Albert Barnes Commentary Malachi 3

God answers their complaints about the absence of His judgments, stating that they would come, but would also include those who clamored for them. For no one who knew his own sinfulness would call for the judgment of God, as he himself is the chief of sinners. Augustine pictures one saying to God, “Take away the ungodly man,” and God answers, “Which?”

Behold, I send My messenger before My face, and he shall prepare My way before Me—they, therefore, were not prepared for His Coming, for whom they clamored.

The messenger is the same one whom Isaiah had foretold, whose words Malachi uses (Isaiah 40:3): The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare you the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God. “You, child,” was the prophecy on John the Immerser’s birth, “shall be called the prophet of the Highest, for you shall go before the face of the Lord to prepare His way, to give knowledge of salvation to His people, for the remission of their sins” (Luke 1:76).

Repentance was to be the preparation for the kingdom of Christ, the Messiah, for whom they looked so impatiently.

He who speaks is He who should come, God the Son. For it was before Him Who came and dwelt among us that the way was to be prepared. He speaks here in His divine nature, as the Lord Who should send, and Who should Himself come in our flesh. In the Gospel, when He had come in the flesh, He speaks not of His own Person but of the Father, since “indivisible are the operations of the Trinity, and what the One does, the other Two do, since the Three are of one nature, power, and operation.” Therefore Christ, in order to give no excuse to the Jews to speak against Him before the time, refers to the Father His life (John 6:57), His doctrine (John 7:16), His words (John 3:11; John 5:43; John 8:38, 40, 47, 55; John 12:49; John 14:10, 24), and His works (John 4:34; John 5:19–20, 26, 30, 36; John 6:38; John 8:28; John 9:4; John 10:25, 32, 37-38; John 14:10–11).

“Those works, which do not relate to that which uniquely belongs to each Person, being common, are ascribed now to One Person, now to Another, in order to reveal the One Substance in the Trinity of Persons.” Thus, John says (John 12:41) that Isaiah spoke of the unbelief of the Jews when he saw the glory of God the Son and spoke of Him; and Paul says (Acts 28:25) that the Holy Spirit spoke then by him.

And he shall prepare the way before Me—“The same is God’s way here, and Christ’s there, an evident proof that Christ is one God with the Father, and that, in Christ, God came and was manifest in the flesh.”

The prophets and all who turned men to righteousness, or who retained the knowledge of the truth or of righteousness or of God in the world, did, in their degree, prepare the way for Christ. But John was His immediate forerunner “before His Face,” the herald of His immediate approach; this is why he is called “the end of the law, and the beginning of the Gospel,” “the lamp before the Light, the voice before the Word, the mediator between the Old and the New Testament,” “the link of the law and of grace; a new morning star; a ray, before the true Sun should burst forth,” the end of night, the beginning of day.

And the Lord, whom you seek, shall suddenly come to His temple—He, Whose coming they sought, was Almighty God, the God of Judgment. He who should come was the Lord, again Almighty God, since, in usage too, none else is called the Lord, as none else can be. The temple also, to which He was to come, the temple of God, is His own.

The messenger, or the Angel of the covenant, plainly, even from the parallelism, is the same as the Lord. It was one for whom they looked; one whose absence they complained of (Malachi 2:17), Where is the God of judgment?; one who should come to His temple; one whose coming they sought and prepared to have pleasure in; one of whom it is repeated, Lo, He comes; one in the day of whose coming, at whose appearing, it was asked, Who shall stand?

“All Christian interpreters are agreed that this Lord is Christ (Acts 2:36), whom God has made both Lord and Christ, and (Acts 10:36) Who is Lord over all; by whom all things were made, are sustained and governed; Who is (as the root of the word implies) the basis and foundation, not of any private family, tribe or kingdom, but of all (1 Corinthians 8:6); by whom are all things and we by Him: and whose we are also by right of redemption; and so He is Lord of lords and King of kings (Revelation 17:14; Revelation 19:16), deservedly called the Lord.”

