the curse for disobedience to the law would not come upon them (:7). The faithful minority of <a href='B:460 3:16-17'>Mal 3:16-17</a> are bidden remember the actual law, because the priests were teaching it wrongly (see on <a href='B:460 2:8'>Mal 2:8</a>). It was "for all Israel", not just for an enthusiastic minority. And all of that law was still binding upon Malachi’s generation, every statute and ordinance; whereas the priests were teaching that only some parts needed to be attended to.</p>


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<p>Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and terrible day of Yahweh comes- As explained on <a href='B:460 3:1'>Mal 3:1</a>, the restored community could still have seen a Messiah figure arise if they had responded to the messenger of the covenant preparing His way. ’Malachi’ was that messenger, as was the priesthood. But they failed to respond, and so the prophecies were rescheduled and reapplied to another priest, John the Baptist, who prepared the way for the true and full Messiah. So if Israel would receive it, John the Baptist was the Elijah prophet. The course of fulfilment of prophecy was conditional upon whether John succeeded in turning the hearts of Israel back to the fathers or not; on preparing them for the great and terrible day of the Lord. Brethren as varied as John Knowles and Harry Whittaker have all recognized in their expositions that the Kingdom could have come in the first century had Israel received John as Elijah. But they would not. And so another Elijah prophet is to come in the last days and prepare Israel for her Messiah. “If ye are willing to receive him, this is Elijah which is to come” (<a href='B:470 11:14'>Mat 11:14</a> RVmg:) says it all. More details about him are noted on Revelation 11. He need not be the literal resurrected Elijah, although that is possible; recall how the Lord Jesus is called "David", when He is not David but in the spirit and line of David (<a href='B:350 3:5'>Hos 3:5</a>; <a href='B:330 34:23'>Eze 34:23</a> etc:). The Elijah prophet who was to herald the Messianic Kingdom could have been John the Baptist- if Israel had received him. But they didn’t, and so the prophecy went down another avenue of fulfilment. It could be that :6 implies that there is still the possibility that even the latter day Elijah mission could fail. But ultimately it will succeed, for the great and dreadful day of Yahweh is that of the Lord’s final return (<a href='B:360 2:31'>Joe 2:31</a>).</p>


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<h4>He will turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers- Through the preaching of John, he turned men’s hearts- the idea of repentance, being brought about by the preacher (<a href='B:460 4:6'>Mal 4:6</a>). Such is the power of our preaching, the possibility which our words of witness give to our hearers. We have such power invested in us! If we are slack to use it, the Lord’s glory is limited, and the salvation of others disabled.</h4><p>Israel were out of step with their fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Jacob, Levi, Moses and "Elijah" have just been mentioned (<a href='B:460 1:2'>Mal 1:2</a>; <a href='B:460 2:4'>Mal 2:4</a>; <a href='B:460 2:6'>Mal 2:6</a>; <a href='B:460 3:3-4'>Mal 3:3-4</a>). The appeal of the latter day Elijah is to return to the promises made to the fathers, which are the essence of the new covenant. The turning of the fathers’ hearts to the children need not imply that the fathers are still alive; the idiom of the passage means that the hearts of the children and the fathers will be at one with each other. <a href='B:490 1:16-17'>Luk 1:16-17</a> interprets "the heart of the children to the fathers" as meaning "the disobedient to the wisdom of the just".</p><h4>Lest I come and strike the earth with a curse- The ultimate salvation of the earth / land of Israel and its people is still conditional, upon their response to the Elijah prophet. There is no automatic salvation just because a day on the calendar has arrived. Salvation is intensely personal and human response is absolutely essential; and that is the appropriate finale of the prophecy. And yet if the last word of the Old Testament is "curse", the first recorded word of the Lord Jesus is "Blessed".</h4>


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<h4>New European Christadelphian Commentary</h4><p>Duncan Heaster</p><p>Carelinks</p><p>PO Box 152, Menai NSW 2234</p><p>AUSTRALIA</p><p>www:carelinks:net</p><p>Copyright © 2018 by Duncan Heaster.</p><p>All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review or scholarly journal.</p><p>First Printing: 2018</p><p>ISBN 978-0-244-66911-9</p><p>PREFACE</p><p>This commentary is based around the New European Version of the Bible, which is generally printed with brief commentary on each chapter. Charities such as Carelinks Ministries and the Christadelphian Advancement Trust endeavour to provide totally free copies worldwide according to resources and donations available to them. But there is a desire by many to go beyond those brief comments on each chapter, and delve deeper into the text. The New European Christadelphian commentary seeks to meet that need. As with all Divine things, beauty becomes the more apparent the closer we analyze. We can zoom in the scale of investigation to literally every letter of the words used by His Spirit. But that would require endless volumes. And academic analysis is no more nor less than that; we are to live by His word. This commentary seeks to achieve a balance between practical teaching on one hand, and a reasonable level of thorough consideration of the original text. On that side of things, you will observe in the commentary a common abbreviation: “s:w.". This stands for “same word”; the same original Greek or Hebrew word translated [A] is used when translated [B]. This helps to slightly remove the mask of translation through which most Bible readers have to relate to the original text.</p><p>Are there errors of thought and intellectual process in these volumes? Surely there are. Let me know about them. But finally- don’t fail to see the wood for the trees. Never let the wonder of the simple, basic Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ and His Kingdom become obscured by all the angst over correctly interpreting this or that Bible verse. Believe it, respond to it, be baptized into Him, and let the word become flesh in you as it was so supremely in Him.</p><p>If you would like to enable the NEV Bible and associated material to remain freely available, do consider making a donation to Carelinks Ministries or The Christadelphian Advancement Trust. And please pray that our sending forth of God’s word will bring back glory to His Name and that of His dear Son whom we serve.</p><p>Duncan Heaster</p><h4>dh@heaster:org</h4>


