Matthew Henry on Malachi 1:1-5
The prophecy of this book is entitled, The burden of the word of the Lord (Mal 1:1), which intimates, 1. That it was of great weight and importance; what the false prophets said was light as the chaff, what the true prophets said was ponderous as the wheat, Jer 23:28. 2. That it ought to be often repeated to them and by them, as the burden of a song. 3. That there were those to whom it was a burden and a reproach; they were weary of it, and found themselves so aggrieved by it that they were not able to bear it. 4. That to them it would prove a burden indeed, to sink them to the lowest hell, unless they repented. 5. That to those who loved it and embraced it, and bade it welcome, though it wa…
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hated--not positively, but relatively; that is, did not choose him out to be the object of gratuitous favor, as I did Jacob (compare Luk 14:26, with Mat 10:37; Gen 29:30-31; Deu 21:15-16).
laid his mountains . . . waste--that is, his territory which was generally mountainous. Israel was, it is true, punished by the Chaldeans, but Edom has been utterly destroyed; namely, either by Nebuchadnezzar [ROSENMULLER], or by the neighboring peoples, Egypt, Ammon, and Moab [JOSEPHUS, Antiquities, 10.9,7; MAURER], (Jer 49:18).
dragons--jackals [MOORE] (compare Isa 34:13). MAURER translates, "Abodes of the wilderness," from an Arabic root "to stop," or "to abide." English Version is better.
John Gill on Malachi 1:3
And I hated Esau,.... Or, "rejected" him, as the Targum; did not love him as Jacob: this was a negative, not positive hatred; it is true of him, personally considered; not only by taking away the birthright and blessing from him, which he despised; but by denying him his special grace, leaving him in his sins, and to his lusts, so that he became a profane person; shared not in the grace of God here, and had no part in the eternal inheritance with the saints in light; and likewise it is true of his posterity, as the following instances show:
and laid his mountains and his heritage waste; which, according to Grotius, was done by Nebuchadnezzar, five years after the captivity of the Jews, in f…
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