Bibelkommentare

Introduction to Malachi

The last prophet of the Old Testament, like the forerunner of our Lord, whom he foreannounced under his own name . "The messenger of the Lord," willed to be but "the voice of one crying in the wilderness;" as his great successor, who took up his message, when asked, "Who art thou? What sayest thou of thyself?" said John 1:23, "I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness, Make straight the way of the Lord." He mentions neither his parentage, nor birthplace, nor date; nor did he add the name of his office , and he has left it to be guessed, whether the name under which he is known, was the name which he bore among men; so wholly did he will to be hidden. No one before him is recorded to have carried his name. It may be that he framed it for himself, and willed to be known only as what it designated, "the messenger of the Lord." This was a favorite title with him, since, in this brief prophecy, he uses it, as describing the priest's office, and that of the forerunner Malachi 2:7; Malachi 3:1; whereas, before him, except once by Haggai and once by Isaiah Hag 1:13; Isaiah 42:19, it had been used only of the blessed angels.

There is, however, no ground to think that it was not his name. Even the Septuagint, which paraphrases it, "His messenger," prefix to the book the name Malachi; and the title, "my messenger," would not have described that he was "the messenger of God," since the name of God had not preceded. "If names are to be interpreted," Jerome says , "and history is to be framed from them, not a spiritual meaning to be derived, then Hosea who is called Saviour, and Joel whose name means, 'Lord God,' and the other prophets will not be men, but rather angels or the Lord and Saviour, according to the meaning of their name." No special stress was laid upon the name, even by the Origenists, who supposed Haggai, Malachi and John the Immerser to have been angels . Origen himself supposed John the Immerser to have been an angel in human form , and Melchizedek , as well as Malachi. More widely, that , "they became the words in the prophets."

At the time of our Lord, some accounted him to have been Ezra, perhaps for his zeal for the Law. His date must, however, have been later, since there is no mention of the building of the temple, whose service was in its regular order. In the New Testament, like others of the twelve, he is cited without his name , or the substance of his prophecy, is spoken of or alluded to, without any reference to any human author Luke 1:17, Luke 1:76; Matthew 17:10; John 1:21; so entirely was his wish to remain hidden fulfilled.

Yet he probably bore a great part in the reformation, in which Nehemiah cooperated outwardly, and to effect which, after he had, on the expiring of his 12 years of office Nehemiah 5:14, returned to Persia, he obtained leave to visit his own land again Nehemiah 13:6, apparently for a short time. For he mentions his obtaining that leave, in connection with abuses at Jerusalem, which had taken place in his absence, and which he began reforming, immediately on his arrival. But three chief abuses, the neglect of God's service, the defilement of the priesthood and of their covenant, and the cruelty to their own Jewish wives, divorcing them to make way for idolatresses, are subjects of Malachi's reproofs. Nehemiah found these practices apparently rampant. It is not then probable that they had been, before, the subjects of Malachi's denunciation, nor were his own energetic measures probably fruitless, so that there should be occasion for these denunciations afterward. It remains, then, as the most probable, that Malachi, as the prophet, cooperated with Nehemiah, as the civil authority, as Haggai and Zechariah had with Zerubbabel , "So Isaiah cooperated with Hezekiah; Jeremiah with Josiah. Of a mere external reformation there is no instance" in Jewish history.

It does not appear, whether Nehemiah, on his return, was invested by the king of Persia with extraordinary authority for these reforms, or whether he was appointed as their governor. The brief account affords no scope for the mention of it. It is not then any objection to the contemporaneousness of Malachi and Nehemiah, that, whereas Nehemiah, while governor, "required not the bread of the governor," i. e., the allowance granted him by the Persian government, as an impost upon the people, Malachi upbraids the people that they would not offer to their governor the poor things which they offered to Almighty God, or that the governor would not accept it, in that it would be an insult rather than an act of respect. For:

(1) the question in Malachi is of a free-offering, not of an impost;

(2) Nehemiah says that he did not "require it," not that he would not accept it;

(3) there is no evidence that he was now governor, nor

(4) any reason why he should not accept in their improved condition, what he did not "require Nehemiah 5:18, because the bondage was heavy upon this people."

