Albert Barnes Commentary Malachi 3:12

"And all nations shall call you happy; for ye shall be a delightsome land, saith Jehovah of hosts." — Malachi 3:12 (ASV)

All nations shall call you blessed - The promise goes beyond the temporal prosperity of their immediate obedience. Few could know or think much of the restored fruitfulness of Judea; none could know of its antecedents. A people, as well as individuals, may starve, and none know of it. If the whole population of Judah had died out, their Persian masters would not have cared for it, but would have sent fresh colonists to replace them and pay the tribute to the great king. The only interest that all nations could have in them was their being the people of God, from whom He would come, the Desire of all nations, in whom all the families of the earth would be blessed. Of this, God’s outward favor was the pledge; they would have again the blessings that He had promised to His people.

And you shall be called a delightsome land - literally “a land of good pleasure.” It was not so much the land as the people; you shall be called. The land stands for the people upon it, in whom its characteristics lie. The river Jordan was not so bright as Abana and Pharpar: “the aspect of the shore” is the same, when the inhabitants are spiritually or morally dead; only the more beautiful, in contrast with the lifeless “spirit of man.” So Isaiah says (Isaiah 62:2–4), The nations shall see your righteousness, and all kings your glory; and you shall be called by a name, which the mouth of the Lord shall name. You shall no more be called Forsaken, nor shall your land be called Desolate, but you shall be called My-delight-is-in-her, and your land Married: for the Lord delights in you and your land shall be married. God and man would delight in her.