Calvin's Commentary on Malachi
(... continued from file 1)
Lecture One Hundred and Seventy-eighth.
In our last lecture the Prophet delineated the
office of Christ, that hypocrites might know that they in
vain complained of the tardiness of God, as though he had
deserted them at the very time of their extremity. He
further said, that there was need of purifying, not only
as to the people, but as to the priests also; and hence
it appears how corrupt the state of things had become
among all classes. At the same time he seems indirectly
to reprove hypocrisy, not only in the common people, but
also in the Levites, for there is a contrast to be
understood between the sacrifices they then offered, and
those offered by their fathers.
By saying then that they would offer to Jehovah an
oblation in righteousness, "minchah bitsdakah", he
intimates that their sacrifices had not been legitimate,
for they had become polluted, and hence could not rightly
minister to God. We hence see that the Levites are here
reproved because they had polluted God's service in not
offering the right sacrifices such as he had prescribed
in his law. This is not to be applied to the outward acts
only, but also to the feelings and motives, because they
did come to God's altars with minds well prepared.
To offer in righteousness is a mode of speaking
common in Hebrew, and means to offer in a right way, so
that there should be nothing wrong or worthy of blame. By
the verb "yashav", to sit, is intimated continuance; as
though the Prophet had said, that corruption was so
deeply fixed in the Levites that it could not in one day
or by light means be purged away: in short, he meant by
this one word to exaggerate the corrupt state of the
people, for had only a slight washing been sufficient, he
would have simply said, "he will purify, he will cleanse,
he will cast," or melt, for he uses these three words:
but he says, as I have stated, that he will sit to do
these things, in order to show that he would continue in
his work and carry it on for a long time, because the
diseases being so inveterate they could not be easily
healed. We now understand what the Prophet means. He
afterwards adds -
Malachi 3:4 Then shall the offering of Judah and Jerusalem
be pleasant unto the LORD, as in the days of old, and as
in former years.
This verse shows, that though he had just spoken of
the sons of Levi, he yet had regard to the whole people.
But he meant to confine to the elect what ought not to
have been extended to all, for there were among the
people, as we have seen and shall again presently see,
many who were reprobates, nay, the greater part had
fallen away; and this is the reason why the Prophet
especially addresses the few remaining who had not fallen
away.
But he names Judah and Jerusalem, for that tribe had
returned to their own country, and sacrifices were
offered at Jerusalem, though not with the splendour of
ancient times, the state of things having become much
deteriorated among those miserable exiles. Hence the
Prophet, that he might encourage the faithful, says, that
though the temple was then mean, and the worship of God
as then performed was unadorned and abject, yet there was
no reason for the Levites or for others to despond,
because the Lord would again restore the glory of his
temple, and really show that what men viewed with scorn
was approved by him. It follows -
Malachi 3:5 And I will come near to you to judgment; and
I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, and
against the adulterers, and against false swearers, and
against those that oppress the hireling in [his] wages,
the widow, and the fatherless, and that turn aside the
stranger [from his right], and fear not me, saith the
LORD of hosts.
Here the Prophet retorts the complaints which the
Jews had previously made. There is here then a
counter-movement when he says, I will draw nigh to you;
for they provoked God by this slander - that he hid
himself from them and looked at a distance on what was
taking place in the world, as though the people he had
chosen were not the objects of his care. They expected
God to be to them like a hired soldier, ready at hand to
help them in any adversity, and to come armed at their
nod or pleasure to fight with their enemies: this they
expected; but God declares what is of a contrary
character, - that he would come for judgement; and he
alludes to that impious slander, when they denied that he
was the God of judgement, because he did not immediately,
or soon enough, resist their enemies: "Oh! God has now
divested himself of his own nature! for his judgement
does not appear." His answer is, "I will not forget nay
judgement when I come to you, but I shall come in a way
contrary to what you expect". They indeed wished God to
put on arms for their advantage, but God declares, that
he would be an enemy to them, according to what he also
says by the mouth of Isaiah.
