John Calvin Commentary Malachi 1:10

"Oh that there were one among you that would shut the doors, that ye might not kindle [fire on] mine altar in vain! I have no pleasure in you, saith Jehovah of hosts, neither will I accept an offering at your hand." — Malachi 1:10 (ASV)

He continues with the same subject: that the priests behaved very shamefully in their office, and that the people had become hardened by their example, so that all religion was disregarded. Therefore, he says, that the doors were not closed by them.

Some interpreters connect the two things: that they did not close the doors of the temple, nor kindle the altar for no payment. Thus they apply the adverb, חנם, chenam, to both clauses, as if he had said that they were hirelings who did not freely dedicate themselves to serve God, but sought profit and gain in everything. This is the commonly accepted explanation.

But it seems better to me to take them separately and to say, "Who even shuts the doors?" Not, however, for no payment. The conjunction ו, vau, as in many other places, may be rendered even. "And yet you do not kindle My altar for no payment." It is as if God had said, “I have assigned your tasks; you are then like hired servants to Me. And now, since I have ordered a reward to be given to you whenever you stand at My altar, why do you not close My door?”

Some render חנם, chenam, as "in vain," and offer this explanation: “Who closes the doors? Then do not afterwards kindle My altar in vain.” This is as if God rejected the entire service, which had been corrupted by the avarice or the sloth of the priests, and by the presumption of the people.

It is indeed certain that it is better to separate the two clauses so that the adverb, חנם, chenam, may be confined to the latter phrase. But there may still, as I have said, be a twofold meaning. If we render חנם, chenam, as "in vain," the meaning is that the Prophet declares that they labored to no purpose while they thus sacrificed to God contrary to His law, for they should have attended especially to the rule prescribed to them. Since they despised this, he justly says, “Do not offer to Me in vain.” And thus the future tense is to be understood as the imperative, as we know is sometimes the case in Hebrew.

But no interpreter seems to have sufficiently considered the reason why the Prophet speaks of not closing the doors of the temple. The priests, we know, were set over the temple for this reason: that nothing polluted might be admitted. For some of the Levites were doorkeepers, and others stood at the entrance; in short, all had their assigned stations. And then, when they had brought in the victim, it was the office of the priests to examine it and to see that it was as the law of God required.

Since, then, it was their special office to see that nothing polluted should be received into the temple of God, he justly complains here that they indiscriminately accepted what was faulty and profane. Therefore, he rightly declares (for this seems to me to be the true interpretation), “Do not offer in vain.”

He then draws the conclusion that the priests lost all their labor in thus sacrificing, because God would not have His name profaned, and justly preferred obedience to all sacrifices. He therefore denies that they accomplished any good by slaying victims, because they ought, in the first place, to have attended to this: not to change anything in God’s word and not to deviate from it in the least.

But I cannot proceed further now.

Prayer:

Grant, Almighty God, that as You have been pleased in Your infinite mercy not only to choose from among us some to be priests to You, but also to consecrate us all to Yourself in Your only begotten Son—O grant, that we today may purely and sincerely serve You, and so strive to devote ourselves wholly to You, that we may be pure and chaste in mind, soul, and body, and that Your glory may so shine forth in all our deeds, that Your worship among us may be holy, and pure, and approved by You, until we at last enjoy that glory to which You invite us by Your gospel, and which has been obtained for us by the blood of Your only-begotten Son. Amen.

[Exposition continues from previous day's lecture]

Yesterday, I could not finish the complaint God made against the priests: that no one of them closed the doors of the temple, so that it might remain pure from all defilements. For as their avarice was insatiable, they indiscriminately admitted all sorts of profanations. Therefore, He comes to this conclusion: “Do not offer hereafter in vain.” For by saying, Do not kindle My altar, He means that they spent their labor in vain in offering sacrifices, because God required His worship to be performed according to the prescription of His law. I will now omit the two other interpretations I mentioned yesterday, for it seems to me that the Prophet meant that the priests wearied themselves in vain while daily offering victims, because the Lord repudiated their service as impure and corrupt.

He now adds, I am not pleased with you, and an offering I will not accept from your hand. In the first clause, He says that they were not approved by God, or did not please Him; and then He adds, that their offerings were rejected. For where there is no pure heart, there we know all works are impure. For we must remember what Moses says: that Abel pleased God, along with his sacrifices (Genesis 4:4). And we have seen in another prophet, Haggai, that what is highly esteemed by men is an abomination to God when He is not worshipped in sincerity and truth (Haggai 2:15). Our Prophet now means the same thing: I am not pleased with you, and I will not regard the victims from your hand as acceptable. It now follows