Presents were, as they are still, a common act of courtesy in the East.

Like John the Immerser, though afar off, he prepared the way of the Lord by the preaching of repentance. More than other prophets, he unveils priests and people to themselves, interprets their thoughts to them, and puts those thoughts in abrupt naked language, picturing them as demurring to every charge which he brought against them. They were not, doubtless, conscious hypocrites. For conscious hypocrisy is the sin of individuals, aping the graces which others possess and which they have not, yet wish to be held in estimation for having. Here, it is the mass which is corrupt. The true Israel is the exception Malachi 3:16 - "those who feared the Lord, the jewels of Almighty God." It is the hypocrisy of self-deceit, contented with poor, limited, outward service, and pluming itself upon it. Malachi unfolds to them the meaning of their acts. His thesis is themselves, whom he unfolds to them.

He interprets himself, putting into their mouths words, betokening a simple unconsciousness either of God's goodness or their own evil Malachi 1:2. "Yet ye say, Wherein hast Thou loved us?" This was their inward thought, as it is the thought of all, ungrateful to God. But his characteristic is, that he puts these thoughts into abrupt, bold bad words, which might startle them for their hideousness, as if he would say, "This is what your acts mean." He exhibits the worm and the decay, which lay under the whited exterior Malachi 1:6. "Ye say, Wherein have we despised Thy Name?" Perhaps, they were already learning, not to pronounce the proper Name of God, while they caused it to be despised. Or they pronounced it with reverent pause, while they showed that they held cheap God and His service Malachi 1:7. "Ye say, The table of the Lord is contemptible Malachi 1:7, Malachi 1:12. Ye say, the table of the Lord is polluted; and the fruit thereof, his meat, is contemptible." Their acts said it. What a reading of thoughts Malachi 1:13! "Ye said also, Behold, what a weariness!" It is the language of the heart in all indevotion Malachi 2:14. "Ye say, Wherefore?" as if innocently unconscious of the ground of God's judgment Malachi 3:8. "Wherein have we robbed Thee?" The language of those who count the earth as their own Malachi 2:17. "Ye say, Wherein have we wearied Him? When ye say, Everyone that doeth evil is good in the sight of the Lord, and in them doth He delight, or, Where is the God of judgment?" The heart's speech in all envy at the prosperity of the wicked!

Yet the object of all this unfolding them to themselves, is their repentance. We already have the self-righteousness of the Pharisees, and the Sadducees' denial of God's Providence. And we already have the voice of John the Immerser, "of the wrath to come." They professed to Malachi 3:1; Malachi 4:1 "delight in the coming of the messenger of the covenant;" yet their deeds were such as would be burned up with the fire of His coming, not, rewarded.

Pharisees and Sadduces are but two off-shoots of the same ungodliness; Pharisees, while they hoped by outward acts to be in favor with God, they become, at least, secret Sadducees, when the hope fails. First, they justify themselves. God had said to them Malachi 2:8-9, "Ye are departed out of the way: I have made you base, as ye have not kept My ways." They say Malachi 3:14, "It is vain to serve God; and what profit, that we have kept His ordinance?" (affirming that they had done, what God called them to repentance for not doing) God said Malachi 2:13, "Ye have covered the altar of the Lord with tears," the tears of their wronged wives; they insist on their own austerities Malachi 3:14, "we have walked mournfully before the Lord our God." Then comes the Sadducee portion. God had called them to obedience and said (Malachi 3:10, וּבתנוּני ûbethânûnı̂y), "Prove Me now herewith: they say, (Malachi 3:15, בצנוּ bâchănû), the workers of wickedness have proved God, and are saved." God promised . "All nations shall call you blessed;" they answer , "and now we call the proud blessed. What have we spoken against Thee?" is the last self-justifying question, which Malachi records of them; and this, while reproaching God for the uselessness of serving Him, and choosing the lot of those who rejected Him.

