MA tT, Weil WSK
time would come, when there would be a mapi-_ feft difference'made betw Pi 8n0103 ae Saath a ~ en. \Bebold,: E will! fend? my “meffenger, 8c. *Thefevare the words of ‘Chrift, in anfwer to the queftion- put in-the laft-verfe of the preceding chapter, where is the God of judgment? intimating that he would quick!
een the one and the other, | y appear, and previous to his com:
H31 Father, who is righteous in all his ways, and faithful in the fulfilment of all his promifes; or Chrift, the Lord our righteoufnefs, who was to come, and is come into this world for judgment, as well as to bring in an everlafting righteoufnef§._. This may be confidered as a feoff of wicked men, at the long delay of the Meffiah’s coming, when they expected outward profperity and happinefs; juft as the fcof= fers in the laft day will mock at the promife of his fecond coming, 2 Pet. iii. 3, 4. and fo the words, with which the next chapter begins, are an anfwer to thefe.
ing fend his meffenger or angel; not the angel of death to deftroy the wicked, ‘as Yarchi thinks; nor an angel from heaven, as Kimchi; nor Meffiah the fon of Fofeph, as Aben Ezra, nor the prophet Malachi: himfelf, as Abarbinel; but the fame that is called Elijah the prophet, ch. iv. 5. and is no other than Yobn the Bapii/t, as is clear from Matt. xi. 10. Mark i. 2. called a meffenger or angel, not by nature, but by office; and Chrift’s meflenger becaufe fent by him, and on his errand; and which fhows the power and authority of Chrift, in fending forth minifters; his fuperior excellency to John, and his exiftence before him, or. he could not be fent by him, and fo before his incarnation; for Fobn was fent by him, before he was in the fleth, and confequently this ‘is a proof of the proper deity of Chrift: and the word debold is prefixed to this, in order‘to raife the attention of thofe that put the above queftion, and all others; as well as to fhow that the meflage Fohn was {ent upon was of the greateft moment and importance; as that the Meffiah was juft ready to appear, his kingdom was at hand, and the ews ought. to believe in him; tho’ it alfo refpects the coming of the Meffiah, fpoken of in the latter part of the text: and he fhall prepare the way before me, by declaring to the Yews that he was born, and was in the ‘midft of them; by pointing him-out unto them; by preaching the do¢trine of repentance, and exhorting them to believe in him.; and by adminiftring the ordinance of baptifm in general to all proper’ fubjeéts, ‘and in, particular to Chrift, by which he was made manifeft to I/rael 5, {ee the note on Mark'i. 2. the allufion is to kings.and great men fending perfons before, them, when on a jour= ney, to give notice of their coming,, and provide for them: and the Lord whom ye feck;, this.is the perfon himfelf fpeaking, ‘the Son of God, and, pros mifed Meffiah, the Lord of all men, and particularly of his church and people, in right of martiage, by virtue of redemption, and by being their head and king; fo Kimchi and Ben Melech. interpret it of him, and even Abarbinel ‘himfelf; the Mefitah that had been. fo. long fpoken of, and fo much ‘expected, and whom the ews fought after, either in a fcoffing manner,, exprefied, in the above queftion, or rather ferioufly; fome.as.a temporal deliverer, to free them from the Roman yoke, and bring them into a {tate of liberty, profperity and grandeur; and others as a. fpiritual; Saviour, to deliver from fin, law, hell, and. death, and, fave them’ with an everlafting falvation: /ball Juddenly come to bis temple; meaning not his human nature, nor ‘his: church, fometimes fo called’;!but the a4 Nall * teria oy 9 le hod terial temple at Yeru/alem, the fecond temple, called bis, becaufe devoted to his fervice and worthip, which proves him to be God, and becaufe of his frequency in it; here he was brought and prefented by his parents at the proper time, for the purification of his mother; here he was at twelve years of age difputing with the doctors; and here Simeon, Anna, and others, were waiting for him, Lwke ii. 22, 25, 27, 38, 46. and we often read of his being here, and of his ufing his authority in it, as the Lord and proprietor of it; and of the Ho/annabs given him here, Matt. xxi. 12—15, 23. the manner in which he fhould come, /uddenly, may refer to the manifeftation of it, quickly after obn the Baptift had prepared his way by his doctrine and baptifm: even the meffenger of