Malachi 3:14

“Ye have said, it [is] vain to serve God, etc.] This they said in their hearts, if not with their lips, that it was a vain thing for a man to serve God; he got nothing by it; he had no reward for it; it fared no better with him than the wicked; nay, the wicked fared better than he; and therefore who would be a worshipper of God? (see <182115>Job 21:15). Abarbinel understands this also with respect to God, who is worshipped; to whom worship, say these men, is no ways profitable, nor does he regard it; (see <183507>Job 35:7) and therefore it is in vain to serve him, since neither he, nor we, are the better for it: and what profit [is it] that we have kept his ordinance; or “his observation”f85;…”

“what profit . . . that we . . . kept, &c.--(See on Mal 2:17). They here resume the same murmur against God. Job 21:14-15; Job 22:17 describe a further stage of the same skeptical spirit, when the skeptic has actually ceased to keep God's service. Psa 73:1-14 describes the temptation to a like feeling in the saint when seeing the really godly suffer and the ungodly prosper in worldly goods now. The Jews here mistake utterly the nature of God's service, converting it into a mercenary bargain; they attended to outward observances, not from love to God, but in the hope of being well paid for in outward prosperity; when this was withheld, they charged God with being unjust, forgetting alike that…”

“Ye have said, It is vain to serve the God - o “as receiving no gain or reward for their service. This is the judgment of the world, whereby worldlings think pious, just, sincere, strict men, vain, i. e., especially when they see them impoverished, despised, oppressed, afflicted, because they know not the true goods of virtue and eternal glory, but measure all things by sight, sense and taste. Truly, if the righteous had not hope of another and better life, in vain would they afflict themselves, and bear the afflictions of others. For, as the Apostle says 1 Corinthians 15:19. ‘If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable.’ But now, hoping for another blessed…”

“3:14 What have we gained? The people assumed that righteous acts would result in material blessing (Deut 28). • sorry for our sins: The idea was to parade mournfully or walk in funeral garb to demonstrate penitence, as though such acts were righteous in themselves (see Matt 6:1-18).”

“It is: Job 21:14, Job 21:15, Job 22:17, Job 34:9, Job 35:3; Psa 73:8-13; Isa 58:3; Zep 1:12 ordinance: Heb. observation and that: Isa 58:3; Joe 2:12; Zac 7:3-6; Jam 4:9 mournfully: Heb. in black Malachi 3:15”