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<h4>Duncan Heaster</h4><p>Carelinks</p><p>PO Box 152, Menai NSW 2234</p><p>AUSTRALIA</p><p>www:carelinks:net</p><p>Copyright</p><p>Copyright © 2017 by Duncan Heaster.</p><p>All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review or scholarly journal.</p><p>First Printing: 2017</p><p>ISBN 978-0-244-35828-0</p><p>PREFACE</p><p>This commentary is based around the New European Version of the Bible, which is generally printed with brief commentary on each chapter. Charities such as Carelinks Ministries and the Christadelphian Advancement Trust endeavour to provide totally free copies worldwide according to resources and donations available to them. But there is a desire by many to go beyond those brief comments on each chapter, and delve deeper into the text. The New European Christadelphian commentary seeks to meet that need. As with all Divine things, beauty becomes the more apparent the closer we analyze. We can zoom in the scale of investigation to literally every letter of the words used by His Spirit. But that would require endless volumes. And academic analysis is no more nor less than that; we are to live by His word. This commentary seeks to achieve a balance between practical teaching on one hand, and a reasonable level of thorough consideration of the original text. On that side of things, you will observe in the commentary a common abbreviation: “s:w.". This stands for “same word”; the same original Greek or Hebrew word translated [A] is used when translated [B]. This helps to slightly remove the mask of translation through which most Bible readers have to relate to the original text.</p><p>Are there errors of thought and intellectual process in these volumes? Surely there are. Let me know about them. But finally- don’t fail to see the wood for the trees. Never let the wonder of the simple, basic Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ and His Kingdom become obscured by all the angst over correctly interpreting this or that Bible verse. Believe it, respond to it, be baptized into Him, and let the word become flesh in you as it was so supremely in Him.</p><p>If you would like to enable the NEV Bible and associated material to remain freely available, do consider making a donation to Carelinks Ministries or The Christadelphian Advancement Trust. And please pray that our sending forth of God’s word will bring back glory to His Name and that of His dear Son whom we serve.</p><p>Duncan Heaster</p><h4>dh@heaster:org</h4>


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<h4>: New European Christadelphian Commentary</h4><h4>Duncan Heaster</h4><p>Carelinks</p><p>PO Box 152, Menai NSW 2234</p><p>AUSTRALIA</p><p>www:carelinks:net</p><h4>Copyright</h4><p>Copyright © 2018 by Duncan Heaster.</p><p>All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review or scholarly journal.</p><p>First Printing: 2018</p><p>ISBN 978-0-244-65936-3</p><p>PREFACE</p><p>This commentary is based around the New European Version of the Bible, which is generally printed with brief commentary on each chapter. Charities such as Carelinks Ministries and the Christadelphian Advancement Trust endeavour to provide totally free copies worldwide according to resources and donations available to them. But there is a desire by many to go beyond those brief comments on each chapter, and delve deeper into the text. The New European Christadelphian commentary seeks to meet that need. As with all Divine things, beauty becomes the more apparent the closer we analyze. We can zoom in the scale of investigation to literally every letter of the words used by His Spirit. But that would require endless volumes. And academic analysis is no more nor less than that; we are to live by His word. This commentary seeks to achieve a balance between practical teaching on one hand, and a reasonable level of thorough consideration of the original text. On that side of things, you will observe in the commentary a common abbreviation: “s:w.". This stands for “same word”; the same original Greek or Hebrew word translated [A] is used when translated [B]. This helps to slightly remove the mask of translation through which most Bible readers have to relate to the original text.</p><p>Are there errors of thought and intellectual process in these volumes? Surely there are. Let me know about them. But finally- don’t fail to see the wood for the trees. Never let the wonder of the simple, basic Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ and His Kingdom become obscured by all the angst over correctly interpreting this or that Bible verse. Believe it, respond to it, be baptized into Him, and let the word become flesh in you as it was so supremely in Him.</p><p>If you would like to enable the NEV Bible and associated material to remain freely available, do consider making a donation to Carelinks Ministries or The Christadelphian Advancement Trust. And please pray that our sending forth of God’s word will bring back glory to His Name and that of His dear Son whom we serve.</p><p>Duncan Heaster</p><h4>dh@heaster:org</h4>