As, then, the special presence of God was often indicated in connection with the Angel of the Lord, so, here, He who was to come was entitled the Angel or messenger of the covenant, as God also calls Him the covenant itself.

As Isaiah 42:6 says, I will give You for a covenant of the people, a light of the Gentiles.

He it was (Isaiah 63:9), the Angel of His presence, who saved His former people, in whom His Name was, and who, by the prerogative of God, would (Exodus 23:21) not pardon their transgressions.

He would be (Hebrews 12:24; Hebrews 8:6) the Mediator of the new and better covenant, which is promised (Jeremiah 31:32–33; Hebrews 8:9), not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, which My covenant they broke, although I was a husband to them, says the Lord; but this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put My law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts, and will be their God, and they shall be My people.

Whom you seek, are seeking, whom you delight in—that is, profess so to do. He will come, but will be very different from Him whom you look for, an Avenger on your enemies. Judgment will come, but it will begin with yourselves.

Shall suddenly come—“unawares, when men should not think of Him; which is why perhaps it is that the Jews reckon the Messiah among what shall come unawares.” As it is here said of His first Coming, so it is said of His second Coming (which may be comprehended under what is spoken of here) that unless they diligently watch for it, it shall come upon them unawares (Luke 21:35); suddenly (Mark 13:36); in such an hour as they think not (Matthew 24:44). “The Lord of glory always comes, like a thief in the night, to those who sleep in their sins.”

Lo, He will come: He insists again and calls their minds to that Coming—certain, swift, new, wonderful, on which all eyes should be set—but His coming would be a sifting-time.

And who can abide the day of His coming? And who shall stand when He appears? The implied answer is, “No one;” as in the Psalm (Psalms 130:3), If You, Lord, will mark iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand? Joel had asked the same, The day of the Lord is great and very terrible; and who can abide it? How can the weakness of man endure such might; his blindness, such light; his frailty, such power; his uncleanness, such holiness; the chaff, such a fire? For He is like a refiner’s fire. Who would not fail through stupefaction, fear, horror, shrinking reverence, from such majesty?

Malachi seems to blend, as Joel, the first and second coming of our Lord. The first coming too was a time of sifting and severance, according to whether those to whom He came did or did not receive Him. The severance was not final, because there was still space for repentance; but it was real, a pledge of the final judgment. Our Lord says (John 9:39), For judgment I have come into this world, that those who do not see may see, and that those who see may be made blind; and again (John 12:31), Now is the judgment of this world; and (John 3:18), He who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the Only-Begotten Son of God. And (John 3:36), He who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.

As, on the other hand, He says (John 6:54), Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life; and (John 6:47), he who believes on the Son has everlasting life. “Has,” He says; not, “shall have;” “has it,” in present reality and pledge, though he may forfeit it. So the other class is “condemned already,” although the one may repent and be saved, the other may (Ezekiel 33:18) turn from his righteousness and commit iniquity; and if he perseveres in it, shall die therein.

It is then one ever-present judgment. Every soul of man is in a state of grace or out of it; in God’s favor or under His wrath. The judgment of the Great Day, in which the secrets of men’s hearts will be revealed, will be but an outward manifestation of that now hidden judgment.

But the words, in their fullest sense, imply a passing of that judgment, in which men do or do not stand, as in those of our Lord (Luke 21:35–36), As a snare will that day come on all those who dwell on the face of the whole earth. Watch therefore, and pray always, that you may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that will come to pass, and to stand before the Son of Man. And Paul (Ephesians 6:13), Take to yourselves the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and, having done all, to stand. And in the Revelation (Revelation 6:16–17), They said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the wrath of Him who sits upon the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb.

For the great day of His wrath has come, and who shall be able to stand? Asaph says of a temporal, yet for this life, final destruction (Psalms 76:6–7), At Your rebuke, O God of Jacob, both the chariot and horse are cast into a deep sleep. You are to be feared, and who can stand in Your sight when You are angry?

