John Calvin Commentary Malachi 3:15

"And now we call the proud happy; yea, they that work wickedness are built up; yea, they tempt God, and escape." — Malachi 3:15 (ASV)

This verse is connected with the previous one, for the force of these words, "We have walked sorrowfully before God and have carefully kept his precepts," does not fully appear unless this clause is added—that they saw meanwhile that the proud flourished and had their delights, as if they said, "We strive to deserve well of God by our services; he overlooks all our religious acts and pours, as it were, all his bounty on our enemies, who are still ungodly and profane." We now see how these verses are connected, for God disappointed the Jews of the reward they thought due to them, and meanwhile bestowed his kindness on the impious and undeserving.

To call anyone blessed, as we have seen before, is to acknowledge that God's blessing is on him, according to what God had promised, Behold, all nations shall call thee blessed. So a changed state of things is presented here, for the Jews, when they were miserable, called others blessed; not that they willingly declared this, but envy forced them to complain of the cheerful and happy state of the Gentiles, who were still ungodly.

And by the proud they meant all the despisers of God, a part being mentioned for the whole; and they were so called because faith alone humbles us. Many unbelievers are indeed praised for their humility, but no one becomes truly humble without first being emptied of every conceit as to his own virtues. Some rise up against God and rob him of what is his own, and then it is no wonder that they act insolently toward their neighbors, since they dare even to raise their horns against God himself. And in many parts of Scripture the unbelieving are called proud, so that we may know that we cannot be formed and habituated to humility until we submit to the yoke of God, so that he may turn us wherever he wishes, and until we cast aside every confidence in ourselves.

As well as, they said; for גם, gam, is here repeated, and must be translated "as well as," that is, All who do iniquity as well as all who tempt God, are built up and are delivered. First, what is general is stated, and then what is particular; yet the Prophet speaks of the same persons, for he first calls God's despisers iniquitous, and he afterward says that the same people tempted God, which is more specific. The sum of the whole is—that God's favor was conspicuous toward the despisers of the law, for they lived prosperously, were also delivered, and found God their helper in adversity.

The verb, to build, is understood in Hebrew in the sense of prospering and is applied to many things. Therefore, when anyone grows and increases in honors or in riches, when he accumulates wealth, or when he is raised, as it were, by degrees to a higher condition, he is said to be built up.

It is also added that they were delivered, for it would not be enough to acquire much wealth unless aid from God comes in adversity, as no one, even the most fortunate, is exempt from every evil. Hence, to building up, the Prophet adds this second clause—that God delivered the wicked from all evils, as if he covered them under his shadow and as if they were his clients.

Regarding the second verb, when he says that the ungodly tempted God, it is, as we know, the work of unbelief to contend with God. The Prophet used the same word shortly before, when he said, Prove me in this: but God then, in the manner of men, submitted to a trial. Here, on the contrary, the Prophet condemns that insolence which so commonly prevails in the world, when men seek to confine God, to impose a law on him, and to scrutinize his judgments. In short, it is as if they had a right to prescribe to him according to their own caprice, so that he should not do this or that; and if he did, to call on him to plead his own cause. We now, then, perceive what it is to prove or tempt God.