Thus
prophet is sent first to convince and then to comfort, first to discover sin
and to reprove for that and then to promise the coming of him who shall take
away sin. And this method the blessed Spirit takes in dealing with souls,
John xvi. 8. He first opens the wound and then applies the healing balm. God
had provided (and one would think effectually) for the engaging of Israel to
himself by providences and ordinances; but it seems, by the complaints here
made of them, that they received the grace of God in both these in vain. I.
They were very ungrateful to God for his favours to them, and rendered not
again according to the benefit they received, ver. 1-5. II. They were very
careless and remiss in the observance of his institutions; the priests
especially were so, who were in a particular manner charged with them, ver.
6-14. And what shall we say of those whom neither providences nor ordinances
work upon, and who affront God in those very things wherein they should
honour him?
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Ingratitude
of Israel; Judgments and Mercies.
B. C. 400.
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1 The burden of the word of the LORD
to Israel by Malachi. 2 I have loved you, saith the LORD.
Yet ye say, Wherein hast thou loved us? Was not Esau Jacob's brother?
saith the LORD:
yet I loved Jacob, 3 And I hated Esau, and laid his mountains
and his heritage waste for the dragons of the wilderness. 4
Whereas Edom saith, We are impoverished, but we will return and build the
desolate places; thus saith the LORD
of hosts, They shall build, but I will throw down; and they shall call them,
The border of wickedness, and, The people against whom the LORD
hath indignation for ever. 5 And your eyes shall see, and ye
shall say, The LORD
will be magnified from the border of Israel.
The prophecy of this book is entitled, The burden of the word of the Lord
(v. 1), which intimates, 1. That it was of great weight and
importance; what the false prophets said was light as the chaff, what the
true prophets said was ponderous as the wheat, Jer. xxiii. 28. 2. That it
ought to be often repeated to them and by them, as the burden of a song. 3.
That there were those to whom it was a burden and a reproach; they were
weary of it, and found themselves so aggrieved by it that they were not able
to bear it. 4. That to them it would prove a burden indeed, to sink them to
the lowest hell, unless they repented. 5. That to those who loved it and
embraced it, and bade it welcome, though it was a light burden, as our
Saviour calls it (Matt. xi. 30), yet it was a burden.
This burden of the word of the Lord was sent, 1. To Israel, for to
them pertained the lively oracles of prophecy as well as those of the
written word. Many prophets God had sent to Israel, and now he will try them
with one more. 2. By Malachi, by the hand of Malachi, as if it were
not a message by word of mouth, but a letter put into his hand, for the
greater certainty.
In these verses, they are charged with ingratitude, in that they were not
duly sensible of God's distinguishing goodness to them; and such a charge as
this may well be called a burden, for it is a heavy one.
I. God asserts the great kindness he had, and had often expressed, for them
(v. 2): I have loved you, saith the Lord. Thus abruptly does
the sermon begin, as if God intended, whatever reproofs should be given
them, to reconcile them to his love, and to take care that they should still
have good thoughts of him. As many as I love I rebuke and chasten.
Thus kindly does the sermon begin. God will have his people satisfied that
he loves them and is ever mindful of his love. This is the same with what he
said of old to the virgin of Israel, that he might engage her affections to
himself (Jer. xxxi. 3, 4): Yea I have loved thee with an everlasting
love. In this one word God sums up all his gracious dealings with them;
love was the spring of all; he loved them because he would love them
(Deut. vii. 7, 8), loved them in their childhood, Hos. xi. 1. His delight
was in them, Isa. lxii. 4. "I have loved you, but you have not
loved me, nor made any suitable returns for my love." Note, God's
people need to be often reminded of his love to them.
