Malachi occupies a pre-eminence as the last of the prophets. With him the prophetic vision was sealed until it opened again with Him who was "more than a prophet." Of him we know nothing personally. He appears simply as "the voice of the Lord." His name means "messenger, and some have conjectured that it was not the real name of the prophet and have insisted that the real author was Mordecai, or Ezra, or some other leading Jew of the age. The most judicious Bible scholars reject these conjectures as fanciful.

      As to the object, circumstances and date of the work, Cowles says: "A careful comparison of Malachi with Nehemiah 13:7-31, shows the same flagrant sins as prevailing in each, e. g., intermarriages with foreigners, neglect of tithes, violation of the Sabbath and of religious worship generally. Hence it appears highly probable that Malachi co-operated with Nehemiah in his last reformation, as Isaiah did with Hezekiah, and Jeremiah with Josiah. The civil ruler would greatly need the aid of some earnest and pure-minded prophet in such a work. The precise date of the last visit of Nehemiah to Jerusalem is a question of some historic interest, inasmuch as it is the date of the latest inspired Old Testament history and prophecy.   *   *   *   Nehemiah's first visit was in the twentieth year of Artaxerxes Longimanus, B. C. 444. After twelve years' stay he returned to Persia in B. C. 432. The date of the second visit is probably twenty-four years later, or in B. C. 408, though it may have been less. The interval had been long enough for the introduction of grievous abuses, for intermarriages with foreigners, and births from these marriages, and children old enough to speak "according to the language of each people." While the data do not determine the exact time it is sufficient for all practical purposes. Not far from four hundred years before Christ this last of the long series of inspired prophets united his efforts with those of Nehemiah to call back the apostate people to their forsaken God. At the same time the comforts the devout believers among them with very distinct and precious promises of the conversion of the Gentiles; of the coming of the glorious Lord, "the Messenger of the Covenant," to his earthly temple; and also of the coming of John the Baptist, designated as the "messenger who shall prepare the Way before the Lord, and as Elijah the prophet" returned once more to the world. [76]

      3:1. Behold, I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me. The Savior said (Luke 7:27) of John the Baptist: "This is he of whom it is written, Behold I send my messenger before thy face, who shall prepare the way before thee." Of him also his father, Zacharias, filled with the Holy Spirit, said: "Thou, child, shalt be called the prophet of the Highest, for thou shalt go before the Lord to prepare his ways." It is not, therefore, an open question whether Malachi speaks of John. As kings were wont in ancient days to send heralds before them, when about to make a royal journey, who not only proclaimed the coming of the king, but commanded that the highways be put in order for his coming, so John was the king's messenger to go before, announce the coming of the king, and to prepare the way. Not only does the prophet here predict the coming of the Christ, but of the messenger who went before him. John is thus distinguished as the only New Testament character, besides Christ, who is a clear subject of Old Testament prophecy. "When Ibrahim Pasha proposed to visit certain places on Lebanon, the emirs and sheiks sent forth a general proclamation, somewhat in the style of Isaiah's exhortation, to all the inhabitants, to assemble along the proposed route, and prepare the way before him. The same was done in 1846, when the present sultan visited Brusa. The stones were gathered out, the crooked places straightened, the rough ones made level and smooth."--The Land and the Book (1:105, 106). "John prepared the way for Christ in this wilderness by preaching repentance, awakening the conscience, manifesting the danger and the evil of sin, showing the need of a Savior, and the value and the possibility of a better life. John the Baptist still, in each experience, goes before the coming Savior. And we all should prepare the way of the Lord. (1) Fill up the valleys, the sins of omission,--defects of prayer, of faith, of love, of work. (2) Bring down the mountains of pride, sin, selfishness, unbelief, worldliness. (3) Straighten out all crooked places, crooked dealings with others, crooked ways of sin, settle difficulties, confess sins. (4) Smooth the rough places,--the harshness of temper and manner, the little foxes that spoil the vines, the want of courtesy, which mar the beauty of holiness."--P. And the Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come. Haggai had spoken of the Savior as the Desire of All Nations, and Malachi names his as the Lord they seek. Already Israel was filled with longing expectation. The "seeking for the Lord" became more and more earnest as the time of his birth approached. At this time the aged Simeon, "waiting for the consolation of Israel," and "Anna the prophetess," were examples of a large class of the devout Hebrews. The Lord thus sought, Malachi declares, shall come to his temple. First there will be the messenger and then the Lord. Every one knows how this was fulfilled and how the Savior appeared, taught, and finally entered the most Holy Place of the temple. The messenger of the covenant. The "Lord" is also here called the Messenger of the covenant. The word Messenger means the same as angel. The "Angel of [77] the covenant" is spoken of in various places in the Old Testament (see Exodus 23:20, 23) and has usually been supposed to be the Lord. This Angel of the covenant pardons sin, acts in the name of Jehovah, speaks for him, and is evidently a divine being. As Christ was "before Abraham" and "in the beginning was with God," there is little doubt that he is "the angel of the covenant," the divine messenger through whom the covenant was enacted and its blessings guaranteed to man. When he came to earth he came as heaven's messenger. While here he perfected the New Covenant.