He further says, I will be a swift witness. He sets
swiftness here in opposition to their calumny, for they
said that God was slow and tardy, because he had not
immediately, as they had wished, come forth to exercise
vengeance on foreign nations: he, on the other hand,
says, that he would be sufficiently swift when the time
came.
And as there are the like blasphemies prevailing in
the world at this day, this passage may be accommodated
to our circumstances. Let us then know, that though God
may delay and connive at things for a time, he yet knows
his own opportunities, so as to appear as the avenger of
wickedness as soon as it will be necessary. But let us
ever fear lest our haste should prove our ruin, for he
has no respect of persons, so as to favour our
unfaithfulness and to be rigid towards those who are
hostile to us. Let us take heed that while we look for
the presence of God, we present ourselves before his
tribunal with a pure and upright conscience.
He then mentions several kinds of evils, in which he
includes the sins in which the Jews implicated
themselves. He first names diviners or sorcerers. It is
indeed true, that among various kinds of superstitions
this was one; but as the word is found here by itself,
the Prophet no doubt meant to include all kinds of
diviners, soothsayers, false prophets, and all such
deceivers: and so there is here again another instance of
stating a part for the whole; for he includes all those
corruptions which are contrary to the true worship of
God. We indeed know that God formerly had by his word put
a restraint on the Jews, that they were not to turn aside
to incantations and magical arts, or to anything of this
kind; but he intimates here, that they were then so given
up to gross abominations, that they abandoned themselves
to magic arts, and to incantations, and the juggleries of
the devil. He mentions, in the second place, adulterers,
and under this term he includes all kinds of lewdness;
and, in the third place, he names frauds and raping; and
if we rightly consider the subject, we shall find that
these three things contain whatever violates the whole
law.
The design of the Prophet is by no means ambiguous;
for he intended to show how perversely they expostulated
with God; for they ought to have been destroyed a hundred
times, inasmuch as they were apostates, were given to
obscene lusts, were cruel, avaricious, and perfidious.
And this reproof ought to be a warning to us in the
present day, that we may not call forth God's judgement
on others, while we flatter ourselves as being innocent.
Whenever then we flee to God for help, and ask him to
succour us, let us remember that he is a just judge who
has no respect of persons. Let then every one, who
implores God's judgement, be his own judge, and
anticipate the correction which he has reason to fear.
That God therefore may not be armed for our destruction,
let us carefully examine our own life, and follow the
rule prescribed here by the Prophet; let us begin with
the worship of God, then let us come to fornications and
adulteries, and whatever is contrary to a chaste conduct,
and afterwards let us pass to frauds and plunder; for if
we are free from all superstition, if we keep ourselves
chaste and pure, and if we also abstain from all plunders
and all cruelty, our life is doubtless approved by God.
And hence it is that the Prophet adds at the end of the
verse, They feared not me; for when lusts, and plunder,
and frauds and the corruptions which vitiate God's
worship, prevail, it is evident that there is no fear of
God, but that men, having shaken off the yoke, as it were
run mad, though they may a thousand times profess the
name of God.
By mentioning the orphan, the widow, and the
stranger, he amplifies the atrocity of their crimes; for
the orphans, widows, and strangers, we know, are under
the guardianship and protection of God, inasmuch as they
are exposed to the wrongs of men. Hence every one who
plunders orphans, or harasses widows, or oppresses
strangers, seems to carry on open war, as it were, with
God himself, who has promised that these should be safe
under the shadow of his hand. With regard to the
expressions, it seems not suitable to say that the hire
of the widow and of the orphan is suppressed; there may
therefore be an inversion of the words - they oppressed
the widows, the orphans, strangers. It follows -
Malachi 3:6 For I [am] the LORD, I change not; therefore
ye sons of Jacob are not consumed.
Here the Prophet more clearly reproves and checks
the impious waywardness of the people; for God, after
having said that he would come and send a Redeemer,
though not such as would satisfy the Jews, now claims to
himself what justly belongs to him, and says that he
changes not, because he is God. Under the name Jehovah,
God reasons from his own nature; for he sets himself, as
we have observed in our last lecture, in opposition to
mortals; nor is it a wonder that God here disclaims all
inconsistency, since the impostor Balaam was constrained
to celebrate God's immutable constancy - "For he is not
God," he says, "who changes," or varies, "like man."