II. They question his love, and diminish the instances of it, and seem to
quarrel with him for telling them of it: Yet you say, Wherein hast thou
loved us? As God traces up all his favours to them to the fountain,
which was his love, so he traces up all their sins against him to the
fountain, which was their contempt of his love. Instead of acknowledging his
kindness, and studying what they shall render, they scorn to own that they
have been beholden to him, challenge him to produce proofs of his love that
are material, and think and speak very slightly of the instances they have
had of his kindness, as if they were so few, so small, as not to be worth
taking notice of, and no more than what they had sufficiently made returns
for, or at least than he had sufficiently balanced with instances of his
wrath. "Have we not been wasted, impoverished, and carried captive; and
wherein then hast thou loved us?" Note, God justly takes it very
ill to have his favours slighted, as not worth speaking of; and it is very
absurd for us to ask wherein he has loved us, when, which way soever we
look, we meet with the proofs and instances of his love to us.
III. He makes it out, beyond contradiction, that he has loved them, loved
them in a distinguishing way, which was in a special manner obliging. For
proof of this he shows the difference he had made, and would still make,
between Jacob and Esau, between Israelites and Edomites. Some read their
question, Wherefore hast thou loved us? as if they did indeed own
that he had loved them, but withal insinuate that there was a reason for
it--that he loved them because their father Abraham had loved him, so that
it was not a free love, but a love of debt, to which he replies, "Was
not Esau as near akin to Abraham as you are? Was he not Jacob's own
brother, his elder brother? And therefore, if there were any right to a
recompence for Abraham's love, Esau had it, and yet I hated Esau and loved
Jacob."
1. Let them see what a difference God had made between Jacob and Esau. Esau
was Jacob's brother, his twin-brother: "Yet I loved Jacob and I
hated Esau, that is, took Jacob into covenant, and entailed the blessing
on him and his, but refused and rejected Esau." Note, Those that are
taken into covenant with God, that have the lively oracles and the means of
grace committed to them, have reason to look upon these as tokens of his
love. Jacob is loved, for he has these, Esau hated, for he has not. The
apostle quotes this (Rom. ix. 13), and compares it with what the oracle said
to Rebecca concerning her twins (Gen. xxv. 23), The elder shall serve the
younger, to illustrate the doctrine of God's sovereignty in dispensing
his favours; for may he not do what he will with his own? Esau was
justly hated, but Jacob freely loved; even so, Father, because it seemed
good in thy eyes, and it is not for us to ask why or wherefore.
2. Let them see what he was now doing and would do with them, pursuant to
this original difference.
(1.) The Edomites shall be made the monuments of God's justice, and he will
be glorified in their utter destruction: For Esau have I hated; I laid
his mountains waste, the mountains of Seir, which were his heritage.
When all that part of the world was ravaged by the Chaldean army the country
of Edom was, among the rest, laid in ruins, and became a habitation for
the dragons of the wilderness, so perfectly desolate was it; as was
foretold, Isa. xxxiv. 6, 11. The Edomites had triumphed in Jerusalem's
overthrow (Ps. cxxxvii. 7), and therefore it was just with God to put the
same cup of trembling into their hands. And, though Edom's ruins were last,
yet they were lasting, and the desolation perpetual; and in this the
difference was made between Jacob and Esau, and is made between the
righteous and the wicked, to whom otherwise all things come alike, and there
seems to be one event. Jacob's cities are laid waste, but they are rebuilt;
Edom's are laid waste, and never rebuilt. The sufferings of the righteous
will have an end and will end well; all their grievances will be redressed,
and their sorrow turned into joy; but the sufferings of the wicked will be
endless and remediless, as Edom's desolations, v. 4. Observe here,
[1.] The vain hopes of the Edomites, that they shall have their ruins
repaired as well as Israel, though they had no promise to build their hope
upon. They say, "It is true, we are impoverished; it is the
common chance, and there is no remedy; but we will return and build the
desolate places; we are resolved we will" (not so much as asking
God leave); "we will whether he will or no; nay, we will do it
in defiance of God's curse, and that sentence pronounced upon Edom (Isa.
xxxiv. 10), From generation to generation it shall lie waste."
