Commentary on the Twelve Prophets 1 part 18/19

while the Jews, being marshalled by God and becoming mere spectators of the slaughter, shall despoil the wealth of those men, carrying off gold in great abundance, and silver, and precious raiment;

for the horses, together with the asses and mules and camels, shall be given over to destruction along with the men.

'And it shall come to pass, that as many as are left of all the nations that came against Jerusalem shall go up year by year to worship the King, the Lord Almighty, and to keep the feast of Tabernacles.' When this victory, He says, has taken place, so great a dread shall fall upon those left of the foreign nations, that they shall run year by year to Jerusalem, and offer their worship to the Lord of all, and together with the people celebrate the feast of Tabernacles;

for the season of this feast is suitable for travelling, being the season of summer.

'And it shall be, that whosoever of all the tribes of the earth shall not go up to Jerusalem to worship the King, the Lord Almighty, even these shall be added to those, and there shall be no rain upon them.'

'And if the tribe of Egypt go not up, nor come thither, upon these also shall be the plague with which the Lord shall smite all the nations, as many as go not up to keep the feast of Tabernacles.'

'This shall be the sin of Egypt, and the sin of all the nations, as many as go not up to keep the feast of Tabernacles.' As many of the nations, He says, as have resolved to be godly, and then, growing negligent of the good and noble things they had chosen, do not come according to custom to the aforesaid festival, shall suffer the same things as those who made war and received their punishment.

'For these too,' He says, 'shall be added to those, and there shall be no rain upon them'—meaning that they shall enjoy no measure of God's loving-kindness.

But whether Egyptians or any others, being astounded at the power of God, should neglect this feast, and not offer in it the reverence due to God, upon them also, He says, shall be the fall;

since they sin grievously, having indeed learned the weakness of their own idols, and having manifestly beheld the strength of God, yet persisting in their former slothfulness.

'In that day there shall be upon the bridle of the horse, Holiness to the Lord Almighty; and the cauldrons in the house of the Lord shall be as bowls before the altar.'

'And every cauldron in Jerusalem and in Judah shall be holy to the Lord Almighty, and all who sacrifice shall come and take of them, and boil in them.' For, when those countless nations had been destroyed, they offered as it were first-fruits to God the greater part of the spoils.

For they also dedicated the bridles, giving thanks for the slaughter of the horses.

For everyone in need, receiving one of these, would touch the flesh of the priests.

But at that season, when the divine benefaction shone forth, 'there shall be no Canaanite in the house of the Lord Almighty.' That is, no one minded like the Canaanites, living in ungodliness, given over to lawlessness.

May the Lord of all grant that this utterance be verified even now, and that no Canaanite be seen among us, but that all conduct their lives according to the evangelical laws, and await the blessed hope and the appearing of our great God and Saviour Jesus Christ; with whom, together with the Holy Spirit, be glory to the Father, now and ever, and unto the ages of ages.

Moses the great, the lawgiver, first left us the divine oracles in written form;

but the inspired Malachi, after all those who had composed prophecy, delivered the divine pronouncements in writing.

The date, like the others, he has not stated;

but he made clear through what he prophesied that it was after the building of the divine temple and the peace of the people that he was deemed worthy of this grace.

For he does not charge them with negligence concerning the building, as did the blessed Haggai and Zechariah, but reminds them of the divine benefactions;

and he brings his charge separately against the priests and separately against the rest, setting forth publicly the transgressions ventured by them.

He also foretells the calling of the Gentiles, and the unbelief of the Jews, and in addition to these the second appearing of our God and Saviour.

In the Greek tongue he is called 'Angel' (Messenger), but in that of the Hebrews 'Malachi.'

He begins his prophecy thus:

'The burden of the word of the Lord to Israel by the hand of his messenger.' My mind, he says, being taken up by divine grace and coming to be outside all human things, received the foretelling concerning Israel;

not that I alone might have this knowledge, but that I might also announce to them the things revealed.

For this reason he called himself a messenger, as one ministering to the divine words.

Having thus pointed out the Lord who speaks through him, he exhorts the people to give heed to what is said.

'Lay it, then, upon your hearts.' Instead of: With all exactness give heed to the divine oracles.

'I have loved you, says the Lord, and you said:'

'In what have you loved us?' He has set this down not as though such a question had been raised by the people;

but he reproves the thanklessness of their mind, that having enjoyed so great a love from the God of all, they became not only ungrateful toward their benefactor, but were even ignorant of this very thing—that they had been loved.

