John Gills Exposition on the Entire Bible-Book of Malachi

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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: The answer is, In that ye say, The table of the Lord is contemptible ; either the shewbread table, which yet was covered with gold, and all the vessels of it made of gold; or the altar, as in Ezekiel And if ye offer the blind for sacrifice, [is it] not evil?

Certainly it is, according to the law in Leviticus The sense is, that, however evil this may be in itself, according to them it was good enough to be offered up upon the altar; which proves that they despised the name of the Lord, offered polluted bread or sacrifice on his altar, and had his table in contempt: The meaning is, offer a lamb or any other creature that is blind, sick, and lame; make a present of it to him that had the government of them; make trial this way, and see how acceptable it would be to him: 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 means of their sin, and accessary to it, who ought to have reproved them for bringing such offerings, and should have refused to offer them for them; or otherwise, if they did not do this, they could not expect that God would accept their persons, and their offerings: 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 The words "for nought" are not, in the original text, at the end of this clause, but at the end of the next; and are by some referred to both; and by others restrained to the latter; and who give this as the sense of the words, "who is there," or "would there were any among you?

I have no pleasure in you, saith the Lord of hosts ; neither in your persons, nor in your offerings: 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.

Malachi 1 Gill's Exposition

Abarbinel thinks that m in xrzmm is causal; and that the sense is, because of the motion of the sun in rising and setting, the Gentiles acknowledge God to be the first mover and cause of all things; and who, though they worship the host of heaven, yet ultimately direct their worship to the supreme Being, the Cause of causes; and supposes this to be a reproof of the priests, who might have learnt better even of the very Heathens; but the former is to the true sense, which declares the large extent of true spiritual worship in the Gentile world: Tanchuma apud Abarbinel in loc.

But ye have profaned it , A learned Jew t is of opinion, that not serpents, but jackals, are here meant, which are a sort of wild howling beasts, that live abroad in desolate places; See Gill on Micah 1: So the Targum renders it, "into the wasteness of the desert"; or into a waste desert, where none but such sort of animals inhabit.

The Septuagint and Syriac versions render it, "into the houses", or "cottages, of the desert": 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.

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Kimchi interprets it, if the congregation of Edom should say, though we are become poor and low, and our land is laid waste: The border of wickedness; a wicked kingdom and nation, from one end to the other; this shall be said of them, as the reason of their utter and perpetual desolation: 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: 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;'' see Exodus This question suggests, that he had not the honour given him, which belonged unto him: 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: The answer is, In that ye say, The table of the Lord is contemptible; either the shewbread table, which yet was covered with gold, and all the vessels of it made of gold; or the altar, as in Ezekiel Certainly it is, according to the law in Leviticus The sense is, that, however evil this may be in itself, according to them it was good enough to be offered up upon the altar; which proves that they despised the name of the Lord, offered polluted bread or sacrifice on his altar, and had his table in contempt: So Pliny c observes, that this is to be remarked, that calves brought to the altar on men's shoulders are not to be sacrificed; nor are the gods appeased by one that halts; in short, it is said d , whatever is not perfect and sound is not to be offered to them; and, besides these here mentioned in the text, there were many others, which the Jews especially observed, which rendered creatures unfit for sacrifice.

Maimonides e reckons up no less than fifty blemishes, by reason of which the priests under the law might not offer a creature for sacrifice: The meaning is, offer a lamb or any other creature that is blind, sick, and lame; make a present of it to him that had the government of them; make trial this way, and see how acceptable it would be to him: 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 means of their sin, and accessary to it, who ought to have reproved them for bringing such offerings, and should have refused to offer them for them; or otherwise, if they did not do this, they could not expect that God would accept their persons, and their offerings: 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 The words "for nought" are not, in the original text, at the end of this clause, but at the end of the next; and are by some referred to both; and by others restrained to the latter; and who give this as the sense of the words, "who is there", or "would there were any among you?

I have no pleasure in you, saith the Lord of hosts; neither in your persons, nor in your offerings: For from the rising of the sun even unto the going down of the same, Malachi, the name of the last book of the OT, means "my messenger". It might be an abbreviation of " Malachjah" which has the meaning of "messenger of Jehovah".

Some do not hold "Malachi" as a first name but a designation.

The same Hebrew word mal'achi is translated "Malachi" in chap. We are not told any personal details of Malachi.

Malachi 1 Bible Commentary

Malachi is the last of the three post-exile prophets. He does not give any detail about time and duration of his ministry.

Introduction

One can take from the book however that the temple in Jerusalem has been rebuilt and that the priests are offering sacrifices Malachi 1: A governor of the king of Persia is reigning in the land Malachi 1: The sad condition of the people is very much like the description of Nehemiah Out of these facts one concludes that Malachi lived around Nehemiah's time. While some scientists put Malachi's time of service before Nehemiah's time others think that he prophesied while Nehemiah had returned from Jerusalem to the Persian court Nehemiah In any case we are speaking about the second half of the 5 th century BC probably - BC.

Upon the last message of the Old Testament by Malachi follow the silent years during which God did not speak to His people until John the Baptist arose to prepare the way of the Lord compare Malachi 3:

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