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英文原文
In this chapter we have, I. A promise of the coming of the Messiah, and of his forerunner; and the errand he comes upon is here particularly described, both the comfort which his coming brings to his church and people and the terror which it will bring to the wicked, Mal 3:1-6. II. A reproof of the Jews for their corrupting God's ordinances and sacrilegiously robbing him of his dues, with a charge to them to amend this matter, and a promise that, if they did, God would return in mercy to them, Mal 3:7-12. III. A description of the wickedness of the wicked that speak against God (Mal 3:13-15), and of the righteousness of the righteous that speak for him, with the precious promises made to them, Mal 3:16-18.
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Evangelical Predictions; The Advent of Christ Predicted (400 BC)
福音性的预言；预言基督的降临（公元前400年）
¹ 万军之耶和华说："我要差遣我的使者在我前面预备道路。你们所寻求的主，必忽然进入他的殿；立约的使者，就是你们所仰慕的，看哪，他快要来到。" ² 他来的日子，谁能当得起呢？他显现的时候，谁能立得住呢？因为他如炼金之人的火，如漂布之人的碱。 ³ 他必坐下如炼净银子的，必洁净利未人，熬炼他们像金银一样；他们就凭公义献供物给耶和华。 ⁴ 那时犹大和耶路撒冷所献的供物，必蒙耶和华悦纳，仿佛古时之日、往昔之年。 ⁵ 万军之耶和华说："我必临近你们，施行审判。我必速作见证，警戒行邪术的、犯奸淫的、起假誓的、亏负人之工价的、欺压寡妇孤儿的、屈枉寄居的和不敬畏我的。" ⁶ "因我耶和华是不改变的，所以你们雅各之子没有灭亡。"
本章开头的话似乎直接回答了前章末尾那些亵渎无神论者的亵慢质问："公义的神在哪里呢？"对此立即回答说："他就在这里；他已在门口；久所盼望的弥赛亚即将显现；他说：'我为审判到这世上来'——就是你们如此无礼地挑战的那审判。"一位拉比说，这话的意思是：神要兴起一位公义的君王来整顿万事，即"弥赛亚王"。而"基督福音的起头"明确地说就是这应许的成就——旧约正是在这应许中结束的（可 1:1,2）。这样，两约就仿佛彼此扣连，互相呼应。在此我们有：
I. 预言他的先锋施洗约翰的显现，这原是先知以赛亚早已预言的（赛 40:3），作为"预备主的道"——此处似乎正引述它，因为后先知的话印证了前先知的话："看哪，我要差遣我的使者"，或"我正差遣他"。"我定意要差遣他；他不久就要来，且不会未蒙差遣而来，尽管对那漫不经心的世代，他是未蒙请求而来。"请注意，1. 他是"神的使者"，这是他的职分；他是"玛拉基"（原文如此）——与这位先知同名；他是"我的使者，我的大使"。施洗约翰的委任"是从天上来的，不是从人来的"。众人都认施洗约翰为先知，因为他是神的使者，正如先知一样，并奉差遣到世上成就他们所奉的同一使命——召人悔改归正。2. 他是基督的先驱："他必在我面前预备道路"——借召人尽那些使他们配得弥赛亚及其降临之安慰的本分，借使他们不再倚仗自己是亚伯拉罕的子孙（他们以为这样无需救主便已足够），并宣告弥赛亚已临近，借此提高人对他的期盼，使人甘心顺服他要建立国度所采取的种种措施。注意：神作工有条不紊，他在来到之前，必先差人预备道路。这如同赐下一个记号。教会早已被告知弥赛亚必来；此处又加添说，在他显现之前不久，必有显著的记号——必有一位大先知兴起，宣告他的临近，呼唤那永久的门户"抬起头来"迎接他进来。这事成就，正是"耶稣是基督"的凭据，他就是"那要来的"，我们"不可再等别人"；因为在他之前已有这样一位使者奉差而来，"为主预备了合用的百姓"（路 1:17)。犹太作者们为逃避这一证据的定罪，竟堕入荒谬；有人说这使者是"死亡的天使"，要把恶人取去投入地狱的刑罚；有人说是约瑟的弥赛亚，要在大卫的弥赛亚之前显现；有人说是这位先知自己；有人说是从天上来的天使：不肯领受真理的人就是这样走入歧途。
II. 预言弥赛亚本人的显现："你们所寻求的主，必忽然进入他的殿"——就是那"公义的神"，你们以为他已经离弃了地，"不知道他到哪里去了"。"弥赛亚许久以来被称为'那要来的'，你们如今可以确信他不久必来。"1. 他是"主"——即Adonai，世界建立并稳固在其上的根基，万有的掌管者和统治者，那"作万有之主"的（徒 10:36）——一切权柄都交在他手中（太 28:18），并要"永远掌管雅各家"（路 1:33)。2. 他是"立约的使者"，即"立约的天使"，那位从天上"奉差遣"的、可称颂者，要在神与人之间成就和平，建立相交。他是"天使"，是"天使长"，是众天使之主，他从父领受了委任，要借恩典之约把因违犯无罪之约而背叛神的人重新领回。基督是这约的"使者"，借他的中保之工，这约得以成就设立，正如神与以色列的约是"借天使所设立的"（徒 7:53，加 3:19)。基督作为先知，是这约的"使者"与"中保"；不仅如此，他"被立作万民的约"（赛 49:8)。那"作我们全备救恩"之约"起先是主亲自讲的"（来 2:3)。他虽是"约的君"（有人如此读），却甘愿作"约的使者"，好叫我们借他的话确知神向人所怀的善意。3. 他就是"你们所寻求的，你们所仰慕的"——敬虔的犹太人所盼望、所爱慕的，他们一想到他的来临就满心喜乐。在仰望等候他时，他们"在耶路撒冷仰望救赎"，"素常盼望以色列的安慰者来到"（路 2:25,38)。基督要成为"万国所羡慕的"，为众人所羡慕（该 2:7)；但他实在是犹太民族的羡慕，因为他们得了他降临的应许。注意：凡寻求耶稣的，必在他里面得着喜乐。他若是我们心中的羡慕，也必是我们心中的喜悦；他是"立约的使者"，我们有理由以他为乐，并欢迎他这存着如此美意来到我们这里的一位。4. 他"必忽然来到"——他的来临近了，我们远不如先祖那样从遥远的距离看见它。或：他必紧随施洗约翰的显现而来，几乎踏着他先锋的脚跟；当那"晨星"显现时，当信"公义的日头"已不远了。或："他必忽然来到"，即他要在许多人所没有料到的时候来到；正如他第二次再来将要如此，他第一次来也是"在半夜"，那时有人已停止等候他，因为"人子来的时候，遇得见世上有信德吗？"（路 18:8)。犹太人把弥赛亚列在那些"不知不觉临到"的事中；这是Pocock博士所记。而人子在他日子里的降临被说成"如同闪电"，极其惊人（路 17:24)。5. 他"必进入他的殿"——就是耶路撒冷这座新近建成的殿，那座他要成为其荣耀的"后来的殿"。这是他的殿，因为是"我父的殿"（约 2:16)。基督四十天大时被献在殿里，西面就"受圣灵感动"照这预言的指引前去见他（路 2:27)。他十二岁时在殿里"以我父的事为念"（路 2:49)。他凯旋进入耶路撒冷时，似乎径直"到了殿里"（太 21:12），并且（玛 3:14——此处当指福音书的记载）"瞎子瘸子到殿里到他跟前，他就治好了他们"；他常在那里讲道、辩论、行神迹。由此可见，弥赛亚必在这殿仍存之时来到；这殿既早已被毁，我们便可断定他已经来了，我们不可再等候别人。注意：人若要认识基督、得他恩眷，当在他的殿里迎见他，因为他"在那里记录他的名"，也必在那里赐福给他的百姓。在那里我们当领受他的圣言，在那里我们当献上我们的敬意。6. 关于他降临的应许被重复、被确认："万军之耶和华说：看哪，他必来到"——你们可以信靠他不能说谎的话语，他"必来"，他"要来"，他"不再迟延"。
III. 说明他降临的伟大目的与意图（玛 3:2）。他是他们所寻求的，是他们所仰慕的；然而"他来的日子，谁能当得起呢？"这是当以极大的严肃、以圣洁的敬畏和尊崇来思想的事；因为"他显现的时候，谁能立得住呢？"——虽然他来不是要定世人的罪，乃是要叫世人因他得生？这可指：
1. 他显现时的威严。即在他肉身的日子，他也有荣耀与能力的某些彰显，无人能在其前站立，例如他的登山变像，以及他受死时所伴随的奇事；我们也读到有人在的他面前战兢，如可 5:33。
2. 此后不久将要来到的动荡时局。犹太的博士们论到"弥赛亚的产难"或"弥赛亚的痛苦"，他们说意指他来临时以色列所要受的大苦难；他自己也说到那时临近的大灾难，"从世界的起头直到如今，没有这样的灾难，后来也必没有"（太 24:21）。
3. 他的降临对世人所作的试验。他"如炼金之人的火"，借熔化矿石将金与渣滓分开；又如"漂布之人的碱"，借反复搓磨把布上的污渍洗除。基督来要显明人，"叫许多人心里的意念显露出来"（路 2:35），要分辨人，把宝贵的和下贱的分别出来——他"手里拿着簸箕"（太 3:12），要"把火丢在地上"，不是太平，反而是"分争"（路 12:49,51），要"震动天地"，使"恶人"被"从其中抖出来"（伯 38:13），"使那不被震动的常存"（来 12:27)。请看福音所要作的试验，其结果如何：
(1.) 福音必在那些向善的人身上发生善工，对他们而言，它必作"活的香气叫人活"（玛 3:3）："他必坐下如炼净银子的。"基督要借他的福音洁净、改革他的教会，并借与之同工的圣灵重生、洗净个别灵魂；为此他舍了自己为教会，"要用水借着道把教会洗净"（弗 5:26），并"洁净自己，特作自己的子民"（多 2:14）。基督是那伟大的炼净者。请注意，[1.] 他所要洁净的是谁——"利未人"，就是一切 devoted 归他赞美、employed 于他事奉的人，正如利未支派一样；他有意使他们"作神属灵的祭司"（启 1:6），作"圣洁的祭司"（彼前 2:5）。注意：一切真基督徒都是利未之子，分别为圣归给神，为要事奉他的圣所，"打那美好的仗"。[2.] 他要如何洁净他们——"他必熬炼他们像金银一样"，即要在他们里面使他们成圣；他不仅洗去他们从外所染的污点，还要除去他们里面的渣滓；他要将他们里面那种使其才干毫无价值、毫无用处的居衷之败坏分开，使他们成为炼净的金子，既宝贵又合用。"他必如火熬炼他们，如金银被熬炼"，因为他"是用圣灵与火施洗"（太 3:11）——用如火的圣灵施洗。他借"百般的试炼"熬炼他们，使"他们信心的试验"被"寻见归于赞美、荣耀"（彼前 1:6,7)。他要把他们熬炼成他自己宝贵的子民。[3.] 其结果如何："他们就凭公义献供物给耶和华"——即他们必真心归向神，献上为赞美他而分别为圣（所以我们读到外邦人被"圣灵成为圣洁"之后"献给神"，作"献祭"，罗 15:16），又使他们照神的旨意以属灵的方式敬拜他，"献上公义的祭"（诗 4:5）——就是祷告、赞美和圣洁之爱的祭，使他们成为"那真正拜父的，用心灵和诚实拜他"（约 4:23,24）。注意：我们若不在人称义、成圣之后，就不能向耶和华献上任何宗教上正当的供奉。直到我们自身被神的恩典炼净，我们所作的一切就不能归荣耀与神。神先看中亚伯，后看中他的供物；"所以"神熬炼他的百姓，使他们凭公义献供物给他（番 3:9)。他使树好，果子才好。接着（玛 3:4）说："犹大和耶路撒冷所献的供物，必蒙耶和华悦纳。"它不再像从前那样可憎——从前他们在古时与以色列的神同拜别神，或在如今把抢夺的、瘸腿的、有病的拿来献祭；如今必"蒙悦纳"；他必喜悦献祭的人和他们的供物，"仿佛古时之日、往昔之年"——如教会初创之时，如神看中亚伯的祭、闻到挪亚祭物那安息之香气之时，又如他从天上降火烧尽亚伦祭物之时。弥赛亚来时，第一，他必借他们里面的恩典使他们蒙悦纳；他既洁净熬炼了他们，他们就必献上神所要求、所悦纳的祭。第二，他必借为他们代求使他们蒙悦纳；他要把他们和他们的供奉举荐与神，使他们的祷告既得他代求之香的熏染，就"蒙耶和华悦纳"；因为他"使我们在爱子里蒙悦纳"，凡在他里面的（太 3:17）并在他里面结果子的，他都喜悦。
(2.) 它必对那些执意行恶的人成为见证（玛 3:5）。这正是对他们挑战的直接回答——"公义的神在哪里呢？你们必知道他在哪里，且要恐惧惶恐地知道，因为我必临近你们，施行审判"——针对你们这些向神的公义挑战的人。对他们而言，基督的福音必作"死的香气叫他死"；它要把他们拘留在定罪之下，并在大日审判他们（约 12:48)。在此请看，[1.] 当受基督福音审判的是些什么罪人。他们是"行邪术的"——死于属灵的恶行中，离弃真理之神的圣言去求问谎言之父；是"犯奸淫的"——沉溺于肉体的情欲，就是那些被控"行事诡诈"的奸淫者（玛 2:15）；是"起假誓的"——亵渎神的名、冒犯他的公义，召他来为谎言作证；是"欺压人的"——野蛮地伤害、践踏那些任凭他们摆布、无力自救的人：他们"亏负人之工价"，不肯按所定的付给他；他们"欺压寡妇孤儿"，不肯还他们当还的债，因为他们不能举证，或无力诉讼；那无依无靠、又不通晓当地律法的"寄居者"，他们也"屈枉他的公正"，使他不能保住或不能讨回自己的产业。这一切的根源是："万军之耶和华说：他们不敬畏我。""恶人的过犯"明明地说"他眼中不怕神"。哪里没有对神的敬畏，那里就不可能指望有善。[2.] 谁要作证控告他们："我必临近，作速成的见证控告他们。"他们自以为义，他们的罪既巧妙地隐瞒了，就指望因缺乏证据而逃脱刑罚；但那鉴察万有、知道一切的神，要亲自作见证控告他们，他的全知胜过一千个证人，因为罪人自己的良心也要向他认同，于是"各人的口都塞住了"。他必作速成的见证；他们虽以他为迟缓怠惰，问"公义的神在哪里"、"他来的应许在哪里呢"，他们必发现"他对他的威吓并不耽延"，正如他对他的应许并不耽延一样。对这些罪人的审判不因缺乏证据而拖延，因为他要作速成的见证。他的审判必追上他们，他们无法逃脱。"祸患追赶罪人"。
IV. 这一切的确认（玛 3:6）："因我耶和华是不改变的，所以你们雅各之子没有灭亡。"在此我们有：1. 神亲自宣告他的不改变，并以此得荣耀："我是耶和华，我是不改变的；所以我所说的话，一句也不落空。"神是向背叛他之人报仇的公义者吗？他是殷勤寻求他之人的厚赐者吗？在这两方面他都不改变。虽然对恶行的判语（玛 3:5）没有速速执行，却必执行，因为他是"耶和华"，他"不改变"；他对罪恶的敌视一如既往，不悔改的罪人必发现他正是如此。神的审判无须"恢复执行的令状"，因为它从不因年久失效，从不逾期；对那些仍在过犯中前行的人，他律法的咒诅仍旧"十足有效、有力、有功效"。2. 这一点的一个特别凭据，出自以色列百姓在自己经历中所体验的安慰。他们有理由说他是不改变的神，因为他忠于他与他们和他们列祖所立的约；他若不持守这约，他们早就被剪除，不再成民了；他们在待他之事上虚谎善变，他本可公义地弃绝他们，他们也就速速被吞灭、倾覆；但因他"记念他的约"，不愿违约，也不更改他口中所出的话，他们就蒙保守免于毁灭，从毁灭的边缘被挽回。这完全是因他要兑现他的话（申 7:8，利 26:42)。正如神在那独特之约仍然有效时，纯粹因他忠于那约而保守了他们免于毁灭，并要显明"他非人子，必不致说谎"（民 23:19)；照样，当那约被新约所取代而废弃，他们因弃绝其福分就把自己暴露在咒诅之下，他必在怒气的判定上、也在怜悯的判定上，显明"他非人子，必不致后悔"，那时他对他的威吓要像迄今为止他对他的应许一样信实；见撒上 15:29。我们都可以很贴切地应用在自己身上：正因为我们所面对的是一位"不改变"的神，"我们才不致消灭"——正因为"他的怜悯不致断绝；每早晨这都是新的；你的诚实极其广大"（哀 3:22,23）。
英文原文
Evangelical Predictions; The Advent of Christ Predicted (400 BC)
¹ Behold, I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me: and the Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to his temple, even the messenger of the covenant, whom ye delight in: behold, he shall come, saith the LORD of hosts.
² But who may abide the day of his coming? and who shall stand when he appeareth? for he is like a refiner's fire, and like fullers' soap:
³ And he shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver: and he shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer unto the LORD an offering in righteousness.
⁴ Then shall the offering of Judah and Jerusalem be pleasant unto the LORD, as in the days of old, and as in former years.
⁵ And I will come near to you to judgment; and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, and against the adulterers, and against false swearers, and against those that oppress the hireling in his wages, the widow, and the fatherless, and that turn aside the stranger from his right, and fear not me, saith the LORD of hosts.