Thereon Malachi abandons this class to their own blindness. There was hope amid any sin. However, it rebelled against God. This was a final denial of God's Providence and rejection of Himself. So Malachi closes with the same prophecy, with which John the Immerser prepared our Lord's coming, "His Luke 3:17 fan is in His hand, and He will thoroughly purge His floor; and will gather the wheat into His garner, but the chaff He shall burn with fire unquenchable." The unspeakable tenderness of God toward "those who fear His name," and the severity to those who finally rebel, are perhaps nowhere more vividly declared, than in these closing words of the Old Testament. Yet the love of God, as ever, predominates; and the last prophet closes with the word "Remember," and with one more effort to avert the curse which they were bringing upon themselves. Yet no prophet declares more expressly the rejection of the people, to whom he came to minister, the calling the Gentiles, the universal worship, in of the earth, of Him who was hitherto worshiped by the Jews only; and that, not at Jerusalem, but each offering, in his own place, the sacrifice which hitherto (as they had recently experienced, in their captivity at Babylon) could be offered up in Jerusalem only. To him alone it was reserved to prophesy of the unbloody sacrifice, which should be offered unto God "in every place" throughout the world "from the rising of the sun unto the going down thereof." It has been said , "Malachi is like a late evening, which closes a long day, but he is at the same time the morning twilight which bears in its bosom a glorious day."

"When prophecy was to be withdrawn from the ancient Church of God, its last light was mingled with the rising beams of the Sun of Righteousness. In one view it combined a retrospect of the Law with the clearest specific signs of the Gospel advent Malachi 4:4. Remember ye the law of Moses My servant, which I commanded him on Mount Horeb, for all Israel, with the statutes and the judgments. Behold I will send you Elijah the prophet, before the great and dreadful day of the Lord. Prophecy had been the oracle of Judaism and of Christianity, to uphold the authority of the one, and reveal the promise of the other. And now its latest admonitions were like those of a faithful departing minister, embracing and summing up his duties. Resigning its charge to the personal precursor of Christ, it expired with the Gospel upon its lips."

A school, which regards the "prophets" chiefly as "poets," says that "the language is prosaic, and manifests the decaying spirit of prophecy." The office of the prophets was, to convey in forceful words, which God gave them, His message to His people. The poetic form was but an accident. God, who knows the hearts of His creatures whom He has made, knows better than we, why He chose such an instrument. Zechariah, full of imagination, He chose some years before. But He preserved in history the account of the words which Zechariah spoke, not the words wherewith he urged the rebuilding of the temple, in his own book. If Malachi had spoken in imaginative language, like that of Ezekiel, to whom God says Ezekiel 33:32, "thou art unto them like a very lovely song of one that hath a pleasant voice and can play well on an instrument, and they hear thy words and they do them not," it may be that they would have acted then, as they did in the time of Ezekiel. It may be, that times like those of Malachi, apathetic, self-justifying, complaining, self-complacent, needed a sterner, more abrupt, more startling voice to awaken them. "Wisdom was justified of her children."

God performed by him a reformation for the time being: He gave through him a warning to the generation, when our Lord would come, that He would come, as their Judge as well as their Saviour, and, how they would stand in the day of His coming. He gave it as a book to His whole Church, whereby to distinguish seeming from real service. Parting words are always solemn, as closing the past, and opening out a future of expectation before us. The position of Malachi, as the last of the prophets, bids us the more solemnly prepare for that dread day, our Lord's second coming, which he foretold, in one with the first coming, warning us that we do not deceive ourselves, in unconsciousness of our own evil and remembrance of our seeming good, until He professes unto us Matthew 7:23, "I never knew you; depart from Me, ye that work iniquity."

The burden of the word of the Lord to Israel - o "The word of the Lord is heavy, because it is called a burden, yet it hath something of consolation, because it is not 'against,' but to Israel. For it is one thing when we write to this or that person; another, when we write 'against' this or that person; the one being the part of friendship, the other, the open admission of enmity."

"By the hand of Malachi;" through him, as the instrument of God, deposited with him; as Paul speaks of 1 Corinthians 9:17; Titus 1:3, "the dispensation of the Gospel 2 Corinthians 5:19, the Lord of reconciliation; Galatians 2:7, the Gospel of the uncircumcision, being committed to him."

