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Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
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Matthew Henry |
M A L A C H I.
CHAP. I.
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,
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.
I. They were very ungrateful to God for his favours to them, and
rendered not again according to the benefit they received,
II. They were very careless and remiss in the observance of his
institutions; the priests especially were so, who were in a particular
manner charged with them,
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?
| Ingratitude of Israel; Judgments and Mercies. | B. C. 400. |
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1 The burden of the word of the LORD to Israel by Malachi.
2 I have loved you, saith the LORD. Yet ye say, Wherein hast
thou loved us? Was not Esau Jacob’s brother? saith the LORD:
yet I loved Jacob,
3 And I hated Esau, and laid his mountains and his heritage
waste for the dragons of the wilderness.
4 Whereas Edom saith, We are impoverished, but we will return
and build the desolate places; thus saith the LORD of hosts, They
shall build, but I will throw down; and they shall call them, The
border of wickedness, and, The people against whom the LORD hath
indignation for ever.
5 And your eyes shall see, and ye shall say, The LORD will be
magnified from the border of Israel.
The prophecy of this book is entitled, The burden of the word of the
Lord
(v. 1),
which intimates,
1. That it was of great weight and importance; what the false prophets
said was light as the chaff, what the true prophets said was ponderous
as the wheat,
2. That it ought to be often repeated to them and by them, as the
burden of a song.
3. That there were those to whom it was a burden and a reproach; they
were weary of it, and found themselves so aggrieved by it that they
were not able to bear it.
4. That to them it would prove a burden indeed, to sink them to the
lowest hell, unless they repented.
5. That to those who loved it and embraced it, and bade it welcome,
though it was a light burden, as our Saviour calls it
(Matt. xi. 30),
yet it was a burden.
This burden of the word of the Lord was sent,
1. To Israel, for to them pertained the lively oracles of prophecy as
well as those of the written word. Many prophets God had sent to
Israel, and now he will try them with one more.
2. By Malachi, by the hand of Malachi, as if it were not a
message by word of mouth, but a letter put into his hand, for the
greater certainty.
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.
I. God asserts the great kindness he had, and had often expressed, for
them
(v. 2):
I have loved you, saith the Lord. Thus abruptly does the sermon
begin, as if God intended, whatever reproofs should be given them, to
reconcile them to his love, and to take care that they should still
have good thoughts of him. As many as I love I rebuke and
chasten. Thus kindly does the sermon begin. God will have his
people satisfied that he loves them and is ever mindful of his love.
This is the same with what he said of old to the virgin of Israel, that
he might engage her affections to himself
Yea I have loved thee with an everlasting love. In this one word
God sums up all his gracious dealings with them; love was the spring of
all; he loved them because he would love them
loved them in their childhood,
His delight was in them,
“I have loved you, but you have not loved me, nor made any
suitable returns for my love.” Note, God’s people need to be often
reminded of his love to them.
II. They question his love, and diminish the instances of it, and seem
to quarrel with him for telling them of it: Yet you say, Wherein
hast thou loved us? As God traces up all his favours to them to the
fountain, which was his love, so he traces up all their sins against
him to the fountain, which was their contempt of his love. Instead of
acknowledging his kindness, and studying what they shall render, they
scorn to own that they have been beholden to him, challenge him to
produce proofs of his love that are material, and think and speak very
slightly of the instances they have had of his kindness, as if they
were so few, so small, as not to be worth taking notice of, and no more
than what they had sufficiently made returns for, or at least than he
had sufficiently balanced with instances of his wrath. “Have we not
been wasted, impoverished, and carried captive; and wherein then
hast thou loved us?” Note, God justly takes it very ill to have
his favours slighted, as not worth speaking of; and it is very absurd
for us to ask wherein he has loved us, when, which way soever we look,
we meet with the proofs and instances of his love to us.
III. He makes it out, beyond contradiction, that he has loved them,
loved them in a distinguishing way, which was in a special manner
obliging. For proof of this he shows the difference he had made, and
would still make, between Jacob and Esau, between Israelites and
Edomites. Some read their question, Wherefore hast thou loved
us? as if they did indeed own that he had loved them, but withal
insinuate that there was a reason for it–that he loved them because
their father Abraham had loved him, so that it was not a free love, but
a love of debt, to which he replies, “Was not Esau as near akin
to Abraham as you are? Was he not Jacob’s own brother, his elder
brother? And therefore, if there were any right to a recompence for
Abraham’s love, Esau had it, and yet I hated Esau and loved
Jacob.“
1. Let them see what a difference God had made between Jacob and Esau.
Esau was Jacob’s brother, his twin-brother: “Yet I loved Jacob
and I hated Esau, that is, took Jacob into covenant, and
entailed the blessing on him and his, but refused and rejected Esau.”
