Commentary on Habakkuk Zephaniah Haggai Zechariah and Malachi John Calvin
Malachi 3
Malachi 3:1
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, who ye delight in: behold, he shall come, saith the LORD of hosts.
1. Ecce ego mitto Angelum meum, et purgabit viam coram facie mea; et mox veniet ad templum suum Dominus, quem vos quaeritis, et Angelo foederis quem vos expetitis; ecce venit, dicit Iehova exercituum.
Here the Prophet does not bring comfort to the wicked slanderers previously mentioned, but asserts the constancy of his faith in opposition to their blasphemous words; as though he had said, ``Though they impiously declare that they have been either deceived or forsaken by the God in whom they had hoped, yet his covenant shall not be in vain.'' The design of what is announced is like that of the declaration made elsewhere, ``Though men are perfidious and false, yet God remains true, and cannot depart from his own nature.'' (Numbers 23:19.)
God then does here gloriously triumph over the Jews, and alleges his own covenant in opposition to their disgraceful slanders, because their wicked murmurings could not hinder him to accomplish his promises and to perform in due time what they thought would never be done; and he adopts a demonstrative adverb in order to show the certainty of what is said.
Behold, he says, I send my messenger, who will clear the way before my face 394 This passage ought doubtless to be understood of John the Baptist, for Christ himself so explains it, than whom no better interpreter can be found; and since John the Baptist was the messenger of Christ, the beginning of the verse can be applied
394As quoted by the Evangelists, it is "before thy face." Jerome's observation is, that the apostles and evangelists transferred the truth contained in passages without minding syllables and small words. — Ed.
JOHN CALVIN
to no other person. Afterwards the Father himself speaks as we shall see: but as he who appeared in the flesh is the same God with the Father, it is no wonder that he speaks, and then that the words which follow are spoken in the person of the Father.
There is here a striking allusion to Moses, whose office it was to intercede, that God might not in his just wrath destroy the whole people; for as then the majesty of God was more than could be borne without an intercessor, so that the people through fear cried out ``Speak thou to us lest we die,'' (Exodus 20:19,) so also now does Malachi teach us, that there is need of an intercessor, by whom God's wrath might be mitigated, which the Jews had extremely provoked. This office John the Baptist undertook, who prepared the Jews to hear the voice of Christ.
By saying that he would send a messenger to clear his way, he indirectly reproved the Jews, by whom many hindrances were thrown as it were in the way; as though he had said, ``They prevent by the obstacles they raise up the redemption and the promised salvation to be revealed: there will therefore be the need of a messenger to clear the way.'' For the Jews had introduced impediments, as though they designedly wished to resist the favor which had been prepared and promised to them. But how the Baptist performed his work by clearing the way, is evident from the fortieth chapter of Isaiah, as well as from the Gospels; and hence may be gathered what I have already said --- that God by his fidelity and mercy struggled with those obstacles which the Jews had raised up to prevent the coming of Christ. 395
He afterwards adds, And presently shall 396 come to his temple the Lord, whom ye seek. After having said that he would open a way for his favor, he now adds, come shall the Lord. He introduces here, not Jehovah, but the Lord, {,}אדוןAdun; and hence he speaks distinctly of Christ, who is afterwards called the Angel or Messenger of the covenant. But the word {,}אדוןAdun, commonly used for a Mediator, as in Psalm 110, and also in Daniel 9:17; where it is expressly said, ``Hear, O Jehovah, for the sake of the Lord,'' {,}למען{ }אדוניlamon Aduni; the word is the same as here, come then shall the Lord. The reason for this mode of speaking was, because Christ was shown to them under the type which re presented him. As then the kingdom of David was a representation of the kingdom of Christ our Lord, it is no wonder that the Prophets designate him by this title, especially those who were the nearest to the time of Christ's manifestation. But he is promised by another title, the angel or messenger of the covenant; but it means not the same here as in the first clause. He called John the Baptist at the beginning of this verse a messenger, the messenger of Jehovah; and now he calls Christ a messenger, but he is the messenger of the covenant; 397
395The verb {,{פנהrendered ``purgabit'' by Calvin in the sense of clearing, can hardly bear this meaning. It signifies to turn or look to a thing, and hence to provide or prepare. In this latter sense it occurs in six other places; and is rendered by the Septuagint {ἑτοιμάζω}, as in Genesis 24:31, and Isaiah 40:3, though here {ἐπιβλέψεται}, according to its primary meaning. The version of Theodoret, here is ``{ἐτοιμαζει} --- prepares.'' The idea of Calvin may be said to be included; for as Henderson justly observes, ``The language is borrowed from the custom of sending pioneers before an eastern monarch to cut through rocks and forests, and remove every impediment that might obstruct his course.'' --- Ed.
396"{Εξαίφνης} --- suddenly,'' by the Septuagint, ``statim --- immediately,'' by Jerome, and by some others, ``unexpectedly.''
The meaning is, according to some, that his coming would be soon after that of John, about six months; or, according to others, unexpectedly, as a light suddenly arising in darkness, without any previous symptom of its appearance. The literal rendering of these two lines is the following, --- And suddenly shall he come to his temple, The Lord whom ye are seeking. The remark of Henderson and of others on the {}הbefore ``Lord'' as being emphatic, is not well founded. It is owing to the relative ``whom'' which follows, as it is in our language. --- Ed.
397"A phrase nowhere else in Scripture." — Secker.