⁶ For I am the LORD, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed.
The first words of this chapter seem a direct answer to the profane atheistical demand of the scoffers of those days which closed the foregoing chapter: Where is the God of judgment? To which it is readily answered, "Here he is; he is just at the door; the long-expected Messiah is ready to appear; and he says, For judgment have I come into this world, for that judgment which you have so impudently bid defiance to." One of the rabbin says that the meaning of this is, That God will raise up a righteous King, to set things in order, even the king Messiah. And the beginning of the gospel of Christ is expressly said to be the accomplishment of this promise, with which the Old Testament concludes, Mk 1:1,2. So that by this the two Testaments are, as it were, tacked together, and made to answer one another. Now here we have,
I. A prophecy of the appearing of his forerunner John the Baptist, which the prophet Isaiah had foretold (Isa 40:3), as the preparing of the way of the Lord, to which this seems to have a reference, for the words of the latter prophets confirmed those of the former: Behold, I will send my messenger, or I do send him, or I am sending him. "I am determined to send him; he will now shortly come, and will not come unsent, though to a careless generation he comes unsent for." Observe, 1. He is God's messenger; that is his office; he is Malachi (so the word is), the same with the name of this prophet; he is my angel, my ambassador. John Baptist had his commission from heaven, and not of men. All held John Baptist for a prophet, for he was God's messenger, as the prophets were, and came on the same errand to the world that they were sent upon—to call men to repentance and reformation. 2. He is Christ's harbinger: He shall prepare the way before me, by calling men to those duties which qualify them to receive the comforts of the Messiah and his coming, and by taking them off from a confidence in their relation to Abraham as their father (which, they thought, would serve their turn without a saviour), and by giving notice that the Messiah was now at hand, and so raising men's expectations of him, and making them readily to go into the measures he would take for the setting up of his kingdom in the world. Note, God observes a method in his work, and, before he comes, takes care to have his way prepared. This is like the giving of a sign. The church was told, long before, that the Messiah would come; and here it is added that, a little before he appears, there shall be a signal given; a great prophet shall arise, that shall give notice of his approach, and call to the everlasting gates and doors to lift up their heads and give him admission. The accomplishment of this is a proof that Jesus is the Christ, is he that should come, and we are to look for no other; for there was such a messenger sent before him, who made ready a people prepared for the Lord, Lu 1:17. The Jewish writers run into gross absurdities to evade the conviction of this evidence; some of them say that this messenger is the angel of death, who shall take the wicked out of this life, to be sent into hell torments; others of them say that it is Messiah the son of Joseph, who shall appear before Messiah the son of David; others, this prophet himself; others, an angel from heaven: such mistakes do those run into that will not receive the truth.
II. A prophecy of the appearing of the Messiah himself: "The Lord, whom you seek, shall suddenly come to his temple, even the God of judgment, who, you think, has forsaken the earth, and you wot not what has become of him. The Messiah has been long called he that should come, and you may assure yourselves that now shortly he will come." 1. He is the Lord—Adonai, the basis and foundation on which the world is founded and fastened, the ruler and governor of all, that one Lord over all (Ac 10:36) that has all power committed to him (Mt 28:18) and is to reign over the house of Jacob for ever, Lu 1:33. 2. He is the Messenger of the covenant, or the angel of the covenant, that blessed one that was sent from heaven to negotiate a peace, and settle a correspondence, between God and man. He is the angel, the archangel, the Lord of the angels, who received commission from the Father to bring man home to God by a covenant of grace, who had revolted from him by the violation of the covenant of innocency. Christ is the angel of this covenant, by whose mediation it is brought about and established as God's covenant with Israel was made by the disposition of angels, Ac 7:53, Ga 3:19. Christ, as a prophet, is the messenger and mediator of the covenant; nay, he is given for a covenant, Isa 49:8. That covenant which is all our salvation began to be spoken by the Lord, Heb 2:3. Though he is the prince of the covenant (as some read this) yet he condescended to be the messenger of it, that we might have full assurance of God's good-will towards man, upon his word. 3. He it is whom you seek, whom you delight in, whom the pious Jews expect and desire, and whose coming they think of with a great deal of pleasure. In looking and waiting for him, they looked for redemption in Jerusalem and waited for the consolation of Israel, Lu 2:25,38. Christ was to be the desire of all nations, desirable to all (Hag 2:7); but he was the desire of the Jewish nation actually, because they had the promise of his coming made to them. Note, Those that seek Jesus shall find pleasure in him. If he be our heart's desire he will be our heart's delight; and we have reason to delight in him who is the messenger of the covenant, and to bid him welcome who came to us on so kind an errand. 4. He shall suddenly come; his coming draws nigh, and we see it not at so great a distance as the patriarchs saw it at. Or, He shall come immediately after the appearing of John Baptist, shall even tread on the heels of his forerunner; when that morning-star appears, believe that the Sun of righteousness is not far off. Or, He shall come suddenly, that is, he shall come when by many he is not looked for; as his second coming will be, so his first coming was, at midnight, when some had done looking for him, for shall he find faith on the earth? Lu 18:8. The Jews reckon the Messiah among the things that come unawares; so Dr. Pocock. And the coming of the Son of man in his day is said to be as the lightning, which is very surprising, Lu 17:24. 5. He shall come to his temple, this temple at Jerusalem, which was lately built, that latter house which he was to be the glory of. It is his temple, for it is his Father's house, Joh 2:16. Christ, at forty days old, was presented in the temple, and thither Simeon went by the Spirit, according to the direction of this prophecy, to see him, Lu 2:27. At twelve years old he was in the temple about his Father's business, Lu 2:49. When he rode in triumph into Jerusalem, it should seem that he went directly to the temple (Mt 21:12), and (Mal 3:14) thither the blind and the lame came to him to be healed; there he often preached, and often disputed, and often wrought miracles. By this it appears that the Messiah was to come while that temple was standing; that, therefore, being long since destroyed, we must conclude that he has come, and we are to look for no other. Note, Those that would be acquainted with Christ and obtain his favour must meet him in his temple, for there he records his name and there he will bless his people. There we must receive his oracles and there we must pay our homage. 6. The promise of this coming is repeated and ratified: Behold, he shall come, saith the Lord of hosts; you may depend upon his word, who cannot lie, he shall come, he will come, he will not tarry.
