Malachi 1:
1 The ¹burden of the word of the Lord to Israel by Malachi. 

2 I have loved you, saith the Lord. Yet ye say, ¹Wherein hast thou loved us? Was not Esau Jacob’s brother? saith the Lord: yet I loved Jacob, 

3 And I ^1,2hated Esau, and made his mountains waste, and his heritage a wilderness for dragons. 

4 Though Edom say, We are impoverished, but we will return and build the desolate places; yet saith the Lord of hosts, They shall build, but I will destroy it; and they shall call them, The border of wickedness, and, The people with whom the Lord is angry for ever. 

5 And your eyes shall see it, and ye shall say, The Lord will be magnified from the border of Israel. 

6 A son honoureth his father, and a servant his master: if then I be a father, where is mine honour? and if I be a master, where is my fear? saith the LORD of hosts unto you, ¹O priests, that despise my name. And ye say, ²Wherein have we despised thy name? 

7 Ye offer ¹polluted bread upon mine altar; and ye say, Wherein have we polluted thee? In that ye say, The table of the LORD is ²contemptible. 

8 ¹And if ye offer the blind for sacrifice, is it not evil? and if ye offer the lame and sick, is it not evil? offer it now unto thy governor; will he be pleased with thee, or accept thy person? saith the Lord of hosts. 

9 And now, I pray you, ¹beseech God that he may have ²mercy upon us: this hath been by your means: will he ³regard ⁴your persons? saith the LORD of hosts. 

10 Who is there even among you ¹that would shut the doors, and kindle not fire on mine altar in vain? I have no pleasure in you, saith the LORD of hosts, neither will I accept an offering at your hand. 

11 For from the rising of the sun even unto the going down of the same my name is ¹great among the Gentiles; and in every place incense shall be offered unto my name, and a pure offering: for my name is great among the heathen, saith the LORD of hosts. 

12 But ye have profaned it, in that ye say, ¹The table of the Lord is polluted; and the fruit thereof, even his meat, is contemptible. 

13 Ye said also, Behold, what a ¹weariness is it! and ye have snuffed at it, saith the LORD of hosts; and ye brought that which was torn, and the lame, and the sick; thus ye offered an offering: should I accept this of your hand? saith the LORD. 

14 But cursed be the deceiver, which hath in his flock ¹a male, and voweth, and sacrificeth unto the Lord a corrupt thing: for I am a great King, saith the Lord of hosts, and my name is dreadful among the heathen.