Note, Those that are taken into covenant with God, that have the lively
oracles and the means of grace committed to them, have reason to look
upon these as tokens of his love. Jacob is loved, for he has these,
Esau hated, for he has not. The apostle quotes this
(Rom. ix. 13),
and compares it with what the oracle said to Rebecca concerning her
twins
(Gen. xxv. 23),
The elder shall serve the younger, to illustrate the doctrine of
God’s sovereignty in dispensing his favours; for may he not do what
he will with his own? Esau was justly hated, but Jacob freely
loved; even so, Father, because it seemed good in thy eyes, and
it is not for us to ask why or wherefore.
2. Let them see what he was now doing and would do with them, pursuant
to this original difference.
(1.) The Edomites shall be made the monuments of God’s justice, and he
will be glorified in their utter destruction: For Esau have I
hated; I laid his mountains waste, the mountains of Seir,
which were his heritage. When all that part of the world was
ravaged by the Chaldean army the country of Edom was, among the rest,
laid in ruins, and became a habitation for the dragons of the
wilderness, so perfectly desolate was it; as was foretold,
The Edomites had triumphed in Jerusalem’s overthrow
and therefore it was just with God to put the same cup of trembling
into their hands. And, though Edom’s ruins were last, yet they were
lasting, and the desolation perpetual; and in this the difference was
made between Jacob and Esau, and is made between the righteous and the
wicked, to whom otherwise all things come alike, and there seems to be
one event. Jacob’s cities are laid waste, but they are rebuilt; Edom’s
are laid waste, and never rebuilt. The sufferings of the righteous will
have an end and will end well; all their grievances will be redressed,
and their sorrow turned into joy; but the sufferings of the wicked will
be endless and remediless, as Edom’s desolations,
v. 4.
Observe here,
[1.] The vain hopes of the Edomites, that they shall have their ruins
repaired as well as Israel, though they had no promise to build their
hope upon. They say, “It is true, we are impoverished; it is the
common chance, and there is no remedy; but we will return and build
the desolate places; we are resolved we will” (not so much as
asking God leave); “we will whether he will or no; nay, we will
do it in defiance of God’s curse, and that sentence pronounced upon
Edom
From generation to generation it shall lie waste.” They build
presumptuously, as Hiel built Jericho in direct contradiction to the
word of God
and it shall speed accordingly. Note, It is common for those whose
hearts are unhumbled under humbling providences to think to make their
part good against God himself, and to build, and plant, and flourish
again as much as ever, though God has said that they shall be
impoverished. But see,
[2.] The dashing of these hopes and the disappointment of them: They
say, We will build; but what says the Lord of hosts? For
we are sure his word shall stand, and not theirs; and he says,
First, Their attempts shall be baffled: They shall build, but
I will throw down. Note, Those that walk contrary to God will find
that he will walk contrary to them; for who ever hardened his heart
against God and prospered? When the Jews had rejected Christ and
his gospel they became Edomites, and this word was fulfilled in them;
for when, in the time of the emperor Adrian, they attempted to rebuild
Jerusalem, God by earthquakes and eruptions of fire threw down what
they built, so that they were forced to quit the enterprise.
Secondly, They shall be looked upon by all as abandoned to utter
ruin. All that see them shall call them the border of
wickedness, a sinful nation, incurably so, and therefore the
people against whom the Lord has indignation for ever. Since their
wickedness is such as will never be reformed, their desolations shall
be such as are never to be repaired. Against Israel God was a little
displeased
(Zech. i. 15),
but against Edom he has indignation, and will have for ever, for they
are the people of his curse,
Isa. xxxiv. 5.
(2.) The Israelites shall be made the monuments of his mercy, and he
will be glorified in their salvation,
v. 5.
