14 A curse on the false man who has a male in his flock, and takes his oath, and gives to the Lord a damaged thing: for I am a great King, says the Lord of armies, and my name is to be feared among the Gentiles.
And the Lord will be King over all the earth: in that day there will be one Lord and his name one.
Which at the right time he will make clear, who is the eternal and only Ruler, King of kings, and Lord of lords;
For the Lord Most High is to be feared; he is a great King over all the earth.
You are cursed with a curse; for you have kept back from me what is mine, even all this nation.
But those who are full of fear and without faith, the unclean and takers of life, those who do the sins of the flesh, and those who make use of evil powers or who give worship to images, and all those who are false, will have their part in the sea of ever-burning fire which is the second death.
What man is there who will not have fear before you, O Lord, and give glory to your name? because you only are holy; for all the nations will come and give worship before you; for your righteousness has been made clear.
But a certain man named Ananias, with Sapphira his wife, got money for his property, And kept back part of the price, his wife having knowledge of it, and took the rest and put it at the feet of the Apostles. But Peter said, Ananias, why has the Evil One put it into your heart to be false to the Holy Spirit, and to keep back part of the price of the land? While you had it, was it not your property? and after you had given it in exchange, was it not still in your power? how has this purpose come into your mind? you have been false, not to men, but to God. And at these words, Ananias went down on the earth, and his life went from him: and great fear came on all who were present. And the young men went and made ready his body, and took it out, and put it in the earth. And about three hours after, his wife, having no knowledge of what had taken place, came in. And Peter said to her, Give me an answer: was this amount of money the price of the land? And she said, Yes, it was. But Peter said to her, Why have you made an agreement together to be false to the Spirit of the Lord? See, the feet of the young men who have put the body of your husband in the earth, are at the door, and they will take you out. And straight away she went down at his feet, and her life went from her: and the young men came in and saw her dead, and they took her out and put her in the earth with her husband.
The lord of that servant will come at a time when he is not looking for him, and at an hour when he is not ready for him, and he will have him cut in two and will give him his part in the fate of those who have no faith;
At that time, when thousands of the people had come together, in such numbers that they were crushing one another, he said first to his disciples, Have nothing to do with the leaven of the Pharisees, which is deceit. But nothing is covered up, which will not come to light, or secret, which will not be made clear.
She has done what she was able: she has put oil on my body to make it ready for its last resting-place.
And he took a seat by the place where the money was kept, and saw how the people put money into the boxes: and a number who had wealth put in much. And there came a poor widow, and she put in two little bits of money, which make a farthing. And he made his disciples come to him, and said to them, Truly I say to you, This poor widow has put in more than all those who are putting money into the box: Because they all put in something out of what they had no need for; but she out of her need put in all she had, even all her living.
Or by the earth, because it is the resting-place for his foot; or by Jerusalem, because it is the town of the great King.
If by chance my father puts his hand on me, it will seem to him that I am tricking him, and he will put a curse on me in place of a blessing.
And when you give what is blind for an offering, it is no evil! and when you give what is damaged and ill, it is no evil! Give it now to your ruler; will he be pleased with you, or will you have his approval? says the Lord of armies.
And I made prayer to the Lord my God, putting our sins before him, and said, O Lord, the great God, greatly to be feared. keeping your agreement and mercy with those who have love for you and do your orders;
Let him be cursed who does the Lord's work half-heartedly; let him be cursed who keeps back his sword from blood.
But the Lord is the true God; he is the living God and an eternal king: when he is angry, the earth is shaking with fear, and the nations give way before his wrath.
For this is the word of him who is high and lifted up, whose resting-place is eternal, whose name is Holy: my resting-place is in the high and holy place, and with him who is crushed and poor in spirit, to give life to the spirit of the poor, and to make strong the heart of the crushed.
It is better not to take an oath than to take an oath and not keep it. Let not your mouth make your flesh do evil. And say not before the angel, It was an error. So that God may not be angry with your words and put an end to the work of your hands.
For the Lord is a great God, and a great King over all gods.
Beautiful in its high position, the joy of all the earth, is the mountain of Zion, the mountain of God, the town of the great King.
Israel has done wrong, sinning against the agreement which I made with them: they have even taken of the cursed thing; acting falsely like thieves they have put it among their goods. For this reason the children of Israel have given way, turning their backs in flight before their attackers, because they are cursed: I will no longer be with you, if you do not put the cursed thing away from among you.
Say to Aaron and to his sons and to all the children of Israel, If any man of the children of Israel, or of another nation living in Israel, makes an offering, given because of an oath or freely given to the Lord for a burned offering; So that it may be pleasing to the Lord, let him give a male, without any mark, from among the oxen or the sheep or the goats. But anything which has a mark you may not give; it will not make you pleasing to the Lord. And whoever makes a peace-offering to the Lord, in payment of an oath or as a free offering, from the herd or the flock, if it is to be pleasing to the Lord, let it be free from any mark or damage.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on Malachi 1
Commentary on Malachi 1 Matthew Henry Commentary
An Exposition, With Practical Observations, of
The Prophecy of Malachi
Chapter 1
Thus prophet is sent first to convince and then to comfort, first to discover sin and to reprove for that and then to promise the coming of him who shall take away sin. And this method the blessed Spirit takes in dealing with souls, Jn. 16:8. He first opens the wound and then applies the healing balm. God had provided (and one would think effectually) for the engaging of Israel to himself by providences and ordinances; but it seems, by the complaints here made of them, that they received the grace of God in both these in vain.
And what shall we say of those whom neither providences nor ordinances work upon, and who affront God in those very things wherein they should honour him?
Mal 1:1-5
The prophecy of this book is entitled, The burden of the word of the Lord (v. 1), which intimates,
This burden of the word of the Lord was sent,
In these verses, they are charged with ingratitude, in that they were not duly sensible of God's distinguishing goodness to them; and such a charge as this may well be called a burden, for it is a heavy one.
Mal 1:6-14
The prophet is here, by a special commission, calling the priests to account, though they were themselves appointed judges, to call the people to an account. Let the rulers in the house of God know that there is one above them, who will reckon with them for their mal-administrations. Thus saith the Lord of hosts to you, O priests! v. 6. God will have a saying to unfaithful ministers; and it concerns those who speak from God to his people to hear and heed what he says to them, that they may save themselves in the first place, otherwise how should they help to save those that hear them? It is a severe, and no doubt a just reproof, that is here given to the priests, for the profanation of the holy things of God, with which they were entrusted; and, if this was the crime of the priests, we have reason to fear the people also were guilty of it: so that what is said to the priests is said to all, nay, it is said to us, who, as Christians, profess ourselves, not only the people of God, but priests to him. Observe here,