Malachi 1 Footnotes:
¹Malachi 1:1 Trapp: That is, the burdenous prophecy (as Tremellius renders it): a burden, as, 1. Enjoined and imposed upon the prophet to utter, to cry aloud and not spare, to lift up his voice as a trumpet, &c., straining every vein in his heart to do it; declaiming lustily against sin and sinners, and proclaiming hell-fire for them in case they amend not. Read Isa. 13:1.
¹Malachi 1:2 Which declareth their great ingratitude that did not acknowledge this love, which was so evident, in that he chose Abraham from out of all the world, and next chose Jacob the younger brother of whom they came, and left Esau the elder.
¹Malachi 1:3 For beside here the signs of mine hatred appeared even when he was made servant unto his younger brother, being yet in his mother’s belly, and also afterward in that he was put from his birthright, yet even now before your eyes the signs hereof are evident, in that that his country lieth waste and he shall never return to inhabit.
²Malachi 1:3 Whereas ye my people, whom the enemy hated more than them, are by my grace and love toward you delivered, read Rom. 9:13.
¹Malachi 1:6 Besides the rest of the people he condemneth the Priests chiefly, because they should have reproved others for their hypocrisy, and obstinacy against God, and not have hardened them by their example to greater evils.
²Malachi 1:6 He noteth their gross hypocrisy, which would not see their faults, but most impudently covered them, and so were blind guides.
¹Malachi 1:7 Ye receive all manner offerings for your own greediness, and do not examine whether they be according to my Law, or no.
²Malachi 1:7 Not that they said thus, but by their doings they declared no less.
¹Malachi 1:8 You make it no fault: whereby he condemneth them, that think it sufficient to serve God partly as he hath commanded, and partly after man’s fantasy: and so come not to the pureness of religion, which he requireth, and therefore in reproach he showeth them that a mortal man would not be content to be so served.
See here the relation of doctrine and life set forth in the prophet’s words. He condemneth them on account of their blind offerings. “The blind shall lead the blind, and both shall fall into the ditch.” Heretics and false teachers are not accepted by God. False doctrine damns the soul as much as vice. A man may go to hell for ignorance as much as for debauchery. For will God be served by him that knoweth not how to serve God? But that the licentious should not be puffed up, he condemneth them also saying that the lame and sick were not accepted. God accepts a pure and whole sacrifice, and he only will see God whose heart and mind are free from idolatry and heresy (free will and works of merit) and who prove this testimony by a life of holiness. see Ezk. 18:4-9, Mic. 6:8, Matt. 5:8
¹Malachi 1:9 He derideth the Priests who bare the people in hand that they prayed for them, and showeth that they were the occasion, that these evils came upon the people.
²Malachi 1:9 That is, the free grace of God apart from free will and works. For all religion of man rooted in his own ability is hypocrisy.
³Malachi 1:9 Will God accept the works of men which are not in perfect conformity to His law? see Gal. 3:10
Calvin: The sentence of the law is, that all who have transgressed any part of the law are cursed. Let us now see if there be any living man who fulfils the law. But no such person, it is evident, has been, or ever can be found. All to a man are here condemned.
⁴Malachi 1:9 Will God consider your office and state, seeing you are so covetous and wicked?
¹Malachi 1:10 Because the Levites who kept the doors did not try whether the sacrifices that came in, were according to the Law, God wisheth that they would rather shut the doors, than to receive such as were not perfect.
¹Malachi 1:11 God showeth that their ingratitude, and neglect of his true service shall be the cause of the calling of the Gentiles: and here the Prophet that was under the Law, framed his words to the capacity of the people, and by the altar and sacrifice he meaneth the spiritual service of God, which should be under the Gospel, when an end should be made to all these legal ceremonies by Christ’s only sacrifice.
¹Malachi 1:12 Both the Priests and the people were infected with this error, that they passed not what was offered: for they thought that God was as well content with the lean, as with the fat: but in the mean season they showed not that obedience to God, which he required, and so committed both impiety, and also showed their contempt of God, and covetousness.
¹Malachi 1:13 The Priests and people were both weary with serving God, and passed not what manner of sacrifice and service they gave to God: for that which was least profitable, was thought good enough for the Lord.
¹Malachi 1:14 That is, hath ability to serve the Lord according to his word, and yet will serve him according to his covetous mind.

Malachi 2:
1 And now, O ye ¹priests, this commandment is for you. 

2 If ye will not hear, and if ye will not lay it to heart, ¹to give glory unto my name, saith the Lord of hosts, I will even send a curse upon you, and I will curse your ²blessings: yea, I have cursed them already, because ye do not lay it to heart. 

3 Behold, I will corrupt ¹your seed, and spread dung upon your faces, even the ²dung of your solemn feasts; and you shall be like unto it. 

4 And ye shall know that I have ¹sent this commandment unto you, that my covenant which I made with Levi might stand, saith the Lord of hosts. 

5 My ¹covenant was with him of life and peace; and I ²gave it to him that he might fear me, so he did fear, and was reverent before ³my name. 

6 The law of ¹truth was in his mouth, and there was no iniquity found in his lips: he walked with me in peace and equity, and did turn many away from iniquity. 

7 For the priest’s ¹lips should preserve knowledge, and they should seek the law at his mouth: for he is the ²messenger of the Lord of hosts. 

8 But ye are departed out of the way; ye have caused many to stumble at the law; ye have corrupted the covenant of Levi, saith the Lord of hosts. 

9 Therefore have I also made you contemptible and base before all the people, according as ye have not kept my ways, but have been partial in the law. 