“The Edomites shall be stigmatized as a people hated of God, but
your eyes shall see your doubts concerning his love to you for ever
silenced; for you shall say, and have cause to say, The Lord is
and will be magnified from the border of Israel, from every part
and border of the land of Israel.” The border of Edom is a border of
wickedness, and therefore the Lord will have indignation against
it for ever; but the border of Israel is a border of
holiness, the border of the sanctuary
and therefore God will make it to appear (though it may for a time lie
desolate) that he has mercy in store for it, and thence he will be
magnified; he will give his people Israel both cause, and hearts,
to praise him. When the border of Edom still remains desolate, and the
border of Israel is repaired and replenished, then it will appear that
God has loved Jacob. Note,
[1.] Those who doubt of God’s love to his people shall, sooner or
later, have convincing and undeniable proofs given them of it:
“your own eyes shall see what you will not believe.”
[2.] Deliverances out of trouble are to be reckoned proofs of God’s
good-will to his people, though they may be suffered to fall into
trouble,
[3.] Distinguishing favours are very obliging. If God rear up again the
border of Israel, but leave the border of Edom in ruins, let no
Israelite ask, for shame, Wherein hast thou loved us?
[4.] The dignifying of Israel is the magnifying of the God of Israel,
and, one way or other, God will have honour from his professing people.
[5.] God’s goodness being his glory, when he does us good we must
proclaim him great, for that is magnifying him. It is an instance of
his goodness that he has pleasure in the prosperity of his
servants, and for this those that love his salvation say, The
Lord be magnified,
Ps. xxxv. 27.
| God’s Remonstrance with the Priests; Judgment of Wicked Priests. | B. C. 400. |
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6 A son honoureth his father, and a servant his master: if
then I be a father, where is mine honour? and if I be a
master, where is my fear? saith the LORD of hosts unto you, O
priests, that despise my name. And ye say, Wherein have we
despised thy name?
7 Ye offer polluted bread upon mine altar; and ye say, Wherein
have we polluted thee? In that ye say, The table of the LORD is
contemptible.
8 And if ye offer the blind for sacrifice, is it not evil?
and if ye offer the lame and sick, is it not evil? offer it now
unto thy governor; will he be pleased with thee, or accept thy
person? saith the LORD of hosts.
9 And now, I pray you, beseech God that he will be gracious
unto us: this hath been by your means: will he regard your
persons? saith the LORD of hosts.
10 Who is there even among you that would shut the doors for
nought? neither do ye kindle fire on mine altar for nought. I
have no pleasure in you, saith the LORD of hosts, neither will I
accept an offering at your hand.
11 For from the rising of the sun even unto the going down of
the same my name shall be great among the Gentiles; and in
every place incense shall be offered unto my name, and a pure
offering: for my name shall be great among the heathen, saith
the LORD of hosts.
12 But ye have profaned it, in that ye say, The table of the
LORD is polluted; and the fruit thereof, even his meat, is
contemptible.
13 Ye said also, Behold, what a weariness is it! and ye have
snuffed at it, saith the LORD of hosts; and ye brought that
which was torn, and the lame, and the sick; thus ye brought an
offering: should I accept this of your hand? saith the LORD.
14 But cursed be the deceiver, which hath in his flock a
male, and voweth, and sacrificeth unto the Lord a corrupt thing:
for I am a great King, saith the LORD of hosts, and my name
is dreadful among the heathen.
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,
I. What it was that God expected from them, and with what good reason
he expected it
(v. 6):
A son honours his father, because he is his father; nature has
written this law in the hearts of children, before God wrote it at
Mount Sinai; nay, a servant, though his obligation to his master
is not natural, but by voluntary compact, yet thinks it his duty to
honour him, to be observant of his orders, and true to his interests.
Children and servants pay respect to their parents and masters; every
one cries out shame on them if they do not, and their own hearts cannot
but reproach them too; the order of families is thus kept up, and it is
their beauty and advantage. But the priests, who are God’s children and
his servants, do not fear and honour him. They were fathers and
masters to the people, and expected to be called so
(Judges xviii. 19, Matt. xxii. 7, 10)
and to be reverenced and obeyed as such; but they forgot their Father
and Master in heaven, and the duty they owed to him. We may each of us
charge upon ourselves what is here charged upon the priests. Note,
1. We are every one of us to look upon God as our Father and Master,
and upon ourselves as his children and servants.