III. An account given of the great ends and intentions of his coming, Mal 3:2. He is one whom they seek, and one whom they delight in; and yet who may abide the day of his coming? It is a thing to be thought of with great seriousness, and with a holy awe and reverence; for who shall stand when he appears, though he comes not to condemn the world, but that the world through him might have life? This may refer,
1. To the terrors of his appearance. Even in the days of his flesh there were some emanations of his glory and power, such as none could stand before, witness his transfiguration, and the prodigies that attended his death; and we read of some that trembled before him, as Mk 5:33.
2. To the troublous times that should follow soon after. The Jewish doctors speak of the pangs or griefs of the Messiah, meaning (they say) the great afflictions that should be to Israel at the time of his coming; he himself speaks of great tribulation then approaching, such as was not since the beginning of the world, nor ever shall be, Mt 24:21.
3. To the trial which his coming would make of the children of men. He shall be like a refiner's fire, which separates between the gold and the dross by melting the ore, or like fuller's soap, which with much rubbing fetches the spots out of the cloth. Christ came to discover men, that the thoughts of many hearts might be revealed (Lu 2:35), to distinguish men, to separate between the precious and the vile, for his fan in his hand (Mt 3:12), to send fire on the earth, not peace, but rather division (Lu 12:49,51), to shake heaven and earth, that the wicked might be shaken out (Job 38:13) and that the things which cannot be shaken might remain, Heb 12:27. See what the effect of the trial will be that shall be made by the gospel.
(1.) The gospel shall work good upon those that are disposed to be good, to them it shall be a savour of life unto life (Mal 3:3): He shall sit as a refiner. Christ by his gospel shall purify and reform his church, and by his Spirit working with it shall regenerate and cleanse particular souls; for to this end he gave himself for the church, that he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word (Eph 5:26) and purify to himself a peculiar people, Tit 2:14. Christ is the great refiner. Observe, [1.] Who they are that he will purify—the sons of Levi, all those that are devoted to his praise and employed in his service, as the tribe of Levi was, and whom he designs to make unto our God spiritual priests (Re 1:6), a holy priesthood, 1Pe 2:5. Note, All true Christians are sons of Levi, set apart for God, to do the service of his sanctuary, and to war the good warfare. [2.] How he will purify them; he will purge them as gold and silver, that is, he will sanctify them inwardly; he will not only wash away the spots they have contracted from without, but will take away the dross that is found in them; he will separate from them their indwelling corruptions, which rendered their faculties worthless and useless, and so make them like gold refined, both valuable and serviceable. He will purge them with fire, as gold and silver are purged, for he baptizes with the Holy Ghost and with fire (Mt 3:11), with the Holy Ghost working like fire. He will purge them by afflictions and manifold temptations, that the trial of their faith may be found to praise and honour, 1Pe 1:6,7. He will purge them so as to make them a precious people to himself. [3.] What will be the effect of it: That they may offer unto the Lord an offering in righteousness, that is, that they may be in sincerity converted to God and consecrated to his praise (hence we read of the offering up, or sacrificing, of the Gentiles to God, when they were sanctified by the holy Ghost, Ro 15:16), and that they may in a spiritual manner worship God according to his will, may offer the sacrifices of righteousness, (Ps 4:5), the offering of prayer, and praise, and holy love, that they may be the true worshippers, who worship the Father in spirit and in truth, Joh 4:23,24. Note, We cannot offer unto the Lord any right performances in religion unless our persons be justified and sanctified. Till we ourselves be refined and purified by the grace of God, we cannot do any thing that will redound to the glory of God. God had respect to Abel first, and then to his offering; and therefore God purges his people, that they may offer their offerings to him in righteousness, Zep 3:9. He makes the tree good that the fruit may be good. And then it follows (Mal 3:4), The offering of Judah and Jerusalem shall be pleasant unto the Lord. It shall no longer be offensive, as it has been, when, in the former days, they worshipped other gods with the God of Israel, or when, in the present days, they brought the torn, and the lame, and the sick, for sacrifice; but it shall be acceptable; he will be pleased with the offerers, and their offerings, as in the days of old and as in former years, as in the primitive times of the church, as when God had respect to Abel's sacrifice and smelled a savour of rest from Noah's, and when he kindled Aaron's sacrifice with fire from heaven. When the Messiah comes, First, He will, by his grace in them, make them acceptable; when he has purified and refined them, then they shall offer such sacrifices as God requires and will accept. Secondly, He will, by his intercession for them, make them accepted; he will recommend them and their performances to God, so that their prayers, being perfumed with the incense of his intercession, shall be pleasant unto the Lord; for he has made us accepted in the Beloved, and in him is well pleased with those that are in him (Mt 3:17) and bring forth fruit in him.
(2.) It shall turn for a testimony against those that are resolved to go on in their wickedness, Mal 3:5. This is the direct answer to their challenge, "Where is the God of judgment? You shall know where he is, and shall know it to your terror and confusion, for I will come near to you to judgment; to you that set divine justice at defiance." To them the gospel of Christ will be a savour of death unto death; it will bind them over to condemnation and will judge them in the great day, Joh 12:48. Let us see here, [1.] Who the sinners are that must appear to be judged by the gospel of Christ. They are the sorcerers, who died in spiritual wickedness, that forsake the oracles of the God of truth to consult the father of lies; and the adulterers, who wallow in the lusts of the flesh, those adulterers who were charged with dealing treacherously (Mal 2:15); and the false swearers, who profane God's name and affront his justice, by calling him to witness to a lie; and the oppressors, who barbarously injure and trample upon those who lie at their mercy, and are not able to help themselves: they defraud the hireling in his wages and will not give him what he agreed for; they crush the widow and fatherless, and will not pay them their just debts, because they cannot prove them, or have not wherewithal to sue for them; the poor stranger too, who has no friend to stand by him and is ignorant of the laws of the country, they turn aside from his right, so that he cannot keep or cannot recover his own. That which is at the bottom of all this is, They fear not me, saith the Lord of hosts. The transgression of the wicked plainly declares that there is no fear of God before his eyes. Where no fear of God is no good is to be expected. [2.] Who will appear against them: I will come near, says God, and will be a swift witness against them. They justify themselves, and, their sins having been artfully concealed, hope to escape punishment for want of proof; but God, who sees and knows all things, will himself be witness against them, and his omniscience is instead of a thousand witnesses, for to it the sinner's own conscience shall be made to subscribe, and so every mouth shall be stopped. He will be a swift witness; though they reflect upon him as slow and dilatory, and ask, Where is the God of judgment, and where the promise of his coming? they will find that he is not slack concerning his threatenings any more than he is concerning his promises. Judgment against those sinners shall not be put off for want of evidence, for he will be a swift witness. His judgment shall overtake them, and it shall be impossible for them to outrun it. Evil pursues sinners.
IV. The ratification of all this (Mal 3:6): For I am the Lord; I change not; therefore you sons of Jacob are not consumed. Here we have, 1. God's immutability asserted by Himself, and glorified in: "I am the Lord; I change not; and therefore no word that I have spoken shall fall to the ground." Is God a just revenger of those that rebel against him? Is he the bountiful rewarder of those that diligently seek him? In both these he is unchangeable. Though the sentence passed against evil works (Mal 3:5) be not executed speedily, yet it will be executed, for he is the Lord; he changes not; he is as much an enemy to sin as ever he was, and impenitent sinners will find him so. There needs no scire facias—a writ calling one to show cause, to revive God's judgment, for it is never antiquated, or out of date, but against those that go on still in their trespasses the curse of his law still remains in full force, power, and virtue. 2. A particular proof of it, from the comfortable experience which the people of Israel had had of it. They had reason to say that he was an unchangeable God, for he had been faithful to his covenant with them and their fathers; if he had not adhered to that, they would have been consumed long ago and cut off from being a people; they had been false and fickle in their conduct to him, and he might justly have abandoned them, and then they would soon have been consumed and ruined; but because he remembered his covenant, and would not violate that, nor alter the thing that had gone forth out of his lips, they were preserved from ruin and recovered from the brink of it. It was purely because he would be as good as his word, De 7:8, Le 26:42. Now as God had kept them from ruin, while the covenant of peculiarity remained in force, purely because he would be faithful to that covenant, and would show that he is not a man that he should lie (Nu 23:19), so, when that covenant should be superseded and set aside by the New Testament, and they, by rejecting the blessings of it, lay themselves open to the curses, he will show that in the determinations of his wrath, as well as in those of his mercy, he is not a man, that he should repent, but will then be as true to his threatenings as hitherto he had been to his promises; see 1Sa 15:29. We may all apply this very sensibly to ourselves; because we have to do with a God that changes not, therefore it is that we are not consumed, even because his compassions fail not; they are new every morning; great is his faithfulness, La 3:22,23.