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<h4>PREFACE</h4><p>This commentary is based around the New European Version of the Bible, which is generally printed with brief commentary on each chapter. Charities such as Carelinks Ministries and the Christadelphian Advancement Trust endeavour to provide totally free copies worldwide according to resources and donations available to them. But there is a desire by many to go beyond those brief comments on each chapter, and delve deeper into the text. The New European Christadelphian commentary seeks to meet that need. As with all Divine things, beauty becomes the more apparent the closer we analyze. We can zoom in the scale of investigation to literally every letter of the words used by His Spirit. But that would require endless volumes. And academic analysis is no more nor less than that; we are to live by His word. This commentary seeks to achieve a balance between practical teaching on one hand, and a reasonable level of thorough consideration of the original text. On that side of things, you will observe in the commentary a common abbreviation: “s:w.". This stands for “same word”; the same original Greek or Hebrew word translated [A] is used when translated [B]. This helps to slightly remove the mask of translation through which most Bible readers have to relate to the original text.</p><p>Are there errors of thought and intellectual process in these volumes? Surely there are. Let me know about them. But finally- don’t fail to see the wood for the trees. Never let the wonder of the simple, basic Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ and His Kingdom become obscured by all the angst over correctly interpreting this or that Bible verse. Believe it, respond to it, be baptized into Him, and let the word become flesh in you as it was so supremely in Him.</p><p>If you would like to enable the NEV Bible and associated material to remain freely available, do consider making a donation to Carelinks Ministries or The Christadelphian Advancement Trust. And please pray that our sending forth of God’s word will bring back glory to His Name and that of His dear Son whom we serve.</p><p>Duncan Heaster</p><h4>dh@heaster:org</h4>


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<h4>Old Testament New European Christadelphian Commentary</h4><p>Duncan Heaster</p><p>Carelinks</p><p>PO Box 152, Menai NSW 2234</p><p>AUSTRALIA</p><p>www:carelinks:net</p><p>Copyright</p><p>Copyright © 2017 by Duncan Heaster.</p><p>All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review or scholarly journal.</p><p>First Printing: 2017</p><p>ISBN 978-0-244-32077-5</p><p>PREFACE</p><p>This commentary is based around the New European Version of the Bible, which is generally printed with brief commentary on each chapter. Charities such as Carelinks Ministries and the Christadelphian Advancement Trust endeavour to provide totally free copies worldwide according to resources and donations available to them. But there is a desire by many to go beyond those brief comments on each chapter, and delve deeper into the text. The New European Christadelphian commentary seeks to meet that need. As with all Divine things, beauty becomes the more apparent the closer we analyze. We can zoom in the scale of investigation to literally every letter of the words used by His Spirit. But that would require endless volumes. And academic analysis is no more nor less than that; we are to live by His word. This commentary seeks to achieve a balance between practical teaching on one hand, and a reasonable level of thorough consideration of the original text. On that side of things, you will observe in the commentary a common abbreviation: “s:w.". This stands for “same word”; the same original Greek or Hebrew word translated [A] is used when translated [B]. This helps to slightly remove the mask of translation through which most Bible readers have to relate to the original text.</p><p>Are there errors of thought and intellectual process in these volumes? Surely there are. Let me know about them. But finally- don’t fail to see the wood for the trees. Never let the wonder of the simple, basic Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ and His Kingdom become obscured by all the angst over correctly interpreting this or that Bible verse. Believe it, respond to it, be baptized into Him, and let the word become flesh in you as it was so supremely in Him.</p><p>If you would like to enable the NEV Bible and associated material to remain freely available, do consider making a donation to Carelinks Ministries or The Christadelphian Advancement Trust. And please pray that our sending forth of God’s word will bring back glory to His Name and that of His dear Son whom we serve.</p><p>Duncan Heaster</p><h4>dh@heaster:org</h4>


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<h4>Old Testament New European Christadelphian Commentary</h4><p>Duncan Heaster</p><p>Carelinks</p><p>PO Box 152, Menai NSW 2234</p><p>AUSTRALIA</p><p>www:carelinks:net</p><p>Copyright</p><p>Copyright © 2017 by Duncan Heaster.</p><p>All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review or scholarly journal.</p><p>First Printing: 2017</p><p>ISBN 978-0-244-62376-0</p><p>PREFACE</p><p>This commentary is based around the New European Version of the Bible, which is generally printed with brief commentary on each chapter. Charities such as Carelinks Ministries and the Christadelphian Advancement Trust endeavour to provide totally free copies worldwide according to resources and donations available to them. But there is a desire by many to go beyond those brief comments on each chapter, and delve deeper into the text. The New European Christadelphian commentary seeks to meet that need. As with all Divine things, beauty becomes the more apparent the closer we analyze. We can zoom in the scale of investigation to literally every letter of the words used by His Spirit. But that would require endless volumes. And academic analysis is no more nor less than that; we are to live by His word. This commentary seeks to achieve a balance between practical teaching on one hand, and a reasonable level of thorough consideration of the original text. On that side of things, you will observe in the commentary a common abbreviation: “s:w.". This stands for “same word”; the same original Greek or Hebrew word translated [A] is used when translated [B]. This helps to slightly remove the mask of translation through which most Bible readers have to relate to the original text.</p><p>Are there errors of thought and intellectual process in these volumes? Surely there are. Let me know about them. But finally- don’t fail to see the wood for the trees. Never let the wonder of the simple, basic Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ and His Kingdom become obscured by all the angst over correctly interpreting this or that Bible verse. Believe it, respond to it, be baptized into Him, and let the word become flesh in you as it was so supremely in Him</p><p>If you would like to enable the NEV Bible and associated material to remain freely available, do consider making a donation to Carelinks Ministries or The Christadelphian Advancement Trust. And please pray that our sending forth of God’s word will bring back glory to His Name and that of His dear Son whom we serve.</p><p>Duncan Heaster</p><h4>dh@heaster:org</h4>