2. Our relation to God as our Father and Master strongly obliges us to
fear and honour him. If we honour and fear the fathers of our flesh,
much more the Father and Master of our spirits,
3. It is a thing to be justly complained of, and lamented, that God is
so little feared and honoured even by those that own him for their
Father and Master. Where is his honour? Where is his fear?
II. What the contempt was which the priests put upon God.
1. This is that, in general, which is charged upon them:–
(1.) They despised God’s name; their familiarity with it, as priests,
bred contempt of it, and served them only to gain a veneration by it
for themselves and their own name, while God’s name was of small
account with them. God’s name is all that whereby he has made himself
known–his word and ordinances; these they had low thoughts of, and
vilified that which it was their business to magnify; and no wonder
that when they despised it themselves they did that which made it
despicable to others, causing even the sacrifices of the Lord to be
abhorred, as Eli’s sons did.
(2.) They profaned God’s name,
They polluted it,
v. 7.
They not only made no account of sacred things, but they made an ill
use of them, and perverted them to the service of the worst and vilest
purposes–their own pride, covetousness, and luxury. There cannot be a
greater provocation to God than the profanation of his name; for it is
holy and reverend. His purity cannot be polluted by us, for he is
unspotted, but his name may be profaned; and nothing profanes it more
than the misconduct of priests, whose business it is to do honour to
it. This is the general charge exhibited against them. To this they
plead Not guilty, and challenge God to prove it upon them, and
to make good the charge, which added daring impudence to their daring
impiety: You say, Wherein have we despised thy name?
(v. 6),
and wherein have we polluted thee?
v. 7.
It is common with proud sinners, when they are reproved, to stand thus
upon their own justification. These priests had most horridly profaned
sacred things, and yet, like the adulterous woman, they said
that they had done no wickedness; they were so inobservant of
themselves that they remembered not or reflected not upon their own
acts, or they were so ignorant of the divine law that they thought
there was no harm in them, and that what they did could not be
construed into despising God’s name, or they were so atheistical as to
imagine that though they knew their own guilt yet God did not, or they
were so scornful in their conduct towards God and his prophets that
they took a pride in bantering a serious and just reproof, and turning
it off with a jest. They either laugh at the reproof, as those that
despise it, and harden their hearts against it, or they laugh it off,
as those that resolve they will not be touched by it, or will not seem
to be so. Which way soever we take it, their defence was their offence,
and, in justifying themselves, their own tongues condemned them, and
their saying, Wherein have we despised thy name? proved them
proud and perverse. Had they asked this question with a humble desire
to be told more particularly where in they had offended, it would have
been an evidence of their repentance, and would have given hopes of
their reformation; but to ask it thus in disdain and defiance of the
word of God argues their hearts fully set in them to do evil.
Note, Sinners ruin themselves by studying to baffle their own
convictions; but they will find it hard to kick against the
pricks.
2. Justly might they have been convicted and condemned upon the general
charge, and their plea thrown out as frivolous; but God will not only
overcome, but will be clear, will be justified when he judges, and
therefore he shows them very particularly wherein they had despised his
name, and what the contempt was that they cast upon him. As formerly,
when he charged them with idolatry, so now, when he charges them with
profaneness, he bids them see their way in the valley and
know what they have done,
(1.) They despised God’s name in what they said, in the low opinion
they had of his institutions: “You say in your hearts, and
perhaps speak it out when you priests get together over your cups. out
of the hearing of the people, The table of the Lord is
contemptible”
(v. 7),
and again
(v. 12),
“You say, The table of the Lord is polluted; it is to be no more
regarded than any other table.” Either the table in the temple, on
which the show-bread was placed, is that which they reflect upon (not
understanding the mystery of it, they despised it as an insignificant
thing), or rather the altar of burnt-offerings is here called the
table, for there God, and his priests, and his people, did, as it were,
feast together upon the sacrifices, in token of friendship. This they
thought was contemptible. Formerly, in the days of superstition, it
was thought contemptible in comparison with the idolatrous alters that
the heathen had, and was set aside to make room for a new-fashioned one
now it is thought contemptible in comparison with their own tables, and
those of their great men: The fruit thereof, even his meat, is
contemptible. Those who served at the altar were to live upon the
altar; but they complained that they lived poorly and meanly, and that
it was not worth while to attend the service of the altar for the fruit
and meat of it, for it was very ordinary and always the same again;
they had no dainties, no varieties, no nice dishes. Nay, that part of
the sacrifices which was given to God, the blood and the fat, they
looked upon with contempt, as not worthy the multitude of laws God had
made about it; they asked, “What need is there of so much ado about
burning the fat and pouring out the blood?” Note, Those greatly profane
and pollute God’s name who despise the business of religion, though it
is very honourable, as not worth taking pains in, and the advantages of
religion, though highly valuable, as not worth taking pains for. Those
who live in a careless neglect of holy ordinances, who come to them and
attend on them irreverently, and go away from them never the better and
under no concern, do in effect say, “The table of the Lord is
contemptible; there is neither virtue nor value in it, neither
credit nor comfort from it.”
