Adam Clarke

“ And now we call the proud happy - Proud and insolent men are the only happy people, for they domineer everywhere, and none dares to resist them.
They that work wickedness are set up - The humble and holy are depressed and miserable; the proud and wicked are in places of trust and profit. ”

“ It is on this ground that the Jews expect the reappearance of Elijah the prophet, and at their marriage-feast always set a chair and knife and fork for this prophet, whom they suppose to be invisibly present. But we have already seen that John the Baptist, the forerunner of our Lord, was the person designed; for he came in the spirit and power of Elijah, (see on [38] (note) ) , and has fulfilled this prophetic promise. John is come, and the Lord Jesus has come also; he has shed his blood for the salvation of a lost world; he has ascended on high; he has sent forth his Holy Spirit ”

“ In the Jewish reckonings the Twelve Minor Prophets make but one book; hence there is no Masoretic note found at the end of any of the preceding prophets, with accounts of its verses, sections etc.; but, at the end of Malachi we find the following table, which, though it gives the number of verses in each prophet, yet gives the total sum, middle verse, and sections, at the end of Malachi, thereby showing that they consider the whole twelve as constituting but one book. ”

“ The Messenger of the covenant - He that comes to fulfill the great design, in reference to the covenant made with Abram, that in his seed all the families of the earth should be blessed. See the parallel texts in the margin, and the notes on them.
Verse 2
But who may abide the day of his coming? - Only they who shall believe on his name; for they that will not, shall be blinded, and the unbelieving nations shall be destroyed by the Romans. ”

“ He shall sit as a refiner - Alluding to the case of a refiner of metals, sitting at his fire; increasing it when he sees necessary, and watching the process of his work.
The sons of Levi - Those who minister in their stead under the New covenant, for the Old Levitical institutions shall be abolished; yet, under the preaching of our Lord, a great number of the priests became obedient to the faith,; [29] and, as to the others that did not believe, this great Refiner threw them as dross into the Roman fire, that consumed both Jerusalem and the temple. ”

“ I, the Messiah, the Seed of God, mentioned above, will send my messenger, John the Baptist.
He shall prepare the way - Be as a pioneer before me; a corrector of civil abuses, and a preacher of righteousness.
And the Lord, whom ye seek - The Messiah, whom ye expect, from the account given by the prophet Daniel, in his seventy weeks,. ”

“ Every one that doeth evil - Ye say that it is right in the sight of the Lord to put away a wife, because she has no longer found favor in the sight of her husband. And because it has not been signally punished hitherto, ye blaspheme and cry out, "Where is the God of judgment?" Were he such as he is represented, would he not speak out? All these things show that this people were horribly corrupt. The priests were bad ”

“ Will a man rob God? - Here is one point on which ye are guilty; ye withhold the tithes and offerings from the temple of God, so that the Divine worship is neglected.
Verse 9
Ye are cursed with a curse - The whole nation is under my displeasure. The curse of God is upon you.
Verse 10
Bring ye all the tithes - They had so withheld these that the priests had not food enough to support life, and the sacred service was interrupted. See. ”

“ Perhaps the holy or godly seed, זרע אלהים zera Elohim, a seed of God, may refer to the Messiah. God would have the whole human race to spring from one pair, that Christ, springing from the same family, might in his sufferings taste death for every man ”

“ My covenant was with him of life and peace - These are the two grand blessings given to men by the New Covenant, which was shadowed by the Old. To man, excluded from the favor of God, and sentenced to death because of sin, God gave ברית berith, a covenant sacrifice, and this secured life - exemption from the death deserved by transgressors ”

“ God then reproaches his people, and especially their priests, for their ungrateful returns to his distinguished goodness,. [2] They are particularly charged with sacrificing the refuse of beasts, [3] for which God threatens to reject them, [4] and choose other nations who will show more reverence to his name and worship,. [5]
Verse 1
The burden of the word of the Lord to Israel by Malachi - This prophet is undoubtedly the last of the Jewish prophets. ”

“ In the great day of the Lord, at least, if not long before, it will be fully discovered who have been the truly wise people; those who took up their cross and followed Christ; or those who satisfied the flesh, with its affections and desires, following a multitude to do evil. ”

“ In most of the Masoretic Bibles the fifth verse is repeated after the sixth - "Behold, I send unto you Elijah the prophet, before the great and terrible day of Jehovah come;" for the Jews do not like to let their sacred book end with a curse ”

“ They are now partially restored; and are endeavouring to supply by grimace, paltry superstition, and jesuitical cunning, what they want in purity of morals, soundness of doctrine, and unction from God. They must mend, or look for another revolution. Mankind will no longer put up with the chaff of puerile and fanatical ceremonies in place of the wheat of God's word and worship.
Verse 10
Have we not all one Father? - From this to [22] the prophet censures the marriages of Israelites with strange women, which the law had forbidden,. ”

“ It was high time to break up this corrupt service; and after this time God does not appear to have paid any regard to it, for he sent them no other prophet.
Chapter 2 Introduction
The priests reproved for their unfaithfulness in their office, for which they are threatened to be deprived of their share of the sacrifice, (the shoulder) , and rewarded only with ignominy and ordure,. [12] The degeneracy of the order is then complained of, and they are again threatened,. [13] The rest of the chapter reproves the people for marrying strange and idolatrous women ”

“ God's awful judgments on the wicked,. [32] Great blessedness of the righteous,. [33] [34] The prophet then, with a solemnity becoming the last of the prophets, closes the Sacred Canon with enjoining the strict observance of the law till the forerunner already promised should appear, in the spirit of Elijah, to introduce the Messiah, and begin a new and everlasting dispensation,. [35]
Verse 1
Behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven - The destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans. ”

“ He made one pair from whom all the rest might proceed, that he might have a holy offspring; that children being a marked property of one man and one woman, proper care might be taken that they should be brought up in the discipline of the Lord. ”

“ Covereth violence with his garment - And he also notes those who frame idle excuses to cover the violence they have done to the wives of their youth, by putting them away, and taking others in their place, whom they now happen to like better, when their own wives have been worn down in domestic services. ”