'Was not Esau brother to Jacob? says the Lord;'

'and I loved Jacob, but Esau I hated.' You know clearly, he says, even you who are continually nourished on the Mosaic histories, that Esau and Jacob your forefather both had the same father, and sprang from one womb, and dwelt in the same belly according to him;

yet neither the community of nature, nor the time of their birth being one for both, procured for them an equal share in my disposition of favour toward them;

for though [Esau] followed and contended to obtain the birthright, I arranged that Jacob should receive the rights of the firstborn in his stead.

For him I hated, on account of the wickedness of his character;

but Jacob I loved, as a lover of virtue.

And indeed, the race of Esau also, since it emulated the character of its forefather, continued to be neglected by me.

For this he made clear through what follows.

'And I set his borders for destruction, and his inheritance for dwellings of the wilderness.'

'Edom has been overthrown; and let us return and rebuild her desolate places;'

'thus says the Lord Almighty:'

'They shall build, and I will overthrow; and they shall be called borders of lawlessness, and a people against whom the Lord has set himself in array for ever.' For even if they undertake to build their own cities, I will show their hopes to be false, and they shall reap as the fruit of their lawlessness only desolation.

'And they shall be called borders of lawlessness.' This curse too they shall receive from me even to the end.

'And your eyes shall see, and you shall say:'

'The Lord is magnified beyond the borders of Israel.' And beholding this you shall know how great is the providence that you enjoy from me.

Having thus shown the love which he had toward them, he reproves their great thanklessness.

'A son honours his father, and a servant will fear his own master;'

but the one befits sons, the other servants.

I, however, have imparted to you both of these names;

for I called you not only servants, but also sons:

'You are gods, and all of you sons of the Most High.' And:

'I have begotten sons and exalted them.' And:

'Israel is my firstborn son.' If, then, you welcome the appellation of sons, show forth the honour which you hasten to offer to a father.

But if you regard yourselves as servants, why then do you not have the fear which it becomes servants to have? and that, having such a Lord, who rules over all things together, both the visible and the invisible? Up to this point, then, he reproached them all in common;

but from here on he makes his accusation by division;

and first he convicts the offences of the priests, since they were deserving of the greater charges, not only transgressing themselves, but also becoming a pattern of transgression to the rest.

'You priests, who despise my name, and you said:'

'In what have we despised your name?' Your contempt concerning your priestly ministry shows me to be, in the eyes of the many, some paltry thing and worthy of no account;

yet you take no perception even of this, nor are you willing to recognise the offence being committed.

'In what have we despised your name?' this makes plain;

not because they had used such words, but because they had acquired such reasonings.

Then he also states the causes of the contempt.

'Offering polluted loaves upon my altar, and you said:'

'In what have we polluted them?' In your saying:

'The table of the Lord is contemptible;'

'and the things laid upon it you have set at nought.' Those 'polluted' Aquila and Symmachus and their circle have rendered as 'defiled,' instead of: not wrought according to the law, but produced unlawfully.

These things you dared to do, not accounting the table consecrated to me as venerable.

For if you had rendered to it the reverence that is fitting, you would have deemed worthy of all diligence the things offered to me upon it.

Then not in a lordly manner but in a fatherly manner he brings his charge against them, that they offered both blind and lame victims, though the law plainly commanded that unblemished sacrifices be offered.

And showing the excess of their impiety:

Then he counsels them to make use of repentance, and promises his own favourable disposition.

'And now propitiate the face of your God, and beseech him, that he may have mercy on you.'

And instilling in them a fuller perception of their audacity, he makes the reproof more vivid:

'These things have come to pass by your hands'—I do not charge you with an ancestral transgression, but with one even now still being ventured by you.

'Shall I accept your persons? says the Lord Almighty.' This is to be read as a question;

for I will not endure that sacrifices be offered in vain, when no one receives any benefit therefrom.

Having thus foretold to the Jews the cessation of the legal sacrificial service, he proclaims the pure and bloodless sacrifice of the Gentiles.

And first he says to the Jews themselves:

'I have no pleasure in you, says the Lord Almighty, and I will not accept a sacrifice from your hands.' Then he foreshows the piety of the Gentiles:

'for my name is great among the Gentiles, says the Lord Almighty.' You therefore I will utterly reject;

For I utterly abhor the things done by you;

wherefore I also turn away from the sacrifices offered by you;

and instead of you I have the whole inhabited world giving me worship.