      2. But who may abide the day of his coming? As the light of the sun reveals the stains and pollution that may be upon our garments, so the Sun of righteousness reveals the heart with its moral pollution. Who could stand the searching ordeal of his presence and his words? Not the corrupt priesthood, or the self righteous Pharisees, or the Scribes puffed up with their own pedantic knowledge, or the sensual Sadducees. Not the money changers and traders that he scourged from his temple. Only those "shall stand when he appeareth" who were looking for redemption in his name and whose hearts were contrite and broken. He is like refiner's fire, and like fullers' soap. As these refine, remove the dross and impurity, so Christ shall cleanse the heart. The refiner by his fire melts the precious metal, and frees it from the impurities that cling to it. The fuller's soap whitens. Christ calls for a new and pure heart, and anew and pure life. Those who submit to him, "though their sins are as scarlet, are made as white as snow."

      3. He shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver. In Boulder, Colorado, the writer watched the silver ore as it was heated and melted in the furnace. As the fires became intense the precious metal and the impure earth parted, the refiner watched the process with the closest attention, until he saw by the glow that the right moment had come and then he drew off the silver. He sat as a refiner and watched. So Christ engages in the refining process. He had to send the fires of calamity upon old Israel in order to purify the corrupt sons of Levi and to "purge them as gold and silver." He separated a cleansed and purged element from the Jewish nation, while the rest were under the baptism of fire. Those who are purified by Christ can make "an offering in righteousness," not the sacrifices of the Jewish temple, but "their bodies as living sacrifices."

      4. Then shall the offering of Judah and Jerusalem be pleasant to the Lord. It will then be acceptable as in the old days when Israel was faithful. Malachi declares (chap. 1:7) that they were wont to offer polluted bread on the altar, and blind, lame and sick beasts for sacrifice, while the law required the best. The mean, [78] stingy, dishonest motives that caused such offerings, made the sacrifices an abomination. The pure hearts of Christ's people will enable them to offer pleasant sacrifices.

      5. And I will come near you to judgment. Their various sins are catalogued and denounced: Sorcery, adultery, perjury and oppression. The last sill was shown in injustice to the hireling, the widow, the orphan and the stranger. The Lord has always been on the side of the oppressed. At this time every man who pinches the hireling, compels him to labor for starvation wages, or cheats him out of his dues, has the Lord against him. There will be a terrible reckoning sometime for the oppressors of the earth.

      6. I am the Lord, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed. Of old the Lord had made a covenant in which he had promised that in the seed of Abraham all nations should be blessed. The Lord, hence, did not blot out Israel for its sins, but would keep covenant, and preserve the nation until all was fulfilled.

      4:1. Behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven. With no break in the continuous thought this chapter proceeds to contrast the destiny of the wicked and the righteous with reference to the day of the Lord. The destiny of the wicked is often declared to be fire. Fire was rained on Sodom and Gomorrah. Psalm 11:6 declares: Upon the wicked he shall rain forked lightnings, fire and brimstone, and a horrible tempest. See also Ezekiel 38:22. John declares of the One who cometh after him, that he shall burn the chaff with unquenchable fire, and it is further declared that he shall baptize with fire. This element is taken as the symbol of suffering. The day referred to by Malachi may refer, finally, to the end of time, but there is a primary reference to the awful judgments that came on the Jews at the destruction of Jerusalem. At that time the great mass of the nation was consumed on account of its sins, a million perishing in the siege of Jerusalem according to Josephus.

      2. But unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise. Christ is [79] appropriately called a Sun because he is the Light of the World. He is also our righteousness, redemption and sanctification. Upon those that fear his name he has arisen with healing in his wings. Those of the Jewish nation who feared him, warned by his words, fled from Judea at the time of the Roman destruction and were saved. They are also saved in the great day.