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<h4>: A Commentary</h4><p>Old Testament New European Christadelphian Commentary</p><p>Duncan Heaster</p><p>Carelinks</p><p>PO Box 152, Menai NSW 2234</p><p>AUSTRALIA</p><p>www:carelinks:net</p><p>Copyright</p><p>Copyright © 2017 by Duncan Heaster.</p><p>All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review or scholarly journal.</p><p>First Printing: 2017</p><p>ISBN 978-0-244-02490-1</p><p>PREFACE</p><p>This commentary is based around the New European Version of the Bible, which is generally printed with brief commentary on each chapter. Charities such as Carelinks Ministries and the Christadelphian Advancement Trust endeavour to provide totally free copies worldwide according to resources and donations available to them. But there is a desire by many to go beyond those brief comments on each chapter, and delve deeper into the text. The New European Christadelphian commentary seeks to meet that need. As with all Divine things, beauty becomes the more apparent the closer we analyze. We can zoom in the scale of investigation to literally every letter of the words used by His Spirit. But that would require endless volumes. And academic analysis is no more nor less than that; we are to live by His word. This commentary seeks to achieve a balance between practical teaching on one hand, and a reasonable level of thorough consideration of the original text. On that side of things, you will observe in the commentary a common abbreviation: “s:w.". This stands for “same word”; the same original Greek or Hebrew word translated [A] is used when translated [B]. This helps to slightly remove the mask of translation through which most Bible readers have to relate to the original text.</p><p>Are there errors of thought and intellectual process in these volumes? Surely there are. Let me know about them. But finally- don’t fail to see the wood for the trees. Never let the wonder of the simple, basic Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ and His Kingdom become obscured by all the angst over correctly interpreting this or that Bible verse. Believe it, respond to it, be baptized into Him, and let the word become flesh in you as it was so supremely in Him.</p><p>If you would like to enable the NEV Bible and associated material to remain freely available, do consider making a donation to Carelinks Ministries or The Christadelphian Advancement Trust. And please pray that our sending forth of God’s word will bring back glory to His Name and that of His dear Son whom we serve.</p><p>Duncan Heaster</p><h4>dh@heaster:org</h4>


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<h4>: Old Testament New European Christadelphian Commentary</h4><p>Old Testament New European Christadelphian Commentary</p><p>Duncan Heaster</p><p>Carelinks</p><p>PO Box 152, Menai NSW 2234</p><p>AUSTRALIA</p><p>www:carelinks:net</p><p>Copyright</p><p>Copyright © 2017 by Duncan Heaster.</p><p>All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review or scholarly journal.</p><p>First Printing: 2017</p><p>ISBN 978-0-244-32690-6</p><p>PREFACE</p><p>This commentary is based around the New European Version of the Bible, which is generally printed with brief commentary on each chapter. Charities such as Carelinks Ministries and the Christadelphian Advancement Trust endeavour to provide totally free copies worldwide according to resources and donations available to them. But there is a desire by many to go beyond those brief comments on each chapter, and delve deeper into the text. The New European Christadelphian commentary seeks to meet that need. As with all Divine things, beauty becomes the more apparent the closer we analyze. We can zoom in the scale of investigation to literally every letter of the words used by His Spirit. But that would require endless volumes. And academic analysis is no more nor less than that; we are to live by His word. This commentary seeks to achieve a balance between practical teaching on one hand, and a reasonable level of thorough consideration of the original text. On that side of things, you will observe in the commentary a common abbreviation: “s:w.". This stands for “same word”; the same original Greek or Hebrew word translated [A] is used when translated [B]. This helps to slightly remove the mask of translation through which most Bible readers have to relate to the original text.</p><p>Are there errors of thought and intellectual process in these volumes? Surely there are. Let me know about them. But finally- don’t fail to see the wood for the trees. Never let the wonder of the simple, basic Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ and His Kingdom become obscured by all the angst over correctly interpreting this or that Bible verse. Believe it, respond to it, be baptized into Him, and let the word become flesh in you as it was so supremely in Him.</p><h4>If you would like to enable the NEV Bible and associated material to remain freely available, do consider making a donation to Carelinks Ministries or The Christadelphian Advancement Trust. And please pray that our sending forth of God’s word will bring back glory to His Name and that of His dear Son whom we serve.</h4><p>Duncan Heaster</p><h4>dh@heaster:org</h4>


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<h4>: Old Testament New European Christadelphian Commentary</h4><p>Duncan Heaster</p><p>Carelinks</p><p>PO Box 152, Menai NSW 2234</p><p>AUSTRALIA</p><p>www:carelinks:net</p><p>Copyright</p><p>Copyright © 2017 by Duncan Heaster.</p><p>All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review or scholarly journal.</p><p>First Printing: 2017</p><p>ISBN 978-0-244-63011-9</p><p>PREFACE</p><p>This commentary is based around the New European Version of the Bible, which is generally printed with brief commentary on each chapter. Charities such as Carelinks Ministries and the Christadelphian Advancement Trust endeavour to provide totally free copies worldwide according to resources and donations available to them. But there is a desire by many to go beyond those brief comments on each chapter, and delve deeper into the text. The New European Christadelphian commentary seeks to meet that need. As with all Divine things, beauty becomes the more apparent the closer we analyze. We can zoom in the scale of investigation to literally every letter of the words used by His Spirit. But that would require endless volumes. And academic analysis is no more nor less than that; we are to live by His word. This commentary seeks to achieve a balance between practical teaching on one hand, and a reasonable level of thorough consideration of the original text. On that side of things, you will observe in the commentary a common abbreviation: “s:w.". This stands for “same word”; the same original Greek or Hebrew word translated [A] is used when translated [B]. This helps to slightly remove the mask of translation through which most Bible readers have to relate to the original text.</p><p>Are there errors of thought and intellectual process in these volumes? Surely there are. Let me know about them. But finally- don’t fail to see the wood for the trees. Never let the wonder of the simple, basic Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ and His Kingdom become obscured by all the angst over correctly interpreting this or that Bible verse. Believe it, respond to it, be baptized into Him, and let the word become flesh in you as it was so supremely in Him.</p><p>If you would like to enable the NEV Bible and associated material to remain freely available, do consider making a donation to Carelinks Ministries or The Christadelphian Advancement Trust. And please pray that our sending forth of God’s word will bring back glory to His Name and that of His dear Son whom we serve.</p><p>Duncan Heaster</p><h4>dh@heaster:org</h4>