10 Have we not all one ¹father? hath not one God created us? why do we deal treacherously every man against his brother, by profaning the covenant of ²our fathers? 

11 Judah hath dealt treacherously, and an abomination is committed in Israel and in Jerusalem; for Judah hath profaned the holiness of the Lord which he loved, and hath married the ¹daughter of a strange god. 

12 The Lord will cut off the man that doeth this, the master and the scholar, out of the tabernacles of Jacob, and him that ¹offereth an offering unto the Lord of hosts. 

13 And this have ye done again, ¹covering the altar of the Lord with tears, with weeping, and with crying out, insomuch that he regardeth not the offering any more, or receiveth it with good will at your hand. 

14 Yet ye say, ¹Wherefore? Because the Lord hath been witness between thee and wife of thy youth, against whom thou hast dealt treacherously: yet is she thy ²companion, and the wife of thy ³covenant. 

15 And did ¹he not make one? Yet had he ²abundance of spirit. And wherefore one? That he might seek a ³godly seed. Therefore ⁴keep yourselves in your spirit, and let none deal treacherously against the wife of his youth. 

16 If thou hatest her, ¹put her away, sayeth the Lord God of Israel, yet he covereth ²the violence under his garment, sayeth the Lord of hosts: therefore keepe yourselves in your spirit, and deal not treacherously. 

17 ¹Ye have wearied the Lord with your words. Yet ye say, Wherein have we wearied him? ²When ye say, Every one that doeth evil is good in the sight of the Lord, and he delighteth in them; or, ³Where is the God of judgment?

Malachi 2 Footnotes:
¹Malachi 2:1 He speaketh unto them chiefly, but under them he containeth the people also.
¹Malachi 2:2 To serve me according to my word.
²Malachi 2:2 That is, the abundance of God’s benefits.
¹Malachi 2:3 Your seed sown shall come to no profit.
²Malachi 2:3 You boast of your holiness, sacrifices and feasts, but they shall turn to your shame and be as vile as dung.
¹Malachi 2:4 The Priests objected against the Prophet that he could not reprove them, but he must speak against the Priesthood, and the office established of God by promise, but he showeth that the office is nothing slandered, when these villains and dung are called by their own names.
¹Malachi 2:5 He showeth what were the two conditions of the covenant made with the tribe of Levi on God’s part, that he would give them long life and felicity, and on their part, that they should faithfully serve him according to his word.
²Malachi 2:5 I prescribed Levi a certain Law to serve me.
³Malachi 2:5 He served me and set forth my glory with all humilitude and submission.
¹Malachi 2:6 He showeth that the Priests ought to have knowledge to instruct others in the word of the Lord.
¹Malachi 2:7 He is as the treasure house of God’s word, and ought to give to everyone according to their necessity, and not to reserve it for himself.
²Malachi 2:7 Showing that whosoever doth not declare God’s will, is not his messenger, and Priest.
¹Malachi 2:10 The Prophet accuseth the ingratitude of the Jews toward God and man: for seeing they were all born of one father Abraham, and God had elected them to be his holy people, they ought neither to offend God nor their brethren.
²Malachi 2:10 Whereby they had bound themselves to God to be an holy people.
¹Malachi 2:11 They have joined themselves in marriage with them that are of another religion.
¹Malachi 2:12 That is, the Priest.
¹Malachi 2:13 Yet cause the people to lament, because that God doth not regard their sacrifices, so that they seem to sacrifice in vain.
¹Malachi 2:14 This is another fault, whereof he accuseth them, that is, that they broke the laws of marriage.
²Malachi 2:14 As the one half of thyself.
³Malachi 2:14 She that was joined to thee by a solemn covenant, and by the invocation of God’s name.
¹Malachi 2:15 Did not God make man and woman as one flesh and not many?
²Malachi 2:15 By his power and virtue he could have made many women for one man.
³Malachi 2:15 Such as should be born in lawful and moderate marriage, wherein is no excess of lusts.
⁴Malachi 2:15 Contain yourselves within your bounds, and be sober in mind, and bridle your affections.
¹Malachi 2:16 Not that he doth allow divorcement, but of two faults he showeth, which is the less.
²Malachi 2:16 He thinketh it sufficient to keep his wife still, albeit he take others, and so as it were covereth his fault.
¹Malachi 2:17 Ye murmur against God, because he heard not you as soon as ye called.
²Malachi 2:17 In thinking that God favored the wicked, and hath no respect to them that serve him.
³Malachi 2:17 Thus they blasphemed God in condemning his power and justice, because he judged not according to their fantasies.