For He is like a refiner’s fire, and like fuller’s soap. Two kinds of materials for cleansing are mentioned: the one severe, where the baser materials are intermixed with the rich ore; the other mild, where the defilement is easily separable. “He shall come like a refining fire (Psalms 50:3–4), A fire will burn before Him, and it will be very tempestuous round about Him. Then He will call the heaven from above, and the earth, that He may judge His people. Streams of fire will sweep before, bearing away all sinners. For the Lord is called a fire, and (Deuteronomy 4:24) a consuming fire, so as to burn our (1 Corinthians 3:12) wood, hay, stubble. And not fire only, but fuller’s soap. To those who sin heavily, He is a refining and consuming fire, but to those who commit light sins, He is like fuller’s soap, to restore cleanness to it, when washed.”

Yet, though light in comparison, this too had its severity, for clothes that were washed (of which the word is used) were trampled on by the feet. “The nitrum and the fuller’s soap is penitence.” Yet the whiteness and purity so restored is, finally, perfected. Inspiration could find no more adequate comparison for us, for the brightness of our Lord’s garments from the glory of the Transfiguration, than (Mark 9:3), exceeding white as snow; so as no fuller on earth can white them.

Our Lord is, in many ways, like a fire. He says of Himself (Luke 12:49), I have come to send a fire upon earth, and what will I, if it is already kindled? John the Baptist said of Him (Luke 3:16), He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. He kindles in the heart “a fire of love,” which softens what is hard, the will.

“Wash whatever of stain is here,
Sprinkle what is dry or sere,
Heal and bind the wounded spirit;
Bend whatever is stubborn still,
Kindle what is cold and chill,
What has wandered guide aright.”

But as God is a consuming fire, Who must burn out the dross, unless we are (Jeremiah 6:29–30) reprobate silver which the founder melts in vain, either He must, by His grace, consume the sin within us, or He must consume us with it, in hell.

And He shall sit—as a King and Judge on His throne, with authority, yet also to try accurately the cause of each, separating seeming virtues from real graces; hypocrites, more or less consciously, from His true servants.

He shall purify the sons of Levi—These had been first the leaders in degeneracy, the corrupters of the people by their example and connivance. Actually (Acts 6:7), a great company of the priests were obedient to the faith. Barnabas also was a Levite (Acts 4:36). But more broadly, as Zion and Jerusalem are the titles for the Christian Church, and Israel who believed was the true Israel, so the sons of Levi are the true Levites, the Apostles and their successors in the Christian priesthood.

It was through three centuries of persecutions that the Church was purified by fire.

That they may offer—literally, and they shall be unto thy Lord offerers of a meal-offering in righteousness, that is, they shall be such, and that, habitually, abidingly. Again, here and in the next words, and the meal-offering of Judah shall be pleasant unto the Lord, it is remarkable that the meal-offering, to which the holy eucharist corresponds, is alone mentioned. Of bloody offerings Malachi is silent, for they were to cease.

In righteousness—as Zacharias prophesied, that we might serve Him in holiness and righteousness before Him all the days of our life.

Then (And) shall the offering of Judah and Jerusalem – The “law,” the new revelation of God, was to go forth from Zion and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem (Isaiah 2:3). Judah and Jerusalem then are here the Christian Church. They shall be pleasant (literally sweet) unto the Lord. It is a reversal (using the very same word) of what God had said about them in the time of their religious decay: they shall not offer wine-offerings to the Lord, neither shall they be sweet unto Him (Hosea 9:4); your burnt-offerings are not acceptable, nor your sacrifices sweet unto Me (Jeremiah 6:20).

As in the days of old – before the days of degeneracy; as it stands in the ancient Liturgies: “Be pleased to look upon them (the consecrated oblations) with a favorable and serene Countenance, and to accept them, as You were pleased to accept the gifts of Your righteous Abel and the sacrifice of our patriarch Abraham, and the holy sacrifice, the spotless offering, which Your high priest Melchizedec offered to You.”