      3. And ye shall tread down the wicked. The prophet looks forward to the fearful day of destruction and beholds a vivid picture. The wicked, consumed, shall be as ashes, but the righteous, saved, shall walk over the fields strown with their ashes, unhurt.

      5. Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day. Elijah, the prophet, had been taken up from the earth hundreds of years before Malachi uttered these words; yet he declares that he shall come before the great day of destruction. It is easy for us to understand what is meant. In Mark 9:11-13, our Lord points out the Elijah who had come, one in the spirit and power of Elijah, a great reformer, a stern censor of sin, a man of austere life, not as a "reed shaken with the wind," or one clad "in soft raiment." John, the second Elijah, came before the great and dreadful day when the nation was smitten down by the Roman arms, and called upon them to repent because the kingdom of heaven was at hand, and warning them to flee from the wrath to come. This second Elijah came and warned them, bade them repent, called upon them to accept Christ; then the Savior offered them salvation; when this was rejected, the long, suffering of God came to an end and the vials of wrath were poured out on a wicked people. The Savior cried, "If thou hadst known in this, the day of thy visitation, the things that make for thy peace!" Again he says: "O Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets and stonest them that are sent unto thee: how often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not. Now your house is left unto you desolate." The last call had been made.

      6. And he shall turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, etc. The work of John was the reformation of the nation and its preparation for Christ. He exerted a profound influence and shook the nation to the center. Vast multitudes were baptized by him, and all the early disciples of Christ had been prepared by John. He effected a great work of preparation, and a great spiritual [80] revival. Every such revival destroys hatred, variance, jealousy, coolness or indifference, and fills the heart with a tender love. The effect of John's work was to make parents love their children and children to love their parents. True religion promotes domestic affection. False religion destroys it. It made the Canaanite burn his child, or the Hindoo mother to cast hers into the Ganges. The idolater at the shrine of Mammon or Fashion will still sacrifice the child by neglect, by selling out its real interests, or by making it a victim on the altar of vanity. God requires parents to love their children and children to honor their parents. That is the effect of every movement that comes from God; of John's preaching and of all true preachers of righteousness.

      Thus closes the Old Testament. These last words point to the New Covenant; to the Messenger to prepare for the King; to the Angel of the Covenant, to the second Elijah, and to the great and dreadful day of the Lord. The gleams of the sunrise are seen upon the hills as the sunset of Old Testament inspiration casts its shadows.

      1. "Our lives are naked and open to Him with whom we have to do." Because the Lord is long-suffering, and suffers the wicked to work their evil deeds for many years with impunity, they often conclude that he may be mocked. The Lord is slow to anger, but his justice does not sleep. The wicked Jews were saved unto the day of wrath.

      2. Nor does God forget his promises. Though the Jewish nation tried him by its sins, and deserved destruction, God had covenanted that a Redeemer should come out of Jacob. His promises never fail. In his own time they will surely be fulfilled. The Messenger came at the appointed season; the blessed Savior followed in Mercy; the day of the glorious triumph of the kingdom will surely come.

      3. God, in his mercy, sends warning after warning. Prophet after prophet warned the Jews of the wrath to come on account of their sins. Then came the second Elijah, who called them to repentance and pointed them to the Lord. Christ then called them to have life, but "he came to his own and his own received him not." It was the last call. By rejecting Christ they sealed their own destruction.

      4. Nations and men have their day of opportunity. God says, "To-day, if you will hear his voice, harden not your hearts." To hearken and obey is life; to refuse, is to perish. The time comes when there is a sting in the memory of lost opportunities; when the last call is ended and when the mourning cry is raised, "The summer is past, the harvest is ended and my soul is not saved."

      5. Everyone should prepare the highway for the King to enter his heart. He should listen to the voice of an Elijah, who bids him repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand, and then points him to the "Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world."

      6. JOHN'S EXAMPLE.--We have no record of John's daily life, but that of one who, in saintliness of spirit, trod in his steps, is still preserved. St. Anthony, in the deserts of Egypt, was wont to pass whole nights in prayer, and that not once, but often, to the astonishment of men. He ate once a day, after the setting of [81] the sun; his food was bread with salt, his drink nothing but water. Flesh and wine he never tasted. When he slept, he was content with a rush mat, but mostly he lay on bare ground. He would not anoint himself with oil, saying that it was more fit for young men to be earnest in subduing the body, than to seek things which softened it. The picture may not suit in some particulars, but as a glimpse of the mortified life of the desert, in its best aspect, it may serve to realize that of John, in the loneliness of the rough wilderness of Judea.

[CLC01 76-82]