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<h4>: Old Testament New European Christadelphian Commentary</h4><p>Duncan Heaster</p><p>Carelinks</p><p>PO Box 152, Menai NSW 2234</p><p>AUSTRALIA</p><p>www:carelinks:net</p><p>Copyright</p><p>Copyright © 2017 by Duncan Heaster.</p><p>All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review or scholarly journal.</p><p>First Printing: 2017</p><p>ISBN 978-0-244-03012-4</p><p>PREFACE</p><p>This commentary is based around the New European Version of the Bible, which is generally printed with brief commentary on each chapter. Charities such as Carelinks Ministries and the Christadelphian Advancement Trust endeavour to provide totally free copies worldwide according to resources and donations available to them. But there is a desire by many to go beyond those brief comments on each chapter, and delve deeper into the text. The New European Christadelphian commentary seeks to meet that need. As with all Divine things, beauty becomes the more apparent the closer we analyze. We can zoom in the scale of investigation to literally every letter of the words used by His Spirit. But that would require endless volumes. And academic analysis is no more nor less than that; we are to live by His word. This commentary seeks to achieve a balance between practical teaching on one hand, and a reasonable level of thorough consideration of the original text. On that side of things, you will observe in the commentary a common abbreviation: “s:w.". This stands for “same word”; the same original Greek or Hebrew word translated [A] is used when translated [B]. This helps to slightly remove the mask of translation through which most Bible readers have to relate to the original text.</p><p>Are there errors of thought and intellectual process in these volumes? Surely there are. Let me know about them. But finally- don’t fail to see the wood for the trees. Never let the wonder of the simple, basic Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ and His Kingdom become obscured by all the angst over correctly interpreting this or that Bible verse. Believe it, respond to it, be baptized into Him, and let the word become flesh in you as it was so supremely in Him.</p><p>If you would like to enable the NEV Bible and associated material to remain freely available, do consider making a donation to Carelinks Ministries or The Christadelphian Advancement Trust. And please pray that our sending forth of God’s word will bring back glory to His Name and that of His dear Son whom we serve.</p><p>Duncan Heaster</p><h4>dh@heaster:org</h4>


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<h4>: Old Testament New European Christadelphian Commentary</h4><p>Duncan Heaster</p><p>Carelinks</p><p>PO Box 152, Menai NSW 2234</p><p>AUSTRALIA</p><p>www:carelinks:net</p><p>Copyright</p><p>Copyright © 2017 by Duncan Heaster.</p><p>All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review or scholarly journal.</p><p>First Printing: 2017</p><p>ISBN 978-0-244-03128-2</p><p>PREFACE</p><p>This commentary is based around the New European Version of the Bible, which is generally printed with brief commentary on each chapter. Charities such as Carelinks Ministries and the Christadelphian Advancement Trust endeavour to provide totally free copies worldwide according to resources and donations available to them. But there is a desire by many to go beyond those brief comments on each chapter, and delve deeper into the text. The New European Christadelphian commentary seeks to meet that need. As with all Divine things, beauty becomes the more apparent the closer we analyze. We can zoom in the scale of investigation to literally every letter of the words used by His Spirit. But that would require endless volumes. And academic analysis is no more nor less than that; we are to live by His word. This commentary seeks to achieve a balancebetween practical teaching on one hand, and a reasonable level of thorough consideration of the original text. On that side of things, you will observe in the commentary a common abbreviation: “s:w.". This stands for “same word”; the same original Greek or Hebrew word translated [A] is used when translated [B]. This helps to slightly remove the mask of translation through which most Bible readers have to relate to the original text.</p><p>Are there errors of thought and intellectual process in these volumes? Surely there are. Let me know about them. But finally- don’t fail to see the wood for the trees. Never let the wonder of the simple, basic Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ and His Kingdom become obscured by all the angst over correctly interpreting this or that Bible verse. Believe it, respond to it, be baptized into Him, and let the word become flesh in you as it was so supremely in Him.</p><p>If you would like to enable the NEV Bible and associated material to remain freely available, do consider making a donation to Carelinks Ministries or The Christadelphian Advancement Trust. And please pray that our sending forth of God’s word will bring back glory to His Name and that of His dear Son whom we serve.</p><p>Duncan Heaster</p><h4>dh@heaster:org</h4>


