Malachi 1:10
Who [is there] even among you that would shut the
doors
[for nought]?
&c.] Either of the temple, as the Targum and Jarchi; for at
each of the gates of the temple there were porters appointed in
David's time, ( 1
Chronicles 26:1-19 ) and who were paid for their service: or
of the court, as Kimchi; the court of the priests where the
offerings were brought. The words "for nought" are not, in the
original text, at the end of this clause, but at the end of the
next; and are by some referred to both; and by others restrained
to the latter; and who give this as the sense of the words, "who
is there", or "would there were any among you?" F6 any
good man that would shut the doors of the temple, that so a man
might not bring an abominable offering; intimating, that the
priests or Levites however, who were porters, ought to shut the
doors against such persons; and this way go Jarchi, Kimchi, and
Abarbinel; to which the Chaldee paraphrase inclines; which is,
``who is there among you that will shut the door of the house of
my sanctuary, that ye may not offer on mine altar an abominable
sacrifice?''
but the same writers, out of an ancient book called Torath Cohanim,
observe a sense that agrees with ours,
``a man says to his friend, shut this door for me, he desires
nothing for it; light me this candle, he asks no reward for it;
but as for you, who is there among you that will shut my doors
for nought? or kindle a fire on mine altar for nought? and how
much less will ye do freely those things which used to be done
for reward? therefore I have no pleasure in you.''
There were four and twenty porters to open and shut the doors of
the mountain of the house, or the temple, and the court of women in
the daytime; six on the east side; four on the north; four on the
south; at Asuppim two and two, four in all; four on the west, and
two at Parbar {g}: here they attended in the daytime, to keep the
place pure and peaceable; and there seems to have been one over all
the rest, whose business was to see that the doors at evening were
shut by them: in the Misnah
F8 we are told that Ben Geber was
appointed over the shutting of the gates, i.e. of the temple; and
at night there were four and twenty guards also that kept watch;
the priests kept guard in three places; in the room "abtines", in
the room "nitsots", and in the fire room; and one and twenty
Levites; five at the five gates of the mountain of the house, or
the compass of the temple; four at the four corners within; five at
the five gates of the court; and four at its four corners without;
one at the chamber "Corban"; one at the chamber over against the
vail; and another behind the most holy place; and there was one
that was called the man of the mountain of the house, who every
night went through every ward with torches burning before him; and
he had power to beat those he found asleep in their watch, and to
burn their garments
F9, to which the allusion is, (
Revelation
16:15 ) , and these guards, as Bartenora
F11
observes, were not on account of thieves and robbers, but for the
honour of the house; and these, neither the one by day, nor the
other by night, did their work for nought, but had a maintenance
allowed them for it:
neither do ye kindle fire upon mine
altar for nought:
and this was done every morning, for though, as one of the Jewish
writers says
F12, fire came down, from heaven, it was
ordered that they should bring of common fire; and there were three
piles or rows of fire made every day upon the altar; the first was
a large one, on which they offered the daily sacrifice, with the
rest of the offerings; the second was on the side of it, a little
one, from whence they took fire in the censer to burn incense every
day; the third had no other use for it but to confirm the command
concerning fire; as it is said, "the fire shall ever be burning", (
Leviticus
6:13 )
F13 and this fire was kindled to burn the
sacrifices, the daily sacrifice, and other burnt offerings, for
which they were paid out of the tithes, and other oblations; see (
1
Corinthians 9:13 ) this was an aggravation of their negligence
and carelessness about what offerings were brought and sacrificed;
seeing they were so well taken care of, and such a sufficient
maintenance provided for them; so that they did not the least piece
of service in the temple but they were fully rewarded for it; even
not so much as to shut a door, or kindle a fire; and therefore it
is no wonder their conduct should be resented, as follows:
I
have no pleasure in you, saith the Lord of hosts;
neither in your persons, nor in your offerings:
neither will
I accept an offering at your hand:
the "minchah" or meat offering, any meat offering, particularly
that which was offered morning and evening with the daily
sacrifice, (
Exodus 29:40 Exodus 29:41 ) and it is
sometimes used particularly for the evening meat offering, (
2 Kings 16:15
) or rather, "a wheat" or "bread offering"; since this offering was
made of fine flour, with oil poured upon it, and frankincense put
upon that, (
Leviticus 2:1 ) hence
mention is made of "incense" in the next verse (
Malachi 1:11 ) ; and it
was either baked in an oven, or fried in a pan; and either way,
when it was brought to the priest, it was burnt on the altar, and
was an offering by fire to the Lord, and of a sweet savour to him,
when rightly performed; and was a figure of the sacrifice of
Christ, which is of a sweet smelling savour to God; and this
passage respects Gospel times, as appears from the following verse
(
Malachi
1:11 ) , when Christ's sacrifice would be offered up, and so
the oblation or meat offering made to cease, (
Daniel 9:27 ) hence God
would not accept of it any more; or else because not rightly
offered, as it was not when any leaven was mixed with it, or that
and honey were burnt with it; signifying it should be offered with
sincerity, and without hypocrisy, and other carnal lusts; and
indeed no legal sacrifices were acceptable to God but such as were
offered up in the faith of Christ, and with a view to his
sacrifice, without trusting to, and depending upon, the outward
offering, as hypocrites and carnal persons did: wherefore to this
is opposed a pure "minchah" or meat offering in the next verse (
Malachi 1:11 )
; which designs spiritual sacrifices, such as are now offered up
under the Gospel dispensation; when offering and sacrifice of a
ceremonial kind God desires not; he will have no more offered up;
he takes no pleasure in them; they are not acceptable to him, being
superseded by the sacrifice of his Son, they were types of; see (
Psalms 40:6 ) (
Hebrews 10:5
Hebrews 10:6 )
and agreeably to which passages the words may be understood, as
expressing the Lord's rejection of legal sacrifices in general
among the Jews, which he would have no longer continued than till
the Messiah came; by whose sufferings and death the daily sacrifice
was caused to cease, (
Daniel 9:27 ) (
Hosea 3:4 ) when sacrifices
of another kind should be offered up in the Gentile world, through
every part of it, as in the following verse (
Malachi 1:11 ) .