For those who dwell in all the earth, which the sun both at its rising and its setting illumines, shall offer me incense in every place, and shall sacrifice the sacrifice that is pure and dear to me.

For they shall know my name and my will, and shall render the fitting worship.

So too the Lord said to the Samaritan woman:

'Woman, believe me, that the hour is coming, and now is, when you shall worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. For God is a Spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and in truth.' Having been instructed in these things, the blessed Paul commands that men pray in every place, lifting up holy hands without wrath and disputing.

And the divine Malachi also clearly taught us through these words the piety now practised;

for the circumscribed service of the priests has ceased, and every place has come to be regarded as fit for the worship of God;

and the slaughter of irrational victims has come to its end, and only the spotless Lamb is offered in sacrifice, who takes away the sin of the world, and, as a kind of symbol of virtue, the fragrant incense.

But the Jews, according to the divine prediction, have been cast off:

'Because my name is great among the nations.'

(v. 12.) 'But you profane it, in that you say:

The table of the Lord is defiled, and the foods set upon it are despised, his meat.' For you have turned aside to such great impiety that you not only offer unlawfully, but even call the table dedicated to me worthless;

and when reproved as to why in the world you offer such gifts, you have dared to say: 'These things too we gather with much sweat and toil.'

For which cause I will strip you also of this abundance;

for this he signified through what follows.

'These things come from hardship of labour.'

'And I blew them away, says the Lord Almighty.' Then he pronounces a curse upon those who, having male animals in plenty and promising to offer these as victims, yet leave those aside and offer instead of them others that are maimed.

'And now, O priests, this commandment is to you. But if you will not be willing diligently to give heed to the things spoken by me, and above all things to prefer the worship due to me, I will send forth upon you the curse, and I will curse your blessing, and I will curse it, and I will scatter your blessing, and it shall not be among you, because you lay it not to your heart.' By 'blessing' he means the priesthood itself, which they received by divine grace;

this he threatened to abolish and to scatter, because of the impropriety that had arisen concerning it.

'Behold, I set apart for you the shoulder, and I will scatter the maw upon your faces, the maw of your feasts, and I will take you to the same.' This Aquila rendered:

'Behold, I rebuke you together with the arm, and I will winnow dung upon your faces, the dung of your feasts.' For since to the priests according to the law both the breast and the right arm were set apart, he threatens to cast even these away, and the arm that had been set apart for them;

and in place of the breast he set the maw, the receptacle of the dung.

For of old, while they were pious, God assigned to them the right arm, as a symbol of active virtue;

and the breast, which like a kind of breastplate is set before the heart, guarding it and covering it, was a symbol of the doctrines of piety.

But since they willingly departed from piety and were stripped of virtue, he says that he scatters the maw, the receptacle of the dung, upon their faces, signifying by these things the shame and dishonour.

'And when this comes to pass,' he says, 'you shall know that I gave to your forefathers the commandment concerning the sacrifices.'

Then, through Levi, he makes mention of Aaron the first priest.

'And you shall know that I the Lord have sent forth to you this commandment, that my covenant might be with the Levites, says the Lord Almighty.' Then to these he added:

'My covenant of life and of peace was with him, and I gave it to him that he should fear me with fear, and be abashed before the face of my name.' For to him who does these things, he says, I promised as reward life and peace;

for on this account he called it a covenant of life and of peace, as procuring these for those who obey.

'The law of truth was in his mouth, and iniquity was not found in his lips;

in peace directing his way he walked with me, and he turned many away from iniquity.' For sin works enmity toward God;

but righteousness procures peace.

He says therefore that, travelling the straight road, and honouring the truth, and abhorring iniquity, he had me gracious to him, and, enjoying my peace, he became a guide to the truth for many who were wandering astray;

for it is especially fitting that the priest be a righteous worker of the divine laws;

inasmuch as he has been ordained a teacher of the rest, and entrusted to convey the divine oracles;

'for he is a messenger of the Lord Almighty,' announcing to the others the will of God.

'But you have turned aside from my way, and you have made many weak in the law, you have corrupted the covenant of Levi, says the Lord Almighty.' The phrase 'you have made many weak' they rendered as 'you have caused many to stumble.'

He says that, having embraced transgression, you have become to others also the cause of ruin.

Then he foretells to them the evils that have now overtaken them.

'And I have made you despised and cast down among all the nations, because you kept not my ways, but received persons in the law.' Symmachus rendered it, 'you showed partiality to persons in the law.'