7-12
The Sins of the People; Encouragements to Repentance (400 BC)
百姓的罪；悔改的勉励（公元前400年）
⁷ "从你们列祖的日子以来，你们常常偏离我的典章，也不遵守。现在你们要转向我，我就转向你们。"这是万军之耶和华说的。"你们却说：'我们如何才是转向呢？' ⁸ 人岂可夺取神之物呢？你们竟夺取我的供物。你们却说：'我们在何事上夺取你的供物呢？'就是你们当纳的十分之一和当献的供物。 ⁹ 因你们通国的人都夺取我的供物，咒诅就临到你们身上。 ¹⁰ 万军之耶和华说：你们要将当纳的十分之一全然送入仓库，使我家有粮，以此试试我，是否为你们敞开天上的窗户，倾福与你们，甚至无处可容。 ¹¹ 万军之耶和华说：我必为你们斥责蝗虫，不容它毁坏你们的土产；你们田间的葡萄树在未熟之先，也不掉果子。 ¹² 万军之耶和华说：万国必称你们为有福的，因你们的地必成为喜乐之地。"
此处是神与那世代之人的争讼——因他们离弃他的事奉并抢夺他——实在是恶仆，不但逃离主人，还带着主人的财物逃跑。
I. 他们逃离了主人，撇下他交给他们作的工（玛 3:7)："你们偏离我的典章，也不遵守。"神敬拜的典章是仆人当尽的本分、当经营的才干、当持守的托付；他们却偏离它们，厌倦它们，把颈项从那轭中缩回；他们偏离了神为他们所定的法则，背弃了所托付他们的。他们不仅在敬拜上背叛了神，也在生活行为上背叛了他；他们"没有遵守他的典章"。这悖逆的罪他们从"你们列祖的日子以来"就有——或如古时列祖因悖逆被掳那样，或"如今几代以来，你们已经偏离了你们初次从被掳归回时的样式"。以斯拉在一件事上承认这一点："自从我们列祖的日子直到今日，我们大有罪愆"（拉 9:7)。现在请注意，1. 神给他们何等恩惠的归回与悔改的呼召："你们要转向我"——转向你们当尽的本分，归回你们的事奉，归回你们的效忠；像一个迷路的旅客那样归回，像一个弃旗逃跑的兵丁那样归回，像一个离开丈夫的背约之妻那样归回；"背道的以色列啊，归回吧，转向我；那时'我就转向你们'，与你们和好，撤销你们所受的审判，又阻止你们所怕的。"这自古就是这首歌的重担（亚 1:3)，如今仍然如此。2. 他们对这恩惠呼召以怎样乖戾的话回复："你们却带着轻蔑说"——对那呼召你们的先知说，对彼此说，对自己的心说，好压制你们所受的责备；"你们说：'我们如何才是转向呢？'"注意：神留意我们的心对他话语之呼召如何回应，我们听见一篇讲道之后说什么、想什么，对所传给我们的信息如何回答。神召我们"转向"，我们当像耶 3:22 那些人那样回答："看哪，我们来到这里。"而不是像这里这些人："我们如何才是转向呢？"(1.) 他们以被告知自己的过错并被召改正为冒犯；他们便说："这些先知何必这样大事张扬悔改归正的事呢？为什么这样羞辱我们、搅扰我们，激动我们的良心和邻舍反对我们？"把责备当作羞辱，"用脚踢刺"，这样的人处境堪忧。(2.) 他们对自己、对神圣律法的严格、全备和属灵性质如此无知，以致看不见自己有什么当悔改或当改正的；他们在自己眼中是清洁的，以为自己不需要悔改。(3.) 他们执意行恶，竟会找出千百个愚妄无聊的借口来推托悔改，又拒绝所给他们的悔改呼召。他们所说的不过是没话找话；这是遁词，是戏弄先知，是激他下到具体细节。注意：许多人因拒绝给他们悔改罪恶的呼召，而毁了自己的灵魂。
II. 他们抢夺了主人，私吞了他的财物。他们曾问："我们如何才是转向？我们作了什么错事？"他便立即告诉他们。请注意，1. 先知奉神的名向百姓所提的严厉控告。他们被起诉犯抢劫罪——犯圣物抢劫罪，这是抢劫中最严重的："你竟夺取我的供物。"他就此与他们理论："人岂可如此大胆无耻，竟去'夺取神之物'？人本是软弱的受造物，不能与神的大能相争，他岂想'用武力'抢夺神？人本在神的鉴察之下，不能向他隐藏，他岂想'私下秘密地'抢夺神？人本依靠神，一切从神而得，他岂要抢夺那赐恩与他的人？这真是忘恩、不义、无良；这样激怒那审判我们的主，实在是极其愚昧。""人岂可向神行强暴？"有人如此读。"人岂可吝惜或扣紧他？"又有人如此读。抢夺神是可憎的大罪。2. 百姓对那控告的大胆反诘："你们却说：'我们在何事上夺取你的供物呢？'"他们答辩"无罪"，要神拿出证据。注意：抢夺神既是如此可憎的大罪，犯这罪的人就不肯认罪。他们抢夺神，却不知道自己作的是什么。他们抢夺他的尊荣，抢夺那归他献为圣、当用在他事奉中的物，抢夺他们自己，抢夺安息的时间，抢夺那为维持信仰所献之物，不从他产业中给他当得的份；却还问："我们在何事上夺取你的供物呢？"3. 对这控告清楚的证据，回答这反诘；就是"当纳的十分之一和当献的供物"。祭司利未人本可从中得自己和家属的供养；他们却扣留它们，欺哄了祭司，不纳十分之一，或不全纳，或不纳最好的；他们不献神所要求的供物，或献抢夺的、瘸腿的、有病的，不堪使用。全国都犯了这罪，甚至"通国的人"都如此，仿佛他们同心合意抵挡神，联合抢夺他当得的份，又彼此掩护。因此他们"咒诅就临到你们身上"（玛 3:9)。神以饥荒和缺乏刑罚他们——借不合时的天气，或借吞噬土产的昆虫。神曾因他们不建殿而如此刑罚他们（该 1:10,11)，如今又因他们不维持殿的事奉而如此刑罚。注意：那不肯把产业中归神的份给神的人，理当指望自己的那份受咒诅："你们因抢夺我而受咒诅，却仍去行。"注意：人虽在为此所受的护理责备之下，仍坚持犯罪，这是大大加重罪孽。不但如此，似乎因为神以粮食缺乏刑罚他们，他们竟以此为借口去抢夺他——如今既贫穷，便无力纳十分之一和供物，必须留下，好为家人有饼可吃。注意：人竟以那为要把他们与他们的罪分开而赐下的患难，作为犯罪的借口，这表明人在罪中何等顽梗。他们在不多之时，本当用那不多之物行更多善事，那原是使它增多的途径；但当那本当治病的东西只被用来掩饰它、阻止它被查究时，病人便堪忧了。4. 切切劝勉他们在此事上改过，并应许他们若如此行，所受的审判必速速撤去。(1.) 当留心尽其本分（玛 3:10)："你们要将当纳的十分之一全然送入仓库。"他们已经纳了一些，但像亚拿尼亚和撒非喇那样"私自留下几份"，声称不能如数拿出所要求的，"急需无律法"；但即使急需也当服这律法，它也必解救他们急需之苦："要按律法所求的全然纳十分之一，'使我家有粮'——叫事奉祭坛的有粮，不管你们家中有粮无粮。"注意：神必须先得事奉，我们必须在我们所住之处为维持信仰奉献我们当纳的份，使神的名被尊为圣，他的国降临，他的旨意行在地上——甚至在我们求日用饮食之先；因为我们灵魂的事益当先于身体的事益。(2.) 然后当信神必为他们预备并赐他们安慰："先事奉神，然后'以此试试我，万军之耶和华说，是否为你们敞开天上的窗户'。"他们说："让神先把丰足归还我们，像从前那样，再试试我们是否那时就把十分之一和供物献上，像从前一样。"神说："不，你们要先全然纳你们所当纳的十分之一，并补足过去的欠项，然后试试我，是否那时我不把丰足还给你们。"注意：要与神打交道，必须凭信交易；我们尽可冒险如此行，因为虽有许多人为他受损，却无一人至终因他受损。我们先冒险是合宜的，因为"他的赏赐与他同在"，但"他的工作在他面前"；我们必须先作我们当尽本分的工作，然后才能试他、信他给赏赐。以利亚把撒勒法的寡妇引上这条路："先为我作一个小饼，然后试试我，是否 afterward 不够'你和你的儿子'。"阻挡人行施舍之费的是他们对施舍之所得与益处的信心软弱；他们不能想见会因此而得。但神此处所提的要求合情合理："现在试试我；施舍能得着什么吗？来看"；不冒险便无所获。凭荣誉信靠，"你们必看见"：[1.] "天既已关闭不降雨，如今神要为你们'敞开天上的窗户'——因为云的钥匙在他手中，你们必得合时的雨。"或这话是比喻；各样美善的赏赐都是从上头来的，他必从那里丰丰富富将护理的厚恩倾给你们。"敞开天上的窗户"形容骤然丰足（王下 7:2)。我们见过"天上的窗户敞开"倾下烈怒的洪水——挪亚的洪水（创 7:11)。但这里敞开是为"倾福"，甚至无处可容。他们的地要如此丰产，以致他们因无处可容而受试探要"拆掉仓房另盖更大的"（路 12:18)。或如Pocock博士所解："我要倾给你们这样的福，不仅是'够用'，也不仅是'充足'，而是'越发丰盛有余'"；即大有加添。那倍增的油在有器皿可盛之时并不停止（王下 4:6)。注意：神不仅与悔改归正的罪人和好，更要作他们的恩主，作他们厚赐的恩主。我们在他里面从不窘迫，在我们自己的怀中却常窘迫。神已有福乐预备要赐给我们，但因我们信心软弱、心愿狭窄，没有容量去领受。[2.] 他们地的出产既已被蝗虫蝻子所吞，如今神要撤去这审判（玛 3:11)："我必为你们斥责蝗虫，制止这些毁灭性动物的活动，使它们不再毁坏土产和树果。""你们田间的葡萄树也不掉果子"——不被风吹落或枯干。或如有人读："毁坏者也不使你们的葡萄树不结果子"，正如蝗虫所作的（珥 1:7)。[3.] 他们的邻国既因他们的缺乏而羞辱他们，他们也因"饥荒的羞辱"而受苦——这更为难堪，因为他们的国素来以丰足著称；如今"万国必称他们为有福的"——必以尊敬的话谈论他们，承认他们是有福的百姓。[4.] 他们的罪既使他们的地在神眼中不蒙喜悦（连他们的殿、他们的坛和供物也不蒙悦纳，玛 2:13)，他的审判既使他们的地在他们自己眼中也不可喜，极其忧郁；"如今'你们必成为喜乐之地'，你们的国既蒙神悦纳，也使你们自己得安慰。"注意：信仰在一个国中复兴，能使它在地与神眼中，并在一切善人眼中，成为真正的喜乐之地；他必说："这是我永远安息之所，我要住在这里"；他们也必如此说（赛 62:4，申 11:12)。这当纳十分之一的吩咐似乎发生了好效果，因为我们读到（尼 13:12)"犹大众人都把十分之一奉入仓房"，无疑他们随即在尽本分之后便得着了这些应许的益处——丰足的归回；他们便清楚地认出那灾祸为何临到他们（因为原因既除，灾祸也除），又看见神在他们悔改之后何等完全与他们和好，他们的过犯不再被记念，因为咒诅不仅被撤去，更变为丰盛的福分。
英文原文
The Sins of the People; Encouragements to Repentance (400 BC)
⁷ Even from the days of your fathers ye are gone away from mine ordinances, and have not kept them. Return unto me, and I will return unto you, saith the LORD of hosts. But ye said, Wherein shall we return?
⁸ Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed me. But ye say, Wherein have we robbed thee? In tithes and offerings.
⁹ Ye are cursed with a curse: for ye have robbed me, even this whole nation.
¹⁰ Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the LORD of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it.
¹¹ And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, and he shall not destroy the fruits of your ground; neither shall your vine cast her fruit before the time in the field, saith the LORD of hosts.
¹² And all nations shall call you blessed: for ye shall be a delightsome land, saith the LORD of hosts.
We have here God's controversy with the men of that generation, for deserting his service and robbing him—wicked servants indeed, that not only run away from their Master, but run away with their Master's goods.
