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Selected Verse: Malachi 4:4 - King James
| Verse |
Translation |
Text |
| Mal 4:4 |
King James |
Remember ye the law of Moses my servant, which I commanded unto him in Horeb for all Israel, with the statutes and judgments. |
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] |
Remember . . . law--"The law and all the prophets" were to be in force until John (Mat 11:13), no prophet intervening after Malachi; therefore they are told, "Remember the law," for in the absence of living prophets, they were likely to forget it. The office of Christ's forerunner was to bring them back to the law, which they had too much forgotten, and so "to make ready a people prepared for the Lord" at His coming (Luk 1:17). God withheld prophets for a time that men might seek after Christ with the greater desire [CALVIN]. The history of human advancement is marked by periods of rest, and again progress. So in Revelation: it is given for a time; then during its suspension men live on the memories of the past. After Malachi there was a silence of four hundred years; then a harbinger of light in the wilderness, ushering in the brightest of all the lights that had been manifested, but short-lived; then eighteen centuries during which we have been guided by the light which shone in that last manifestation. The silence has been longer than before, and will be succeeded by a more glorious and awful revelation than ever. John the Baptist was to "restore" the defaced image of "the law," so that the original might be recognized when it appeared among men [HINDS]. Just as "Moses" and "Elias" are here connected with the Lord's coming, so at the transfiguration they converse with Him, implying that the law and prophets which had prepared His way were now fulfilled in Him.
statutes . . . judgments--ceremonial "statutes": "judgments" in civil questions at issue. "The law" refers to morals and religion. |
| Notes on the Bible, by Albert Barnes, [1834] |
Remember ye the law of Moses, My servant - Gal 3:24. "The law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ." They then who were most faithful to the law, would be most prepared for Christ. But for those of his own day, too, who were negligent both of the ceremonial and moral law, he says "Since the judgment of God will be so fearful, remember now unceasingly and observe the law of God given by Moses."
Which I commanded - o
Unto him for - (literally upon, incumbent upon) all Israel Not Moses commanded them, but God by His servant Moses; therefore He "would in the day of judgment take strict account of each, whether they had or had not kept them. He would glorify those who obeyed, He would condemn those who disobeyed them." They had asked, "Where is the God of judgment? What profit, that we have kept the ordinance?" He tells them of the judgment to come, and bids them take heed, that they did indeed keep them, for there was a day of account to be held for all.
The statutes and judgments - Better, "statutes and judgments," i. e., consisting in them; it seems added as an explanation of the word, law, individualizing them. Duty is fulfilled, not in a general acknowledgment of law, or an arbitrary selection of some favorite commandments, which cost the human will less; as, in our Lord's time, they minutely observed the law of tithes, but Mat 23:23 : "omitted weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith." It is in obedience to the commandments, one by one, one and all. Moses exhorted to the keeping of the law, under these same words: Deu 4:1-2, Deu 4:5, Deu 4:8, Deu 4:14, "Now, therefore hearken, O Israel, unto the statutes and judgments which I teach you, to do them, that ye may live. Ye shall not add unto the word that I command you, neither shall ye diminish it. Behold, I have taught you statutes and judgments, even as the Lord my God commanded me. What nation so great, that hath statutes and judgments, righteous as all this law, which I set before you this day? The Lord commanded me at that time, to teach you statutes and judgments, that ye might do them in the land, whither ye go to possess it." |
| Explanatory Notes on the Whole Bible, by John Wesley [1754-65] |
| Remember - Now take leave of prophecy, for you shall have no more 'till the great prophet, 'till Shiloh come, but attend ye diligently to the law of Moses. For all Israel - So long as they should be a people and church. Statutes and judgments - Be not partial; statutes and judgments, that is, the whole law must you attend to, and remember it as God requires. |
| Adam Clarke Commentary on the Whole Bible - Published 1810-1826 |
| Remember ye the law of Moses - Where all these things are predicted. The Septuagint, Arabic, and Coptic, place this verse the last. |
17 And he shall go before him in the spirit and power of Elias, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just; to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.
13 For all the prophets and the law prophesied until John.
14 And the LORD commanded me at that time to teach you statutes and judgments, that ye might do them in the land whither ye go over to possess it.
8 And what nation is there so great, that hath statutes and judgments so righteous as all this law, which I set before you this day?
5 Behold, I have taught you statutes and judgments, even as the LORD my God commanded me, that ye should do so in the land whither ye go to possess it.
1 Now therefore hearken, O Israel, unto the statutes and unto the judgments, which I teach you, for to do them, that ye may live, and go in and possess the land which the LORD God of your fathers giveth you.
2 Ye shall not add unto the word which I command you, neither shall ye diminish ought from it, that ye may keep the commandments of the LORD your God which I command you.
23 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone.
24 Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith.