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Selected Verse: Malachi 3:6 - King James
| Verse |
Translation |
Text |
| Mal 3:6 |
King James |
For I am the LORD, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed. |
Summary Of Commentaries Associated With The Selected Verse
| A Commentary, Critical, Practical, and Explanatory on the Old and New Testaments, by Robert Jamieson, A.R. Fausset and David Brown [1882] |
the Lord--Jehovah: a name implying His immutable faithfulness in fulfilling His promises: the covenant name of God to the Jews (Exo 6:3), called here "the sons of Jacob," in reference to God's covenant with that patriarch.
I change not--Ye are mistaken in inferring that, because I have not yet executed judgment on the wicked, I am changed from what I once was, namely, a God of judgment.
therefore ye . . . are not consumed--Ye yourselves being "not consumed," as ye have long ago deserved, are a signal proof of My unchangeableness. Rom 11:29 : compare the whole chapter, in which God's mercy in store for Israel is made wholly to flow from God's unchanging faithfulness to His own covenant of love. So here, as is implied by the phrase "sons of Jacob" (Gen 28:13; Gen 35:12). They are spared because I am JEHOVAH, and they sons of Jacob; while I spare them, I will also punish them; and while I punish them, I will not wholly consume them. The unchangeableness of God is the sheet-anchor of the Church. The perseverance of the saints is guaranteed, not by their unchangeable love to God, but by His unchangeable love to them, and His eternal purpose and promise in Christ Jesus [MOORE]. He upbraids their ingratitude that they turn His very long-suffering (Lam 3:22) into a ground for skeptical denial of His coming as a Judge at all (Psa 50:1, Psa 50:3-4, Psa 50:21; Ecc 8:11-12; Isa 57:11; Rom 2:4-10). |
| Notes on the Bible, by Albert Barnes, [1834] |
I am the Lord, I change not - , better, more concisely, "I, the Lord
I change not - . The proper name of God, "He who Is," involves His unchangeableness. For change implies imperfection; it changes to that which is either more perfect or less perfect: to somewhat which that being, who changes, is not or has not. But God has everything in Himself perfectly. "Thou Alone, O Lord, Art what Thou Art, and Thou Art Who Art. For what is one thing in the whole and another in parts, and wherein is anything subject to change, is not altogether what Is. And what beginneth from not being, and can be conceived, as not being, and only subsisteth through another thing, returns to not-being; and what hath a 'has been,' which now is not, and a 'to be,' which as yet is not, that is not, properly and absolutely. But Thou Art what Thou Art. For whatever Thou Art in any time or "way," that Thou Art wholly and always; and Thou Art, Who Art properly and simply, because Thou hast neither 'to have been' or 'to be about to be;' but only to be present; and canst not be conceived, ever not to have been." "There is only one simple Good, and, therefore, One Alone Unchangeable, which is God."
"Our" life is a "becoming" rather than a simple "being;" it is a continual losing of what we had, and gaining what we had not, for "in as far as any one is not what he was, and is what he was not, so far forth he dieth and ariseth;" dieth to what he was, ariseth to be something otherwise.
"Increase evidences a beginning; decrease, death and destruction. And, therefore, Malachi says, 'I am God, and I change not,' ever retaining His own state of being; because what has no origin cannot be changed."
So the Psalmist says Psa 102:27, "As a vesture, Thou shalt change them and they shall be changed, but Thou art the Same, and Thy years shall not fail;" and Balaam, controlled by God Num 23:19. "God is not a man, that He should lie, or the son of man, that He should repent;" and Jam 1:17, "with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning."