They build presumptuously, as Hiel built Jericho in direct contradiction to
the word of God (1 Kings xvi. 34), and it shall speed accordingly. Note, It
is common for those whose hearts are unhumbled under humbling providences to
think to make their part good against God himself, and to build, and plant,
and flourish again as much as ever, though God has said that they shall be
impoverished. But see, [2.] The dashing of these hopes and the
disappointment of them: They say, We will build; but what says the
Lord of hosts? For we are sure his word shall stand, and not theirs; and
he says, First, Their attempts shall be baffled: They shall build,
but I will throw down. Note, Those that walk contrary to God will find
that he will walk contrary to them; for who ever hardened his heart
against God and prospered? When the Jews had rejected Christ and his
gospel they became Edomites, and this word was fulfilled in them; for when,
in the time of the emperor Adrian, they attempted to rebuild Jerusalem, God
by earthquakes and eruptions of fire threw down what they built, so that
they were forced to quit the enterprise. Secondly, They shall be
looked upon by all as abandoned to utter ruin. All that see them shall call
them the border of wickedness, a sinful nation, incurably so, and
therefore the people against whom the Lord has indignation for ever.
Since their wickedness is such as will never be reformed, their desolations
shall be such as are never to be repaired. Against Israel God was a little
displeased (Zech. i. 15), but against Edom he has indignation, and will
have for ever, for they are the people of his curse, Isa. xxxiv. 5.
(2.) The Israelites shall be made the monuments of his mercy, and he will be
glorified in their salvation, v. 5. "The Edomites shall be
stigmatized as a people hated of God, but your eyes shall see your
doubts concerning his love to you for ever silenced; for you shall say, and
have cause to say, The Lord is and will be magnified from the
border of Israel, from every part and border of the land of
Israel." The border of Edom is a border of wickedness, and
therefore the Lord will have indignation against it for ever; but the
border of Israel is a border of holiness, the border of the
sanctuary (Ps. lxxviii. 54), and therefore God will make it to appear
(though it may for a time lie desolate) that he has mercy in store for it,
and thence he will be magnified; he will give his people Israel both
cause, and hearts, to praise him. When the border of Edom still remains
desolate, and the border of Israel is repaired and replenished, then it will
appear that God has loved Jacob. Note, [1.] Those who doubt of God's love to
his people shall, sooner or later, have convincing and undeniable proofs
given them of it: "your own eyes shall see what you will
not believe." [2.] Deliverances out of trouble are to be reckoned
proofs of God's good-will to his people, though they may be suffered to fall
into trouble, Ps. xxxiv. 19. [3.] Distinguishing favours are very obliging.
If God rear up again the border of Israel, but leave the border of Edom in
ruins, let no Israelite ask, for shame, Wherein hast thou loved us?
[4.] The dignifying of Israel is the magnifying of the God of Israel, and,
one way or other, God will have honour from his professing people. [5.]
God's goodness being his glory, when he does us good we must proclaim him
great, for that is magnifying him. It is an instance of his goodness that he
has pleasure in the prosperity of his servants, and for this those
that love his salvation say, The Lord be magnified, Ps. xxxv. 27.
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God's
Remonstrance with the Priests; Judgment of Wicked Priests.
B. C. 400.
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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, O priests, that despise my name. And ye say, Wherein have
we despised thy name? 7 Ye offer polluted bread upon mine altar;
and ye say, Wherein have we polluted thee? In that ye say, The table of the
LORD
is contemptible. 8 And 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, beseech God that he will be
gracious unto us: this hath been by your means: will he regard your persons?
saith the LORD
of hosts. 10 Who is there even among you that would shut
the doors for nought? neither do ye kindle fire on mine altar
for nought. 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 shall
be great among the Gentiles; and in every place incense shall be
offered unto my name, and a pure offering: for my name shall be great
among the heathen, saith the LORD
of hosts. 12 But ye have profaned it, in that ye say, The table
of the LORD
is polluted; and the fruit thereof, even his meat, is
contemptible. 13 Ye said also, Behold, what a weariness 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 brought an offering: should I accept this of your hand? saith
the LORD.
