Whedon's Commentary on the Bible - Malachi 3:1-5
JEHOVAH’S APPROACH IN JUDGMENT, Malachi 2:17 to Malachi 3:5. In Malachi 2:17, the prophet introduces to the reader a new class of thinkers in the postexilic community, the skeptics, who have lost faith in Jehovah and in his word, because the sinful prospered while the good suffered. From these inequalities they concluded that Jehovah was taking no interest in the affairs of the nation and doubted that he would ever appear in judgment to right the wrongs (Malachi 2:17). To this complaint Jehovah... read more
Wesley's Explanatory Notes - Malachi 3:2
But who may abide the day of his coming? and who shall stand when he appeareth? for he is like a refiner's fire, and like fullers' soap:Abide — Who shall be able to stand under the weight of those crosses which in that day, will fall on all sorts of men? The day - This day was from his preaching, 'till the utter destruction of Jerusalem, about seventy years after the birth of Christ.A refiner's fire — Some are like metals, which nothing but a fierce fire can purge, such fire shall the troubles... read more