John Calvin Commentary Malachi 3:13-15

"Your words have been stout against me, saith Jehovah. Yet ye say, What have we spoken against thee? Ye have said, It is vain to serve God; and what profit is it that we have kept his charge, and that we have walked mournfully before Jehovah of hosts? And now we call the proud happy; yea, they that work wickedness are built up; yea, they tempt God, and escape." — Malachi 3:13-15 (ASV)

Here again God reasons earnestly with the Jews because of their impious and wicked blasphemy in saying that He disappointed His servants, and that He made no difference between good and evil, because He was kind to the unfaithful and the faithful indiscriminately, and also that He overlooked the obedience rendered to Him.

He says now that their words grew strong; by which He denotes their insolence, as if to say, Vous avez gagné le plus haut; for חזק, chezak, is to be strong. He means that such was the stubbornness of the Jews that it could not be checked by any means; they were like men whom we see, who when once seized by rage and madness, become so loud and clamorous that they will not listen to any admonitions or sensible advice.

At first they murmur and are only heard to whisper; but when they have gained complete freedom, they then send forth, as I have said, their furious outcries against heaven. This is the sin which the Prophet now condemns by saying that the Jews grew strong in crying against God.

They again answer and say, In what have we spoken against You? It appears from these many repetitions that the hypocrisy, united with great shameless boldness, could not be easily corrected in such a stubborn people. It should indeed have occurred to them that they had wickedly accused God. But they acknowledge no fault here, asking, What do you mean? as though they wished to accuse the Prophet of having falsely charged them, since they were conscious of no wrong.

He then gives the reason why he said that their words grew strong against God: that is, that they daringly and furiously spoke evil of God. And the reason was because they said that God was worshipped in vain. They thought that they worshipped God perfectly, and this was their false principle.

For hypocrites always lay claim to complete holiness and cannot bear to confess their own evils. Even when their conscience goads them, they deceive themselves with vain flatteries and always try to draw some veil over themselves so that their disgrace may not appear before men. Hence hypocrites seek to deceive themselves, God, angels, and men.

When they are puffed up with the confidence that they worship God purely, rightly, and without any defect, and that they are without any blame, they will betray the hostility that lies within whenever God does not help them as they wish, whenever He does not submit to their will. For when they are prosperous, God is constantly blessed by them; but as soon as He withdraws His hand and begins to test their patience, they will then show, as I have said, what sort of worshippers of God they are.

But in the service of God, the chief thing is this: that people deny themselves, give themselves up to be ruled by God, and never raise an outcry when He humbles them.

Thus we see how it was that the Jews found fault with God. For they were persuaded that they fully performed their duty, which was, however, completely false. And then, they were not willing to submit to God and to take His yoke upon them, because they did not consider in how many ways they had provoked God’s wrath, and what just and numerous reasons He has for chastening His people, even when they do nothing wrong.

Since, then, they did not seriously consider any of these things, they thought that He was unjust to them, concluding, "In vain then do we serve God." These thoughts, as we have said, sometimes come into the minds of the faithful; but they, as is fitting for them, resist such thoughts. The Jews, on the contrary, as though they were victorious, spewed out these blasphemies against God.

In vain we serve God; what benefit? they said, for we have kept His charge, we have walked obscurely, or humbly, before Jehovah of hosts; and yet we are constrained to call the proud, or the impious, happy. Here they bring a twofold accusation against God: first, that they received no reward for their piety when they faithfully discharged their duty towards God, and second, that it was better with the ungodly and the despisers of God than with them.

Thus we see how they reproachfully exaggerated what they considered God's injustice. At least, they themselves imagined that He deprived the just of their deserved reward and favored the ungodly and the wicked as though He was pleased with them, as though He intended all the more to exasperate the sorrow of His own servants, who, though they worshipped faithfully, yet saw that they did so in vain, as God concealed Himself and did not regard their services.

It is no wonder that the good are also tempted, as we have said, by thoughts of this kind, when the state of affairs in the world is very confused. Even Solomon says, All things happen alike to the just and to the unjust, to him who offers sacrifices, and to him who does not sacrifice (Ecclesiastes 9:2).

