John Gill Commentary Malachi 3

Behold, I will send my messenger
These are the words of Christ, in answer to the question put in the last verse of the preceding chapter (Malachi 2:17), "Where [is] the God of judgment?" intimating that he would quickly appear, and previous to his coming send his messenger or angel; not the angel of death to destroy the wicked, as Jarchi thinks; nor an angel from heaven, as Kimchi; nor Messiah the son of Joseph; as Aben Ezra; nor the Prophet Malachi himself, as Abarbinel; but the same that is called Elijah the prophet, (Malachi 4:5) and is no other than John the Baptist, as is clear from (Matthew 11:10) (Mark 1:2) called a "messenger" or "angel", not by nature, but by office; and Christ's messenger, because sent by him and on his errand; and which shows the power and authority of Christ in sending forth ministers; his superior excellency to John, and his existence before him, or he could not be sent by him, and so before his incarnation; for John was sent by him before he was in the flesh, and consequently this is a proof of the proper deity of Christ: and the word "behold" is prefixed to this, in order to raise the attention of those that put the above question, and all others; as well as to show that the message John was sent upon was of the greatest moment and importance; as that the Messiah was just ready to appear, his kingdom was at hand, and the Jews ought to believe in him; though it also respects the coming of the Messiah, spoken of in the latter part of the text:

and he shall prepare the way before me;
by declaring to the Jews that he was born, and was in the midst of them; by pointing him out unto them; by preaching the doctrine of repentance, and exhorting them to believe in him; and by administering the ordinance of baptism in general to all proper subjects, and in particular to Christ, by which he was made manifest to Israel; (See Gill on Mark 1:2) the allusion is to kings and great men sending persons before them when on a journey, to give notice of their coming, and provide for them:

and the Lord, whom you seek;
this is the person himself speaking, the Son of God, and promised Messiah, the Lord of all men, and particularly of his church and people, in right of marriage, by virtue of redemption, and by being their Head and King; so Kimchi and Ben Melech interpret it of him, and even Abarbinel^F17 himself; the Messiah that had been so long spoken of and so much expected, and whom the Jews sought after, either in a scoffing manner, expressed in the above question, or rather seriously; some as a temporal deliverer, to free them from the Roman yoke, and bring them into a state of liberty, prosperity, and grandeur; and others as a spiritual Saviour, to deliver from sin, law, hell, and death, and save them with an everlasting salvation:

shall suddenly come to his temple;
meaning not his human nature, nor his church, sometimes so called; but the material temple at Jerusalem, the second temple, called "his", because devoted to his service and worship, which proves him to be God, and because of his frequency in it; here he was brought and presented by his parents at the proper time, for the purification of his mother; here he was at twelve years of age disputing with the doctors; and here Simeon, Anna, and others, were waiting for him, (Luke 2:22Luke 2:25Luke 2:27Luke 2:38Luke 2:46) and we often read of his being here, and of his using his authority in it as the Lord and proprietor of it;

and of the Hosannas given him here, (Matthew 21:12–15Matthew 21:23) the manner in which he should come, "suddenly", may refer to the manifestation of it, quickly after John the Baptist had prepared his way by his doctrine and baptism: even the messenger of the covenant;
not of the covenant of works with Adam, of which there was no mediator and messenger; nor of the covenant of circumcision, at which, according to the Jews, Elias presides; nor of the covenant at Sinai, of which Moses was the mediator; but of the covenant of grace, of which Christ is not only the Surety and Mediator; but, as here, "the Messenger"; because it is revealed, made known, and exhibited in a more glorious manner by him under the Gospel dispensation, through the ministration of the word and ordinances.

De Dieu observes, that the word in the Ethiopic language signifies a prince as well as a messenger, and so may be rendered, "the Prince of the covenant", which is a way of speaking used in (Daniel 11:22): whom you delight in;
either carnally, as they pleased themselves with the thoughts of a temporal prince, and of great honour and grandeur under him; and as they would have done, had he submitted to have been made a king by them in this sense; or rather spiritually, and so is to be understood of such who had a spiritual knowledge of him, and joy in him; who rejoiced and delighted in the contemplation of his person, offices, righteousness, and salvation: he shall come, says the Lord of hosts;
this expresses the certainty of his coming, being said by himself, who is the Lord of hosts, the Lord of armies in heaven and in earth, the King of kings, and Lord of lords. This passage is, in some Jewish writers^F18, interpreted of the world to come, or times of the Messiah.