the covenant, not of the covenant of works with Adam, of which there was no mediator and meffenger; nor of the covenant of circumcifion, at which, according to the ews, Elias prefides; nor of the covenant at Sinaz, of which Mo/es was the mediator; but of the covenant of grace, of which Chrift is not only the furety and Mediator, but as here, the meffenger; becaufe it is revealed, made known, and exhibited in a more glorious manner by him under the gofpel-difpenfation, thro’ the miniftration of the word and ordinances: De Dieu obferves, that the word in the Ethiopic language fignifies a prince, as well as a mefienger, and fo may be rendered, the prince of the covenant, which is a way of fpeaking ufed in Dan. xi. 22: whom ye delight in; either carnally, as they pleafed themfelves with the thoughts of a temporal prince, and of great honour and grandeur under him; and as they would have done, had he fubmitted to have been made a king by them in this fenfe: or rather fpiritually, and fo is to be underftood of fuch who had a fpiritual knowledge of him, and joy in him: who rejoiced and delighted in the contemplation of his perfon, offices, righteoufnefs, and falvation: be /hall come, faith the Lord of bofis; this expreffes the certainty of his coming, being faid by himfelf, who is the Lord of hofts, the Lord of armies in heaven and in earth, the King of kings, and Lord of lords. This pafflage is, in fome ews writers *, interpreted of the world to come, or times of the Meffiah.:
y. 2. But who may abide the day of his coming? &c.] When he fhould be manifeft in J/rae/, and come preaching the gofpel of the kingdom; who could bear the doétrines delivered by him, concerning his deity, and equality with God the Father; concerning his character and miffion as the Meffiah, and his kingdom not being a temporal, but a fpiritual one; concerning his giving his flefh for the life of the world, and eating that by faith; concerning diftinguifhing and efficacious grace; and all fuch that fo feverely ftruck at the wickednefs of the fcribes and pharifees, and their felfrighteous principles; and efpecially fince for judgment he came, that they might not fee; nor could they bear the light of this glorious fun of righteoufnefs; and he came not to fend peace and outward profperity to the Fews, but a fword and divifion, Fobn ix. 39. Matt. x. 34. Luke xii. 51. very few indeed could bear his miniftry, or the light of that day, it being fo directly contrary to take vengeance on the Fews for their rejection of him and his gofpel; for this coming and appearance of his include all the time between his manifeftation in the flefh, and the deftruction of Ferufalem, and fo all thofe forrows and diftrefles, which went before it, or attended it, and were fuch as had never been from the creation of the world; and unlefs thofe times had been fhortened, no flefh could have been faved; fee Matt. xxiv. 3—22. Luke xxi. 36: for be is like a refiner’s fire; partly by the miniftry of the word, compared to fire; Fer. x&ili. 29. feparating pure doétrines from drofly ones; and partly by his fiery difpenfations and judgments on the wicked ews, when he diftinguifhed and faved his own people from that untoward generation, and deftroyed them: and like fuller’s foap, or fuller’s herb, as the Septuagint and
Vulgate Latin verfions render it, and Farchi interprets it; and fo R. Yona * interprets it of an herb which fullers ufe: and in the Mifna'*, this is one of the feven things ufed to take out fpots, namely, Borith, the word here ufed; and which Maimonides * fays, is a plant known by the name of Algaful and Gazul in the Arabic language: it fignifies fomething, by which filth is wathed away; and fo
Bartenora ™ fays, it is a plant which purifies and cleanfes; and Ferom * relates, that this herb grows in Paleftine, in moift and green places, and has the fame virtue as nitre, to take away filth; agree-’
able to which fome other verfions render it fuller’s weed, or foap-weedY. The Syriac verfion is, ‘* as ‘*¢ fulphur that makes white;” and fullers, with the Romans, were wont to make ufe of. that along with chalk, to take out fpots; and fo Pliny * fpeaks of a kind of fulphur, which fullers make ufe of. A metaphor, fignifying the fame thing as before, the removing of {potted doétrines, or fpotted perfons, the one by the preaching of the gofpel, the other by awful judgments, as {pots in garments are removed by the fuller’s herb or foap.