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<h4>: Old Testament New European Christadelphian Commentary</h4><p>Duncan Heaster</p><p>Carelinks</p><p>PO Box 152, Menai NSW 2234</p><p>AUSTRALIA</p><p>www:carelinks:net</p><p>Copyright</p><p>Copyright © 2017 by Duncan Heaster.</p><p>All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review or scholarly journal.</p><p>First Printing: 2017</p><p>ISBN 978-0-244-63168-0</p><p>PREFACE</p><p>This commentary is based around the New European Version of the Bible, which is generally printed with brief commentary on each chapter. Charities such as Carelinks Ministries and the Christadelphian Advancement Trust endeavour to provide totally free copies worldwide according to resources and donations available to them. But there is a desire by many to go beyond those brief comments on each chapter, and delve deeper into the text. The New European Christadelphian commentary seeks to meet that need. As with all Divine things, beauty becomes the more apparent the closer we analyze. We can zoom in the scale of investigation to literally every letter of the words used by His Spirit. But that would require endless volumes. And academic analysis is no more nor less than that; we are to live by His word. This commentary seeks to achieve a balance between practical teaching on one hand, and a reasonable level of thorough consideration of the original text. On that side of things, you will observe in the commentary a common abbreviation: “s:w.". This stands for “same word”; the same original Greek or Hebrew word translated [A] is used when translated [B]. This helps to slightly remove the mask of translation through which most Bible readers have to relate to the original text.</p><p>Are there errors of thought and intellectual process in these volumes? Surely there are. Let me know about them. But finally- don’t fail to see the wood for the trees. Never let the wonder of the simple, basic Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ and His Kingdom become obscured by all the angst over correctly interpreting this or that Bible verse. Believe it, respond to it, be baptized into Him, and let the word become flesh in you as it was so supremely in Him.</p><h4>If you would like to enable the NEV Bible and associated material to remain freely available, do consider making a donation to Carelinks Ministries or The Christadelphian Advancement Trust. And please pray that our sending forth of God’s word will bring back glory to His Name and that of His dear Son whom we serve.</h4><p>Duncan Heaster</p><p>dh@heaster:org</p><p>Jonah and Nahum</p><p>Nahum also prophesied against Nineveh. When we read his words, it would appear that there was no chance for Nineveh. And yet presumably there was always a chance for them, just as there was at Jonah’s time some years previously. But it seems to me that the essential message of Nahum was that of Jonah. They could have repented, even then. Not surprisingly, we find many allusions by Nahum back to Jonah:&nbsp;</p><table><tr><td></p><h4>Nahum</td><td>Jonah [re. Nineveh]</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>God is slow to anger (1:3)</td><td>4:2 [same Hebrew words]- and therefore He saved Nineveh.</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>“Who can abide in the fierceness of His anger?” (1:6)</td><td>God turns away from “the fierceness of His anger” [s:w:] against Nineveh (3:9)- Nineveh had survived God’s fierce anger by repenting, and so they could even in Nahum’s time. The Hebrew word translated “abide” in <a href='B:410 1:6'>Nah 1:6</a> is that used in Jonah to describe how the King of Assyria “arose” (3:6) in repentance. The answer to the question: “Who can abide / arise in the [presence of] the fierceness of His anger?” is: ‘The King of Assyria if he repents’.</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>The wickedness of Nineveh “came up” before God’s face (2:1)</td><td>The same words are used about Nineveh (1:2).</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>God was “against” Nineveh (2:13)</td><td>Same word in 1:2</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>Judged for “wickedness” (3:19)</td><td>Same word in 1:2; 3:8</td><td></td></tr></table><p>It becomes apparent that the Ninevites of Nahum’s day are being directed back to the repentance of their city at the time of Jonah; but clearly they are also being invited to share in Jonah’s personal repentance. &nbsp;</h4><table><tr><td></p><h4>Nahum</td><td>Jonah [about himself]</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>God has His way in the storm (1:3)</td><td>Jonah’s experience in the storm</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>God rebukes the sea (1:4)</td><td>As God stilled the storm which Jonah was in</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>Who can stand before God? (1:5)</td><td>Jonah had to be ‘stood up’ [s:w:]&nbsp; from his hiding in the ship when fleeing from God’s presence (1:15)</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>The Lord is a stronghold “in the day of trouble” (1:7) to those who trust Him.</td><td>Jonah cried to God in his “affliction” [s:w. “trouble” ] (2:2)</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>An “overrunning flood” will overtake Nineveh (1:8)</td><td>“The floods…passed over [s:w. “overrunning”] Jonah (2:2); but Jonah repented and was saved. Note how the connections between <a href='B:410 1:7-8'>Nah 1:7-8</a> and <a href='B:390 2:2'>Jon 2:2</a> are in close proximity- surely an allusion is intended here.</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>Affliction (1:9)</td><td>Affliction [s:w:] (2:2)</td><td></td></tr></table><p>From this it becomes apparent that Jonah is seen by God as in essentially the same position as the Ninevites. This was why his appeal to them was so strong. For he had been in just their position, in essence, yet had repented. The fact Nahum makes all these allusions to Jonah’s personal repentance indicates that they well knew the story of Jonah; and his repentance had inspired that of the audience he preached to. In these we see a very real pattern for ourselves; it is our identity with our audience, as repentant sinners ourselves, which will elicit their response.</h4><h4>Nahum’s message was not only a warning of judgment to come upon Nineveh. It was an appeal to Israel, that unless they repented, they would likewise perish. The appeal to Judah to “perform your vows” (<a href='B:410 1:15'>Nah 1:15</a>) is couched in the very same words as Jonah used in <a href='B:390 2:9'>Jon 2:9</a>: “I will pay [s:w. perform] that which I have vowed”. Judah were being asked to be like Jonah, and not despise Nineveh, but rather appeal to her to repent.</h4>