FOOTNOTES:

• F17: Mashmiah Jeshuah, fol. 76. 4.
• F18: Bemidbar Rabba, sect. 16. fol. 219. 4.

But who may abide the day of his coming ?
&c.] When he should be manifest in Israel, and come preaching the Gospel of the kingdom; who could bear the doctrines delivered by him, concerning his deity and equality with God the Father; concerning his character and mission as the Messiah, and his kingdom not being a temporal, but a spiritual one; concerning his giving his flesh for the life of the world, and eating that by faith; concerning distinguishing and efficacious grace; and all such that so severely struck at the wickedness of the Scribes and Pharisees, and their self-righteous principles; and especially since for judgment he came, that they might not see? nor could they bear the light of this glorious Sun of righteousness; and he came not to send peace and outward prosperity to the Jews, but a sword and division, (John 9:39) (Matthew 10:34) (Luke 12:51) very few indeed could bear his ministry, or the light of that day, it being so directly contrary to their principles and practices:

and who shall stand when he appeareth ?
in his kingdom and glory, to take vengeance on the Jews for their rejection of him and his Gospel; for this coming and appearance of his include all the time between his manifestation in the flesh and the destruction of Jerusalem; and so all those sorrows and distresses which went before it, or attended it, and were such as had never been from the creation of the world; and unless those times had been shortened, no flesh could have been saved; see (Matthew 24:3–22) (Luke 21:36) :

for he [is] like a refiner's fire ;
partly by the ministry of the word, compared to fire, (Jeremiah 23:29) separating pure doctrines from ones of dross; and partly by his fiery dispensations and judgments on the wicked Jews, when he distinguished and saved his own people from that untoward generation, and destroyed them:

and like fuller's soap ;
or "fuller's herb", as the Septuagint and Vulgate Latin versions render it, and Jarchi interprets it: and so R. Jonah ^F19 interprets it of an herb which fullers use: and in the Misna

``as sulphur that makes white;'' and fullers, with the Romans, were wont to make use of that along with chalk to take out spots; and so Pliny ^F26 speaks of a kind of sulphur which fullers make use of. A metaphor signifying the same thing as before, the removing of spotted doctrines or spotted persons, the one by the preaching of the Gospel, the other by awful judgments, as spots in garments are removed by the fuller's herb or soap.

FOOTNOTES:

• F19: Apud Kimchi in Sepher Shorash. rad. (rrb) .
• F26: Nat. Hist. l. 35. c. 15.
• F20: this is one of the seven things used to take out spots, namely, "borith", the word here used; and which Maimonides ^F21 says is a plant known by the name of "algasul" and "gazul" in the Arabic language: it signifies something by which filth is washed away; and so Bartenora ^F23 says is a plant which purifies and cleanses; and Jerom ^F24 relates that this herb grows in Palestine, in moist and green places, and has the same virtue as nitre to take away filth; agreeably to which some other versions render it "fuller's weed", or "soap weed" ^F25 . The Syriac version is,
• F21: In Misn. ib.
• F23: In ib.
• F24: Comment. in Jer. ii. 22.
• F25: (Myobkm tyrbk) "ut lanaria fullonum", Drusius; "radicula, [vel] saponaria", Vatablus.

And he shall sit [as] a refiner, and purifier of silver
Kimchi interprets this, as he does the latter part of the preceding verse (Malachi 3:2), of the day, and not of the Lord, which he compares to a judge that sits and separates the guilty from the innocent; see (1 Corinthians 3:13) but it is to be understood of the Lord himself, and expresses his diligence in sitting and separating good men and principles from bad ones, just as silver is purified and refined from dross.

Maimonides ^F1 understands the passage of the Messiah; for he says,``in the days of the King Messiah, when his kingdom is restored, and all Israel shall be gathered to him, all will have their genealogies set right by his mouth, through the Holy Spirit that rests upon him, as it is said, "he shall sit a refiner and purifier":''

as a refiner sits and observes his metal while it is melting, and waits the proper time to pour it out and separate the dross from it; so Christ is here represented as sitting, while his people are purifying and refining by the various ways and means he makes use of: it denotes the continued care of Christ over them; his eye is upon them, that nothing be lost but their dross and corruption; and his patience in waiting to be gracious to them, and do them good; and his diligent attention to the proper season of doing it; designing by all that he does, not their hurt and damage, but their real good, for he saves them, though it be by fire; and indeed every trial and affliction is for the purifying of their souls, and the brightening of their graces, and increasing their spiritual experience, light, and knowledge.

