18. that have no rain] Rather, also to them there shall be none, i.e. no rain or its equivalent. The family of Egypt receives special mention, because the threat of no rain would not influence the inhabitants of a land never watered by rain (Deut. xi. 10-12). The corresponding plague to the dweller by the Nile would be the withholding of the annual inundations. But comp. Amos iii. 1 to illustrate this passage.

19. punishment] i. e. sin as seen in its punishment, an unusual meaning of the word; comp. Lam. iv. 6. The four verses (16-19) look like an interpolation.

20. the bells] Probably the most correct rendering of the Hebrew word ̧ M’tzillah, found nowhere else in the Old Testament. (In the rock sculptures of Persepolis this practice is illustrated: see Ges. 'Lex.' s. v. b.) This fact is adduced by Köster as an indica

tion of the post-exile date of the passage. The trappings of worldly pomp and pride are to be sanctified to the service of Jehovah, and inscribed with the same words that were on the golden crown of the highpriest, Holy unto Jehovah. The common pots in which the sacrificers cooked the portion of the victims reserved for food would be considered as holy as the very vessels of the altar (sup. ix. 15). There is a noticeable alliteration in the Hebrew.

21. Canaanite] has the meaning of mer7; Zeph. i. II, and may be so rendered here, chant or trafficker in Isai. xxiii. 8; Hos. xii. to imply that the offering traffick in the temple should cease (John ii. 15, 16; Matt. xxi. 12). But it is also possible to take the word literally. Canaanite shall no longer be a name given in irony to the Israelites, as it is said of Jerusalem in Ezek. xvi. 3, Thy birth and thy nativity is of the land of Canaan: thy father was an Amorite and thy mother an Hittite.

1. Person and Age of the Prophet.

THE

HE last of the long series of Hebrew prophets, Malachi, stood in the same relation to Nehemiah during the latter portion of his work of restoration and reform at Jerusalem, which Haggai and Zechariah had occupied in relation to Zerubbabel. Not that his name is directly mentioned as having been associated with Nehemiah in the events recorded in the 13th chapter of the Book of Nehemiah; but a comparison of his denunciation of the sins of the people with the record of Nehemiah's reforms is strong evidence of the fact that they were cotemporaries.

The passages upon a comparison of which this conclusion is founded are, Mal. ii. 8 with Neh. xiii. 15, 29; Mal. ii. 10-16 with Neh. xiii. 23-27; and

Mal. iii. 7—12 with Neh. xiii. 10, &c.

That he was not a cotemporary of Haggai and Zechariah may be inferred from the fact that his name is not mentioned in conjunction with theirs in the Book of Ezra; and also from the way in which he speaks of the temple and the temple services, the existence of which is assumed in Mal. i. 10, iii. 1, 10'.

1 The last of the prophets lived, and gave his oracles, after the Temple was rebuilt. His moral admonitions shew that the service of the Altar and the Temple, with its offerings and sacrifices, was established, and in use; for it is a profane and insincere spirit in that service, a religion without purity, which he labours to

§ 2. The Subject-matter and Style of the Book

.

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741

The parallelism between Nehemiah's history and Malachi's prophecy is confined to the 13th chapter of the former; and therefore limits the date of the latter to that of the last section of Nehemiah, C. B.C. 431 (Vol. III. p. 427).

The events recorded in Neh. viii.-x. took place B.C. 444. In them Ezra took a prominent part, and as they are separated only by an interval of 13 years from the latest portion of the Book of Nehemiah, it is not improbable that Ezra and Malachi were cotemporaries. In that case both he and Nehemiah may have participated in the work, which tradition assigns to Ezra, of having settled the Canon of the Old Testament in the form in which it has come down to us.

The name of Malachi occurs nowhere in the Scriptures of the Old Testament save in Mal.'i. 1; and the rendering of it by the LXX. in that place, ev yepi ayyéλov avroû, has given rise to the notion that Malachi (my angel or messenger) is not the real name of the author of the prophecy, but merely his official title. Jerome mentions a tradition of the Jews that Malachi was identical with Ezra the priest; and with no greater probability the authorship of the prophecy has been assigned to Mordecai, to Nehemiah, and to Zerubbabel.

