John Calvin Commentary Malachi 1:14

"But cursed be the deceiver, who hath in his flock a male, and voweth, and sacrificeth unto the Lord a blemished thing; for I am a great King, saith Jehovah of hosts, and my name is terrible among the Gentiles." — Malachi 1:14 (ASV)

I cannot finish today, for I would be too long.

Prayer:

Grant, Almighty God, that since you do not keep us today under the shadows of the law (by which you trained the race of Abraham) but invite us to a far more excellent service—to consecrate ourselves, body and soul, as victims to you, and to offer not only ourselves but also sacrifices of praise and prayer, just as you have consecrated all the duties of religion that you require from us, through Christ your Son. O grant that we may seek true purity and labor, with true sincerity of heart, to render our services approved by you. May we so reverently profess and call upon your name that what you declared through your Prophet may be truly fulfilled in us: that your name shall be magnified and celebrated throughout the whole world, as it was truly made known to us in the person of your only begotten Son. Amen.

I repeated yesterday the last verse of the first chapter, but I did not explain it. The Prophet declares here that all who dealt deceitfully and unfaithfully with God were under a curse; and at the same time he specifies the kind of fraud practiced: they chose from the flock those that were diseased or defective to offer as sacrifices to God. It was indeed a proof of extreme dishonesty to mock God so perversely; for, as we have seen, no one would bear such an insult. Then the Prophet, to complete what he had begun, distinctly says that they were all accursed.

The verb נכל, necal, means in Hebrew "to think," but it is almost always taken in a bad sense; therefore, interpreters have appropriately rendered it here as "deceitful." But the deceit the Prophet meant to express is of this kind: when men craftily contrive vain pretenses for themselves. For when they can cover their baseness before the world, they think that they are simultaneously absolved in heaven. The Prophet then says that those who think they can escape God’s judgment by such artifices are under a curse.

I come now to the kind of fraud they practiced: If there is, he says, in his flock a male (that is, a lamb or a ram), when he vows, then he offers to Jehovah what is corrupt. He then means that, though they pretended some religion, yet they did nothing with a sincere and honest heart, for they immediately repented of the vow made to God. They thought that they might be reduced to poverty if they were too bountiful in their sacrifices. Therefore, the Prophet proves that they offered to God with a double mind, and that whatever they thus offered was polluted because it did not proceed from a right motive.

We said yesterday that the Prophet did not require fat or lean beasts, for God did not value the blood or flesh of animals on its own account, but rather for the end in view. For these were the religious observances by which God designed to train the Jews for the intended purpose and in the duty of repentance. Since they were so sordid regarding these sacrifices, it was easy to conclude that they were gross and profane despisers of God and had no concern for religion.

The reason follows: For I am a great king, says Jehovah, and my name is terrible among the nations. God declares here that His majesty was of no account among the Jews, as though He had said, “With whom do you think you are dealing?” And this is what we ought to consider carefully when engaged in God’s service.

Indeed, we know that it is a vice which has prevailed in all ages: that all nations and individuals thought they worshipped God when they devised foolish and frivolous rites according to their own fancies. If, then, we desire to worship God rightly, we must remember how great He is. For His majesty will raise us up above the whole world, and that audacity which possesses almost all mankind will cease. For they think that their own will is a law when they presumptuously impose anything on God. The greatness of God, then, ought to humble us, so that we do not worship Him according to the perceptions of our flesh, but offer Him only what is worthy of His celestial glory.

He again repeats what we have previously observed (though it was disregarded by the Jews): that He was a great king throughout the whole world. Since the Jews thought that sacrifices such as He would accept could not be offered to God in any other place but at Jerusalem, and in the temple on Mount Zion, He testifies that He is a great king even in the farthest parts of the world. It therefore follows that God’s worship would not be confined to Judea, or to any other particular part of the world; for by the gospel the Lord would receive all nations to Himself and come into the possession of His kingdom. Now follows