Gone away from mine ordinances - Never acting according to their spirit and design. Return unto me - There is still space to repent. Wherein shall we return? - Their consciences were seared, and they knew not that they were sinners. read more
Will a man rob God? - Here is one point on which ye are guilty; ye withhold the tithes and offerings from the temple of God, so that the Divine worship is neglected. read more
Ye are cursed with a curse - The whole nation is under my displeasure. The curse of God is upon you. read more
Bring ye all the tithes - They had so withheld these that the priests had not food enough to support life, and the sacred service was interrupted. See Nehemiah 13:10 . And prove me now herewith - What ye give to God shall never lessen your store. Give as ye should, and see whether I will not so increase your store by opening the windows of heaven - giving you rain and fruitful seasons - that your barns and granaries shall not be able to contain the abundance of your harvests and... read more
I wilt rebuke the devourer - The locusts, etc., shall not come on your crops; and those that are in the country I will disperse and destroy. Neither shall your vine cast her fruit - Every blossom shall bear fruit, and every bunch of grapes come to maturity. read more
All nations shall call you blessed - They shall see that a peculiar blessing of God rests upon you, and your land shall be delightsome; like Paradise, the garden of the Lord. read more
Your words have been stout against me - He speaks here to open infidels and revilers. What have we spoken - They are ready either to deny the whole, or impudently to maintain and defend what they had spoken! read more
Ye have said, It is vain to serve God - They strove to destroy the Divine worship; they asserted that it was vanity; that, if they performed acts of worship, they should be nothing the better; and if they abstained, they should be nothing the worse. This was their teaching to the people. Walked mournfully - Even repentance they have declared to be useless. This was a high pitch of ungodliness; but see what follows; behold the general conclusions of these reprobates: - read more
And now we call the proud happy - Proud and insolent men are the only happy people, for they domineer everywhere, and none dares to resist them. They that work wickedness are set up - The humble and holy are depressed and miserable; the proud and wicked are in places of trust and profit. Too often it is so. They that tempt God are even delivered - Even those who despise God, and insult his justice and providence, are preserved in and from dangers; while the righteous fall by them. read more
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John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Malachi 3:15
And now we call the proud happy ,.... Or "therefore now" F17 ועתה "ergo nunc", V. L.; "igitur", Cocceius; "adeoque", Burkius. ; since this is the case, that the worshippers of God are not regarded, and there is nothing got by serving him; they that are proud and haughty, that neither fear God nor regard men, are the happy persons; even presumptuous sinners, as the word F18 זדים "arrogantes", V. L.; "feroces", Cocceius. signifies, that stretch out their hands against God, and... read more