6 A son honoureth a father, and a servant his master. And if I `am' a father, where `is' Mine honour? And if I `am' a master, where `is' My fear? Said Jehovah of Hosts to you, O priests, despising My name! And ye have said: `In what have we despised Thy name?'
`And why do ye call me, Lord, Lord, and do not what I say?
`Honour thy father and thy mother, so that thy days are prolonged on the ground which Jehovah thy God is giving to thee.
to all give ye honour; the brotherhood love ye; God fear ye; the king honour ye. The domestics! be subjecting yourselves in all fear to the masters, not only to the good and gentle, but also to the cross; for this `is' gracious, if because of conscience toward God any one doth endure sorrows, suffering unrighteously;
and if on the Father ye do call, who without acceptance of persons is judging according to the work of each, in fear the time of your sojourn pass ye,
And ye, ye have turned from the way, Ye have caused many to stumble in the law, Ye have corrupted the covenant of Levi, Said Jehovah of Hosts.
An eye that mocketh at a father, And despiseth to obey a mother, Dig it out do ravens of the valley, And eat it do young eagles.
`Not every one who is saying to me Lord, lord, shall come into the reign of the heavens; but he who is doing the will of my Father who is in the heavens.
thus therefore pray ye: `Our Father who `art' in the heavens! hallowed be Thy name.
honour thy father and mother, and, thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.'
for Moses said, Honour thy father and thy mother; and, He who is speaking evil of father or mother -- let him die the death;
be ye therefore merciful, as also your Father is merciful.
the commands thou hast known: Thou mayest not commit adultery, Thou mayest do no murder, Thou mayest not steal, Thou mayest not bear false witness, Honour thy father and thy mother.'
ye call me, The Teacher and The Lord, and ye say well, for I am; if then I did wash your feet -- the Lord and the Teacher -- ye also ought to wash one another's feet. `For an example I gave to you, that, according as I did to you, ye also may do; verily, verily, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his lord, nor an apostle greater than he who sent him; if these things ye have known, happy are ye, if ye may do them;
As many as are servants under a yoke, their own masters worthy of all honour let them reckon, that the name of God and the teaching may not be evil spoken of; and those having believing masters, let them not slight `them', because they are brethren, but rather let them serve, because they are stedfast and beloved, who of the benefit are partaking. These things be teaching and exhorting;
Hard against Me have been your words, Said Jehovah, and ye have said: `What have we spoken against Thee?' Ye have said, `A vain thing to serve God! And what gain when we kept His charge? And when we have gone in black, Because of Jehovah of Hosts?
Even from the days of your fathers Ye have turned aside from My statutes, And ye have not taken heed. Turn back unto Me, and I turn back to you, Said Jehovah of Hosts. And ye have said, `In what do we turn back?' Doth man deceive God? but ye are deceiving Me, And ye have said: `In what have we deceived Thee?' The tithe and the heave-offering!
And ye have said, `Wherefore?' Because Jehovah hath testified between thee And the wife of thy youth, That thou hast dealt treacherously against her, And she thy companion, and thy covenant-wife. And He did not make one `only', And He hath the remnant of the Spirit. And what `is' the one `alone'! He is seeking a godly seed. And ye have been watchful over your spirit, And with the wife of thy youth, None doth deal treacherously. For `I' hate sending away, said Jehovah, God of Israel, And He `who' hath covered violence with his clothing, said Jehovah of Hosts, And ye have been watchful over your spirit, And ye do not deal treacherously. Ye have wearied Jehovah with your words, And ye have said: `In what have we wearied Him?' In your saying: `Every evil-doer `is' good in the eyes of Jehovah, And in them He is delighting,' Or, `Where `is' the God of judgment?'
And Ephraim saith: `Surely I have become rich, I have found wealth for myself, All my labours -- they find not against me iniquity that `is' sin.'
`Hear this, O priests, and attend, O house of Israel, And, O house of the king, give ear, For the judgment `is' for you, For, a snare ye have been on Mizpah, And a net spread out on Tabor.
`Each his mother and his father ye do fear, and My sabbaths ye do keep; I `am' Jehovah your God.
even to choose him out of all the tribes of Israel to Me for a priest, to go up on Mine altar, to make a perfume, to bear an ephod before Me, and I give to the house of thy father all the fire-offerings of the sons of Israel? Why do ye kick at My sacrifice, and at Mine offering which I commanded `in' My habitation, and dost honour thy sons above Me, to make yourselves fat from the first part of every offering of Israel, of My people? `Therefore -- the affirmation of Jehovah, God of Israel -- I certainly said, Thy house and the house of thy father, do walk up and down before Me to the age; and now -- the affirmation of Jehovah -- Far be it from Me! for he who is honouring Me, I honour, and those despising Me, are lightly esteemed.
And I planted thee a choice vine, wholly a true seed, And how hast thou been turned to Me, To the degenerate shoots of a strange vine? But though thou dost wash with nitre, And dost multiply to thyself soap, Marked is thine iniquity before Me, An affirmation of the Lord Jehovah.
An astonishing and horrible thing hath been in the land. The prophets have prophesied falsely, And the priests bear rule by their means, And My people have loved `it' so, And what do they at its latter end?
With weeping they come in, And with supplications I bring them, I cause them to go unto streams of waters, In a right way -- they stumble not in it, For I have been to Israel for a father, And Ephraim -- My first-born `is' he.
Its priests have wronged My law, And they pollute My holy things, Between holy and common they have not made separation, And between the unclean and the clean they have not made known, And from my sabbaths they have hidden their eyes, And I am pierced in their midst.
And he, willing to declare himself righteous, said unto Jesus, `And who is my neighbour?'
`Honour thy father and thy mother, as Jehovah thy God hath commanded thee, so that thy days are prolonged, and so that it is well with thee, on the ground which Jehovah thy God is giving to thee.
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,