59 matching verse commentaries
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
INTRODUCTION TO Malachi 1 In this chapter the Lord declares his love to the people of Israel, and proves it; and complains that the honour due unto him was not given him; which he demonstrates by various instances. The inscription is in Malachi 1:1 showing the name and nature of the prophecy; the author of it; the people to whom it was sent; and...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
The burden of the word of the Lord,.... By which is meant the prophecy of this book, so called, not because heavy, burdensome, and distressing, either for the prophet to carry, or the people to bear; for some part of it, which respects Christ, and his forerunner, was matter of joy to the people of God; but because it was a message sent by the...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
I have loved you, saith the Lord,.... Which appeared of old, by choosing them, above all people upon the face of the earth, to be his special and peculiar people; by bestowing peculiar favours and blessings upon them, both temporal and spiritual; by continuing them a people, through a variety of changes and revolutions; and by lately bringing them...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And I hated Esau,.... Or, "rejected" him, as the Targum; did not love him as Jacob: this was a negative, not positive hatred; it is true of him, personally considered; not only by taking away the birthright and blessing from him, which he despised; but by denying him his special grace, leaving him in his sins, and to his lusts, so that he became a...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Whereas Edom saith, We are impoverished,.... Or the Idumeans, as the Targum; the posterity of Esau, who acknowledge themselves greatly reduced by the desolations made in their country, cities, towns, and houses, being plundered of all their valuable things. Kimchi interprets it, if the congregation of Edom should say, though we are become poor and...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And your eyes shall see,.... The destruction of the Edomites, and their fruitless attempts to rebuild their desolate places; and the difference between them and the Israelites, who were returned to their own land, and inherited it, when they could not; and the love of God to the one, and his hatred of the other: and ye shall say, The Lord will be...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
A son honoureth [his] father, and a servant his master,.... Or, "will honour", or "should honour"; it is their duty to do so, both according to the laws of God and man; and so the Targum, "lo concerning a son it is said (or commanded) that be should honour his father; and of a servant, that he should fear (or show reverence) before his master;''...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Ye offer polluted bread upon mine altar,.... Which some understand of the shewbread, mention being afterwards made of a "table", as Jerom; who observes that it was made of wheat, which the priests themselves sowed, reaped, ground, and baked, and so could take what they would out of it: as for their sowing it, it does not seem likely that they...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And if ye offer the blind for sacrifice, [is it] not evil?.... Certainly it is, according to the law in Leviticus 22:22 or, as Kimchi interprets it, when they bring to you a lamb that is blind for sacrifice to offer it up, ye say, this is not evil; but it is good to offer it up, because the table is contemptible. The sense is, that, however evil...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And now, I pray you, beseech God that he will be gracious unto us,.... These are the words of the prophet to the priests; and are spoken either seriously, exhorting them to that part of their office which lay in interceding for the people that God would be gracious to them, and forgive their sins; and the rather, inasmuch as they had been the...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Who [is there] even among you that would shut the doors [for nought]?.... Either of the temple, as the Targum and Jarchi; for at each of the gates of the temple there were porters appointed in David's time, 1 Chronicles 26:1 and who were paid for their service: or of the court, as Kimchi; the court of the priests where the offerings were brought....
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
For from the rising of the sun even unto the going down of the same,.... From east to west, which is all habitable; not so north and south, as Kimchi observes, the extremes of which are not habitable. Abarbinel thinks that מ in ממזרח is causal; and that the sense is, because of the motion of the sun in rising and setting, the Gentiles acknowledge...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
But ye have profaned it,.... That is, the name of the Lord, which they are said to despise, Malachi 1:6 and pollute, Malachi 1:7 and is a reason why they and their offerings were rejected: and that they profaned the name of the Lord appears by this, in that ye say, The table of the Lord [is] polluted: the same with "contemptible", Malachi 1:7 as...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Ye said also, Behold, what a weariness [is it]?.... These are either the words of the priests, saying what a wearisome and fatiguing business the temple service was to them, for which they thought they were poorly paid; such as slaying the sacrifices; removing the ashes from the altar; putting the wood in order; kindling the fire, and laying the...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
But cursed be the deceiver,.... A cunning, crafty, subtle man, who thinks and contrives, speaks and acts, in a very artful and deceiving manner; though some derive the word from יכל, "to be able"; and so the Septuagint and Arabic versions render it, "who is able"; to bring a proper offering, a perfect lamb, as it follows: which hath in his flock a...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
INTRODUCTION TO Malachi 2 This chapter contains a reproof both of priests and people for their sins. It begins with the priests, Malachi 2:1 and threatens, in case they attend not to glorify the name of the Lord, they and their blessings should be cursed, their seed corrupted, dung spread upon them, and they took away with it, Malachi 2:2 and the...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And now, O ye priests,.... That despised and profaned the name of the Lord; that suffered such corrupt and illegal sacrifices to be brought and offered up: this commandment [is] for you: of giving glory to the name of God; of taking care of his worship; of teaching the people knowledge, and directing them in the way in which they should walk; as...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
If ye will not hear,.... The commandment enjoined them; or the Gospel preached to them by Christ, and his apostles: and if ye will not lay [it] to heart to give glory to my name, saith the Lord of hosts; which they had despised and profaned before; if they did not take care of his worship and service, and honour the Messiah sent unto them, in whom...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Behold, I will corrupt your seed,.... Or, "the seed for you" (r); that is, for your sake, as Kimchi and Ben Melech explain it; meaning the seed they cast into the earth, which the Lord threatens to corrupt and destroy; so that it should not spring up again, and bring forth any increase: or, "rebuke" (s) it, as the word sometimes signifies; and so...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And ye shall know that I have sent this commandment unto you,.... [See comments on Malachi 2:1]: that my covenant might be with Levi, saith the Lord of hosts; not that the ceremonial law might be confirmed and established, on which the Levitical priesthood was founded; for it was the will of God that that should be abolished, because of the...