Albert Barnes Commentary Malachi 2:17

"Ye have wearied Jehovah with your words. Yet ye say, Wherein have we wearied him? In that ye say, Every one that doeth evil is good in the sight of Jehovah, and he delighteth in them; or where is the God of justice?" — Malachi 2:17 (ASV)

You have wearied the Lord with your words - By your blasphemous words, full of unbelief and mistrust, you have, in a way, wearied God. He speaks of God in human terms, as a man afflicted by the troubles of others. Thus also the Lord says in Isaiah 1:14, I am weary to bear them, and in Isaiah 43:24, thou hast made Me to serve with thy sins; thou hast wearied Me with thine iniquities. In the same way, the Apostle speaks (Ephesians 4:30).

With the same contumacy as before, and unconsciousness of sin, they ask, “In what way?” It is the old temptation regarding the prosperity of the wicked. They question: “Does God love the wicked? If not, why does He not punish them?” The Scripture says, Grieve not the Holy Spirit of God (Ephesians 4:30).

The people, after returning from Babylon, seeing all the nations around them and the Babylonians themselves serving idols yet abounding in wealth, strong in body, and possessing all that is considered good in this world—while they themselves, who had the knowledge of God, were overwhelmed with poverty, hunger, and servitude—are scandalized.

They say, ‘There is no providence in human affairs; all things are carried along by blind chance and not governed by God’s judgment. Indeed, evil things please Him, and good things displease Him. Or, if God does discern all things, where is His equitable and just judgment?’

Minds that do not believe in the world to come daily raise questions of this sort to God when they see the wicked in power and the saints in humble circumstances. Consider Lazarus, whom we read of in the Gospel, who, before the gate of the rich man in his purple, longed to satisfy his hunger with the crumbs thrown away from the remnants of the table. Meanwhile, the rich man was of such savagery and cruelty that he had no pity on his fellow man, to whom the tongues of the dogs showed pity.

Not understanding the time of judgment, nor that true goods are those that are eternal, they say, “He is pleased with evil,” and, “Where is the God of judgment?”

Where is the God of the judgment? - That is, of that judgment which is great, most certain, most exact, clear-sighted, omniscient, most just, most free, in which He regards neither powerful nor rich nor gifts, nor anything but justice?

For He is the God of judgment, whose very nature it is to judge all men and things by an exact judgment, because His nature is equity itself, justice itself, and providence itself—and that, most just and most wise.

It is His role to be the Judge of all and to exercise strict judgment upon all. He will exercise it fully on that decisive and final day of the world, which will be the horizon between this life and the next, separating time from eternity, heaven from hell, the blessed from the damned forever, through Christ, whom He appointed Judge of all, the living and the dead.