Wherein hast thou loved us? Was not Esau Jacob's bro- A.C. 433 ther? saith the LORD: yet I loved Jacob,

to 428.

3 And I hated Esau, and laid his mountains and his g Rom. ix. 13. 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.

* Or, upon. + Heb. from

6 A son honoureth his father, and a servant his mas- pon, ter 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?

+ Or, Bring

7 Ye offer polluted bread upon mine altar; and ye say, unto, &c. Wherein have we polluted thee? In that ye say, The table of the LORD is contemptible.

crifice.

8 And if ye offer the blind § for sacrifice, is it not evil? Heb. to saand 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.

Heb. the face

of God.

Heb from

your hand,

h Is. i. 11. Jer.

vi. 20. Amos

11 For from the rising of the sun even unto the going v. 21. 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.

terminate the corruptions and adulteries that prevailed. The prophecy concludes with an earnest exhortation to repentance, and a strict observance of the law. Dr. Gray's Key in loc.; Horne's Crit. Introd.

The latter part of ver. 11. Malachi i. relative to the Mincha or bread offering to be generally offered up was considered in the primitive church as an express prophecy of the Christian sacrifice in the Eucharist, of which the circumstances are there described under the typical rites of the Jewish worship.--Vide Mede's Discourses on the Christian Sacrifice.

A. C. 433 to 428.

13 Ye said also, Behold, what a weariness is it! and ye have snuffed at it, saith the LORD of hosts; and ye brought *Or, whereas that which was torn, and the lame, and the sick; thus ve blown it away, brought an offering: should I accept this of your hand? saith the LORD.

ye might have

+ Or, in whose flock is.

i Lev. xxvi. 14, &c. Deut.

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.

MALACHI II.

1 He sharply reproveth the priests for neglecting their covenant, 11 and the people for idolatry, 14 for adultery, 17 and for infidelity.

1 And now, O ye priests, this commandment is for you. 2 If ye will not hear, and if ye will not lay it to heart, to xxvi. 15, &c. give glory unto my name, saith the LORD of hosts, I will even send a curse upon you, and I will curse your blessings: yea, I have cursed them already, because ye do not lay it to heart.

1 Or, reprove. (Heb. scatter.

|| Or, it shall

take you away to it.

* Or, fall in the law.

3 Behold, I will corrupt your seed, and § spread dung upon your faces, even the dung of your solemn feasts; and one shall take you away with it.

4 And ye shall know that I have sent this commandment unto you, that my covenant might be with Levi, saith the LORD of hosts.

5 My covenant was with him of life and peace; and I gave them to him for the fear wherewith he feared me, and was afraid before my name.

6 The law of truth was in his mouth, and iniquity was not found in his lips: he walked with me in peace and equity, and did turn many away from iniquity.

7 For the priest's lips should keep knowledge, and they should seek the law at his mouth: for he is the messenger of the LORD of hosts.

8 But ye are departed out of the way; ye have caused many to stumble at the law; ye have corrupted the covenant of Levi, saith the LORD of hosts.

9 Therefore have I also made you contemptible and base before all the people, according as ye have not kept my

+Or, lifted up ways, but ++have been partial in the law.

the face

against.

Heb. ac

10 Have we not all one father? hath not one God created us? why do we deal treacherously every man against k Ephes. iv. 6. his brother, by profaning the covenant of our fathers?

cepted faces.

11 Judah hath dealt treacherously, and an abomination is committed in Israel and in Jerusalem; for Judah Or, ought to hath profaned the holiness of the LORD which he loved, and hath married the daughter of a strange god.

love.

to 428.

12 The LORD will cut off the man that doeth this, * the A.C. 433 master and the scholar, out of the tabernacles of Jacob, and him that offereth an offering unto the LORD of hosts.

*Or, him that maketh, or,

13 And this have ye done again, covering the altar of the him that anLORD with tears, with weeping, and with crying out, inso-swereth. much that he regardeth not the offering any more, or receiveth it with good will at your hand.

14 Yet ye say, Wherefore? Because the LORD hath been witness between thee and the wife of thy youth, against whom thou hast dealt treacherously: yet is she thy companion, and the wife of thy covenant.

lency at Heb. a seed

of God.

15 And did not he make one? Yet had he the † residue tor, excelof the spirit. And wherefore one? That he might seek godly seed. Therefore take heed to your spirit, and let none deal § treacherously against the wife of his youth.

Or, unfaithfully.

her, put her

away

16 For the LORD, the God of Israel, saith || that he hateth Or, if he hate putting away for one covereth violence with his garment, saith the LORD of hosts: therefore take heed to your spirit, away. that ye deal not treacherously.

17¶ Ye have wearied the LORD with your words. Yet ye say, Wherein have we wearied him? When, ye say, Every one that doeth evil is good in the sight of the LORD, and he delighteth in them; or, Where is the God of judg

ment?

MALACHI III. ver. 1-16.