I. They had run away from their Master, and quitted the work he gave them to do (Mal 3:7): You have gone away from my ordinances and have not kept them. The ordinances of God's worship were the business which as servants they must mind, the talents which they must trade with, and the trust which was committed to them to keep; but they went away from them, grew weary of them, and withdrew their neck from that yoke; they deviated from the rule that God had prescribed to them, and betrayed the trust lodged with them. They had revolted from God, not only in worship, but in conversation; they had not kept his ordinances. This disobedience they were chargeable with, and had been guilty of, even from the days of their fathers; either as in the days of their fathers of old, who were sent into captivity for their disobedience, or, "Now, for some generations past, you have fallen off from what you were, when first you came back out of captivity." Ezra owns it in one particular instance: Since the days of our fathers have we been in a great trespass unto this day, Ezr 9:7. Now observe, 1. What a gracious invitation God gives them to return and repent: "Return unto me, and to your duty, return to your service, return to your allegiance, return as a traveller that has missed his way, as a soldier that has run his colours, as a treacherous wife that has gone away from her husband; return, thou backsliding Israel, return to me; and then I will return unto you and be reconciled, will remove the judgments you are under and prevent those you fear." This had been of old the burden of the song (Zec 1:3), and is still. 2. What a peevish answer they return to this gracious invitation: "But you said with disdain, said it to the prophets that called you, said it to one another, said it to your own hearts, to stifle the convictions you were under; you said, Wherein shall we return?" Note, God takes notice what returns our hearts make to the calls of his word, what we say and what we think when we have heard a sermon, what answer we give to the message sent us. When God calls us to return, we should answer as those did Jer 3:22, Behold, we come. But not as these here, Wherein shall we return? (1.) They take it as an affront to be told of their faults, and called upon to amend them; they are ready to say, "What ado do these prophets make about returning and repenting; why are we disgraced and disturbed thus, our own consciences and our neighbours stirred up against us?" It is ill with those who thus count reproofs reproaches, and kick against the pricks. (2.) They are so ignorant of themselves, and of the strictness, extent, and spiritual nature, of the divine law, that they see nothing in themselves to be repented of, or reformed; they are pure in their own eyes, and think they need no repentance. (3.) They are so firmly resolved to go on in sin that they will find a thousand foolish frivolous excuses to shift off their repentance, and turn away the calls that are given them to repent. They seem to speak only as those that wanted something to say; it is a mere evasion, a banter upon the prophet, and a challenge to him to descend to particulars. Note, Many ruin their own souls by baffling the calls that are given them to repent of their sins.
II. They had robbed their Master, and embezzled his goods. They had asked, "Wherein shall we return? What have we done amiss?" And he soon tells them. Observe, 1. The prophet's high charge exhibited, in God's name, against the people. They stand indicted for robbery, for sacrilege, the worst of robberies: You have robbed me. He expostulates with them upon it: Will a man be so daringly impudent as to rob God? Man, who is a weak creature, and cannot contend with God's power, will he think to rob him vi et armis—forcibly? Man, who lies open to God's knowledge, and cannot conceal himself from that, will he think to rob him clam et secreto—privily? Man, who depends upon God, and derives his all from him, will he rob him that is his benefactor? This is ungrateful, unjust, and unkind, indeed; and it is very unwise thus to provoke him from whom our judgment proceeds. Will a man do violence to God? so some read it. Will a man do violence to God? so some read it. Will a man stint or straiten him? so others read it. Robbing God is a heinous crime. 2. The people's high challenge in answer to that charge: But you say, Wherein have we robbed thee? They plead Not guilty, and put God upon the proof of it. Note, Robbing God is such a heinous crime that those who are guilty of it are not willing to own themselves guilty. They rob God, and know not what they do. They rob him of his honour, rob him of that which is devoted to him, to be employed in his service, rob him of themselves, rob him of sabbath-time, rob him of that which is given for the support of religion, and give him not his dues out of their estates; and yet they ask, Wherein have we robbed thee? 3. The plain proof of the charge, in answer to this challenge; it is in tithes and offerings. Out of these the priests and Levites had maintenance for themselves and their families; but they detained them, defrauded the priests of them, would not pay their tithes, or not in full, or not of the best; they brought not the offerings which God required, or brought the torn, and lame, and sick, which were not fit for use. They were all guilty of this sin, even the whole nation, as if they were in confederacy against God, and all combined to rob him of his dues and to stand by one another in it when they had done. For this they were cursed with a curse, Mal 3:9. God punished them with famine and scarcity, through unseasonable weather, or insects that ate up the fruits of the earth. God had thus punished them for neglecting to build the temple (Hag 1:10,11), and now for not maintaining the temple-service. Note, Those that deny God his part of their estates may justly expect a curse upon their own part of them: "You are cursed with a curse for robbing me, and yet you go on to do it." Note, It is a great aggravation of sin when men persist in it notwithstanding the rebukes of Providence which they are under for it. Nay, it should seem, because God had punished them with scarcity of bread, they made that a pretence for robbing him-that now, being impoverished, they could not afford to bring their tithes and offerings, but must save them, that they might have bread for their families. Note, It argues great perverseness in sin when men make those afflictions excuses for sin which are sent to part between them and their sins. When they had but little they should have done the more good with that little, and that would have been the way to make it more; but it is ill with the patient when that which should cure the disease serves only to palliate it, and prevent its being searched into. 4. An earnest exhortation to reform in this matter, with a promise that if they did the judgments they were under should be quickly removed. (1.) Let them take care to do their duty (Mal 3:10): Bring you all the tithes into the storehouse. They had brought some; but, like Ananias and Sapphira, had kept back part of the price, pretending they could not spare so much as was required, and necessity has no law; but even necessity must have this law, and it would redress the grievance of their necessity: "Bring in the full tithes to the utmost that the law requires, that there may be meat in God's house for those that serve at the altar, whether there be meat in your houses or no." Note, God must be served in the first place, and our quota must be contributed for the support of religion in the place where we live, that God's name may be sanctified, and his kingdom may come, and his will be done, even before we provide our daily bread; for the interests of our souls ought to be preferred before those of our bodies. (2.) Let them then trust God to provide for them and their comfort "Let God be first served, and then prove me herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, whether I will not open the windows of heaven." They said, "Let God give us our plenty again, as formerly, and try us whether we will not then bring him his tithes and offerings, as we did formerly." "No," says God, "do you first bring in all your tithes as they become due, and all the arrears of what is past, and try me, whether I will not then restore you your plenty." Note, Those that will deal with God must deal upon trust; and we may all venture to do so, for, though many have been losers for him, never any were losers by him in the end. It is fit that we should venture first, for his reward is with him, but his work is before him; we must first do the work which is our part, and then try him and trust him for the reward. Elijah put the widow of Zarephath into this method when he said (1Ki 17:13), "Make me a little cake first, and then prove me whether there shall not be enough afterwards for thee and thy son." That which discourages people from the expenses of charity is the weakness of their faith concerning the gains and advantages of charity; they cannot think that they shall get by it. But it is a reasonable demand that God here makes: "Prove me now; is any thing to be got by charity? Come and see;" Nothing venture, nothing win. Trust upon honour, "And you shall find," [1.] "That, whereas the heavens have been shut up, and there has been no rain, now God will open to you the windows of heaven, for in his hand the key of the clouds is, and you shall have seasonable rain." Or the expression is figurative; every good gift coming from above, thence God will plentifully pour out upon them the bounties of his providence. Very sudden plenty is expressed by opening the windows of heaven, 2Ki 7:2. We find the windows of heaven opened, to pour down a deluge of wrath, in Noah's flood, Ge 7:11. But here they are opened to pour down blessings, to such a degree that there should not be room enough to receive them. So plentifully shall their ground bring forth that they shall be tempted to pull down their barns and build greater, for want of room, Lu 12:18. Or, as Dr. Pocock explains it, "I will pour out on you such a blessing as shall be not enough only, and such as shall be sufficient, but more and more than enough;" that is, a great addition. The oil that is multiplied shall not be stayed as long as there are vessels to receive it, 2Ki 4:6. Note, God will not only be reconciled to sinners that repent and reform, but he will be a benefactor, a bountiful benefactor, to them. We are never straitened in him, but often straitened in our own bosoms. God has blessings ready to bestow upon us, but, through the weakness of our faith and narrowness of our desires, we have not room to receive them. [2.] That, whereas the fruits of their ground had been eaten up by locusts and caterpillars God would now remove that judgment (Mal 3:11): "I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, and will check the progress of those destroying animals, that they shall no more destroy the products of the earth and the fruits of the trees." God has all creatures at his beck, can command them and remand them at his pleasure. Neither shall the vine cast her fruit before the time; it shall not be blasted or blown off. Or, as some read it, Neither shall the devourer make your vine barren, as the locusts did, Joe 1:7. [3.] That, whereas their neighbours had upbraided them with their scarcity, and they had lain under the reproach of famine, which was the more grievous because their country used to be boasted of for its plenty, now all nations shall call them blessed, shall speak honourably of them, and own them to be a happy people. [4.] That whereas their sin had made their land unpleasing to God (even their temple, and altars, and offerings were so, Mal 2:13), and whereas his judgments had made their land unpleasant to them, and very melancholy, "Now you shall be a delightsome land, your country shall be acceptable to God and comfortable to yourselves." Note, The reviving of religion in a land will make it indeed a delightsome land both to God and to all good people; he will say, It is my rest for ever; here will I dwell; and they will say the same, Isa 62:4, De 11:12. It should seem that this charge to bring in the tithes had its good effect, for we find (Ne 13:12) that all Judah did bring in their tithe into the treasuries, and, no doubt, they had the benefit of these promises, in the return of their plenty, immediately upon their return to their duty, that they might plainly discern for what cause the evil had been upon them (for when the cause was removed the evil was removed), and that they might see how perfectly reconciled God was to them upon their repentance, and how their transgression was remembered no more, for the curse was not only taken away, but turned into an abundant blessing.