I have loved you, saith the Lord - What a volume of God's relations to us in two simple words, "I-have-loved you" . So would not God speak, unless He still loved. "I have loved and do love you," is the force of the words. When? And since when? In all eternity God loved; in all our past, God loved. Tokens of His love, past or present, in good or seeming ill, are but an effluence of that everlasting love. He, the Unchangeable, ever loved, as the apostle of love says 1 John 4:19, "we love Him, because He first loved us." The deliverance from the bondage of Egypt, the making them His Romans 9:4, "special people, the adoption, the covenant, the giving of the Law, the service of God and His promises," all the several mercies involved in these, the feeding with manna, the deliverance from their enemies whenever they returned to Him, their recent restoration, the gift of the prophets, were so many single pulses of God's everlasting love, uniform in itself, manifold in its manifestations. But it is more than a declaration of His everlasting love. "I have loved you;" God would say; with "a special love, a more than ordinary love, with greater tokens of love, than to others." So God brings to the penitent soul the thought of its ingratitude: I have loved "you:" I, you. And ye have said, "Wherein hast Thou loved us?" It is a characteristic of Malachi to exhibit in all its nakedness man's ingratitude. This is the one voice of all people's complaints, ignoring all God's past and present mercies, in view of the one thing which He withholds, though they dare not put it into words: "Wherein hast Thou loved us Psalm 78:11? Within a while they forgot His works, and the wonders that He had showed them Psalm 106:13 : they made haste, they forgot His works."

"Was not Esau Jacob's brother! saith the Lord: and I loved Jacob, and Esau have I hated." "While they were yet in their mother's womb, before any good or evil deserts of either, God said to their mother Genesis 25:23, The older shall serve the younger. The hatred was not a proper and formed hatred (for God could not hate Esau before he sinned) but only a lesser love," which, in comparison to the great love for Jacob, seemed as if it were not love. "So he says Genesis 29:31. The Lord saw that Leah was hated; where Jacob's neglect of Leah, and lesser love than for Rachel, is called 'hatred;' yet Jacob did not literally hate Leah, whom he loved and cared for as his wife." This greater love was shown in preferring the Jews to the Edomites, giving to the Jews His law, Church, temple, prophets, and subjecting Edom to them; and especially in the recent deliverance "He does not speak directly of predestination, but of pre-election, to temporal goods." God gave both nations alike over to the Chaldees for the punishment of their sins; but the Jews He brought back, Edom He left unrestored.

And I made his mountains a waste, and his heritage for the jackals of the wilderness - o

Malachi attests the first stage of fulfillment of Joel's prophecy (Joel 3:19, vol. i. pp. 214, 215), "Edom shall be a desolate wilderness." In temporal things, Esau's blessing was identical with Jacob's; "the fatness of the earth and of the dew of heaven from above;" and the rich soil on the terraces of its mountain-sides, though yielding nothing now except a wild beautiful vegetation, and its deep glens, attest what they once must have been, when artificially watered and cultivated. The first desolation must have been through Nebuchadnezzar , in his expedition against Egypt, when he subdued Moab and Ammon; and Edom lay in his way, as Jeremiah had foretold Jeremiah 25:9, Jeremiah 25:21.

Whereas Edom saith - o.

We are impoverished - o, ידשׁשׁ.), or, more probably, "we were crushed." Either gives an adequate sense. Human self-confidence will admit anything, as to the past; nay, will even exaggerate past evil to itself, "Crush us how they may, we will arise and repair our losses." So Ephraim said of old Isaiah 9:9-10, "in the pride and stoutness of heart, The bricks are fallen down, but we will build with hewn-stones: the sycamores are cut down, but we will change them into cedars." It is the one language of what calls itself, "indomitable;" in other words, "untameable," conquerors or every other gambler; "we will repair our losses." All is again staked and lost.

