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<TITLE>Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary on the Whole Bible [Malachi, Introduction].</TITLE>
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"This site is for those friends and family members who may or may not know Our Lord Jesus Christ, and if not, they may come to know Our Lord through His Prophets."> <meta name="author" content="Brian Duncalfe">
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<center><h1>Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary
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on the Whole Bible</h1>
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<h3><a href="http://www.biblesnet.com" target="_blank">Back to Biblesnet.com Home Page</a>
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[<A HREF="MHC00000.HTM">Table of Contents</A>]<BR>
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Matthew Henry<BR><I>Commentary on the Whole Bible</I> (1712)
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<!-- (Begin Body) -->
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<CENTER>
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<BR>
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<P><FONT SIZE=+3>Malachi</FONT></P>
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<TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER=0>
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<TR><TD VALIGN=TOP WIDTH="4%">
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</TD>
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<TD VALIGN=TOP WIDTH="15%">
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<LI><A HREF="MHC39001.HTM">Chapter 1</A>
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</TD>
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<TD VALIGN=TOP WIDTH="15%">
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<LI><A HREF="MHC39002.HTM">Chapter 2</A>
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</TD>
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<TD VALIGN=TOP WIDTH="15%">
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<LI><A HREF="MHC39003.HTM">Chapter 3</A>
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</TD>
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<TD VALIGN=TOP WIDTH="15%">
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<LI><A HREF="MHC39004.HTM">Chapter 4</A>
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<A NAME="Page1475"> </A>
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<CENTER>
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<P><B>AN</B></P>
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<P><FONT SIZE=+2>EXPOSITION,</FONT></P>
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<P><FONT SIZE=+1>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,</FONT></P>
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<P><FONT SIZE=-1>OF THE BOOK OF THE PROPHET</FONT></P>
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<P><FONT SIZE=+3><B>M A L A C H I.</B></FONT>
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<HR SIZE=1 WIDTH=150>
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</P></CENTER>
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<P>
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G<FONT SIZE=-1>OD'S</FONT>
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prophets were his witnesses to his church, each in his day, for several
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ages, witnesses for him and his authority, witnesses against sin and
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sinners, attesting the true intents of God's providences in his
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dealings with his people then and the kind intentions of his grace
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concerning his church in the days of the Messiah, to whom all the
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prophets bore witness, for they all agreed in their testimony; and now
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we have only one witness more to call, and we have done with our
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evidence; and though he be the last, and in him prophecy ceased, yet
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the Spirit of prophecy shines as clearly, as strongly, as brightly in
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him as in any that went before, and his testimony challenges an equal
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regard. The Jews say, Prophecy continued forty years under the second
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temple, and this prophet they call the <I>seal of prophecy,</I> because
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in him the series or succession of prophets broke off and came to a
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period. God wisely ordered it so that divine inspiration should cease
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for some ages before the coming of the Messiah, that that great prophet
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might appear the more conspicuous and distinguishable and be the more
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welcome. Let us consider,
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I. The person of the prophet. We have only his name, <I>Malachi,</I>
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and no account of his country or parentage. <I>Malachi</I> signifies
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<I>my angel,</I> which has given occasion for a conjecture that this
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prophet was indeed an angel from heaven and not a man, as that
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jdg+2:1">Judges ii. 1</A>.
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But there is no just ground for the conjecture. Prophets were
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messengers, God's messengers; this prophet was so; his name is the very
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same with that which we find in the original
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Mal+3:1"><I>ch.</I> iii. 1</A>)
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for <I>my messenger;</I> and perhaps from that word he might (though,
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probably, he had another name) be called <I>Malachi.</I> The Chaldee
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paraphrase, and some of the Jews, suggest that Malachi was the same
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with Ezra; but that also is groundless. Ezra was a scribe, but we never
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read that he was a prophet. Others, yet further from probability, make
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him to be Mordecai. But we have reason to conclude he was a person
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whose proper name was that by which he is here called; the tradition of
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some of the ancients is that he was of the tribe of Zebulun, and that
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he died young.
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II. The scope of the prophecy. Haggai and Zechariah were sent to
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reprove the people for delaying to build the temple; Malachi was sent
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to reprove them for the neglect of it when it was built, and for their
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profanation of the temple-service (for from idolatry and superstition
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they ran into the other extreme of impiety and irreligion), and the
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sins he witnesses against are the same that we find complained of in
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Nehemiah's time, with whom, it is probable, he was contemporary. And
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now that prophecy was to cease he speaks more clearly of the Messiah,
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as nigh at hand, than any other of the prophets had done, and concludes
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with a direction to the people of God to keep in remembrance the law of
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Moses, while they were in expectation of the gospel of Christ.</P>
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Matthew Henry<BR><I>Commentary on the Whole Bible</I> (1712)
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