(Num. 23: 19.) We now then understand the force of the
words, I am Jehovah. But he adds as an explanation, I
change not, or, I am not changed; for if we do not take
the verb actively, the meaning is the same, - that God
continues in his purpose, and is not turned here and
there like men who repent of a purpose they have formed,
because what they had not thought of comes to their mind,
or because they wish undone what they have performed, and
seek new ways by which they may retrace their steps. God
denies that anything of this kind can take place in him,
for he is Jehovah, and changes not, or is not changed.
The latter clause is variously explained. The verb
"kalah" means, in the first conjugation, to be consumed;
but in Piel, to complete, or to make an end; and this
sense would be very suitable; but a grammatical reason
interferes, for it is in the first conjugation. Did
grammar allow, this meaning would be appropriate, "Ye
children of Israel have not made an end:" Why? "From the
days of your fathers," &c.: then the verse which follows
would be connected with this. But we must be content with
the present reading; and a twofold view may be taken of
it: the copulative "waw" may be taken as an adversative,
"Though ye are not consumed, I yet am not changed:" as
though it was said, "Think not that you have escaped,
though I have long spared you and your sins: though then
ye are not yet consumed, as I have borne with you in your
great wickedness, I yet continue to be Jehovah, nor do I
change my nature, and ye shall at length find that I am a
just Judge; though I shall not soon execute my vengeance,
punishment being held suspended, or as it were buried,
yet the end will show that I am not changed."
But the Prophet seems rather to accuse the Jews of
ingratitude in charging God with cruelty or with
negligence, because he did not immediately assist them;
and at the same time they did not consider within
themselves that they remained alive because God had a
reason derived from his own nature for sparing them, and
for not rendering to them what they had deserved. The
meaning then is this, "I am God, and I change not; and
ought ye not to have acknowledged that wonderful
forbearance through which I have spared you? for how has
it been that you have not perished, and that innumerable
deaths have not swallowed you up? How is it that you are
yet alive? Is it because you have dealt faithfully faith
me, so that it behaved me to exercise care over you? Nay,
it is indeed a wonder that I had not fulminated against
you so as to destroy you long ago." We hence see that he
upbraids them with ingratitude for accusing him, because
he did not immediately come forth in their defence: For
he answers them and says, that had he been rigid and
vehement in his displeasure, they could not have
continued, for they had not ceased for many successive
ages to seek their own ruin, as we find in what follows,
for he says -
Malachi 3:8,9
8 Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed me. But ye say,
Wherein have we robbed thee? In tithes and offerings.
9 Ye [are] cursed with a curse: for ye have robbed me,
[even] this whole nation.
The Prophet expands more fully what he had referred
to - that it was a wonder that the Jews had not perished,
because they had never ceased to provoke God against
themselves. He then sets this fact before them more
clearly, From the days of your fathers, he says, ye have
turned aside from my statutes. He increases their
condemnation by this circumstance - that they had not
lately begun to depart from the right way, but had
continued their contumacy for many ages, according to
what the apostles, as well as the Prophets in various
places, have testified: "Ye uncircumcised in heart, ye
have ceased not to resist the Holy Spirit like your
fathers." (Acts 7: 61.) "Harden not your hearts as your
fathers did; in the righteousness of your fathers walk
not." (Ps. 95: 8.) But I will not multiply proofs, which
very often are to be met with, and must be well known.
We now understand the Prophet's intention - that the
Jews for many ages had been notorious for their impiety
and wickedness, and that they had not been dealt with by
God as they had deserved, because he had according to his
ineffable goodness and forbearance suspended his rigour,
so as not to visit them according to their demerits. It
hence appears how unreasonable they were, not only in
being morose and proud, but especially in being furious
against God, when they accused him of tardiness, while
yet he had proved himself to be really a God towards them
by his continued forbearance.
The words, And ye have not kept them, are added for
amplification; for he expresses more fully their contempt
of his law, as though he had said, that they were not
only transgressors, but had also with gross wilfulness so
departed from the law as to regard it as nothing to tread
God's precepts under their feet.