The oblation of the sacrament of the eucharist, made by the Jews who would believe in Christ (which is known to have been first instituted by Christ in the city of Jerusalem, and afterward to have been continued by His disciples (Matthew 26:29; Acts 2:42, Acts 2:46)), will be pleasing to the Lord, like the sacrifices of the patriarchs, Melchizedec, Abraham, and the holy priests under the law, such as Aaron. Indeed, the truth takes precedence over the figure and shadow; the sacrifice of the new law is more excellent and acceptable to God than all the sacrifices of the law or before the law.

With this agrees what the Lord says to the synagogue (Isaiah 1:25–26, Isaiah 1:28), “I will turn My hand upon thee, and purely purge away thy dross, and take away all thy tin; and I will restore thy judges as at the first, and thy counselors, as at the beginning: and the destruction of the transgressors, and of the sinners, shall be together, and they that forsake the Lord shall be consumed.” So now it follows.

And I will come near to you to judgment - They had clamored for the coming of “the God of judgment”; God assures them that He will come to judgment, which they had desired, but far different from what they expect. The few would be purified; the great mass of them (so that He calls them “you”), the main body of those who had so clamored, would find that He came as a Judge, not for them but against them.

And I will be a swift witness - “In judging I will bear witness, and witnessing, I, the same, will bring forth judgment, says the Lord; therefore, the judgment will be terrible, since the judge is an infallible witness, whom the conscience of no one will be able to contradict.”

God would be a “swift witness,” as He had said before, “He shall come suddenly.” Our Lord calls Himself “the Faithful and True witness” (Revelation 3:14; Revelation 1:5; Theodoret and Jerome: “I, and not other witnesses, having seen with My own eyes.”) when He stands in the midst of the Church, as their Judge.

God’s judgments are always unexpected by those on whom they fall. The sins mentioned are those especially condemned by the law: the use of magical arts, as drawing men away from God, and the rest as sins of special malignity.

Magical arts were rife at the time of our Lord’s coming. Adultery was also common, as shown in the history of the woman taken in adultery, when her accusers were convicted by their own consciences (John 8:9; compare the phrase “adulterous generation,”Matthew 12:39).

Lightfoot, commenting on John 8:3, quotes Sotah f. 47.1: “From the time that homicides were multiplied, the beheading of the heifer ceased: from the time that adulterers were multiplied, the bitter waters ceased.” He also quotes Maimonides on Sotah, chapter 3: “When the adulterers multiplied under the second Temple, the Sanhedrin abolished the ordeal of the adulteresses by the bitter water, relying on its being written, ‘I will not visit your daughters when they commit whoredom, nor your spouses when they commit adultery.’”

Lightfoot adds, “The Gemarists teach that Johanan ben Zacchai was the author of that advice, who was still alive, in the Sanhedrin, and perhaps among those who brought the adulteress before Christ. For some things make it probable, that the ‘scribes and Pharisees,’ mentioned here, were elders of the synagogue.”

Justin Martyr reproaches them with having fresh wives wherever they went throughout the world (Dialogue with Trypho, concluding section, page 243, Oxford translation).

Oppress the hireling - literally “oppress the hire,” that is, deal oppressively in it. “Behold,” says James (James 5:4), “the hire of the laborers who have reaped down your fields, which is by you kept back by fraud, crieth; and the cries of them which have reaped are entered into the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth.” The mere delay in the payment of the wages of the laborer brought sin upon him, against whom he cried to God (Deuteronomy 24:14–15). It is no light sin, since it is united with the heaviest, and is spoken of as reaching the ears of God. The widow and the fatherless stand in a relation of special nearness to God.

And fear not Me - He closes with the central defect, which was the mainspring of all their sins: the absence of the fear of God. The commission of any of these sins, rife as they unhappily are, proves that those who committed them had no fear of God. “Nothing hinders that this should be referred to the first coming of Christ. For Christ, in preaching to the Jews, exercised upon them a judgment of just rebuke, especially of the priests, Scribes and Pharisees, as the Gospels show.”