text:
<h4>: Old Testament New European Christadelphian Commentary</h4><p>Duncan Heaster</p><p>Carelinks</p><p>PO Box 152, Menai NSW 2234</p><p>AUSTRALIA</p><p>www:carelinks:net</p><p>Copyright</p><p>Copyright © 2017 by Duncan Heaster.</p><p>All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review or scholarly journal.</p><p>First Printing: 2017</p><p>ISBN 978-0-244-33246-4</p><p>PREFACE</p><p>This commentary is based around the New European Version of the Bible, which is generally printed with brief commentary on each chapter. Charities such as Carelinks Ministries and the Christadelphian Advancement Trust endeavour to provide totally free copies worldwide according to resources and donations available to them. But there is a desire by many to go beyond those brief comments on each chapter, and delve deeper into the text. The New European Christadelphian commentary seeks to meet that need. As with all Divine things, beauty becomes the more apparent the closer we analyze. We can zoom in the scale of investigation to literally every letter of the words used by His Spirit. But that would require endless volumes. And academic analysis is no more nor less than that; we are to live by His word. This commentary seeks to achieve a balance between practical teaching on one hand, and a reasonable level of thorough consideration of the original text. On that side of things, you will observe in the commentary a common abbreviation: “s:w.". This stands for “same word”; the same original Greek or Hebrew word translated [A] is used when translated [B]. This helps to slightly remove the mask of translation through which most Bible readers have to relate to the original text.</p><p>Are there errors of thought and intellectual process in these volumes? Surely there are. Let me know about them. But finally- don’t fail to see the wood for the trees. Never let the wonder of the simple, basic Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ and His Kingdom become obscured by all the angst over correctly interpreting this or that Bible verse. Believe it, respond to it, be baptized into Him, and let the word become flesh in you as it was so supremely in Him.</p><p>If you would like to enable the NEV Bible and associated material to remain freely available, do consider making a donation to Carelinks Ministries or The Christadelphian Advancement Trust. And please pray that our sending forth of God’s word will bring back glory to His Name and that of His dear Son whom we serve.</p><p>Duncan Heaster</p><h4>dh@heaster:org</h4>


text:
<h4>: Old Testament New European Christadelphian Commentary</h4><p>Old Testament New European Christadelphian Commentary</p><p>Duncan Heaster</p><p>Carelinks</p><p>PO Box 152, Menai NSW 2234</p><p>AUSTRALIA</p><p>www:carelinks:net</p><p>Copyright</p><p>Copyright © 2017 by Duncan Heaster.</p><p>All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review or scholarly journal</p><p>First Printing: 2017</p><p>ISBN 978-0-244-32690-6</p><p>PREFACE</p><p>This commentary is based around the New European Version of the Bible, which is generally printed with brief commentary on each chapter. Charities such as Carelinks Ministries and the Christadelphian Advancement Trust endeavour to provide totally free copies worldwide according to resources and donations available to them. But there is a desire by many to go beyond those brief comments on each chapter, and delve deeper into the text. The New European Christadelphian commentary seeks to meet that need. As with all Divine things, beauty becomes the more apparent the closer we analyze. We can zoom in the scale of investigation to literally every letter of the words used by His Spirit. But that would require endless volumes. And academic analysis is no more nor less than that; we are to live by His word. This commentary seeks to achieve a balance between practical teaching on one hand, and a reasonable level of thorough consideration of the original text. On that side of things, you will observe in the commentary a common abbreviation: “s:w.". This stands for “same word”; the same original Greek or Hebrew word translated [A] is used when translated [B]. This helps to slightly remove the mask of translation through which most Bible readers have to relate to the original text.</p><p>Are there errors of thought and intellectual process in these volumes? Surely there are. Let me know about them. But finally- don’t fail to see the wood for the trees. Never let the wonder of the simple, basic Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ and His Kingdom become obscured by all the angst over correctly interpreting this or that Bible verse. Believe it, respond to it, be baptized into Him, and let the word become flesh in you as it was so supremely in Him.</p><p>If you would like to enable the NEV Bible and associated material to remain freely available, do consider making a donation to Carelinks Ministries or The Christadelphian Advancement Trust. And please pray that our sending forth of God’s word will bring back glory to His Name and that of His dear Son whom we serve.</p><p>Duncan Heaster</p><h4>dh@heaster:org</h4>