"They shall call them the border of wickedness." Formerly, it had its own proper name, "the border of Edom," as other countries Exodus 10:14, Exodus 10:19, "all the border of Egypt Deuteronomy 2:18, the border of Moab 1 Samuel 11:3, 1 Samuel 11:7; 1 Samuel 27:1; 1 Chronicles 21:12, the whole border of Israel 2 Chronicles 11:13, the border of Israel Judges 11:22, the whole border of the Amorite." Henceforth, it should be known no more by its own name; but as "the border of wickedness," where wickedness formerly dwelt, and, hence, the judgment of God and desolation from Him came upon it, "an accursed land." In a similar manner, Jeremiah says somewhat of Jerusalem (Jeremiah 22:8-9. Compare Deuteronomy 29:23-28.) "Many nations shall pass by this city, and they shall say, every man to his neighbor, Wherfore hath the Lord done this unto this great city? Then they shall answer, Because they have forsaken the covenant of the Lord their God, and worshiped other gods and served them." Only Israel would retain its name, as it has; Edom should be blotted out wholly and forever.

And your eyes shall see - Malicious pleasure in looking on at the misery of Judaea and Jerusalem, had been a special sin of Edom: now God would show Judah the fruit of its reversal, and His goodness toward themselves. , "Ye have assurance of His love toward you and providence over you, when ye see that ye are returned to your own land, and can inhabit it, but they cannot do this: but "they build and I throw down," and ye, therefore, praise and magnify My name for this, and ye shall say, "The Lord shall be magnified on the border of Israel, i. e., His greatness shall be always manifest upon you;" high above and exalted over the border of Israel which shall retain its name, while Edom shall have ceased to be. Wickedness gives its name to Edom's border, as in Zechariah's vision it was removed and settled in Babylon Zechariah 5:8, Zechariah 5:11.

A son honoreth his father, and a slave his lord - Having spoken of the love of God, he turns to the thanklessness of man. God appeals to the first feelings of the human heart, the relation of parent and child, or, failing this, to the natural self-interest of those dependent on their fellow-men. A "son" by the instinct of nature, by the unwritten law written in the heart, "honoreth his father." If he fails to do so, he is counted to have broken the law of nature, to be an unnatural son. If he is, what by nature he ought to be, he does really honor him. He does not even speak of love, as to which they might deceive themselves. He speaks of "honor," outward reverence only; which whoso showeth not, would openly condemn himself as an unnatural son, a bad slave. "Of course," the Jews would say, "children honor parents, and slaves their masters, but what is that to us?" God turns to them their own mental admission.

"If I am a Father." "Although, before ye were born, I began to love you in Jacob as sons, yet choose by what title ye will name Me: I am either your Father or your Lord. If a Father, render me the honor due to a father, and offer the piety worthy of a parent. If a Lord, why despise ye Me? Why fear ye not your Lord?" God was their Father by creation, as He is Father of all, as Creator of all. He had come to be their Father in a nearer way, by temporal redemption and adoption as His special people, creating them to be a nation to His glory. This they were taught to confess in their psalmody Psalm 100:3, "He hath made us, and not we ourselves; we are His people and the sheep of His pasture." This title God had given them in sight of the Egyptians Exodus 4:22, "Israel is My son, My firstborn:" of this Hosea reminded them; Hosea 11:1, "When Israel was a child, then I loved him, and called My son out of Egypt;" and Jeremiah reassured them Jeremiah 31:9, "I am a Father to Israel and Ephraim is My firstborn:" this, Isaiah had pleaded to God Isaiah 63:16, "Doubtless Thou art our Father, though Abraham be ignorant of us, and Israel acknowledge us not. Thou, O Lord, art our Father, our Redeemer, Thy name is from everlasting Isaiah 64:8. And now, O Lord, Thou art our Father; we the clay, and Thou our potter; and we all, the work of Thy hands." God had impressed this His relation of Father, in Moses' prophetic warning; Deuteronomy 32:6, "Do ye thus requite the Lord, O foolish people and unwise? Is not He thy Father that hath bought thee? hath He not made thee and established thee?" "God is the Father of the faithful:

1. by creation;

2. by preservation and governance;

3. by alimony;

4. by fatherly care and providence;

5. by faith and grace, whereby He justifies and adopts us as sons and heirs of His kingdom."

