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Matthew Henry

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Malachi 1:1-5

The prophecy of this book is entitled, The burden of the word of the Lord (Mal. 1:1), which intimates, 1. That it was of great weight and importance; what the false prophets said was light as the chaff, what the true prophets said was ponderous as the wheat, Jer. 23:38. 2. That it ought to be often repeated to them and by them, as the burden of a song. 3. That there were those to whom it was a burden and a reproach; they were weary of it, and found themselves so aggrieved by it that they were... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Malachi 1:2

I have loved you, saith the Lord ,.... Which appeared of old, by choosing them, above all people upon the face of the earth, to be his special and peculiar people; by bestowing peculiar favours and blessings upon them, both temporal and spiritual; by continuing them a people, through a variety of changes and revolutions; and by lately bringing them out of the Babylonish captivity, restoring their land unto them, and the pure worship of God among them: Yet ye say, wherein hast thou loved... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Malachi 1:2

Was not Esau Jacob's brother? - Have I not shown a greater partiality to the Israelites than I have to the Edomites? I loved Jacob - My love to Jacob has been proved by giving him greater privileges and a better inheritance than what I have given to Esau. read more

John Calvin

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - Malachi 1:2

Verse 2 I am constrained by the context to read all these verses; for the sense cannot be otherwise completed. God expostulates here with a perverse and an ungrateful people, because they doubly deprived him of his right; for he was neither loved nor feared, though he had a just claim to the name and honor of a master as well as that of a father. As then the Jews paid him no reverence, he complains that he was defrauded of his right as a father; and as they entertained no fear for him, he... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Malachi 1:1-5

The sovereignty of God in relation to man's secular condition of life. "The burden of the word of the Lord," etc. Malachi—which means "Messenger" the last of the Hebrew prophets, is a man whose personal history is wrapped in utter obscurity. He is supposed to have lived after Haggai and Zechariah, and to be contemporary with Nehemiah. It is likely that he occupied a relationship to Nehemiah somewhat analogous to that which Haggai and Zechariah sustained to Zerubbabel. The general opinion... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Malachi 1:2

I have loved you. The prophet, desiring to bring home to the people their ingratitude, lays down his thesis; then, in his characteristic manner, repeats the objection of the sceptics in an interrogatory form, and refutes it by plain argument. God had shown his love for Israel by electing them to be his people, and by his treatment of them during the whole course of their history. Wherein hast thou loved us! This was the inward feeling of the people at this time. They doubted God's love and... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Malachi 1:2-3

The Lord's love for his people. The Lord had chosen Israel as his peculiar people, out of pure love and kindness, without any antecedent merit on their side. This love is strikingly exhibited by contrasting the Divine dealings with the two nations, Edom and Israel. Both came into Divine judgment for sin, and love triumphed in the restoration of Israel; but because of Edom's treatment of Israel, it was left, to its desolations. The word "hate" is employed, but South properly explains that... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Malachi 1:2-5

§ 2. The prophet declares God's special love for Israel read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Malachi 1:2-5

The sovereign love of God. Remembering that the scriptural sense of "hate" in this and corresponding passages is to love less in comparison, or to reject when there is a competition of claims, we nevertheless learn from this passage— I. THAT GOD 'S LOVE TO INDIVIDUALS AND TO NATIONS IS A SOVEREIGN LOVE . By this we mean that it is a love which bestows special favours, for reasons which cannot be discovered in those that enjoy them, but in the gracious purpose of... read more

Albert Barnes

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible - Malachi 1:2

I have loved you, saith the Lord - What a volume of God’s relations to us in two simple words, “I-have-loved you” . So would not God speak, unless He still loved. “I have loved and do love you,” is the force of the words. When? And since when? In all eternity God loved; in all our past, God loved. Tokens of His love, past or present, in good or seeming ill, are but an effluence of that everlasting love. He, the Unchangeable, ever loved, as the apostle of love says 1 John 4:19, “we love Him,... read more

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