He then exhorts then to repentance, and kindly
addresses them, and declares that he would be propitious
and reconcilable to them, if they repented. He has
hitherto sharply reproved them, because their necks being
hard they had need of such correction; for had the
Prophet gently and kindly exhorted them, they would
either have kicked or have set on him with their horns;
be now mitigates his sharpness, not indeed with respect
to all, but if there were any healable among the people
he meant to try them; and hence he offers them
reconciliation with God, as though he had said, "Though
God has been in various ways wantonly offended by you,
and though you have repudiated his favour, and have
become wholly unworthy of being regarded by him, yet
return, and he will meet you."
We have said elsewhere that all exhortations would
be in vain without a hope of pardon; for when God
commands us to return to the right way, our hearts would
never be touched, nay, they would on the contrary turn
away, had we no hope that he would be reconciled to us.
This course the Prophet now pursues, when in the person
of God himself he promises pardon, provided the Jews
repented.
God is said to return to us, when he ceases to
demand the punishment of our sins, and when he lays aside
the character of a judge, and makes himself known to us
as a Father. We indeed know that God neither returns nor
departs; for he who fills all places never moves here and
there; and we also know that we exist and live in him,
but he shows by outward evidences that he is alienated
from us, and by the same he shows that he is propitious
to us; for when he favours us with fruitful seasons, with
peace and with other blessings, he is said to be near us;
but when he lets loose the reins of his wrath, or exposes
us to the assaults of Satan and to the wanton power of
men, he is said to be far removed from us. But this is so
well known that I need not dwell longer on the point.
The promise which the Prophet states serves to show,
that God would manifest tokens of his paternal favour to
the Jews, provided only they were submissive; but that it
would be their own fault, if they did not find through
his blessings that he was their Father. It would be on
account of their sins, which, as Isaiah says, hinder the
course of that beneficence to which he is of his own self
inclined, (Is. 59: 2.) And he bids them to return. Hence
the Papists very foolishly conclude, that repentance is
in the power of man's free-will. But God requires what is
above our strength; and yet there is no reason why we
should complain that there is a too heavy burden laid on
us; for he regards not what we can, or what our ability
admits, but what we owe to him and what our duty
requires. Though then no one can of his own self turn to
God, he is not on this account excusable, because we must
consider whence comes the defect; and how much soever, as
I have already said, a man may pretend his own impotency,
he cannot yet escape from being bound to God, though more
is required of him than he of himself can perform. But
this subject has often been discussed elsewhere. The
import of what is said here is, - that men are not
miserable through the unjust rigour of God, but always
through their own sins.
It follows, Ye have said, In what shall we return?
It is an evidence of perverseness, when men answer that
they see not that they have erred, and that hence
conversion is to no purpose required of them; for this is
the meaning of these words, Whereby shall we return? that
is, "What dost thou require from us? for we are not
conscious of any defection; we worship God as we ought:
now if our duties are repudiated by him, we see not why
he should so expressly blame us; let him show in what we
have offended; for conversion to him is superfluous,
until we be proved guilty of apostasy, or of those sins
which God determines to punish in us." To this the
Prophet answers -
Will a man defraud the gods? Some give this version,
"Will a man defraud God?" But it is strained and remote
from the Prophet's design; and they pervert the meaning.
For I do not see what can be elicited from this
rendering, "Will a man defraud God?" But there are other
two meanings which may be taken. The first is, "Will a
man defraud his gods?" The word "'elohim", though it be
in the plural number, is applied, as it is well known, to
the true God; but it is applied also to idols; and in
this place the Prophet seems to me to compare the Jews to
the Gentiles, that their impiety might be made more
evident. The same is the object of Jeremiah, when he
says, "Go, and survey the islands, is there a nation
which has changed its gods, while yet they are no gods."
