Literal Commentary on Malachi

The Exposition of Malachi the Prophet, in the Manner of a Narrative. For when the people sinned and went astray, the priests were thieves, and the people participated with them in impure unions and other things, and on account of these Malachi was commanded to rebuke them. The Hebrews call Malachi "Mal'akh," that is, "my messenger," because the first vision of his words was by means of a divine vision, Malachi delivering to the people the words of the Lord. "I have loved you" — before he rebuked their conduct. He spoke of evil things on account of his love for their persons. "In what have I loved you?" — not in word but in deed, for the sake of the narrative he recalls Esau who was rejected and Jacob who was loved. The boundary of sin is that which pertains to the sin of the inhabitants of the land was destroyed and is not sought. The people who angered him — God was angry with them because of their conduct toward them. "To you, the priests" — he rebukes the priests. "He who goes forth to you, my name" — he diminishes you, because he who goes forth diminishes, and he who is diminished is diminished. "Leavened bread" — when he calls leavened bread "leavened," because it was impure according to the law. "The table of the Lord was profaned" — by means of these things you profane the table with your deeds, because leavened bread makes you swell up against it. "Pray before the Lord" — soon your error will be turned to compassion. "It was in your hands" — you yourselves were the cause of placing at the head that which precedes a little of your burden, and in your hands is placed that you may be anxious to order your life. "That I may hold the door" — there is no one among you who is worthy to hold and open the door of the sanctuary. "Let go, for I am a priest." "The table of the Lord" — like a table, not a dish of something more, nothing extra is required beyond what is left; it is considered by you a table.

This is what was happening: that even when they offered sacrifices, it was as if they were offering wood and incense that had been gathered with the labor of their hands, and the grinding and the toil of their labors they offered to God, and not gifts that were worthy of him. For behold, he rebukes them: "You destroy the seed of the land by means of locusts and hail, and the threshing-floor of the threshing-sledge you cast upon your own faces for your sacrifices." Because you consider me as a hidden abomination along with the festivals in which they are offered. The threshing-floor is a foul thing in the womb. And know that I sent you my command through Moses, when by his hands I chose you then and brought you near to the priesthood, so that the covenant would be the command. And he said, "This is what I sought, that it be fulfilled by you—the covenant that I established with the head of your people through mercy and the ordinance that was in your hands for the whole people." But you, on the contrary, were found wanting in the priesthood. For what do the deceivers show? That the priests were the cause for the people to deceive God. And what do the negligent show? The cause of your negligence, O priests. The people turned away from the truth because you did not correct them. And negligence was wrought: the worship of idols spread throughout the entire habitation because of you. The beginning of the covering of your face over the passing of another matter. For after they sinned with the captivity, they abandoned their first wives and took others, priests and people, and they held fast to the cause of the first ones.

the altars were defiled, and when there was no one to offer the proper sacrifices, they were cast out of the house of God and began to weep, seeking to be reconciled to God. The blood of the sacrifice was what they took, the priests, the wicked ones, instead of the Hebrews. And weeping and lamentation was not for the priests who were the heads, but for the people who were the cause of the priests' mourning and the pouring out of entrails in the house of God. For it is not fitting that this be so, for before the voice of your priests, hear this in my house. And if you say that you have lied in this, you have lied in this, that from your youth you were bound to this, concerning which God testified from the beginning, that you left father and mother and clung to a wife. For was it not one man who said concerning Adam? It would have been easy for God to do for all the wicked ones equally with the earth, and when they do not die, they multiply on the earth. Now, however, one man. And through the bond of marriage he is preserved and corrupted. And the rest of the spirits are with him, for with Adam they are the rest of those wicked ones who through the bond of marriage remained with that one who died and is corrupted, one seeking seed from God. He said, however, concerning Abraham, that when he was good and was tested with the children, he did not rejoice with the bond of his wife, the barren one, who from his youth was bound to him. But he endured, asking that he might have offspring from her, the seed of children. Be careful with your spirit. And iniquity in its garment is not for you to hide your thoughts, and as in a garment you will cover and conceal the iniquity in your heart. When you take false pretexts and conceal your evil thoughts from God. Be careful with your spirit to keep the law of marriage with your priests.

they were offering to the Lord, and it covered over those who were blaspheming against God, so that he would not seek out the wicked immediately after the sin. The Lord does not tolerate your blasphemies and your persecutions. When someone does evil, he persecutes you to drive out my spirit which is upon the wicked. The one who sends the angel is named "of my will," and he places him at the head of the iniquitous. And the angel of the covenant is the one who serves the covenant of God. And according to the laws, he seeks out the fools of your will, who are eager for you to come and for the seeking of him. In these words, he hints at Michael, the angel who leads the people. Others say that these words also apply to John the Baptist. He also hints at the evils that the Maccabees are destined to inflict upon them in due time. For just as a furnace refines metal and a fuller whitens garments, so he turns to refine the Maccabees and to purify them like metal in the furnace of afflictions. And he is a witness, just as this witness is from their house, like a dead man. This is a sharp and swift judgment upon all those who, when they distanced themselves from me, turned to all kinds of sins. You are cursed with curses, you who are the causes of your own ruin. These are the words of his fears, which are those that have been endured and have come to the houses of God. And the Lord is silent to these, when he heard God speaking with them unjustly. He commanded me, the prophet, to write to you in the books, as a reminder of the Maccabees, those who in due time gave judgment in exchange for their lives, and they find me as a refuge for the wicked and as a baptism for their own. He calls the Maccabees his fears.

I will extend over them, over the Maccabees, the letter Ṣ, that of D and that which sacrifices to you, to my worshippers, to you, those who are established, your name is high from the midst of the cloud of afflictions that sacrifices to you, the light of good things. The sun of righteousness is that which is equal to you because of your righteousness, and medicine is with it, the word that heals, medicine for the divine commandment. Again, thus it is easy for me to heal you from evils, as it is easy to turn the tongue and to speak. And you will trample the Jews and the wicked of the people; you will trample them as oxen tread the threshing floor. Remember the law of Moses, because that other Malachi is the seal of all the prophets. Examine well the beginning of the law. Remember, lest you err from that law which through Moses I set, which is the first covenant of the mountain, which is that you will receive the Messiah, who is hidden until the time when he is revealed in flesh and begins the law and teaches perfection. Behold, I send Elijah. For because you are found in opposition at the second coming of the Messiah, he who turns the heart is for this reason Elijah comes, who will separate those who are divided from you in the fear of God and will turn towards your houses, indeed the disciples of Christ, when he puts to shame the Antichrist, who leads you astray after him. Before he comes, that of the Church and the Church will seek out the rebels and the wicked. Mar Ephrem. With this that now I send Malachi, and until the end of the book, concerning John the Baptist, he interprets it for him, calling him Elijah.