14 But cursed be the deceiver, which hath in his flock a 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.
The prophet is here, by a special commission, calling the priests to
account, though they were themselves appointed judges, to call the people to
an account. Let the rulers in the house of God know that there is one above
them, who will reckon with them for their mal-administrations. Thus saith
the Lord of hosts to you, O priests! v. 6. God will have a saying
to unfaithful ministers; and it concerns those who speak from God to his
people to hear and heed what he says to them, that they may save
themselves in the first place, otherwise how should they help to save
those that hear them? It is a severe, and no doubt a just reproof, that
is here given to the priests, for the profanation of the holy things
of God, with which they were entrusted; and, if this was the crime of the
priests, we have reason to fear the people also were guilty of it: so that
what is said to the priests is said to all, nay, it is said
to us, who, as Christians, profess ourselves, not only the people of
God, but priests to him. Observe here,
I. What it was that God expected from them, and with what good reason he
expected it (v. 6): A son honours his father, because he is
his father; nature has written this law in the hearts of children, before
God wrote it at Mount Sinai; nay, a servant, though his obligation to
his master is not natural, but by voluntary compact, yet thinks it his duty
to honour him, to be observant of his orders, and true to his interests.
Children and servants pay respect to their parents and masters; every one
cries out shame on them if they do not, and their own hearts cannot but
reproach them too; the order of families is thus kept up, and it is their
beauty and advantage. But the priests, who are God's children and his
servants, do not fear and honour him. They were fathers and masters
to the people, and expected to be called so (Judges xviii. 19, Matt. xxii.
7, 10) and to be reverenced and obeyed as such; but they forgot their Father
and Master in heaven, and the duty they owed to him. We may each of us
charge upon ourselves what is here charged upon the priests. Note, 1. We are
every one of us to look upon God as our Father and Master, and upon
ourselves as his children and servants. 2. Our relation to God as our Father
and Master strongly obliges us to fear and honour him. If we honour and fear
the fathers of our flesh, much more the Father and Master of our spirits,
Heb. xii. 9. 3. It is a thing to be justly complained of, and lamented, that
God is so little feared and honoured even by those that own him for their
Father and Master. Where is his honour? Where is his fear?
II. What the contempt was which the priests put upon God.
1. This is that, in general, which is charged upon them:-- (1.) They
despised God's name; their familiarity with it, as priests, bred contempt of
it, and served them only to gain a veneration by it for themselves and their
own name, while God's name was of small account with them. God's name is all
that whereby he has made himself known--his word and ordinances; these they
had low thoughts of, and vilified that which it was their business to
magnify; and no wonder that when they despised it themselves they did that
which made it despicable to others, causing even the sacrifices of the
Lord to be abhorred, as Eli's sons did. (2.) They profaned God's
name, v. 12. They polluted it, v. 7. They not only made
no account of sacred things, but they made an ill use of them, and perverted
them to the service of the worst and vilest purposes--their own pride,
covetousness, and luxury. There cannot be a greater provocation to God than
the profanation of his name; for it is holy and reverend. His purity cannot
be polluted by us, for he is unspotted, but his name may be profaned; and
nothing profanes it more than the misconduct of priests, whose business it
is to do honour to it. This is the general charge exhibited against them. To
this they plead Not guilty, and challenge God to prove it upon them,
and to make good the charge, which added daring impudence to their daring
impiety: You say, Wherein have we despised thy name? (v. 6),
and wherein have we polluted thee? v. 7. It is common with
proud sinners, when they are reproved, to stand thus upon their own
justification. These priests had most horridly profaned sacred things, and
yet, like the adulterous woman, they said that they had done no
wickedness; they were so inobservant of themselves that they remembered
not or reflected not upon their own acts, or they were so ignorant of the
divine law that they thought there was no harm in them, and that what they
did could not be construed into despising God's name, or they were so
atheistical as to imagine that though they knew their own guilt yet God did
not, or they were so scornful in their conduct towards God and his prophets
that they took a pride in bantering a serious and just reproof, and turning
it off with a jest. They either laugh at the reproof, as those that despise
it, and harden their hearts against it, or they laugh it off, as those that
resolve they will not be touched by it, or will not seem to be so. Which way
soever we take it, their defence was their offence, and, in justifying
themselves, their own tongues condemned them, and their saying, Wherein
have we despised thy name? proved them proud and perverse. Had they
asked this question with a humble desire to be told more particularly where
in they had offended, it would have been an evidence of their repentance,
and would have given hopes of their reformation; but to ask it thus in
disdain and defiance of the word of God argues their hearts fully set in
them to do evil. Note, Sinners ruin themselves by studying to baffle
their own convictions; but they will find it hard to kick against the
pricks.
