3:1. In response to the implied challenge of the question the Lord himself speaks. Behold is literally ‘Behold me’, ‘Here I am, about to send my messenger’. In the end no man will avoid confrontation with God, and it is of his goodness that warning of that event is given. Just as preparations are made in advance for a royal procession, so the Lord’s coming would be heralded by a forerunner to indicate the route (Isa. 40:3) and summon the population to fill up the ruts and remove the boulders (Isa. 57:14; 62:10), that is, prepare the way. Malachi leaves the hearer to apply the metaphor. The identity of my messenger is not revealed. In that he was seeking to bring men to repentance, Malachi would be aware of fulfilling that role, but so had all the prophets. It is unlikely that he was thinking of himself, but rather of someone with a unique mission as forerunner (cf. 4:5), who himself must be distinguished from the messenger of the covenant.
When the preparations are completed the Lord (Heb. ʾādôn) will suddenly come to his temple. The promise suggests that there was continuing disappointment with the second temple, despite the encouragement of Haggai and Zechariah (Hag. 2:7; Zech. 2:10, etc.), and it was a healthy reaction to be looking to God to do something greater than they had yet seen. When the Lord comes Ezekiel’s vision of the glory returning to fill the house (Ezek. 43:1–5) will be completed, and the purpose of the rebuilding of the temple fulfilled. But who is intended by the messenger of the covenant? The title occurs only here, so there is no aid to interpretation apart from this context. He comes simultaneously with the Lord, if indeed he is not to be identified with him (so AV, RV), a view encouraged by a messianic interpretation in the light of the New Testament. The prophet, however, may have been thinking that, as the angel of the Lord was instrumental in establishing the Mosaic covenant (Exod. 3:2; cf. Isa. 63:9), so he would be needed to institute the new covenant (Jer. 31:31; Ezek. 37:26). Jewish commentators explain him as the angel appointed to avenge the breaking of any covenant, or as Elijah.
In whom you delight is probably ironical. Just as Amos had had to point out that the day of the Lord was to be dark and not light (Amos 5:18), so the coming of the messenger of the covenant would be less than welcome when the implications of his coming were experienced. The fact that he will come suddenly is ominous, for suddenness was usually associated with a calamitous event (e.g. Isa. 47:11; 48:3; Jer. 4:20, etc.).
2. Who can endure the day …? The question implies a searching ordeal, and the second question who can stand? is borrowed from battle imagery (2 Kgs 10:4; Amos 2:15) and means ‘who will stand his ground?’. The prophet suggests that no-one will pass the penetrating tests which the Lord will impose. Yet the purpose of the refiner was not to destroy but to purify, and the fuller’s soap, or rather alkali (soap in our sense was not yet in use), was applied in order to whiten cloth. According to these metaphors suffering fulfils a divine plan to remove impurities of character. The picture of the refiner is a persistent one in the prophets (Isa. 1:25; 48:10; Jer. 6:29, 30; Ezek. 22:17–22). ‘The beauty of this picture is that the refiner looks into the open furnace, or pot, and knows that the process of purifying is complete, and the dross all burnt away, when he can see his image plainly reflected in the molten metal.’
3. The refiner who sits and concentrates all his attention on the metal in the crucible depicts something of the concern of the Lord for the holiness of his people. He begins at his sanctuary (cf. Ezek. 9:6) with the sons of Levi to purify them till they present right offerings, or, more literally, offerings in righteousness (AV, RV). Both senses are needed. Once character has been transformed and purified the offerings (Heb. minḥâ) will both be worthy and be offered in the right spirit.
4. Only then will the rest of the population, who no doubt also undergo the purifying process, be able to offer what is pleasing to the Lord as in days of old. The last phrase is indefinite, being used to refer both to the time of Moses (Isa. 63:9, 11; Matt. 7:14) and of David (Amos 9:11). Malachi is almost certainly thinking of the Mosaic period as the ideal era (Jer. 2:2, 3), when the Israelites depended directly on God.
5. What is a refining process for some will for others bring judgment. It is the community that is being refined, and, as in the case of metal, the base elements must be removed. The Lord is both witness and judge in the law suit against those who refuse to take correction and so are condemned ‘in that day’. No other witness is needed because no other could be competent (2:14; cf. Jer. 29:23). The word swift would be better translated ‘expert’. The speed results from training. Cf. Ezra 7:6, where ‘skilled’ is from the same root. Malachi is the faithful pastor who faces his people with the possibility of ultimate rejection but hopes all the time to win them.