Therefore, the earth is full of impiety and contempt. An occasion for indignation and envy is therefore presented to us. But as God by design tries our faith by such confusions, we must remember that we must exercise patience.

At the same time, it is not enough for us to submit to God’s judgment unless we also consider that we are justly distressed. Though we may be attentive to what is just and upright, many vices still cling to us, and we are marked by many flaws which provoke God’s wrath against us.

Let us then learn to form a right judgment as to what our life is, and then let us bear in mind how many reasons God has for sometimes dealing roughly with us. Thus all our envying will cease, and our minds will be prepared calmly to obey. In short, these considerations will check whatever stubborn resistance there may be in us, so that neither our wicked thoughts nor our words will be so strong as to rise in rebellion against God.

Prayer:

Grant, Almighty God, that since we continue to provide many and various reasons to induce You to withdraw Your blessing and to show Yourself displeased with us, O grant that we may patiently bear Your scourges by which You chasten us. May we also profit under them and so contend with all our depraved affections and the corruptions of the flesh that we may become partakers of Your paternal kindness, which You offer to us. May we also so taste of Your goodness, which is manifested towards us in innumerable ways, that it may keep us in the pursuit of true religion. Finally, may our tongues be consecrated to magnify Your judgment and to celebrate Your justice. Whatever happens to us, may we always serve You throughout our whole life as our Father, declare Your goodness towards us, and confess that we are justly punished whenever You visit us with severity, until we at length reach that blessed rest. This rest is to be the end of all our evils and an entrance not only into life but also into that full glory and happiness procured for us by the blood of Your only-begotten Son. Amen.

[Exposition continues from previous day's lecture]

We saw in our last lecture that the Jews were indignant because God did not treat them with more kindness, as they thought that they rightly performed their duty towards Him. We said that such a protest can never be justly made by men.

For though they may find God severe, there are always many reasons why He should test them by various troubles. But hypocrites seem to themselves to be the most perfect of all people, though they have only the outward appearance or mask of religion.

They indeed say that they have kept the Law, but when we come to the test, their hollowness is revealed. For the main thing in the Law is missing—that is, integrity of heart. Indeed, even in their outward life, they are found to be transgressors.

However this may be, they boasted that they kept the law, as we find in this passage, We have kept His charge. The doctrine of the law is here by a metaphor called a charge or keeping (custodia), because it rules us, it also confines us within limits that we may not wander in uncertainty, it restrains our corrupt desires; in short, it keeps us under the fear of God and in the best order.

Had the Jews considered this, they could never have dared to claim so much for themselves. The Prophet adopts this word, then commonly used, and thus he shows how little attention they gave to the consideration of God’s law; for they thought that their whole life was conformed to all the commandments, and yet they hardly conformed to a thousandth part of them.

They add, We have walked with a dark face or dress. There is here also a metaphor, for they meant that they had been humble and lowly before God. It is indeed no ordinary thing in God’s service to lay aside all pride and vain confidence, and to walk humbly with Him: but hypocrites, like apes, imitate what God requires and approves; and at the same time they say nothing of changing the heart.

Fear and sorrow are required, according to what we have seen in the Prophet Micah. But hypocrites think that a dejected countenance is enough, and so they often pretend sorrow while they inwardly please and flatter themselves.

On this account, we find in Isaiah 58, as well as in this place, that they bring a charge against God: that He did not regard them when they walked with a sad countenance, when they afflicted themselves with fastings. In short, when by various other performances they showed great holiness, they brought an accusation against God because He disregarded all these things or did not give them the recognition they expected.

Let us then remember that the Jews were guilty of two errors:

1. They presented to God an empty appearance for true humility, for they were undoubtedly puffed up with false confidence even though they pretended to be miserable and humble before God.
2. They claimed for themselves more than what was just. For though there may have been some apparent modesty and submissiveness in them, they nevertheless went beyond proper bounds, since we always are filled with presumption, or at least are never thoroughly freed from it.

They then falsely pretended that they walked humbly and dejectedly before God.