He accuses them of having become transgressors of the law, and of judging unlawfully in favour of certain persons, or of taking money from those who brought the victims, and of accepting from them things that had some blemish in their members.

'...the covenant of your fathers?' Having been made, he says, by one God, who like a father displayed his own love toward you all, thus you have neglected your kinsmen, and have reverenced neither the fellowship of nature nor that of grace, but you have left your own brethren uncared for, and have overlooked them when they became transgressors of my laws;

and this though you had Judah and Jerusalem as a pattern of benefit.

'For Judah was forsaken, and an abomination came to be in Israel and in Jerusalem, because Judah profaned the holy things of the Lord, in which he took delight.' And clearly showing what he took delight in, he added:

'And he has pursued strange gods.' For Judah, he says, was accounted abominable both in Israel and in Jerusalem, having openly transgressed the law, and trampled upon the divine laws, and worshipped as gods those that are not, in place of him who truly is.

Then against all such persons he pronounces a common threat:

'The Lord will utterly destroy the man that does these things, until he be also brought low out of the tents of Jacob, and out of those who offer sacrifice to the Lord Almighty.' For a stranger to the assembly of the pious is he who lives together with impiety.

From here he transfers his discourse to another accusation;

for he charges them with having abandoned their lawful wives and unlawfully consorted with other women.

'And these things, which I hated, you did.' But whatever God hates, wretched is the man who loves it.

What these things are, he teaches:

'You covered the altar of the Lord with tears, and with weeping, and with groaning out of toils.' For the wives wronged by their own husbands, being destitute of any helpers, resorting to lamentations and tears, called upon the righteous Judge;

and these things they were compelled to do by the pain that held them fast.

For this is what he said, 'out of toils.'

'Therefore, these things being done, is it yet worthy to look upon your sacrifice? (v. 14.) And you said:

For what cause?' For though transgression shows abominable the things offered by you, you still remain unfeeling, and pretend to be ignorant of the cause of this.

'Because the Lord has testified between you and between the wife of your youth, whom you have forsaken;

and she is your companion, and the wife of your covenant.'

(v. 15.) 'And did not another make her, and the remnant of your spirit?' For call to mind the first law given to Adam and to Eve;

for immediately, having fashioned the woman, and having become as it were the one who conducts the bride, he brings her to the man;

and he gives the laws of marriage;

'For this cause,' having said, 'a man shall leave his own father and his own mother, and the two shall become one flesh.' Since therefore the very God of all both fashioned them both, and joined them together, and laid down this law, how do you dare openly to transgress the things ordained from the beginning, and do not even call to mind the divine blessing promised to your fathers:

'Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth'? For this too he says here:

'And the remnant of your spirit.' For having a mortal nature, through those who are born you preserve your memory for the longest time;

but although God laid down these things as law, you contradict, asserting that God cares not for chaste marriages, but for a multitude of children.

'For you said, What else does God seek but seed?' But I charge you, having departed from these words, to keep the divine laws, and not to separate from the yoke the wife who was joined to you from the beginning.

Then he reminds them of the condescension shown in the law.

But if you hate her, send her away, says the Lord of Israel. For in the Law he lays down that the man who is ill-disposed toward his wife shall give her a bill of divorcement.

In interpreting this law to the Pharisees, the Lord says:

Moses on account of your hardness of heart legislated in this way;

but from the beginning it was not so;

for he who made them made them male and female — that is, one man and one woman, not one man and two women, so that a man might hate the one and be joined to the other.

But since the God of the universe knew the frenzy of the Jews — that, wishing to be rid of the wife they hated yet unable to do so because of the Law, they would even dare to murder her —

he permits the lesser evil in order to prevent the greater;

If you hate her, send her away. For she will be joined to another, and will not live out her life in sorrow.

In the holy Gospels, teaching virtue, he openly proclaims:

Everyone who divorces his wife, except for the cause of fornication, makes her to commit adultery;

and whoever marries her that is divorced commits adultery. And here too he hints at this very same thing;

Your hidden designs shall be laid bare, says the Lord Almighty. And unless for some just and reasonable cause you dissolve the marriage, the Lord of the universe shall be your judge.

Therefore, Keep watch in your spirit, and do not forsake the covenant. Bridle, he says, your evil impulses, and do not tear asunder the covenants made concerning marriage.