The way in which Malachi is spoken of

reform; and both the people and the priesthood have their share in the imputed contamination of their restored worship.”—Davison 'on Prophecy,' P. 351.

in 2 Esdr. i. 40, "Aggeus, Zachary, and Malachy, which is called also an angel of the Lord," is inconsistent with this theory, and, indeed, it is most probable that Malachi (though, like the names of Elijah, Obadiah and Hosea, the word is very significant of the work and character of him who bore it) is a proper name— an abbreviated form of Malachijah, just as we find Abi (2 K. xviii. 2) for Abijah (2 Chro. xxix. 1).

rebukes take throughout a controversial form. To every charge a rejoinder is made, which is put into the mouth of the accused in an interrogative form, and supplies the prophet with an occasion of enforcing and explaining his rebukes to the conviction of his hearers. We have none of the poetic imagery-none of the abrupt outbursts of eloquence which are found in the earlier prophets. We have no symbolic actions, and no visions requiring interpretation. The writer adhe found prevailing among the people, and shews their inconsistency with their profession of obedience to the will of God and with the formal acts of worship which were duly rendered. The gross idolatry of earlier times had disappeared; but the not less dangerous error of practices not in harmony with the professed and outward service rendered to God had sprung up.

Book.

The prophecy of Malachi forms one connected treatise, having for its main object the denunciation of practices inconsistent with the obedience and responsibilities of God's people; practices which had grown to a head during the absence of Nehemiah at the court of the Persian king. The prophet's purpose was to strengthen the hands of Nehemiah in the reforms which he was labouring to effect; yet not without reference to the Person to whom all the prophets with greater or less clearness of language had borne witness, and to the time when the spiritual kingdom of the Son of David was to be established upon earth.

It is possible that the oral delivery of the warnings and predictions contained in the book may have been spread over a considerable period; but its oneness as a written document is beyond question. It would seem as though the writer had in his mind the invitation of God to His people, conveyed to them through Isaiah, Come now and let us reason together, saith the Lord, for his

The style of Malachi is less prosaic than that of Haggai and of Zechariah (i.-viii.). The judgment of Bishop Lowth is as follows: "Prophetarum ultimus Malachias medio quodam dicendi genere utitur, atque ejusmodi plane, quod arguere videatur Poesin Hebræam inde a captivitate Babylonicâ deflorescentem, et inclinatâ jam ætate in genium quodammodo vergentem." ('De Sac. Poes. Heb.' Vol. I. p. 282.)

Renan (Hist. des Langues Semitiques,' Liv. 11. c. i. p. 143) takes a more favourable view, when he writes, "Parmi les auteurs appartenant décidément à la seconde période (de la littérature hébraïque) il en est qui écrivent encore l'hébreu avec une grande pureté: tels sont Esdras, Néhémie, Malachie."

CHAP. I. 1. The burden] Rather, The sentence, as in Zech. ix. 1; or taking the rendering of the LXX. Xupa, the message, of the word of Jehovah. See notes on Isai. xiii. I and Jer. xxiii. 33.

to Israel] Rather, against Israel, the prophecy being throughout one of rebuke.

2. I have loved you] Comp. Deut. vii. 8, X. 15.

Was not Esau Jacob's brother?] The reference to the history of Jacob in Hosea, one of the earliest (Hos. xii. 3-5, 12, 13), and in Malachi, the latest of the prophets, proves that the Book of Genesis was familiarly known to, and its divine authority recognized by, inspired men, during the entire prophetic period. St Paul endorses this recognition when he quotes the present passage in Rom,

ix. 13.