Baldwin, J. G. (1972). Haggai, Zechariah and Malachi: An Introduction and Commentary (Vol. 28, pp. 264–266). Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.
When the preparations are completed the Lord (Heb. ʾādôn) will suddenly come to his temple. The promise suggests that there was continuing disappointment with the second temple, despite the encouragement of Haggai and Zechariah (Hag. 2:7; Zech. 2:10, etc.), and it was a healthy reaction to be looking to God to do something greater than they had yet seen. When the Lord comes Ezekiel’s vision of the glory returning to fill the house (Ezek. 43:1–5) will be completed, and the purpose of the rebuilding of the temple fulfilled. But who is intended by the messenger of the covenant? The title occurs only here, so there is no aid to interpretation apart from this context. He comes simultaneously with the Lord, if indeed he is not to be identified with him (so AV, RV), a view encouraged by a messianic interpretation in the light of the New Testament. The prophet, however, may have been thinking that, as the angel of the Lord was instrumental in establishing the Mosaic covenant (Exod. 3:2; cf. Isa. 63:9), so he would be needed to institute the new covenant (Jer. 31:31; Ezek. 37:26). Jewish commentators explain him as the angel appointed to avenge the breaking of any covenant, or as Elijah.
In whom you delight is probably ironical. Just as Amos had had to point out that the day of the Lord was to be dark and not light (Amos 5:18), so the coming of the messenger of the covenant would be less than welcome when the implications of his coming were experienced. The fact that he will come suddenly is ominous, for suddenness was usually associated with a calamitous event (e.g. Isa. 47:11; 48:3; Jer. 4:20, etc.).
2. Who can endure the day …? The question implies a searching ordeal, and the second question who can stand? is borrowed from battle imagery (2 Kgs 10:4; Amos 2:15) and means ‘who will stand his ground?’. The prophet suggests that no-one will pass the penetrating tests which the Lord will impose. Yet the purpose of the refiner was not to destroy but to purify, and the fuller’s soap, or rather alkali (soap in our sense was not yet in use), was applied in order to whiten cloth. According to these metaphors suffering fulfils a divine plan to remove impurities of character. The picture of the refiner is a persistent one in the prophets (Isa. 1:25; 48:10; Jer. 6:29, 30; Ezek. 22:17–22). ‘The beauty of this picture is that the refiner looks into the open furnace, or pot, and knows that the process of purifying is complete, and the dross all burnt away, when he can see his image plainly reflected in the molten metal.’
3. The refiner who sits and concentrates all his attention on the metal in the crucible depicts something of the concern of the Lord for the holiness of his people. He begins at his sanctuary (cf. Ezek. 9:6) with the sons of Levi to purify them till they present right offerings, or, more literally, offerings in righteousness (AV, RV). Both senses are needed. Once character has been transformed and purified the offerings (Heb. minḥâ) will both be worthy and be offered in the right spirit.
4. Only then will the rest of the population, who no doubt also undergo the purifying process, be able to offer what is pleasing to the Lord as in days of old. The last phrase is indefinite, being used to refer both to the time of Moses (Isa. 63:9, 11; Matt. 7:14) and of David (Amos 9:11). Malachi is almost certainly thinking of the Mosaic period as the ideal era (Jer. 2:2, 3), when the Israelites depended directly on God.
5. What is a refining process for some will for others bring judgment. It is the community that is being refined, and, as in the case of metal, the base elements must be removed. The Lord is both witness and judge in the law suit against those who refuse to take correction and so are condemned ‘in that day’. No other witness is needed because no other could be competent (2:14; cf. Jer. 29:23). The word swift would be better translated ‘expert’. The speed results from training. Cf. Ezra 7:6, where ‘skilled’ is from the same root. Malachi is the faithful pastor who faces his people with the possibility of ultimate rejection but hopes all the time to win them.
Baldwin, J. G. (1972). Haggai, Zechariah and Malachi: An Introduction and Commentary (Vol. 28, pp. 264–266). Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.