"If I am a Father." He does not throw doubt, that He is our Father; but, by disobedience, we in deeds deny it. Our life denies what we in words profess. "Where is My honor?" "Why obey ye not My precepts, nor honor Me with acts of adoration; praying, praising, giving thanks, sacrificing, and reverently fulfilling every work of God? For Jeremiah 48:10. cursed is he that doeth the work of the Lord deceitfully."

"And if I am your Lord, as I certainly am, and specially by singular providence." "He is our Lord by the same titles, that He is our Father, and by others, as that He has redeemed us, and purchased us to Himself by the Blood of His Son; that He is the Supreme Majesty, whom all creation is bound to serve; that, setting before us the reward of eternal glory, He has hired us as servants and laborers into His vineyard." God Alone is Lord through universal sovereignty, underived authority, and original source of laws, precepts, rights; and all other lords are but as ministers and instruments, compared to Him, the Lord and original Doer of all. Hence, He says Isaiah 42:8, "I am the Lord; that is My Name, and My glory will I not give to another."

"Where is My fear?" which ought to be shown to Me. "If thou art a servant, render to the Lord the service of fear; if a son, show to thy Father the feeling of piety. But thou renderest not thanks, neither lovest nor fearest God. Thou art then either a contumacious servant or a proud son." "Fear includes reverence, adoration, sacrifice, the whole worship of God." "Whoso feareth is not over-curious, but adores; is not inquisitive, but praises, and glorifies."

"Fear is twofold; servile, whereby punishment, not fault, is dreaded; filial, by which fault is feared. In like way service is twofold. A servant with a service of fear, purely servile, does not deserve to be called a son of God, nor is in a state of salvation, not having love. Whence Christ, distinguishing such a servant from a son of God by adoption, saith John 8:35, "The servant abideth not in the house forever, but the son abideth ever: and again John 15:15, The servant knoweth not what his Lord doeth." But a servant, whose service is of pure and filial love, is also a son, of whom the Saviour saith, Matthew 25:21, Matthew 25:23, "Well done, good and faithful servant, enter thou into the joy of thy Lord." But since a distinction is made here between the son and the servant, he seems to be speaking of servile fear, which, although it doth not good well and meritoriously, i. e., with a right intention and from love, yet withdraws from ill, and is the beginning of wisdom, because it disposeth to grace. Whence it is written (Ecclesiasticus 1:21), 'The fear of the Lord driveth away sins,' and again Scripture saith Proverbs 16:6, "By the fear of the Lord men depart from evil."

"God requireth to be feared as a Lord, honored as a Father, loved as a Husband. Which is chiefest of these? Love. Without this, fear has torment, honor has no grace. Fear, when not enfreed by love, is servile. Honor, which cometh not from love, is not honor, but adulation. Honor and glory belong to God Alone; but neither of them will God accept, unless seasoned with the honey of love."

"Saith the Lord unto you, O priests, who despise My Name," literally "despisers of My Name," habitually beyond others. The contempt of God came especially from those bound most to honor him. priests, as consecrated to God, belonged especially to God . "Malachi begins his prophecy and correction by the correction of the priests; because the reformation of the state and of the laity hangs upon the reformation of the clergy and the priest, for Hosea 4:9, "as is the priest, such also is the people?" He turns, with a suddenness which must have been startling to them, to them as the center of the offending.

"And ye say, Wherein have we despised Thy Name?" Before, it was ignorance of God's love: now it is ignorance of self and of sin. They affect to themselves innocence and are unconscious of any sin. They said to themselves doubtless (as many do now) "we cannot help it; we do the best we can, under the circumstances." Without some knowledge of God's love, there can be no sense of sin; without some sense of sin, no knowledge of His love. They take the defensive, they are simply surprised, like Cain, Genesis 4:9, "Am I my brother's keeper?" or many of the lost in the day of judgment Matthew 7:22-23, "Many will say to Me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Thy Name? And in Thy Name have cast out devils? And in Thy Name done many wonderful works?" and yet were all the while "workers of iniquity," to whom He will say, "I never knew you." And Matthew 25:44, Matthew 25:46 says: "Lord, when saw we Thee an hungered, or athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto Thee?" And yet they "shall go away into everlasting punishment."