2. Justly might they have been convicted and condemned upon the general
charge, and their plea thrown out as frivolous; but God will not only
overcome, but will be clear, will be justified when he judges, and therefore
he shows them very particularly wherein they had despised his name, and what
the contempt was that they cast upon him. As formerly, when he charged them
with idolatry, so now, when he charges them with profaneness, he bids them see
their way in the valley and know what they have done, Jer. ii.
23.
(1.) They despised God's name in what they said, in the low opinion they had
of his institutions: "You say in your hearts, and perhaps speak
it out when you priests get together over your cups. out of the hearing of
the people, The table of the Lord is contemptible" (v.
7), and again (v. 12), "You say, The table of the Lord is
polluted; it is to be no more regarded than any other table."
Either the table in the temple, on which the show-bread was placed, is that
which they reflect upon (not understanding the mystery of it, they despised
it as an insignificant thing), or rather the altar of burnt-offerings is
here called the table, for there God, and his priests, and his people, did,
as it were, feast together upon the sacrifices, in token of friendship. This
they thought was contemptible. Formerly, in the days of superstition, it was
thought contemptible in comparison with the idolatrous alters that the
heathen had, and was set aside to make room for a new-fashioned one (2 Kings
xvi. 14, 15); now it is thought contemptible in comparison with their own
tables, and those of their great men: The fruit thereof, even his meat,
is contemptible. Those who served at the altar were to live upon the
altar; but they complained that they lived poorly and meanly, and that it
was not worth while to attend the service of the altar for the fruit and
meat of it, for it was very ordinary and always the same again; they had no
dainties, no varieties, no nice dishes. Nay, that part of the sacrifices
which was given to God, the blood and the fat, they looked upon with
contempt, as not worthy the multitude of laws God had made about it; they
asked, "What need is there of so much ado about burning the fat and
pouring out the blood?" Note, Those greatly profane and pollute God's
name who despise the business of religion, though it is very honourable, as
not worth taking pains in, and the advantages of religion, though highly
valuable, as not worth taking pains for. Those who live in a careless
neglect of holy ordinances, who come to them and attend on them
irreverently, and go away from them never the better and under no concern,
do in effect say, "The table of the Lord is contemptible; there
is neither virtue nor value in it, neither credit nor comfort from it."
(2.) They despised God's name in what they did, which was of a piece with
what they said, and flowed from it; corrupt principles and notions are roots
of bitterness, which bear the gall and wormwood of corrupt practices. They
looked upon the table and altar of the Lord as contemptible, and then, [1.]
