Malachi 1 Commentary

“The burden of the word of the LORD to Israel by Malachi. by: Heb. by the hand of”

Malachias, “the angel of the Lord.” St. Jerome always reads Malachi, “my angel.” Septuagint, “his angel;” whence Origen infers, that this was an angel incarnate. (Calmet)

“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,”

Loved us. So they thought, (Theodoret) and perhaps spoke. (Haydock) — Jacob. I have preferred his posterity, to make them my chosen people, and to load them with my blessings, without any merit on their part, and though they have been always ungrateful; whilst I have rejected Esau, and executed severe judgments upon his posterity. Not that God punished Esau or his posterity beyond their deserts, but that by his free election and grace he loved Jacob, and favoured his posterity above their deserts. See the annotations upon Romans ix. (Challoner) — Neither deserved any thing. God’s choice was gratuitous, both with respect to the fathers and their offspring. (Worthington)

“And I hated Esau, and laid his mountains and his heritage waste for the dragons of the wilderness.”

Esau, perceiving the evil which was already in him, and would appear afterwards; (St. Jerome and Theodoret) or rather he was a figure of the reprobate, though not of course one himself. (St. Augustine) — A person is said to hate what he loves less. Esau’s privileges were transferred to his brother, who enjoyed a much finer country, and was chosen for God’s peculiar inheritance. (Calmet) — Temporal blessings are here specified. — Dragons. Septuagint, “houses;” so that they shall be deserted. (Haydock) — Edom was ravaged by Nabuchodonosor. The people retired into the cities, from which the Jews were driven. Yet afterwards they rebuilt their own habitations.

“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.”

Down, by the Machabees, who forced the people to receive circumcision, 1 Machabees v. 3. (Calmet) — At that time the Jews were more pious, and glorified God. (Haydock) — Ever. God’s gratuitous love appears in his leaving Edom in captivity, and restoring the Jews. (Worthington)

“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?”

Father. God sometimes took this title, Exodus iv. 32. But he was oftener represented as a master; and the old law was a law of fear. (Calmet) — Servant et metuunt jus. (Juvenal xiv.)

“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. offer: or, bring unto, etc”

Bread, including all the victims, &c., Leviticus iii. 11., and Numbers xxviii. 2. (Calmet) — By vile presents they shew their contempt of God. (Worthington)

“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. for: Heb. to”

Lame. The victims must be without defect, Leviticus xxii. 21. Those of the Jews were also rendered inadmissible by their evil dispositions, Aggeus ii. 14. It is surprising, that after such scourges they should not have been more upon their guard. The negligence of the sacred ministers, is a sure sign of faith being extinct. (Calmet) — Pagans often thus treated their idols. (Clement of Alexandria, Strom. vi.) — Prince: the governor sent by the Persians. If you dare not make such presents to men of eminence, how shall I accept them? (Calmet) — How dare you offer them to me? (Worthington)

“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.”

Gratis? Are you not well paid? Why then perform you not your duty exactly? (Calmet) — Septuagint, “Wherefore also among you shall the doors be shut, and my altar is not enkindled for nought,” (Haydock) as if God menaced the Jews with the rejection of the temple, as the sequel does. (Calmet) — Pleasure. Many other prophets had foretold the reprobation of the synagogue, but none more plainly. The reason is also assigned, viz., the ingratitude and repeated sins of the people, on which account the Gentiles of all countries shall be chosen. (Worthington)

“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.”

Sacrifice. Protestant, “incense.” (Haydock) — Clean oblation. The precious body and blood of Christ in the eucharistic sacrifice. (Challoner) — This is denoted by the very word mincha, the offering of flour and wine. (Calmet) See St. Justin Martyr, Dialogue with Trypho; St. Irenĉus, Against Heresies iv. 32.; St. Augustine, City of God xviii. 35.) — “We pollute this bread, that is the body of Christ, when we approach the altar unworthily.” (St. Jerome v. 7.) — This sacrifice is always pure, though the priest or receiver be otherwise. (Calmet) — Hence it is always clean. (Council of Trent, session xxii. chap. i.) (Menochius) — It is offered daily throughout the world. The Jews see the completion of this prediction, and are vexed; they strive to elude its force. Though enemies, they bear about these proofs of our faith, and of their own condemnation. (Calmet) — God not only changed his people, but instituted a better sacrifice. Instead of the former needy elements, (Galatians iv.) which were often defiled by the sins of the offerers, He instituted the sacrifice of his own Body and Blood, under the appearance of bread and wine, as St. Chrysostom (in Psalm xcv.), Theodoret, &c., prove against all opponents. A sacrifice different from any offered by the Jews, who could offer only at Jerusalem, (Deuteronomy xvi.) is clearly specified, as many have demonstrated. (Worthington) — Christ’s bloody sacrifice on the cross was performed on Calvary, and not among the Gentiles. What sacrifice can Protestants now produce? (Haydock)

“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.”

It. The priests complain that all is burnt, (Grotius) or rather they treat sacred things with contempt. (Calmet) — They falsely pretend that they give their best, being poor. (Menochius)

“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. and ye have: or, whereas ye might have blown it away”

Behold of our labour, &c. You pretended labour and weariness, when you brought your offering; and so made it of no value, by offering it with an evil mind. Moreover, what you offered was both defective in itself, and gotten by rapine and extortion. (Challoner) — These were two defects. (Worthington) — Hebrew, “what fatigue, or if we change one letter, and read (Calmet) mothlae, (Haydock) it stinks, and you.” &c. Some copies of [the] Septuagint, Arabic, &c., “I blew them away,” with disgust. — Rapine. Ecclesiasticus xxxiv. 24. — Offering. Mincha, ver. 11. (Calmet) — Such victims and presents as are lame or strange, are rejected. (Pliny, [Natural History?] viii. 45.)

“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. which: Heb. in whose flock is”

Male. So better things are styled mascula thura. (Virgil; Pliny, [Natural History?] xii. 14.) — It was unlawful to offer a female by vow, but not out of devotion, Leviticus xxii. 18, 23. (Calmet) — King. So the Persian monarchs were called. — Dreadful. Greek, “Epiphanes.” (Haydock)