(Jer. 2: 10.) Since their blindness and obstinacy held
fast the Gentiles in darkness, that they continued to
worship the gods to whom they had been accustomed, it was
an abominable wickedness in the Jews, that having been
taught to worship the true God, they were yet continually
influenced by ungodly levity, and sought new modes of
worship, as though they wished to devise another god for
themselves. So also in this place the Prophet seems to
bring forward the Gentiles as an example to the Jews; for
they discharged their duty towards their gods; but the
Jews despised the supreme and the only true God:
"Behold," he says, "go round the world, and ye shall not
find among the nations so unbridled a liberty as prevails
among you; for they render obedience to their gods, and
sacrilege is abominable to them; but ye defraud me. Am I
inferior to idols? or is my state worse than theirs?"
Some take the word "'elohim" for judges, as judges
are sometimes so named; but this meaning seems not
suitable on account of the word, Adam. As then this word
generally means man, the Prophet, I have no doubt,
intimates what I have stated, - that unbelievers, though
sunk in darkness, are yet restrained by reverence and
fear from changing their deity, and that they dare not to
show levity when the name only of their god is
pronounced. Since then such humility prevailed among
unbelievers, could the impiety of that people, who had
been trained up in the law, be excusable? a people too,
upon whom God had ever made the doctrine of the law to
shine.
He afterwards adds, Because ye have defrauded me;
and ye have said, Thereby have we defrauded thee? In
tenths and in oblations. Here the Prophet again proves
the people guilty of perverseness: it was indeed
hypocrisy, and though gross, it was yet surpassed by
impudence; for they asked, whereby they had defrauded
God? and yet this was evident even to children: for we
know, and we have seen elsewhere, that avarice so ruled
among them, that every one, bent on their own profit,
neglected the temple and the priests. Since then they
were openly sacrilegious, how shameless they must have
been to ask whereby they had defrauded God! The thing
itself was indeed manifest and commonly known, so that
children could see it. God however deemed it enough to
convict them by one sentence, - that they defrauded him
in the tenths and in the first-fruits; not that any
advantage accrued to him from oblations, as he had no
need of any such things; but he rightly calls and counts
that his own which he had appointed for his own service.
Since then he had instituted that order among the Jews,
that they might by the tenths support the priests, and a
part also was required for the poor, since God designed
the firstfruits and other things to be offered to him,
that men might thereby be continually reminded, that all
things were his, and that whatever they received from his
hand was sacred to him, he had previously called the
bread laid on the table his own, and had called the
sacrifices his own food, as though he did eat and drink.
But as I have already said, we ought to regard the object
in view, because his will was to be thus worshipped, and
at the same time to keep as his own whatever belonged to
his service. This then is the reason why he now complains
of being defrauded of the tenths.
But we know that other sacrifices are now prescribed
to us; and after prayer and praises, he bids us to
relieve the poor and needy. God then, no doubt, is
deprived by us of his right, when we are unkind to the
poor, and refuse them aid in their necessity. We indeed
thereby wrong men, and are cruel; but our crime is still
more heinous, inasmuch as we are unfaithful stewards; for
God deals more liberally with us than with others, for
this end - that some portion of our abundance may come to
the poor; and as he consecrates to their use what we
abound in, we become guilty of sacrilege whenever we give
not to our brethren what God commands us; for we know
that he engages to repay, according to what is said in
Prov. 19: 17, "He who gives to the poor lends to God."
Prayer. Grant, Almighty God, that since thou hast been
pleased to choose us as priests to thyself, not that we
may offer beasts to thee, but consecrate to thee
ourselves, and all that we have, - O grant, that we may
with an readiness strive to depart from every kind of
uncleanness, and to purify ourselves from all
defilements, so that we may duly perform the sacred
office of priesthood, and thus conduct ourselves towards
thee with chasteness and purity; may we also abstain from
every evil work, from all fraud and all cruelty towards
our brethren, and so to deal with one another as to prove
through our whole life that thou art really our Father,
ruling us by thy Spirit, and that true and holy
brotherhood exists between us; and may we live justly
towards one another, so as to render to each his own
right, and thus show that we are members of thy
only-begotten Son, so as to be owned by him when he shall
appear for the redemption of his people, and shell gather
us into his celestial kingdom. - Amen.
Calvin's Commentary on Malachi
(continued in file 11...)
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