61 lines
3.7 KiB
XML
61 lines
3.7 KiB
XML
|
<div2 id="Mal.i" n="i" next="Mal.ii" prev="Mal" progress="97.91%" title="Introduction">
|
|||
|
|
<h2 id="Mal.i-p0.1">Malachi</h2>
|
|||
|
|
<hr/>
|
|||
|
|
<pb id="Mal.i-Page_1475" n="1475"/>
|
|||
|
|
<div class="Center" id="Mal.i-p0.3">
|
|||
|
|
<p id="Mal.i-p1" shownumber="no"><b>AN</b></p>
|
|||
|
|
<h3 id="Mal.i-p1.1">EXPOSITION,</h3>
|
|||
|
|
<h4 id="Mal.i-p1.2">W I T H P R A C T I C A L O B S E
|
|||
|
|
R V A T I O N S,</h4>
|
|||
|
|
<h5 id="Mal.i-p1.3">OF THE BOOK OF THE PROPHET</h5>
|
|||
|
|
<h2 id="Mal.i-p1.4">M A L A C H I.</h2>
|
|||
|
|
<hr style="width:2in"/>
|
|||
|
|
</div>
|
|||
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Mal.i-p2" shownumber="no"><span class="smallcaps" id="Mal.i-p2.1">God's</span>
|
|||
|
|
prophets were his witnesses to his church, each in his day, for
|
|||
|
|
several ages, witnesses for him and his authority, witnesses
|
|||
|
|
against sin and sinners, attesting the true intents of God's
|
|||
|
|
providences in his dealings with his people then and the kind
|
|||
|
|
intentions of his grace concerning his church in the days of the
|
|||
|
|
Messiah, to whom all the prophets bore witness, for they all agreed
|
|||
|
|
in their testimony; and now we have only one witness more to call,
|
|||
|
|
and we have done with our evidence; and though he be the last, and
|
|||
|
|
in him prophecy ceased, yet the Spirit of prophecy shines as
|
|||
|
|
clearly, as strongly, as brightly in him as in any that went
|
|||
|
|
before, and his testimony challenges an equal regard. The Jews say,
|
|||
|
|
Prophecy continued forty years under the second temple, and this
|
|||
|
|
prophet they call the <i>seal of prophecy,</i> because in him the
|
|||
|
|
series or succession of prophets broke off and came to a period.
|
|||
|
|
God wisely ordered it so that divine inspiration should cease for
|
|||
|
|
some ages before the coming of the Messiah, that that great prophet
|
|||
|
|
might appear the more conspicuous and distinguishable and be the
|
|||
|
|
more welcome. Let us consider, I. The person of the prophet. We
|
|||
|
|
have only his name, <i>Malachi,</i> and no account of his country
|
|||
|
|
or parentage. <i>Malachi</i> signifies <i>my angel,</i> which has
|
|||
|
|
given occasion for a conjecture that this prophet was indeed an
|
|||
|
|
angel from heaven and not a man, as that <scripRef id="Mal.i-p2.2" osisRef="Bible:Judg.2.1" parsed="|Judg|2|1|0|0" passage="Jdg 2:1">Judges ii. 1</scripRef>. But there is no just ground for
|
|||
|
|
the conjecture. Prophets were messengers, God's messengers; this
|
|||
|
|
prophet was so; his name is the very same with that which we find
|
|||
|
|
in the original (<scripRef id="Mal.i-p2.3" osisRef="Bible:Mal.3.1" parsed="|Mal|3|1|0|0" passage="Mal 3:1"><i>ch.</i> iii.
|
|||
|
|
1</scripRef>) for <i>my messenger;</i> and perhaps from that word
|
|||
|
|
he might (though, probably, he had another name) be called
|
|||
|
|
<i>Malachi.</i> The Chaldee paraphrase, and some of the Jews,
|
|||
|
|
suggest that Malachi was the same with Ezra; but that also is
|
|||
|
|
groundless. Ezra was a scribe, but we never read that he was a
|
|||
|
|
prophet. Others, yet further from probability, make him to be
|
|||
|
|
Mordecai. But we have reason to conclude he was a person whose
|
|||
|
|
proper name was that by which he is here called; the tradition of
|
|||
|
|
some of the ancients is that he was of the tribe of Zebulun, and
|
|||
|
|
that he died young. II. The scope of the prophecy. Haggai and
|
|||
|
|
Zechariah were sent to reprove the people for delaying to build the
|
|||
|
|
temple; Malachi was sent to reprove them for the neglect of it when
|
|||
|
|
it was built, and for their profanation of the temple-service (for
|
|||
|
|
from idolatry and superstition they ran into the other extreme of
|
|||
|
|
impiety and irreligion), and the sins he witnesses against are the
|
|||
|
|
same that we find complained of in Nehemiah's time, with whom, it
|
|||
|
|
is probable, he was contemporary. And now that prophecy was to
|
|||
|
|
cease he speaks more clearly of the Messiah, as nigh at hand, than
|
|||
|
|
any other of the prophets had done, and concludes with a direction
|
|||
|
|
to the people of God to keep in remembrance the law of Moses, while
|
|||
|
|
they were in expectation of the gospel of Christ.</p>
|
|||
|
|
</div2>
|