¥. 3. And he foall fit asa refiner and purifier of flver, &c.] Kimchi interprets this, as he does the latter part of the preceding verfe, of the day, and not of the Lord, which he compares to a judge that fits and feparates the guilty from the innocent; fee 1 Cor. iii. 13.. but it is to be underftood of the Lord himfelf, and exprefies his diligence in fitting and feparating good men and principles from bad ones, juft as filver is purified and refined from drofs. Maimonides * underftands the paflage of the Meffiah; for he fays, ‘* in the days of the “« king Meffiah, when his kingdom is reftored, “¢ and all J/rael fhall be gathered to him, all will “< have their genealogies fet right by his mouth, ‘* thro’ the Holy Spirit that refts upon him, as it is “ faid, he jhall fit a refiner and purifier?? as a refiner fits and obferves his metal while it is melting, and waits the proper time to pour it out, and feparate the drofs from it; fo Chrift is here reprefented as fitting, while his people are purifying and refining, by the various ways and means he makes ufe of: it denotes the continued care of Chrift over them; his eye is upon them that nothing be loft but their drofs and co ion; and his patience in waiting to be gracious to them, and do them good; and his diligent attention to the proper. feafon of doing it; defigning by all thar — their principles and practices: and whe fhall fiand when be appeareth? in his kingdom and glory, to! he does, not their hurt and damage, but their real good, for he faves them, tho’ it be by fire; and indeed every trial and affliction is for the purifying of their fouls, and the brightening of their graces, and increafing their fpiritual experience, light, and knowledge. And he fhall purify the fons of Levi; the priefts, either literally underftood, fome of thefe were converted from their evil principles and practices, and became obedient to the doétrines of the gofpel, és vi. 7. or figuratively, the apoftles. of Chrift and minifters of the gofpel,; who were. made clean by him; or rather all the people of God, who are made priefts as well as kings, and are a royal priefthood, and are purified by Chrift, both by his blood, and the imputation of his righteoufnefs, by which they become without fpot and blemith, and as white as fnow; and by the Spirit in fanétification, he fprinkling clean water upon them, and purifying their hearts by faith in the blood of Jefus; and alfo by afflictive difpenfations of providence fanctified unto them. Mention is made of the priefts and Levites, becaufe thefe were fo very corrupt in the times of Chrift, and as appears from the preceding chapters. And purge them as gold and filver; are purged in the fire from their drofs:
this fhows of what worth and value, and in what_ efteem the Lord’s people are to him; he reckons of them as gold and filver, and as his peculiar treafure: and it fuggefts, that before converfion they are joined unto and mixed with wicked men, comparable to drofs; and that they have in them the drofs, corruption, and impurity of fin; which is original and natural to them, and inherent in them, and which can only be removed by the grace of God and blood of Chrift. That they may offer unto the Lord an offering in righteoufne/s; themfelves, their bodies and fouls; the facrifices of prayer, praife, and alms-deeds; to the offering up of which in righteoufnefs, in fincerity and truth, in an upright way, it is neceflary that a perfon fhould be purified by the blood of Chrift, and fanétified by the grace of his Spirit.
y. 4. Then fhall the offering of Fudab and Ferufalem be pleafant unto the Lord, &c.] Or fweet?; grateful and well pleafing to him, as all fpiritual facrifices are acceptable to God thro’ Chrift, being offered up in the faith of his atoning facrifice and righteouinefs, without which it is impoffible to pleafe God: as in the days of old, and as in former years 5 under the firft temple, and when the tabernacle was fet up by Moj/es, and in the times of the patriarchs; and even before the flood, and as early as Abel, who by faith offered a more excellent facrifice than Cain, Hed. xi. 4. 5, 6.. 5. And I will come near to you to judgment, &c.] And fo will manifeftly appear to be the God of judgment they afked after, ch. ii. 17. this is not to be underftood of Chrift’s coming to judgment at the laft day,’ but of his coming to judge and punith the wicked Fews at the time of Ferufalem’s deftruétion; for the fame is here meant, who is fpoken of in the third perfon before, and who will not be afar off; there will be no need to enquire after him, when he will come, he will be near enough, and too near for them: and I will be a fwift witnefs againft the forcerers, not only a judge, but a witnefs; fo that there will be no delay of judgment, or protracting or evading it, for want of witneffes of facts alledged; for the judge himfelf, who is Chrift, will be witnefS of them, he being the omnifcient God, before whom all