They thought any thing would serve for a sacrifice, though ever so coarse
and mean, and were so far from bringing the best, as they ought to have
done, that they picked out the worst they had, which was fit neither for the
market nor for their own tables, and offered that at God's altar. With every
sacrifice they were to bring a meat-offering of fine flour mingled with
oil; but they brought polluted bread (v. 7), coarse bread,
servants' bread, perhaps it was dry and mouldy, or made of the refuse of the
wheat, which they thought good enough to be burnt upon the altar; for had it
been better they would have said, To what purpose is this waste? And
as to the beasts they offered, though the law was express that what was
offered in sacrifice should not have a blemish, yet they brought the
blind, and the lame, and the sick (v. 8), and again (v.
13), the torn, and the lame, and the sick, that was ready to die of
itself. They looked no further than the burning of the sacrifice, and they
pleaded that it was a pity to burn it if it was good for any thing else. The
people were so far convinced of their duty that they would bring sacrifices;
they durst not wholly omit the duty, but they brought vain oblations, mocked
God, and deceived themselves, by bringing the worst they had; and the
priests, who should have taught them better, accepted the gifts brought to
the altar and offered them up there, because, if they should refuse them,
the people would bring none at all, and then they would lose their
perquisites; and therefore, having more regard to their own profit than to
God's honour, they accepted that which they knew he would not accept. Some
make v. 8 to be a continuation of what the priests profanely said v.
7, You say to the people, If you offer the blind for sacrifice, it
is not evil; or the lame and the sick, it is not evil. Note, It is a
very evil thing, whether men think so or no, to offer the blind and the
lame, the torn and the sick, in sacrifice to God. If we worship God
ignorantly, and without understanding, we bring the blind for sacrifice; if
we do it carelessly, and without consideration, if we are cold, and dull,
and dead, in it, we bring the sick; if we rest in the bodily exercise, and
do not make heart-work of it, we bring the lame; and, if we suffer
vain thoughts and distractions to lodge within us, we bring the torn. And is
not this evil? Is it not a great affront to God and a great wrong and
injury to our own souls? Do not our books tell us, nay, do not our own
hearts tell us, that this is evil? for God, who is the best, ought to
be served with the best we have. [2.] They would do no more of their work
than what they were paid for. The priests would offer the sacrifices that
were brought to the altar, because they had their share of them; but as for
any other service of the temple, that had not a particular fee belonging to
it, they would not stir a step, nor lend a hand, to it; and this was the
general temper of them, v. 10. There is not a man among the priests
that would shut the doors, or kindle a fire, for nought. If he
were required to do the smallest piece of service, he would ask, how shall I
be paid for it? They would do nothing gratis, but were all for what
they could get, every one for his gain, from his quarter, Isa. lvi.
11. Note, Though God has given order that his servants be well paid in this
world, yet those are no acceptable servants to him who are mercenary, and
would never do the work but for the wages. [3.] Their work was a perfect
drudgery to them (v. 13): You said also, Behold, what a weariness
is it! Both priests and people were of this mind, that they thought God
imposed too hard a task upon them; the people grudged the charge of
providing the sacrifice and the priests grudged the pains of offering it;
they thought the feasts of the Lord came too thick, and they were forced to
attend too often, and too long, in the courts of the Lord; the priests
thought it a severe penance imposed upon them to purify themselves as was
required when they attended the altar and ate of the holy things; they
thought the duty of their office toilsome and troublesome, and snuffed at
it as unreasonable, and bearing hard upon them; they did it, but it was
grudgingly and with reluctance. God speaks of it, in justification of his
law, that he had not made them to serve with an offering, nor wearied
them with incense, Isa. xliii. 23. Wherein have I wearied thee?
Mic. vi. 3. But their own wicked hearts made it a weariness; and they were,
as Doeg, detained before the Lord; they would rather have been any
where else. Note, Those are highly injurious, both to God and themselves,
who are weary of his service and worship, and snuff at it.