1 Behold, 'I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me: and the LORD, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to his temple, even the messenger of the covenant, whom ye delight in: behold, he shall come, saith the LORD of hosts.

2 But who may abide the day of his coming? and who shall stand when he appeareth? for he is like a refiner's fire, and like fullers' sope:

3 And he shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver and he shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer unto the LORD an offering in righteousness.

*Heb. to put

1 Matt. xi. 10.

Mark i. 2.

Luke i. 76. &

vii. 27.

4 Then shall the offering of Judah and Jerusalem be pleasant unto the LORD, as in the days of old, and as in † former + Or, ancient. years.

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 fa- tor, defraud. therless, and that turn aside the stranger from his right, and fear not me, saith the LORD of hosts.

VOL. II.

30

A.C. 433 to 428.

6 For I am the LORD, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed.

7 ¶ Even from the days of your fathers ye are gone away m Zech. i. 3. from mine ordinances, and have not kept them. m Return unto me, and I will return unto you, saith the LORD of hosts. But ye said, Wherein shall we return ?

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.

10 Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, n Gen. v. 11. saith the LORD of hosts, if I will not open you the "windows * Heb. empty of heaven, and * pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it.

out.

+ Heb. cor

rupt.

o Job xxi. 14.

11 And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, and he shall not destroy the fruits of your ground; neither shall your vine cast her fruit before the time in the field, saith the LORD of hosts.

12 And all nations shall call you blessed : for ye shall be a delightsome land, saith the LORD of hosts.

13¶Your words have been stout against me, saith the LORD. Yet ye say, What have we spoken so much against thee?

14 Ye have said, It is in vain to serve God: and what servations of profit is it that we have kept this ordinance, and that we have walked § mournfully before the LORD of hosts?

Heb, in

black.

15 And now we call the proud happy; yea, they that work wickedness are set up; yea, they that Ptempt God p Ps. xcv. 9. are even delivered.

Heb. are built.

428 to 409.

SECTION VII.

Further Reformation by Nehemiah.

NEHEMIAH XIII. VER. 4, TO THE END.
*

4 ¶ And before this, Eliashib the priest, having the *Heb. being oversight of the chamber of the house of our God, was allied unto Tobiah:

set over.

+ Heb. the command. ment of the Levites.

5 And he had prepared for him a great chamber, where aforetime they laid the meat offerings, the frankincense, and the vessels, and the tithes of the corn, the new wine, and the oil, which was commanded to be given to the Levites, and the singers, and the porters; and the offerings of the priests.

6 But in all this time was not I at Jerusalem: for in the two and thirtieth year of Artaxerxes king of Babylon came

I unto the king, and * after certain days + obtained I leave of the king 40:

7 And I came to Jerusalem, and understood of the evil that Eliashib did for Tobiah, in preparing him a chamber in the courts of the house of God.

8 And it grieved me sore: therefore I cast forth all the houshold stuff of Tobiah out of the chamber.

9 Then I commanded, and they cleansed the chambers: and thither brought I again the vessels of the house of God, and the meat offering and the frankincense.

10 And I perceived that the portions of the Levites had not been given them: for the Levites and the singers, that did the work, were fled every one to his field.

11 Then contended I with the rulers, and said, Why is the house of God forsaken? And I gathered them together, and set them in their place.

12 Then brought all Judah the tithe of the corn and the new wine and the oil unto the § treasuries.

:

+ Heb. standing.

Or, store

houses.

hand.

13 And I made treasurers over the treasuries, Shelemiah the priest, and Zadok the scribe, and of the Levites, Pedaiah and next to them was Hanan the son of Zaccur, Heb. at their the son of Mattaniah: for they were counted faithful, and *their office was to distribute unto their brethren. 14 Remember me, O my God, concerning this, and wipe not out my good deeds that I have done for the house of my God, and for the offices thereof.

15 In those days saw I in Judah some treading wine presses on the sabbath, and bringing in sheaves, and lading asses; as also wine, grapes, and figs, and all manner of burdens, which they brought into Jerusalem on the sabbath day and I testified against them in the day wherein they sold victuals.

16 There dwelt men of Tyre also therein, which brought fish, and all manner of ware, and sold on the sabbath unto the children of Judah, and in Jerusalem.

40 It is not possible to ascertain what length of time Nehemiah remained in Persia. Prideaux, to allow a sufficient time for the corruptions that took place during his absence, supposes it at least five years; and Dr. Hales, twelve years. But we cannot now determine accurately how long he was absent from his own country, when he returned to it, or how long he survived his return. He at all times displayed the most disinterested zeal in the service of his country; and after having "rebuilt the street and the walls in troublous times," he had the happiness of effecting the civil and religious reformation of his people. The piety of Nehemiah is beautifully illustrated in those devout supplications he offers up to the throne of grace, (ver. 14. 22. 31.); while with calm but persevering fidelity and firmness, he performs his most important duties, checks every abuse, and brings again every thing in subjection to the ancient law.

*Heb. It was upon them.

qver. 2. Heb. kind

nesses.

Or, observations.