Attributed commentary excerpt
Keil & Delitzsch on Malachi 3:5
A historical reference excerpt for this verse. Read it alongside the biblical text and other available sources.
Commentary on the Old Testament
C. F. Keil & F. Delitzsch · 19th-century historical commentary
Source: BibleWord.ai's local reference edition of this named work.
Mal 3:5. "And I will draw near to you to judgment, and will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, and against the adulterers, and against those who swear for deceit, and those who press down the wages of the hireling, the widow and the orphan, and bow down the foreigner, and fear not me, saith Jehovah of hosts. Mal 3:6. For I Jehovah, I change not; and ye sons of Israel, ye are not consumed." The refining which the Lord will perform at His coming will not limit itself to the priests, but become a judgment upon all sinners. This judgment is threatened against those who wanted the judgment of God to come, according to Mal 2:17. To these the Lord will draw near to judgment, and rise up as a swift witness against all the wicked who do not fear Him. The word קרבתּי does not imply that the judgment announced will actually commence at once. The drawing near to judgment takes place in the day of His coming ( Mal 3:2), and this is preceded by the sending of the messenger to prepare the way. The words affirm nothing as to the time of the coming, because this was not revealed to the prophet. Nor is there any intimation on this point in the word ממהר, but simply the announcement that the Lord will come with unexpected rapidity, in contrast with the murmuring of the people at the delay of judgment ( Mal 2:17). ממהר answers substantially to פּתאם in Mal 3:1. God comes as a practical witness against the wicked, convicting them of their guilt by punishing them. The particular sins mentioned here are such as were grievous sins in the eye of the law, and to some extent were punishable with death. On sorcerers and adulterers see Exo 22:17; Lev 20:10; Deu 22:22. That sorcery was very common among the Jews after the captivity, is evident from such passages as Act 8:9; Act 13:6, and from Josephus, Ant. xx. 6, de bell. Jud. ii. 12, 23; and the occurrence of adultery may be inferred from the condemnation of the marriages with heathen wives in Mal 2:10-16. On false swearing compare Lev 19:12. The expression to press the wages of the labourer is unusual, since the only other passage in which עשׁק is construed with a neuter object is Mic 2:2, and in every other case it is applied to persons; for עשׁק שׂכיר compare Lev 19:13 and Deu 24:14-15, to which the reproof refers. אלמנה ויתום are not genitives dependent upon שׂכר, but further objects to עשׁקי. For the fact itself compare Exo 22:21-23; Deu 24:17; Deu 27:19. To מטּי גר we are not to supply משׁפּט, after Deu 24:17 and Deu 27:19; but הטּה is used of the person as in Amo 5:12 : to bow down the stranger, i.e., to oppress him unjustly. The words, "and fear not me," point to the source from which all these sins flowed, and refer to all the sinners mentioned before. This threat of judgment is explained in Mal 3:6 in the double clause: that Jehovah does not change, and the sons of Israel do not perish. Because Jehovah is unchangeable in His purposes, and Israel as the people of God is not to perish, therefore will God exterminate the wicked out of Israel by means of judgment, in order to refine it and shape it according to its true calling. The perfects are used to express established truths. The unchangeableness of God is implied in the name Jehovah, "who is that He is," the absolutely independent and absolutely existing One (see at Gen 2:4). For the fact itself compare Num 23:19; Sa1 15:29; Jam 1:17. Jehovah is in apposition to 'ănı̄ (I), and not a predicate in the sense of "I am Jehovah" (Luther, Hengstenb…
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