3. hated] i.e. did not love in the same degree; comp. Gen. xxix. 30, 31; and the use of μισεῖν in Luke xiv. 26.

and laid his mountains, &c.] Rather, and I have made his mountains a desolation, and his heritage (I have given) to the monsters of the desert. Solitude implies uninhabited, but not necessarily uninhabitable; comp. Jer. xlix. 17.

the dragons of the wilderness] Rather, the monsters of the desert, meaning serpents, dragons, &c.; or perhaps jackals. The LXX. have treated the expression as identical with that which in Jer. ix. 10 is rendered, "the habitations 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 The LORD will be magnisay, fied from the border of Israel.

1 Or. p ↑ Heb.

6 ¶ A son honoureth his father, from and a servant his master: if then I upon.

I will throw down] See 1 Macc. v. 65 for the victories of Judas Maccabeus over the children of Esau; and Josephus 'de Bell. Jud.' Lib. I. ch. ii. for those of John Hyrcanus. See also Milman's Hist. of the Jews,' Vol. 11. pp. 6, 28.

5. The LORD will be magnified from...] Rather, Magnified is Jehovah from across..., .e. the fame and fear of Jehovah were to spread far and wide as the result of the victories of those who should come forth over the border of Israel; comp. Amos i. 2; Zeph. iii. 10; and for the preposition, Gen. i.

7.

6. In v. 2 God has declared what was the relation in which He stood towards Israel as

1 Or, Bring unto, &c.

+ Heb. to sacrifice.

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.

had assumed towards Jacob as compared with Esau. In this verse He shews what is expected from Israel in return, viz. the honour due from a son to his father; the reverence due from a servant to his master.

my fear] Rather, my reverence. Comp. Isai. viii. 13, where the same word means object of reverence; see also infra v. 14. Drusius remarks: Timet superstitiosus; veretur pius.

7. bread] A correct translation, if we take the word in its most general sense as signifying food. From v. 8 we gather that it means here the sacrificial flesh, as in Lev. iii. 11, 16, xxi. 8, and Num. xxviii. 2.

The table of the LORD] = the altar; see Ezek. xli, 22, xliv. 16.

is contemptible] Rather, despised it is, according to the use of the same Hebrew word in v. 6, where it is twice so rendered.

8. the blind] i.e. a blind animal. Such an offering is forbidden in Lev. xxii. 22.

is it not evil?] Rather, it is not evil, i.e. in your eyes-in your view of your duty

to God; so Drusius and Maurer,

the lame and sick] See Deut. xv, 21; Lev.

xxii. 20.

thy governor] It has been thought that this reference to offerings to be made to the temporal ruler of the land, appointed by the Persian monarch, is inconsistent with the date attributed to the prophecy during the satrapy or rule of Nehemiah; because in Neh. v. 1419 we are told that Nehemiah forbore to exact from his countrymen the customary taxation for his own subsistence as governor. But it is hardly necessary to limit the expression thy governor to the individual who held the office when Malachi prophesied. He uses it as a general illustration of the sin of

unto us] We should rather have expected unto you, as in the Vulg., "ut misereatur vestri:" but the prophet may be speaking here as one of the people.

this hath been by your means] Literally, from your hands hath this proceeded; i.e. the priests were specially guilty, because it was their duty to reject improper offerings.

will be regard your persons?] Rather, will He lift up the faces of any of you? i.e. will He select objects of His grace from among you?

10. Who is there even among you, &c.] Rather, Would that even there were some one among you that would close the doors (of the temple); and that ye did not kindle fire on mine altar fruit

lessly! The interrogative particle has here an optative force. It is a mistake to supply for nought in the first clause of the sentence. The dual implies that the temple doors are meant; comp. Ezek. xli. 23; 2 Chro. iv. 22.

for nought] i.e. fruitlessly-to no purpose; comp. the use of δωρεάν in Gal. ii. 21, ἄρα See also Ezek. Χριστὸς δωρεάν ἀπέθανεν.

xiv. 23. The sense of the passage is this: It were better that the temple doors were closed, and that the sacrifices should cease to be offered, than that they should be offered in a form not acceptable to God.

an offering] Literally, a meat offering, an unbloody sacrifice; but here used in a general sense for any gift.

11. shall be great, &c.] The LXX. rightly