13-18
Wicked Conversation Reproved; Evil Maxims of Sinners; Pious Converse Commended; Promises to the Godly (400 BC)
责备恶人的言语；罪人的邪恶格言；称赞敬虔的交谈；对敬虔之人的应许（公元前400年）
¹³ 耶和华说："你们用话顶撞我。"你们还说："我们用什么话顶撞了你呢？" ¹⁴ 你们说："事奉神是徒然的。我们遵守他的典章，在万军之耶和华面前苦苦行斋，有什么益处呢？" ¹⁵ 如今我们称狂傲的人为有福，并且行恶的人得建立；他们虽然试探神，却得脱离灾祸。" ¹⁶ 那时，敬畏耶和华的彼此谈论，耶和华侧耳而听，且有纪念册在他面前，记录那敬畏耶和华、思念他名的人。 ¹⁷ 万军之耶和华说："在我所定的日子，他们必属我，特特归我；我必怜恤他们，如同人怜恤服事自己的儿子。" ¹⁸ 那时你们必归回，将善人和恶人，事奉神和不事奉神的人，分别出来。"
在此时犹太人中，虽然他们都享受同样的特权和益处，却有品性极其不同的人（如同世上和教会中向来如此，将来也必如此）——正如耶利米的无花果，有的极好，有的极坏；有的明显是神的儿女，有的明显显出自己是恶者之子。同一块田里有稗子和麦子，同一个场上有糠秕和麦子；此处我们看见这两者。
I. 此处神以怒气留意锡安罪人们无耻亵渎的言论，并对此公义地怀怒。他们当中大概有一伙人结盟抵挡信仰，自命风趣，又用他们的机智去贬损它、讥笑它，并在此事上彼此壮胆。此处有：
1. 对他们所提起的控告——因向万王之王所说叛逆的话："耶和华说：你们用话顶撞我。"他们"顶撞"神——心里反对他，言语上反对他，正如他们列祖"在旷野"那样（诗 70:19)；"他们竟悖逆至高者"。他所说的，他所定的，他们都反对，仿佛他们是与他和他事业对簿公敌的辩护人。他们顶撞神的话是"强顽"的；这些话出自他们的骄傲、傲慢和对神的藐视。他们所说顶撞神的话是大声说的，仿佛不在乎谁听见；他们自己不以说这话为耻，又要传播他们的无神论观念，用它们感染别人的心。他们放胆说，如同决意坚持、不怕被追讨的人。他们骄傲地说，带着傲慢和蔑视，耻于受神的约束和治理。他们"以力量自夸"；他们要向"全能者""逞勇"（伯 15:25)。
2. 他们对这控告的答辩。他们说："我们用什么话顶撞了你呢？"他们否认这话，要先知证明；或者，他们若说了这话，本意并非顶撞神，所以不认其中有何不对；至少他们把这事化小："我们用什么话'如此'顶撞了你？"——值得这样大惊小怪的吗？他们不能否认曾顶撞神，却把它当作小事，希奇这事竟被留意。他们说："话不过是风"；别人说得更多、作得更糟；我们虽不如所当有的好，但我们希望并不像所描绘的那样坏。注意：那些未受感动、未谦卑的罪人，否认或淡化他们公正地被指控的过失，并坚持自义、抗拒话语的责备和自己良心的责备，这是常见的。但终归无益。
3. 他们被控之话本身。神记念人所说的，如同记念人所作的，并要让他们知道他如此记念。我们很快忘记自己说过什么，又随时否认自己说过不当说的话；但神能说："你们曾如此如此说。"他们曾把它当作审慎的判断说出来。
(1.) 他们说事奉神一无所得，尽管这事奉使人受劳苦忧伤。他们说："事奉神是徒然的"——或"事奉神的人是愚昧的"——即他徒然劳苦、一无所获；他的劳苦只换来辛苦，所以他的劳苦是蠢人的劳苦。"我们遵守他的典章，或他的本分——遵守他所命我们遵守的，有什么益处呢？"亚兰文意译本作："我们得了什么财富呢？"——表明（Pocock博士说）他们事奉神只是为财富，因此实在根本不是事奉神，而是事奉财富。"我们在万军之耶和华面前'苦苦行斋'，或'穿黑衣'，怀着极大的严肃和忧伤，在所命定的日子刻苦己心，却毫无所得。"也许他们把它作为不信神会在他们"纳十分之一"之后赐福他们的理由（玛 3:10)；他们说："因为我们在别的事上试过他，结果在他上面吃了亏。"这是对事奉神极不公正、极不合理的非议，我们能找到足够的见证来反驳这诽谤。[1.] 他们想要人以为他们曾事奉神、曾遵守他的典章；其实他们所守的不过是外面的仪式，对内在的本分完全陌生，因此他们尽可说"徒然"。神自己说（太 15:9)："这百姓用嘴唇尊敬我，心却远离我，所以'拜我也是徒然'"；但这过错在谁呢？不在那"赏赐殷勤寻求他之人"的神，而在那些漫不经心寻求他的人。[2.] 他们极力强调自己在神面前"苦苦行斋"，而神所要的是欢欢喜喜地事奉他，快快乐乐地行在他面前。他们因自己的迷信把事奉神变成了任务和苦役，然后又抱怨这是艰难的事奉。基督的轭是容易的；是敌基督的轭才沉重。[3.] 他们抱怨自己在宗教上一无所获；他们仍处于贫穷患难之中，落在世人之后。这是一片古老的亵渎。伯 21:14,15："我们若向他祷告，能得什么益处呢？"以利户也曾指控约说过类似的话（伯 34:9)："人以神为乐，总是无益。"信仰的仇敌不过是搬出那些早已被驳倒、被抛弃的旧遁词。或许这是指撒都该人教派的错误——它是犹太教末后日子的耻辱；他们否认来世，于是说："事奉神是徒然的"——这话若没有来世，倒也有一点道理；因为"我们若靠基督只在今生有指望，就比众人更可怜"（林前 15:19)。注意：那些说宗教既无益处、又不愉快的人，对神的尊荣是大有损害的；因为事实并非如此：智慧的"道是安乐"，智慧的收益胜过"精金"。
(2.) 他们坚称作恶是亨通之路，因为他们观察到"行恶的人"在世上被"建立"，那些"试探神"的人倒"得拯救"（玛 3:15)。罪人在罪中的外在亨通，既曾使敬虔之人在敬虔上"手发软"（诗 73:13)，也使恶人在恶行上壮胆。注意，[1.] 那些行恶的人，借放肆的罪试探神；他们仿佛在试神——他能否、他肯不肯照他话语中所说刑罚他们，实际上是激他尽其所能，借最高程度的冒犯。[2.] 那些借恶行试探神的人，有时既从他们公正陷入的逆境中被救出，又被擢升到他们完全不配的亨通中。他们不仅一次被建立，而且当我们以为他们倾覆的日子已到、他们陷入困境时，他们又被解救、再次被建立；护理如此奇异地向他们微笑。[3.] 话虽如此，我们仍不可据此就"称狂傲的人为有福"。因为他们可能暂时被解救、被建立，但终必显明神抵挡他们，他们的骄傲是他们倾覆的序；若如此，他们就是真正可怜的，称他们为有福、称神所憎恶的人为有福，便是愚妄。再等一时，你们必看见"行恶的人"被立作神复仇之箭的靶子，"试探神的人"被交给刑讯者。当按这些事不久将显明的样子来判断，那时这些骄傲罪人的判语（紧接于后，玛 4:1)要被执行到极处。
II. 此处神恩惠地留意锡安圣徒们敬虔的谈论，并加以恩惠的报偿。即使在这败坏堕落的世代，认真敬虔之事如此衰落，甚至被人轻看之时，仍有人持守他们的正直和对神的热心；让我们看看：
1. 他们如何自别，他们的品性如何——与那些顶撞神的人相反；因为，(1.) 他们"敬畏耶和华"——这是智慧的开端，是一切信仰的根基；他们尊敬神的威严，顺服他的权柄，在一切心思言语上畏惧他的震怒；他们谦卑地顺从神，绝不说什么强顽的话顶撞他。每一个时代都有敬畏耶和华的余民，虽然有时只是小小的余数。(2.) 他们"思念他的名"；他们认真思考、常常默想神在他话语和护理中所启示的他自己；他们"对神的默念"对他们甘甜，又影响他们。他们"思念他的名"；他们以神的尊荣为念，并以它为一切所行的终极目标。注意：那认识神名的人，当常常想到它，在思想中停留在它上面；这是一个丰富而精妙的题目，常思想它，对我们的与神相交、激发我们对他敬虔的情感，大有裨益。(3.) 他们"彼此谈论"他们所敬畏的神，以及他们所多多思念的他的名；因为心里所充满的，口里就说出来；好人从他心里的"好宝藏"里"拿出好东西来"。那些敬畏耶和华的人聚在一起，如同一群彼此相称的伴侣；他们亲切相待，为要保守并促进彼此的爱心，免得当"不法的事"这样"增多"之时，爱心"渐渐冷淡"。他们彼此说造就人、明白的话，为要加添并长进信心与圣洁；他们"彼此谈论"，所用的是敬畏耶和华、思念他名之人的语言——迦南的语言。当亵渎达到如此高度，践踏一切神圣之事时，"那时"敬畏耶和华的人"彼此谈论"。[1.] 那时——当罪恶大胆赤裸之时，神的百姓壮胆，激发自己，"无辜的人反对假冒为善的人"（伯 17:8)。别人越坏，我们当越好；当罪恶胆大之时，德行不可畏缩。[2.] 那时——当信仰被非议、被曲解之时，它的朋友尽力维护它的声誉，使它仍得尊重。有人暗示说，神的道是忧郁不乐之道，孤单悲伤；所以那时敬畏神的人就在彼此相爱和交谈的喜乐上竭力显明相反，好"堵住那糊涂无知人的口"。[3.] 那时——当诱惑者忙碌地欺骗人、使不警醒的灵魂对信仰生出偏见之时，敬畏神的人就殷勤地借彼此的教训、激发和鼓励，武装自己和彼此，抵挡这传染，又坚固彼此的手。坏的交往败坏好的心思和品行，照样好的交往则坚固它们。
2. 神如何使他们尊贵，以及他为他们所预备的更大的尊荣和恩宠。那些强顽地顶撞神的人，无疑以轻蔑和怒气看待那些敬畏他的人，欺负他们、戏弄他们；但他们当不大在乎，也不必为此扰扰不安，因为神亲厚地看待他们。
(1.) 他留意他们敬虔的谈论，恩惠地临在他们中间的交通："耶和华侧耳而听"。神说（耶 8:6)，他"留心听"恶人所说的话，他们"说得不对"；这里他留心听善人所说的话，因为他们说得对。注意：恩惠的神留意他百姓口中所出一切恩惠的话；他们不必求人听见他们、称赞他们；不可借这些话求人的荣耀，也不可好出风头；只要叫他们满足的是：无论这交谈多么私下，神在隐密中看见听见，并要"在明处报答"。当两个门徒往以马忤斯去，谈论基督之事时，他留心听，并亲自加入他们，作了第三者（路 24:15)。
(2.) 他记录他们："有纪念册在他面前"。并非永恒的心智需要借书籍文字来提醒，这只是按人的方式说的表达，意指他们敬虔的情感和作为被记念得如此确切、如此具体，如同记在册上，如同为他们一切交谈都作了日记。大君王有纪念册写在面前，在其中记下一切为他所行的服事——何时、由谁所行，如斯 2:23。照样神记念他百姓的服事，好在复审之时说："好，你这又良善又忠心的仆人，可以进来享受你主人的快乐。"神有为他的哀哭者叹息流泪的册子（诗 56:8)，何况为他的辩护者的辩护之辞。凡从诚实心中为神、为神所说的好话，没有一句不被记录，好在义人复活之时得报偿，绝不失其赏赐。
(3.) 他应许他们在他将来的荣耀中有份（玛 3:17)："在我所定的日子，他们必属我"——特特归我。当神因犹太教会和民族的不信而彻底剪除他们之时，他们当中那信他话、既盼望以色列的安慰者、又在他来临时欢迎他的余民，必被接纳入基督教会，成为神特有的子民；神必看顾他们，使他们"不与那些不信的人一同灭亡"；却使他们"在耶和华向那国民发怒的日子"被隐藏。"他们必作我的segullah——我所特有的财宝"（这是出 19:5所用的字），"在我所定"或"我所行"的日子——就是我所说过、所定意要行的；有人如此读。这些敬虔人必得神以色列一切荣耀的特权，为他们所专有、集中于他们身上；如今当其余的人被弃绝之时，他们要作他特有的财宝；如今当其余的人被作成震怒和羞辱的器皿、其中无喜悦的器皿之时，他们要作怜悯和尊荣的器皿。这话可应用于神一切忠信的百姓，以及他在大日所要在他与其他人之间所作的分别。注意，[1.] 圣徒是神的珠宝；他极其看重他们，他们为他所宝爱；他们因他加给他们的华美而美丽，他乐意以他们夸耀；他们是"他手中的华冠"（赛 62:3)。他看他们为自己独有的产业，他所拣选的财宝，他所珍藏的，他内室的陈设（诗 135:4)。世界其余万物与之相比不过是杂物。[2.] 必有一日来到，神要"招聚他的珠宝"。他们要从如今所躺卧的尘土中被招聚起来，又从如今所散布的各处被招聚起来；他必"差遣使者""把他的选民"——就是他的珠宝——"从四方招聚了来"（太 24:31)，把他的珠宝招聚进他的珠宝库，如同把麦子从各田聚入仓房。那时一切圣徒必被招聚到基督那里，且唯独圣徒，又得以完全的圣徒；那时神的珠宝要被镶嵌起来，如同宝石镶成冠冕，如同星辰组成星座。[3.] 如今认神为自己之神的人，那时他必认他们为自己的，在天使和人面前公开承认他们："他们必属我"；他们的成圣要得以完全，于是他们便完全彻底地属他，不再有世界和肉体的任何残余利益。他们与神的关系必被承认，神在他们身上的产业权也必被承认。他要把他们从那些不属他的人中分别出来，并把他们的份赐给那些属他的人；因为对他们必说："你们这蒙我父赐福的，可来承受那创世以来为你们所预备的国。"他们有时怀疑自己是否属神；那时这疑问必被彻底消除。神亲口要对他们说："你们是我的。"如今他们与神的关系是被人所辱骂的，那时却必被夸耀；神自己要以此夸耀。
(4.) 他应许他们如今在他恩典中有份："我必怜恤他们，如同人怜恤服事自己的儿子。"神既应许认他们为他的，又把他们收归自己；但他们想到自己得罪过神，他可能公义地不认他们、弃绝他们，这也许是他们的灰心；但关于这一点，他说："我必怜恤他们；我必不照他们所当受的对待他们。""我必因他们喜乐"（有人如此解）"如同新郎因新娘喜乐"（赛 62:5，番 3:17)。但这字通常含怜恤、慈悲之意，"好像父亲怜恤他的儿女"（诗 103:13)。注意，[1.] 我们当以儿女的心肠事奉神。我们必须作他的儿女，借重生的工夫得与神的性情有份，必须同意收纳之约、得着收纳之灵。我们又必须作他的仆人；神不要他的儿女闲懒养大；他们当事奉他，又必须出于爱的原则，欢欢喜喜地事奉，作为在此事奉自己真正利益的人——这就是"儿子待父亲"那样事奉（腓 2:22)。[2.] 我们若以儿女的心肠事奉神，他必以父亲的慈怜怜恤我们。连事奉他的神的儿女也需要怜恤的恩——我们因这恩才不至灭亡，这恩保守我们不出阴间。尼希米虽行了诸多善事，却知道"世上没有不犯罪的义人"，每一样罪都当受神的震怒，便祷告："主啊，求你照你大发怜悯，宽容我"；见尼 13:22。神如父必向他们施这怜悯。他不苛求我们失仪之处，却要看我们和我们微薄的奉献的最好一面；他要减轻儿女所受的惩治，救他们脱离当受的毁灭。父亲因儿子是自己的，便继续怜恤他，又乐意如此；照样神要怜恤谦卑悔改和恳求的人，"如同人怜恤服事自己的儿子"，尽管我们对他事奉如此之少，甚至对他有所亏负。
3. 他们要如此与世界之子分别（玛 3:18)："那时你们必归回，将善人和恶人，事奉神和不事奉神的人，分别出来"——你们如今非议神，说他不分善恶，所以说"事奉他是徒然的"（玛 3:14)；你们必被叫看见自己的错；你们如今要为神说话，却不知对此事当说什么——义人和恶人"似乎遭遇一样"，"凡临到众人的事都是一样"，那时这事要照真光呈现在你们面前，你们要看见义人与恶人之间的分别，作为你们永远的满足。那时"你们必归回"——即你们"要改变心意"，对这事有正确的认识。这话主要指神的护理在耶路撒冷、犹太教会和民族被罗马人所灭之时，在信主的犹太人与那些坚持不信的犹太人之间所作的明显分别。但它要在耶稣基督第二次再临之时，在那个大分别之日，得到完全的应验——到那时"分辨义人和恶人"便轻而易举。注意，(1.) 一切世人非善即恶，非事奉神即不事奉他。这是人类中那永久的分别，并要据此决定他们永远的状态；众人非走向天堂即走向地狱。(2.) 在今世"分辨义人和恶人"常常不易。他们混杂在一起，好鱼坏鱼同在一网。义人如此失调，恶人如此伪装，以致我们对两者常常看错。有许多人我们以为事奉神，却因心不正直，至终显明并非他的仆人；照样也有许多人显明是他忠心的仆人，只因不跟我们走，我们便以为他不事奉他。但此处特别造成困难的，是神的护理似乎不分义人和恶人；你不能因神向恶人皱眉便认出他们，因为他们常常在世上亨通；也不能因神向义人微笑便认出他们，因为他们与他人一同卷入同样的公共灾难中。"无人知道神的'爱或恨'"——凭"眼前一切"（传 9:1)。(3.) 在基督的审判台前，在末日审判之时，"分辨义人和恶人"便很容易；因为那时每个人的品性既得以完全，又得以完全显明；那时每个人都必显出真相，伪装都要被揭去。有些人的罪固然走在前头，你如今可看出他是恶人；也有些人的罪随后才显出来；然而在那大日，我们必看见谁是义人、谁是恶人。每个人的处境也都要得以完全、永远定夺；那时义人要完全有福，恶人要完全悲惨，毫无搀杂、毫无减轻。当义人全都立在基督的右边，被召来承受祝福，而一切恶人都立在左边，被告以咒诅离开之时，分辨他们便容易了。所以论到自己，我们当思想我们将在哪一群中有份；论到别人，我们"什么都不要在时候以前判断"。
英文原文
Wicked Conversation Reproved; Evil Maxims of Sinners; Pious Converse Commended; Promises to the Godly (400 BC)
¹³ Your words have been stout against me, saith the LORD. Yet ye say, What have we spoken so much against thee?
¹⁴ Ye have said, It is vain to serve God: and what profit is it that we have kept his ordinance, and that we have walked mournfully before the LORD of hosts?
¹⁵ And now we call the proud happy; yea, they that work wickedness are set up; yea, they that tempt God are even delivered.
¹⁶ Then they that feared the LORD spake often one to another: and the LORD hearkened, and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before him for them that feared the LORD, and that thought upon his name.
¹⁷ And they shall be mine, saith the LORD of hosts, in that day when I make up my jewels; and I will spare them, as a man spareth his own son that serveth him.
¹⁸ Then shall ye return, and discern between the righteous and the wicked, between him that serveth God and him that serveth him not.