Of this unchangeableness of God, His holy ones partake, as far as they fix themselves on God. "The soul of man hangs upon Him, by whom it was made. And because it was made, to desire God Alone, but everything which it desires below is less than He, rightly doth not that suffice it, which is not God. Hence, is it, that the soul is scattered hither and thither, and is repelled from everything, toward which it is borne, through satiety of them. But holy men guard themselves by cautious observation, lest they should be relaxed from their intentness by change, and because they desire to be the same, wisely bind themselves to the thought, whereby they love God. For in the contemplation of the Creator, they will receive this, that they should ever enjoy one stability of mind. No changeableness then dissipates them, because their thought ever perseveres, free from unlikeness to itself. This therefore they now imitate, striving with effort, which hereafter they shall with joy receive as a gift." To which unchangeableness the prophet had bound himself by the power of love, when he said Psa 27:4, "One thing I required of the Lord, which I will require, that I may dwell in the house of the Lord." To this unity Paul clave intently, when he said, Phi 3:13-14 : "One thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and stretching forth to those things which are before, I press forward toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus."
And ye sons of Jacob are not consumed - Man would often have become weary of man's wickedness and waywardness. We are impatient at one another, readily despair of one another. God might justly have cast off them and us; but He changes not. He abides by the covenant which He made with their fathers; He consumed them not; but with His own unchangeable love awaited their repentance. Our hope is not in ourselves, but in God. |
| Explanatory Notes on the Whole Bible, by John Wesley [1754-65] |
| I change not - I have an unchangeable hatred to sin: and my long suffering also changeth not, therefore you are not consumed in your sins. Not consumed - God is the same in his wisdom to order the rewards of good and bad in the fittest season, therefore neither the one nor the other are consumed, but preserved to the season appointed of God. |
| Adam Clarke Commentary on the Whole Bible - Published 1810-1826 |
I am the Lord, I change not - The new dispensation of grace and goodness, which is now about to be introduced, is not the effect of any change in my counsels; it is, on the contrary, the fulfillment of my everlasting purposes; as is also the throwing aside of the Mosaic ritual, which was only intended to introduce the great and glorious Gospel of my Son.
And because of this ancient covenant, ye Jews are not totally consumed; but ye are now, and shall be still, preserved as a distinct people - monuments both of my justice and mercy. |
4 Or despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering; not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance?
5 But after thy hardness and impenitent heart treasurest up unto thyself wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God;
6 Who will render to every man according to his deeds:
7 To them who by patient continuance in well doing seek for glory and honour and immortality, eternal life:
8 But unto them that are contentious, and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, indignation and wrath,
9 Tribulation and anguish, upon every soul of man that doeth evil, of the Jew first, and also of the Gentile;
10 But glory, honour, and peace, to every man that worketh good, to the Jew first, and also to the Gentile:
11 And of whom hast thou been afraid or feared, that thou hast lied, and hast not remembered me, nor laid it to thy heart? have not I held my peace even of old, and thou fearest me not?
11 Because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil.
12 Though a sinner do evil an hundred times, and his days be prolonged, yet surely I know that it shall be well with them that fear God, which fear before him:
21 These things hast thou done, and I kept silence; thou thoughtest that I was altogether such an one as thyself: but I will reprove thee, and set them in order before thine eyes.
3 Our God shall come, and shall not keep silence: a fire shall devour before him, and it shall be very tempestuous round about him.
4 He shall call to the heavens from above, and to the earth, that he may judge his people.
1 A Psalm of Asaph. The mighty God, even the LORD, hath spoken, and called the earth from the rising of the sun unto the going down thereof.
22 It is of the LORD'S mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not.
12 And the land which I gave Abraham and Isaac, to thee I will give it, and to thy seed after thee will I give the land.
13 And, behold, the LORD stood above it, and said, I am the LORD God of Abraham thy father, and the God of Isaac: the land whereon thou liest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed;
29 For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance.
3 And I appeared unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob, by the name of God Almighty, but by my name JEHOVAH was I not known to them.
13 Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before,
14 I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.
4 One thing have I desired of the LORD, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the LORD, and to enquire in his temple.
17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.
19 God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do it? or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good?
27 But thou art the same, and thy years shall have no end.