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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.comKeil and Delitzsch Commentary - Malachi 3:5 - 3:5
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Mal 3:5. “And I will draw near to you to judgment, and will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, and against the adulterers, and against those who swear for deceit, and those who press down the wages of the hireling, the widow and the orphan, and bow down the foreigner, and fear not me, saith Jehovah of hosts. Mal 3:6. For I Jehovah, I change not; and ye sons of Israel, ye are not consumed.” The refining which the Lord will perform at His coming will not limit itself to the priests, but become a judgment upon all sinners. This judgment is threatened against those who wanted the judgment of God to come, according to Mal 2:17. To these the Lord will draw near to judgment, and rise up as a swift witness against all the wicked who do not fear Him. The word קָרַבְתִּי does not imply that the judgment announced will actually commence at once. The drawing near to judgment takes place in the day of His coming (Mal 3:2), and this is preceded by the sending of the messenger to prepare the way. The words affirm nothing as to the time of the coming, because this was not revealed to the prophet. Nor is there any intimation on this point in the word מְמַהֵר, but simply the announcement that the Lord will come with unexpected rapidity, in contrast with the murmuring of the people at the delay of judgment (Mal 2:17). מְמַהֵר answers substantially to פִּתְאֹם in Mal 3:1. God comes as a practical witness against the wicked, convicting them of their guilt by punishing them. The particular sins mentioned here are such as were grievous sins in the eye of the law, and to some extent were punishable with death. On sorcerers and adulterers see Exo 22:17; Lev 20:10; Deu 22:22. That sorcery was very common among the Jews after the captivity, is evident from such passages as Act 8:9; Act 13:6, and from Josephus, Ant. xx. 6, de bell. Jud. ii. 12, 23; and the occurrence of adultery may be inferred from the condemnation of the marriages with heathen wives in Mal 2:10-16. On false swearing compare Lev 19:12. The expression to press the wages of the labourer is unusual, since the only other passage in which עָשַׁק is construed with a neuter object is Mic 2:2, and in every other case it is applied to persons; for עָשַׁק שָׂכִיר compare Lev 19:13 and Deu 24:14-15, to which the reproof refers. אַלְמָנָה וְיָתוֹם are not genitives dependent upon שְׂכַר, but further objects to עֹשְׁקֵי. For the fact itself compare Exo 22:21-23; Deu 24:17; Deu 27:19. To מַטֵּי גֵר we are not to supply מִשְׁפַּט, after Deu 24:17 and Deu 27:19; but הִטָּה is used of the person as in Amo 5:12 : to bow down the stranger, i.e., to oppress him unjustly. The words, “and fear not me,” point to the source from which all these sins flowed, and refer to all the sinners mentioned before. This threat of judgment is explained in Mal 3:6 in the double clause: that Jehovah does not change, and the sons of Israel do not perish. Because Jehovah is unchangeable in His purposes, and Israel as the people of God is not to perish, therefore will God exterminate the wicked out of Israel by means of judgment, in order to refine it and shape it according to its true calling. The perfects are used to express established truths. The unchangeableness of God is implied in the name Jehovah, “who is that He is,” the absolutely independent and absolutely existing One (see at Gen 2:4). For the fact itself compare Num 23:19; 1Sa 15:29; Jam 1:17. Jehovah is in apposition to 'ănı̄ (I), and not a predicate in the sense of “I am Jehovah” (Luther, Hengstenberg, etc.); this is evident from the parallel וְאַתֶּם בְּנֵי יַעֲקֹב (and ye, the sons of Jacob), where no one thinks of taking בני יעק (sons of Jacob) as a predicate. Kâlâh, to come to an end, to be destroyed, as the parallel passage, Jer 30:11, which floated before the prophet's mind, clearly shows. The name “sons of Jacob” (poetical for sons of Israel) is used emphatically, denoting the true members of the people of God, who rightly bear the name of Israel. These do not perish, because their existence rests upon the promise of the unchangeable God (cf. Rom 11:28-29).