A O Ff 744 things are manifeft. The Targum is, “ my word “* fhall be among you for a fwift witnefs.” Mention is made of /orcerers, becaufe there were many that ufed the magic art, enchantments, and. forceries, in the age of Chrift and his apoftles, and before the deftruction of Ferufalem, even many of their doctors and members of the Saubedrim 5 fee the note on Jf viii. 19: aud againft the adulterers 3 with whom that age alfo abounded; hence our Lord calls it an adulterous generation, Matt, xii. 39. fee Fobn viii. 3—9. Rom. ii, 22: and againft falfe fwearers; who were guilty of perjury, and of vain oaths; who fwore by the creatures, and not by the Lord, and to things not true; fee Matt. V. 33—37: and againft thofe that opprefs the bireling in his wages, the widow, and the fatherle/s defrauding of fervants of their wages, devouring widows houfes, and diftrefling the fatherlefs, were fins the Jews were addided to in +thofe times, as appears from Fames i. 27. and v. 4. who wrote to the twelve tribes; and from what our Lord charges them with, Matt. xxiii. 14: and that turn ajfide the firanger from his right; and fo Kimchi fupplies it, ‘* that turn afide the judgment of thé ‘* ftranger;” that don’t do him juftice in civil things; yea, perfecuted thofe that became profe< lytes to the chriftian religion: and fear not mes faith the Lord of bofis; which was the root and caufe of all their fins; irreverence of Chrift,. difbelief of him, and contempt of his gofpel. ¥. 6. For Tam the Lord, &c.] Or Febovabs a name peculiar to the Moft High, and fo a proof of the deity of Chrift, who here fpeaks; and is expreflive of his being; of his felf-exiftence; of his purity and fimplicity; of his immenfity and infinity, and of his eternity and fovereignty. I change not; being the fame to-day, yefterday, and for ever; he changed not in his divine nature and perfonality, by becoming man; he took that into union with him he had not before, but remained the fame he ever was; nor did he change in his threatnings of deftruction to the Jews, which came upon them according to his word; nor in his promifes of his Spirit, and prefence..and protection to his people; nor will he ever change in his love and affections to them; nor in the efficacy of his blood, facrifice, and righteoufnefs; wherefore as this is introduced to afiure the truth and certainty of what is faid before, concerning his being a witt witnefs again{t the wicked, fo alfo for the comfort of the faints, as follows. The ZYargum is, “‘ for « T the Lord have not changed my covenant,” Therefore ye fous of Facob are not confumed, fuch who were J/rae/ites indeed, true believers in Chrift; thefe were not confumed when the wicked Fews were, but were directed to. leave the city before its deftruction, and go to another place, as they did; whereby they were preferved; and fo it was, that not one chriftian perifhed in it; fee the note on Matt. xxiv. 13. and fo it is owing to the unchangeable love, grace, and power of Chrift, that none of his perifh internally or eternally, but have everlafting life. ¥. 7. Even from. the days of your fathers ye are gone away from mine ordinances, &c.| Here begins an enumeration of the fins of the Jews, which were the caufe of their ruin; and here is firft a general charge of apoftacy from the ftatutes and ordinances of the law, which they made void by the the traditions of the fathers; and therefore this word is ufed as referring to this evil, as well as to exprefs their early, long, and continued departure from the ways of God; which as it was an aggravation of their fin, that they fhould have fo long ago forfook the ordinances of God, and have not kept them, but tranfgreffed them by obferving the traditions of men, Matt. xv. 3. fo it is an inftance of the patience and forbearance of God, that they were’ not as yet confumed; and of his grace and goodnefs, that he fhould addrefs them as follows: return unto me, and I will return unto you, faith the Lord of hofts, this meffage was carried to them by Yobn the Baptij?, the forerunner of Chrift, and by Chrift himfelf, who both preached the doctrine of repentance to this people, Mott. iii. 2. and iv. 17. The Targum is, ‘* return to my worfhip, << and I will look in my word to do well unto “ you, faith the Lord of hofts;” and fuch who returned, and believed in Chrift, and fubmitted to his ordinauces, it was well with them. But ye faid, wherein foall we return? what have we to turn from, or repent of? what evils have we done, or can be charged on us? what need have we of repentance or converfion, or of fuch an exhortation to it? don’t we keep the law, and all the rituals of it? this is the true language of the pharifees in Chrift’s time, who touching the righteoufnefs of the law were blamelefs in their own efteem, and were the ninety and nine juft perfons that needed not repentance, Luke xv. 7.
