Dalacbi. (B.C. 397.)

1. INTRODUCTORY.

WE have come now to the last of all the prophets. Tradition says that Malachi was a Levite, and belonged to Zebulon. He is supposed to have prophesied in the days of Nehemiah, B.C. 397. He saw no vision; he denounces judgment on no heathen nation. It is against God's own people that he utters his voice; he points out their sins, not the sin of idolatry to which their fathers had been so prone. He speaks more frequently of their heart sins. His short book ends with a promise of the forerunner of the Messiah. This was given in such plain words that our Lord wonders that the disciples did not recognise in John the Baptist that "Elias which was for to come."

When Malachi's voice was hushed, a strange silence fell on the land-the canon of Scripture was closed, and no utterance from God was heard for 300 years. Perhaps this long silence caused the hearts of the faithful to desire more earnestly the coming of that "prophet like unto Moses, whom the Lord their God had promised to raise up unto them of their brethren."

(Read Matthew xi. 11-14.)

2. THE LORD A QUESTIONER.

In the first chapter of Malachi the Lord seems to summon Israel before Him, and to ask several questions with a grieved heart. Listen to these two: "If I be a Father, where is Mine honour?" "If I be a Master, where is My fear?" An earthly father expects love and honour from his own son: an earthly master demands obedience and fear from his own servant; but, the great Father in Heaven, the Master and Lord of all, had been dishonoured, despised, and disobeyed. The priests, who should have been examples to the people, were worse than they: they despised the altar of the Lord, and instead of the best of the flock and the finest of the flour being offered in sacrifice, they brought polluted bread. Nay, they were not ashamed to present the lame, the blind, the feeble, such as they dared not offer to their governor, to their Almighty King; and instead of finding delight in God's service and in His house, they exclaimed, "What a weariness is it!" They snuffed at it, saying, "The Table of the Lord is polluted; and the fruit thereof, even His meat, is contemptible." No wonder

that their insulted Lord should say, "Oh that there were one among you that would shut the doors, that ye might not light Mine altar to no purpose! I have no pleasure in you; I will not accept an offering at your hands." No wonder that He who knew He was a great King, and that His name was dreadful among the heathen, should look forward gladly to that time when from the rising of the sun to the going down of the same, incense and a pure offering should be offered unto Him.

(Read Malachi i.)

3. THE PRIESTS REPROVED.

When the children of Israel were in the wilderness, one of the descendants of Levi, called Phineas, showed his zeal for the honour of God by slaying a man and his heathen wife; by doing so, he turned away God's wrath from Israel; and for himself and his house he earned the right to an everlasting priesthood. The Lord gave unto him His covenant of grace.

A faithful priest was to be the messenger of the Lord of Hosts, the one from whose mouth men should seek the law and receive knowledge. Truth was to be written on his lips; he was to walk with God in peace and equity, and so would obtain the honourable distinction of turning many from his iniquity. Such was the character of the true priest of the Lord. Alas! how different were the priests in Malachi's days. They not only went out of the way themselves, they also caused many to stumble at the law. They despised the sacred covenant which the Lord had made with their fathers; but, you know, God's word is sure: "They that honour Me I will honour; and they that despise Me shall be lightly esteemed." So these very priests became base and contemptible before all the people. They were treated with shame. and dishonour, even at their solemn feasts. Malachi gives a terrible threatening to them. He says, "Now, O ye priests, this commandment is for you. If ye will not hear, and if ye will not lay it to heart to give glory unto My name, saith the Lord of Hosts, I will even send a curse upon you, and I will curse your blessings." By their conduct they had injured their brethren, the sons of one father, created by one

God, who had been bound together in the covenant made with their fathers.

Another grievous sin had been committed by the priests as well as by the people. They had forsaken their own wives, and had dealt unfaithfully by them. The Lord Himself had been a witness of the treatment of "the wife of their youth," she who was given for their "companion;" and for this the Lord would not regard their offerings any more, nor receive them at their hands; no, not even if they were to come weeping to His altar, and beseech Him to accept their gifts; for in the beginning He had given only one wife to Adam. He might have given more, for "with Him was the residue of the Spirit," and no limit to His creating power. Then why, do you think, He gave only one? He tells us Himself: "That He might seek a godly seed,"-children who should be trained up in the fear of God. And "He, the God of Israel saith, He hateth putting away. Therefore let the people take heed to their spirit, and let none deal treacherously against the wife of his youth."

(Read Mal. ii.; Numbers xxv.)

4. THE FOrerunner.

Malachi, like Isaiah, proclaims that before the longlooked for Messiah appears, one was to be sent before Him as a herald: "The voice of one crying in the wilderness, the messenger who shall prepare the way before Me, the sending of Elijah"-all found their explanation in John the Baptist. You remember how he said, "I am not the Christ; He that cometh

after me is mightier than I; He shall baptise you with the Holy Ghost." But when the Lord did come suddenly into His temple, only the aged Anna and the expecting Simeon recognised Him. "He came unto His own, and His own received Him not." But Malachi tells us He shall return again. "But who may abide the day of His coming? and who may stand when He appeareth? for He is like a refiner's fire and like fuller's soap; and He shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver; and He shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer unto the Lord an offering in righteousYou have been told how the refiner of silver sits over his furnace, watching the precious metal; and not till it reflects his face on the shining surface does he consider it free from dross. What a beautiful type of the great Master Refiner watching His people in the furnace of affliction, till they come forth as "vessels unto honour, sanctified, and meet for the Master's use." Then truly shall the offerings of Judah and Jerusalem be pleasant unto the Lord, as in the days of old, as in former years. In spite of all that His people had done, His love to them was still the same. He says, "I am the Lord; I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed." This was why He still bore with them, even though they had gone away from Him since the days of their fathers. This was why He still says: "Return unto Me, and I will return unto you;" and even though in their insolence and pride they put the question, "Wherein shall we return?" He condescends to explain how they had robbed Him of His honour, refusing to give Him tithes and offerings. And still He bears with them, offering them blessings! Listen