Malachi 3:

1 Behold, I will send my ¹messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me: and the ²Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to his temple, even the ¹messenger of the covenant, whom ye desire: behold, he shall come, saith the Lord of hosts. 

2 But who may ¹abide the day of his coming? and who shall stand when he appeareth? for he is like a purging fire, and like fullers’ soap: 

3 And he shall sit down to try and fine the silver: and he shall purify the sons of ¹Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may bring offerings unto the Lord in righteousness. 

4 Then shall the offering of Judah and Jerusalem be acceptable unto the Lord, as in the days of old, and as in former years. 

5 And I will come near to you for judgment; and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, and against the adulterers, and against false swearers, and against those that oppress the hireling in his wages, and the widow, and the fatherless, and that turn away the stranger, and fear me not, saith the Lord of hosts. 

6 For I am the Lord, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob ¹are not consumed. 

7 Even from the days of your fathers ye are gone away from mine ordinances, and have not kept them. ¹Return unto me, and I will return unto you, saith the Lord of hosts. But ye said, Wherein shall we return? 

8 Will a ¹man rob God? Yet ye have robbed me. But ye say, Wherein have we robbed thee? In ²tithes and offerings. 

9 Ye are cursed with a curse: for ye have robbed me, even this whole nation. 

10 Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not open the windows of heaven unto you, and pour you out ¹such a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it. 

11 And I will rebuke the ¹devourer for your sakes, and he shall not destroy the fruits of your ground; neither shall your vine be barren in the field, saith the Lord of hosts. 

12 And all nations shall call you blessed: for ye shall be a delightsome land, saith the Lord of hosts. 

13 Your words have been stout ¹against me, saith the Lord. Yet ye say, What have we spoken against thee? 

14 Ye have said, It is vain to serve God: and what profit is it that we have kept his ordinance, and that we have walked mournfully before the Lord of hosts? 

15 And now we call the proud happy; yea, they that work wickedness are set up; yea, they that tempt God are even ¹delivered. 

16 ¹Then they that feared the Lord spake often one to another: and the Lord hearkened, and heard it, and a ²book of remembrance was written before him for them that feared the Lord, and that thought upon his name. 

17 And they shall be to me, saith the Lord of hosts, ¹in that day that I shall do this, for a special possession, and I will ²spare them, as a man spareth his own son that serveth him. 

18 ¹Then shall ye return, and discern between the righteous and the wicked, between him that serveth God and him that serveth him not.