Among the people of the Jews at this time, though they all enjoyed the same privileges and advantages, there were men of very different characters (as ever were, and ever will be, in the world and in the church), like Jeremiah's figs, some very good and others very bad, some that plainly appeared to be the children of God and others that as plainly discovered themselves to be the children of the wicked one. There are tares and wheat in the same field, chaff and corn in the same floor; and here we have an account of both.
I. Here is the angry notice God takes of the impudent blasphemous talk of the sinners in Zion and his just resentments of it. Probably there was a club of them that were in league against religion, that set up for wits, and set their wits on work to run it down and ridicule it, and herein strengthened one another's hands. Here is,
1. An indictment found against them, for treasonable words spoken against the King of kings: Your words have been stout against me, saith the Lord. They spoke against God, in reflection upon him, in contradiction to him, as their fathers in the wilderness (Ps 70:19); yea, they spoke against God. What he said, and what he designed, they opposed, as if they had been retained of counsel against him and his cause. Their words against God were stout; they came from their pride, and haughtiness, and contempt of God. What they said against God they spoke loudly, as if they cared not who heard them; they were not themselves ashamed to say it, and they desired to propagate their atheistical notions and to infect the minds of others with them. They spoke it boldly, as those that were resolved to stand to it, and were in no fear of being called to an account. They spoke it proudly, and with insolence and disdain, scorning to be under the divine check and government. They strengthened themselves; they would be valiant against the Almighty, Job 15:25.
2. Their plea to this indictment. They said, What have we spoken so much against thee? They deny the words, and put the prophet to prove them; or, if they spoke the words, they did not design them against God, and therefore will not own there was any harm in them; at least they extenuate the matter: What have we spoken so much against thee, so much that there needs all this ado about it? They cannot deny that they have spoken against God, but they make a light matter of it, and wonder it should be taken notice of: "Words" (say they) "are but wind; others have said more and done worse; if we are not so good as we should be, yet we hope we are not so bad as we are represented to be." Note, It is common for sinners that are unconvinced and unhumbled to deny or extenuate the faults they are justly charged with, and to insist upon their own justification, against the reproofs of the word and of their own consciences. But it will be to no purpose.
3. The words themselves which they are charged with. God keeps an account of what men say, as well as of what they do, and will let them know that he does so. We quickly forget what we have said, and are ready to deny what we have said amiss; but God can say, You have said so and so. They had said it as their deliberate judgment.
(1.) That there is nothing to be got in the service of God, thought it is a service that subjects men to labour and sorrow. They said, It is vain to serve God, or, "He is vain that serves God, that is, he labours in vain and to no purpose; he has his labour for his pains, and therefore is a fool for his labour. What profit is it that we have kept his ordinance, or his observation, that we have observed what he has appointed us to observe?" What mammon, or wealth, have we gained, says the Chaldee, intimating (says Dr. Pocock) that it was for mammon's sake only that they served God, and so indeed not God at all, but mammon. "We have walked mournfully, or in black, with great gravity and great grief, before the Lord of hosts, have afflicted our souls at the times appointed for that purpose, and yet we are never the better." Perhaps this comes in as a reason why they would not trust God to prosper them upon their bringing in the tithes (Mal 3:10); "For," say they, "we have tried him in other things, and have lost by him." This is a very unjust and unreasonable reflection upon the service of God, and we can call witnesses enough to confront the slander. [1.] They would have it thought that they had served God and had kept his ordinances, whereas it was only the external observance of them that they had kept up, while they were perfect strangers to the inward part of the duty, and therefore might say, It is in vain. God says so (Mt 15:9), In vain do those worship me whose hearts are far from me while they draw near with their mouth; but whose fault is that? Not God's, who is the rewarder of those that seek him diligently, but theirs who seek him carelessly. [2.] They insisted much upon it that they had walked mournfully before God, whereas God had required them to serve him with gladness, and to walk cheerfully before him. They by their own superstitions made the service of God a task and drudgery to themselves, and then complained of it as a hard service. The yoke of Christ is easy; it is the yoke of antichrist that is heavy. [3.] They complained that they had got nothing by their religion; they were still in poverty and affliction, and behindhand in the world. This is an old piece of impiety. Job 21:14,15, What profit shall we have if we pray unto him? Elihu charges Job with saying something like this. Job 34:9, It profits a man nothing that he should delight himself with God. The enemies of religion do but set up against it the old cavils that have been long since answered and exploded. Perhaps this refers to the errors of the sect of the Sadducees, which was the scandal of the Jewish church in its latter days; they denied a future state, and then said, It is vain to serve God, which has indeed some colour in it, for, if in this life only we had hope in Christ, we were of all men most miserable, 1Co 15:19. Note, Those do a great deal of wrong to God's honour who say that religion is either an unprofitable or an unpleasant thing; for the matter is not so: wisdom's ways are pleasantness, and wisdom's gains better than that of fine gold.
(2.) They maintained that wickedness was the way to prosperity, for they had observed that the workers of wickedness were set up in the world, and those that tempted God were delivered, Mal 3:15. The outward prosperity of sinners in their sins, as it has weakened the hands of the godly in their godliness (Ps 73:13), so it has strengthened the hands of the wicked in their wickedness. Note, [1.] Those that work wickedness tempt God by presumptuous sins; they do, as it were, try God, whether he can and will punish them as he has said in his word, and, in effect, challenge him to do his worst, by provoking him in the highest degree. [2.] Those that tempt God by their wicked works are many times both delivered out of the adversity into which they were justly brought and advanced to the prosperity which they were utterly unworthy of. They are not only set up once, but when we thought their day had come to fall, and they were in trouble, they were delivered and set up again; so strangely did Providence seem to smile upon them. [3.] Though it be thus, yet it will not warrant us to call the proud happy. For they may be delivered and set up for a while, but it will appear that God resists them, and that their pride is a preface to their fall; and, if so, they are truly miserable, and it is folly to call them happy, and to bless those whom the Lord abhors. Wait awhile, and you shall see those that work wickedness set up as a mark to the arrows of God's vengeance, and those that tempt God delivered to the tormentors. Judge of things as they will appear shortly, when the doom of these proud sinners (which follows here, Mal 4:1) comes to be executed to the utmost.