III. Observe how God expostulates and reasons the case with them, for their
conviction and humiliation. 1. Would they, durst they, affront an earthly
prince thus? "You offer to God the lame and the sick; offer it now
unto thy governor (v. 8), either as tribute or as a present, when
thou art entreating his favour, or in gratitude for some favour received; will
he be pleased with thee? Or, rather, will he not take himself to be
affronted by it?" Note, Those who are careless and irreverent in the
duties of religious worship should consider what a shame it is to offer that
to their God which they would scorn to offer to their governor, to be more
observant of the laws of breeding and good manners than of the laws of
religion, and more afraid of being rude than of being profane. 2. Could they
imagine that such sacrifices as these would be pleasing to God, or answer
the end of sacrifices? "Should I accept this at your hand, saith the
Lord? v. 13. Have you any reason to think I should either not
discern or not resent the affront, that I should connive at the violation of
my own laws? No (v. 10); I have no pleasure in you, and
therefore, I will not accept an offering, such an offering, at
your hand." If God has no pleasure in the person, if the person be
not in a justified state, if he be not sanctified, God will not accept the
offering. God had respect to Abel first and then to his sacrifice. Note, In
order to our acceptance with God it is not enough to do that which, for the
matter of it, is good, but we must do it from a right principle, in a right
manner, and for a right end. It was the ancient rule laid down (Gen. iv. 7),
If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? Now, if we be not
accepted of God, in vain do we worship him; it is all lost labour; nay, we
are all undone, for ever undone, if we come short of God's acceptance. Those
therefore make a bad bargain for themselves who, to save charges in their
religion, miss all the ends of it, and, by thinking to go the nearest way to
work, bring nothing to pass. Those who make it the top of their ambition, as
we all ought to do, whether present or absent, to be accepted of the
Lord, will not dare to bring the torn, and the lame, and the sick,
for sacrifice. 3. How could they expect to prevail with God in their
intercessions for the people when they thus affronted God in their
sacrifices? So some understand v. 9, as spoken ironically, "And
now if you will do the duty of priests, and stand in the gap to turn
away the judgments of God that you see ready to pour in upon us, I pray
you, beseech God that he will be gracious to us, and to our land which
is almost eaten up with locusts and caterpillars," as appears ch.
iii. 11. "Try now what interest you have at the throne of grace;
improve it for the removing of this plague, for it has been by your
means; you have provoked God to send it. But as you go on thus to
profane his sacred things will he regard your persons or your
prayers? No, you cannot prevail with him to command it away." For, if
we regard iniquity in our hearts, God will not hear us, either for
ourselves or for others. 4. Had God deserved this at their hands? No, he had
provided comfortably for them, and had given them such encouragement in
their work as might have engaged them to do it cheerfully and well; so some
understand v. 10, "Who is there among you that shall shut a
door, or kindle a fire, for nought? No, God does not expect you should
serve him for nothing; you are well paid for it, and shall be so; not a cup
of cold water, given for the honour of God, shall lose its reward."
Note, The consideration of our constant receivings from God, and the present
rewards of obedience in obedience, very much aggravates our slothfulness and
niggardliness in our returns of duty to God.
IV. He calls them to repentance for their profanations of his holy name. So
we may understand v. 9, "Now, I pray you, beseech God that he
will be gracious to us. Humble yourselves for your sin, cry mightily to
God for pardon, and make up in the faith and fervency of your prayers what
has been wanting in the worth and value of your sacrifices; for all the
rebukes of Providence we are under are by your means." Note,
Those who have by their sins helped to kindle a fire are highly concerned by
their repentance, prayers, and the personal reformation, to help to quench
it. We must see how much God's judgments are by our means, and be awakened
thereby to be earnest with him to return in mercy; and, if we take not this
course, how can we think he should regard our persons?
V. He declares his resolution both to secure the glory of his own name and
to reckon with those who profane it. Those who put contempt upon God and
religion, and think to run down sacred things, let them know,
1. That they shall not gain their point. God will magnify his law and make
it honourable, though they vilify it and make it contemptible; for (v.