(2.) They despised God’s name in what they did, which was of a piece
with what they said, and flowed from it; corrupt principles and notions
are roots of bitterness, which bear the gall and wormwood of corrupt
practices. They looked upon the table and altar of the Lord as
contemptible, and then,
[1.] They thought any thing would serve for a sacrifice, though ever so
coarse and mean, and were so far from bringing the best, as they ought
to have done, that they picked out the worst they had, which was fit
neither for the market nor for their own tables, and offered that at
God’s altar. With every sacrifice they were to bring a meat-offering of
fine flour mingled with oil; but they brought polluted
bread
(v. 7),
coarse bread, servants’ bread, perhaps it was dry and mouldy, or made
of the refuse of the wheat, which they thought good enough to be burnt
upon the altar; for had it been better they would have said, To what
purpose is this waste? And as to the beasts they offered, though
the law was express that what was offered in sacrifice should not have
a blemish, yet they brought the blind, and the lame, and the
sick
(v. 8),
and again
(v. 13),
the torn, and the lame, and the sick, that was ready to die of
itself. They looked no further than the burning of the sacrifice, and
they pleaded that it was a pity to burn it if it was good for any thing
else. The people were so far convinced of their duty that they would
bring sacrifices; they durst not wholly omit the duty, but they brought
vain oblations, mocked God, and deceived themselves, by bringing the
worst they had; and the priests, who should have taught them better,
accepted the gifts brought to the altar and offered them up there,
because, if they should refuse them, the people would bring none at
all, and then they would lose their perquisites; and therefore, having
more regard to their own profit than to God’s honour, they accepted
that which they knew he would not accept. Some make
to be a continuation of what the priests profanely said
v. 7,
You say to the people, If you offer the blind for sacrifice,
it is not evil; or the lame and the sick, it is not evil. Note, It
is a very evil thing, whether men think so or no, to offer the blind
and the lame, the torn and the sick, in sacrifice to God. If we worship
God ignorantly, and without understanding, we bring the blind for
sacrifice; if we do it carelessly, and without consideration, if we are
cold, and dull, and dead, in it, we bring the sick; if we rest in the
bodily exercise, and do not make heart-work of it, we bring the
lame; and, if we suffer vain thoughts and distractions to lodge
within us, we bring the torn. And is not this evil? Is it not a
great affront to God and a great wrong and injury to our own souls? Do
not our books tell us, nay, do not our own hearts tell us, that this
is evil? for God, who is the best, ought to be served with the best
we have.
[2.] They would do no more of their work than what they were paid for.
The priests would offer the sacrifices that were brought to the altar,
because they had their share of them; but as for any other service of
the temple, that had not a particular fee belonging to it, they would
not stir a step, nor lend a hand, to it; and this was the general
temper of them,
There is not a man among the priests that would shut the doors,
or kindle a fire, for nought. If he were required to do the
smallest piece of service, he would ask, how shall I be paid for it?
They would do nothing gratis, but were all for what they could
get, every one for his gain, from his quarter,
Isa. lvi. 11.
Note, Though God has given order that his servants be well paid in this
world, yet those are no acceptable servants to him who are mercenary,
and would never do the work but for the wages.
[3.] Their work was a perfect drudgery to them
(v. 13):
You said also, Behold, what a weariness is it! Both priests and
people were of this mind, that they thought God imposed too hard a task
upon them; the people grudged the charge of providing the sacrifice and
the priests grudged the pains of offering it; they thought the feasts
of the Lord came too thick, and they were forced to attend too often,
and too long, in the courts of the Lord; the priests thought it a
severe penance imposed upon them to purify themselves as was required
when they attended the altar and ate of the holy things; they thought
the duty of their office toilsome and troublesome, and snuffed at
it as unreasonable, and bearing hard upon them; they did it, but it
was grudgingly and with reluctance. God speaks of it, in justification
of his law, that he had not made them to serve with an offering, nor
wearied them with incense,
Isa. xliii. 23.