text:
<h4>Old Testament New European Christadelphian Commentary</h4><p>Duncan Heaster</p><p>Carelinks</p><p>PO Box 152, Menai NSW 2234</p><p>AUSTRALIA</p><p>www:carelinks:net</p><p>Copyright</p><p>Copyright © 2017 by Duncan Heaster.</p><p>All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review or scholarly journal.</p><p>First Printing: 2017</p><p>ISBN 978-0-244-03359-0</p><p>PREFACE</p><p>This commentary is based around the New European Version of the Bible, which is generally printed with brief commentary on each chapter. Charities such as Carelinks Ministries and the Christadelphian Advancement Trust endeavour to provide totally free copies worldwide according to resources and donations available to them. But there is a desire by many to go beyond those brief comments on each chapter, and delve deeper into the text. The New European Christadelphian commentary seeks to meet that need. As with all Divine things, beauty becomes the more apparent the closer we analyze. We can zoom in the scale of investigation to literally every letter of the words used by His Spirit. But that would require endless volumes. And academic analysis is no more nor less than that; we are to live by His word. This commentary seeks to achieve a balance between practical teaching on one hand, and a reasonable level of thorough consideration of the original text. On that side of things, you will observe in the commentary a common abbreviation: “s:w.". This stands for “same word”; the same original Greek or Hebrew word translated [A] is used when translated [B]. This helps to slightly remove the mask of translation through which most Bible readers have to relate to the original text.</p><p>Are there errors of thought and intellectual process in these volumes? Surely there are. Let me know about them. But finally- don’t fail to see the wood for the trees. Never let the wonder of the simple, basic Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ and His Kingdom become obscured by all the angst over correctly interpreting this or that Bible verse. Believe it, respond to it, be baptized into Him, and let the word become flesh in you as it was so supremely in Him.</p><p>If you would like to enable the NEV Bible and associated material to remain freely available, do consider making a donation to Carelinks Ministries or The Christadelphian Advancement Trust. And please pray that our sending forth of God’s word will bring back glory to His Name and that of His dear Son whom we serve.</p><p>Duncan Heaster</p><h4>dh@heaster:org</h4>


text:
<h4>Duncan Heaster</h4><p>Carelinks</p><p>PO Box 152, Menai NSW 2234</p><p>AUSTRALIA</p><p>www:carelinks:net</p><p>Copyright</p><p>Copyright © 2017 by Duncan Heaster.</p><p>All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review or scholarly journal.</p><p>First Printing: 2017</p><p>ISBN 978-0-244-93692-1</p><p>PREFACE</p><p>This commentary is based around the New European Version of the Bible, which is generally printed with brief commentary on each chapter. Charities such as Carelinks Ministries and the Christadelphian Advancement Trust endeavour to provide totally free copies worldwide according to resources and donations available to them. But there is a desire by many to go beyond those brief comments on each chapter, and delve deeper into the text. The New European Christadelphian commentary seeks to meet that need. As with all Divine things, beauty becomes the more apparent the closer we analyze. We can zoom in the scale of investigation to literally every letter of the words used by His Spirit. But that would require endless volumes. And academic analysis is no more nor less than that; we are to live by His word. This commentary seeks to achieve abalance between practical teaching on one hand, and a reasonable level of thorough consideration of the original text. On that side of things, you will observe in the commentary a common abbreviation: “s:w.". This stands for “same word”; the same original Greek or Hebrew word translated [A] is used when translated [B]. This helps to slightly remove the mask of translation through which most Bible readers have to relate to the original text.</p><h4>Are there errors of thought and intellectual process in these volumes? Surely there are. Let me know about them. But finally- don’t fail to see the wood for the trees. Never let the wonder of the simple, basic Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ and His Kingdom become obscured by all the angst over correctly interpreting this or that Bible verse. Believe it, respond to it, be baptized into Him, and let the word become flesh in you as it was so supremely in Him.</h4><p>If you would like to enable the NEV Bible and associated material to remain freely available, do consider making a donation to Carelinks Ministries or The Christadelphian Advancement Trust. And please pray that our sending forth of God’s word will bring back glory to His Name and that of His dear Son whom we serve.</p><p>Duncan Heaster</p><h4>dh@heaster:org</h4>


text:
<h4>Old Testament New European Christadelphian Commentary</h4><p>Duncan Heaster</p><p>Carelinks</p><p>PO Box 152, Menai NSW 2234</p><p>AUSTRALIA</p><p>www:carelinks:net</p><p>Copyright</p><p>Copyright © 2017 by Duncan Heaster.</p><p>All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review or scholarly journal.</p><p>First Printing: 2017</p><p>ISBN 978-0-244-33757-5</p><p>PREFACE</p><p>This commentary is based around the New European Version of the Bible, which is generally printed with brief commentary on each chapter. Charities such as Carelinks Ministries and the Christadelphian Advancement Trust endeavour to provide totally free copies worldwide according to resources and donations available to them. But there is a desire by many to go beyond those brief comments on each chapter, and delve deeper into the text. The New European Christadelphian commentary seeks to meet that need. As with all Divine things, beauty becomes the more apparent the closer we analyze. We can zoom in the scale of investigation to literally every letter of the words used by His Spirit. But that would require endless volumes. And academic analysis is no more nor less than that; we are to live by His word. This commentary seeks to achieve a balance between practical teaching on one hand, and a reasonable level of thorough consideration of the original text. On that side of things, you will observe in the commentary a common abbreviation: “s:w.". This stands for “same word”; the same original Greek or Hebrew word translated [A] is used when translated [B]. This helps to slightly remove the mask of translation through which most Bible readers have to relate to the original text.</p><p>Are there errors of thought and intellectual process in these volumes? Surely there are. Let me know about them. But finally- don’t fail to see the wood for the trees. Never let the wonder of the simple, basic Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ and His Kingdom become obscured by all the angst over correctly interpreting this or that Bible verse. Believe it, respond to it, be baptized into Him, and let the word become flesh in you as it was so supremely in Him.</p><p>If you would like to enable the NEV Bible and associated material to remain freely available, do consider making a donation to Carelinks Ministries or The Christadelphian Advancement Trust. And please pray that our sending forth of God’s word will bring back glory to His Name and that of His dear Son whom we serve.</p><p>Duncan Heaster</p><p>dh@heaster:org</p><h4>&nbsp;</h4>