Offering polluted bread upon Mine altar - This, continuing on the words, "despisers of My Name," , is the answer to their question, "Wherein have we despised Thy Name?" "Bread" might stand, in itself, either for the showbread, or for the מנחה minchāh, meal-offering, which was the necessary accompaniment of sacrifices and sometimes the whole.

But here the "polluted bread" cannot be the showbread, since this was not put upon the altar, but upon its own table; and although the altar is, as here, also called "a table" , in regard to the sacrifice hereon consumed, "the table" of the showbread is nowhere called "altar." The prophet then means by "bread," either the meal-offering, as representing the sacrifice, or the offerings by fire altogether, as in Ezekiel EZechariah 44:7, "When ye offer My bread, the fat and the blood;" and in Leviticus "the offerings of the Lord, made by fire, the bread of their God, do they offer;" and of the "peace-offering Leviticus 3:11, the priest shall burn it upon the altar; the bread of the offering made by fire unto the Lord:" and specifically, of animals with blemish, as these, it is forbidden Leviticus 22:25, "Neither from a stranger's hand shall ye offer the bread of your God of any of these, because their corruption is in them, blemishes in them: they shall not be accepted for you." It was, as it were, a feast of God with man, and what was withdrawn from the use of man by fire, was, as it were, consumed by God, to whom it was offered.

It was "polluted," in that it was contrary to the law of God which forbade to sacrifice any animal, "lame or blind" or with "any ill blemish," as being inconsistent with the typical perfection of the sacrifice. Even the Gentiles were careful about the perfection of their sacrifices.

"Blind is the sacrifice of the soul, which is not illumined by the light of Christ. Lame is his sacrifice of prayer, who comes with a double mind to entreat the Lord." "He offereth one weak, whose heart is not established in the grace of God, nor by the anchor of hope fixed in Christ. These words are also uttered against those who, being rich, offer to the Creator the cheaper and least things, and give small alms."

"And ye say, Wherewith have we polluted Thee?" It is a bold expression. Yet a word, to which we are but too ill-accustomed, which expresses what most have done, "dishonor God," comes to the same. Though less bold in expression, they are yet like in meaning Ezekiel 13:19. "Will ye pollute Me anymore among My people?" or Ezekiel 20:9, Ezekiel 20:14, Ezekiel 20:22, "that My Name should not be polluted before the pagan Ezekiel 43:7. My holy Name shall Israel no more defile Ezekiel 39:7, "I will not let them pollute My Name anymore." "Much more in the new law, in which the Sacrifice is Christ Himself our God, whence the Apostle says expressly 1 Corinthians 11:27, "Whoso eateth this bread and drinketh this cup of the Lord unworthily, shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord." "For when the sacraments are violated, Himself, whose sacraments they are, is violated." God speaks of our acts with an unveiled plainness, which we should not dare to use. "As we are said to sanctify God, when we minister to Him in holiness and righteousness, and so, as far as in us lies, show that He is holy; so we are said to pollute Him, when we conduct ourselves irreverently and viciously before Him, especially in His worship, and thereby, as far as in us lies, show that He is not holy and is to be dishonored."

"In that ye say, the table of the Lord is contemptible," literally "contemptible is it," , and so any contemptible thing might be offered on it. They said this probably, not in words, but in deeds. Or, if in words, in plausible words. "God doth not require the ornamenting of the altar, but the devotion of the offerers." "What good is it, if we offer the best? Be what we offer, what it may, it is all to be consumed by fire." "The pretext at once of avarice and gluttony!" And so they kept the best for themselves. They were poor, on their return from the captivity. Anyhow, the sacrifices were offered. What could it matter to God? And so they dispensed with God's law.

"So at this day we see some priests and prelates, splendid in their tables and feasts, sordid in the altar and temple; on the table are costly napkins and wine; on the altar torn linen and wine-mace rather than wine." "We pollute the bread, that is, the Body of Christ, when we approach the altar unworthily, and, being defiled, drink that pure Blood, and say, 'The table of the Lord is contemptible;' not that anyone dareth to say this, but the deeds of sinners pour contempt on the table of God."