Wherein have I wearied thee?
Mic. vi. 3.
But their own wicked hearts made it a weariness; and they were, as
Doeg, detained before the Lord; they would rather have been any
where else. Note, Those are highly injurious, both to God and
themselves, who are weary of his service and worship, and snuff at
it.
III. Observe how God expostulates and reasons the case with them, for
their conviction and humiliation.
1. Would they, durst they, affront an earthly prince thus? “You offer
to God the lame and the sick; offer it now unto thy governor
(v. 8),
either as tribute or as a present, when thou art entreating his favour,
or in gratitude for some favour received; will he be pleased with
thee? Or, rather, will he not take himself to be affronted by it?”
Note, Those who are careless and irreverent in the duties of religious
worship should consider what a shame it is to offer that to their God
which they would scorn to offer to their governor, to be more observant
of the laws of breeding and good manners than of the laws of religion,
and more afraid of being rude than of being profane.
2. Could they imagine that such sacrifices as these would be pleasing
to God, or answer the end of sacrifices? “Should I accept this at
your hand, saith the Lord?
v. 13.
Have you any reason to think I should either not discern or not resent
the affront, that I should connive at the violation of my own laws? No
(v. 10);
I have no pleasure in you, and therefore, I will not accept
an offering, such an offering, at your hand.” If God has no
pleasure in the person, if the person be not in a justified state, if
he be not sanctified, God will not accept the offering. God had respect
to Abel first and then to his sacrifice. Note, In order to our
acceptance with God it is not enough to do that which, for the matter
of it, is good, but we must do it from a right principle, in a right
manner, and for a right end. It was the ancient rule laid down
(Gen. iv. 7),
If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? Now, if we be
not accepted of God, in vain do we worship him; it is all lost labour;
nay, we are all undone, for ever undone, if we come short of God’s
acceptance. Those therefore make a bad bargain for themselves who, to
save charges in their religion, miss all the ends of it, and, by
thinking to go the nearest way to work, bring nothing to pass. Those
who make it the top of their ambition, as we all ought to do,
whether present or absent, to be accepted of the Lord, will not
dare to bring the torn, and the lame, and the sick, for
sacrifice.
3. How could they expect to prevail with God in their intercessions for
the people when they thus affronted God in their sacrifices? So some
understand
v. 9,
as spoken ironically, “And now if you will do the duty of
priests, and stand in the gap to turn away the judgments of God that
you see ready to pour in upon us, I pray you, beseech God that he
will be gracious to us, and to our land which is almost eaten up
with locusts and caterpillars,” as appears
“Try now what interest you have at the throne of grace; improve it for
the removing of this plague, for it has been by your means; you
have provoked God to send it. But as you go on thus to profane his
sacred things will he regard your persons or your prayers? No,
you cannot prevail with him to command it away.” For, if we regard
iniquity in our hearts, God will not hear us, either for ourselves
or for others.
4. Had God deserved this at their hands? No, he had provided
comfortably for them, and had given them such encouragement in their
work as might have engaged them to do it cheerfully and well; so some
understand
“Who is there among you that shall shut a door, or kindle a fire,
for nought? No, God does not expect you should serve him for
nothing; you are well paid for it, and shall be so; not a cup of cold
water, given for the honour of God, shall lose its reward.”
Note, The consideration of our constant receivings from God, and the
present rewards of obedience in obedience, very much aggravates our
slothfulness and niggardliness in our returns of duty to God.
IV. He calls them to repentance for their profanations of his holy
name. So we may understand
v. 9,
“Now, I pray you, beseech God that he will be gracious to us.
Humble yourselves for your sin, cry mightily to God for pardon, and
make up in the faith and fervency of your prayers what has been wanting
in the worth and value of your sacrifices; for all the rebukes of
Providence we are under are by your means.” Note, Those who have
by their sins helped to kindle a fire are highly concerned by their
repentance, prayers, and the personal reformation, to help to quench
it. We must see how much God’s judgments are by our means, and be
awakened thereby to be earnest with him to return in mercy; and, if we
take not this course, how can we think he should regard our
persons?