And he shall purify the sons of Levi ;
the priests, either literally understood, some of these were converted from their evil principles and practices, and became obedient to the doctrines of the Gospel, (Acts 6:7) or figuratively, the apostles of Christ and ministers of the Gospel, who were made clean by him; or rather all the people of God, who are made priests as well as kings, and are a royal priesthood, and are purified by Christ, both by his blood, and the imputation of his righteousness, by which they become without spot and blemish, and as white as snow; and by the Spirit in sanctification, he sprinkling clean water upon them, and purifying their hearts by faith in the blood of Jesus; and also by afflictive dispensations of Providence sanctified unto them.

Mention is made of the priests and Levites, because these were so very corrupt in the times of Christ, and as appears from the preceding chapters.

And purge them as gold and silver ;
are purged in the fire from their dross: this shows of what worth and value, and in what esteem the Lord's people are to him; he reckons of them as gold and silver, and as his peculiar treasure: and it suggests, that before conversion they are joined unto and mixed with wicked men, comparable to dross; and that they have in them the dross, corruption, and impurity of sin; which is original and natural to them, and inherent in them, and which can only be removed by the grace of God and blood of Christ.

That they may offer unto the Lord an offering in righteousness ;
themselves, their bodies and souls; the sacrifices of prayer, praise, and alms deeds; to the offering up of which in righteousness, in sincerity and truth, in an upright way, it is necessary that a person should be purified by the blood of Christ, and sanctified by the grace of his Spirit.

FOOTNOTES:

• F1: Hilchot Melachim, c. 12. sect. 3.

Then shall the offering of Judah and Jerusalem be pleasant
unto the Lord
Or "sweet" ^F2 ; grateful and well pleasing to him, as all spiritual sacrifices are acceptable to God through Christ, being offered up in the faith of his atoning sacrifice and righteousness, without which it is impossible to please God: as in the days of old, and as in former years :
under the first temple, and when the tabernacle was set up by Moses, and in the times of the patriarchs; and even before the flood, and as early as Abel, who offered a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, (Hebrews 11:4–6) .

FOOTNOTES:

• F2: (hbre) "dulcescet", Vatablus, Pagninus, Montanus, Drusius; "dulce", Piscator.

And I will come near to you to judgment
And so will manifestly appear to be the God of judgment they asked after, (Malachi 2:17) this is not to be understood of Christ's coming to judgment at the last day, but of his coming to judge and punish the wicked Jews at the time of Jerusalem's destruction; for the same is here meant, who is spoken of in the third person before, and who will not be far off; there will be no need to inquire after him, when he will come he will be near enough, and too near for them:

and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers ;
not only a judge, but a witness; so that there will be no delay of judgment, or protracting or evading it, for want of witnesses of facts alleged. For the Judge himself, who is Christ, will be witness of them, he being the omniscient God, before whom all things are manifest. The Targum is, ``my Word shall be among you for a swift witness.'' Mention is made of "sorcerers", because there were many that used the magic art, enchantments, and sorceries, in the age of Christ and his apostles, and before the destruction of Jerusalem, even many of their doctors and members of the sanhedrim; (See Gill on Isaiah 8:19):

and against the adulterers ;
with whom that age also abounded; hence our Lord calls it an adulterous generation, (Matthew 12:39) (John 8:3–9) (Romans 2:22) :

and against false swearers ;
who were guilty of perjury, and of vain oaths; who swore by the creatures, and not by the Lord, and to things not true; see (Matthew 5:33–37) :

and against those that oppress the hireling in [his] wages, the
widow, and the fatherless ;
defrauding of servants of their wages, devouring widows' houses, and distressing the fatherless, were sins the Jews were addicted to in those times, as appears from (James 1:27) (5:4) who wrote to the twelve tribes; and from what our Lord charges them with, (Matthew 23:14) :

and that turn aside the stranger [from his right] ;
and so Kimchi supplies it, ``that turn aside the judgment of the stranger;'' that do not do him justice in civil things; yea, persecuted those that became proselytes to the Christian religion:

and fear not me, saith the Lord of hosts ;
which was the root and cause of all their sins; irreverence of Christ, disbelief of him, and contempt of his Gospel.