11) from the rising of the sun to the going down of the same my name
shall be great among the Gentiles. It might be said, "If these are
not the worshippers whom God will accept, then he has no worshippers."
As if he must make the best of their service, or else he would have no
service done him; and then what will he do for his great name? But
let him alone for that; though Israel be not faithful, be not
gathered, yet God will be glorious. Though these priests provoke
him to take down the ceremonial economy, and to abolish that law of
commandments, which could not make the comers thereunto perfect,
yet he will be no loser by that, at the long run; for, (1.) Instead of those
carnal ordinances, which they profaned, a spiritual way of worship shall be
introduced and established: Incense shall be offered to God's name
(which signifies prayer and praise, Ps. cxli. 2; Rev. viii. 3), instead of
the blood and fat of bulls and goats. And it shall be a pure offering,
refined, not only from the corruptions that were in the priests' practice,
but from the mere bodily exercise that was in the institutions themselves,
which are called carnal ordinances, imposed till the time of reformation,
Heb. ix. 10. When the hour came in which the true worshippers worshipped
the Father in spirit and in truth, then this incense was offered,
even this pure offering. (2.) Instead of his being worshipped and
served among the Jews only, a small people in a corner of the world, he will
be served and worshipped in all places, from the rising of the sun to the
going down of the same; in every place, in every part of the world, incense
shall be offered to his name; nations shall be discipled, and shall
speak of the wonderful works of God, and have them spoken to them in their
own language. This is a plain prediction of that great revolution in the
kingdom of grace by which the Gentiles, who had been strangers and
foreigners, came to be fellow-citizens with the saints and of the
household of God, and as welcome to the throne of grace as ever the Jews
had been. It is twice said (for the thing was certain), My name shall be
great among the Gentiles, whereas hitherto in Judah only he was known,
and his name was great, Ps. lxxvi. 1. God's name shall be declared to
them, the declaration of it shall be received and believed, and there shall
be those among the Gentiles who shall magnify and glorify the name of God
better than ever the Jews had done, even the priests themselves.
2. That they shall not go unpunished, v. 14. Here is the doom of
those who do like these priests, for the sentence on them is a sentence on
all such. Observe, (1.) The description of profane and careless worshippers.
They are such as vow and sacrifice to the Lord a corrupt thing when
they have in their flock a male. They have of the best, wherewith to
serve and honour him, so bountiful has be been in his gifts to them, but
they put him off with the worst, and think that good enough for him, so
ungrateful are they in their returns to him. This was the fault of the
people, but the priests connived at it, and indulged them in it. We find a
distinction in the law which allowed that to be offered for a
free-will offering which would not be accepted for a vow, Lev.
xxii. 23. But the priests would accept it, though God would not, pretending
to be more indulgent than he was, for which he will give them no thanks
another day. (2.) The character given of such worshippers. They are deceivers;
they deal falsely and fraudulently with God; they play the hypocrite with
him; they pretend to honour him, in making the vow, but, when it comes to be
performed, they put an affront upon him, to such a degree that it would have
been better not to have vowed than to vow and thus to pay; but
let not such be themselves deceived, for God is not mocked. Those who
think to put a cheat upon God will prove, in the end, to have put a damning
cheat upon their own souls. Hypocrites are deceivers, and they will prove
self-deceivers, and so self-destroyers. (3.) The doom passed upon them: They
are cursed; they expect a blessing, but will meet with a curse, the
tokens of God's wrath, according to the judgment written. (4.) The reason of
this doom: "For I am a great King, saith the Lord of hosts, and
therefore will reckon with those who deal with me but as a man like
themselves; my name is dreadful among the heathen, and therefore I
will not bear that it should be contemptible among my own people." The
heathen paid more respect to their gods, though idols, than the Jews did to
theirs, though the only true and living God. Note, The consideration of
God's universal dominion, and the universal acknowledgment of it, should
restrain us from all irreverence in his service.