II. Here is the gracious notice God takes of the pious talk of the saints in Zion, and the gracious recompence of it. Even in this corrupt and degenerate age, when there was so great a decay, nay, so great a contempt, of serious godliness, there were yet some that retained their integrity and zeal for God; and let us see,
1. How they distinguished themselves, and what their character was; it was the reverse of theirs that spoke so much against God; for, (1.) They feared the Lord—that is the beginning of wisdom and the root of all religion; they reverenced the majesty of God, submitted to his authority, and had a dread of his wrath in all they thought and said; they humbly complied with God, and never spoke any stout words against him. In every age there has been a remnant that feared the Lord, though sometimes but a little remnant. (2.) They thought upon his name; they seriously considered and frequently mediated upon the discoveries God has made of himself in his word and by his providences, and their mediation of him was sweet to them and influenced them. They thought on his name; they consulted the honour of God and aimed at that as their ultimate end in all they did. Note, Those that know the name of God should often think of it and dwell upon it in their thoughts; it is a copious curious subject, and frequent thoughts of it will contribute very much to our communion with God and the stirring up of our devout affections to him. (3.) They spoke often one to another concerning the God they feared, and that name of his which they thought so much of; for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth will speak, and a good man, out of a good treasure there, will bring forth good things. Those that feared the Lord kept together as those that were company for each other; they spoke kindly and endearingly one to another, for the preserving and promoting of mutual love, that that might not wax cold when iniquity did thus abound. They spoke intelligently and edifyingly to one another, for the increasing and improving of faith and holiness; they spoke one to another in the language of those that fear the Lord and think on his name—the language of Canaan. When profaneness had come to so great a height as to trample upon all that is sacred, then those that feared the Lord spoke often one to another. [1.] Then, when iniquity was bold and barefaced, the people of God took courage, and stirred up themselves, the innocent against the hypocrite, Job 17:8. The worse others are the better we should be; when vice is daring, let not virtue be sneaking. [2.] Then, when religion was reproached and misrepresented, its friends did all they could to support the credit of it and to keep it in countenance. It had been suggested that the ways of God are melancholy unpleasant ways, solitary and sorrowful; and therefore then those that feared God studied to evince the contrary by their cheerfulness in mutual love and converse, that they might put to silence the ignorance of foolish men. [3.] Then, when seducers were busy to deceive and to possess unwary souls with prejudices against religion, those that feared God were industrious to arm themselves and one another against the contagion by mutual instructions, excitements, and encouragements, and to strengthen one another's hands. As evil communication corrupts good minds and manners, so good communication confirms them.
2. How God dignified them, and what further honour and favour he intended for them. Those who spoke stoutly against God, no doubt looked with disdain and displeasure upon those that feared him, hectored and bantered them; but they had little reason to regard that, or be disturbed at it, when God countenanced them.
(1.) He took notice of their pious discourses, and was graciously present at their conferences: The Lord hearkened and heard it, and was well pleased with it. God says (Jer 8:6) that he hearkened and heard what bad men would say, and they spoke not aright; here he hearkened and heard what good men did say, for they spoke aright. Note, The gracious God observes all the gracious words that proceed out of the mouths of his people; they need not desire that men may hear them, and commend them; let them not seek praise from men by them, nor affect to be taken notice of by them; but let it satisfy them that, be the conference ever so private, God sees and hears in secret and will reward openly. When the two disciples, going to Emmaus, were discoursing concerning Christ, he hearkened and heard, and joined himself to them, and made a third, Lu 24:15.
(2.) He kept an account of them: A book of remembrance was written before him. Not that the Eternal Mind needs to be reminded of things by books and writings, but it is an expression after the manner of men, intimating that their pious affections and performances are kept in remembrance as punctually and particularly as if they were written in a book, as if journals were kept of all their conferences. Great kings had books of remembrance written, and read before them, in which were entered all the services done them, when, and by whom, as Es 2:23. God, in like manner, remembers the services of his people, that, in the review of them, he may say, Well done; enter thou into the joy of thy Lord. God has a book for the sighs and tears of his mourners (Ps 56:8), much more for the pleadings of his advocates. Never was any good word spoken of God, or for God, from an honest heart, but it was registered, that it might be recompensed in the resurrection of the just, and in no wise lose its reward.
(3.) He promises them a share in his glory hereafter (Mal 3:17): They shall be mine, saith the Lord of hosts, in that day when I make up my jewels. When God utterly cuts off the Jewish church and nation for their infidelity, the remnant among them, that believed his word, and, having waited for the consolation of Israel, welcome him when he comes, shall be admitted into the Christian church, and shall become a peculiar people to God; God will take care of them, that they perish not with those that believe not; but that they be hidden in the day of the Lord's anger against that nation. They shall be my segullah—my peculiar treasure (it is the word used, Ex 19:5), in the day when I make or do what I have said and designed to do; so some read it. These pious ones shall have all the glorious privileges of God's Israel appropriated to them and centering in them; they shall now be his peculiar treasure, when the rest are rejected; they shall now be the vessels of mercy and honour, when the rest are made vessels of wrath and dishonour, vessels in which is no pleasure. This may be applied to all the faithful people of God, and the distinction he will put between them and others in the great day. Note, [1.] The saints are God's jewels; they are highly esteemed by him and are dear to him; they are comely with the comeliness that he puts upon them, and he is pleased to glory in them; they are a royal diadem in his hand, Isa 62:3. He looks upon them as his own proper goods, his choice goods, his treasure, laid up in his cabinet, and the furniture of his closet, Ps 135:4. The rest of the world is but lumber, in comparison with them. [2.] There is a day coming when God will make up his jewels. They shall be gathered up out of the dirt into which they are now thrown, and gathered together from all places to which they are now scattered; he shall send forth his angels to gather his elect, who are his jewels, from the four winds of heaven (Mt 24:31), to gather his jewels into his jewel-house, as the wheat from several fields into the barn. All the saints will then be gathered to Christ, and none but saints, and saints made perfect; then God's jewels will be made up, as stones into a crown, as stars into a constellation. [3.] Those who now own God for theirs, he will then own for his, will publicly confess them before angels and men: "They shall be mine; their sanctification shall be completed, and so they shall be perfectly and entirely mine, without any remaining interests of the world and the flesh." Their relation to God shall be acknowledged, and his property in them. He will separate them from those that are not his, and give them their portion with those that are his; for to them it shall be said, Come, you blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you. They were in doubt, sometimes, whether they were belonging to God or no; but the matter shall then be put out of doubt. God himself will say unto them, You are mine. Now their relation to God is what they are reproached with, but it will then be gloried in; God himself will glory in it.
(4.) He promises them a share in his grace now: I will spare them as a man spares his own son that serves him. God had promised to own them as his and take them to be with him; but it might be a discouragement to them to think that they had offended God, and that he might justly disown them, and cast them off; but, as to that, he says, "I will spare them; I will not deal with them as they deserve. I will rejoice over them" (so some expound it) "as the bridegroom over his bride," Isa 62:5, Zep 3:17. But the word usually signifies to spare with commiseration and compassion, as a father pities his children, Ps 103:13. Note, [1.] It is our duty to serve God with the disposition of children. We must be his sons, must by a new birth partake of a divine nature, must consent to the covenant of adoption and partake of the spirit of adoption. And we must be his servants; God will not have his children trained up in idleness; they must do him service, and they must do it from a principle of love, with cheerfulness and delight, and as those that are therein serving their own true interest, and this is serving as a son with the father, Php 2:22. [2.] If we serve God with the disposition of children, he will spare us with the tenderness and compassion of a Father. Even God's children that serve him stand in need of sparing mercy, that mercy to which we owe it that we are not consumed, that mercy which keeps us out of hell. Nehemiah, when he had done much good, yet, knowing there is not a just man on earth, that does good and sins not, and that every sin deserves God's wrath, prays, Lord, spare me according to the greatness of thy mercy; see Ne 13:22. And God, as a Father, will show them this mercy. He will not be extreme to mark what we do amiss, but will make the best of us and our poor performances; he will mitigate the afflictions his children are exercised with, and save them from the ruin they deserve. The father continues to spare the son, and does it with complacency, because he is his own; thus God will spare humble penitents and petitioners, as a man spares his son that serves him, though we do him so little service, nay, though we do him so much disservice.
3. How they will thus be distinguished from the children of this world (Mal 3:18): "Then shall you return, and discern between the righteous and the wicked, between sinners and saints, between those that serve God and make conscience of their duty to him and those that serve him not, but put contempt upon his service. You that now speak against God as making no difference between good and bad, and therefore say, It is in vain to serve him (Mal 3:14), you shall be made to see your error; you that would speak for God, but know not what to say as to this, that there seems to be one event to the righteous and to the wicked, and all things come alike to all, will then have the matter set in a true light, and will see, to your everlasting satisfaction, the difference between the righteous and the wicked. Then you shall return, that is, you shall change you mind, and come to a right understanding of the thing." This primarily respects the manifest difference that was made by the divine Providence between the believing Jews and those that persisted in their infidelity, at the time of the destruction of Jerusalem, and of the Jewish church and nation, by the Romans. But it is to have its full accomplishment at the second coming of Jesus Christ, and on that great discriminating day when it shall be easy enough to discern between the righteous and the wicked. Note, (1.) All the children of men are either righteous or wicked, either such as serve God or such as serve him not. This is that division of the children of men which will last for ever, and by which their eternal state will be determined; all are going either to heaven or to hell. (2.) In this world it is often hard to discern between the righteous and the wicked. They are mingled together, good fish and bad in the same net. The righteous are so distempered, and the wicked so disguised, that we are often deceived in our opinions concerning both the one and the other. There are many who, we think, serve God, who, having not their hearts right with him, will be found none of his servants; and, on the other hand, many will be found his faithful servants, who, because they followed not with us, did not, as we thought, serve him. But that which especially raised the difficulty here was that the divine Providence seemed to make no difference between the righteous and the wicked; you could not know wicked men by God's frowning upon them, for they commonly prospered in the world, nor righteous men by his smiling upon them, for they were involved with others in the same common calamity. None now knows God's love or hatred by all that is before him, Ec 9:1. (3.) At the bar of Christ, in the last judgment, it will be easy to discern between the righteous and the wicked; for then every man's character will be both perfected and perfectly discovered, every man will then appear in his true colours, and his disguises will be taken off. Some men's sins indeed go beforehand, and you may now tell who is wicked, but others follow after; however, in the great day, we shall see who was righteous and who wicked. Every man's condition likewise will be both perfected and everlastingly determined; the righteous will then be perfectly happy and the wicked perfectly miserable, without mixture or allay. When the righteous are all set on the right hand of Christ, and invited to come for a blessing, and all the wicked on his left hand, and are told to depart with a curse, then it will be easy to discern between them. As to ourselves, therefore, we are concerned to think among which we shall have our lot, and, as to others, we must judge nothing before the time.
本章我们有以下内容：I. 应许弥赛亚及其先锋的降临，并在此特别说明了他所肩负的使命——他的到来为教会和百姓所带来的安慰，以及对恶人所带来的威吓（玛 3:1-6）。II. 责备犹太人败坏神的典章、亵渎性地抢夺本当归与神的供物，责令他们改正此事，并应许他们若如此行，神必在怜悯中归向他们（玛 3:7-12）。III. 描绘那些顶撞神之恶人的恶行（玛 3:13-15），以及那些为神说话之义人的义行，并赐给义人的宝贵应许（玛 3:16-18）。