¥. 8. Will a man rob God? &c.] Or the gods; the falfe gods, the idols of the Gentiles; the heathens will not do that, accounting facrilege a great fin, and yet this the Jews were guilty of: or tbe judges‘, as the Targum; civil magiftrates, will any dare to defraud them of their due? fee ch, i. 8: yet ye have robbed me; keeping back from the priefts and Levites, his minifters, what was due to them; and which being no other than a {poiling or robbing of them, might be interpreted a robbing of God: but ye fay, wherein have we robbed thee? as not being confcious of any fuch evil; or however, impudently ftanding in it, that they were not guilty: to which is returned for anfwer, in tithes and offerings; that is, they robbed God in not giving the tithes, and not offering facrifices, according as the law required: but it may be objected, that the Fews in Chrift’s time did pay tithes, even of all things; yea, of more than the Jaw required, Matt. xxiii. 23. Luke xviii. 12. to which it may be replied, that tho’ they gave tithes, yet it was PY" Py with an evil eye, as Aben fizra fays; grudgingly, and not chearfully, and with an evil intention; not to fhow their gratitude to God, and their acknowledgment of him as their Lord, from whom they had their all, but in order to merit at his hands; befides, our Lord fuggefts, that they did not give to God the things that were God’s, Matt. xxii. 21. and the apoftle charges them with being guilty of facrilege, Rom. ii. 22. and moreover, the priefts might not give it to the Levites, as they ought; and which is what they are charged with in Ned. xiii. 10. and Grotius fays, that they were guilty of this before the deftruétion by Ve/pafian, as appears by Fo/ephus.
¥. 9. Ye are curfed with a curfe, &c.] Or with penury, as the Vulgate Latin verfion; which tho’ not a proper rendring of the word, is the meaning
Fe SINT Va ON thefaurum, Junius & Tremellins, Pifcator; we? in domum thefauri, of the curfe they were curfed with; rain was withheld from them for their fins, and the earth did not bring forth its ufual increafe; wherefore there was want of food in all their land; their bleffings were curfed, as in ch. ii. 2. for the following reafon, for ye have robbed me, becaufe of this their iniquity, in not bringing their offerings to the Lord, and the tithes to the priefts and Levites, their land was ftricken with barrennefs, and God gave them cleannefs of teeth, and want of bread in all places: or, but ye have robbed me*; notwithftanding they were thus chaftized of the Lord, yet were not reformed, but went on in withholding from God and the priefts, what belonged to them: even rbis whole nation; the fin was become general, and therefore a general judgment was inflicted on them: Groftius thinks, that the people feeing the priefts withhold the tithes from the Levifes, they refufed to pay them to them, and fo the fin became univerfal, Kimchi obferves, that in other fins charged upon the nation, the people were not all alike guilty, but in this which refpected the tithes and offerings they were.
y. 10. Bring ye all the tithes into the ftore-houfe, &c.] Or éreafury *; for there were places in the temple where the tithe was put, and from thence diftributed to the priefts and Levites, for the fupport of their families, as they wanted. There were the tithe or tenth. part of all eatable things paid to.
the Levites, and out of this another tithe was paid by the Levites to the priefts; and there was another tithe, which fome years the owners eat themfelves at Ferufalem, and in others gave them to the poor; and thefe were called the firft tithe, the tithe out of the tithe, the fecond tithe, and the poors tithe; though they are commonly reduced’
three, and are called firft, and fecond, and chied, as they are by Maimonides; who fays ‘, ** after *“* they have feparated the firft tithe every year, ‘¢ they feparate the fecond tithe, as it is faid, thou << fhalt truly tithe all the increafe of thy feed, 8c. “© Deut. xiv. 22, 23. and in the third year, and in
“¢ the fixth, they feparate the poors tithe, inftead -
** of the fecond tithe.” So Todit fays, ch. i. 7. “ the firft tithe I gave to the Levites, who fland “¢ before the Lord to minifter to him, and to blefs “in his name the inhabitants of Ferufalem; the
“© fecond tithe I fold (as he might, according to —
“¢ the law in Deut. xiv. 24, 25, 26.) and took the “* money, and went up to Feru/alem, and bought “ with it what I pleafed; and the third tithe I ‘“* gave to the repair of the temple;” fo Fagius reads: but according to Munjfer’s edition it is, the fecond and third tithes I gave to the ftranger, the: fatherlefs, and the widow; fee Deut. xxvi. 12, 13. It appears from hence, that the fin of the people was, that they did not bring in a// their tithes; they kept back a part of them; wherefore they are called upon to bring in the whole, and which they did in Nebemiah’s time; fee Neb. x. 38. and Xiii. II, 13. where mention is made of the treafuries for the tithe; which were certain chambers adjoining to the temple; and befides thofe that were built by So/omon, there were other chambers prepared by Hezekiah in his times, when the tithes were brought in in fuch plenty, that there was not room enough for them, 2 Chron, xxxi, 11, 12.
and befides thofe in the fecond temple, that were | in the court of the priefts, there were others in the cour 4 D/YIP CONN 'MN) et tamen diripitis me, De Dieu.