Malachi 3 Footnotes:
¹Malachi 3:1 This is meant of John Baptist, as Christ expoundeth it, Luke 7:27.
²Malachi 3:1 Meaning, Messiah, Ps. 40:1, 7; Dan. 9:17, 25.
³Malachi 3:1 That is, Christ, by whom the covenant was made and ratified, who is called the Angel or messenger of the covenant, because he reconcileth us to his father and is Lord or king, because he hath the government of his Church.
¹Malachi 3:2 He showeth that the hypocrites which wish so much for the Lord’s coming will not abide when he draweth near: for he will consume them, and purge his own and make them clean.
¹Malachi 3:3 He beginneth at the Priests that they might be lights, and shine unto others.
¹Malachi 3:6 They murmured against God, because they saw not his help ever present to defend them: and therefore he accuseth them of ingratitude, and showeth that in that they are not daily consumed, it is a token, that he doth still defend them, and so his mercy toward them never changeth.
¹Malachi 3:7 Read Zech. 1:3.
¹Malachi 3:8 There are none of the heathen so barbarous, that will defraud their gods of their honor, or deal deceitfully with them.
²Malachi 3:8 Whereby the service of God should have been maintained, and the Priests and the poor relieved.
¹Malachi 3:10 Not having respect how much ye need, but I will give you in all abundance: so that ye shall lack place to put my blessings in.
¹Malachi 3:11 Meaning, the caterpillar, and whatsoever destroyeth corn and fruits.
¹Malachi 3:13 The Prophet condemneth them of double blasphemy against God: first, in that they said that God had no respect to them that served him, and next, that the wicked were more in his favor than the godly.
¹Malachi 3:15 They are not only preferred to honor, but also delivered from dangers.
¹Malachi 3:16 After these admonitions of the Prophet, some were lively touched, and encouraged others to fear God.
²Malachi 3:16 Both because the thing was strange that some turned to God in that great and universal corruption, and also that this might be an example of God’s mercies to all penitent sinners.
¹Malachi 3:17 When I shall restore my Church according to my promise, they shall be as mine own proper goods.
²Malachi 3:17 That is, forgive their sins, and govern them with my Spirit.
¹Malachi 3:18 Wherein the prophet sheweth that those who are born and governed by the Spirit are given the ability to mark and discern hypocrites by their doctrine and life. see Matt. 7:20, 12:37

Malachi 4:
1 For, behold, the day cometh, that shall ¹burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the Lord of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch. 

2 But unto you that fear my name shall the ¹Sun of righteousness arise and health shall be under his wings; and ye shall ²go forth, and grow up as calves of the stall. 

3 And ye shall tread down the wicked; for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet in the day that I shall do this, saith the Lord of hosts. 

4 ¹Remember ye the law of Moses my servant, which I commanded unto him in Horeb for all Israel, with the statutes and judgments. 

5 Behold, I will send you ¹Elijah the prophet before the coming of the ²great and dreadful day of the Lord: 

6 And he shall ¹turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and ²smite the earth with a curse.

Malachi 4 Footnotes:
¹Malachi 4:1 He prophesieth of God’s judgments against the wicked, who would not receive Christ, when as God should send him for the restoration of his Church.
¹Malachi 4:2 Meaning, Christ, who with his wings or beams of his grace should lighten and comfort his Church, Eph. 5:14, and he is called the sun of righteousness, because in himself he hath all perfection and also the justice of the Father dwelleth in him: whereby he regenerateth us unto righteousness, cleanseth us from the filth of this world, and reformeth us to the image of God.
²Malachi 4:2 Ye shall be set at liberty, and increase in the joy of the Spirit, 2 Cor. 3:17.
¹Malachi 4:4 Because the time was come that the Jews should be destitute of Prophets until the time of Christ, because they should with more fervent minds desire his coming, the Prophet exhorteth them to exercise themselves diligently in studying the Law of Moses in the mean season, whereby they might continue in the true religion, and also be armed against all temptations.
¹Malachi 4:5 This Christ expoundeth of John Baptist, Matt. 11:13, 14, who both for his zeal, and restoring of religion, is aptly compared to Elijah.
²Malachi 4:5 Which as it is true for the wicked, so doth it waken the godly, and call them to repentance.
¹Malachi 4:6 He showeth wherein John’s office should stand: in the turning of men to God, and joining the father and children in one voice of faith: so that the father shall turn to the religion of his son which is converted to Christ, and the son shall embrace the faith of the true fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
Showing moreover that the first table of the law (containing the true worship of God) was not purely kept except the second table also was heartily observed. That is that fathers would raise their children according to godliness, and sons would be obedient and affectionate to their fathers. see the WLC Q. 122-133 on the sum of the second table and the duties required in the fifth commandment. That this is spoken as the last and final word of the Old Testament conspicuously teaches that God hateth hypocrisy and will not be worshiped by those who are at unlawful enmity with their neighbors, and that the first and second table of the law are but one, and those who worship God according to his holy doctrine will manifest the sincerity of their faith by a life of good works unto His glory. see Matt. 5:21-26
²Malachi 4:6 The second point of his office was to denounce God’s judgments against them that would not receive Christ.