V. He declares his resolution both to secure the glory of his own name
and to reckon with those who profane it. Those who put contempt upon
God and religion, and think to run down sacred things, let them
know,
1. That they shall not gain their point. God will magnify his law and
make it honourable, though they vilify it and make it contemptible; for
(v. 11)
from the rising of the sun to the going down of the same my
name shall be great among the Gentiles. It might be said, “If these
are not the worshippers whom God will accept, then he has no
worshippers.” As if he must make the best of their service, or else he
would have no service done him; and then what will he do for his
great name? But let him alone for that; though Israel be not
faithful, be not gathered, yet God will be glorious.
Though these priests provoke him to take down the ceremonial economy,
and to abolish that law of commandments, which could not make
the comers thereunto perfect, yet he will be no loser by that, at
the long run; for,
(1.) Instead of those carnal ordinances, which they profaned, a
spiritual way of worship shall be introduced and established:
Incense shall be offered to God’s name (which signifies prayer
and praise,
instead of the blood and fat of bulls and goats. And it shall be a
pure offering, refined, not only from the corruptions that were
in the priests’ practice, but from the mere bodily exercise that was in
the institutions themselves, which are called carnal ordinances,
imposed till the time of reformation,
Heb. ix. 10.
When the hour came in which the true worshippers worshipped the
Father in spirit and in truth, then this incense was
offered, even this pure offering.
(2.) Instead of his being worshipped and served among the Jews only, a
small people in a corner of the world, he will be served and worshipped
in all places, from the rising of the sun to the going down of the
same; in every place, in every part of the world, incense shall
be offered to his name; nations shall be discipled, and shall speak
of the wonderful works of God, and have them spoken to them in their
own language. This is a plain prediction of that great revolution in
the kingdom of grace by which the Gentiles, who had been strangers
and foreigners, came to be fellow-citizens with the saints and
of the household of God, and as welcome to the throne of grace as
ever the Jews had been. It is twice said (for the thing was certain),
My name shall be great among the Gentiles, whereas hitherto in
Judah only he was known, and his name was great,
Ps. lxxvi. 1.
God’s name shall be declared to them, the declaration of it shall be
received and believed, and there shall be those among the Gentiles who
shall magnify and glorify the name of God better than ever the Jews had
done, even the priests themselves.
2. That they shall not go unpunished,
Here is the doom of those who do like these priests, for the sentence
on them is a sentence on all such. Observe,
(1.) The description of profane and careless worshippers. They are such
as vow and sacrifice to the Lord a corrupt thing when they have
in their flock a male. They have of the best, wherewith to serve
and honour him, so bountiful has be been in his gifts to them, but they
put him off with the worst, and think that good enough for him, so
ungrateful are they in their returns to him. This was the fault of the
people, but the priests connived at it, and indulged them in it. We
find a distinction in the law which allowed that to be
offered for a free-will offering which would not be accepted
for a vow,
Lev. xxii. 23.
But the priests would accept it, though God would not, pretending to be
more indulgent than he was, for which he will give them no thanks
another day.
(2.) The character given of such worshippers. They are
deceivers; they deal falsely and fraudulently with God; they
play the hypocrite with him; they pretend to honour him, in making the
vow, but, when it comes to be performed, they put an affront upon him,
to such a degree that it would have been better not to have vowed
than to vow and thus to pay; but let not such be themselves
deceived, for God is not mocked. Those who think to put a cheat
upon God will prove, in the end, to have put a damning cheat upon their
own souls. Hypocrites are deceivers, and they will prove
self-deceivers, and so self-destroyers.
(3.) The doom passed upon them: They are cursed; they expect a
blessing, but will meet with a curse, the tokens of God’s wrath,
according to the judgment written.
(4.) The reason of this doom: “For I am a great King, saith the Lord
of hosts, and therefore will reckon with those who deal with me but
as a man like themselves; my name is dreadful among the heathen,
and therefore I will not bear that it should be contemptible among my
own people.” The heathen paid more respect to their gods, though idols,
than the Jews did to theirs, though the only true and living God. Note,
The consideration of God’s universal dominion, and the universal
acknowledgment of it, should restrain us from all irreverence in his
service.
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