3 And ye have trodden down the wicked, For they are ashes under the soles of your feet, In the day that I am appointing, Said Jehovah of Hosts.
See every proud one -- humble him, And tread down the wicked in their place.
Yea, the remnant of Jacob hath been among nations, In the midst of many peoples, As a lion among beasts of a forest, As a young lion among ranks of a flock, Which if it hath passed through, Hath both trodden down and hath torn, And there is no deliverer.
And see doth mine enemy, And cover her doth shame, Who saith unto me, `Where `is' Jehovah thy God?' Mine eyes do look on her, Now she is for a treading-place, As mire of the out-places.
and trodden was the wine-press outside of the city, and blood did come forth out of the wine-press -- unto the bridles of the horses, a thousand, six hundred furlongs.
and the God of the peace shall bruise the Adversary under your feet quickly; the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ `be' with you. Amen!
And they have been to Me, said Jehovah of Hosts, In the day that I am appointing -- a peculiar treasure, And I have had pity on them, As one hath pity on his son who is serving him.
and enmity I put between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; he doth bruise thee -- the head, and thou dost bruise him -- the heel.'
and the kingdom, and the dominion, even the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heavens, is given to the people -- the saints of the Most High, His kingdom `is' a kingdom age-during, and all dominions do serve and obey Him.
From the abundance of thy iniquity, By the perversity of thy traffic, Thou hast polluted thy sanctuaries, And I bring forth fire from thy midst, It hath devoured thee, And I make thee become ashes on the earth, Before the eyes of all beholding thee.
-- `A wine-press I have trodden by myself, And of the peoples there is no one with me, And I tread them in mine anger, And I trample them in my fury, Sprinkled is their strength on my garments, And all my clothing I have polluted. For the day of vengeance `is' in my heart, And the year of my redeemed hath come. And I look attentively, and there is none helping, And I am astonished that there is none supporting, And give salvation to me doth mine own arm. And my wrath -- it hath supported me. And I tread down peoples in mine anger, And I make them drunk in my fury, And I bring down to earth their strength.
On lion and asp thou treadest, Thou trampest young lion and dragon.
And I beat them as dust of the earth, As mire of the streets I beat them small -- I spread them out!
And it cometh to pass, when they bring out these kings unto Joshua, that Joshua calleth unto every man of Israel, and saith unto the captains of the men of war, who have gone with him, `Draw near, set your feet on the necks of these kings;' and they draw near, and set their feet on their necks. And Joshua saith unto them, `Fear not, nor be affrighted; be strong and courageous; for thus doth Jehovah do to all your enemies with whom ye are fighting;'
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Keil & Delitzsch Commentary » Commentary on Malachi 4
Commentary on Malachi 4 Keil & Delitzsch Commentary
This admonition to the ungodly is explained in Malachi 4:1. by a picture of the separation which will be effected by the day of judgment. Malachi 4:1. “For behold the day cometh burning like a furnace, and all the proud and every doer of wickedness become stubble, and the coming day will burn them, saith Jehovah of hosts, so that it will not leave them root or branch. Malachi 4:2. But to you who fear my name, the sun of righteousness will rise and healing in its wings, and ye will go out and skip like stalled calves, Malachi 4:3. And will tread down the ungodly, for they will be ashes under the soles of your feet in the day that I create, saith Jehovah of hosts.” The day of judgment will be to the ungodly like a burning furnace. “A fire burns more fiercely in a furnace than in the open air” (Hengstenberg). The ungodly will then resemble the stubble which the fire consumes (cf. Isaiah 5:24; Zephaniah 1:18; Obadiah 1:18, etc.). זדים and עשׂה רשׁעה point back to Malachi 3:15. Those who are called blessed by the murmuring nation will be consumed by the fire, as stubble is burned up, and indeed all who do wickedness, and therefore the murmurers themselves. אשׁר before לא יעזב is a conjunction, quod ; and the subject is not Jehovah, but the coming day. The figure “root and branch” is borrowed from a tree - the tree is the ungodly mass of the people (cf. Amos 2:9) - and denotes total destruction, so that nothing will be left of them. To the righteous, on the other hand, the sun of righteousness will arise. Ts e dâqâh is an epexegetical genitive of apposition. By the sun of righteousness the fathers, from Justin downwards, and nearly all the earlier commentators understand Christ , who is supposed to be described as the rising sun, like Jehovah in Psalms 84:12 and Isaiah 60:19; and this view is founded upon a truth, viz., that the coming of Christ brings justice and salvation. But in the verse before us the context does not sustain the personal view, but simply the idea that righteousness itself is regarded as a sun. Ts e dâqâh , again, is not justification or the forgiveness of sins, as Luther and others suppose, for there will be no forgiving of sins on the day of judgment, but God will then give to every man reward or punishment according to his works. Ts e dâqâh is here, what it frequently is in Isaiah (e.g., Isaiah 45:8; Isaiah 46:13; Isaiah 51:5, etc.), righteousness in its consequences and effects, the sum and substance of salvation. Malachi uses ts e dâqâh , righteousness, instead of ישׁע , salvation, with an allusion to the fact, that the ungodly complained of the absence of the judgment and righteousness of God, that is to say, the righteousness which not only punishes the ungodly, but also rewards the good with happiness and salvation. The sun of righteousness has מרפּא , healing, in its wings. The wings of the sun are the rays by which it is surrounded, and not a figure denoting swiftness. As the rays of the sun spread light and warmth over the earth for the growth and maturity of the plants and living creatures, so will the sun of righteousness bring the healing of all hurts and wounds which the power of darkness has inflicted upon the righteous. Then will they go forth, sc. from the holes and caves, into which they had withdrawn during the night of suffering and where they had kept themselves concealed, and skip like stalled calves (cf. 1 Samuel 28:24), which are driven from the stall to the pasture. On pūsh , see at Habakkuk 1:8. And not only will those who fear God be liberated from all oppression, but they will also acquire power over the ungodly. They will tread down the wicked, who will then have become ashes, and lie like ashes upon the ground, having been completely destroyed by the fire of the judgment (cf. Isaiah 26:5-6).
Concluding Admonition. - Malachi 4:4. “Remember ye the law of Moses, my servant, which I commanded him upon Horeb for all Israel, statutes and rights.