Having thus condemned this lawlessness and applied the fitting remedy to the malady, he now exposes a certain blasphemy that they had dared to utter, and says:

You who provoke God with your words, and you have said:

In what have we provoked him? In that you say:

Everyone who does evil is good in the sight of the Lord, and in such the Lord takes pleasure;

and where is the God of justice? For some, out of the utmost folly, seeing certain men living in wickedness yet enjoying prosperity, dared to say that God takes delight in the wicked;

for otherwise he would not have apportioned them such good fortune.

This blasphemy has greatly stirred me to your punishment.

Yet you do not reckon even a trifling fault what is in truth the greatest impiety.

For, reproving this insensibility of theirs, he said:

In what have we provoked him? But you ought to have understood that the God of the universe is the fountain of justice;

and being such, he abhors those who embrace wickedness.

But the word of the dispensation is ineffable.

For behold, he says, I will send forth my messenger, and he shall survey the way before my face, and suddenly the Lord shall come into his temple, even the angel of the covenant whom you desire. This testimony of the Prophet we find set down also in the holy Gospels.

And the blessed Zacharias, the father of the most divine John, taking him in his arms, said to him:

And you, child, shall be called the prophet of the Most High;

for you shall go before the face of the Lord to prepare his ways. And here too, through Malachi, God said:

Behold, I will send forth my messenger, and he shall survey the way before my face, and suddenly the Lord shall come into his temple, even he whom you desire. For while all were unaware, the saving birth took place.

For by 'temple' he named the human nature which God the Word assumed.

Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up. And the Evangelist, interpreting this, added:

But he was speaking about the temple of his body;

and when he was raised from the dead, his disciples understood that Jesus had said this, and they believed the Scripture and the word which Jesus had spoken to them. And besides his former coming, he foretells also his second appearing;

Behold, he comes, says the Lord Almighty.

(2) And who shall endure the day of his coming, or who shall stand at his appearing? So too Zacharias said concerning the second appearing:

the tribes. Then he teaches the things that shall be done by him.

(3) And he shall sit smelting and purifying, as it were silver and gold. So too the blessed Paul says:

For it is revealed in fire, and the fire shall test each man's work, of what sort it is;

if anyone's work which he has built remains, he shall receive a reward;

if anyone's work is burned up, he shall suffer loss. And I consider that by these words the Prophet signifies not only that, but also the purification of the Holy Spirit;

for in this too he mystically re-smelts those who approach, and makes them new by using the fire of the Spirit.

For so also the great John says:

He shall baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. And indeed, using the divine grace as a kind of lye, he cleanses away the filth of sins.

And to Jerusalem the blessed Jeremiah says:

Though you wash yourself with nitre and heap up much lye for yourself, you are stained in your iniquities, says the Lord. For she had the lye of the Law, not that of grace.

And this he will also do for the Levites who have believed in him.

Of these was also the blessed Barnabas, as the history of the Acts teaches, and many others besides him who, having believed, enjoyed the same salvation.

For he shall purify, he says, the sons of Levi, and shall pour them out as gold and as silver;

and these, he says, shall be for the Lord, bringing an offering in righteousness. Not that legal offering concerning which he said:

I will not accept an offering from your hands;

And the offering of Judah and Jerusalem shall be pleasing to the Lord, according to the days of old and according to the former years. For this is not temporary, but eternal.

From here again he threatens punishment upon those who live in impiety.

For I will come near to you in judgment, he says, and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers. Swift, he says, is the punishment I shall bring upon the evils I have seen;

for I need no other witnesses, but am myself the eyewitness of the wickedness.

And against the adulteresses, and against those who swear falsely by my name, and against those who defraud the hireling of his wages, and oppress widows, and strike orphans with the fist, and turn aside the judgment of the sojourner, and those who do not fear me, says the Lord Almighty. Likewise, he says, against the sorceresses and the adulteresses, and those who dare to swear falsely, and those who reap the labour of hirelings yet are unwilling to render them their wages, and, in a word, everyone who uses his power against those who bewail their orphanhood and widowhood, and who choose to judge unjustly against resident aliens and sojourners, and who do not dread my judgment — I will exact a penalty, and I will not endure to overlook those who are wronged.

you know how I delivered your forefathers to slaughter, and sent them off as prisoners of war.

And you, sons of Jacob, have not kept yourselves (7) from the sins of your fathers;

you have turned aside from the statutes, and have not kept them. Therefore, daring the same things as your fathers, you shall suffer the same as they.

And he adds an accusation of yet another transgression.