{"collection":"Bible & Christianity","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/bib/cmt/wesley/mal001.htm","path":"bib/cmt/wesley/mal001.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/bib/cmt/wesley/mal001.htm","text":"Explanatory Notes on the Whole Bible, by John Wesley, [1754-65]\n \nMalachi 1:2\n \nmal 1:2\nLoved you - Both personally considered and relatively, in progenitors. Us - Who have been captives, and groaned under it all our days 'till of late. Was not Esau - Did not one father beget them, and one mother bear them? I loved Jacob - I preferred him to the birthright, and this of free love. I loved his person, and his posterity. \nMalachi 1:3\n \nmal 1:3\nI hated - I loved not Esau's posterity as I loved Jacob's. His heritage - Mount Seir with the neighbouring mountains. Waste - By Nebuchadnezzar's arms five years after the sacking of Jerusalem, and whereas Jacob's captivity returned, and their cities were rebuilt, Esau's never were. The dragons - Creatures which delight in desolate places, by which the utter desolation of Esau is signified. \nMalachi 1:4\n \nmal 1:4\nThrow down - So he did in the times of the Maccabees. The border of wickedness - They will be a most wicked people, and so notorious, that all their neighbours shall brand them for it. Hath indignation - They will so highly provoke God, that his indignation will be kindled against them for ever. \nMalachi 1:5\n \nmal 1:5\nFrom the border of Israel - Let Israel from all his borders give God praise. \nMalachi 1:6\n \nmal 1:6\nO priests - Had undutifulness been found among the ignorant people, it might have been a little excusable. But you, O priests, whose business is to know me, have like Eli's sons despised me yourselves, and made others do so too. \nMalachi 1:7\n \nmal 1:7\nBread - Either the meal - offerings, or rather in a more large sense, all sacrifices and oblations. Ye say - Perhaps in words; at least your deeds speak your thoughts. The table - This comprehends all that was offered to God. \nMalachi 1:8\n \nmal 1:8\nEvil - Is it not against the express command of God. \nMalachi 1:9\n \nmal 1:9\nI pray you - O priests. Beseech - Intercede with God for his sinful people. This - This contempt of God. \nMalachi 1:11\n \nmal 1:11\nIncense - A law term for a gospel duty, and under this type are contained the prayers and praises, nay, the whole gospel - worship. A pure offering - Both sincere, in opposition to hypocrisy, and holy, in opposition to impurity, superstition and idolatry. \nMalachi 1:12\n \nmal 1:12\nBut ye - O priests! And the people by your examples. Ye say - By your deportment. Is polluted - Not a sacred thing. His meat - Either the meat which fell to the priest's share, or the portion which was laid upon the altar. \nMalachi 1:13\n \nmal 1:13\nWhat a weariness - What a toil and drudgery to observe every point of the law. This - With such minds snuffing at my service, and with such sacrifices, unfit for mine altar. \nMalachi 1:14\n \nmal 1:14\nThe deceiver - The hypocrite that would seem to offer a sacrifice of the best, but puts God off with the worst. A male - A perfect male, such as God requireth.","title":"Explanatory Notes on the Whole Bible: Malachi: Malachi Chapter 1","type":"page"}